Looking for good ear buds under $100

[Phillip Dyson]

I am looking for a good pair of sound isolating earbuds for my morning commute.

I've been using my Zune80's included buds up until now but I'm thinking I may need something better.

My commute includes riding the subway and often the sound of the train in the tunnel prevents me from hearing what I'm listening to. Other than that they work fine.

My concern is that in order to hear I tend to have my Zune volume set to 11 and I would like to have a pair of ear buds that might allow me to reduce that volume and still hear my podcasts and audio books. Oh and music too.

I'm guessing that "sound isolation" might do the trick, but I've never experienced it. At least not in ear buds.

Also, I guess by ear buds I'm also including in-ear canal options too.

Any suggestions for under $100 would be great.

[doogald]

I have a pair of earphones with soft canal tips that are great for noise isolation (though the actual sound is not great.) But they work great with the lawnmower, string trimmer, even chainsaw. Unfortunately, these things (Trick Audio TA-100s) don't seem to be sold anymore.

However, there is a company called Comply (http://www.complyfoam.com/) that sells foam tip additions/replacements for just about every brand of earbuds around (including my TA-100s). I have not tried these myself, but rather than buy a new pair of buds it might be worth ordering a pair of these, to see if they work for you.

http://www.complyfoam.com/

[David Tucker]

Shure has a low end model that should be pretty good and is right in your price range. Altec Lansing also has some good buds in the 40s - 80s that I think should suit you well too.

[Phillip Dyson]

However, there is a company called Comply that sells foam tip additions/replacements for just about every brand of earbuds around (including my TA-100s). I have not tried these myself, but rather than buy a new pair of buds it might be worth ordering a pair of these, to see if they work for you.

http://www.complyfoam.com/

Thanks for the information. I did a quick check and saw that they had two sets specifically for the Zune Premium set.

Shure has a low end model that should be pretty good and is right in your price range. Altec Lansing also has some good buds in the 40s - 80s that I think should suit you well too.

Yesterday I put in an old set of Shure headphones just to see if I heard a difference. To my surprise the sound was completely flat. I could barely tell if it was still stereo or not. Admittedly these headphones are about 4 years old. And sub $100 at that time. Perhaps they're worn out or something, although I haven't used them often.

The Zune buds were much better.

[David Tucker]

Which Shures are they? Really, 4 years shouldn't ruin a good pair of cans.

I've found the biggest problem most people seem to have is properly wearing them. If you don't have a proper seal then the flat response you got isn't surprising.