What's the closed back travel equivalent of Grados?

[Tres Aardvarks]

Based on the recommendations here, I got a pair of Grado SR60s for my birthday. I really dig them, however I don't want to take them on an airplane for two reasons: they'll get trashed getting jammed in my backpack and nobody likes open back cans on the guy next to them on a plane.

So, what's out there that's roughly equivalent? I've been traveling with ear buds for years, but the crappy sound makes me a bit nutty after a while.

[JohnnyB]

Ear buds don't inherently sound crappy. Cheap ones included with phones and mp3s sound crappy. If you up your game to the SR60 price level, you can find some good buds:

Earbuds at AudioAdvisor

There are some promising looking in-ears in the $50-100 range. I'd particularly check out the Grado iGi and the HiFiMan RE400 or RE400i models. Note the 5-star user ratings on the Grado and HiFi Man in-ears. HiFi Man is a fairly recent entry into high performance headphones and they're very well reviewed. Don't pass on them just because you haven't heard of them; they're all over the quality audio landscape.

Grado also makes another IEM in this price range called the iGE. Not sure what the differences are, but the iGEs have four sets of ear tips where the iGi's have three.

But while we're on that subject, the Musical Fidelity EB 33 IEMs come with nine (or is it eight?) different-sized ear tips. As the customer review states, you can't get the best sound from a given set of buds without the best fit.

As far as Musical Fidelity as a brand goes, they make top notch stuff. They're a quality audio company in England that's been around for quite awhile. I used to have one of their integrated amps and it was great. I'd still have it but I had to give her something in the divorce.

[Armitage]

I always use ear bids... active noise cancelling ones on a plane to get rid of the engine drown are a must. Less noise beats sound quality on a plane to me. I use a hard case that came with my glasses to put them in. The AKG K391 NC and even the Bose QuietComfort 20i are really good.

[veatch]

I've been using AKG Q460 phones for plane use for a few years now. They are not noise cancelling, but they are closed (albeit small...), have a detachable cord, come with a hard case, and sound pretty good to my tin ears. I think I paid something around 125 to 150 for them a good 4 years ago. Worth every penny for me, as I was tired of the sound of buds... Much better bass response with these.

Probably better ones out there, but I've been happy with them.

Hope that helps.

[sixesandsevens]

I had some Etymotic ER6 phones for a while. I enjoyed them. IEMs were still pretty fringe in those days... So of the choices I had, they were a good spot for then-me on the price-preformance curve.

One ear is dead after like 5 years of daily use, but it may be my mishandling that's left them busted.

[Disturber]

I have a pair of expensive Ultrazone headphones. I would never take them out on a road trip. In ears work for daily comuting on the subway, but on air planes and if I am away on several hotell nights I want something better.

So, I got these Creative HN900's. They are actually better than I expected. The noise cancelling works okay. The phones also work in passive mode, if the battery should run out. They sound way better in active mode, but it's a nice feature to be able to use them in passive mode too.

Great for using them on trains and in air planes. The noise cancelling removes some of the backround noise, which makes a way better listening experience.

They are pretty sturdy and well built too. And comes with a little pouch for travelling, that any lady would love.

I highly recomend these phones for the price. 65 dollars on Amazon right now, can't be beat. It's a bargain.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-HN-900-Noise-Cancelling-Headphones/dp/B005YR0X4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441700430&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+hn900

http://us.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/hn-900

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400203,00.asp

"...there's no shame in the Creative HN-900: It's a distortion-free pair with a removable cable and better-than-average audio response, combined with typical-for-this price range noise cancellation."

[TBP]

I've been a fan of the Grado SR-60s for a while. For travel and portable, comfortable while working out, etc. headphones, I use Koss Porta-Pros (although I understand the Sennheiser PX-100s are very good as well). They're not Grado fidelity, but they're quite good, especially for the price. (I've also never liked any kinds of earbuds I've tried).