Earphone Buying Guide - Budget Friendly :)

[Gamer R]

Hi there,
I'll be putting up a simple guide that will help you to get the maximum best out of your budget when buying a pair of earphone/earplugs.

Sir, why didn't you include Headphones in the guide ? Aren't they better ?

For studio purpose, yes they are better. But in terms of portability, they ain't good.
They are bulky and they tend to warm up the ears.

Earplugs on the other side, they are light , easy to carry and create a sound isolation.

Well with that being said let's start with the guide.

My Guide will be divided into three parts :

Earphones Buying Guide : Low budget
Earphones Buying Guide : Mid budget
Earphones Buying Guide : High budget

I'll give some final touches to the thread afterwards.
Also suggestions are open

Note that the all earphone models are arranged in ascending order according to their price.

Earphones Buying Guide : Low budget ($8+)

SoundMAGIC ES 18
Sony MH-EX300AP
Creative EP-630
Cowon EM1
Sennheiser CX 180
Sony MDR-EX220LP

Earphones Buying Guide : Mid budget ($16+)

SoundMAGIC PL11
Brainwavz Alpha IEM
Philips SHE9700
SoundMagic PL30
JVC HA-FX101-A Xtreme Xplosives Deep Bass

Earphones Buying Guide : High budget ($48+)

SoundMagic E30
Sennheiser CX300-II
Brainwavz M5
NCredible NErgy by Monster

 

[Gamer R]

Reserve

 

[Gamer R]

Reserved

 

[vectron]

I noticed you created the same thread in Xperia section, are you planning to maintain both of keep this as your main one? Either way, Me (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192333) and I guess Jeremy (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2131021) will chime in since I have been reviewing a ton of headphones (in-ear, over-ear, and on-ear in this section) and Jeremy has a fantastic Headphones buying Guide.

Btw, I assume you will be reviewing all the headphones in your collection (posted list)? Because I was curious how you partitioned low/mid/high budget prices. As you know, $400 IE80 is a step above $48 But either way, glad we got more headphone fans/enthusiast in our forum and will get a better coverage and opinion of all the available choices!!!!!

 

[Gamer R]

@vectron

Me and my friend (who is an audiophile), had made a list of list of earphones with different price category in our free time. I thought that why shouldn't I post this on XDA ? So I did it.

I won't be reviewing them as I haven't used all the products. I buy earphones under 10$ , use them for a year or two and then replace them. My friend on the other hand has a huge collection. But sadly he ain't on XDA.

IE80.... I didn't know about the price. A guy in the neighbourhood shop was selling them for $50. Maybe they might be fake or smuggled.

 

[vectron]

Oh, I see. So no reviews, but maybe pictures of those you still have? Would be helpful as well. If you get to pictures, would be cool to see a few shots without eartips to see the size of a nozzle. But really up to you.

Regarding Sennheiser IE80 - anything for $50 is a fake. I just quickly looked at ebay and see those fake ones. They will have the same package, similar looking accessories, even the shape of headphones, but the diamond plate will not have "S" on it or will have another name on it. Even if it has "S", it's still fake one because original one cost $400, maybe for $370 on sale. Chinese market for fake headphones is very popular, especially for Beats, and Sennheiser CX300 is another popular one. The problem is that it will not sound the same. IE80, although I haven't had a chance to review it yet, has a very unique wide tuned dynamic driver which you can't duplicate easily and sell for under $50 all together. So most likely they copy the looks of these original headphones and use a cheap driver found in those $5 earbuds you can get on ebay or dx.com. So, I wouldn't put IE80 in $48 category because it's going to mislead people.

Btw, since your friend is audiophile, it would be very interesting to hear how these IE80 knock offs sounds to him?

 

[pchetan2]

Can you please suggest me ear phones with good quality and good clarity but with no mic ..i need them to attach withsony sbh 20 ,because the wire that came with that bluetooth earphones got damaged too easily

 

[pchetan2]

JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth Headphones - Midnight Black --> Best but quite expensive :good:

Sony DREX12IPW Earbuds --> Good

[/QUOTE
Both are good ....but i need the ones without which reduces cost a bit

 

[jRi0T68]

It will always depend heavily on your musical preferences. The template in my guide can answer almost every question.

What's your budget and where do you live?

Excreted from my Nexus 5
[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying

 

[pchetan2]

It will always depend heavily on your musical preferences. The template in my guide can answer almost every question.

What's your budget and where do you live?

Excreted from my Nexus 5
[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying

I live in India ..and my budjet is some 9-13 usd as i dont have much with me now ....I can wait if its worth for a better earphones around 20-25 usd

 

[jRi0T68]

I live in India ..and my budjet is some 9-13 usd as i dont have much with me now ....I can wait if its worth for a better earphones around 20-25 usd

Whether or not it's worth it is definitely up to you. In setting a budget, you're asking yourself what type of investment you currently can/want to make on your listening experience.

I'd look for Phillips SHE3590, Soundmagic ES18, amongst others (there are a lot of value gems I've forgotten).

One of the best things you can do for your audio experience, though, is too switch to Neutron as your music player and using 320kbps mp3 files (or flac if you have the space).

Excreted from my Nexus 5
[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying

 

[pchetan2]

Whether or not it's worth it is definitely up to you. In setting a budget, you're asking yourself what type of investment you currently can/want to make on your listening experience.

I'd look for Phillips SHE3590, Soundmagic ES18, amongst others (there are a lot of value gems I've forgotten).

One of the best things you can do for your audio experience, though, is too switch to Neutron as your music player and using 320kbps mp3 files (or flac if you have the space).

Excreted from my Nexus 5
[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying

Thank you so much

 

[jkentj]

Any of the Shure In-Ears are great.... I use the Shure E3 with the yellow foamies.

I used to buy the low priced headphones and have them burn out or break by the end of the year. I then spent the money on the shure in-ears and I've had them for the past 10 years and they work great!

One of those items I think its wise to splurge on.

 

[lloyd06]

Soundmagic is cool and sounds good i love that headphone im using it for 2 years try it guys

Sent from my C5303 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[Muhammad Abdullah]

I am going to buy beats audio tour earphone. But are they supported with Xperia sp? I know that the buttons and built in mic for attending calls are not supported for android and only works for iPhone. But will its performance or audio quality will remain the same for Xperia sp as it is meant to be or will it be downgraded?

 

[Sahaab]

hey man, i am looking to buy some new earbuds/earphones in a 50$ range
what would you recommend?
i have a sony SP, so something that is well compatible with the phone

 

[bentleyboy]

hey man, i am looking to buy some new earbuds/earphones in a 50$ range
what would you recommend?
i have a sony SP, so something that is well compatible with the phone

I'm usually partial to Sennheiser if I'm buying phones that are good quality. Haven't done it in awhile but I hear they've got a new line out so there's probably some good stuff out there to check out. Nothing against Sony's, but I've just always been a Sennheiser guy.

 

[lupoalberto12]

Hi.
Sorry, I take advantage of this topic for my question(s).
I'm searching some headphones NOT in-ear headphones but it isn't simple, specially if for our smartphones.
So, can I remapper headset volume buttons (that usually don't work) with Tasker?
I thought that in any case it sends an input only not right input, is it right?
In any case, do you have earphones to recommend for daily music and call?
Thanks.
Bye!
! !

 

[Adv.Chirag]

Why this guide does not include a single skullcandy earphone... ?

I want to know if skullcandy is worth it. my friends say it is the best and I also used one earphone for listening a song... it was awesome... but this guide has no skull candy

 

[siddlv]

I want to know if skullcandy is worth it. my friends say it is the best and I also used one earphone for listening a song... it was awesome... but this guide has no skull candy

This earphones sound more awesome than your skullcandy awesome .