Inner Peace

Get it? In-ear peace? Hahaha. Ok, that was bad... but a good way to start the post.



Tamby auditioned my recently purchased earphones, I know, germophobes look away, we swapped ear waxes! He is currently thinking of upgrading his own set. Asking me for recommendations, feedback, etc..

As with most things, more expensive translates to better quality.

So first order of business, what kind of ears do you have? Are they sensitive enough that even minor sound artifacts drive you insane? Or are they of the average type?

If you have demanding ears (audiophile level), better save up first as you will not be pleased with the mid-range options (mostly priced 3K-6K). Acceptable sets will set you back 10K minimum (Etymotic, Ultimate Ears, Shure, etc...).

But if you have normal ears and if you are on a budget, the not-so-low-end options should do.

I am pretty happy with my set, I tested it alongside other earphones I have (the cheap ones of course), and I was ok with the balance it had. Bass is thumpy, highs are somewhat present but the mids are a bit lacking. With a price tag of 1.6K, I couldn't complain.

My advice to Tamby, line up the cheap ones first... the important thing with noise isolating earphones aside from the drivers are the tips. Make sure it fits snugly on your ears as this eliminates the ambient noise (it should also be comfortable enough for extended use). Then, listen to the sound, being somewhat enclosed, it should have been tweaked to compensate for that natural muffled sound. I know this doesn't help much, but listening is purely subjective... what may sound good to me may sound terrible for you.

Here's what I got:

Philips SHE9700


Specs are HERE

While choosing from the Philips line, this stood out because of the angled acoustic pipe design which supposedly results in better fidelity and less distortion.

Good luck on your hunt for your great sounding budget earphones!