The search for decent earphones

For a while I've been trying to buy some new earphones. The standard iPod earphones are rubbish and my $9.99 Panasonics have disintegrated (no thanks to my dog who treats them as a chewing delicacy).

I have three uses for earphones - cycling, gym and at work. For work I want really good sound quality - crisp treble and clean bass. For cycling and gym, the most important feature is that they stay in my ears and don't fall out constantly.

I've been eying up some professional-grade earphones for a while, namely the Shure SE110. After months of deliberation I finally dropped the $100 and bought some. These are sound-isolating canal phones - basically you jam them right down your ear canal and they block out all surrounding sound. The sound quality of the Shure SE110s was great - it was fairly flat in that it didn't over-emphasize any particular frequency, but seeing as my iPod & laptop have their own equalizers, that's fine. However, after wearing them for a only a few minutes they quickly became painful to wear. I managed about 5 minutes in the gym before I had to take them out.

So, back to reading online reviews. It appeared that many people recommend the Sony MDR-EX81 for sports use and high sound quality, so I returned my Shures and spent $35 on the Sonys at Circuit City (yes, they screwed up the price, much to my delight as they usually retail for over $50). These Sony earphones aren't canal phones but they do have a rubber surround that sits outside your ear canal and does a good job of isolating outside noise (although not as good as the Shure SE110s). They have a semi-circular hook that you hook onto your ear so they don't fall out. I immediately noticed how comfortable and stable they were. They didn't feel like they were going to fall out and at no point did they cause any discomfort. However, as soon as I fired up the iPod, I remembered why I don't like Sony audio products - the mid range is really forced, to the point that it sounds like they've injected pure white noise into the mix. Even tweaking the equalizer on the iPod couldn't produce a sound I could bear to listen to - the screeching was just too much for me. Looks like they're heading back to the shop as well.

So, I went searching again. Next up on my list are Bang & Olufsen's A8. I have ordered these and eagerly await their arrival in the mail!