In-Ear headphones, £30 budget!

[Jimmyd93]

I currently have some Sennheiser CX300's, which have lasted me almost a year and a half. They finally broke the other day, one ear has just stopped working, but for £15, I think they were a pretty good deal!

Anyway, I'm looking to replace them with something which is probably a little better, but not over £30. I've been looking at the Sennheiser CX500, and Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170. If anyone has any other reccomendations in this price range, or could tell me the strong and weak points of each of those, then please do!

Thanks.

[Drubbing]

CX500 is a CX300 with volume control on the cable. Some say it sounds better.

[lee12]

The CX500 offers a great frequency response over the CX300, have an inline volume control and are bundled with a few more accessories than the 300. Both are the same price on Play so just out of those two it should be a no brainer.

[Drubbing]

Freq response has nothing do with how phones will sound - it's simply a range of sound that they can operate in. And 2 different labs can come up with different charts for the same phone, so they're not reliable indicators of anything.

But if you want a CX300 with extras, the 500 are a better buy.

[Jimmyd93]

Ok...So, CX500 is (practically) the same as CX300, but with a volume switch, which I could see getting really annoying. So at the moment, I'm more swayed towards the MetroFi 170's. Does anyone have any experience with what they sound like?

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Drubbing

Freq response has nothing do with how phones will sound - it's simply a range of sound that they can operate in. And 2 different labs can come up with different charts for the same phone, so they're not reliable indicators of anything.

But if you want a CX300 with extras, the 500 are a better buy.

Not quite....a flat,extended frequency response is the ideal that manufacturers strive for,and an uneven response,with emphasis of one part of the spectrum will seriously influence the sound,and a good example is that of an emphasized treble,in which the frequency response is tilted up,and the phones or speakers may sound tinny or hard.

The frequency response is thus the range of frequencies that the transducer can reproduce,but it should be accompanied by the limits over which this is achieved,and how tight those limits are.

Frequency response in headphones is notoriously variable as you've said,and does depend on fitting of the phones,as well as other factors.

[Drubbing]

Agreed. But the other poster was quoting freq response, when he meant freq range, which means nothing.

As you rightly said, what does mean something is the response curve or amplitude, which show how flat (or not) a phone's response is (if you can trust the charts). That will give a guide as to whether a phone is neutral, bassy or otherwise.

But just saying the CX500 (range of 17-22000hz) is wider than the Cx300 (19-21000Hz) doesn't tell anyone anything.

[Jimmyd93]

I've gone for the "Screw the budget" approach. Decided to get some S-Jay's, having seen the offer they've got on at the moment!

[lee12]

Originally Posted by Drubbing

Agreed. But the other poster was quoting freq response, when he meant freq range, which means nothing.

As you rightly said, what does mean something is the response curve or amplitude, which show how flat (or not) a phone's response is (if you can trust the charts). That will give a guide as to whether a phone is neutral, bassy or otherwise.

But just saying the CX500 (range of 17-22000hz) is wider than the Cx300 (19-21000Hz) doesn't tell anyone anything.

Yep, quite right you are. I stand corrected

What I don't quite understand is if the cx500 is just a cx300 with a volume slider why would the frequency range be greater? Sorry if this is a noob question - I'm just struggling to connect volume slider with freq. range. - Cheers!

[lee12]

Originally Posted by lee12

What I don't quite understand is if the cx500 is just a cx300 with a volume slider why would the frequency range be greater? Sorry if this is a noob question - I'm just struggling to connect volume slider with freq. range. - Cheers!

Drubbing? Anyone know please?

[Drubbing]

No idea, sorry. Perhaps they tweaked the specs a bit to allow for an inline volume, perhaps make vol control more stable?

Regardless, having a wider FR is no guarantee of sounding any different, or being able to fully reproduce sounds right across that range.

Human hearing range is only 20-20,000hz anyway, so anything below or above that is moot.

[lee12]

thanks buddy

- I'm on the dangerous (for my wallet) path of learning about headphones.