Has anyone ever had this type of heaphones? (not the set below specifically)
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/resources/525BEC3341E8A988C12570ED0052147D/$File/CX_300_silver_410.jpg

I ride a bus to uni every day. It gets quite noisy sometimes which makes it impossible to hear music at a decent level.

So here's the question. Do these headphones with earpieces that fit directly into my ear canal actaully decrease the amount of background noise entering the ear?

Appreciate the help!

I once had a pair that came with a walkman, they were pretty damn awesome, but haven't been able to find any that sound decent. They all sound tinny or are missing a whole load of trebble (which believe me, sux). They're good to use while you try to go to sleep, or go for a jog or something, but other than that for normal daily pc usage I'd stick with ordinary headphones.

edit: I should add I made this post 5 minutes after the original post was made, however there was no actual content in the original post :)

last edited by whoop at 17:28:24 15/Apr/06

earphones?

Yeah well i guess they are earphones rather than headphones.

i think everyone's had a set of these at some point in time

you need those headphones that form a huge vacuum around your ear like in that run dmc song where the kid has the remote and walks around pausing people

So here's the question. Do these headphones with earpieces that fit directly into my ear canal actaully decrease the amount of background noise entering the ear?

Yes they do. I have a pair for when I am traveling.

Do these headphones with earpieces that fit directly into my ear canal actaully decrease the amount of background noise entering the ear?

Absolutely mate - I'm browsing right now in a NZ internet cafe with asians yabbering louding over their Starcraft...but all I can hear is Steve Vai from the iPod.

I use Koss Plugs (really good & have been around for many years but cost ~$50) - they come with about 6 rubber ear-pieces so they last for ages. I use mine everyday and am on my 2nd set of ear-pieces after almost a year.

speaking of headphones does anyone know of any wireless ones like that cool FBI agents wear or something.. that i could plug into a laptop and listen to with a little earpiece so say.. a lecturer.. couldn't see them?

if you're going to do that you might as well just stay at home if you're not even going to bother listening to what the lecturer has to say

if you're not going to post the information i need you may as well just not post at all.. and i didn't say i was going to put both in my ears and blast them super loud did i. .and i didn't even say i was necessarily was going to use them for that considering i haven't even started going yet.. i was just making an example!

What you are looking for are called Canalphones, commonly called "In Ears" or IEM's. I've used them heaps for work and on stage as a monitor. Basically they are small tubes with foam or rubber inserts around them to seal off the ear opening like an ear plug would - which is essentially what they are.

They eliminate outside noise very well and its easy to get good sounding sets. Things to be careful of are eating with them in (its like having your fingers in your ears, chewing etc gets very loud), pulling on the cables (can cause damage easily) and wearing them too long. I'd reccomend that you take them out every hour for a minute or so and blow the pressure out of your ears otherwise you might get sore canals.

I personally use a set of sennheiser buds that come with the IEM800 series transmitters but have used (and liked) the following

Shure E5c
Shure E3c
Etymotic ER-6i
Etymotic ER-4

The 6i's are probably the pick of the bunch for music listening and they are efficient so they wont drain batteries in portable devices.

Maverick - the kinda stuff you are after isnt real. The ears that you see security personall etc wearing are actually hard-wired to whatever device and not wireless, they are basically just a single low profile IEM.

speaking of headphones does anyone know of any wireless ones like that cool FBI agents wear or something.. that i could plug into a laptop and listen to with a little earpiece so say.. a lecturer.. couldn't see them?

blue tooth phone headset + bluetooth dongle + laptop would be the closest you're going to get to that I would say.
plug a mic into the laptop, then output it to the bt headset.

i dont like the ear buds ones and i heard once they were bad for ur ears..

go to jb-hifi and test out some of their noise cancelling ones! they are pretty awesome

I have shure e2c's .. would recommend them, a bit less pricey than the e3c / e5c's. Have a look on ebay for resonable prices from the states.

If you're looking for a cheaper option, my other half got some sony in-ear phones today for $20 from tandy and they are pretty bloody good (considering price and the fact that they are in-ears). They're s***LOADS better than the ones that come with iPods, but that isn't much of a horse race....

Bikeseat posting on QGL - epic!!! PS f***ing ebay...

last edited by AnaRoT at 18:43:18 15/Apr/06

http://www.etymotic.com/

i dont like the ear buds ones and i heard once they were bad for ur ears..

prolonged sessions can be bad, the bacteria in your ear goes up about 70% per hour your ears are plugged, hence why you should take them out every so often.

I've had a look around a few stores JB, Tandy, Target etc but have yet to see any Etymotic, Koss, Sennheiser or Shure. Anyone know where to get these from? Thanks

After seeing that the Shure E5's go for $600 and Etymotic ER-6i's for $150 (on eBay) i think i might go for that cheaper Sony option. Earphones usually only last half a year for me before one gets ripped off or starts sounding like crap.

I like the idea of the noise cancelling headphones though for some reason i dont think my little MP3 player running on an AAA battery will provide it with enough juice. Plus my swank doo could get ruffled.

headphones.com.au is an awesome shop

k go

I've found minidisc.com.au to be pretty good in the past!