Weekend casualty: iPhone headphones

Well, the picture says it all: I'll need to replace my iPhone headset faster than originally planned. I expected to upgrade for better sound quality in the future, but getting the cord caught on a car over the weekend has sped up the time-table. Maybe you can help me choose. I have to keep my budget reasonable, so I can't be spending hundreds of dollars here; I'd probably max out around $150 out of pocket.

I do have my $100 Apple Store credit and I also have a $50 Visa Debit Card to my name; the $50 was a rebate from AT&T for one of our family plan phones and it just arrived. Should I go Shure, V-MOTA or something else entirely? If I have to, I'll sacrifice the microphone in order to get good sound based on my usage. I spend about 95% of the time listening to music vs. 5% of the time actually on a call. Thoughts?

Update: Ironically, the only headphones I have that fit my iPhone right now are the ones from my Zune. Sort of funny if you read this, no? ;)

Comments

[Travis Carnahan]

shure!!

[Jamie Poster]

Hey Kevin,
Shure! There's simply no contest what-so-ever. My father is an obsessive audiophile and he uses the e5c. I'm very happy with my e3c set.... it offers a truly night and day difference from any standard headset (even ones that claim "noise reduction"). Dad and I compared the e5c and the e3c (listening to a 25mb flac song on a Cowon player -- I'm telling you, my dad is serious about his music!) and I could barely tell the difference. In that vein, I'm sure the e2c model is also excellent.
Shure all the way!
Jamie

[Gordon]

I picked the V-Moda Duos. Yeah there are other headphones that might fit, but the Moda is the only other one I know of that has the microphone built in for when you want to use that for calls (though it lacks the press-button action the Apple headphones have).

The headphones themselves are metal and have a nice weight and the cords have an almost material feel for them.

Overall I'm really pleased with them.

[kornel]

if you want in ear headphones get the shures. Any will do really, e3c would probably be the best for the price. I personally prefer my bose triport oe, but thats just me.

[cr0ft]

Shure has a new series out now too, the SE210 model looks really nice. A bit pricier than the E2c's, a bit less than the E3c's, I think. Personally I own a set of E2c's (my second set as the other one met with a cable-related accident) - so I guess buying the same set of earphones twice has to qualify as an endorsement.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Thanks for the quick feedback! I'm leaning towards the Shure SE210 which is in stock at my local Best Buy for $149.99 right now. I have a $20 Best Buy card and I'll use the $50 Visa card to cut my out-of-pocket expense down to $80. I think I'll save the $100 Apple Store credit for now, but I could use that on the Shure Music Phone Adapter for $40, which would add a microphone to the SE210s. I'll miss the controls of the iPhone headset (click to pause, double-click for next track), but I'll live!

[Mike Cane]

Pop you upside your head. That's an unnatural act, using those Zbuds!!

You can go get a CHEAP replacement that'll work with your iPhone right now:

http://www.cobyusa.com/_en/prod_item.php?item=CVE97&pcat=hp&pscat=earphone&pscat2=

Those are Coby. I use them with my cheapjack jWin player. The plug also fits the iPhone. I know this because I used them with an iPhone at the Apple Store. (It was only hours afterward that it hit me: holy cow! It fit!)

Anyway, these are like $4-$6, depending on the store you hit. Plus, they are white.

[Richard Chacon]

You might try a the er6i, from this company,they mate the iphone cord with the er6i
http://www.ultimatebuds.com/
that way, you still have the use of the original iphone mic and forward button.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Richard, I saw those on-line and they would probably have been the best of both worlds, but I decided on the SE210s due to my gift cards. I just swung past Best Buy and I'm listening with them now; only $88 out of pocket (after tax). They don't fit the iPhone natively, but luckily that adapter I ordered last week for a few bucks arrived in the mail today.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

"Plus, they are white."

Mike, surely you've seen enough of my videos by now to know that I don't care about my looks. ;) Besides, the black Shures were $30 less than the white ones.

[Donovan]

I would highly recomend the Westone UM1s, I have the Westone UM2, and they are great, but a bit over your price, the UM1s are about $150ish, I got mine from here:

http://www.earphonesolutions.com/

[Dave Gray]

Kevin,

I was in the same buying position last weekend. Based on great word-of-mouth from a colleague, I used my Apple credit on Shure e2c's. All I can say is the sound is amazing...like full-blown, big-headphone quality. Because the iphone has the well-designed recessed jack, I bought the Belkin adapter. But, the adapter is ridiculously big...so, I got out my knife and trimmed 2mm off the plastic like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danbrown/1307481631/. Now, my headphones work great, and I don't have to worry about bringing the adapter with me. I highly recommend the Shure's. They also have the iphone mic if you need that, but it adds a lot of cord. I don't think it's a big deal to pull them out of your ear to take a call anyway.

[tnkgrl]

Ultimate buds ER-6i:
http://www.ultimatebuds.com/

Ideally (they're working on it), the Ultimate buds ER-4P.

[Mike Cane]

>>>Besides, the black Shures were $30 less than the white ones.

I'm not gonna touch that one!

[Scotty]

Hit starbucks this morning here in Seattle,

The music store integration with tmobile was totally broken. But I got my free song of the day card (paper, you have to stop by each day to get a new one), an Eddie Vedder download card ($12) and a re-loadable card with 2 free downloads.

I'll have to try the store integration again at lunch.