recommended earphones

They are kinda pricey, but I recommend superfli by Ultimate ears. http://www.ultimateears.com

Good point. It is for both ears. You can also see them on the Apple Store

I have the pro pair and they are incredible.

Depends on your budget, but these are the category leaders:

Under $45: Sony EX71 earbuds (SL model has short cable + longer add-on cable, LP model has a long cable)

Under $150: Shure E3C

Under $225: Etymotic ER4

$300+: Shure E5c

I second the motion and also put in a recommendation for the Bose A8s

I bought a set of Shure e4 Black headphones ($200).

Do a search on reviews, and you'll find plenty of info.

Also, check ipodlounge.com

Another high-end alternative is Sensaphonics.

http://www.sensaphonics.com

They started before Ultimate and are also concerned with hearing conservation. Requires visit to ENT to get custom impressions, but from there the process is quite easy. If in the Chicago area you can visit them yourself. Check out their client list. Virtually every musician who wears in-ears on stage is a client, plus NASA, NASCAR, etc.

The ProPhonic 2X's are a two-way system that delivers thundering bass and shimmering treble via two separate drivers all inside one mold. Quite expensive, but an experience you cannot live without once heard. Best thing besides the awesome sound is that the molds completely secure the entire ear canal, thereby reducing outside ambient noise by some 26dB. This in turn means that you can listen at much quieter levels, i.e. hearing conservation. Highly recommended!!

JM

My favorite so far is the Shure e4c. I like the sound a little better than the Etymotic ER4P. This is awfully subjective, though.

I use the Shure e5c. They are expensive; they are also the best audio reproduction I have ever heard. Worth every dollar and you will not feel the need to replace them with anything better, so unless you destroy them they may be the last headphones you ever buy.

I bought mine at Amazon for considerably less than list price (which was still expensive, of course).

I don't even use my home stereo speakers any more; I listen to music and watch movies with the e5c phones. And my speaker system cost a lot more than the e5c, but it can't even begin to compare. Watching movies with other people (and thus using the speakers) or in a theater is a disappointment now. These phones are like having the audio directly beamed into your consciousness (once you spend an hour or two choosing exactly the right ear buds out of the wealth of choices they give you, and learning how to put them in just so).

I'm most likely going to get the shure e5c's, but i do have one question all my music is 192 mp3 bit rate would these earphones only show flaws in compressed music?

It depends on how good your ear is, really. I've got a pretty good set of ears and I can't really notice any degradation. But this is with my e3cs, so you may hear some with the e5s. But I doubt it. I bet that you may be able to tell a difference when comparing CD quality to the mp3 but not on its own.

Also, you may want to consider going upto 192 aac rather than mp3. At the same bitrate, the filesize will be nearly identical (or exactly identical if your mp3s are 192 CBR) but sound quality will be better. In all tests I've seen, aac beats mp3 at the same bitrate. And there's no size penalty.

Thanks for the reply, I considered for a while what format to choose and most of what I read was 192 mp3 was best choice because it's pretty much acceptable with any mp3 player although I only use my ipod. I guess i'm a little afraid of acc going to the wayside and with 10,000 songs I feel safe with mp3 but I'll look into it and see if quality is that much better it would be worth it.
Thanks again

I have e5c's. It'll depend on your source material. I've found that 192k AAC is good for most of the stuff I listen to, but some music benefits from a higher bitrate. Newer recordings more than older, and stuff that has more subtle or delicate sounds, or dynamics. Ancient Sex Pistols is fine at 192k; new Marilyn Manson isn't. Lots of Tori Amos benefits from the higher rate, even the older stuff; Christina Aguilera's voice needs at least 192k but is better higher.

Generally, though, 192k is good enough for me as a baseline. I go higher when it's called for, but 75% of the time it's not necessary. If you're into classical music, though, you may not be happy with 192k.

As I type this I'm listening to "Firestarter" by Prodigy in the e5c phones. Not exactly a dynamic or subtle song. I haven't heard it in a while and I think this is the first time I've ever heard it in these phones, and I'm hearing things I didn't even know were there, and it sounds amazing. It's an older file, which I encoded at 192k MP3 with VBR (iTunes says it averages 211k). I hear nothing that makes me want to increase the bitrate.

From reading these posts and from my experience you will probably get better and better sound quality as you spend more money. I went from Shure E2c ($80) to Shure E3c ($130) to Etymotic ER-4P ($225) and got better sound quality each time. I'm tempted to buy the Shure E5c ($370) next.