| Author | Message | ||
     Hclem3 |
May kids gave me an MP3 player for father's day. I used the earbuds that came with it on a uly trip. They sounded good, but jamming those chunks of plastic in your ears and wearing the helmet for a couple of hours took a toll on my ears. Does anyone know of a smaller, more comfortable earbud, or do any helmet manufacturers make a plug in brain bucket with speakers?? | ||
| Kc69xlch |
sony makes a great set of earbuds that actually fit inside your ear, you almost dont notice them under your helmet. they come with three different size "mushrooms" to fit "your" ear size. there is also a noise cancelling set available, but i cannot comment on them as i have not tried them yet. | ||
| Chinook |
etymotic er6i the only way to go $80 on amazon or buy.com | ||
| Pso |
I go with Chinook- Had mine for well over a year. great | ||
| Florida_lime |
I've thought about those etymotic er6i, but a quick question -- when I look for them, I see several different versions. Each one has a different letter at the end B, C, P, etc. Is there a preference for motorcycle use ? | ||
| Maximum |
I use Shure E3's with those yellow ear plug style foamy inserts. I really like the sound quality, but just recently came across these: http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?I tem=SPLUG I really wonder how well they would work. | ||
| Sanjuro |
I just ordered a pair of SENNHEISER CX 300 from Ebay for 23 dollars shipped. I ordered these mainly because of the size, sound quality and value if you buy from Ebay; Amazon has them for around 50 bucks. My Shure earbuds are great for sound quality, and sound isolation; but the isolation is almost too good for my liking while riding; and they stick out a bit more than I'd like for my particular helmet. The Sony EX21 earbuds I had prior were decent in sound, small size worked, but the plastic sleeve deteriorated after a few months. | ||
| Sanjuro |
When I'm not wearing my helmet though, I'm usually wearing a pair of these: http://www.gradolabs.com/frameset_main.htm I've collected a lot of headphones and ear buds but I've gone back to the Grado. No affiliation with them, just thought to share a review with the rest of the Buell riding audiophiles. | ||
| Hclem3 |
Thanks Badwebbers. Great advice as usual. | ||
| Two_buells |
try helmet speakers, I have the $23.00 ones and they work great http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Helmet-Speaker s-p-1-c-484.html | ||
| Fiery_xb |
Hey Harold, glad to see ya posting. Yep, your hooked! Another Buell addict.  Fiery | ||
| Bobsims |
Hclem3, On-board motorcycle audio is always a favorite topic. I've found a great and inexpensive in-ear earphone set for use under a helmet that are comfortable and effective under a helmet, allowing you to hear music clearly, while blocking out wind noise. I've been tinkering with on-board audio for a long time now. Over the years, I've tried cheap helmet speakers ("Helmet Blasters"), quality helmet speakers (Cyclecomm, now defunct, similar to J&M), smaller Walkman-style sport earphones, and even custom-molded in-ear speakers. The helmet speakers (both kind) are, IMHO, an exercise in futility on an unfaired motorycle. You still have to wear earplugs (well, if you want to save your hearing), which requires more powerful speakers to overcome the earplugs, and never really work just quite right. The sport-type earphones don't seal out the wind noise, so you can't hear the music very well, and there is a dangerous level of wind noise and music combined. I tried custom-molded earphones, like the kind musicians wear, but these didn't work well for me. The somewhat heavy wire exited the mold at a point that rubbed the edge of my outer ear. This was quite painful, and the wire would press against the helmet, leveraging the mold out of my ear a bit. Although I've seen molded speakers well-reviewed by some motorcyclists, they just didn't work well enough for me. At any rate, I'd seen the Etymotic ER6i in-ear earplugs/earphones well-reviewed, but they were a bit expensive for me to experiment with at the time ($80+). Basically, these are "generic" versions of the molded in-ear monitor, that combine a standard noise-reducing earplug design with in-ear speakers. I read this bit in an Aerostich catalog a while back, and it intrigued me: "If Koss earplug speakers (#3081 $17.00) do not fit snugly enough, an improved version can be made by combining a pair of Etymotic earplugs (#1030 $15.00) with the Koss speakers*..." Well, I searched eBay some for the parts to build such a hybrid, and lo and behold, found them pre-assembled by this seller (absolutely no affiliation). $25 delivered seemed like a reasonable price (couldn't find the components alone for less), and if it didn't work, I could always use the plugs as backups for my MP3 player. So, I ordered a set. Great eBay experience, fast shipping, and all that. These plugs work GREAT for me! When inserted into my ears, they are just as comfortable as foam ear plugs, and seem to block out just as much wind noise. They are so comfortable when inserted, it can be difficult at first to tell if they are properly seated. The sound is great, too. I mount my MP3 player (a legacy Rio Cali w/SD expansion, 1.25 GB) on my handlebars using the player's arm holder. As an example of how well the speakers work, I don't have to turn up the player's volume at all from my normal listening level. The stereo sound comes through very clear and clean. It's literally like having the player plugged directly into my brain. These plugs have transformed my hour of daily commuting, and turned me into one of those podcast- and indy-band-listening geeks. I'm looking forward to trying this out on a longer ride next spring as well. Pros: 1. Extremely comfortable 2. Excellent sound quality and seal against outside noises, particularly wind roar 3. Very affordable Cons: 1. Requires some refinement of insertion and helmet-donning procedure. It's not too much of a hassle, and it definitely gets easier with time, but it does require some attention to detail. I normally push my finger up each side of my head after carefully donning helmet to check that the plugs are still seated. 2. Cord seems a bit thin and too long. I still haven't figured out the right way to manage this (probably some type of cord wrap/holder). The plug wires get tangled easily when stored, and I have to be careful not to snag the wire when riding, or else the plugs will pull out (ouch!). 3. Perhaps no easy integration of a microphone for those that want to use it with an intercom, bike-to-bike radios, cell phones, on-board music studio, or whatever. In short, I'm very happy with these, as they've dramatically improved my motorcyle commuting experience. I haven't tried the Etymotic ER6i plugs yet (still might), but I can't imagine them being $50 more comfortable or effective. It's very rare in motorcycling to find something that works so well, so simply, and as advertised for such a low price, especially after I've experimented with so many other less-successful (but much more expensive) ways to meet the same requirement. As a final caveat, though, I recognize that ear fit is a very personal and unique attribute. Although these work well for me, they may not work well or comfortably for everyone. Short references for further reading, old news for most: http://www.aerostich.com/files/readings/2003Catalo g/earspeakers.html http://www.aerostich.com/files/readings/2003Catalo g/speakers.html http://www.aerostich.com/files/readings/2003Catalo g/roadcom.html Some recommended M/C-related Podcasts (only six of them so far, and not updated in a while, but still enjoyable listening): http://www.motorradmedia.com/podcasts Excellent client software for automatically downloading podcast subscriptions (works w/WinXP, Linux, MacOS; GPL'd): http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net HTH. Bob | ||
| Hclem3 |
Firey: thanks sweetie. I look forward to seeing you at homecomming. I spoke to coolice last night and he told me I could stay with you guys in the RV. If the 3 of us share the back bedroom, that could make for some interesting posts on badweb!!?? Bobsims: Wow, thank you for the information. Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed response. I hope you fingers haven't cramped after typing so much. | ||
| Bobsims |
Bobsims: Wow, thank you for the information. ... I hope you fingers haven't cramped after typing so much. No worries, it's an article I've previously cross-posted to a couple of other boards.  Bob (Message edited by bobsims on June 27, 2007) | ||
| Horridus |
Thanks Bobsims, great info and I just had to fallow the link to the Buy It Now button. Horr | ||
| Longdog_cymru |
Hi, I have used Sennheiser CX300 http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/r oot/500830 for over 12 months now. Similar comments apply, in as much as you need to get the fit right for your ears. Good sound quality and good noise elimination too. By the way, I use an 8Gb Sandisk Sansa e280 which I can definitely recommend as being superior to the equivalent iPod as well as cheaper too! | ||
| Sanjuro |
I'm glad to see all the responses on this topic. Per my original post, I've got the CX on order... I'm looking forward to trying those out; I've tried various methods but ear buds are the way to go in my opinion. Although, I would like something integrated into the helmet one of these days that are worth a damn. Blocking out wind noise while providing good sound quality seems to be a tricky combination. Which makes me think of why anyone hasn't come up with a Bluetooth noise canceling setup yet. Maybe the market's too small to make such a venture profitable? |
