I have recently purchased a Creative Zen Touch player and overall I'm really pleased with it, especially the bargain price of £160 for 20 GB of storage. However, the headphones i got with it are functional at best, and are too big and uncomfortable.

Can anyone recommend a decent set of headphones which ideally cancel out external noise? I travel around a lot and find myself having to turn the player up to excessive volumes all the time. I'm not really looking to pay any more than about £40-50.

Any help appreciated!

Hi Tom,

I've got a pair of Sony MDR-EX71 in-ear headphones (about £25) and they're great - they take a bit of getting used to comfort-wise, but off far more bass than you're likely to get of of stock headphones. As they fit right in the ear, they cut out sound excellently. You could also try Shure's range as well - they're renound for their noise cancelling technology, but beware, they're not cheap so you may have to stretch your budget.

Thanks Al. I've gone for Sony 'phones and got them on order from Amazon. Bargain at £25! I've seen them for sale at £35+.
I've noticed that they have different sized ear buds that you can fit onto the 'phones. Does this work ok? I'm worried that they might fall off!

i used to have a pair of those Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones, but they were stolen :( Great sound tho, and really comfortable.

I originally had a pair of Fontopia ED-31's, but they were extremely uncomfortable, and after hearing great reviews for the EX71's I upgraded to those. I would say they're well worth the extra money! Far more comfortable (due to a choice of ear-bud sizes) and crystal clear sound. Reading around about these 'phones, it seems to be a common consensus that the EX71's are the best budget portable headphones currently available.

Definitely - it was the interchangeable ear-bud things that made all the difference. They seemed to make the sound so much richer too.

Yep definately agreed the EX71's are the way to go, its amazing just how much they add to the sound, I've been hearing songs I have had for years in a completely new light. I'm interested to know how much better the shure range sound, can anyone let me know?

It seems a little crazy to me to be paying more for headphones than the player you listen to your compressed music on anyway. There seems to be a conflict of interests, i.e. that the headphones are TOO capable for the source they'll be playing. Anyhoo I'd still like to hear how good they are?!

I don't know... Shure are famous for making quality microphones, not shure (lol - see what i did there!) how well that would transfer to headphones!

Just seen a new panasonic answer to the ex71's, hje 70's. Described as a sort of cross between the shure range and the ex71 but with a metallic styling they certainly look the part I just hope they'll live up to their promise

Hmm, interesting Brucie. My EX71's are on the way out, and as they've only lasted a few months i'm looking for an equivalent model by someone other than Sony. How much are the hje 70's?

What I like about the EX71's is that you get a choice of three different-sized ear buds, meaning you can get a really good fit. I wonder whether Panasonic will adopt a similar technique with their new 'phones?

Apparently they're available on some european webstore's (I don't know which ones) for around the £70 mark. Probably a bit steep for me, but I 'd give it a couple of weeks and wait for some reviews to trickle in and then make a decision.

Try having a search in cyberspace for them, here's their full name:

Panasonic's RP-HJE 70

On the old mp3 headphones issue, has anybody had any experience of the Griffin EarJams? Essentailly they clip on to the regular apple earbuds and deliever a much richer, bass heavy sound(apparently). They sound almost to good to be true so does anybody know how they actually perform or where there's a good review for them?