What’s your EDC?

Interested to know what you use for your every day carry? IEMs, Apple buds, portables, etc.

I tend to use my Apple earbuds day to day at work. They’re also comfortable if I’m napping at home. One day I hope to have a pair of Senn HD25’s for portable use.

What’s in your bag?

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For actual EDC, it’s just a pair of Apple AirPods. The convenience and size is just too good to pass up, and they somehow manage to sound better than the their wired cousins (while taking up less space).

On days when I need to grab a jacket, I have a trio of progressively more substantial SCOTTeVEST jackets for different weather conditions/activities, and these have either 1More Triple-Driver “Lightning” IEMs or 1More Quad-Driver w/ FiiO i1 permanently installed in them (via their PAN routing).

The cables from those reach the jacket’s dedicated play-through phone pocket just fine (with plenty of length to spare with the FiiO i1 in the chain). And I have a Mophie battery pack in the matching pocket on the other side, with a cable run from that to the phone pocket as well.

I also keep a pair of Etyomtic ER20XS in all of those jackets, for those times when I wind up at a loud event and want to preserve my hearing (this happens often enough that I got tired of forgetting to take them, so I just put them everywhere they might be needed).

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I most often carry around a pair of Earpods. I think they sound fine enough for when I’m walking around and I don’t like isolation if I’m not in an especially loud place because I like having spatial awareness. They also fit very well in my ears so I never have problems with bass quantity.

I’m not really into amped systems because I don’t like having anything that doesn’t fit in my jean pockets, but if I know I want something that sounds better, I bring either my OPPO PM2 or Master and Dynamic MH40.

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I’m retired, so everyday are my usual buds. Audize iSine 20s

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I used to use Sennheiser HD25s and moved to AirPods as soon as they were released. :slight_smile: Love them!

Dunc

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I’m using a pair of etymotics er4’s with an old headroom portable little amp with my iPhone

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I use either my ATH WS99BT’S or V-Moda Crossfade Wireless. The Bluetooth on either of these is a little bass heavy, the V-Moda’s worse that the ATH’s. But if you want to listen to some hard driving rock music they both get me by , by using the optional wired function with a FiiO A3(E11k). Right now I am seeing prices on either headset and amp combination from $190 for the V-m’s to $230 for the ATH’s and that price includes the A3.

iPhone -> Car stereo. Via a Bluewave Get or some other device now the X doesn’t have a headphone out. If I’m going on public transport I have a pair of Fiil Diiva noise cancelling headphones. Less mucking about than trying to sort out IEMs and a DAP.

My daily is the LG Tone Ultra HBS‑810 bluetooth headset, which features a very comfortable behind-the-neck design with earbuds on coiled cables. Light weight and good sound quality.

Sources are my cell phone (Pixel 2 XL) and an old iPod Touch.

Daily my go-to’s are Jaybird Bluebuds X. I like everything about them. Excellent fit, 6-8 hour battery and they do sound ok.
I’ve used JBL Q350 Quincy’s and normal Apple buds but I would like to upgrade my Jaybirds to X3’s.
I wish AirPods didn’t fall of my ears although they are a bit expensive and no wire worries me as they must be easily lost.

I do like that everyone here seems to have a pair of AirPods.

We were at a show recently with someone who was getting out of the industry and he brought out his pair of AirPods as his favourite go-to headphones. He wouldn’t bring them out on the show floor of course because that would’ve been a travesty you know haha.

How are you liking the FiiO i1 with the Quad Drivers? I used to pair my 1More Quad Drivers with an Advanced Accessport and it worked great for commuting every day until Advanced released a firmware upgrade that completely destroyed the mic compatibility and also caused it to only work 1/4 of the time. Constant unplugging and plugging it back in so I am looking for an alternative.

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It’s a pretty good pairing, and the end result is slightly better than the Triple Driver “Lightning” Model - which I think has much more to do with the IEM itself rather than the respective DAC/amp parts.

The biggest advantages of the FiiO i1 in this case are a) the extra cable length and b) the ability to run other IEMs with it when I want to (it pairs really quite well with the ER4-XR for example … very neutral combination).

In terms of comparative performance … I cannot realistically compare against the Lightning interface of the Triple drivers without buying a passive version as well. Which I might do at some point, but would rather wait and see if 1More come out with a Lightning version of the quad drivers (and made the cable a foot longer).

I will say that things like the AudioQuest Dragonfly Red perform better than the i1, both in objective terms such as supported resolutions and raw power (the i1 is 30mw @16 ohms), and also in terms of raw sound quality … with the i1 having a slight treble tilt and the DFR being very slightly tilted the other way (which tends to work better with IEMs) but the i1 is also a lot more convenient in use and uses much less power (at the cost of not really being suitable for “full-size” headphones).

A very basic ordering would, perhaps unsurprisingly, put things this way:

Dragonfly Red > Dragonfly Black > FiiO i1 > Apple Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter.

Yes, airpods are probably my EDC although if I’m going somewhere that I’m carrying a bag I’ll usually take my Bose QC15s which are still a great workhorse headphone.

My everyday carry are the Mark I human ears, which I recently had lowered at the barbers. They’re pretty directional, and are quite sensitive, although I’ve noticed that the high frequency may be dropping off a little bit as they age. Great soundstage, considering that they are placed almost like regular headphones, but facing outward.

I usually have a set of
1More Triple Driver in Ear Headphones
somewhere close by. And if I’m carrying any kind of go bag, it also has
Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter
I have the older one but this one lets me use my iPhone or iPad charger along with the Dragonfly Black mentioned by others.
And light headphones, currently I use Grado SR-60e for my light cheap travel phones.

I use the AKG that came with my galaxy s8 for on the go and at the gym, at home I use the V-Moda crossfade wireless 2 at home for the isolation and sound stage.

I carry the Beyerdynamic Xelento daily using it with my phone. Quite a fantastic DD iem imo.

Dodocool DAP and v-Jays headphones…

For on-the-go and work use I’ve been using the Jabra Elite 65t for the past month or so and they work great. They’re completely wireless so they’re discreet with no awkward cable getting in the way when you’re on the move (I’ve tried wired IEMs and neckband IEMs but both were annoying for work use or when performing vigorous activities such as jogging due to requiring constant readjustments, cables getting snagged, etc.). They have optional sound passthrough at the press of a button so you can hear what’s going on around you when necessary while blocking out sounds when you want to focus on what you’re listening to. They sound better than Apple AirPods and the case they come with automatically charges them when stored inside while still being small enough to fit in a jacket/pants pocket. They can receive phone calls and use the phone’s voice activated assistant at the press of a button.

Overall they’re just the most useful pair of on-the-go headphones I’ve ever used (went through 5 or so different models over the past 7 years) while still sounding decent enough that listening to them is enjoyable. Plus they maintain a secure fit and they’re comfortable to wear for extended periods of time (4+ hours is no problem).

When I use the Dragonfly Red with my phone I tend to also throw a Jitterbug in there as well. But it is such a pain in the ass to have that chain sticking out of my jacket or pocket. It isn’t a realistic combination for me for commuting. For travelling though, its my go to.

I do have a tough time using the Dragonfly Red with my phone for IEMs though as I find it super difficult to get the volume I want without it be ear drum blowing.

With the lightning vs 3.5mm, I tried the Triple Driver at CanJam SoCal last year with the 3.5mm and they sounded pretty damn good for a sub $90 headphone, won’t lie. Of course I haven’t tried it with the lightning so I’m in the same boat.

I did however give the Campfire Audio Comets another go. I forgot I had an ALO lightning cable kicking around and decided to try that with the Comets at the gym. It actually ended up being worse. The bass was a little tamer but everything sounded recessed and distant. I was really hoping I could replace with my Quad Drivers with the Comet as my EDC but it looks like that is not going to happen.

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Sony WM1A, UM Martians, Pentaconn cable between the two. A world away from all the compromises of crappy battery life, fragile USB cables, bulging pockets and terrible interference of banding a DAC/amp to a phone. Sound quality on a par with a half-decent desktop setup.

I still get horrible Chord Mojo flashbacks.

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