Which In-Ear Headphones?

Let me start at the beginning which might be confusing as the ending is the beginning. You'll see. I had a pair of Shure SE110 earplugs and although I liked them I thought I could do better as they were the entry level Shure earplugs plus I have an iPhone and thought I might try some earplugs with a microphone that was just another excuse. Good news was we got my missus an ipod shuffle so I was able to pass off by Shure's to her thus clearing the path for me.

Introducing the first challenger Etymotic hf2 rave reviews from customers (Apple Store), so I bought them. They were crystal clear, very clean sounding but I felt lacked bass even after trying different fittings and getting that all important seal. I would say these are for the purist very clean flat sound. The flange fitting irritated the hell out of me, I could not wear them for a prolonged period. This now got me thinking maybe I really was not an audiophile and a fan of enhancers and bass.

More reading reviews I could not justify splashing out for Shure SE530 which seemed like what I really wanted, other then the £250+ price tag I was going to use my headset in the gym and there no way I could justify using such a costly pair of headphones at the gym. The v-moda ones started to appeal due to all the comments on bass heavy but I thought that seems to be there main appeal I wanted the lot to be honest. So I thought let me try the Shure SE 210's as I did like my 110's and this should feel like an upgrade. They were a lot like the 110's at lower and mid volumes they were marginally better in the mid and highs (marginal) BUT at high volumes that extra mid and high was horrible you just would not want to listen. Yes I do have this problem where on occasions I like to try and blow my eardrums. Maybe it could be to do with the bit rate of my tunes which vary quite a lot, but I was not planning on adapting my bit rate to suite a pair of earplugs.

Yep back they went whilst in the apple store, by the way at this point I would like to mention no stores let you return earplugs normally, but the apple store has a 7/14 day satisfaction return policy which is usually excluded on headphones, but the receipt or small print does not say that, so I figured I would make the most of it before they realised. Anyway I noticed Apple's brand new in ear headphones with remote although the volume does not work with the iPhone but forward, rewind, play, pause and answering calls is supported. I convinced the staff that they should break open a pair for testing which wasn't hard they were just as eager. After half the store trying them out with mixed opinions I had my turn and on first impression I liked it the extra bass was there and they sounded reasonably clear with my love for Apple products tainting me I bought them (that's a new pair not the now used ones).

They were not as clear as the Shure's or the Ety's but they were not miles apart and the extra bass was nice. With the phone features and remote I thought I can live with this compromise plus my tainted romance with Apple (don't get me started). Haha after a week or two I realized I was constantly adjusting them because they would pop out the sweet spot every few minutes. I tried bigger tips but same thing happened after a few days. Then my moment of magic, 'I will take the Shure foam tips from my 110's spares and force them on these'. It worked (picture included of my conversion) and the fit was better, but now I just realized how much I miss my 110's, yeah I know where did that come from, right? Well whilst changing the tips, I picked up the 110's and sat there and compared the same tunes and the Shure's were just amazing in comparison, I would want to listen to songs that I did not even like that much, purely because the Shure's made them sound so damn good, they would just put into a world of your own, I really can't explain very well, but I knew the 110's were the one. Oh why oh why did I ever bother but then I would never have known how much I loved my 110's in the first place.

Luckily I had passed my 110's to the wife who really doesn't care what she uses, so I swapped the apple ones for the Shure 110's. She was happy with the shorter cord and funnily enough commented that she these blocked out all the sound out (with Shure tips on them), this means she never got the right seal on the Shure's.

By the way after all this reading it will not help you one bit because I read tons of customer reviews on Amazon and the Apple Store and they all sounded good but truly it's based on your personal taste, you can take a little information from the reviews, but headphones is truly a personal choice, no one can tell you what sounds better, this just backs the theory that we all hear things differently, just listen to a recording of your own voice. So try them yourself and find your perfect partner more so while apple have this return policy, just ask at the store they will probably tell you if you use them you cannot return them, in which case buy them and then show them the receipt that says clearly you can return them even if they are used, if they have changed the policy then just return them there and then unopened.

UPDATE: One thing I forgot to mention, I have seen a number of reviews and posts saying that the Shure 110 do not have much bass, I would say either they are bassheads or they have not got the perfect seal, because I can definetly hear some nice tight bass it not lacking at all, I would say its finely balanced.