Creative EP630 or Soundmagic PL13

OK, so I'm buying a headphone to go with my Nokia 5230. I want in-ear types, like the EP630. So I was browsing through lynx-india and found 2 options. One of course is the Creative EP630 which is Rs. 675+tax+shipping = 787. And I have recently heard a lot about soundmagic headphones. So had a look at those and found the PL13 in the suitable price range. It is Rs. 666+tax+shipping = 778, almost same.

So which one would be a better option considering that I feel comfort is as important as sound quality.

P

Dont even think of EP630, Its just crap. Had it & Gave it for free to friend

Have PL 11, Take it if you like Bass. Its just awesome & way better then EP630

Never heard PL13 so no idea.

If you up your budget a bit to about 1k, you should be able to get your hands on the Sony MDR ed12lp. Pretty decent.

An in-ear set should help improve the sound to some extent at least though.

I will also like to point out that the 5230 doesn't have more than barely half-decent sound quality, so the choice of ear/headphones doesn't really matter. In-ear designs should help the bass to some extent though.

i am having ep630 for use with nokia e63, quite satisfied with it.

I need in-ear ones coz the volume is so low that it cannot be heard in bus or metro. I am not an audiophile, so the quality of these earphones will be satisfactory for me.

@praks
Is the PL11 comfortable for continuous use upto an hour or so? PL13 is cheaper than PL11. Don't think I can extend my budget beyond 800.

Can someone suggest a shop in Kolkata where I can get all these headphone including Sony

@R4gs
how is the noise isolation in Sony MDR ed12lp? Do you think it will be good for noisy places? It is listed for Rs. 800 on Sony's website. Looks like it would be comfortable to use

the sony's isolation is not too great. stereo separation is better than the creative.
if you want isolation,i recommend the ep630. i've used it for years with no problem.
however, i have not heard the soundmagic earphones and it is very much possible that they are better.

ep630 has good noise isolation, in normal conditions i use it with mobie volume ~20 %. in noisy conditions (like train passing thrugh tunnel with speed >60kmph) mobile volume has to be >80%

P

Just get PL11 for 400 Rs from Ebay

People who are fan of EP630, just listen to PL 11.

I had EP630 It was just playing like radio.

I don't trust eBay. Soundmagic headphones are out of stock on lynx-india.com. So will wait for them to return. In the mean time I am looking for some shops to buy headphones. If I can lay my hands on Sony EX35 PL for around 800-850, I'll buy that one.
MDR ED12LP is available for 700. If I don't get EX35 PL, I'll get that one only. But first I'll look for EP630.

Any one from Kolkata, don't kolkatan's use headphones/earphones? Even sony is hard to find over here, forget Soundmagic & Creative. Can anyone suggest some shops?

dude seriously speaking for mobiles dont even go for quality headset look for the ones that provide good clear quality headsets coz mobiles dont provide a quality music especially "nokia"..look for typical rs.400~500...and yes noise isolation headset are ok for phones...your choice.

Cool Buddy said:
OK, so I'm buying a headphone to go with my Nokia 5230. I want in-ear types, like the EP630. So I was browsing through lynx-india and found 2 options. One of course is the Creative EP630 which is Rs. 675+tax+shipping = 787. And I have recently heard a lot about soundmagic headphones. So had a look at those and found the PL13 in the suitable price range. It is Rs. 666+tax+shipping = 778, almost same.

So which one would be a better option considering that I feel comfort is as important as sound quality.

go for Soundmagic PL11....just awesome!!! they are the best earphones in under 1K.
buy them from mediahome.in or SMC, i don't recommend Lynx!

Soundmagic PL11 is available for 575 40 shipping on theitwares.com, I'm ordering it from there. Is it ok?

Cool Buddy said:
Soundmagic PL11 is available for 575 40 shipping on theitwares.com, I'm ordering it from there. Is it ok?

yup!!!!!!!!

I have two unused EP630 (came with my Dell) .. If you are in Bombay maybe you can have a look ..

it_waaznt_me said:
I have two unused EP630 (came with my Dell) .. If you are in Bombay maybe you can have a look ..

How old are they? under warranty? How much would you want for it? I am in Kolkata, but I don't think that's a problem, I'll pay the courier charge if I like the deal.

mavihs said:
buy them from mediahome.in or SMC, i don't recommend Lynx!

Have u had any bad experience wid lynx in the past?
Wanna know cause I wanna order something online n Lynx is 1 of the shortlisted places tht I hv thought of so it wud help me to know ur prior experience...

What would be the shipping charges for this earphone on primeabgb.com? Their price is the lowest, but I think they charge high for shipping.

I just checked, can't believe they are actually charging Rs. 160 as shipping charge for this small an item. theitwares is charging just Rs. 40. Even a single courier wouldn't cost that much, they have contracts with courier companies. This is ridiculous, that's why their price is low. First they lure customers with low prices and then charge the amount in disguise of shipping charge.

guys i have philips in-ear earphone she 9500 which i got for 500 bucks along with my 5230
should i consider getting a pl-11
i mean how does she9500 fare compared to pl11

(btw she9500 sound quality,bass etc is quite similar to samsung earphones the one we get with corby PRO )
so my question is pl-11 way better than samsung's in-ear earphones

Cool Buddy said:
What would be the shipping charges for this earphone on primeabgb.com? Their price is the lowest, but I think they charge high for shipping.

I just checked, can't believe they are actually charging Rs. 160 as shipping charge for this small an item. theitwares is charging just Rs. 40. Even a single courier wouldn't cost that much, they have contracts with courier companies. This is ridiculous, that's why their price is low. First they lure customers with low prices and then charge the amount in disguise of shipping charge.

is it mentioned in their site tht d shipping charge is 40/- or dija call 'em up?

I added the product to the cart and it showed shipping charge Rs. 40. Damn sure that's it, total cost 575+40=615

is pl-11 way better than samsung's in-ear earphones

@V.na5h
If you wait for a couple of months i might compare the two and tell you

T

Sound is subjective and the earphones you referred tends to have different approach of delivery.

EP630 relies on boomy bass that muffles the mids and trebles.
So if you are a bass-head and your choice of music suites that go for Ep630 where as the soundmagic one is more balanced and musical.

Choose what suits you best.

Hope this helps you

N.B If you can up your budget a bit I will suggest pl 21 or pl 30.

Thanks everyone for their response. Ultimately price became the main deciding factor. I got PL 11 for Rs. 615 from theitwares.com. Ordered on Wednesday morning, delivered today (Saturday) afternoon.

P

Did u like the sound effect compare to that dabba EP 630 ?

I have never heard ep630, but I guess they both are very close. People like one of the two based on their own preference.
I liked the number of ear buds that came with it, 7 pairs total. I haven't tried any except the default (smallest) though.

Cool Buddy said:
I have never heard ep630, but I guess they both are very close. People like one of the two based on their own preference.
I liked the number of ear buds that came with it, 7 pairs total. I haven't tried any except the default (smallest) though.

so how did you like the sound quality & the Bass?

I have Sennheisser(sry if that aint the correct spelling)CX 180 in-ear phones which I use it with my Nokia 5233.The sound quality is way better than the stock ear phones that Nokia ship with 5233 n add to that the comfort of using it over a long period of time!Tho I dunno how good is it if u pit it against EP630 or Soundmagic'c PL11/21/30?

sound quality is ok, bass is weak. I'd say I'm satisfied with it considering the price of 600 bucks, but wouldn't want to pay anything more than that for this pair.
The mids (voices) are generally very clear. So in my opinion, lovers or Hindi music & pop, jazz, blues etc. may like it. but lovers of rock, metal etc. should look somewhere else.

Will post more in the review section maybe after a month coz I have seen that reviewers allow the headphones to play for 50-100 hours before reviewing it. They call it burn-in period, the time the speaker takes to get to its full potential.

The price of that set, sennheiser CX 180, seems to be around 1.3-1.4k. Having used 2 sennheisers myself (LX 90 & PMX 60), I can assure you that the quality would be better than EP630 or PL 11 coz both LX90 & PMX60 are priced around 700-800 and sound almost the same as PL 11. So more expensive ones from the same company are bound to sound better.

^^Yup u r rite!!I got it for 1350 bucks around 5 months bk.Bk then I was confused which 1 to opt for : CX180 or EP 630,coz EP 630 was for around 1.2k.But I guess I did a good thing going for the former.
Doesn't Creative hv 830 series?Wouldn't that hv been a better option?

^I bought EP630 for Rs 700/- during Sep'2009 from Nehru place, Delhi

i've used the cx180. not too great considering the price. upped my budget, bought a px100 and haven't looked back since.

one thing, if you want to review earphones, please change your audio source. a nokia 5233/5230 is too crappy to even consider. an ipod shuffle sounds better than those 2.

r4gs said:
i've used the cx180. not too great considering the price. upped my budget, bought a px100 and haven't looked back since.

How much did PX 100 cost?

r4gs said:
one thing, if you want to review earphones, please change your audio source. a nokia 5233/5230 is too crappy to even consider. an ipod shuffle sounds better than those 2.

I considered that too, but since it is not possible for me to change the source, I'll just start a thread and let people post their opinions. I want to do this because there are many people who buy phones for music but are disappointed by the default earphones. Most of them want headphones within 500-600 and no matter what, both PL 11 and EP 630 are good choices if found around this price. So such a thread might help people.

How would my PC or Samsung corby work as a source? Asus M2N MX SE plus motherboard.

Cool Buddy said:
How much did PX 100 cost?

I considered that too, but since it is not possible for me to change the source, I'll just start a thread and let people post their opinions. I want to do this because there are many people who buy phones for music but are disappointed by the default earphones. Most of them want headphones within 500-600 and no matter what, both PL 11 and EP 630 are good choices if found around this price. So such a thread might help people.

How would my PC or Samsung corby work as a source? Asus M2N MX SE plus motherboard.

lol ssb1551 has the same mobo, super crap

I have philips she

I can't seem to edit my post
Opera mini sucks when it comes to posting on forums.

redlofredlof said:
lol ssb1551 has the same mobo, super crap
I have philips she

Dude "had"!!

..Its gone for good now!!Happy with my new current rig!!

r4gs said:
one thing, if you want to review earphones, please change your audio source. a nokia 5233/5230 is too crappy to even consider. an ipod shuffle sounds better than those 2.

Well u r definitely rite!!But dun hv the cash to buy ipod(rather dun wanna ask cash from my dad for a frivolous ipod).Mayb the day I start earning!!Till then my source is gonna b my cell!!

ssb1551 said:
Dude "had"!!..Its gone for good now!!Happy with my new current rig!!

Oh yeah, totally forgot.
But still its no use for your el cheapo psu died

^^Nah dude even the PSU was, and is still alrite!!I think the reason y MoBo died was b'coz of numerous improper shut-downs!!I used to leave my system on for d/lin while going for the classes.So if power used to go during that time then my system used to shutdown improperly coz the UPS only provides 5-6mins of backup.I think thats the reason y the MoBo died off!!After all a MoBo can handle only so many improper shut-downs!

There's a simple solution for those improper shut downs. Don't plug in your modem to ups and using timecomx set your computer to shut down if network activity remains real low for 4 minutes or so

Modem aint connected to UPS!!It was the APC 550 UPS which doesn't come with the software that automatically shuts down the system when battery falls below a certain %, which I tot comes with all APC UPSs.Planning to buy APC 650 in Jan/Feb nxt yr.Now I shut down the system whenever I aint in the house!!The d/ls can wait, I guess!!

you didn't understand. What I said was that don't connect the modem to UPS so that it gets switched off if there is a power cut. As it gets switched off, downloads will stop i.e. network activity will fall to zero. Now using a software named timecomx set the computer to shutdown if network activity remains low for 3-4 minutes continuously. That way your computer will shut down before the UPS gives away.

Ohhhk...got it!!Wow!there is actually a software like tht!!!AWESOME!!!NEAT trick Cool Buddy!! :doublethumb:

My connection used to get disconnected frequently. I used this software to automatically reconnect after 2 minutes of disconnection. Although in ADSL connection, it mostly redials on its own, still, to be on the safe side.
I also use this software to monitor a certain program which needs to keep running but crashes often. it automatically restarts the program after it crashes.

how are Soundmagic PL21 when compared to Soundmagic PL11 and Creative EP630 as all of these 3 costs almost the same...
Plz reply soon as I wish to purchase one of these very soon

PL11 costs less than EP630.

^^^
yes.
I just checked the rates on ebay.
The prices are:
EP630->650
PL11->533 or 560
PL21->600
Now which one to choose I m really very confused,have used EP630 I must say they are awesome but u guys say Soundmagic is good.PLz tell me guys which one to go for

I have PL11 and have heard EP630. As far as I know, PL21 is better than PL11, so the logical choice is PL21.

Go for PL21.