headphones

bmeat

Senior Member
hey guys. i just got my pair of vic firth s1h1 phones and they sound better than i thought they would.

anyone know a good pair of earphones that work better than these two options, preferably $100 or less?

thanks!
 
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You mean <$100 (less than) right?

Etymonics 6i or 5mf with foam eartips (they come with 4-5 different types of eartips, including the foam ones). They're $60-80 depending on where you buy them.

I started with the VF headphones and had to turn my metronome up to 10. Now with the Etymonics+Foam tips I have the metronome at 5.5. It's shocking at first... My drums are quieter (to me) than what I normally listen to music at...
 
I just realized I didn't offer any suggestions. I went to home depot and bought a $15 pair of 3M sound isolation ear muffs and then put either my iPod or Bose headphones underneath them. Sometimes you might have issue with the cord getting pulled out, but you should be all right with some maneuvering. One thing I didn't like about the Vic Firths was that a lot of the highs were coming through. I love you.
 
I have the HD280's but I wouldn't recommend them for drumming. They just don't isolate enough. They also don't contain the sound very well, I had the click bleeding into my mics when recording with them. But they may be ok if your playing is on the quiet side. I think the best (cheap) option is some in-ear phones with muffs over top. I have some decent Peltor earmuffs which I love.
 
imo the etymonics are worth it. I can notice REAL difference (like I said in my OP, VF metronome volume = 10, Ety metronome volume=5.5).

but that's with the foam eartips (which are the most isolating choice). the default triple flange eartips are slightly better than the VF, but not much.

I think the 6i's got discontinued or something, I just went to buy THIRD pair (nothing wrong with previous 2, just damn cats chewed through cords while I was away), and I couldn't find them either, so I got the mf5's instead. They appear to be more or less the same thing... Only thing I noticed is that the mf5 cord is 1-2 ft shorter :(
 
fuo, appologizes i didnt read that you had the vic firth phones already, and okay thats perfect. i may invest in them. do you think just getting some comply foam tips for my iems i already have would give me the same isolation as the Etymonics?

if foam eartips are available for your current earphones, then yea... I can't imagine why they wouldn't isolate as well... and it should be very cheap to try and see, foam eartips should be cheap (etymonics replacements are $15 for a 5-pair pack).
 
I have some Shure SE115 earbuds which work quite well at isolation when drumming. Quite happy with them.
 
As a cheap option, heres what I do:

I found a cheap set of in-ears that have decent sound and I use a good pair of sound isolating 'ear-muffs' shop style.
 
thanks very much guys. i noticed the senn cx300 dont isolate well at all with the dual flange tips. but the backbeat pros and skullcandy inkd do with the dual flage tips. weird why would this be?

It may be YOU, not the earphones. With earphones like this, the isolation depends mostly on how well they fit and form a seal with your ear canal, the smallest gaps can make a huge difference... So the cx300 probably just don't fit YOU as well as the other two.
 
I have a pair of CX300s as well, and with the bullet plugs, they worked pretty decently. Need the small ones to fit my ears comfortably, tho. The foam plugs on my SE115s do a better job tho... Almost block too much sound.

Also, you can not compare volume levels on different headphones directly. Different phones have different levels of sensitivity and will require more or less power to make the exact same level of sound.

Netz, Amazon has the pink SE115s for $39, I might have to get a pair.
 
Yep, those. One of the sellers lists them for $39. Just ordered a pair, my drums in th basement don't care about the color, and I paid more like $110 for the pair I have... And was very happy with them at that price.
 
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