Maybe 'buds aren't so bad after all..

[Christopher]

Well, for about a month now I've been using my MDR-EX81's with a MZ-NH900 or the NW-HD3. For a very long time, I was very anti-'bud and vowed to never wield one, let alone wear them because I was weary of their effects on your hearing. My opinion has changed greatly -- earbuds may be one of the coolest products I've had the chance to use. I think the principal issue was that I wasn't using them in the right environment -- I realized at work that I can speak on the phone with a headset and have an earbud in the free ear. It works very well, and it's allowed me to really delve back into music again. I think we all take a hiatus from music at one point or another because of obligations, distractions, and so forth; I really was in a rut there for a while.

[NW-HD3 with MDR-EX81's wrapped around it]

I also enjoy earbuds because they are ultraportable, great sounding, and allow me to wear and remove them steadfast. As the portable audio era continues to bloom we will see greater emphasis on quality of the components within that perhaps one day may come to rival high end home audio systems (maybe in the next ten years). DAP's are becoming so commonplace that it's really necessary for companies to delve into quality because every other aspect of functionality has been conquered.

Earbuds also excel in live recording situations for quick monitoring of microphone input -- this was crucial during a recent recording I made with my NH900 at a church.

I think that I may try a Etynomics 'bud next year as well.

[mercury_in_flames]

yeah, earbuds are great when on the go. I use my ex81's on my hd5, and they do sound very good. I am not so sure about getting etys, mostly because of all ive heard about build quality issues, and at the price they are, those stories just make me cringe. I could have forked out the extra cash for etys instead of my ath-900's, god knows they would have got more use, on my r909, and hd5, but the world can be very unforgiving out there, and if anything happened to earphones as pricey as ety;s i would be a mess. For home use, im sure the etys are amazing, with no extra outdoor noise, along with their isolating properties, they probably immerse you even more, in quality and detail even more than my ath-900's. The only problem i have with earbuds is that they are not made to last. The quality of the rubber on my ex81's being a prime example, fraying. I should be glad my ex81's have lasted me almost a year, but for the price tag, i was hoping for better materials.

I am actually going in the other direction to you, haha, having ordered a pair of ath-fc7's, to accomodate my outdoor needs. Depending on how they sound out in the real world, i will get another pair of ex81's further down the line, and use the fc7's at home with my portables, to prolong the life of my ath-900's. Welcome to the earphone scene chris, I hope you are able to take better care of your ex81's than i was. For their price tag, their sound really is worth the money.