Headphone reccomendations

Has anyone else had bad luck with the in-ear headphones?? In the last 2 months since I got promoted to a desk job, I have gone through 4 pairs! All with the same problem, the left ear bud suddenly fades to like 50% volume and boy is that annoying.

I had a super cheap pair from the Frys checkout stand which lasted 2 days, returned them for another pair which lasted a week or two..then read some reviews and picked up some JVC MarshMallows. Man they sounded good, but last week the left ear went down then the right followed soon after, and I lost the receipt. Then this week I borrowed my wife's earbuds ($15 2XL brand) and just today the left ear went south...now it's even crackling. You would think I am blasting them all day, but I work by myself in quiet office in the back so I have the volume very low all day, I can't possibly be blowing them at this volume.

So now im tired of these obviously cheap gimmicky earbuds, they are really getting uncomfortable, all of them, to wear for more than a half hour, and looking at how nasty these things get i'm sure i'm begging for an ear infection. Plus I swear theyre making my ears produce 3x the earwax.

Anyway, does anyone have reccomendations for a good pair of comfortable over ear headphones, not some gimmicky goth chic pair, while still being farily cheap (around $30 - $40)? I like the Bose style with noise cancelling, but wow some of them are over $100, I can't drop that kind of cash for headphones. I dont want bluetooth, or wireless or anything like that, I dont want bling or skull stickers on them, I just want them to good sound...no hyP3r bAsS or anything, im just looking for plain ol' full range over ear headphones.

I also need to replace my wife's pair, reccomendations on a cheap pair of earbuds? She likes them for the gym, but they have to have multiple sizes as the normal size doesn't fit her ears. And i'd like to not have to replace them every month.

Bose Triports. They can be found for $100 or less online, and sound great. Very soft and comfortable leather (maybe pleather not sure) I loved them.

I have a nice pair of Sony with extended bass. They were $15 and have held up to my punishment. I toss 'em around everywhere and play lots of techno music at loud levels.

A little more expensive, but I love these

Is you computer sending out a bad signal just to the left chanel? :confused: Kindof strange that all have lastest about the same amount of time and its only the left chanel.

That's what i'm wondering. If I spend $$$ on a nice pair are they going to blow as soon as I plug them in to my PC?? Can my PC or laptop be ruining the headphones, does it work like that?

I only use them here at work and at home in the laptop, both with same results. Funny thing is I can pull the jack out a little bit and get about 20% of the volume back which leads me to believe it has something to do with the jack and not the drivers in the earbuds...that is untill my wife's headphones started crackling in that ear...that one's definately blown.

I have tested all of them since they went bad between my G1 phone, PC, laptop, and her Sandisk MP3 player, all exactly the same results. She thought I was just deaf in that ear, so I tried both ears...same thing.

I have these and they work very well. You can use the noise canceling if you like (powered by a single AAA battery). I bought mine at a discount warehouse for 40.

I also used the MDR-V150 as an inexpensive monitor headphone.

My daughter has bought a few and lost a few...right now she said she has "skull candy" brand and likes them...you can get them at target and they come with different size pieces to fit your year.

I have two pairs of Sony sport ear buds that have a plastic piece that fits over the ear then the speaker goes in the ear - work great when working out - and I don't like having a "plug" in my ear....good luck!

Ultimate Ears, very few consumer level IEM's comes close. Unfortunately I think they are about $200 new right now.

If you break a cord, they are detachable from the actual bud and you can just order another cord and plug it in. Plus the sound is incredible and the noise cancelling (not active) is very good. I can put them in and drive the Elise at 80 mph with the stage 2 exhaust and wind noise without hearing anything but clear crisp music.

On the budget minded side check out the Sony Fontopias (EX-51 and EX-71). I think they are 30-40 on Amazon/buy.com etc. I've a set of these for backup for 3+ years and they still work great.