Travel Headphones Suggestions

[nightflier]

I never thought I'd say this, but headphone amps make a big difference. My whole experience has been with amps that are under $500, but I was at a friend's house this weekend and he's a DJ. He has a number of amps, but the one he likes the most is the HeadRoom Home Balanced Amp. I had my Etymotics in the car, so I got a chance to try them out (albeit with adapters) on a much higher-end amp. I must say, I heard more detail than I ever heard before and it sounded fuller, too, w/o loosing the detail, which for me is a big plus. Even my the MP3s in my own player sounded better, although the best result were from the turntables.

Now I'm not about to spend $3K on a headphone amp anytime soon (for him it's a tax-write off), but it was quite intriguing to find this out.

[ForeverAutumn]

Wow. Some great information on this thread. After doing some research I just bought a set of Shure E2Cs. But now that I'm listening to them, I love the crisp detail on the high and mid ranges but I'm a little disappointed in the bass. I stopped by this forum just to see whether there was any useful info here and found this thread which is exactly what I was looking for.

Based on your previous discussions, it sounds like the Shures are a good choice for me. I'll play with the ear pieces and my iPod EQ a bit and see if I can get a tighter fit to boost the bass. But the thing that's really impressed me is the customer service that you've all recieved from Shure. I might be able to improve the sound marginally with another brand (I'm using these for my iPod, so I'm only gonna get so much improvement anyway), but it's worth having a little softer bass (and probably healthier for my ear too) to know that Shure will stand behind their product if I have any problems.

Although, I must say that it's just a little concerning that so many of you have had broken Shures. Perhaps they have a quality issue?

[nightflier]

Although, I must say that it's just a little concerning that so many of you have had broken Shures. Perhaps they have a quality issue?

I'm going to guess here that many people do the same thing I do when I'm lazy, and pull the earphones out by the wires, which is especially bad with phones that are supposed to make a "tight seal" in the ear canal (probably not good for my ears either). And then there's the occasional yanking when the wires get caught on something. It's all just bad habits learned from when we were using regular earbuds, I suppose, although paying $175 for a pair of earphones does make me pause a little longer before I pull them out like that. Of course, with such great service, that's less of a fear too.

[audio_dude]

yep, totally agreed

my broke cause a friend was whirling them around by the wires... arg.

ah well, shure techsupport was amazing, i had a rep in a minute and a half. and they even fixed it for free, with shipping to canada included! didn't even need a receipt!