Best headphones for the London Underground

[DickieMoules]

Hi guys,

As the title suggests, I'm looking for the best headphones to use for watching 24, heroes etc... on my PSP on the tube on the way in to work.

Now as any other London Underground travellers will know, the trains are EXTREMELY noisy, and it is making it very difficult to watch my beloved 24. I was fortunately given cash for xmas to buy a set of headphones, and would like to know if anybody has a recommendation to cope with the tube noise.

I prefer in ear to over the head, and the quality isn't so much the issue, as the ability to just hear the lower audio levels in a film or programme with a wide dynamic range.

I would prefer to stay within the £200 range, but would stretch further if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance for talking the time to help me with my dilemma.

Rich

[pwood]

I have Sennheiser cx300 in ears which can be bought for £15 and find they are pretty good at shutting out the noise. I use them when Hoovering and dont have any issue. I cant vouch for the underground noise mind you but if they are no use then noise cancelling headphones might be more appropriate albeit they come with more bulk which is the last thing you need on the underground.

[DickieMoules]

Thanks pwood.

I'm amazed that a pair for £15 will achieve the required result, but hey at that price, I can try them and see.

If anybody else has opinions or has a set they use on the tube and know work well, all advice is much appreciated.

[Tejstar]

The Sennheiser CX300's are great for the price but also consider the Shure E2C's which are around £50 but deliver a better soundstage imo.

[buslouch]

Originally Posted by Tejstar

The Sennheiser CX300's are great for the price but also consider the Shure E2C's which are around £50 but deliver a better soundstage imo.

mymemory.co.uk are currently doing the E2c's (clear) for £35 + postage.
I think the model number has been discontinued as Shure have separated their pro and consumer ranges. The equivalent of the E2c is now the SCL2 .

I've no link to mymemory other than being a satisifed customer.
I've not bought these headphones myself.
I've got the CrossRoads MylarOne X3 on order from http://www.jaben.net/, as recommend by mattski73 (cheers ).
They worked out at £28ish inc. shipping.

[mattski73]

Originally Posted by buslouch

mymemory.co.uk are currently doing the E2c's (clear) for £35 + postage.
I think the model number has been discontinued as Shure have separated their pro and consumer ranges. The equivalent of the E2c is now the SCL2 .

I've no link to mymemory other than being a satisifed customer.
I've not bought these headphones myself.
I've got the CrossRoads MylarOne X3 on order from http://www.jaben.net/, as recommend by mattski73 (cheers ).
They worked out at £28ish inc. shipping.

Thanks buslouch I hope you liked them. As for the CX300's and Shure E2c's, good though they might be, they are also considered to be the most copied headphones in the market (fakes) if i was to by these two, then i would go to amazon, and by from amazon only, not from any other vendors.

Now, having said that, i have brought from vendors in the past, and according to the experts they've been fine, however, the fakes are becoming more and more sophisticated. Don't, what ever you do, buy the CX300's or Shure e2c's from ebay.....just don't go there!

apart from the Shures, Sennheisers, and the Mylars, i'd like to throw in the Ultimate Ears Metro.fi 2's. Not as sweet sounding as the Mylar's, but if bass is your thing, there's little that can beat it at the price. BUT, there's but. The wire is quite stiff, and the earphones tend to ease out of position because of it. to sole this, i use the smallest ear buds, and really screw them in my ears.

Hero's.........i was mildly disappointed with that program, and I'm no fan of 24 either. CSI..... is the only one I've got into.

[insomniak123]

I have a pair of e2c's (Shure's) which I use on the trains and buses quite often. IMO once you get used to the fit of the Shure's, they are perfect at cancelling noise (simply due to the air tight blockage seal they form)

for your budget of roughly £200, you could either plump up an extra £50 or so and go for the SE530's, or go with the SE420's for £200

then again it all depends on the quality of the video encode you're watching on the PSP too. If the audio bitrate isn't great, you don't want a smashing pair of earbuds to pick up every single imperfection and lossy artifact

If money was no object, I'd swap my e2c's for some SE530's right now

as said before tho, the e2c's are great and can be had quite cheap now. the wire goes up and over your ear which is fiddley to get used to but once you do, you realise why they're designed like that

[DickieMoules]

Thanks for all the replies guys, It is VERY much appreciated.

I'll have a look at all the recommendations you've given, but please keep more coming if there are any.

As I said, it's really the blocking out of the severe noise generated by The tube (in particular the Victoria Line), which is pretty severe. The encodes I do for my PSP are pretty good, but will not be top quality sound, and therefore won't require the best quality as such, it's all about blocking out as much noise as possible.

So if you have any views on that, please let me know.

Also would Noise Cancelling be any better????????

Thanks Again,

Rich.

[DorKnight]

Well, if the noise is a real issue then you could try something like the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7;
http://www.audiocubes.com/category/H...eadphones.html

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...a+ATH-ANC7.htm

If you have £200 and possibly a bit more to spend, then you could opt for something like the;

Shure E530
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...+Earphones.htm

Westone UM2
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...l+Monitors.htm
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Westone-UM2-ex...sid=p1638.m122
http://www.earphonesolutions.com/wenewum2bldu.html

Etymotic ER 4S
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...otic+ER-4S.htm

Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 Pro
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/headpho...+Pro+White.htm
http://www.earphonesolutions.com/uleanewtrxtr.html

Alternatively you could opt for something like the q-JAYS;
http://www.jays.se/products.aspx?sub=qjays

All of the above IEMs will probably be fantastic with your music, however, all of the above (bar the ATs due to them being noise cancelling cans for use on the underground) will probably be a waste of money if you're just going to use them on the PSP for movies etc.

If they'll be solely used for PSP movies and similar then perhaps the ATs listed above or a nice set of Westone UM1s which will also be very nice with music;
http://www.earphonesolutions.com/westoneum1.html

If you Google you'll probably find better prices on the above, I know those sites so their easy to use as examples.

[alhambra_c]

I think Pioneer have very nice in-ear phones at low price.

[y2k]

Sony MDR-NC11 are good http://bigbenaudio.co.uk/product_inf...products_id=43

Or you can get them free with this sony walkman. http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/...ones.2619.html I got this walkman at christmas and the ones that came with it are very good on their own.

[DickieMoules]

Thanks Guys,

Extremely helpful as always.

Special thanks to you DorKnight for the time and effort put into the links.


Rich.

[trailer]

The problem with noise cancelling earphones is that either

a. they have a separate noise cancelling unit

or

b. they are bulky as the noise cancelling is built into the earpieces.

Although I have a pair of Sennheiser noise cancellers for ease & mobility I have a pair of Westone UM2's; have a look on eBay for some. They are both comfortable and excellent sounding and I've done away with the Sennheisers now!

[lisnalee]

The best way to cut out the background noise is to go for custom IEM's.

I recently bought a pair of livewires For $249 (£125), postage is $18. I had to get ear impressions made which cost £10 and send them off to be made, the whole process took about 3 weeks form start to finish.

They cut out nearly all background noise when you have them in, and thats before you start playing and sound though them. As for sound these are amazing, great detail and enough bass to satisfy most people, far better than the westone um2 i had previously. Other owners have compared them against the shure flagship SE530 & prefer them over the shure's.

Heres a pic of mine with my old portable rig:

[DorKnight]

Originally Posted by lisnalee

I had to get ear impressions made which cost £10 and send them off to be made, the whole process took about 3 weeks form start to finish.

Could I ask which Audiologist/Company made your impressions as in my part of the country they want around £35 per impression, which is a total rip off.

I've been informed Boots now offer this service, so long as the store has the relevant department and trained staff - But I don't know how much they charge.