Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with headphones

What kind of hardware jack does my Sleek Audio SA1 headphones use?

SamuelF — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:44:21 -0800

Help me identify this audio jack. I purchased a pair of Sleek Audio SA1 headphones recently, partially because they come with a replaceable cord. Problem is, the tiny plug it uses seems to be some kind of secret, and me no likey proprietary hardware. I figure it must be some kind of common connector, but don't know enough to identify it on sight or know what to search for. You can see examples here and here. It's very small, much smaller than a normal headphone plug. The male plug has a hole in the middle (hee hee), and the female jack (in the earbud) has a smooth metal prong that fits in the middle of the male jack (hee hee). It's not just a plug-in-a-hole like a normal headphone jack.

Any ideas? And, thanks!

Sturdy Headphones?

gabrielbenjamin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:49:52 -0800

Can anyone recommend a DURABLE pair of headphones, primarily for computer use? Just broke a pair of cup-over-the-ear headphones after a weak, cheap plastic hinge broke. I'm so sick of this--every pair I buy lasts maybe two years before some crappy plastic part snaps off. It's not like I'm hard on the things: I just put them on, wear them for a few hours, and take them off. I'd like to find a pair of decently comfortable headphones that will last a good long time. Price is not necessarily the biggest factor--e.g. $100 is insane for a pair that will last the typical two years, but if it'll last 10 years it's a good investment.

Can anybody help me out?

My wife doesn't like the cord on her earbuds...

judomadonna — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:24:09 -0800

...so can anyone recommend a pair of earbuds with a cord that looks like a capital y (Y), not a lowercase y (y)?

I need a recommendation for an iPhone earbud/mic/controller combo that doesn't suck.

loudguitars — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:15:10 -0800

I need a recommendation for an iPhone earbud/mic/controller combo that doesn't suck. A little backstory: The stock earbud/mic/controller that comes with the iPhone slides out of my ears, so I decided to buy a set from a third party. Having used these Skullcandy cheapies for a while and having really liked them, I decided to go up to the Skullcandy FMJ's.

The problem is that the build quality on the mic is such that anytime I use them on the elliptical, sweat gets in and they start to randomly send control signals to my iPhone. Pausing and fast-forwarding stuff randomly, repeatedly activating Voice Control and refusing to allow it to deactivate. I'm on the third pair now to have this problem (plus another pair that was broken straight out of the box). It's really unfortunate because when things are working, these are great headphones, but they only work for anywhere from two days to a month before this becomes an issue, and I'm just done with it. To Skullcandy's credit, they've been good about cheerfully and quickly exchanging the ones that break, but I can't for the life of me understand why a company capable of making excellent cheapies makes such craptastic expensive earbuds.

Anyway, ideally, I'm looking for something in a similar (or cheaper!) price range where the fact that I actually sweat when I work out is not going to cause my headphones to go berserk. I'm debating the Apple in-ear buds but I'm a little concerned that they don't appear to have multiple sizes of ear cover - I've definitely had to adjust different sets of earbuds to fit my ears properly. Anyone with experience with these in particular, how have you found the fit? And how is their durability?

I also definitely want to be able to answer/end calls and at least play and pause music with the controller, otherwise I'd be sticking with the tried-and-true cheapies. I looked into possibly getting some sort of extender/mic combo I could plug the good cheapies into, but it appears nobody's really been able to get the hang of that properly from all the reviews I've been reading.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

Earphones for a person with sensitive skin who travels on a bus

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:50:49 -0800

How can I keep listening to music on the bus without exacerbating my easily irritable skin with earbuds, or causing hearing loss? The skin in the bowl of my ear and ear canal is easily irritable, which leads to flaking and ear infections. I had this under control, and then I got an iPod Shuffle. Being able to listen to music on my many bus trips makes me much happier, but it is surely irritating my skin. Also, trying to keep the music audible on a loud bus means I have to turn the volume up probably more than is healthy.

I'm planning to get a iPod Shuffle remote-replacement dongle so that I can replace the earbuds. I have some Sennheiser PXC-250 noise-canceling supraural earphones that work pretty well. They avoid the skin irritation that earbuds cause and the noise cancellation means I don't have to turn them up too loud. But they only work when I have a bag with me to store them in. One of the key advantages of the iPod Shuffle was that I could just put them in my jeans pocket and use them even when I didn't have a bag with me. So I'm looking for something more compact if possible. Even if I can't fit them in my pants, something I could more easily fit in my jacket pocket would be good. Something inexpensive would also be ideal I you can't always keep my jacket within view and expensive stuff might get stolen.

I've heard of bone conduction headphones (Outi, Audio Bone), but they seem to get poor reviews, and are apparently loud enough for others nearby to hear (not so great on the bus).

Thus far I have avoided canalphones (which seem apppealing for their noise-isolating characteristics) for fear that they will irritate my skin further, much as earplugs do.

Anonymous because, hey, not everyone needs to identify me with my health issues.

Champion Sound

murtagh — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:57:21 -0800

Why does music on my MP3 player sound better with small earphones than with big headphones? I have a Samsung YP-U5 MP3 player. Music on it sounds great when I listen with the earphones that came with the player, but if I connect my large Philips (SHP2000, if it matters) headphones to the player, music sounds quite poor. Why is that?

(There's nothing wrong with the Philips headphones, just to be clear.)

Sing Me To Sleep

xingcat — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:48:49 -0800

What kinds of earphones/earbuds can I wear to bed? I like to listen to music and podcasts as I'm falling asleep. I don't like to have speakers on, as that would disturb people in adjoining rooms, so I wear my iPod earbuds. They're okay as long as I'm lying on my back, but I tend to fall asleep better if I'm lying on my side.

The problem is that earbuds dig into my ears when I lie on my side, and headphones press too hard against my head and the pillow. I sometimes take one earbud out, but that means it's harder to hear, plus I turn over quite often.

Is there a product that would work better to help me listen and snooze?

What is the best in-ear headphone under $100 for use on long airplane flight?

Pastabagel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:25:31 -0800

I am in urgent need of in-ear earphones for use on a number of long flights I have to take in the coming months. I've narrowed down my choices to the Shure e2c or the Sony MDRNC22. The Shure is noise isolating, the Sony is noise cancelling. Which is better? The shure's seem to go deeper into the ear. Will that get uncomfortable?

Best sub $100 headphones?

Heliochrome85 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:23:44 -0800

Headphone Filter: Looking for a pair of quality headphones, but cant try them on because im out of the country. I am trying to figure out what pair of headphones I should get. Budget is around $100. I listen to alot of music when I study, but that also means that they need to not leak too much. I have been looking at the Sennheiser HD280 pros and Ultrasone HFI550/580s. What should I get?

requirements:
1.) Good build quality
2.) Good sound quality
3.) Reasonable size and foldablility

Help my desk buddy not kill me.

dame — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:51:56 -0800

In search of: Headphones under $50 with low sound-leak. Bonus points if they are cute. My poor desk buddy is suffering from my headphone's sound leak and to bring him joy, I shall get new ones. But what kind? The ones I have now are cute and pink and I love them, but they fail me. I'm most interested in a brand I can walk into Best Buy and grab, but I will considering ordering online.

headphones for my head

synecdoche — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:36:54 -0800

Another headphone buying question: what is the style/make/model/etc for me? I want to upgrade my standard-issue iPod headphones but I'm having a heck of a time. I really don't know what I want, and browsing sites like headphone.com are leaving me a bit paralyzed by choice. I don't mind earbuds, really, but I understand that the sound quality is never going to be as good as they are with other designs. I've had in-ear headphones in the past, too (Sennheiser and JVCs that look like these but possibly not that exact model in the case of the Sennheisers) that sounded great, but got pretty gross and gunky because of earwax no matter how clean I tried to keep my ears. I've also had bigger, over-the-ears headphones that I liked the sound of; however, the long cord drove me nuts when I was walking around and they were pretty clunky.

I usually listen to music on the bus or walking around and sometimes at my computer, and generally listen to rock. Very rarely I'll listen to classical. Ultimately, I'm looking for comfort and sound quality on a budget. I'm not sure if I am crazy about the behind-the-head ones, though, and I have big ears that make me worry about the clip-on ones. It is also important that they're compatible with a Canadian winter and play well with toques.

What do you recommend? I don't want to spend too much money-- maybe up to $40 at the outside--and if I can go pick them up locally in Canada (at Best Buy, The Source, Future Shop and so on) so much the better.

Headphone buying help, please!

the dief — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:34:03 -0800

Big sale on headphones in Canada! But which ones to get? So there's a big sale on headphones at Canadian store The Source going on right now. And lucky me, my current Factory Direct cheapies are going bad, so I'd like to get new ones. I am so not up on headphones though, so I thought I'd ask you guys which one(s) out of the ones on sale look good. I'm interested in headphones, not earbuds, and other than it being nice if they were durable enough to use in the winter I don't have any specific requirements beyond being comfortable to wear and good sound. Any recommendations?

Oh nos! My favorite headphones are dying!

photomusic86 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:29:10 -0800

I love these headphones because the cord retracts. Brilliant, right? Yeah, Sony stopped making them. What other headphones can do this too? I asked this question before, but didn't get my point across before the question got stale and forgotten. I went out and bought several of them after learning of their discontinuation, but I'm finally on my last pair, and they're on their way out...
I love the concept, and hate in-ear buds. Oh please help me!!

Headphones to take a licking and keep on ticking

Rinku — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:47:36 -0800

What are the sturdiest headphones you've ever owned? My younger brother has asked for headphones for his upcoming birthday. He tears through headphones at an alarming rate - about four pairs a year. He's a high school student, and he keeps his newest pair at the bottom of his backpack, sleeps with them on, and abuses them in a variety of other ways. I'm not sure which brands and models he's torn through so far.

I'd like to buy him a pair of headphones that will keep working for more than a month or two. Hopefully they'll sound OK and won't cost more than 50$. He'd probably prefer on or over the ear headphones to earbuds.

I've seen this thread, but the discussion mostly focused on making sure the headphones wouldn't damage the kids' hearing.

Should I upgrade my headphones for computer listening?

cosmic osmo — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:03:00 -0800

Are Grado SR 225i headphones worth it for listening to music on my computer? Right now I have Grado SR 60s (not 60i, I'm not sure what the difference is). I have a Macbook and most of my songs are 320 kbps MP3s, with the occasional lossless file or ~192 kpbs VBR MP3.

Is an upgrade in headphones worthwhile? I don't have any serious complaints with the SR 60s, just some unexpected disposable income and a headphone addiction. They will only be used for listening at my computer.

I'm looking at the 225is specifically, but if you have recommendations for other open-backed headphones in the same price range (~$200), I'm all ears. (Ha ha...ha.)

Maximizing quantity/$ in headphones.

DU — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:14:05 -0800

Headphone optimization, but not of the usual kind. Quantity/$ There are a couple previous questions asking for "good noise canceling headphones for < ${50,100}". That's what I want, except I don't care about the "good" and I want to double down on the "noise canceling".

Basically, I want to listen to audiobooks while mowing. I know some noise is going to leak through, so getting every little audio nuance is wasted. Furthermore, there isn't much "audio nuance" in spoken text.

I have a $30 pair of noise-canceling phones that just rests on the ear. They eliminate enough that I can just barely hear the book, but it isn't quite sufficient. Plus they died. I'm thinking that if I upgrade the noise-canceling and also get over-the-ear, I should be good.

These two features don't seem to go together very often. I did find a few pairs, but they were either very expensive or no longer for sale.

(I don't want ear buds or those ear canal things.)

no noise

theyexpectresults — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:04:32 -0800

Macbook pro sound problem. Some sounds only heard through headphones. On my macbook pro (early 2008 model), the sound generally works fine, both through the built in speakers and through headphones. However, when I tried to run certain programs, I can only hear their sound output if I have headphones plugged in (while other sounds still function normally).

The programs were the white/pink noise generators noise and noisy. I was just mucking about with them, but now I am curious as to what is going on.

Can anyone help to explain what could be causing this? The likely candidate is that I did have a trial of Audio Hijack Pro installed, but I removed it when it screwed up Skype. I am using the latest version of Leopard.

I'm looking for small sporty headphones that aren't in-ear models.

mathowie — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:24:19 -0800

After several years use of iPod headphones, I'm fairly sure I've damaged my ears listening too loudly with earbud style headphones. I have no interest in in-ear headphones, but my question is: is there an alternative to earbuds and in-ear that provide decent sound quality and are functional to use while exercising? (this rules out giant over the ear cans as well) I've seen behind-the head wrap-around headphones but they're usually cheap and tinny -- is there a high end version of those style that I could wear while sweating? I guess my question boils down to what headphones ARE NOT:
- earbuds
- in-ear
- large DJ style cans

Is there any other headphone style besdies the behind the ear wrap around small soft ear pad style?

I need new headphones - Any suggestions?

Rendus — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:12:26 -0800

What are the right headphones for me? Big head, normal ears, likes loud noises, $100-$200 budget. Mostly for listening to music on my iPod Touch, occasionally playing games on my computer using it's (reasonably competent) onboard audio. I understand the listening experience is subjective, but if I can narrow it down to a short list, I can work on getting my head on various items to see how they work for me. My Sennheiser HD212 headphones recently died, and I'm looking for a new pair. For those familiar with the particular combination of equipment, I usually used these phones at about 75% volume on my iPod Touch, although I do occasionally go up to 100%.

The HD212s just barely fit around my ears, and I found them to be reasonably comfortable - Larger cups would be fine, smaller is probably not feasible.

My normal listening environment is riding on the bus, so noise cancellation wouldn't be an unwelcome feature, but it's far from necessary.

I'm 6 feet tall, and prefer to keep my music player in my front left pocket - Cables long enough to do this are preferred. 4+ feet is great. If all else fails, though, I can use extensions without a problem.

My attention to detail in music is rather lacking, really - 192kbps LAME-encoded MP3s sound perfectly reasonable to me, although I prefer higher bitrates. I just as often listen to Pandora (which I believe is 128kbps), and it only occasionally causes me to grit my teeth at the audio quality. This may bias your answers in one of two ways - Low end phones, or phones that sound absolutely fantastic and should show me what I've been missing. Feel free to take either approach.

I'm generally more concerned with clear sound than deep bass. According to iTunes, I listen to Nightwish, Within Temptation, After Forever, Blackmoore's Night, Lacuna Coil and the like much more than Metallica, Rammstein, Stone Sour, etc.

If there's anything else you need to know, ask and I'll answer.

Looking for sleepytime headphones

tomwheeler — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:05:11 -0800

I like to listen to the radio in bed at night, but my wife doesn't. Can you recommend some good headphones? I'm seeking suggestions for good headphones. I've had some that were adequate, but the last of these just broke and I need to replace them. My definition of "good":

Should leak very little sound

Reasonably padded and comfortable to wear while one ear is against a pillow

Rugged enough to withstand occasional 3' drops to a hardwood floor due to my sleep-induced clumsiness

Having a volume control on the cord or headphones themselves would be a big plus

Good sound quality, though it needn't be stellar since the source is either a clock radio or MP3 player

I'm willing to spend up to $100 for the perfect set, but less expensive is better. Also, I don't like earbuds or any type of device that actually goes into the ear canal, so I am looking more for this style (and coincidentally, the "adequate" ones which just failed were a cheaper version of the one pictured).

How to keep earbud headphones untangled

H. Roark — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:22:47 -0800

Tips for preventing earbud-style headphones from tangling? Seems like everytime time I go to grab the thing there is this minute long ritual of untangling them. Must be a better way. The shuffle itself seems to small for wrapping them around it to work.

iPhone OS 3.0 Questions

Effigy2000 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:37:22 -0800

With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, I have some questions that I'd like answered. One relates to Stereo Bluetooth headphone recommendations, and the others relate to internet tethering. Firstly, let's get to my questions about the new ability to tether devices to your iPhone in iPhone 0S 3.0.

1. Most reports suggest that those carriers that do end up allowing tethering will charge you for it. Why? I ask because I don't understand their reasoning for charging for tethering and would like to know if there is a legitimate reason to do so aside from profiteering. Tethering a device to your iPhone won't allow you to get any more data than you already pay for in your data packs, right? If so, there's no data you're getting for free and theoretically no extra strain on their network. So what is the phone companies justification for essentially charging you twice for the same data allocation?
2. How would a phone company even know that a device has been tethered to your phone and is using the data? How do they differentiate between your iPhone using data and your tethered device using data?
3. Would it be possible to tether an iPod Touch (2G) to an iPhone?
4. Has anyone read anything about Telstra (Australia) enabling tethering? My Google-fu has failed me.

And now onto my final question, which is much simpler. Stereo Bluetooth headset recommendations. iPhone 0S 3.0 has unlocked the iPod Touch's Bluetooth capabilities to allow for stereo Bluetooth headsets to be used to listen to music. I've done some research and found a few possible headphones that might be worth buying but some have weird form factors, others are 'in-ear' buds which I find uncomfortable and others are great but otherwise too expensive.

Does anyone here have any personal recommendations for a good set of stereo Bluetooth headphones, compatible with an iPod Touch, that are comfortable to wear, deliver good (or even decent) sound and don't cost the Earth?

Open Back Headphones On A Budget.

nam3d — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:54:35 -0800

Could someone please reccomend me some comfortable open back headphones with decent enough sound for under £40? Prefebly they should have a short cable (as I keep triping over my Sennheiser's). I'll be using them in conjunction with my mac, mostly listening to a lot of spoken word audio (tv shows, etc) and for light music listening.

Here's hoping you can help.

"Seasoning" headphones?

rwhe — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:17:39 -0800

Is the practice of "seasoning" headphones just supersition? In the Amazon reviews for a pair of earbuds I'm buying, I came across the claim that they sounded awful unless they were "seasoned" first by hooking them up to a constant audio source with a wide frequency range overnight or even for a few days. I googled "seasoning headphones" and came across this claim for some other headphones and earbuds, although it's not widespread.

To me this sounds like either (1) rank audiophile supersition, or (2) someone pulling the reader's leg. That's why I'm coming to AskMeFi. Opinions, please. Better, facts.

Cheers!

There's a jack stuck in my computer

Andy Harwood — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:37:25 -0800

I just unplugged my headphones from my PC to find that the top of the jack has broken off and is stuck inside the socket. Does anyone know how I could get it out?