CES: Shure Headphones
Mike and I have commented before about the difficulty of finding good headphones for exercising. The big versions tend to hurt me somewhere on my ears or have foam that disintegrates under the abuse of sweat. The earbuds tend to fall out when I’m running.
Mike and I tested the E3G headphones at the Shure booth at CES. They offered disposable covers for the earbuds (the yellow part), so I was able to give them a real test. I tried them both ways: over my ear and just inserted into my ear.
After inserting them, I jumped around and jogged in place trying to recreate the movement that makes all earbuds fall out of my ears. After an embarrassing romp around the booth, it seems that no matter how I put them in my ears they would stay. I didn’t work up a sweat, so I don’t know how the squishy bits that fit into the ear canal would survive it, but they were able to stay in place, which is important.
When Mike tried them, he was completely unable to hear me talk to him. If he wasn’t looking at me, he couldn’t even tell. They blocked out the ambient noise of the convention floor extremely well. So well, that I wouldn’t recommend these headphones if you exercise outdoors. You wouldn’t be able to hear cars or muggers and it might leave you vulnerable. Use them at home or in the gym only.
My only problem is that at $199, these headphones are easily four times what I’m willing to pay. Amazon has them for $179, but I have such a hard time shelling out that much money for something that I could accidentally lose at the gym. I was really impressed with them, but I don’t trust myself not to lose them.