Travel Technology - Seeking: Really tiny earphones for sleeping

I am looking for really small earphones that are soft (or attaches to earplugs), the ones I have now are all to hard on the end to comfortably wear when I sleep on my side. I would prefer no hard plastic parts at all, atleast not outside of the earlobe.

SQ is almost entirely irrelevant since I tend to listen to spoken word material at night.

If this fails someone might have a recommendation for a good very directional under pillow speaker.

Any of the $1-$50 earbuds work fine for me but I prefer the much bigger non-earbuds over-the-ear Bose QC2.

MisterNice

Shure Ec2 with the yellow foam tips.

Take a look at the entire Shure line - http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Earphones/ESeries/index.htm

My recommendations would be the Shure E3C, E4C, E500 and Westone UM-2. The Shure E2C is, IMO, a little on the bulky side, and the E5C is extremely uncomfortable compared to the others. Ultimate Ears models should not be taken into consideration because their design juts out of your ears at an angle that prohibits side-sleeping.

Etymotics e6i. They are much smaller than any of the Shures.

Any overseas-friendly place that sells them for a decent price?

Ety's are smaller but stick directly out, whereas the Shure's lay against your ear surface. I think the Shure's would be easier to sleep with. Actually, I know they are for me, as I have both. I just stuck the Shures in my ear and put a flat surface up against it - it rested against the circumfrence of the ear and didn't even touch the earphone.

Those are the E3c's. If the 2's are bigger/bulkier, which would seem odd, then the 3s are a better recommendation. I recommended the 2's as the OP stated the sound quality wasn't of high importance.

A custom ear mold could be ideal, but a bit pricey for the purpose.

Any overseas-friendly place that sells them for a decent price?

Etymotic claims these people have them: http://www.ljudmakarn.se/

But they are not listed on their site.

Amazon may be your best bet:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Etymotic-ER-6i-iIsolator-In-the-ear-Earphones/dp/B0007WTHLO/sr=8-2/qid=1171061709/ref=pd_ka_2/203-9633450-4165506?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Especially given their liberal return policy.

Etymotics e6i. They are much smaller than any of the Shures.

The Shure E3C is smaller than the ER6i. The ER6i is also designed to stick straight out of your ear, whereas the E3C is designed to lie flush with the ear. IMO, the ER6i would be a horrible choice.

It looks like I will have to try them out before I buy.

The ones I currently use for sleeping is Sony mdr-nx1 which is ok, but a bit to stiff on the ear.

Since you mentioned the listening material is almost always spoken word, perhaps a single mono earphone like what you used to get with shirt pocket transistor radios. I listen to NPR or BBC news when I'm trying to go to sleep, I'm a side sleeper and use a mono earphone in the ear facing away from the pillow. Radio Shack has these in several varieties for $2-$3. The more expensive version is like a single earbud which fits in the ear. The cheaper one sticks out so does not meet your no hard plastic criteria.

A mono earpiece would work, I tend to change sides quite a few times during the night so it would still have to fill my other criterias. One would think that it wouldn't be hard to make a tiny driver to fit inside an earplug for this purpose. I don't need high volume, I even have to use an old firmware for my player to get the lowest possible volume output.

I often listen to NPR at night as well.

The advantages of going IEM are twofold. First, IEMs are inherently isolating, an IMMENSELY useful trait during travel. Second, most IEMs come with soft tips that literally meld into the shape of your ear canal. Very comfortable.

Sony offers a model labeled the EX71 that is extremely soft all around. It's a tad bass heavy, but highly recommended if you are on a budget and don't require audiophile-level sound quality.

I think that the EX71 is almost exactly the same as the one I have (if you disregard the nextstrap design).

I also listen to audio books before I go to sleep. The only earphones I have found that I can comfortably wear in both ears while lying on my side are the Sennheiser CX300's. They are very small and sit completely inside the ear without anything other than the cord protruding.

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/500830

I also listen to audio books before I go to sleep. The only earphones I have found that I can comfortably wear in both ears while lying on my side are the Sennheiser CX300's. They are very small and sit completely inside the ear without anything other than the cord protruding.

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/500830

I just picked up a pair of the CX300s and upon my initial trial I agree. I used to have the PCX250s but I can't sleep in them. The noise blocking seems better too, at least testing with my TV and stereo set to static. I can turn the TV volume up to what would be very uncomfortable without the earplugs in and not hear it (and the dogs are a bit annoyed right now). MP3 volume is about 60% of where I would set it with my 250s.

Best part is I got them at circuit city, so I ordered through the worldperks mall to get some miles. I set it for pick-up at a local store and got there about two hours later. Nobody had walked over to the rack to get them and bring them to the counter so I had to wait about 10 minutes. They gave me a $24 gift card since they did not meet their 24 minute guarantee. ^

$70 minus $24 and 150 miles or so is not a bad deal.

Just for the record I've had the Sony EX71's and the Shure E2c's. I loved my first pair of EX71's and I used them almost exclusively for sleeping. The first pair broke after about 16 months. I bought a replacement pair, but at some time Sony changed the quality of the wire insulation and I ruined the new pair within 2 months. Basically, the new insulation was much softer and more pliable and as I result I would wake up with the cord tangled beyond belief. One morning I woke up and there was a 2 inch length of exposed wire where the insulation had stripped off.

I bought E2c's to replace the EX71's, but they're really not comfortable for a side sleeper, so I used them for everyday use instead. Though the wire/insulation is thicker it is also less flexible. As a result, I got a crack in the insulation about 1 inch from the earbud itself (I wear them with the wire looped over the top of the ear, which is one method recommended by Shure, but it adds extra strain to the insulation where it bends over the top of the ear.) So... I would say check the wire insulation on the CX300's. Look for something not too soft, but also not so firm that it loses flexibility. I'll be doing this myself if I can every find a pair of CX300's in a store.

One thing I would mention about Shure is that they provide outstanding customer service and a good 2 year warranty on their earphones (at least on my E3C's). My E3C's started to have some intermittent problems with the connection between the wire and the mini plug after about a year of use but I was too busy to attend to it and didn't want to be without the earphones for the length of time it would take to get them replaced under warranty by Shure. Eventually about 3 months after the warranty period had expired, the problem got worse. With very minimal prodding, Shure cheerfully replaced them under warranty anyway.

After suffering with using the earphones that came with my MP3 player for the two weeks it took to get the new E3's back from Shure (and it was suffering), it was a very great relief to once again get back to the great sound and isolation that the E3's provide. The thing that really struck me when going back to the Shure's (aside from the isolating qualities of course) was how much more "space" between the various instruments there is with them compared to the cheap stock earphones.

I broke down and bought UE-5 Pros a few weeks ago from Ultimate Ears, and I am completely happy with them. I have been able to sleep, run, eat and sit in these without them irritating my ears or falling out. The longest stretch so far was SFO-SYD and I didn't take them out the entire time. After dropping nearly a grand on previous sets that I hated, I am hoping that these will keep doing the trick.

My previous sets were QC'2s (good quality, but horribly painful after a couple of hours), E2c's (uncomfortable for me), Sony MDR-NC20 (pretty good quality NC, but same pain as Bose), and some terrible Sony active NC earbuds that fell out constantly..