Interlopers.net - Half-Life 2 News & Tutorials

by **slayera** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:44 am

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The ever-popular earbuds used with many iPods and other MP3 players may be more stylish than the bigger and bulkier earmuff-type headphones, but they may also be more damaging to one's hearing, according to a Northwestern professor.

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by **Gamercat** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:55 am

That's why I use my freakishly large computer headphones.

by **Farles** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:00 am

DJ Headphones FTW. those little ears plug are destroying your precious sense...

by **dragonfliet** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:38 am

That article was ridiculous. I use Shure e3c's when I walk around and they cut out more ambient noise than anything else I've used. At home I use Grado SR 80s which are fantastic (and have better bass) but they certainly don't block sound as good as my Shure's do.

Now, the fact that you shouldn't listen to loud music all day long. How long has that been around? Yeah, a while. If you're using earbuds for walking around, they probably suck, because you've been using the provided ones, go out and buy yourself the Sony MDLEX51's or the MDLEX71's if you want some decent, low cost, good bass, sound isolating headphones for being out and about (I use the 81's for working out and they're perfect.

~Jason

by **Caste** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:17 am

I problem is, with these earbuds, they're pumping loud music directly into your eardrums at a really point-blank range. Not good at all
Never liked earbuds myself

by **Serever** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:05 am

earbuds are uncumfortable, undignified and sound like shit. im getting some of these in a week or so:

by **NsOmNiA91130** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:21 am

Some? As in plural?

by **-[Getty]-** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:27 pm

I don't really like earbuds, but because I can't really fit a big pair in my backpack at school, I use earbuds for on the way to and from school. I don't really make them blast really loud, but I havn't had any problems with my hearing yet.

by **Torrean** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:49 pm

I use my big, freakishly expensinsive headphones that I got from my uncle. The earbuds hurt my ears and don't want to stay in.

by **dragonfliet** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:12 pm

Caste wrote:I problem is, with these earbuds, they're pumping loud music directly into your eardrums at a really point-blank range. Not good at all
Never liked earbuds myself

Not an issue. It doesn't matter what the proximity of the speaker is, it matters what the volume is. The article talks about the bad ipod earbuds being a poor choice because as they don't sit snugly in the ears, they allow alot of ambient noise in, because of the ambient noise, the user has to turn their volume up higher in order to hear the music well. Large over-the-ear headphones help this problem out by isolating a decent 10db or so of ambient noise but good in ear headphones will block ~20db of ambient noise and at that point are the optimal experience.

What weighs more? A ton of bricks or two tons of feathers? What's worse for your ears? Earbuds playing at 60db when they reach your ears or speakers playing at 120db when they reach your ears? The origin of the sound doesn't matter, only the sound.

~Jason

by **Blink** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:21 pm

I've got some Sony headphones that go in your ear, cost me a lot but the cool thing is they have almost an ear plug attached, so it sits in your ear, blocks all the outside noise and obviously you can hear your music perfectly, plus the bass sounds better.

The more outside noise you can block, the better they sound.

by **Jest@** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:10 pm

I still swear by my sony over-ear ones. in-ear headphones reeeeally hurt the inside of my ear, maybe my ears are just a funny shape, but i've always hated them. The ones I use are over-ear, but not huge and they hook on your ears, rather than a head strap. So they're a) small, b) comfortable c) sound great. Perfect!

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct. ... EA+Walkman

Seriously, they're dead good.

by **dragonfliet** on Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:22 pm

Ack, those headphones are terrible. I hope that one day you are able to appreciate music for how it's supposed to be enjoyed. On that note though, I imagine you're probably listening to MP3s at 128kbps no? At that bitrate, good headphones don't really improve the crappy sound much over the crappy headphones.

As for earbuds being uncomfortable, some of them really are. My Shure's actually are a pain with the standard rubber pads so I took them off (they're designed to be) bought a set of ear plugs that fit nice and snug, cut a small hole in them and attached them to my headphones. Voila, perfect snug fit and quality sound.

~Jason

by **Sauce** on Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:33 am

DONT BUY AN IPOD!!! THEY SOUND LIKE SHIT AND APPLE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING. PLUS, THEY LOOK LIKE SHIT!!! BUY A CREATIVE ZEN MICRO THEY HAVE SUPERB SOUND QUALITY, LOOK AWESOME, AND THEYRE JUST OVERALL BETTER!!! PLUS YOU WONT HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE EVERY 6 MONTHS BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED BY THE NEXT MODEL!!!

ok, im done yelling now.... my voice is sore

by **Ripper_hugme** on Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:39 am

but you just typed and besides IRIVER RULZ!!!!!!!1111111!!!!!!!!!

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