I’ve been mostly happy with my Shure E3C headphones, but I only got them because I had some E2Cs which the cable went bad on. Now, right before I get on a plane and need them most, one of the heads just broke off the E3C and I highly doubt I’m going to ever buy a Shure product again, and I’m no longer recommending them to friends. Fool me twice…
See I can totally understand where you are coming from. I’ve gone through two pairs of e2s, but I still love them beyond belief. Perhaps if I looked at another brand that makes sound isolation headphones, but Shure is the king. If you are in within two years though, they are very good about servicing/replacing them at no cost to you. (besides shipping)
Hrmm. I had the Etymotic ER-6 headphones and I thought they sounded bad and I didn’t like them at all. I read a lot of good things about the Shures but you are having problems with them now. The Sony MDR-EX51LP is supposed to sound great for a $30 set of headphones. I still have my Grado sr-80s that are 6+ years old that I enjoy each day.
The thing is… headphones are such a high wear device… I can’t bring myself to lay down that kind of cash for them.
I might pick up some MDRs at the airport or something.
I’m at the airport and I actually forgot the entire iPod! So the headphones don’t really matter anymore. 🙂
I have the E3C’s and love them, but if you want to try something cheap and durable, go with Koss. The Koss “Plug” is a great, if not a bit boomy, in hear headphone, sure to block out almost anything around you. If you don’t care about sound isolation, the Koss Porta Pro cannot be beat at $35-50, probably close to the $100 range of headphones. I love mine and use them whenever my HD600’s are a bit much, ei) jogging. 🙂
So far no problems with my Shures except that the cable twists and get stiff… i am sure it will short out soon enough, the cable is twisted INSIDE of the plastic tubing, going to guess that is not a good thing.
I’ve been pleased with my E3C’s — aside from an annoying situation trying to get replacement foam tips (ordered from the Shure website, they shipped to the wrong address, impossible to get in touch with them, etc.) I found an old bag of Etymotic foam tips, which work great after some simple razorblade surgery.
As mentioned though, you can’t beat the 2 Year Warranty on the Shure’s. I had terrible luck Etymotic’s — a loose wire connection rendered them useless after the warranty ran out (this happened twice).
I have two sets of Sony MDR-EX51LP’s and I use them as ‘around-town’ headphones for street, hiking and exercising — times when I really don’t want complete sound isolation. I find the Shure’s are a bit cumbersome for walking around in anyway. The sound on the Sony’s is not great — muddy with an emphasis towards oomphy bass. But, they do provide some in-ear sound isolation, and relatively cheap. (I’m no audiophile, just my humble opinion.)
Ironically, the first time I tried to view this page, I got a PHP error.
Sound isolation headphones tend to give me head/earaches so I’m happy with my £15 (~£30) Panasonic HT225s – full size headphones which are great (for non-portable use obviously)
I still like the sony’s. The cables on these ones seem to have some troubles too. My last pair the cable kidna…melted? I dunno how to explain it, but the rubber of the chord got flat and sticky. It was quite weird. I’m hoping these new ones don’t do it — but hey for 40-50 $ I’m not too sad.
Linky!
Yeah for some reason I did an `svn update` right before walking out the door, and there was a conflict in a file I had changed but not committed directly.
And I thought it was just me… wow, I’ve had 3 (or is it 4?) sets of Shure headphones — 2’s and 5’s. Three of the four have broken. I love the sound quality and the tiny package, so I guess I was too willing to blame myself for mistreating them. Now, hearing y’all talk… Hmmmmmm… Thanks for the additional perspective!
Check out the Sennheiser PX 100s. They sound quite good for headphones of their size and price range. And they fold up into a little case for travel. They are open, but that makes walking around safer and more social if somebody stops you to talk.
I have a set of Sony MDR EX-51 LP’s and they work magnificintly. They are inexpensive, but block out nearly all outside noise (far beyond any noise cancelling set) and have excellent bass response. Whether it be the subways of DC or the buses to school, I cannot hear a thing.
Since you had those quite expensive headphones, I would reccomend the Etymotic ER-6i headphones.
http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx
They are $150 and are definitly the best in that price range. They recieved better scores than the top rated Shure headphones too!
Try the GoodCans site for headphone reviews:
http://www.goodcans.com/
The Grado ‘phones have gorgeous sound, but may annoy people sitting next to you. However, there are many more on that site to look at.
Why don’t you return your headphones in under their “2 year” warranty?
You might want to check into these as they’re kinda nifty looking:
http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/24274
There’s a new set of in-ear headphones that I’d recommend:
similar to the Sony MDR EX71s, but cheaper and has better cable quality the panasonic RP-HJE50s can be gotten for under 40 dollars (canadian), and is readily available at bestbuy or futureshop. I own 2 pairs of these, with a 2 year warranty (free replacement from futureshop if they bust… i go through headphones like every 3 months) But so far (2 months) they have been fine, actually the bass sounds better now then when I first put it on. It comes with 3 sizes of in-ear silicon pieces.
If you live in europe there is a better replacement, the Creative EP-630s have been compared to the Shure E4Cs in a German audiophile magazine and have been said to come close to the quality of the shures but come at about 1/10th the price or so. You can get them for around 19.99 pounds. I’m waiting to buy a few pairs of the creative ones once I can get my hands on them in Canada here…
I had one of the heads broken off my e3cs too.
Seeing the material being a polystyrol plastic, a plastic glue (i.e. revell modelling glue) works very well, for it ‘melts’ the plastic at the joint, so there is no more joint as such – it’s like as if the two pieces were casted as one.
I am very satisfied with the result. It’s been almost half a year now, and it still working well. I’m even thinking of breaking off the other head to rejoint it this way 🙂
I have had no issues with my E4c’s and I love them because of the outstanding sound. However, I do have a friend who had an E3c break. He contacted Shure and they replaced them, no questions asked. Apparently they have a 2-year warranty. Given the superior sound and the high outlay, I’m comfortable with Shure given their commitment to supporting them with a 2-year warranty. This is a high-wear product and warranties this generous for headphones are not common.
The Shures are the best headphones I’ve ever owned. And every pair has broken in less than a year. 4 pairs, 4 broken. I’ll buy them again, but this is the last time.