Hello, I'm looking for In-ear headphones to use with my walkmans. Here are some details about what I'm looking for: - The sound must be better than the latest Apple Earpods. - They must not penetrate the ear canal (such as Sennheiser CX-300 II). A good form factor example: Sennheiser MX 375 - No mic. I have some problem with the Apple Earpods jack connector: must not be pushed entirely in my Aiwa HS-PX377. So I'm looking for very simple and compatible jack. - Budget : 50€ or less Can you share your experiences ? Thanks
Basically you are looking for earbuds not In Ear Monitors (IEM) earbuds do not penetrate the ear canal. I really don’t know any in the price range you are looking at. I recommend you Google earbuds at €50 or less and read what people are saying. The only earbuds I have is the Bang & Olufsen A8.
You can always have a look on Ebay for a second-hand Bang & Olufsen A8, if you don't mind second-hand.
I will link 2 articles with best earbuds of 2021, but there are certainly a lot more to find. Some of them fit into the price range you are looking for. You need to search specifically for the keyword "wired", because the vast majority of earbuds are wireless nowadays due to the ditching of the 3.5mm jack on smartphones. To eliminate the ones with microphone, I recommend searching either on websites aimed at audiophiles or search for "good" or "the best". Because most of the low-end ones are manufactured for smartphones and will have a microphone for that reason. https://www.lifewire.com/best-wired-earbuds-4767562 https://www.soundguys.com/best-earbuds-2623/ https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/headphones/best-budget-headphones There is indeed a confusion between earbuds and in ear monitor, the 2 terms often being used interchangeably. I only used in ear monitors (so can't give any specific recommendation) because: - they usually have a better grip, especially if worn on the street; - form a better seal with the ear, reproducing bass more accurately; Please share your findings once you get something that will fit your needs. Good luck !
Well I have an aversion to those earbuds which fit into the ear canal also. Once a rubber cap on a set of Sennheiser sports buds detached and was stuck inside the ear canal. It took a local GP half an hour to extract it without pushing it further down the canal. Never used any of this type since but I did get a set of Samsung Galaxy buds with a new smartphone recently. These are made by AKG and are Bluetooth of course. I bought a cheap Bluetooth transmitter that takes a 3.5mm audio line in and I use my vintage Walkman cassette, MD and Discman with these buds and they sound really good. They do not penetrate the ear canal but fit snugly into your ear over the entrance to the canal. They are noise cancelling and run for many hours on a single charge. The other advantage is you can leave your precious Walkman in your gym bag or carry bag/satchel to keep it protected while you are free to move about up to 30 metres from it while still getting audio signals to the ear buds.
I recently bought the KZ ZS10 Pro for around 50 Euros. Really happy with the performance and use them on walkmans and iPhone 12. Will give them a try with a few minidisc devices later this month. There are plenty of reviews available of these IEMs. Price - quality is great.
I recently came across something that could be considered as an option: the Fiio EM3K (https://www.fiio.com/em3): - do not penetrate the ear canal (earbuds); - do not have a mic (the EM3S does, so be sure to go for the K if you decide to buy a pair); - cost about 30$ + shipping + VAT (but may be found locally); Given my previous experience with Fiio products (IEMs, headphone amps/DACs and DAPs), I would pretty much bet the sound to be good on these. Don't know if they're better that the latest Apple AirPods, because don't own or tested this product. I assume you are talking about the latest ones that came with a 3.5mm jack, which would mean before 2016. The impedance is a little bit on the high side at 47ohms, but the 109dB/mW sensitivity should compensate somewhat for that. I've used 50ohms headphones with lower sensitivity on walkmans just fine (without an external headphone amp), so this shouldn't be a problem for walkmans powered with 6V (4 batteries) or 3V (2 batteries). Those powered by a single battery and no DC-DC boost converter won't be able to drive these at decent volume levels. To me, it seems that this type of in-ear headphones are a dying breed, as there are 2 trends that I have observed: - the ones designed to be used with smartphones, which are 95% TrueWireless earbuds (almost always include active noise cancellation, mic for calls, digital assistants compatibility, gesture control, etc.); these have literally flooded the market in the last couple of years; these come both the type that penetrate the ear canal (although this wireless type is not labeled IEM, probably because it's not targeted to the audiophile market) and those that don't; - IEMs like the ones mentioned by @Emiel, which almost always have detachable wires and can be fitted with 3.5mm jack, 2.5mm balanced jack or portable DAC/amp that fits around the ear; these have grown in popularity a lot, as I see a ton of reviews on head-fi.org forum; however this type is targeted to the audiophile market, so not to be found in your local supermarket/electronics shop;
If it does not fit into the ear canal or cover the ear completely, how can it provide noise cancellation?
Those that do not fit into the ear canal or cover the ear completely obviously can't provide noise cancellation. However, most of the newer wireless earbuds are the type which seal the ear canal with rubber tips, that's why I said the type @Mighty Mightor is looking for is a dying breed. Also from what I see, the term "earbuds" has in fact nothing to do with penetrating the ear canal or not. All those wireless ones are called "earbuds", regardless of type.
Hello @Valentin @Silverera @Emiel @Reli, sorry I missed your responses until Vatentin mentionned me in the last reply. While searching for the Fiio EM3K, I found this site: https://audiobudget.com/leaderboard/earbud. It looks like there are a lot of earbuds better than those Fiio EM3K according to the reviews. The KZ ZS10 Pro are definitely not the form factor I'm looking for. But thank you Emiel for your contribution. I'll have a look at the links provided by Valentin before making a choice. I'll let you kow.
So I finally went with the Qian69 which have the best evaluation on audiobudget.com. It only costs 15€ on Aliexpress including vat and shipping. I’ll let you know how they perform.
Seems that there are plenty of options in regard to this form factor after all. That's a good website and it seems that the keyword "semi-in-ears" may be the one driving people to the right product. The term "earbuds" or "buds" used in many new devices like Samsung Galaxy Buds (which are in ear), to me seems more like a trademark (symbolically, because it's likely not a registered trademark) than anything else nowadays. This website explain clearly what the difference between the 2 is: https://www.wirerealm.com/info/difference-between-in-ear-headphones-earbuds I put it as a reference for future attempts to buy a product like this.
Well, I received my Qian69 "semi-in-ears". They are... well ... budget. They sound rather good, but not as good as Apple Earpods (latest model with jack connector). The main drawbacks are: aerial and bass. The sound is somewhat a little more muffled and the bass are not as dry and present compared to the Apple Earpods. Sorry for my comparison, those are the best wired headphones I currently own. I'll give them a chance because they fit my walkmans better (Apple 4 pins jack is difficult to adjust). I'll do some post at audiobudget.com.
