Best in-ear earphones

Hatter The Mad · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:02

Hi

On schedule my Shure earphones are atarting to split 4 years later. I was wondering what the latest decent sets are.

I am looking to spend up to £175.

I've noticed Bowers and Wilkins' latest C5s attract good reviews and are on sale for £99 instead of £150 at an online retailer.

Are there any others I should consider?

Hatter The Mad · 26 Oct 2013 at 10:06

I see Shure SE425 comes highly recommended for under £200 a could probably find them at the top of my budget.

jkb · 28 Oct 2013 at 09:20

I don't know about 425 but I've had my shure 535 for over two years now and the are excellent.

mark2410 · 30 Oct 2013 at 15:38

well theres no such thing as "best" but seeing as you dont say what you had or what you are looking for from the new ones its hard to give a tailored suggestion.

wire-screw · 30 Oct 2013 at 15:50

mark2410 said:
well theres no such thing as "best" but seeing as you dont say what you had or what you are looking for from the new ones its hard to give a tailored suggestion.

I think there is for one person. I've been using Bose IE2's for over a year and I like them - they work.

mark2410 · 30 Oct 2013 at 15:55

having heard the bose ie2's im afraid i cant agree with you. bose as a rule, suck and ive yet to encounter anything from them that doesnt.

iamtheoneneo · 30 Oct 2013 at 16:40

Have Etymotic Research HF5 myself. Think you can get them for about £110 now, Really nice neutral sound, and no over the top base.
Excellent customer service as well (US Based) pair broke after 12 months and they instantly replaced them no questions asked.

have you seen this amazing collection of reviews spread across a wide variety of price ranges, its how I decided on mine, worth thinking about what you want sound wise and reading through them, then seeing if someone stocks it in the UK:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/mul...red-custom-art-music-one-added-10-28-13-p-796

personally I have always wanted a pair of Fischer Audio DBA-02's but never managed to find an importer that deals with them.

davidcotton · 31 Oct 2013 at 19:28

topdogheadphones have the mkIIi's in stock for £120 atm.

NirK · 8 Nov 2013 at 05:00

http://www.head-fi.org/t/478568/mul...red-custom-art-music-one-added-10-28-13-p-796

Nick1881 · 8 Nov 2013 at 08:54

I have Jays Q-Jays and always been happy with them. KEF also now do earphones and are said to be good.

Psycho Sonny · 8 Nov 2013 at 12:21

those E10 things which are less than <£50 apparently are the best for the money.

after that you end up paying a lot more for little return, unless you buy headphones.

NirK · 8 Nov 2013 at 15:47

Psycho Sonny said:
those E10 things which are less than <£50 apparently are the best for the money.

after that you end up paying a lot more for little return, unless you buy headphones.

Not really IEM's do get better the more you pay, but after about £300 things start to get very expensive for small differences. For a cheap pair I highly recommend the Shure SE215.

kevpuk · 8 Nov 2013 at 16:36

I went with SE315s after looking a few months back - my e3c's finally died, and I was prepared to break away from Shure if needs be.
In the end, however, for the budget, I think that the SE315s were an excellent choice. Have to say that IEMs (well, Shure ones anyway) have come on a lot over the years - not just in sound quality, but also fit!!

NirK · 8 Nov 2013 at 16:41

kevpuk said:
I went with SE315s after looking a few months back - my e3c's finally died, and I was prepared to break away from Shure if needs be.
In the end, however, for the budget, I think that the SE315s were an excellent choice. Have to say that IEMs (well, Shure ones anyway) have come on a lot over the years - not just in sound quality, but also fit!!

Yes Shure are a great brand.

Raymond Lin · 8 Nov 2013 at 16:51

I just bought some sound magic E10M, wanted the mic, it'll do since it's for trains and stuff from my phone and serious audio sessions.

Raymond Lin · 9 Nov 2013 at 18:05

E10 arrived today, been using it practically all day and my impressions are that it is good value for £40 (mic version). Sounds quality is better than some but not as good as my ety, or full size headphones. The seal is okay, not the best, the mic is poor, made a phone call and it was so bad I unplugged it and used my phone normally, the other side just couldn't hear me. For some reason I can hear the background noise that the mic is picking up through the earphones. The remote works but it is difficult to feel what button you are pressing by touch, they should have added a little pointy bit on the middle button so you know you are pressing that, because they are all flat, you can't feel it at all. Half the time when I want to turn the volume up or down I am pressing the flat area where there is no button, or when I want to skip a song I end up pressing the volume button.

So my thoughts, it is price just about right, and I wouldn't say it is better than £100 headphones or my £70 ety because it is not. It is good for sound quality, but has a few design flaws, and a terrible mic.

Build quality is ok I guess, will see how durable it is, and as bad as apple earphones are, they last for ages.