ZEN AURVANA, Shure E2c-n, JBud hi-fi,

[dan]

Hi,
I'm in the market shopping for earbud for oh say $50 that offers good sound with excellent noise-cancellation as I am often in noisy places like coffee shops.

Of course I've done some googling and research, visited BB and other retail stores, so I've heard of

Creative ZEN AURVANA, Shure E2c-n Sound Isolating Earphones by Shure,


Is there a clear winner in the above list for sound reproduction and noise-cancellation? Is there a product similar in price, features, ergonomics as above that I've not mentioned.

Any recommendation? I figure $50 is fair given that I may accidentally lose it. Rather lose/stolen/ $50 than say those fancy $500 bose earbuds.


This link over at amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=moz ... lla-search

shows that for example the shure e2c-n has a 130+ reviews. Anyone experience/knowledge here?

I'm willing to buy the less expensive sony models for $30 if they are just as good or the Jbud for $19. Is this a case of you get what you pay for, or more like the other products are overpriced marketing?

I have no personal experience with these, just the earbuds that came with my eSansa

[nightmorph]

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[dan]

The Shure E2C does indeed seem to get great reviews everywhere, though pay attention to notes on fit and noiseblocking.

You should add the j-Jays by Jays to your list of candidates. They seem to be very highly regarded, and they're not in the unfriendly J-style cord. I think I've decided to buy some of these, instead of the E2C or Sennheiser MX760.

I've been looking for some 'phones worthy of my new Sansa Fuze, and the j-Jays are the most attractive that I've found so far. At least, in the $50 range.

The Zen has a lot of complaints that it tends to fail after a short period. Considering the price I think that's kinda scary.

[blackworx]

I have used a pair of E2C's for a year now and I really like them. That's not to say there aren't better ones out there, but I think for the price you probably won't get better.

The sound with my Cowon D2 is well balanced and neutral. There's no overblown bass or zingy treble and they're not tiring to listen to in any way. I sometimes find myself wanting a little extra attack, but that's often down to the individual track and also the fact that the Shures have spoiled me - compared to lesser earphones these are very fast and tight.

The biggest benefit is obviously the isolation factor and not needing to crank up the volume to drown out external noise.

The only thing I would warn about is the fit. It's not for everyone. I recommended these to a friend and he didn't like them at all, no matter what earpieces he tried. For my ears the small foam earpieces provide the best isolation and most comfortable fit. I myself start to get a little discomfort after extended listening, e.g. on long trips, say after about 5 or 6 hours.

Some people have complained about the cord getting cracked near where it goes into the earpiece. As long as you follow instructions and don't yank them out by the cord, this won't be a problem. I've used mine almost every day for a year and there's no sign of any stress.

There are also people moaning about a lack of bass. The only way I can imagine anybody coming to that conclusion is if they haven't put them in their ears properly.

[dan]

I have used a pair of E2C's for a year now and I really like them. That's not to say there aren't better ones out there, but I think for the price you probably won't get better.

The sound with my Cowon D2 is well balanced and neutral. There's no overblown bass or zingy treble and they're not tiring to listen to in any way. I sometimes find myself wanting a little extra attack, but that's often down to the individual track and also the fact that the Shures have spoiled me - compared to lesser earphones these are very fast and tight.

The biggest benefit is obviously the isolation factor and not needing to crank up the volume to drown out external noise.

The only thing I would warn about is the fit. It's not for everyone. I recommended these to a friend and he didn't like them at all, no matter what earpieces he tried. For my ears the small foam earpieces provide the best isolation and most comfortable fit. I myself start to get a little discomfort after extended listening, e.g. on long trips, say after about 5 or 6 hours.

Some people have complained about the cord getting cracked near where it goes into the earpiece. As long as you follow instructions and don't yank them out by the cord, this won't be a problem. I've used mine almost every day for a year and there's no sign of any stress.

There are also people moaning about a lack of bass. The only way I can imagine anybody coming to that conclusion is if they haven't put them in their ears properly.

I'd be getting it for a creative zen mp3 player, but I can't hear it when i'm in a noisy place like a fitness center. So I've been musing over upgrading with a noise-reducing one.

[Vicotnik]

I had a pair of Shure E2C's for a while and the build quality is great but the relatively thick cables bothered me a little. That and the fact that you wear them "from behind" made them a bit to awkward for me. Sound quality was very good though.

I currently use a pair of q-JAYS that sounds even better. The build quality is not as great but with normal cables and the usual Y-shape they are much more convenient.

[jaganath]

surprised no-one mentioned the Sennheiser CX500. noise isolation is very good, they are small, comfortable and you don't have to jam them all the way down your ear canal to get good isolation and sound.

[dan]

surprised no-one mentioned the Sennheiser CX500. noise isolation is very good, they are small, comfortable and you don't have to jam them all the way down your ear canal to get good isolation and sound.

Thanks I'll look into it. I see they have a mail in rebate for your old headphones.

I see that model the cx500 from pricegrabber is around $80, but newegg sells the cx300b for $29.