Which 'beginner' earphones?

[sproggy]

I've never fancied the idea of music on the bike - I wouldn't drive without it in the car but have never liked 'direct injection' into the ears either with or without a helmet. However I have a few long (length of France) motorway trips lined up this year and want to try some musical distraction with an MP3 player to see how I get on with it.

Any recommendations? I ride with earplugs and want/need the noise reduction that they offer so whatever earphones I have need to attenuate background noise as earplugs would, but because this is just a toe in the water thing I won't be looking for £200 custom jobbies.

Any suggestions for earphones that aren't a stupid price but do cut noise while sounding reasonable? I'd do a search but I wouldn't know what to look for......

Thanking you kindly

 

[Smiler400]

I got these last autumn, really comfortable even under your crash hat,

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produ...4|cat_14419643|In-ear+headphones|14419650.htm

 

[Bikerjim]

I use the ipod on daily basis comuting and it was probably a bit funny listening to music but it soon becomes second nature.

Use one of these on the handle bars with cable ties (wireless remote control)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monster-Cab...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263632557&sr=8-17

and i use noise suppresion earphones (stops you going deaf) (mine were half price in a sale)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263632641&sr=1-23

use a thin neck tube to stop them poping out when puting on the helmet

It takes a bit of practice and trial and error but it all comes good

PS bewary of listening to the Foo Fighters and the use of the throttle

Jim

 

[sproggy]

Thanks for the replies. The £5 Argos ones have rather mixed reviews and I'm sure there's an element of "you get what you pay for" but the Sennheisers look good

 

[Prattapillar]

+1 for the Sennheisers, they're very comfortable with the lid on, unlike a pair of Sony's I had previously, and don't get dislodge when putting it on, and for the price the sound quality is superb!

 

[judge]

Sproggy,

You're asking for the earth there my friend and alas it doesn't come in the form of a 'beginner's speaker'.

There are plenty of earphones out there that will do a job of delivering sound to your ears and if you have a helmet with space around your ears you won't even need a flat profiled product which a close fitting lid will demand.

And should you buy such an earphone as recommended so far it will give some form of attenuation in so much as putting any object in your ear will baffle the ear and reduce noise.

But even those sold as noise cancelling or noise isolating are not designed as hearing protectors and therefore make no claims for protecting that hearing.

Hearing protectors must be sold as hearing protectors and tested to declare a level of protection, look on the packet of any product you've used to protect your hearing and it will give an SNR figure that figure is what that product has been independently measured to offer.

You are not likely to find any such figure on any of your Sennheiser, Sony or whatevers.

Even in the custom earplug game very few have gone to the significant expense of getting their products CE approved as personal protective equipment.

It doesn't sound like you will be our customer yet a while, well not until you've spent some money on something which doesn't meet your expressed requirements, still might be worth a chat though as "£200 custom jobbies" might not be as far out of your reach as you think

 

[STUBBS]

i use these diy in ear set

http://earfuze.com/store.html

 

[Bikerjim]

Sproggy,

You're asking for the earth there my friend and alas it doesn't come in the form of a 'beginner's speaker'.

There are plenty of earphones out there that will do a job of delivering sound to your ears and if you have a helmet with space around your ears you won't even need a flat profiled product which a close fitting lid will demand.

And should you buy such an earphone as recommended so far it will give some form of attenuation in so much as putting any object in your ear will baffle the ear and reduce noise.

But even those sold as noise cancelling or noise isolating are not designed as hearing protectors and therefore make no claims for protecting that hearing.

Hearing protectors must be sold as hearing protectors and tested to declare a level of protection, look on the packet of any product you've used to protect your hearing and it will give an SNR figure that figure is what that product has been independently measured to offer.

You are not likely to find any such figure on any of your Sennheiser, Sony or whatevers.

Even in the custom earplug game very few have gone to the significant expense of getting their products CE approved as personal protective equipment.

It doesn't sound like you will be our customer yet a while, well not until you've spent some money on something which doesn't meet your expressed requirements, still might be worth a chat though as "£200 custom jobbies" might not be as far out of your reach as you think

Thats confused the feck out of me

I use the Sennheiser on short trips which have varoius sizes of "bud" probably stops 60% of the noise (not good but some people ride without ear plugs)

If going for a bit longer use "Shure" which are designed for use in noisy enviroments. With these on i cannot hear the engine running (no music playing) However i use a flip up lid and have to wriggle them in so would be difficult on a normal lid. Problem with these is the price usualy around £100+ but they have a full range of "buds" and some look just like earplugs. Very good sound and good quality.

Jim

 

[The Reverend]

If I've read your post correctly, I had a similar venture last year. I had a pair of moulded ear plugs already, so just got a pair of anonymous helmet speakers off the 'bay velcro'd them into the helmet.

I wired the ipod in via a couple of multi plug connectors & simply cranked the volume up.

Earplugs kept out the road noise but I could hear the music brilliantly.

Cheap & cheerful....bit like me