Headphones are about utility. For excercise, they need to stay in my ears and standup to sweat. For travel, they need to cancel or insulate noise. And for entertainment, they need to sound really good. But I given up on making this head look good.
I’ve had a few pairs of wired and wireless Monoprice earbuds and they do a great job of keeping sound out while working. The wireless ones have large bass drivers and better sound than any I’ve had. I think they were $14.
Comfort, then sound quality. I have a small ear canal, so earbuds have to come with a selection of rubber inserts. I don’t use over the ear headphones because space in my luggage is always at a premium, and traveling is the only time I would use them.
Comfort is the main thing. If you can’t wear them for hours at a time, what is the point? Very closely after that, sound quality is the big thing – if you can’t hear the song / make out the speech comfortably, what’s the point?
For my ears, it’s either Apple earbuds (those sitting loosely and letting air move in and out of the ear canals, and sounding… ok.), or big over-the-ear open-backed headphones, the kind that sit on your head on foam instead of touching your ears directly, and don’t get hot or block air flow as much (sounding fantastic).
I can tolerate in-ear sealing kinds of earbuds or closed-back over-the-ear headphones for airplane rides if I have to, but those both get uncomfortable really quickly.
Comfort is also important to me. I use earbuds to sleep with. I listen to a relaxation recording and then some white noise style stuff (raindrops). I need something that doesn’t stick out of my ears and lays flat. I found some wonderful off set buds from Sony for $30 at Fry’s. Then I found the same model is resold under a bunch of different brands, finally finding them for under $10 on Amazon branded as Panasonic. I just ordered a new pair yesterday. They last about a year of tossing and turning and pulling out from under the pillows, etc.
Cost.
@jst1ofknd
Then you don’t get much from the other choices.
They don’t cause earworms (haven’t found a pair to keep me immune yet).
@Tin_Foil
Have you tried earmuffs?
@peaceetc
This seems relevent.
@PlacidPenguin My favorite headphones are the nearly $70 ones I get free from Woot when they have to replace a broken item in my limited edition crap.
Headphones are about utility. For excercise, they need to stay in my ears and standup to sweat. For travel, they need to cancel or insulate noise. And for entertainment, they need to sound really good. But I given up on making this head look good.
Comfort, duh.
I’ve had a few pairs of wired and wireless Monoprice earbuds and they do a great job of keeping sound out while working. The wireless ones have large bass drivers and better sound than any I’ve had. I think they were $14.
If they aren’t comfortable and sound good, what’s the point?
Comfort, then sound quality. I have a small ear canal, so earbuds have to come with a selection of rubber inserts. I don’t use over the ear headphones because space in my luggage is always at a premium, and traveling is the only time I would use them.
Comfort is the main thing. If you can’t wear them for hours at a time, what is the point? Very closely after that, sound quality is the big thing – if you can’t hear the song / make out the speech comfortably, what’s the point?
For my ears, it’s either Apple earbuds (those sitting loosely and letting air move in and out of the ear canals, and sounding… ok.), or big over-the-ear open-backed headphones, the kind that sit on your head on foam instead of touching your ears directly, and don’t get hot or block air flow as much (sounding fantastic).
I can tolerate in-ear sealing kinds of earbuds or closed-back over-the-ear headphones for airplane rides if I have to, but those both get uncomfortable really quickly.
Comfort is also important to me. I use earbuds to sleep with. I listen to a relaxation recording and then some white noise style stuff (raindrops). I need something that doesn’t stick out of my ears and lays flat. I found some wonderful off set buds from Sony for $30 at Fry’s. Then I found the same model is resold under a bunch of different brands, finally finding them for under $10 on Amazon branded as Panasonic. I just ordered a new pair yesterday. They last about a year of tossing and turning and pulling out from under the pillows, etc.
Price vs sound quality. Panasonic ErgoFits for the absolute win.
https://smile.amazon.com/Panasonic-Headphones-RP-HJE120-G-Ergonomic-Comfort-Fit/dp/B003ELYQHK/ref=pd_sim_23_7
Buying them here… that they actually work.
Quality of sound and comfort matter too. Price here already is likely to be lower so that is a given