I’ve always preferred good sound. This is one of key reasons I can’t bear the sight (read sound) of those shaky camrips. And, when this is combined with taste is music, it becomes quite tricky. I’ve recently got Audio Technica ATH-M50x Matte Gray (Limited Edition) and the moment I put it on, I was like – Wow! These are epic. They are actually cheaper than my current existing set of earphones/headphones. In the past I’ve owned some decent earphones/headphones but there are some memorable ones.
- Philips – Really don’t remember the model number and had it in early 2009. It was a unique design choice. It was just like another earphone but had special protrusion for in-ear as well. Sounded really good but were quite leaky. They are here for the design philosophy and I’ve seen many earphones with this design later.
- HiFiMan RE-0– One of my favourite ones. Sounded neutral and had enough punch. They were in-ear so pretty much noise isolating and definitely non-leaky (not by much). They served me the longest when a friend lost one of its sleeves and rendered it mostly unusable. Read about what happened to it and my next earphones here.
- Shure SE425 – This is probably one of the best earphones ever (that I could & can buy!) Sound Quality- Check, Bass Reproduction (As per my choice) – Check, Noise Isolation – Check. I don’t think I can ask more and don’t think it gets any better.
I never bought any other earphones post Shure SE425 (bought around October, 2014) but got some cans. It’s time for headphones.
- Audio Technica ATH-M50x – These are the best headphones I’ve ever used. Period. It has punchy bass, accurate sound production. Felt a treble bit high for taste but nothing is perfect and this is not actually distracting but rather gives you all the details you ever need.
- Bose QuiteComfort 25 – Purely because Active Noise Cancellation on Bose rocks. Even though Shure SE-425 does the job for me but this goes a step extra. They definitely don’t sound great but when Noise Cancellation is switched on, it takes you to another dimension. No need to crank up the volume yet be away from the noise, which Noise Isolation can not do.
It’s not that the other’ve I’ve are not good but given a chance, I’ve pick one of these above. There are still few which are good in their own respect and deserve honourable mention.
- Nokia BH-905i – These on-ear headphones gave me the convenience of using either wired or wireless. They had active noise cancellation. Can take calls with it. Decent battery life and looked cool. Cherry on top, they did sound really good. They did all this long ago while being cheaper than Bose Noise Cancellation headphones.
- Bose SoundSport Wireless – I had to mention this coz these are the only wireless earphones I’ve got (I got tools to make wired ones wireless & they work). They are sweat proof and thanks to StayHere+ tips, they don’t fall out. Decent sound but I feel they sound better on higher volumes, takes calls and really ideal for working out.
If you have one of those, do share your experiences. If you feel something I should listen to (considering I can buy 😉 or arrange a listening) or need more details on these, do let me know in comments below.