Please help me find skin-friendly earphones

May 20, 2009 12:05 PM

I love my in-ear headphones (regular old Creative EP-630s). Unfortunately, I've always been prone to -- TMI warning -- pimples and blackheads inside my ears, and these are exacerbating the problem. What kind of headphones should I switch to?

I use my headphones on my commute, at work, and when falling asleep (so flatter designs are prefered). On any given day, I could be using my headphones for 10 hours, but more often it's just 3-4 hours.

My most essential requirement is that they be absolutely silent to others nearby, and block at least some external sound. I sometimes listen to embarassing music, so I'd like to keep that to myself while at the same time blocking out my annoying office mates.

Expensive, audiophile-quality headphones would be wasted on me. Really comfortable, reasonably cheap and available in the UK are all huge bonuses.

posted by Ildeth to Shopping (4 answers total)

I'm not sure where you draw the line at audiophile grade but my Sennheiser HD280 Pros (recommended after some askmefing of my own) are great. They sound good, fit well, and are more or less audio-leakage free. They can be had for under $100 without too much searching. I'm not sure I'd try to fall asleep in them though.
posted by chairface at 1:34 PM on May 20, 2009

Honestly it's going to be hard to find headphones that aren't earbuds but still fit all of those parameters. For the sound leaking requirement, you'll want headphones that have a hard plastic back and that completely cover your ears like these Sennheisers. The problem with those is that although they are comfortable to wear they are also big and clunky. Most smaller and compact ones won't be silent and will probably be less comfortable.

Also, you may think you'd be fine with cheap headphones because you are used to cheap earbuds and don't know how bad cheap headphones sound. In my experience due to the fact that it's way easier to make decent earbuds, $20 earbuds sound as good as $60+ normal headphones.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:43 PM on May 20, 2009

Response by poster: Nice, that's the kind of thing I'm looking for! It's probably at the top of my price range, but doable for me. Just reading through some reviews now.

I'm thinking I might have to get a separate pair for sleeping, or hope that my husband can put up with speakers.
posted by Ildeth at 1:48 PM on May 20, 2009

Response by poster: Oh, and I'm more into function than fashion - I don't mind big chunky headphones, and I can put up with looking stupid on the bus as long as I'm comfy and can ignore the rest of the world!
posted by Ildeth at 1:50 PM on May 20, 2009