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Kougar
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Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:15 pm

I bought a pair of Shure E3c earphones something near ten years ago and they have held up remarkably well, at least until today. Put them on to go for a walk and one of the earphones is completely dead. No wire damage, speaker damage, or water damage, just went from working perfect to dead. Debating popping the plastic to open it.

There's a lot of names I don't recognize that produce sound-isolating earphones, what's a good brand or model these days? 1More, Audeze, and PSB Speakers seem to be the top three favored by Consumer Reports. Any specific audio sites with cred that'd be good to look up models on?
 
G8torbyte
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 2:20 pm

Hey Kougar, check out Massdrop.com. They have an active audiophile community with discussion boards covering the earbud types through circumaural version phones.
I signed up with them a few months ago and did a couple drops on personal audio items.
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CScottG
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 3:30 pm

Not cheap.. but it's a good isolation design with air-flow and tactical (bass feel) quality:

https://newatlas.com/nura-headphones-review/52214/


..if you just want a good IEM that measures better than lab-grade Eytomotic Research headphones then this one:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 014Y-00001

..and it is cheap, and you can purchase a few as backup once they do break.



IF you don't want noise isolation, but do want an IEM that sounds particularly good:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24461
 
DancinJack
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:20 pm

Etymotic. It's really the ear tips that are going to give you the isolation and less so the actual earphone. Etymotic makes some really great, neutral IEMs that you might like, and they have great isolation with the included tips.

https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html

Most of their models are "good enough." No idea what your budget is but they more or less have something for everyone money wise. Might I suggest the HF5. You should be able to find reviews of most models around on the net.

https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/hf5.html
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Kougar
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:58 pm

Actually, that's a good idea. For some reason didn't dawn on me to see what was up on Massdrop. I sourced my AudioEngine speakers from them. Will add Etymotic to the list to look into, is crazy how many brands exist now.

Scott, that Monolith M300 is definitely an intriguing design, hadn't seen those before. Alas I need sound isolation, not just for keeping the volume lower or better audio but because I like to use these things when mowing the yard or when rarely flying. The Shure E3c's were awesome in how much sound they would block with most of the tip designs. I could actually hear most of the range of music while keeping the volume at a safe level for things like mowing the yard, or anything else I needed ear protection for.

Bigger question, does anyone have any audiophile review / analysis site recommendations I can use for researching models?
 
ludi
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:05 pm

CScottG wrote:
..if you just want a good IEM that measures better than lab-grade Eytomotic Research headphones then this one:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 014Y-00001

..and it is cheap, and you can purchase a few as backup once they do break.

"Specifications / Features: Works well and grabbed a frequency."
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Kougar
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:02 pm

ludi wrote:
CScottG wrote:
..if you just want a good IEM that measures better than lab-grade Eytomotic Research headphones then this one:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 014Y-00001

..and it is cheap, and you can purchase a few as backup once they do break.

"Specifications / Features: Works well and grabbed a frequency."


"The sound is up, good clean and fresh" is even better. :lol:
 
CScottG
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Re: Sound-Isolating Earphone Recommendations

Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:24 pm

:lol: :P

A sound researcher mentioned that this one was better (objectively) than those he'd originally used (Etymotics) on a survey.

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