Best earbuds for mixing/listening to music?

I'm looking for really great affordable earbuds I can use for mixing my own tracks as well as just for better quality. Anyone know which I should get?

I wouldn't recommend earbuds for mixing. They're all hyped headphones in the lows and highs.

Better off with some regular good headphones, like the Beyerdynamic 770.

I wouldn't recommend earbuds for mixing. They're all hyped headphones in the lows and highs.

Better off with some regular good headphones, like the Beyerdynamic 770.

Thank you!

I dislike headphones really, they're discomforting for my ears.

The problem with earbuds is that they can sound so different depending on how they sit in your ears, they only have to move a little and that can make mixing the low end really hard.

 

If you want noise cancelling type buds, then personally, whatever earbud you go for; i would go with the right sized foam tips as they mould to your ears creating a more repeatable experience.  You nip them first then place in your ear and the open out and seal better.

 

Also, what kind of price range do you class as 'affordable'?

i tried mixing in earbuds briefly, and it was a disaster; the mixes did not translate well on monitors. now i switch between serious akg headphones and my monitors, a much-better arrangement. i had high-end shure earbuds, but the sound is too confining for accurate mixing, and, as skijumptoes points out, are affected by placement in your ears.... 

I don't think it's a terrible idea to at least use earbuds as another reference source. I would recommend Apple's EarPods because that's what most people are listening to music with.

I don't think it's a terrible idea to at least use earbuds as another reference source. I would recommend Apple's EarPods because that's what most people are listening to music with.

a scary thought, sort-of like trying to mix on a $40 bluetooth speaker. earbuds are too confining, the image is too narrow, the dynamic range too small. anyway, no harm in using them as 'another reference source', as long as you have decent monitors as your main source (or, at least, really-good headphones).

If you don't like earbuds, do you happen to be using your computer in a room that has a stereo nearby?  A stereo with an "aux" jack?

 

"Earbuds," today, are very much the "AM Radio speakers" that very-famously were a fixture at Abbey Road Studios during the Beatles recording sessions:  "a representation of the worst-common-denominator(!)" which most-unfortunately might actually be how your audience hears your music!

 

Always bear in mind that, while you can always discard <> information, you can never gain it.  Therefore, "the step down to <> must always remain "a step down."  Therefore, in order to arrive at a musical product which can actually survive(!) that "step down," you must be sure that you're listening to "something ... anything ... better" when you produce the thing that you intend to survive the trip.

 

For instance:  "do you have a home stereo in the room ... or, can you maybe procure a stretch of sufficiently-long electrical cord?"  Your home stereo, after all, is both "another very-plausible real-world listening space," and "a step above earbuds."