Good earbuds for my iPod?

July 24, 2011 6:37 AM

My Klipsch S2 earbuds are worn out. Any suggestions for a replacement that has the best bang for your buck? I'm using them with an iPod Nano 6th Gen.
posted by antgly to Technology (10 answers total)

I've really loved my pair of Ultimate Ears 700. Good mid-range, bass. You can probably find a pair for around the £100 mark now, although when they first came out they were closer to £160.

Note: Recently the stereo jack came loose on my pair. I ended up cutting the wire and re-soldering myself a different jack. I wouldn't consider this a design feature though. I'd had the headphones for well over a year, and think I caused the failure myself, through slight misuse. The headphones themselves are built very sturdily, much more so than Klipsch I have seen up close.

If/when I replace these I will probably go for another Ultimate Ears set. They do a series with replaceable cables... Solved!
posted by 0bvious at 6:52 AM on July 24, 2011

Anti-recommendation: don't buy Maximo earphones. Mine have died 4 times in the three years I've had them (same manufacturing defect each time), been RMAed 3x until they broke again two weeks ago and Maximo is evidently no longer responding to RMA requests. I was considering buying Klipsch as replacements actually - is there some reason you're not getting another pair or having yours RMAed?
posted by Gortuk at 6:53 AM on July 24, 2011

Response by poster: It doesn't seem that the S2s are built to withstand even a little wear.
posted by antgly at 7:07 AM on July 24, 2011

* These are the UE upgrades (replaceable cables) I will probably go for next SUPER.FI 5 PRO
posted by 0bvious at 7:32 AM on July 24, 2011

I love all my Shures. They are built to last and have a fantastic warranty program for when they don't quite make it.
posted by kcm at 8:36 AM on July 24, 2011

Another vote for Shure. I love mine so much; they're the only things that keep me sane at work. Great warranty, replaceable cables, amazing sound, and wonderful noise isolation.
posted by cgg at 8:42 AM on July 24, 2011

when hunting for cans, i came across a lot of recommendations for Shures for earbuds. check out head-fi to learn more than you wanted to know. ear buds are referred to as IEMs, in ear monitors.
posted by nadawi at 9:56 AM on July 24, 2011

I am using a set of vmoda ear-buds with my iPhone 4 right now. The sound is great and my set has a mic, which you won't need, I guess. The price on their ear-buds ranges from hundreds to about $20 US. So you should find one to suit your pocket.
posted by Splunge at 12:44 PM on July 24, 2011

I bought ear-candy ones a couple of times and they were insanely, dangerously loud. Sounded fine turned down but were like 2x louder than anything else I've used.
posted by sully75 at 2:40 PM on July 24, 2011

Lucky for you, it's a great time for new IEMs, the market is super-competitive, and you can get an excellent for under $100. Head-fi can be illuminating, but it's very flavour of the month and can be more confusing than helpful at times.

I recommend In Ear Matters for the best round-up of generally cheapish IEMs.

FYI if you have small ear canals, I found Ultimate Ears to be both large and uncomfortable, and isolation - for me - was so-so. Shures/Westone etc much more comfortable. Now I swear by Soundmagic PL50s; they are only fifty bucks. Do they sound as good as my $400 Shures? No. Do they sound 90% as good? You betcha.
posted by smoke at 4:47 PM on July 24, 2011 [1 favorite]