[Elecraft] Best earbuds?

[Josh Fiden]

If looking at these higher end products, I'm a big fan of Westone. I've 
had the UM2 for a decade or so.

www.westone.com

73,
Josh W6XU

On 3/22/2015 4:39 PM, Howard Hoyt wrote:
> 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