[Elecraft] Best earbuds?

[Howard Hoyt]

Good suggestions, all.

Like Jim Brown, I come from the audio industry, and the best In Ear 
Monitors (IEMs) I have are the Etymotic ER4s.  I have owned a pair for 
twenty years, and still love them.  They come with the 3-flange ear 
tips, but are best used with deep canal ear molds.  These are 
individually molded at an audiologists, and the resulting fit can offer 
up to 35dB or more broadband attenuation to ambient noise. This allows 
the use of moderate drive power and by suppressing ambient acoustic 
noise really opens up the noise floor for analysis.

For those who desire a more modest model, the next best alternative IEM 
I have found is the Audio Technica ATH-ANC23, which has Active Noise 
Cancellation (ANC) which works well.  Although the amount of noise 
cancellation they offer is less than some Bose models, I find the audio 
quality to be superior to the Bose.  I have used these in many multi-op 
contests where an SSB op was yelling "AGAIN, AGAIN???" for what seemed 
like hours next to me while I tried to copy weak CW, and the ANC really 
helped!

For the record, the very best audio quality I have heard from an IEM 
comes from the Sennheiser IE800s.  They rival the best over-ear models 
and approach the quality of the Stax electrostatics at lower volumes.  
Not the most comfortable IEMs, and the sound is greatly affected by 
proper fitting to the ear canal, but once you get it right, man do they 
sound great!

Just my $0.015 worth

Howie - WA4PSC