My dog has chewed through 3 pairs of my apple ipod issue ear buds, They were 6/10s at best, not wanting to nestle quite so well in my ears. I’m on the search for a good set for running. Does ST have any favorites? I’ve got a set of Sony “ear holster” types that like to get jarred loose by the bouncing of the cable as I run and need constant adjustment. No bueno in my opinion so I’m on the search for a new, great set!
The cheapest I can find at Walmart or Target. They usually go for around $8.99.
A friend of mine’s wife works for Koss and I have gotten a few pairs of those to use. They sound fantastic, but last less than a month. Most of my running is done to books on tape, so sound quality is not a big deal to me.
threads on here usually recommend shure ($$$$) or sennheiser/adidas. hard to me to pull the trigger tho b/c you can’t try them on anywhere, and you’re out a fair bit of money, or alot of money for shure, if they don’t fit well. the sennheisers look interesting in how they attach to your ear.
i’m not a fan of the in-ear buds (with the rubber gasket that goes into the ear canal) b/c you can hear your heartbeat, swallowing, cord rub, etc.
plus they deaden external sound & are not that safe, and once they get yanked out of your ears from running they are useless.
though they are not very comfortable & don’t sound great, ipod ones have sufficed for me, as i still be aware of surroundings & they fit under a winter hat.
I prefer a pair by Phillips. I need the kind that wrap around my ears as the iPod type bounce out and annoy the shit out of me. I’ve only been able to find them at Target, but they are cheap. I’ve tried a LOT of brands over the years, and settled on these.
Caution, they tend to last me about 2 seasons at most, the sweat does eventually seem to kill them, one ear at a time, but like I said, they are cheap so I’m fine replacing them. Also, the sound is fine for running, but certianly not great for general music listening. I was on the subway this morning and forgot my regular Bose ones, so I used the Phillips, I thought to myself, WTF, these blow! I never notice that on a run though.
In fact, I recently bought 2 pair when one finally died. I’ll be good for a while now.
once they get yanked out of your ears from running they are useless.
totally agree, but I’ve found if I drop the cord down the front of my shirt and clip the mp3 player (in my case, iPod shuffle) to my waist, they don’t tend to get yanked out.
I tried alot of different headphones and the ones that work best for me are strangely enough the Sony Sports headphones with the “harness” bar that goes over your head. Like the old school walkman. I tried everything from the ipod buds, to the shure, to the clip around ear only ones, and there was always problems with something getting in the way (a hat, sunglasses, etc). And most headphones anyway get funky from sweat after a period of time and will go bad, so these won’t put a dent into your wallet when you have to replace them.
once they get yanked out of your ears from running they are useless.
totally agree, but I’ve found if I drop the cord down the front of my shirt and clip the mp3 player (in my case, iPod shuffle) to my waist, they don’t tend to get yanked out.
i just make sure to wear a hat.
winter hat: buds under the hat, keeps them in place.
warmer weather: adjustable baseball cap, run the cords through the little semi-circle in the back above the strap. they fall out much less, and are quickly locatable if they do fall out.
I tried alot of different headphones and the ones that work best for me are strangely enough the Sony Sports headphones with the “harness” bar that goes over your head. Like the old school walkman. I tried everything from the ipod buds, to the shure, to the clip around ear only ones, and there was always problems with something getting in the way (a hat, sunglasses, etc). And most headphones anyway get funky from sweat after a period of time and will go bad, so these won’t put a dent into your wallet when you have to replace them.
Yeah, the old collapsing “barrette” style that came with walkman/discman I wear a visor when I run and the sides of the visor would keep them pressed firmly in. The only reason I used ipod buds was because I lost my discman headphones. Time to re-invest I suppose! I was thinking the used to retail for 10-20?
The cheapest I can find at Walmart or Target. They usually go for around $8.99.
A friend of mine’s wife works for Koss and I have gotten a few pairs of those to use. They sound fantastic, but last less than a month. Most of my running is done to books on tape, so sound quality is not a big deal to me.
Sony makes a pair of buds for $10 bucks that actually sound pretty good, and they come with a holder and foam covers…think aboput buying extra covers at the store, they will keep them from falling out and add to the comfort greatly IMO and keep the sweat from soaking the bud.
That last sentence is a run on.
I am a big Sennheiser fan. I also was worried when it came time to spend $30 for something I havent tried on but I love them and they have been very durable! http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private_sport-headphones-earbuds_Sennheiser-adidas
I’ve gone through many in frustration and stumbled happily on these, IMHO peerless:
Sennheiser/Adidas PMX 680
http://www.sennheiser.com/...es_sport-line_504046
- excellent sound quality and bass response, if that matters as much to you as it does to me … one area where cheaper designs have failed
- super light, comfortable and unobtrusive … they disappear and never move (see next line)
- sweatproof, rubberized design … they’ve survived running in the Florida Panhandle summer, where all other bud designs have failed, and foam/over-ear designs are simply a non-starter
- excellent cord management … ~18" length is perfect for MP3 player in a chest pocket or armband, and it comes with an extension (w/ convenient volume control) if you need it
- relatively expensive at $50-60 street
- semi-compatible with headwear … visors/caps + sunglasses are fine, I personally find earwarmers/skullcaps also work comfortably but you may not … not sure how they’d work with hoods
- neck band design is great for running but not for working out in a gym (i.e. lying down on a bench)
- not animal proof … but I don’t know any that are
All my training is solo, so music is important. Two hour runs really suck otherwise. In that light, this is one of the best gear purchases I’ve made, up there with my ISM saddle.
My two pfennigs.
EDIT: the cables *are *“Kevlar reinforced” per the website, so they’re probably as “chew proof” as you’re going to find in the sport headphone world … seriously though, just store them in a drawer 
I’m a recent convert to “yurbuds” (I do not benefit in promoting them in any way, I just like them):
I’ve been running with them for several weeks. They are very comfortable, they do NOT block out all “outside” sounds, and (most important for me) THEY DO NOT FALL OUT NO MATTER HOW LONG/HARD YOU RUN.
I can still have conversations with people while wearing them if I pause/turn down my iPod.
I bought the “ironman” set that included headphones, but you can also just buy the buds and put them on your current headphones. Supposedly they work well with bluetooth headsets as well but I haven’t tried that.
Wanted to make one other comment - the yurbuds are not “plugs” in that you don’t have to jam them into your ear. They do have a channel that extends into your ear canal, but that’s not a “compression” fit, it just sits there and doesn’t entirely fill up the ear canal.
At least in my ears, it seems that the “cup” above my earlobe (is there a anatomny term for it?) is what really holds them in.
I just got some fairly cheap skull candys… with the different-sized silicone gaskets it comes with, one of the 3 should fit most people well enough. I used to be super-annoyed by the cord dangle/flopping until I rigged it into a lightweight hat… the iPod clips to the visor so I can easily reach up to skip/repeat songs or adjust volume without breaking stride, and the excess cord is wrapped up tightly in the back with a zip-tie so there’s just enough slack for the buds to reach my ears without any flapping when I run. Perfect. Easy to just slip a fleece ear band over the top when it’s really cold. So far, it’s survived a couple seasons of sweat/rain without issue (knock wood) other than some rust stains from the few safety pins I use to help keep it all neat and secure.
I run almost exclusively on either a track or a few different off-street paths/trails, though. I’ll avoid the phones on the rare occasions I know I’ll be running in an area with more traffic.
+1 Phillips wrap around, cheap and decent sound quality.
I’ll second Yurbuds for in ear style buds.
You get your ear measured and then choose the correct size Yurbud. Great sound, they will not fall out if fit correctly, and you can still hear the world around you. You also don’t get that funky hearing of your heartbeat and everything else but the music
Disclaimer - I sell these in my store but they did pass the wife test (she hates all other in ear buds)
If you’re dog has chewed through 3 pairs, I’d just get a cheap set of anything that stays put. No point in buying nice ones just so your dog can snack on them.
I have a set of the entry level Shure’s that are great, I think I paid about $100 for them 4 years ago. They sound great and are built incredibly well - they have thousands of hours of running, biking and weightlifting on them. I run my cord down through the inside of my shirt and under my HRM (if I’m wearing one) and I don’t get any cord bounce noise traveling through to the earbuds. I’ve never heard my heart beat through my earbuds.
I use an over the head, headphone with earbuds, with a visor pulled over the headphones…
…but the cool thing?
I use a visor with a hard bill. I drilled two holes in the visor and run a zip-tie through the holes, creating a loop both under and over the bill. My iPod Shuffle clips to the zip tie on top of my visor’s bill, and the cord is then run into the visor’s liner, where the cord is bunched up and safety-pinned inside the liner.
So everything is on the visor. No dangling cords. I’ve been doing this for years and love it. The only thing you have to “adjust” to, when you take the visor off you take the headphone off with it, everything stays together.
In the rain? The Shuffle goes UNDER the visors bill, clipped to the same zip-tie loop.
I…love my little running visor. No cords. And the Shuffle rides up in the sun and stays dry.
I tried alot of different headphones and the ones that work best for me are strangely enough the Sony Sports headphones with the “harness” bar that goes over your head. Like the old school walkman. I tried everything from the ipod buds, to the shure, to the clip around ear only ones, and there was always problems with something getting in the way (a hat, sunglasses, etc). And most headphones anyway get funky from sweat after a period of time and will go bad, so these won’t put a dent into your wallet when you have to replace them.
X2 except I have the sony’s that wrap around the ears. hat and/or sunglasses go over the wrap and lock it into place. they are sport headphones so stand up to sweat well. They stay on great. Plus they don’t go too far into the ear like buds do…so while they do go in a bit…I can still hear external sounds well provided I don’t have something like ACDC just cranked way up.
I like these from Monster. No cord to worry about and the controls are easy to access. Of course, it assumes that you’re using a shuffle.
