Of course headphones come and go. Usually you get a new set of earbuds with each portable music player you buy. And the quality of these earbuds will vary.
6. iPod touch 2G earbuds (late 2008) [nice]
The iPod touch included a set of headphones and I liked them a lot. Unlike the headphones (#3) I got with the 3G iPod, these fit my ears perfectly and they sound fine as well.
The plastic also seems normal and less stiff and temperature sensitive than that of the 3G iPod headphones.
5. Sennheiser MX 360 (late 2007) [OK]
Following Dave’s recommendation, I looked for some Sennheiser earbuds the next time. It took a bit of browsing on their web site to find out which of their models have asymmetric cabling. And once I took that, a black colour and affordable price into account, only their MX 360 model remained a choice, which I bought.
It’s excellent to have asymmetric cabling in my headphones again after all these years. And their sound is OK as well. I disapprove of the earbuds’ outsides being shiny silver, obviously, and at times they like sliding out of my ear, but in total they seem to be worth their price.
4. Sony earbuds (2006) [crap]
After the iPod earbuds broke I needed to pick up a new pair. As they are so fragile and do break after a while, I consider them to be consumables rather than investments, so I wanted a cheapish pair. With my fond memory of my first Sony ones, I picked up a pair of theirs.
… and was disappointed. Not only had Sony switched to symmetric cabeling as I had to discover after unpacking them – no warning on the packaging – they sounded somewhat muffled as well and their slightly matte cabling didn't slide smoothly when wearing them under a shirt. In a way I was happy when these earbuds joined my other Sony pair in the fate of being crushed by desk chair. That gave me an excuse to get some new ones.
3. iPod 3G earbuds (late 2003) [so-so]
Of course my (3rd generation) iPod came with its iconic set of white earbuds. I thought they sounded OK, albeit a bit too bass-laden for my taste. They were rather quiet as well, compared to other headphones, which isn't really a problem, though. More relevant problems are their questionable colour (only people wearing white clothes all the time could like white headphones…) and their dumbass symmetric cabling that forces you to have a cable dangling around in front of you or cleverly placing it beneath your shirt if you don't want to look like an idiot / iPod ad.e
As Apple hardware of this millennium goes, their mechanical quality wasn’t too good. On the one hand the plastic was really temperature sensitive and became rather stiff on cold days. On the other hand the cabling started to break. I could fix that for a while by taping it but ultimately the earbuds couldn’ be used anymore.
2. Panasonic earbuds (mid 1990s, 2 pairs) [so-so]
I got two identical sets of Panasonic earbuds with my Panasonic walkman and discman in the mid 1990s. They sounded all-right, had asymmetric cabling and came with a remote control which seemed cool at the time but somewhat reduced the usability of the headphones with other devices as the cable attached directly to them was rather short. The main drawback of these was that they didn't fit my ears well. I found them uncomfortable to wear for more than half an hour and kept using my old Sony earbuds instead as long as I could.
1. Sony earbuds (late 1980s) [nice]
This was the first set of headphones I got and they came with my Sony Walkman. They had the handy symmetric cabling and sounded all right (not that I paid much attention at the time). Most importantly, they fit my ears really well and have been the most comfortable earbuds I ever had. Unfortunately they got involved in an accident that involved the wheels of my rolling desk chair around 2000. They didn't survive that.