Okay, so I have an iPod now

[tentoze]

Just picked up a 30 gb. Of course, it won't be of any use to me until I get back home to my music at the end of the week, but it will be fully loaded and ready to travel by 10/9 for the long flight to S. Korea.

Who has good recs for replacing these funky little ear things with something that will sound 1/2 way decent?

 

[mhardy6647]

EDIT: sorry, I just saw this was posted to a device-specific forum, so I retract my supposedly "humorous" remarks.

FWIW, I think I am going to "dub" my 30-plus hours of wintertime "holiday" music to it for this holiday season, though... whoo-hoo!

 

[luvvinvinyl]

I have no personal recs for you, Eric, but I see people getting on the bus, with all manner of earbud/headphone plugged into their iPod. I do recall seeing several patrons wearing SR-60s, which surprised me. Little Sony on-ear, or the hook-over-the-ear seem to be the most popular. Reason enough to avoid those, I would think.

That is not a slam on the gear, but a statement that I know my customer demographic.

 

[nbourbaki]

I have a pair of Shure E3C that I love. Nice upgrade from the stock phones, I got mine for around $150 USD. They go over the ears and into your ear canal. They are very effective in blocking out noise. I'm on a plane nearly every week and I always have my iPod and E3C with me.

 

[ashnut]

Ditto the Shure comment. I've got an office mate that swears by them - and he did a lot of research. He says the low end on them is fantastic. disclaimer: Info is 2nd hand, as I don't have a pair. I wear the 80's over-the-top style. Yup, im :nerd:

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Shures for sure...

 

[Negotiableterms]

Grumpy already told me I'm grounded for this, but the beneifts are so high, I can't just not tell the truth.

Get a pair of Bose, noise-cancelling headphones that go over your ears. The sound is not great, but not bad, but the noise-cancelling is fantastic for planes. You fly in almost complete silence, and after a long flight, instead of being tired, you're fine.

I have the QuietComfort 2 model. There are other makes and models, but of all the ones I tried, these worked the best.

I know, I know, they're Bose. Learn to live with it.

 

[thedelihaus]

For over-ear headphones, I'd look at the both-reasonably-priced Grado 60s or Sennheiser 497s. The 497s are an excellent affordable Sennheiser, with very comfortable ear cups and a plastic, durable construction. The cups also do a decent job of keeping sound out, without making one impervious to traffic, ect.

I chose the 497s for the last two reasons, specifically for travelling, and carrying them in my bag.

The only downfall is the cord to them is 15 feet long- too long for an iPod, but I use a velcro tie to bind the cord.

The Grado 60s have improved their ear foam comfort as of late, over the former uncomfortable foam, so that's a step up for them. The cord is beefy, and the sound is great. I'd be concerned they'd take a bit more of a beating, wear and tear wise, over time though, due to the design of them. Nothing to worry about, but maybe not as durable as the Sennheisers. And they do let in a tad more sound than the Sennheisers.

I bought the Grados as a gift for my brother-in-law. He loves them. So do I, when I get a chance to listen to them.

The Grados are very nice sounding but many suggest (including me) to let them break in a while to sound their best. The Sennheisers are good to go right out of the box.

 

[tentoze]

I dunno, Counselor, that's a slippery slope- bad enough an iPod, but then to jump straight into Bose headphones... I don't think I could ever wash that stain off.

I'm listening to The Flatlanders' Wheels of Fortune on it right now- it ain't HI-FI, but it sure beats the farking cable tv in this hotel room.

 

[thedelihaus]

Those earbuds are lousy that come stock with the ipod.

Add the $60/$70 Grados or Sennheisers and you'll be lots happier, for sure.

Did you compress the music at a low bitrate? 256 sounds good to me, AAC format, VBR (variable bitrate) encoding. This will use more battery power, however, as the drive will need to work a bit more than if you encoded at a lower bitrate.

My past roomate had the Bose. They were good sounding, and the noise-cancelling feature worked well. Good for tuning out the crying bay, nagging girlfriend, yammering drunk on the bus, ect...

Bose must have subcontracted them out, as it's a decent quality product. Therefore, they sure didn't build or design 'em.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

It's all about the music.

 

[whyaskit]

AKG K26P, Not to big, or expensive but sound good and have an easy load for the ipod. I find them comfortable but there are other cans that are like a big pillow and they are a lot more comfortable. They are also 2-3 times the price.

I do not like in ear headphones. The only ones I use are the $15 Sony's, they are better than the ipod phones and are cheap.


Edit - I should say that it is the slight bass lift of the AKG's that I really like with the ipod, as this is a weak spot, at least IMO. Also, with the treble being lower it helps to minimize any roughness that can be a distraction, a weakness of all digital, again my opinion.

I have a third gen ipod and the latest models may have better reproduction.

 

[Duffinator]

I have the Sony EX71SL in ear headphones and they are quite a bit better than the stock phones. I use my iPod when flying and the in ear phones help to keep the drone of the engines to a mild roar. If you are looking at full size headphones and you fly a lot I'd look at either noise canceling or sealed phones to help with the noise on the plane. When traveling iPods and the like beat the crap out of cassette and CD players. My new Nano is supposed to get 24 hours on a charge but I haven't played it that much yet to confirm. BTW, the new phones do sound better than the old ones but still not as good as my Sonys.

 

[thedelihaus]

I've got some in-ear sonys that sell around $40-$50 at Best Buy and the like, that do real well at keeping noise out, but it does cause me concern about hearing damage, having that item stuck in your ear.

I'm not typically a fan of Sony, but they do sound well. Can't really compare to the quality and piece of mind of the sennheisers or Grados that fit over the ear.

 

[ozmoid]

I'm listening to The Flatlanders' Wheels of Fortune on it right now- it ain't HI-FI, but it sure beats the farking cable tv in this hotel room.

Encode at the highest bitrate you can, VBR if your software/file format supports it. If you have a Mac (Apple, not the Amp) use Apple's lossless codec in iTunes, I don't know if it's supported on the PC, might be.

The VBR increases the bitrate when the music is "dense", giving more detail.

What you give up is storage space in exchange for better sounding music.

 

[tentoze]

I ripped the Flatlanders in lossless ACK or GACK or FLACK, or whatever the hell Jobs is selling this week.

Speaking of all that, I really hate having to deal with itunes in order to interact with the ipod- I don't care for that piece of software at all.

 

[Negotiableterms]

iTunes is weird, if for no other reason than you can't download anything other than MP3, which doesn't sound all that good. They actually never tell you that. You can load in ALC from a CD, and that sounds pretty good.

There are other noise-cancelling units, but none that work as well as the Bose. I was chagrined to discover that fact, believe me.

 

[ozmoid]

I ripped the Flatlanders in lossless ACK or GACK or FLACK, or whatever the hell Jobs is selling this week.

Speaking of all that, I really hate having to deal with itunes in order to interact with the ipod- I don't care for that piece of software at all.

:lmao: OK, I vote for GACK as the flavor-of-the-month!

I don't have an iPod, so I can't comment on the interface regarding that point. OTOH, if you need to manage a library of digital tunes for easy cd-ripping or computer playback, I find it excellent. For me.
YMMV. Management is not responsible for lost or stolen articles. Please keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Just picked up a 30 gb. Of course, it won't be of any use to me until I get back home to my music at the end of the week, but it will be fully loaded and ready to travel by 10/9 for the long flight to S. Korea.

Who has good recs for replacing these funky little ear things with something that will sound 1/2 way decent?

Etymotic ER-6i -- best IEM (in-ear monitors) without an amp. I love mine. <US$100 at one of the cheaper online places. Buy.com, I think? I forget...

For non-IEM type headphones, the Sony MDR-V6/MDR-7506 (either one, they're the same thing) are the best without an amp as well. Also <US$100.

EDIT: forgot I was talking about airplane flight -- forget the Sony's, they don't isolate worth carp. They Ety's do -- extremely well, once you get a tight seal, but you'll have to take them in and out to talk to the stewardess, so you might want to bring along some flash cards that read "the chicken", "beast", "pork", "veggies", "drink", and, of course, "How do I join the mile high club?"

For non-IEM's in the <US$100 range, I change my recommendation to the Koss Pro 4AA. They have the best combination of high isolation/decent fidelity. I have no idea how easily they are driven by the iPod's internal amp, though.

PS I know nothing about noise-cancellation type headphones. If that's what you go for, you're on your own. I'd be happy to point you to a site or two, so let me know if that's what you're going for.

 

[KingBubba]

I'll second the dropping of the earbuds for headphones. You'll be much happier and your ears will stay healthier. Secondly I would advise others to avoid the Ipod entirely and instead go for one of the Creative line of MP3 players. The whole Itunes thing is getting way too controlled. DRM, downloading, file transfers and other simple actions can become a very complex problem with the Ipod. Digital Rights Management with the Ipod will be a problem with older files that were "obtained" without the DRM key. Just the fact that you do not have to use the Itunes software to transfer files is a big plus right away. Just my $.02.