Will the EX-71SL Earphones Damage Your Ears?

your main concern should be the db (measurement of volume)rather than the distance. as long as you don't listen to music at a high volume, you should be fine. remember to be careful since most in-ear headphones have a higher db rating compared traditional headphones.

After hearing all these replies,
I'm a little hesitant on buying them.
What are good earbuds that aren't the in-ear types? Also, they need to fit comfortably.

E888s are really, really big. I don't think they'll be too comfortable.
I wish I could find a local reseller to buy it from.. so I can return it if it doesn't fit.

The only reason why these headphones can be dangerous is because they block off so much outside noise.... you might be crossing a street and not hear the car just about to knock you off the road!

Pioneer's $29 SE-CL30 Encapsulated Earphones may represent a better, cheaper option than the EX51/70/71 for those who need the isolation afforded by in the ear canal earphones. They have a slightly broader frequency response 5-23,000 Hz and use 10-mm drivers rather than 8- or 9-. They also come in black or white.

In my experience, big drivers tend to mean better, warmer, more subtle sound, for obvious reasons. (Like with speakers). Impedence makes a difference to how much power the headphones 'absorb' and to how they'll be with an iPod, but 16 ohms is fine. Sensitivity-wise, it's also about how many decibels you will achieve from a given power input - the bigger the number the better, 100 being poor, 108 being good. Frequency response, the low number is bass response - where 5 is very good, and 8 still perfectly adequate. The higher number is high frequency response, which might make a difference with the way you hear (say) cymbals. Sensitivity and Frequency response seem to be the 'killer variables'.

Sorry, these earphones are a poor choice if you are looking for isolation. I've tried them and overall, I say the sound is really bad.

The Shure E2's provide better isolation than the Noise Cancelling NC-11's or whatever that sony makes.

I'd say that they were an OK pair of headphones - or rather earbuds with that size driver. 104 dB/mW is not over-impressive (way lower than the E888's 108) and the bass response is poor at only 10 Hz. I'd want to see 8 or less, really.

I'd guess that Apple's own earbuds would have a very similar spec to the one you outlined.

But I'd caution against over-reliance on the numbers. Some of the Sony clip ons have modest specs but their relatively huge drivers give them good sound.

No, I haven't. No outlets in the UK so I haven't bothered yet. In view of my stated beliefs about in-the-ear-canal phones I don't feel I need to add them to my EX70s and 71s, though I probably will if I come across them.

And looking at the design of the Pioneers, which are a dead copy of the EX70 I'd be astonished if he's referring to those, either.

Umm.. he was talking about the Earbuds that I posted; Not the EX-71s.

I would get the Sennheiser Orpheus... j/k. If I were you I would get the Koss KSC-35. They are comfortable and sound good. You can get them on ebay and the koss website too.