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For commute I only use the left earphone. Sound quality is grim (with both in it is way better). Mainly Spotify, might try podcasts / Audible. Xperia android phone so can switch to mono mode for slight improvement.
Any other tips?
Better headphones?
short of re-engineering the human hearing system...
It will always sound worse. What's the problem you're trying to solve by wearing one phone? Trying to hear the outside world? Perhaps there's 'phones people can recommend that allow you to still hear what's going on.
Remaster all your music to mono.
I just prefer to hear cars approaching. I did wonder if noise cancelling phones might be better but an expensive experiment.
I tried that when running with a few different earpieces but none were great. Best were the thomann IEMs but still nothing like as good as having both in at which point you don't hear anything else:(
Bluetooth speaker on the bars and share with the world.
I can recommend not bothering with "One Good Earbud"; I bought them and they were utter shite
I use a cheap Bluetooth earbud similar to this one
Does the job, sound quality obviously isn't great, but I can listen to the radio easily enough. I reckon a lower profile one would be better, this one roars a bit in the wind. I'll replace it with something better when it dies, but even a trip through the washing machine hasn't killed it.
Aftershock bones phones.
Dont go in your ears .Transmits the music by vibrations into your bones.
No idea if they are any cope only had a demo in the bike shop and i seemed to hear the music fine
I've been deaf in my left ear since childhood so I've only ever heard music on headphones through the right. Can make for some interesting versions of tracks depending on how they are mixed.
I run and cycle with phones in both ears. And the sound turned down low enough to hear cars coming. Not been hit yet.
Got the aftershockz bones headphones, they are, hmmm, ok I suppose.
the problem I had was the connection, with phone in the saddlebag could only hear the music when looking forward, as soon as turned head either side the connection dropped out. The solution was to buy an armband to put the phone in, never had any connection issues since but just find the armband uncomfortable and the phone heavy on the arm so not really used them.
They are a decent idea, when I got them was in the office and tried them, could have a full blown conversation and hear all the office chatter, while still listening to music (although if bass is your thing they are poor) but ultimately, for out on the bike I have found I have not used them.
Put phone in back pocket surelyno ?
Ambient noise will mess with your ability to hear the music. Much like listening to music on a flight, even with noise cancelling headphones I find the quality is vastly reduced and good quality headphones sound tinny and crap.
Best solution though is to forget the music and listen to the environment. More so on a commute when you need to be alert.
I listen to a lot of audiobooks like this only use the left headphone (RHA iphone model, so it's also the side with the mic), use the right side round my neck to keep the cable from dragging down.
[url= http://newatlas.com/otus-mini-speakers-bike-helmets/22172/ ]helmet speakers[/url]
helmet speakers
Aye, there's a few.
[quote=dougal365 ]I just prefer to hear cars approaching. I did wonder if noise cancelling phones might be better but an expensive experiment.
If you want to hear cars approaching, then noise cancelling would appear to be the exact opposite of what you want. Ideally you need something which plays music but lets as much noise through as possible (and in traffic I'm unconvinced of the merits of the one ear only approach - it's also useful to be able to get some idea of the direction of things you can hear).
Part of the enjoyment of being outside for me is hearing the world I'm part of live, loud and clear.
It's personal I know but, I've never understood the desire to get out in it and then try to shut it out with earphones.
I guess for commuting, it's slightly different but, when I come up on runners out in the country side and have to literally shout to alert my presence, I think, why not buy a treadmill and stay at home. There's so much to enjoy about the sounds around us.
Noise cancelling headphones don't work on a bike anyway. At least my Bose ones don't anyway.
I like using my iPhone headphones with just the right ear. Just the right balance between music and traffic. I'd love a way to convert them to mono though.
[quote=gears_suck ]Part of the enjoyment of being outside for me is hearing the world I'm part of live, loud and clear.
It's personal I know but, I've never understood the desire to get out in it and then try to shut it out with earphones.
I do tend to favour that attitude, but have to admit to sometimes wearing earphones when inline skating - at the moment partly because I've just joined a band and I'm trying to get familiar with the songs, but I also used them before that because it's nice to skate to music (it being something where you pick your own cadence and it's not all about getting somewhere). If I manage to get running again I'll probably also try them having got used to the idea, and it is sometimes a bit boring. Though in any case I'm never shutting out the outside world to the extent of somebody having to shout at me.
I think the brain's error correction removes low frequencies if it doesn't hear them in both ears (due to the size of the head vs their wavelength then both ears should have matched phase and magnitude at low frequencies). If one ear doesn't work then it won't have that issue.
Just buy a stereo to mono adapter. Plug it into your phone and the headphones/earbuds into that. You'll get both channels in one ear.
I'd be surprised if you can't do that in software?
when I come up on runners out in the country side and have to literally shout to alert my presence, I think
Using headphones on paths means you will be a PITA to other users.
Suggestion: a set of basic open earbuds with foam covers. Less wind noise means you can turn the volume down and then you can hear the outside OK too. Pretty sure two buds will help you to decode what you hear more easily and therefore user a lower volume. Don't buy the rubber plunger type.
Our groovy guru probably understands the psychoacoustics better than me though.
admit to sometimes wearing earphones when inline skating - at the moment partly because of the abuse that gets yelled at me for inline skating.
Aye, there's a few
But then again, too few to mention.
I'd be surprised if you can't do that in software
You can, but you have to jailbreak the phone and do it somehow in Cidea.
Thanks all. Have gone for the blindingly obvious but ignored until now choice of changing the ear bud foam sizing to get a tight fit in the left ear. And accepting that "slightly less crap" is my target.
I'm profoundly death in my right ear so stereo with headphones is pretty pointless. I've had a couple of these and the sound is pretty good. At least I hear everything on the track.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/XDU-Pathfinder-Single-Stereo-to-mono-Noise-Isolating-Earphone-Reinforced-Cord-/201686180467?hash=item2ef56ee273%3Ag%3ALp8AAOSwZJBX-ZFh&_trkparms=pageci%253Ac8505e73-160f-11e7-947e-74dbd180bb48%257Cparentrq%253A24654b3115b0a60ce28097cbffffb9a8%257Ciid%253A3