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For those that use earphones a lot at work or on public transit or whatever, I also highly recommend Etymotic's in-ear isolating earphones. They are basically

For those that use earphones a lot at work or on public transit or whatever, I also highly recommend Etymotic's in-ear isolating earphones. They are basically those musician's earplugs with a small driver in the tip. They reduce external noise on-par with foam plugs, so I can listen to my music at much lower volumes rather than cranking the volume of the music to drown out my surroundings. The sound quality is quite good as well. I have the hf3 model and they are by far better than any other earphones I've used that are sub $200.

iamatworknow 10y ago
Their headphones are great in terms of the quality of sound they produce, but their durability leaves a lot to be desired. I've used both the MC5's and HF5's and both ended up with shorting out on one side (HF5) or falling apart (MC5) on me within just a few months.
- mi100hael 10y ago
  Interesting, mine have held up pretty well. My hf3s are going on four years old. I've used them on a near daily basis at work and fairly frequently under a motorcycle helmet. The exterior sleeve of the cords is starting to fray at the attachment points to the actual earphones, but they still work just fine. I expect I'll have to finally replace them within the next year or so, but I'll do it happily because they've outlived everything else I can remember in my daily rotation including two phones, a laptop, a wallet, and a backpack.
  - iamatworknow 10y ago
    >The exterior sleeve of the cords is starting to fray at the attachment points to the actual earphones, but they still work just fine. That's how it started with my MC5's. I put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the fray in order to postpone their demise but ultimately the plastic housing of the driver itself broke. The HF5's one day just stopped working out of one ear. I was never particularly rough with them or anything and only really used them at the office, but that was it for me. I since moved on to a pair of Sennheiser MM 550-Xs but stopped using them because there was Bluetooth interference in my office (every one of about 70 desks in an open plan has a Bluetooth phone headset). Plus, the band messed with my hair and scalp. Now I'm on a pair of Sennheiser CX 686G SPORTS that I originally bought for running but now use at the office. Sound's good enough and the build quality is superb since it was designed to be tossed about while doing active stuff. I would gladly go back to Etymotic if they came out with something new in the $100ish price range, but for now I'll stick with Sennheiser. I've bought probably 6 different pairs of headphones from Sennheiser of varying styles in the past decade or so, and they all still work (with varying degrees of wear and tear). The only time a pair has broken on me was because I stupidly tried putting them on after they spent a night in a below-freezing car and didn't give them time to warm up, snapping the plastic headband, and their warranty service still replaced them with no questions asked.
darrylb42 10y ago
Shure SE series are good for this as well. Sometimes I just have the earphones in with no music to cut background noise.

iamatworknow 10y ago

Their headphones are great in terms of the quality of sound they produce, but their durability leaves a lot to be desired. I've used both the MC5's and HF5's and both ended up with shorting out on one side (HF5) or falling apart (MC5) on me within just a few months.

mi100hael 10y ago
Interesting, mine have held up pretty well. My hf3s are going on four years old. I've used them on a near daily basis at work and fairly frequently under a motorcycle helmet. The exterior sleeve of the cords is starting to fray at the attachment points to the actual earphones, but they still work just fine. I expect I'll have to finally replace them within the next year or so, but I'll do it happily because they've outlived everything else I can remember in my daily rotation including two phones, a laptop, a wallet, and a backpack.
- iamatworknow 10y ago
  >The exterior sleeve of the cords is starting to fray at the attachment points to the actual earphones, but they still work just fine. That's how it started with my MC5's. I put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the fray in order to postpone their demise but ultimately the plastic housing of the driver itself broke. The HF5's one day just stopped working out of one ear. I was never particularly rough with them or anything and only really used them at the office, but that was it for me. I since moved on to a pair of Sennheiser MM 550-Xs but stopped using them because there was Bluetooth interference in my office (every one of about 70 desks in an open plan has a Bluetooth phone headset). Plus, the band messed with my hair and scalp. Now I'm on a pair of Sennheiser CX 686G SPORTS that I originally bought for running but now use at the office. Sound's good enough and the build quality is superb since it was designed to be tossed about while doing active stuff. I would gladly go back to Etymotic if they came out with something new in the $100ish price range, but for now I'll stick with Sennheiser. I've bought probably 6 different pairs of headphones from Sennheiser of varying styles in the past decade or so, and they all still work (with varying degrees of wear and tear). The only time a pair has broken on me was because I stupidly tried putting them on after they spent a night in a below-freezing car and didn't give them time to warm up, snapping the plastic headband, and their warranty service still replaced them with no questions asked.

darrylb42 10y ago

Shure SE series are good for this as well. Sometimes I just have the earphones in with no music to cut background noise.