earphones

Everybody else was doing black or dark devices and here comes Apple with signature white earphones and device.

Depends on the environment, and whether you can tolerate proper earphones with a good seal.

Even if you aren't sitting with a cellphone or earphones in the bus, chances are the guy/girl next to you are.

Spending hard earned money on shitty earphones is a similar kind of wealth.

I'd recommend the Monoprice Enhanced Bass Hi-Fi Noise Isolating Earphones with the Comply TX-400 foam tips.

The earphones are detachable and you can use your own audio headphones.

I also do the earphones thing, but it seems to be contributing to long-term hearing loss.

What helped me is to use earphones, isolating the noise and signaling that I'm working and not to be interrupted.

RHA earphones are affordable and come with a 3 year warranty.

There were a couple of tracks that demo'd the effect really well, where a drum or bass line just wasn't there in the little earphones.

Wear a good pair of ear defenders over your earphones so you can turn down the volume greatly while still blocking out all external sound.

Like the white earphones that were ubiquitous for a while.

Play a game called "Dreadhalls" and be prepared to be absolutely terrified and, if you have earphones in, be 99% to believing you're in the environment getting attacked by all manner of creatures.

Having owned several higher-end earphones including from Klipsch & Etymotic, I found that expensive weren't necessarily more durable than sensibly priced stuff (such as those Sonys, which I also own), and in fact were sometimes even less so due to the cables & jacks getting "svelte" designs.