I know you wanted to stay away from ear buds, but I picked up a pair of Phillips with noise canceling at walmart and they are great. I use to have my volume maxed at 25 just to hear a little music. Now I keep them at 16 and hear all the music. I usually only use one ear piece so I can still hear traffic as well. Wearing one does not stop me from hearing the music. Oh yeah, they come with three different size rubber ear pieces so you can geta better fit in your ear. Good luck.

 

I've got the 92's from helmetaudio.com and I think they're too quiet. But, I believe I'm also like 3/4 deaf from all the getting drunk playing Battlefield and blasting music with the volume turned all the way up on my computer with my $300 Sennheiser headphones. When I buy a new helmet that fits I'm going to get the Xpro speakers from Tork. For the average person I think that the 92's would be ok.

 

Hmmmm,
I've had an issue with ear buds, maybe others can back this up. no matter when i wear them even just at work, the inside of my ear feels bruised after an hour or so....... so for me ear buds are out.

Trial and error;

[ul][*]Creative Zen ear plugs, with 3 seperate sizes..... wouldn't stay in regardless of size used unless the planets aligned at the same time the street lights came on. Oh yea they quit after 35 days, of a 30 day return instore policy (AWESOME), and i can't be bothered fighting with the manufacture to fix to replace after paying for shipping for warrenty on a product i hate. $120 CAN[/ul]
Sony over the ear - ear buds
[ul][*]MDR-J20's (White with rubber "hook") - hook not firm enough to hold on ear while putting on properly sized helmet $31 CAN[*]Sports MDR-J11g's - (grey "hook", white sides) too bulky, feels like your ripping off your ears putting helmet on and off $25CAN[*]MDRJ10L's (blue "hooks") silver sides - comfortable enough for a 2 hour motorcycle ride (longest ride with them so far), 4 hours detailing car (no helmet) haha doc says I don't need one unless on bike now..... sweet, Sound = decent.... above 70mph is sketchy depending on crosswinds and which gear your in (2007 Shoei RF-1000), you can makethe music out...ish 20$CAN[/ul]
Total investment 196$, total loss 176$.... awesome

Unable to return first two Sony's account, went away on business and friend threw out reciept while I was gone.

Bluetooth (wireless) systems for IPOD's are starting to hit market.I'm waiting for a real product, that does exactly what I want, feels and sounds the way it shouldbuilt for us... (not interested in the chatterbox's)

The other thing to keep in mind when buying headphones.... the bigger they are the bigger the draw off the audio device's battery... inline amplifier's do alot more than create a louder sound, they will assist in increasing you battery life of your Ipod or what ever.

 

Thanks for all the info guys, I just ordered the HS68, the $32 set. They were supposed to be a little more durable and louder, so I will let you guys know in 2-7 days.

 

Anyone ever think of building their own helmet speaker system? It's not terribly complicated. Its about as difficult as putting a custom system in your car. I'm going to be working on building one over the next few weeks because I just got a job at best buy so I can get **** dirt cheap. I also kinda got to wait til I get a new helmet so I can't take my time and do it right, and i dont feel like messin up my only helmet either.

 

Please tell me you are not gonna cut your helmet padding out.

 

haha no. If I can't build it behind the padding Im not going to do it at all. But on my HJC something-something - 15 there is some space behind the pad that pops out next to my ears.

It all really depends on what kind of speakers I can find that will do what I want them to without causing some safety issue. I dont really want to fall and smash the side of my head on a speaker.

I was kind of concidering tearing apart a pair of those expensive headphones that are all fancy and loud.

When I do it I'll post all the stuff in the how-to section... if it works that is.

 

I got myself a Nolan n102 helmet with the bluetooth kit. It has speakers and microphone builtin and with the bluetooth module I has volume control on the helmet. It has a line-in so I just hook up my ipod and I'm good to go. Granted I paid almost $600 for it but it is great quality and I can listen to music and then take a phone call and then go back to music.

 

Thats pretty cool md, I dont know if I want to take calls, but it would be nice to have the option, emergencys happen when you are riding too. I was hoping to find some kind of inline blue tooth device; that way I can mount my mp3 player on the bars, and have a BT device transmit to the receiving end in my pocket that way I'm not connected to the bike and I can still control what I am doing. Sucks when you have to listen to a song you dont feel like hearing when your mp3 player is in your inside pocket.

 

I'd like to be able to take a call going 160+