This is for people who want the extra 20% performance over shure 535's. I mean, iBuds is 50% the quality of 535's and costs 1% of 535, why don't you use those instead?
you have not listened to the 535's have you...
in any case...
more like iBuds is 1% of the 535's for 1% of 535's price... if you are using iBuds to refer to the stock old Apple ipod earbuds then 10%...of the 535's sound.
my hearing is somewhat bad so ironically i need better IEM's than a teenager needs, because a teenager "fills" in the "Gaps" of the bad headphone sound...
when listening to shure 535's i have never thought to myself this song does not sound like i remember it sounding... they are great because they have a Reassuring sound(no pun intended)... the bass may not be what you want it to should be, but it is accurate.
lets see, the shure 535's are IMO perfect for the iPod touch, they allow you to determine that the iTunes store music is not so bad, a little bit of the soul of the music is lost, but when listen ing on a bus, moot point... yet, i do prefer listening to the cd's lossless version of the artists i like... (i love comparing itunes store to the CD to the 256k aac version created in itunes.)
i have Settled on the itunes store version of the artist's i like because i believe it sounds better than the 256k aac version created myself from the cd.
yes, the cd sounds better...but how much better is up to debate... there are times when i prefer the "Straightahead" soundstage the iTunes store "mastered for ipod" brings... other times i prefer the bit more precise sound of the CD.
the new stock iPod headphones included with the 5th gen iPod touch are actually not so bad, (not much outside sound Isolation) i have them (received the 5th gen iPod for christmas)
and if i may be so bold to say, that the new stock iPod touch headphones are 20% of the 535's sound...
if you need more info on other headphones, my favourite store, info source with frequency response graphics etc is
www.headphone.com...
for more info on the shure 535,
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/shure-se535.php