Does anyone know where you can buy good mp3 headphones. I am looking for either some Shure or Etymotic headphones although I think I would prefer the Shures from what I read in the reviews. I’ve looked around the train station area of Taipei but everyone seems to have the exact same higher end headphones; either Sony or Audio Technica. I don’t want the Sony ones since the last pair I bought only lasted about six months before the rubber melted of the wiring for some reason. I don’t know anything about Audio Technica so I am a little hesitant to buy those. I havent found many reviews for their products either.
Anyway, if anyone knows where to buy Shure headphones please let me know. I can always order them on-line but I would prefer to buy in Taiwan if I can.
There’s a high-end headphone shop at the Dunhua Eslite on the ground floor. They’ve got Sennheisers, Shure, Etymotics, etc. You can even preview listening with a bunch of the headphones.
I actually did what you did and bought a pair of Audio Technica headphones from a shop near the train station. Cost about 2800NT, I believe. They’re pretty faithful, so they’re good for opera and classical, but maybe the bass response is a bit weak if you’re into hip-hop or electronica. Built a bit better than the Sony EX-71s I had before, which fell apart after several months.
I just picked up some Sennheiser HD600’s in Hong Kong, and they are AWESOME. They’re probably too big for you to want to take outside, but I’d definitely give some other Sennheisers a try. I spent nearly a hundred grand on my stereo system, and my new headphones sound much better, although that’s just the nature of headphones. I hear details I never heard before on just about every track I play, it’s like all your CDs are brand new again.
I also saw a shop in the basement of Taichung Nova that had one set of Shure’s, but I didn’t ask about the price or model. From what I saw in HK they are quite expensive.
Whatever you decide, if you love music, then headphones are worth every penny.
There are about 150 listings for shure’s on auctions.yahoo.com.tw
I buy a lot of stuff on there, and it is usually cheaper than in the shops if you compare.
Recently I was given a Sony Ericsson cell phone as a gift. It came with an MP3 player. I finally got a few CDs downloaded on it after some struggle trying to figure out how to convert them. Now that I am listening to them I find that the volume is not loud enough (at it’s loudest setting) to hear very well when I am driving a scooter or on the MRT. I especially like listening to vocal music and I find you cannot hear the nuances of the music at all. Would better quality headphones help? If so does anyone have any recommendations on models and where to find them?
Also Sony Ericsson seems to have a unique, two-pronged jack that go with these headphones, would others fit? I would sure appreciate any advice as I was really looking forward to enjoying music on the go but have so far been fairly disappointed. Many thanks in advance for any advice.
p.s. I did a search in the technology forum and did not find anything pertinent. If anyone knows another thread on this subject that would be great too.
I highly recommend an ‘in ear’ type headphone, the kind with the narrow soft rubber tip that actually sticks into your ear. These have two effects that’ll help your problem. First, they block outside sounds out much better, and second they bring the speaker in closer to the eardrum.
You would have to get an adapter to use a standard headphone set.
I’d personally go with the Etymotics for the “earbud” type of headphones. I have a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-Pro5v headphones for DJ’ing but outside of the club, they are too loud and uncomfortable to wear for extended periods, since they are in essence mini monitors. I’ve used Technics and they are really good for djing but again may not be the most fashionable headwear. Best bet are the Etymotic, Shure, Sony Fotopia or maybe even Bang and Olufsen if your budget stretches that far. Beware of paying more money for your headphones that your phone costs thou!
Thanks for the good advice jlick & waruta, particularly about the in ear type headphones and needing a jack for Sony Ericsson jlick. I’ll keep them all in mind when I get a chance to go shopping for a new headphone set.
[quote=“Dark Horse”]
Also Sony Ericsson seems to have a unique, two-pronged jack that go with these headphones, would others fit? I would sure appreciate any advice as I was really looking forward to enjoying music on the go but have so far been fairly disappointed. Many thanks in advance for any advice.
p.s. I did a search in the technology forum and did not find anything pertinent. If anyone knows another thread on this subject that would be great too.[/quote]
I also have a sonyericsson phone with mp3. Although it doesn’t have the two pronged jack, it sounds like the set-up on the psp. My psp has a two pronged jack, but at the end part (for selecting tracks and volume) there is a normal earphone jack. So, maybe if you brought your phone to a video game store you might find it’s the same kind of jack and buying a psp jack might solve part of your problem.
Not the volume problem, I have the same complaint.
