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Thursday, December 16, 2010

A good set of headphones

I've had some issues with headphones for running lately, been through a lot of pairs and they all fell apart or malfunctioned in some way, shape or form.

I just got a pair of Sennheiser MX85s from Amazon and I'm hoping they'll work out. They're earbuds, but they don't fall out like the cheap ones. The sound quality is amazing, too. Plus they come with a little clip so the cord doesn't get in my way on the treadmill.

I paid about $30 for them, the price has gone up since.

As a stopgap I was using a basic pair of white ones from Target -- don't know what they were called but they were next to the iPods and had various colored earpieces.


Prior to that I remembered a lesson I've learned time and time again -- never, ever buy electronics from WalMart. I'm still haunted by the day I asked for help in the electronics section and the guy didn't even know what a USB cable was. Recently I bought what was probably their most expensive pair, about $10. They hardly worked out of the box. I do have to give that store credit though -- I returned them disgusting and sweaty and they still gave me my money back.

For cheap-o electronics in a pinch, Big Lots is actually a good bet. I've gotten cheap headphones from them that lasted more than a week, and I got a $5 radio the other day that also works pretty well.

Prior to my adventures in cheap earbuds I went through two pairs of Sennheiser PMX80 Sport head phones. These were the kind that wrapped around your head. The first pair was great -- lasted for months before the sound quality finally gave out. However when I got the second pair one of the earpieces fell out after a couple weeks.

I did some research, and it pointed to the Sennheisers I just bought, so hopefully they'll work out!

3 comments:

  1. How are you? Things have been quiet on the running front lately. I haven't written a post since Thanksgiving. Hopefully things are going well with you.

    I don't run with a headphones, mainly because I run mostly in the city at lunch and I need to be heads up all the time for safety reasons. I could use a walkman and a pair when I'm not running though. Hmmm. That would be a good X-mas present. Thanks for the idea.

    Ken

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  2. I don't run with headphones either, but I usually use a pair of cheap-o Skullcandy IEMs for lifting and for the days I get stuck on the bike trainer. That way I don't ruin my expensive pair with sweat. I'd assume the Senns you just bought are sweatproof since they're sport headphones though.

    I can't keep buds in my ears, which is why I use IEMs. If you do end up having trouble keeping the Senns in, I've heard good things about Yurbuds ( http://www.yurbuds.com/ ) which where developed by a marathoner and triathlete. I think they'd fit right over the earpiece of your buds (if you get just the enhancers and not the entire headphone), though I don't have them so you may want to email the company to find out for sure. They look like a cheap alternative to an entire custom earpiece reshell, which kind of makes me wish they made IEM compatible ones to see if they'd improve the isolation of my current headphones.

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  3. I've been using the generic ones that came with my iPod Touch and have had no problem. But I also have small ears, so they fit snugly. Hope you find something you like!

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