I'm tempted to follow Tony's recommendation on the high quality of the SONY MDR-EX70(Now 71SL), but the quality isn't the issue:

Mrs.Boxer complains vehemantly that she can't sleep, because she can hear the sound of the radio from my cheapo in ear headphones. I've always got the cheapest, because I only listen to spoken word at night, and sooner or later I fall asleep, roll over and stretch the cord 'till it doesn't make contact.

Can anybody suggest a headphone that doesn't annoy the person next to you, at a reasonable price?

I don't know what you consider a reasonable price but these are supposed to be good.

Wow, those would turn me into an insomniac, worrying that I might fall asleep and damage them! I've heard that they're very good, but a little more than I'm prepared to pay.

Have you considered one of those under- pillow speakers ?

Yep, I did that, but it wasn't really satisfactory, it radiated more sound than the earphones and was hard to hear.

Get the Sony's. Trust me, no one around you can hear the sound, and you'll barely be able to hear any sound outside of the earphones.

In the pricey range, here's some in-ear headphones made by a hearing aid/custom earplugs company.

http://www.etymotic.com/musicians/more6.asp
http://www.etymotic.com/product_list/product_list_product.asp?audience_category_id=2&product_type_id=2&product_number=ER-4S

And down at the bottom, here's a little first person commentary on them.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/hookup_10.php3

--Nathan

I had a pair of Etymotics ER-6's. I only used them on airplanes, and they worked exactly as advertised; they cut noise far better than the active noise-cancelling Sony's I formerly used and they sounded fantastic. I'd have to pull them out when the flight attendant was asking me a question because I couldn't hear a word.

On longer flights, when I generally try to sleep, I found that I could turn my head sideways and sleep, but my ears eventually got irritated having these foreign things stuck in them (although it helped somewhat to make sure the cord coming off the drivers wasn't adjacent to any skin).

Then, I stupidly left them in the seat pocket in front of me, which I didn't notice right away, so I couldn't have tried to get them back. Sigh. I think Sony has some headphones of a similar style to the Etymotics but for less money. You might want to check those out.

All round I'm going to try the Sony as a good compromise of price and quality, thanks everyone for the advice.

I didn't know what "Dapper Dan" was about until I saw "Brother , where art thou", the other night!

So, are you a Dapper Dan man?

Then, I stupidly left them in the seat pocket in front of me,

I feel your pain, brother! I think mine fell out of my bag when I was fishing for something and that a ramp rat at Auckland International is now groovin' to some new "ear protection"!

Oh, and is OBWAT? just the most bitchin' movie or what?

"Oh, George, not the livestock!"

So, are you a Dapper Dan man?

I actually picked up that nickname back in high school during one of those cheesy get-to-know-everybody exercises where you had to come up with an adjective that somehow matched yourself. I think I intended to use "Daring", but then somebody else got it before me. Somebody near me suggested "Dapper" and I went with it. I kinda forgot about the nickname until web chat boards like this one came into use, so I started going by DapperDan on some of them.

Little did I know, at the time, about a Pittsburgh charity, a Western action film star, or, heaven forbid, a dress-up doll. Then, the fantastic and amazing O Brother came out and I clearly had an avatar I could use online (and conveniently borrow, at high resolution, from the movie's now-defunct web site).

I've never actually put goo into my hair, although I do occasionally dress up enough to be worthy of the name...

And now you've inspired me to properly anti-alias my avatar for this board. This should look much nicer around the edges.

I just bought the mdr-ex71sl headphones, the bass response is pretty cool, gotta get home and try it on an amplified setup, still sounds pretty good driven from the empeg though.

Can anybody suggest a headphone that doesn't annoy the person next to you, at a reasonable price?

As Loren already said... Those gasket-seal Fontopias are the best solution. The rubber gasket seal serves triple duty:

- Turns your ear canal into a sealed bass resonating chamber to improve bass response.

- Seals out external noise. (Good for airplane rides.)

- Seals all the music in. (Good for not annoying the person next to you.)

Boxer,
Did you end up getting the Sony Fontopias? Are they comfortable to fall asleep in? I just ordered a set, so here's hoping.
-Zeke

Yep, I did and they are as good as Tony and others on this thread say - Mrs.B can sleep in peace, it's a pity that I mainly use them for spoken word, because the sound quality is superb - put some reggae on and the bass blows your mind!

Interestingly, a side product of paying for decent in-ears, is a lot of what I listen to in the night is AM(BBC R5) on a walkman, where they act as an aerial, and previous earphones have had interference from the computer and the TV(I've often had to get up and switch the computer off) - the Sony's don't pick any interference up.

That's great. I'm even more psyched now. My wife has a way of 'borrowing' my headphones so I need a set. I usually use my portable headphones on flights, with a set of open-cell foam earplugs in place. I also sometimes fall asleep with music, and use my full-size Senheizers (sp?) and have to listen at low levels for the same reason you do (did). With these (assuming I can hold on to them ) I'll be solving all my problems.

-Zeke

The get close enough to your ear canal that you have to wash the covers from time to time. So unless your wife is less squeamish than most, I doubt she'll be idly borrowing them.

"So unless your wife is less squeamish than most..."

Heh.

No comment.

-Zeke

Anyone have both the 70s and 71s , I ened up buying the 71s and Im curious if there are any design or sound differences.

I can now 3rd Tony & Boxer's opinions on the Fontopia's. I've had them in for an hour and a half (and a new 60 GB drive install in my quote, unquote spare player) and they're very comfy and the sound is by far the best I've ever had from as small headphone.

1st sync happening now. Mmmm. Good.

-Zeke

I'd recommend either the Shure or the Etymotics.

The mid-end Shure is the E2C (can be found for $80). The mid-end Etymotic is the ER-6 ($150). I picked the E2c over the ER-6 b/c the Etymotic cord is too sensitive.

The high-end versions are the Shure E5C($450) and the Etymotic ER-4P ($280).

These headphones are sweet. Other good ones in a different genre are th AKG-1000, the Grados and the Sennheiser HD600.

Hey Dapper Dan Man - Do you have a higher resoultion of the Dapper Dan Tin than the one I have below. I made the FOP one below.

Sorry for raising up the old thread but I'm considering now Sony's earbuds.. The local store would have MDR-EX51LP for 39€ (or such). Comparing at Sony.Com gives EX51LP's price to 39.99$ and EX71SL's price to 49.99$.

So. Anyone know the differences between these two models? Specs on Sony's page show that they are identicially the same ... d=) Should I go and get the EX51LP and ignore the rest?

I'd be mostly using these on a bus or a train... And i'm not really such a Hi-Fi-Freako.

... and i'm going to eat a pizza now