Headphone Heights Welcome to Headphone Heights, the place for all your ear bud discussion

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Headphone Heights ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

misson creep and my buying decision, flair E prototypes earphones

Posted by beach cruiser (A) on June 10, 2022 at 18:54:50

In Reply to: need advice on earbuds under $100, please. posted by beach cruiser on May 26, 2022 at 14:32:34:

I guess I should start with a thank you to all who offered help , and were also unintentional misled by my price restriction, which vanished under my enthusiasm for new stuff I really don't need.

Turns out I was almost unable to find almost any earphones not made in china, an essential buying criteria. most don't bother to specify where it is made, probably assuming most know already it comes from the same place as all the other stuff.

removing the price point throttle was the lever that allowed for mission creep about the price to wedge into my buying strategies. Once that constriction was out of the way I found two likely products.

one was a westec American made product, or as stated ," assembled in usa", but it was designed more for musical performance , probably to plug into a small blutooth amplifier , plus it was the bottom of the product line, a situation I try to avoid if possible. I would rather buy the top of a cheap product line than the bottom of an expensive line, for the same money. top of line products get the better laborers and more pride of manufacture, generally .

So I settled on some made in England plugs and a discount code, at much more than I had wanted to pay, but should return a usual performance for the cost, and the cost was significant for the product category.

My first choice was some well reviewed planer driven earphones for less money, but I had been to the third world before, and recognize that, although not supremely prosperous , I am in the fortunate position of not having to squeeze some hapless third world worker just to save a few bucks.

And that is before any political or unregulated manufacturing pollution concerns are added into the buying decisions.

I don't delude myself about the pervasiveness of Chinese manufactured goods. I will probably continue to buy cheap chinese earphones , Panasonic has great sound value and the best comfort, Jvc has a nice bass lift without killing the enjoyment, and I would hope that such big companies have some control over manufacturing outsourcing , but don't know.

I am more comfortable sending $20 bucks to china rather than hundreds, but don't expect miracles, knowing slave labor is a reality in America also, and it's not just for license plates anymore.

I also swallowed hard on spending almost three hundred bills for an earphone that included a phone control, a feature I consider a ribbon of shame for an audio hobbyist, and manage to avoid on the cheap stuff. a discount code saved me some money. while exposing the vastly inflated price , it allowed for the inclusion of hearing protectors at discount, a product I depend on in an over amplified world, but which often kills some of the musical frequencies , so one needs a selection for different events.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---