Cheap earbuds better or just as good as Sennheiser CX300 II?

[iDumi]

I've owned 2 pairs of Sennheiser CX300, the I and the II and I've been terribly happy with them, until this morning when my 3-year old CX300 IIs said bye bye. One side went mute and there seems not to be anything wrong with the cable... twisting an turning it all along its length does nothing. On the way to work, this morning they worked fine, as did they every day for the past 3 years.

Now they pretty much died so I need new earbuds.

What would you recommend for replacement, under $40, cheaper the better?

edit: I found these Panasonic earbuds for very cheap at a local store and reviews are pretty good. But the price being so low - I can get them for $8 - makes me a bit skeptical of their quality.

[jancivil]

AKG K-77. I was in an emergency situation and could only come up with 40 bucks, and these sound great. Very surprisingly great. I went through two sets of Sennheiser HD-280 Pros, which are a LOT flatter (BTW, both times the cable did what yours did; I got pretty good at rigging them so I could hear both sides but ultimately they wouldn't sound at all. I think Sennheiser manufactures these cables, or more precisely the connection with the jack, kind of shoddily). I would prefer to have very flat phones and various 'sounds better' kind of phones, but I'm more than happy with these for $40. they list for more but I want to Amazon and found that price. These are light, they don't have that heavy bar on top so they're semi-open which seems to give some mixes more space than what I'd gotten used to.

[Andywanders]

My Sony earbuds suffered a similar fate recently and I replaced them with a pair of Blaupunkt Comfort Acoustica Headphones.

Link...

http://www.blaupunktdirect.co.uk/headph ... hones.html



These seriously rock and I'm never going back to earbuds again.

[Ford Prefect]

...and I'm never going back to earbuds again.

I just switched back to closed cans and keep the old earbuds in my bag for emergencies...I may look out of the 80s walking around like this but the comfort and space is just so much better...I would try those Blaupunkts but probably too much leakage for a train commute...

[iDumi]

I should've mentioned (I thought I did) I'm looking for in-ear buds, with those silicone/rubber things that mold to your ear canal. I love how they isolate outside sounds and I find them very comfortable.

Thank you for your suggestions but I'm not looking for cans, closed or either wise.

[mandolarian]

Some claim the Denon Denon AH-C360 is a close rival to the CX300 without the cable hassle.

But for $8 those Panasonics would be tempting. Except I've never heard a pair of cheap Pany's that sounded decent. Maybe these are different. Get them and let us know.

[iDumi]

But for $8 those Panasonics would be tempting. Except I've never heard a pair of cheap Pany's that sounded decent. Maybe these are different. Get them and let us know.

I'll do just that... for $8 it's silly not to at least give them a chance.

[Goratrix]

This would be a much better place to ask:

http://www.head-fi.org/f/103/portable-h ... r-monitors

[quincy]

Personally I couldn't recommend the Soundmagic E10s highly enough.

They cost me £35 and they're the best £35 I've ever spent I think, they sound fantastic, great bass, detailed highs, and no-one around me can hear a single squeak even if they're turned right up.

http://www.whathifi.com/review/soundmagic-e10

I spent literally weeks doing research and they came up top in almost every review I read for budget earphones. Many reviews said they sound better than pairs that cost twice as much.

They really are very good, better than the CX-300s in many, many reviews I read. Also metal construction so very durable.

I rarely post here, so consider the very existence of this post to be high praise for these earphones!