would like to change the i Phones ear buds.

Which model iPhone do you have? 1st or 2nd generation.

Only ask as I believe there was an issue with the 3.5mm jack being recessed on 1st gen, which restricted which phones you could use.

I've got one of the newer 3G models which can handle all standard 3.5mm jacks (no recessed socket).

Not upgraded the standard phones yet, but I am also looking for advice/recommendations.
For reference, all albums stored on my iPhone are Apple Lossless (should that make any difference to the recommendations!).

Cheers

its a new one

What kind of budget are you working to?

I was looking at the Shure SE110's. My brother has a pair and they're fantastic. Really good at noise-cancelling, but I was put off by the price (he paid £50).

TBH i have no idea at all. it has been such a long time since i used any.

I use Westone UM1's. Comfiest ear phones I've used and sound brilliant.

Hi Mate,

I can recommend the sennheiser cx300 for a cheap upgrade, they are in ear type. I ordered mine from play.com for £17.99 inc delivery this week and they arrived today. I used them for about an hour really comfy and much better sound than the feebies.

Hope this helps.

Sorry meant freebies !

diy hubs:

Hi Mate,

I can recommend the sennheiser cx300 for a cheap upgrade, they are in ear type. I ordered mine from play.com for £17.99 inc delivery this week and they arrived today. I used them for about an hour really comfy and much better sound than the feebies.

Hope this helps.

Would definitely recommend them too. Brilliant headphones. 

(I never really got on with the Shures - just could not get them to sound good with any of the buds )

Without a shadow of a doubt the Sennheiser IE8s. The best in ear headphone i've ever listened to. Unfortunately it comes at a fairly high price - £200. They are worth it though IMHO. You will never listen to your ipod the same way ever again, music becomes great on them!

The IE8's are very full sounding IEM's, very much like full-sized headphones. But I don't think that the midrange is a patch on the Shure SE530's, with me it may be a fit issue but I do find it recessed.

You will also need a lot of juice to power them as they are dynamics and are less sensitive than balanced armatures - they sound fantastic out of my my Sony CD Walkman (D-EJ915) but very weedy and thin out of the Sansa Fuze.

The CX300's are good phones - but that J cord is a deal killer for me - I got really fed up with the left side earphone pulling on my ear all the time. So I replaced them with a pair of CX55 - they use a Y cable instead, also you can wear them over the ear like proper IEM's to cut down on annoying microphonics*.

*You may be able to do this with CX300's - I threw mine in someone's garden, so I don't know if it works.

lonely boy:

*You may be able to do this with CX300's - I threw mine in someone's garden, so I don't know if it works.

How nice of you. And how kind of the garden owner to provide such a handy rubbish receptacle... 

I think you need to decide whether you want to have "over the ear", "in ear", "noise cancelling" or not before you can really start researching for brands/models, otherwise you could end up spending lots of £££ changing them over and over again (like I did )

I ended up with Shure E420 noise cancelling in ear phones and I love them, especially in noisy surroundings (plane, tube, street, when SWMBO nags!).  They are not cheap but I can get totally immersed in my music (lossless from iPone 3G), I didn't see the point of having good music on my iPhone if they get overwhelmed by extraneous noise!

Andrew Everard:

lonely boy:

*You may be able to do this with CX300's - I threw mine in someone's garden, so I don't know if it works.

How nice of you. And how kind of the garden owner to provide such a handy rubbish receptacle... 

Only kidding! I threw them in a skip actually - the garden bit was for um... "dramatic effect"

AKL:

I ended up with Shure E420 noise cancelling in ear phones

I should clarify that my 420s are "noise isolating" earphones by using the supplied foam ear plugs, as opposed to "noise cancelling" earphones which have battery powered noise cancelling circuits, but which tend to be less discreet and heavier.

AKL:

I should clarify that my 420s are "noise isolating" earphones by using the supplied foam ear plugs, as opposed to "noise cancelling" earphones which have battery powered noise cancelling circuits, but which tend to be less discreet and heavier.

Those Shure olives are excellent at blocking out noise, shame Sennheiser didn't put a larger pair of foamies in with the IE8's, as the single flanged large silicon tips are not so great at isolation (but are the best sounding for me), all the other supplied tips are to small or just plain odd shaped for me - I may try some of those Comply foamies from Westone some time.