Earphones v Headphones

Ham Ahoy!

For those of of ye who understand not the difference, earphones are IN-EAR phones, i.e:


or headphone, ON-HEAD phones:


i prefer earphones if i'm at home or just hanging out, but headphoe if i'm exercising or walking somewhere.

So, headphones. You?

Bard

I prefer HEADphones, cos I'm a radio DJ and I have to hear EVERYTHING.

projectmayhem

earphones since i use my mp3 on-the-move most of the time etc.

the quality of earphones these days matches headphones fairly well (the stick-in-ear types) so you're not loosing loads of sound quality either

weemcd

Depends on what they are used for, at home i always stick with the big comfortable cans. But when listening to music on the go i prefer earphones. I suppose its to not look too out of place in public, but also a portability thing. Then again, there are far more stupid sheepish knackery fashions out there than simply wearing a big pair of cans. All a personal choice tbh.

cormie

Shure E4's for me, brilliant sound, fit, comfort and size, no excess bulk and even though I've never listened to a high quality set of cans, I'm quite confident in my in ears that I'm not losing any quality. I could be wrong though:o

Pixel8

Headphones coz they block out more outside noise. The volume and bass is better as well. Great for home or studio use... I use Sennheiser HD25's coz im a dj/producer as well, the volume and clarity on these headphones is very high. Earphones never seem to stay in my ears properly at all at all, the stick-in-ear ones are sweet though.

cormie

I think the only ones who can give proper judgement are those who have used both high end of each type. That puts me out of the picture:o

RobertFoster

I prefer headphones. Most (in-ear) earphones I have hurt my ear, and I can't afford high-end ones like Shure.

phantom_lord

I prefer headphones

Slippin Jimmy

I prefer earphones because they are a lot neater. Imagine seeing someone walking down the road listening to their mp3 with a set of headphones on, now that would be funny:) . Earphone are better aswell because you can put them in your pocket and go.

Kintarō Hattori

If your forking out XXX amount for an MP3 player, you want to hear it as it's meant to be heard. Plus earphones always fall out of my ears.

These are my bad boys of choice, yes I look like a tool walking down the street, but I don't care. I can't hear anything else when I have these on.

cormie

Hopefully somebody who has tried both the likes of Shure, and the likes of the ones you posted will give their opinion on the sound isolation qualities of both head and earphones, until then it's just going to be a case of "oh yeah I used them, their the best" as I'm doing with my experience with Shures and no headphones:rolleyes:

bounty_hunter

At home I prefer headphones, but when I'm on the move I prefer earphones as they're more discreet and easier to shove into pockets, etc. if necessary.

Ham Ahoy!

here's the ones i have:


you people could do with a little visual aid too.

cormie

Check this out..