Those of you who listen to music while you ride...

What's your preferred method of playing tunes. I know some folks don't listen to music, and that your choice. But I do, and I'm always looking for ways to improve the experience. My current method is music from my iPhone, either MP3's or Pandora, and Beats ear buds under my helmet. Haven't tried any bluetooth headphones or helmets with built in Bluetooth speakers. I'm not an "audiophile" but I like nice clear music.

What say you?

I use an Ipod and custom molded ear plugs with monitors in them from EAR inc. They work the best. I've tried lots of other buds and helmet speakers. The custom molded ones block wind noise so you don't have to turn volume up very much and can still hear most traffic noise around you. Make sure to put your helmet on while the mold material cures, because the pressure from it can change the shape of your ear and canal. The fit will be much better. kinda expensive but I've spent way more trying everything else.

I have my iPhone mounted to my bars with a case from biologic. Curley cord running from the phone towards my lap and the regular head phone cable inside my jacket up to my helmet. I have been using really basic skull candy ear buds that on their own help block quite a bit of wind noise. For whatever reason i find turing them upside down works best and keeps them from pinching any part of my ear. I have also found that using a buff (http://www.rei.com/gear/feature/sea...Buff bandana&gclid=CK-gxdTox7ACFaVdTAodRUpZWQ) inside my helmet over my ears is a HUGE help in keeping everything in place. It used to drive me friggin crazy to try and keep everything in place when putting the helmet on.

I only listen on long open roads, or highway. I don't think it would be a good idea in city riding. Any distraction is a bad idea but it sure is nice to have tunes on those backroads.

I use an iJet, which consists of a little receiver which plugs into the base of an iPhone/iPod/iTouch. The controller for this is a wireless unit which as seen in the photo below, mounts to the handlebars, and is very easy to operate with gloves on. It's also worth noting that the unit is waterproof...as in my bike has been parked outside every night for nearly a year with this on the bars, and have never had any issues with it. I really love this system and cannot recommend one highly enough! It was only about $30usd delivered to Australia as well, so value for money it's the king!!

The headphones plug directly into my iPhone, which sits inside my jacket and never needs to be touched after being synch'd with the wireless remote. This means there's no physical connection between me and the bike, and i can still listen to music while off the bike (gearing up, running back into the house, etc), hehe!

I was using a cheap $5 pair of Chinese stick-in headphone pads from eBay, threaded the cabling in amongst the helmet padding, and they were surprisingly good. I killed them many months later by accidently zipping up my jacket straight through the wiring, but will definitely buy a another set like them (but better quality). For now I am using my $300 Shure headphones which and give incredible sound quality and bass (as you'd bloody expect at that price!). They are also very comfortable to wear for long periods of time under my helmet, but I find they cut out too much ambient noise when I'm not listening to music, which is a turnoff for me when in traffic!

iPhone with Sena SMH-10. I did the earbuds thing, but helmet mounted wireless speakers are solo much better.

Im not familiar with the Sena, I'll check it out.

Edit: just looked it up. I'm totally picking one up. I stopped paying attention to helmet mounted intercoms when I got my original old school Chatterbox and hated it. That was quite a few years ago. I guess it would stand to reason they would have made advances!

I to use Skull Candy & turn them upside down .Currently just the player in my phone seems to have better sound than my mp3 had. But itt really blows when someone sends me a text or calls ! It shuts down my tunes .

As far as a distraction I guess thats up for debate but I don't know of anytime some one blowing a horn before hitting someone else.

My eyes are always scanning I probely look like a boblehead in traffic .

I use the Sena SMH-10 as well. But I don't think I would if I didn't need the other functions. I think the right earbuds are better for just listening to music. You get the best sound and block wind noise at the same time.

My wife and I like to talk while we are riding (separate bikes,) and I like to be able to make a call when I want. That plus the headphones can get to be a PITA. So I accept the lower sound quality. And I use the voice control on the Iphone to make calls and choose music.

Now if you really want the best of both worlds, Sena makes a mount for the SMH-10 that allows you to plug in your earbuds.

Molded Ear Plugs, Sena Bluetooth Stereo Headset, DroidX Phone

Custom molded are quite a bit more, but in the long run....worth it for comfort and noise protection.

I use a Garmin 550 w/xm 30 . It's waterproof. No worrying about the weather or moving it. I leave it on there all the time. It's nice not to constantly remove and install it, over and over. Sirrus Sat radio with ER6i ear buds.

I have ipods, but get tired of the same songs (yeah I have 1,000's of songs on there, it doesn't matter). I want the surprise and variety only Sat radio provides. Every variety of music, news, comedy etc.

I play it most of the time, open road or city. Do you turn your radio off when you are in the city in a car ? Come on, you can multi task ... CRANK IT UP ! . Sure it costs money, so what good thing doesn't ? Enjoy the ride your own way, everyone has a different way to do it. Have fun . Just my .02

Zumo 550 with satellite connected to S-plug earbuds.

Most often, I use an MPs 3 player plugged into a J&M Integratr. It sounds great. This is a huge improvement over earbuds for me. I suppose it provides no hearing protection at all other than the full face helmet I have on. I can plug the passenger into it and then we have an intercomm. I plug my phone into it regularly and I can have very clear phone conversations at 80 MPH. The other devices that can be plugged into it include: GPS, radar detector, CB/weather radio, two radio, the integratr also has its own FM radio built into it if I don't feel like messing with any cords.. This is not blue tooth or high tech, but it works great. It is portable from bike to bike. I have four bikes and I wear the integratr on my belt.

Depending on what's handy or charged, I listen to either my Sansa or my phone using in-ear monitors. I've got a set of Shure E3's but my current favorites are the OSP EU4's with Comply foam tips added. Great sound, just enough noise blocking that wind noise isn't a bother on long trips, but still lets me hear the engine and traffic.

Whatever you do, if you use earbuds gets something with foam or that at least completely seals the ear canal. A partial seal can actually accentuate wind noise and cause hearing damage worse than cranked up tunes.

I have recycled my son's B&O Form 2 headphones. It broke in half shortly after he received it at a birthday gift. There were no replacement parts available, so I took it apart and used the speakers in my helmet.
It is directly plugged in to my iPhone. I have a playlist and hope for the best because I can only control volume up and down by squeezing in my jacket hoping to operate the side volume buttons.

It's a shame to tear down an expensive headphone but the speakers sound great as long as you use a quality helmet that keeps out wind noise.
I tried using earbuds, but they annoy me when wearing a helmet and they interfere when taking my helmet off. They also cancel too much road noise and they make me feel isolated from traffic.

I use a Sena SMH10 as well. I have it paired with my iPhone. Same setup for my wife. She listens to her music, I listen to mine. Then we use the intercom function to talk back and forth. It also allows us to each make and take our own phone calls. I don't talk much when riding, but she hangs out on the back and talks with her friends for hours at a time. We have had them a little over a year and they have been flawless.

When I'm commuting I stream Pandora. The jog dial on the Sena allows you to skip songs just like do manually on the phone. When I get out in the boonies and can't get a constant 3G signal, I switch over to the MP3's I have loaded on my iPhone. The voice control function built into the iPhone allows you to change artists and playlists. You just tap the phone button on the Sena, wait for it to connect, and then say something like "Play Tom Petty". It will respond with "Playing Tom Petty" and will do just that. Same goes for Shuffle, or calling out specific playlists. I can't wait to get the new iPhone this fall and see how the Sena interacts with Siri. I'll bet it will open up a LOT more functionality. iOS6 is supposed to add their own mapping service with turn by turn directions. I'm willing to bet that you will be able to tap that phone button, tell Siri where you want to go, and it will then interupt your music with turn by turn directions as you go.

For the actual audio, I use custom home made earplugs from www.earfuze.com, and plug them into the earbud mounting clamp offered by Sena. For under $50 they are freaking awesome. Not much bass, but the audio is crystal clear.

Garmin 660. I have the audio cable snaked down the bike and poking out just below the seat. I use Klipsch image x10 earbuds which fit very comfortably for me under my helmet. I have enough movement left in the plug that it will easily disconnect should I forget to unplug before walking away from the bike.

I've found a combination of some above stuff works great....the Ijet, molded earbuds from Plugup into an ipod in my pocket or at night an ipad. have some cheap earbuds for spares or when i want em in and out quick. any helmet speakers i've had kill my ears and don't block any noise, just add noise.

i think it's well worth the expense and time to find a moto show/rally and have a set off molded earplugs or earbuds
made, although i did the kit by mail thing. they have the drivers way inside the ear canal and basically act as molded earplugs with sound. but i do have very small canals and no foam or other stuff has ever worked effectively.

Android on the handlebar on charge as a GPS and music player.
Cheap foam ear plugs.
Sena SMH-10.
Works very well IMHO.

iPod in an interior jacket pocket, Ety MC5 ear buds, and a scoche remote (mounted to the left hand mirror clamp).

Note Bene -- if you get custom ear molds, wear your helmet while the mold material sets up -- some, not all) people's ear canals change shape when a helmet presses the out ears against your noggin -- the change can be enough to render your nice new customer molded earphones into extreme rendition tools after 10 minutes of use . . ..

Westone CR-1 custom earphones to an iPod Nano, controlled by an iJet remote on the handlebars.