Headphones recommendation

I tried searching for this so sorry if there's already a thread about this somewhere.

I'm looking for some new headphones for my first gen iPhone because they're falling apart. I've loved the ability to make calls with them using the microphone but they just simply suck because the cord actually tore at the place where the wire spilts to both ears. I am not willing to pay $30 for a new pair because they are simply not worth that.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for a nice pair of earphones that still has a mic for a generation 1 iPhone? Price is not that much of an issue for me, I don't really care about sound quality either (though better than the apple ones would be nice). Just looking around to see what other people use, thanks!

I have heard that Bang and Olufsen's Earset 3 has really nice audio quality.

You can buy OEM iphone earbuds with the mic on ebay for less than $20.00.I have seen them as cheap as $12.00

Even though they dont have a microphone, the Bose In ear headphones are incredible - the black and white version fits in the iphone without an adapter, and they are the most comfortable and highest quality headphones I have ever had.

hugo14 said:

Even though they dont have a microphone, the Bose In ear headphones are incredible - the black and white version fits in the iphone without an adapter, and they are the most comfortable and highest quality headphones I have ever had.

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I've heard the same thing, I almost bought a set yesterday. Now your making me think about it again.

Bear Hunter said:

I've heard the same thing, I almost bought a set yesterday. Now your making me think about it again.

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Go for it - you will not regret it. Just make sure you get the black and white version - they have been updated so the buds dont fall off as they used to, and the headphone jack fits in the iphone...

you can't just go by the black and white old and new look the sames except the plug. The new version comes with a pleather case that folds in half and zips shut. The older version comes with a hard case. The new version has the plug for 1st gen iphones and has an updated silicon earpiece. I agree these are the greatest headphones i've ever had, but they are not perfect. Volume does not go as loud as some headphones, and they are not good for sports. I bought the sennheiser PMX70 for the gym and running. The PMX70 don't come close to the bose for sound or comfort, but they stay put when running.

Please, please, please, don't ever buy a Bose product. They may sound great compared to the basic Apple branded stuff and the usual garbage you can find at most retail stores, but there are a million products that cost less and sound a hundred times better. Bose spends nearly ALL of its money in its marketing, convincing you it's all about the research. Don't fall into their trap.

Honestly, if you demand a microphone, there aren't a lot of options. Bang and Olufsen makes decent products, but you're paying a LOT more for the design than the functionality or sound quality. I'd highly recommend the Ultimate Ears super.fi 4vi if you insist on this functionality. They're a bit cheaper than the B&O, but UE is a highly regarded Headphone company that does nothing else.

Personally, though you'd probably loathe to have two devices, I'd get a separate Bluetooth headset and headphone pair. Koss makes an absolutely outstanding, wonderful pair of headphones called the KSC75 you can get very cheap online, and decently cheap ($25 or less) at Radioshack. I wouldn't get most of their other stuff, but that particular pair (along with its predecessors the KSC35 and the PortaPro) is wonderful. If you want in-ear monitors (sound isolating, block a lot of noise), I'd go for either the Altec Lansing iM716 or the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi.3. And there's any of a number of decent Bluetooth headsets out there, like the Jawbone.

Again, though, if you must have a direct replacement, go for the super.fi 4vi .

I'd strongly recommend the Sennheiser MM50 iP, which are specifically designed for the iPhone with a built in mic and a plug that actually fits the iPhones recessed socket (on the non-3G model).

http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/icm_senncom.nsf/resources/FCS_MM50_iP.pdf/$File/FCS_MM50_iP.pdf


Sounds pretty good too!

Well I went out and bought the Bose, and must say they are pretty **** awesome. The trick is playing around with the different sizes of silicon ear pieces for a precise fit. The sound is very rich and all outside noise was cancelled. The quality of the sound is good enough to turn up full blast without any discomfort, which is why one of the posters thinks they dont turn up high enough. I thought the same until I did a little test. I turned everything off, came back after a few minutes (without adjusting the volume) and started the same song. When I did that...I was like "holy $@&t that is loud"!!! Anyway, just my experience.

Sent from my iPhone

Bear Hunter said:

Well I went out and bought the Bose, and must say they are pretty **** awesome. The trick is playing around with the different sizes of silicon ear pieces for a precise fit. The sound is very rich and all outside noise was cancelled. The quality of the sound is good enough to turn up full blast without any discomfort, which is why one of the posters thinks they dont turn up high enough. I thought the same until I did a little test. I turned everything off, came back after a few minutes (without adjusting the volume) and started the same song. When I did that...I was like "holy $@&t that is loud"!!! Anyway, just my experience.

Sent from my iPhone

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Another one bites the dust.

Let's not be too hard on Bose. People tend to lump Apple in with companies like Bose and Monster that sell overpriced stuff via marketing hype.

Well, I like them. I might go get those cheap Koss phones your talking about and mod them to the Apple harness just for kicks.

Bear Hunter said:

Well, I like them. I might go get those cheap Koss phones your talking about and mod them to the Apple harness just for kicks.

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The KSC75 are all kinds of awesome, especially at their price. You won't regret it.

As for Dimitri, the reason I'm hard on Bose is not a matter of price, but quality. There are thousand dollar headphones that I think justify their prices, at least far more than Bose. Apple actually offers a demonstratively superior product for its premium. Bose offers an inferior one, and it bothers me because it prevents truly excellent companies from succeeding. It's just so damging to both the consumer AND manufacturers.

I don't feel Bose is inferior, just overpriced. If their stuff was priced about 50-60% lower, I think it would fall in line with other offerings.

Meyvn said:

The KSC75 are all kinds of awesome, especially at their price. You won't regret it.

As for Dimitri, the reason I'm hard on Bose is not a matter of price, but quality. There are thousand dollar headphones that I think justify their prices, at least far more than Bose. Apple actually offers a demonstratively superior product for its premium. Bose offers an inferior one, and it bothers me because it prevents truly excellent companies from succeeding. It's just so damging to both the consumer AND manufacturers.

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Sounds like you know what your talking about, so I'll report back after i modify them to the Apple harness.

Dimitri said:

I don't feel Bose is inferior, just overpriced. If their stuff was priced about 50-60% lower, I think it would fall in line with other offerings.

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By 'inferior,' I mean inferior compared to other things priced the same or lower. I do agree that if they were priced much lower, they would be more comparable, but I think it would take more reduction the farther you go up their line. I think a reasonable pricing scheme would be: $35 for the TriPorts and on-ears, $50 for the QC2 and QC3, and $45 for the in-ear. Sonically I don't think that their headphones improve as you go up, and I think a $150-200 comfort and "noise cancelling" premium is not worth it.

Bear Hunter said:

Sounds like you know what your talking about, so I'll report back after i modify them to the Apple harness.

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By the way, if the ones you get have an inline volume control (I think that all of them do these days), you can "mold" the sound a bit by fiddling with that. From my experience, the lower you put the volume on the headphones themselves, the bassier they get, and the higher you put the volume, the clearer the mids and highs get. It's not a MASSIVE difference, but it's pretty noticeable, I think.

I was going to take the Koss phones you were talking about and solder the phones to the Apple harness. That way I can answer calls and talk on the phone through the headphones. I saw a video showing how to do it (by taking the new phones apart and de-soldering the connections and soldering the Apple harness to them) I figure for $25 i have nothing to lose. The end result would be better phones (as compared to the stock iphone buds) and still retain full functionality of the Apple harness.

The Bose phones do not have a volume control, if thats what your talking about.

Bear Hunter said:

I was going to take the Koss phones you were talking about and solder the phones to the Apple harness. That way I can answer calls and talk on the phone through the headphones. I saw a video showing how to do it (by taking the new phones apart and de-soldering the connections and soldering the Apple harness to them) I figure for $25 i have nothing to lose. The end result would be better phones (as compared to the stock iphone buds) and still retain full functionality of the Apple harness.

The Bose phones do not have a volume control, if thats what your talking about.

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Actually, that's exactly what I did with an extra, broken (cable ripped) pair of KSC75s I had lying around; the iPhone earbuds hurt my ears to have in for more than twenty minutes, so they were essentially useless and I figured what the heck? The results were spectacular: I retain full microphone and clicker function, and the soft pads don't hurt my ears at all, while giving me way, way better sound quality. Anyway, I was not saying that the Bose had volume control, but that most KSC75s do. Obviously though, if you take them off the KSC75 cable and put them on the iBuds one, that will go away; frankly it sounds best withOUT the inline volume control, though.

Shure i2c is what I would get. I had a pair of e2c and they were great, they are just like the i2c but they didn't have the mic.