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THE BEST EARPHONES
| The Best Earphones for iPod, portable CD players, XM radios, MP3 players and home stereos.
If you prefer you can shop at our other website: EarphoneSolutions.com where we carry nothing but the best headphones available today for your iPod and all other portables. These earphones use a different technology than the regular earbuds that come with the iPod. They are precision instruments that deliver accuracy with tremendous bass and detail on mids and highs. The drivers are called "balanced armature drivers" which work much like a tuning fork, instead of the regular cheap dynamic speakers that equip the Apple stock earbud and other earbuds sold at the big box retailers. When you watch Justin Timberlake performing live, he is wearing one of these (his are custom earmolds which are also available for $650 and up). The manufacturers of the best earphones for the iPod and technology behind the best earphones for the iPod are the same used by professional musicians that have no budget limit.Here at FMA Solutions, we strive to be the best at what we do. We know the difference between a dual driver and a single driver, the difference between the sound signatures of a Shure, an Ultimate Ears and a Westone earphone. We can tell you what “microphonics” is.
So you can trust us when we recommend a few of our favorites to you. All of the earphones you find at Music1online.com and EarphoneSolutions.com are special and of the highest quality, but the ones you see rated here are, well, extra-special. Of course this is a very personal matter, however, we have found along these 7 years that the great majority of our customers that had the chance to try more than one model, are in agreement with our findings. Our staff, contributors and friends simply listen to them and then we vote. We listen to all kinds of music in different situations and with different sources. We do not get hung on technical specifications. We simply listen to them. We also take in account comfort, fit, ease of use, build quality, manufacturer's warranty, manufacturer's customer support, cost and of course, sound quality. We have also tested full size headphones but we don't think they "fit the bill". They are outperformed in every aspect, but mostly isolation, comfort, weight and sound detail.
So, after much testing, jogging, listening at home, on the airplane, at the subway station, we decided to list here the best in-ear earphones available today in the market. They are listed here in order of our preference. The Shure SE530PTH headphones is our new best earphones, combining the best fit, comfort and sound, along with the best fitting cables. The UM2 comes in second place. The difference between the UM2 and the SE530-PTH will be mostly personal taste. The SE530 outputs more detail in the mid range and highs. The UM2 has slightly stronger bass. The SE530-PTH is slightly brighter than the UM2. The UM2 headphone is cheaper but it doesn't include the PTH (push-to-hear) accessory. The Ultimate Ears 5 Pro comes in forth place after the Shure SCL5 Dual Driver headphones which has a very accurate detail and excellent all around sound. We tested them with a RIO player, iPod 30GB, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle and a Sony CD player. Enjoy the "The Best Earphones" below!
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| Shure SE530PTH (Push-To-Hear) In-Ear-Monitor |  | | The new Shure SE530 with triple driver comes in first place. The SE530 outputs more detail in the mid range and highs than the UM2. The SE530 is slightly brighter and the UM2 is slightly more balanced (flatter). The UM2 sells for less but the SE530 includes the PTH (push-to-hear) accessory. The SE530 comes with a 2 Year Warrnaty, the UM2 with a 1 Year Warranty. Fit and comfort are very similar between the UM2 and the SE530.
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| | | Westone UM2 Dual Driver In-Ear Earphones |  | | Dual driver earphones. Best sound, very "musical", PERFECTLY BALANCED OUTPUT, detailed and comfortable. The UM2 has better designed cables, providing better fit and better comfort than the 5PRO and the E5c but only 1 year warranty vs. 2 year for the 5PRO and the E5c. Customer service from Westone is outstanding. Extremely fast and responsive. We guess Madonna knows better! Also, the Westone UM1 and UM2 are the ONLY earphones Made in USA.
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| | | Shure SCL5 Earphones |  | | Dual driver earphones. Awesome sound quality, excellent bass. Third best all around sound after the UM2 and the 5PRO. Fit and comfort are clearly superior to the 5PRO but sound on the 5PRO is better. A no hassle 2 year warranty by Shure makes this model our third best choice.
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| | | Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5Pro Earphones Black |  | | After further testings we discovered a new sound coming from the 5PRO. We bumped them to second place after experimenting with smaller sleeves. Dual driver earphones. Outstanding full sound. Great performance specially when taking in account cost. Some may find them a bit on the bulky side.
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| | | Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5EB Earphones Black |  | | Most inexpensive dual driver earphones in the market. Extended bass delivers a full strong low range but with definition. Much better built than the Etymotic. It could be a bit too large for smaller ears.
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| | | Shure SCL3 Earphones (Gray) |  | | Very well-built, strong mid-range, excellent option for outdoors, jogging, etc. Excellent detail and the smallest earpiece. Its 2 year warranty and build quality set it apart from the Etymotic ER6i and ER4P (ER4P has greater detail on the highs but its lack of bass is disappointing).
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| | | Westone UM1 Single Driver True Fit In-Ear Earphones MADE IN USA |  | | After its big brother, the UM2, these are the second most comfortable earphones we have reviewed. It's direct competition for the Shure E3c and E4c. E3c will have more emphasized mids, the E4c will have very much emphasized highs (a bit too much for some types of songs) with lots of detail on the mid range as well while the UM1 has a more balanced output and not so much detail on mids and highs. As far as comfort and fit, this is it. Cables are also better designed than the others. The Westone UM1 and UM2 are the ONLY earphones Made in USA.
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| | | | | Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio Earphones Black |  | | Great entry level high-end earphones. It disputes with Shure E2C and personal taste will determine which one is best between the two. Sound is great. Return rate is one of the lowest which tells our customers also like them a lot. They could be a bit large for very small ears if you want to use them flush.
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| | | Shure SCL2 Black Earphones |  | | Huge upgrade from stock earbuds. A great first in-ear earphone. Good bass and much more detail than consumer in-ear earphones.
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