JVC Air-Cushion HA-FX66A. Their isolation and comfort are excellent. I experience no fatigue at all and have not even bothered trying the different ear pieces. Their sound quality is great too after break-in. The case is weird though; I would like to see a picture of its intended usage.
I absolutely agree. I think Air-Cushions are by far the best inexpensive (under $50) in-ear phones you can get. The sound quality for this price point is just amazing. I think you’d have to get near the $100 range to get something significantly better. All the various silicone and memory foam ear pieces that come with it are a nice bonus as well. You’re pretty much guaranteed a good, comfortable fit.
I have Sony earbuds for my Clip, which works great. I’ve been trying to find an easy way to “simulate” wireless headphones by getting the Clip on my head with no cord hanging down at all. I could probably do this with a standard ball cap but I generally don’t wear them and I wouldn’t want my player to go flying with a gust of wind.
I ride a bicycle and the cord often hooks on the brake lever or gets caught in the lock cable.
JVC Air-Cushion HA-FX66A. Their isolation and comfort are excellent. I experience no fatigue at all and have not even bothered trying the different ear pieces. Their sound quality is great too after break-in. The case is weird though; I would like to see a picture of its intended usage.
I absolutely agree. I think Air-Cushions are by far the best inexpensive (under $50) in-ear phones you can get. The sound quality for this price point is just amazing. I think you’d have to get near the $100 range to get something significantly better. All the various silicone and memory foam ear pieces that come with it are a nice bonus as well. You’re pretty much guaranteed a good, comfortable fit.
I got mine for $35 at Circuit City.
Message Edited by Skinjob on 05-23-2008 11:43 AM
$35? I paid $25 including shipping (beachaudio via amazon). It pays to shop around (froogle, pricegrabber, &c.)
Yeah, having all the ear pieces is great even just as backups in case the preferred ones are lost. A replacement set is available but for the price it would probably be wiser to buy a new headphone package (and maybe give away or sell for a few dollars the old one with remaining unused ear pieces).
Another thing I like about them is their low-profile (external) which, combined with the comfort features, allows laying my head sideways on a pillow. The available colours are cool too and the L & R labels easy to read (at least on my blue ones) -plus they are free of branding/logos.
Also, the silicone ear pieces should last a relatively long time compared to foam. Actually, now that I thunk about it, perhaps there are generic replacements available rather than the full set from JVC.
Message Edited by AuralFixation on 05-30-2008 10:58 AM
$35? I paid $25 including shipping (beachaudio via amazon). It pays to shop around (froogle, pricegrabber, &c.)
Yeah, I knew I could get 'em cheaper online, but sometimes you just gotta have it now!
Plus, I’d never tried the JVCs myself and figured it would be easier to return them to CC if I wasn’t happy with the sound/fit. But I can assure anyone else with the same concerns that you will be happy with the sound and you’d have to have some really strange ears to not get a good fit with all the ear piece sizes and types that come with it.
Well, I suppose there is something to be said for the convenience of buying locally despite the 40% plus tax extra markup, plus time and the general hassle of going to a store :stuck_out_tongue:
I would have thought headphones were akin to underwear in that returns would not be accepted unless they were defective. Now we know why such a high markup at circuitcity!
Well, gents, it seems we can have the best of both worlds: instant gratification and low price. JVC Air Cushions are on the circuitcity.com web site now for $21.24. Order online and pick up at your local store. While there’s much to be said for shopping online, especially if you live in an electronics wasteland, sometimes it’s nice to browse through a B+M store and see and touch the merchandise.
Has anyone here tried both the Marshmallows and the Air Cushions? I’d love to hear a comparison of the two - in terms of both comfort and sound quality. Right now I have 4 pairs of Marshmallows (stockpiling my Y2K bunker – right next to the duct tape), but would be willing to get a set of Air Cushions or two if they’re even better than the Marshmallows.
Well, gents, it seems we can have the best of both worlds: instant gratification and low price. JVC Air Cushions are on the circuitcity.com web site now for $21.24. Order online and pick up at your local store. While there’s much to be said for shopping online, especially if you live in an electronics wasteland, sometimes it’s nice to browse through a B+M store and see and touch the merchandise.
Has anyone here tried both the Marshmallows and the Air Cushions? I’d love to hear a comparison of the two - in terms of both comfort and sound quality. Right now I have 4 pairs of Marshmallows (stockpiling my Y2K bunker – right next to the duct tape), but would be willing to get a set of Air Cushions or two if they’re even better than the Marshmallows.
Link? All I see is regular price of 35 black or 25 for Red + tax, which is a little more than if you buy from most google checkout merchants and take the additional 10 off. I’ve tried neither but am thinking of giving the air cushion a go. To anyone that has them. Do they really stay in your ear (and comfortably) if jogging?
I’ve been through so much ■■■■ as of late… ended up falling back to my tried and true RCA Neckband Headphones purchased many moons ago at Walmart (as you can see, I am upper status quo headphone type, lol). I had Sony Ear Clip Headphones MDR-Q22LP for awhile but the stupid things keep falling off my ears when I run. That and the cord is just too long. I used to use something similar to the Sony Clip-On In Ear MDR-J10s but they got fried on the tredmill from too much sweat. Then I opted for the Philips Earhook Headphones (SHS3201) but god did they make my ear canal ache!
I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews on the marshmallows so it doesn’t seem they’re much of a comparision to the ear cushion variants. The big question is do they hold after extensive exercise and heavy sweating.
Link? All I see is regular price of 35 black or 25 for Red + tax, which is a little more than if you buy from most google checkout merchants and take the additional 10 off. I’ve tried neither but am thinking of giving the air cushion a go. To anyone that has them. Do they really stay in your ear (and comfortably) if jogging?
I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews on the marshmallows so it doesn’t seem they’re much of a comparision to the ear cushion variants. The big question is do they hold after extensive exercise and heavy sweating.
Message Edited by hakujin on 05-30-2008 11:26 PM
Regarding the Marshmallows price, I just looked at circuitcity.com, apparently there are two differant models of the Marshmallow. HAFX33B for $9.99 and HAFX34B for $24.99. I can’t determine the differance between the 2 models…
I’ve had a pair of the 33B for about a month or so, I don’t jog so I can’t say how well they would stay in, aside from that, for under $10 they are a good set o’ buds
So curiosty got me, according to the JVC website the diff b’tween the 2 models as follows;
The blue ones (HAFX33A) and the black ones (HAFX33B) are priced at 9.99 and there’s a coupon code for an additional 15% off.
I’m happy with my Marshmallows. I’ve given them a good run for their money for about 2-3 months now and the first pair of foamy cushions are just now starting to fray at the edges. The buds come with 2 pairs of cushions.
I actually bought the HA-FX66 Air Cuhion after reading the positive comments in this thread - I wanted something more portable than my somewhat bigger AKG K26P aka K414P headphones that I mentioned earlier in this thread.
I am not impressed… :neutral_face: I cannot get a close seal, and so the bass end is severely lacking. (I do have very narrow ear canals so i knew there might be a difficult fit)
And when I press/hold them tighter the bass level does increase, but it’s a little muddy and nowhere near as precise as my AKG’s. And the trebles are less pleasant - slightly shrilly.
Maybe I expected too much… But will encourage any curious soul to try a bigger headphone. The K26P’s and also the Sennheiser PX100’s have been highly praized.
@sajmondk wrote:
I actually bought the HA-FX66 Air Cuhion after reading the positive comments in this thread - I wanted something more portable than my somewhat bigger AKG K26P aka K414P headphones that I mentioned earlier in this thread.
I am not impressed… :neutral_face: I cannot get a close seal, and so the bass end is severely lacking. (I do have very narrow ear canals so i knew there might be a difficult fit)
And when I press/hold them tighter the bass level does increase, but it’s a little muddy and nowhere near as precise as my AKG’s. And the trebles are less pleasant - slightly shrilly.
Maybe I expected too much… But will encourage any curious soul to try a bigger headphone. The K26P’s and also the Sennheiser PX100’s have been highly praized.
Yeah, good fit is critical with any in-ear phone. Bad seal = no bass. It’s too bad with all the options that come with the Air Cushions you couldn’t get a good fit. I have the opposite problem, my ear canals are fairly large. I was able to get a great fit with the Air Cushions and have been really happy. It’s definitely not a booming bass-head earphone, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I find the bass tight and responsive. I would say the treble is very good for the price point, but keep in mind that we’re talking about $30 phones here.
As you’ve noticed, it’s much easier to get good sound with on-ear or over-ear phones. But for people looking for pocketability, noise isolation or active/sport use, they’re not really an option. I’d still say the Air Cushions are one of the best in-ear phones if you are on a budget.
Ok…here’s my input. “Made For Sansa” accessory, from Maximo. The Im-360. I have found that this set is letting me here notes/sounds in the music that I have not heard before. These buds are better than any I have used before. I use them on my Clip. Order the travel kit from Amazon. Best deal around.
@sajmondk wrote:
I actually bought the HA-FX66 Air Cuhion after reading the positive comments in this thread - I wanted something more portable than my somewhat bigger AKG K26P aka K414P headphones that I mentioned earlier in this thread.
I am not impressed… :neutral_face: I cannot get a close seal, and so the bass end is severely lacking. (I do have very narrow ear canals so i knew there might be a difficult fit)
And when I press/hold them tighter the bass level does increase, but it’s a little muddy and nowhere near as precise as my AKG’s. And the trebles are less pleasant - slightly shrilly.
Maybe I expected too much… But will encourage any curious soul to try a bigger headphone. The K26P’s and also the Sennheiser PX100’s have been highly praized.
I actually agree about the Air Cushions… after listening to the Sennheiser CX300’s (surprised to see they haven’t been mentioned here) I found the sound quality to be rather lack-lustre in comparison. The comfortability is better with the FX66’s though and the build quality I feel is better but the sound quality doesn’t seem to match that of my CX300’s. When listening to more complex music such as rock, the instruments are not as clearly defined and the drums, for instance, sound “degraded” to make up for the rest of the intruments, such as guitars and vocals. Overal it makes my music sound “muddy” - even music ripped at 320kbps MP3 lack the clearly defined mids and highs my CX300’s produced.
Air Cushions - comfortablility, buid-quality
CX300’s - sound quality and I think they are better looking
The FX66 Air Cushions are in the very same price range as the Sennheiser CX300’s.
