At any rate, the good news, if confirmed, is that the awesome earphones made by Westone, Monster, Shure, Audeo, Sennheiser and others will be fully compatible with the iSlate.

We will be getting the iSlate to run performance audio tests as soon as as it is available. We believe the new device will be a game changer allowing users to flip through pages much like you do a magazine, read books, plus watch movies, browse the net, listen to your music library using an even better touch interface than the iPhone. That will put Amazon’s Kindle in the Stone Age.

In-Ear earphones have basically two obstacles to overcome:

1) The general perception that bigger is better. That a tiny earphone cannot match or surpass the sound quality of full-size headphones.

2) The bad rap earphones got thanks to the iPod stock earbuds’ poor performance.

To counter the first perception:

The proximity of the in-ear earphone drivers to the ear canal allows for a more refined experience since the volume need not be set as high as it would with a full size headphone. The isolation provided by the eartips allows the sound to be delivered without having to “compete” with external noise like a regular headphone would have to, making high-end in-ear earphones much more efficient than headphones.

To counter the second:

iPod stock earbuds use inexpensive dynamic drivers that move air and are exactly like a mini speaker. High-end in-ear earphones are equipped with high quality balanced armature drivers that do not move air so that you have more control on the back side of the system. Because they are so small you can pack an earpiece with multiple drivers with different characteristics. You can have one driver optimized to deliver low frequencies, one for mid frequencies and one for high frequencies muck like a regular, large home speaker cabinet would have a tweeter, a mid range driver and a full size woofer – watch the video here. In this category you would have the Westone 3 and UM3X. When you pack two drivers per earpiece, one for mids and lows and one for the high frequency range, for example, you have the Westone 2, UM2 and Shure SE420. When you have one single balanced armature driver you will still outperform a single dynamic driver configuration in most cases. In that category you have, for example, the Westone 1, the UM1, Shure SCL3K and Shure SE210K.

Because balanced armature drivers don’t move air like dynamic drivers (watch the video here), you need a very good seal between the eartip and the ear canal walls. That is why the high-end in-ear earphones we sell come with multiple eartip sizes and materials. You are to match your ear canal anatomy with one of those eartips. Once you get the right eartip for your ear canal, the bass will be rich and strong. Until then, you will get a tiny sound, which is perfectly normal in the first few days.

The other aspect of high-end balanced armature drivers is that due to their miniature nature, the nozzle that shoots out the sound is very narrow, allowing for a perfect snug fit which provides greater sound isolation, which again, allows for a much more refined experience since you are not forced to crank up the volume to compete with exterior noises such as the iPod stock earbuds. The narrower the nozzle, the more foam material you have to get a snug fit from the eartips.

You will also note that dynamic driver earphones require a much wider nozzle making them harder to fit most people hence all the complains of people that cannot keep them in their ears. The wider the nozzle (Ultimate Ears earphones, Shure SCL2, most Sennheiser earbuds), the less foam material you will have between the core of the eartip (nozzle) and the ear canal walls, and the harder it is to get a good snug fit.

These high-end earphones combine portability with unsurpassed sound quality. As an added value you get a much more unobtrusive style and much greater noise isolation (a study paid for by Shure to an independent institute, measured up to 44db of noise isolation in some frequency ranges) than a full size Bose headphones (up to 26db cancellation).

But what really surprises first time users is the absolute awesome sound quality. The sound has a 3-D quality to it and the music plays inside your head rather than coming from right and left. It’s a truly distinguished experience which takes you to different places and puts you in a different mood than your surroundings would.

Last January 1st I had my UM3X on for 9 straight hours * during an overnight flight. The pilot missed the runaway and on his second attempt there were five fire trucks riding along our plane, at full speed; and the only thing that could have gone wrong in my mind: my iPhone running out of battery. Everything else looked like a movie with an awesome sound track.

* Please use your good common sense and play your music at low volume. The longer the listening hours, the lower your volume should be set. Again, use good common sense to keep good hearing health.

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iPod owners will now have access to the most comfortable dual driver earphones ever built. The passive 2-way crossover is built-in inside the Westone 2 casing which displays a “2″ in blue. The improved cable design will make sure these earphones stay in place no matter what kind of activity you choose to do with them.

The most exciting aspects of the new Westone 2 are the fact that it cost only $249, has a dual driver configuration and the casing is the same as the Westone 1 which ranked the most comfortable earphones among all other models our team have tested.

You may read more on our new BLOG here.

We tried more than 2 dozen ear bud models and after listening to them while outdoors, just casually chilling, we ranked the best for comfort, fit, isolation, overall sound quality, build material, manufacturers’ warranty and most importantly, value.

We really enjoyed the new Sennheiser CX400-II (beware of counterfeits on Ebay and Amazon resellers), the Denon AH-C252 (which sells for less than $30) and the new Shure SE115.

These earbuds are an excellent choice for sport as well but what they all have in common is that they are a great value and are a big step up from the Apple stock ear buds.

The bass on the CX380 was a big surprise from an earbud in this price range.

The “orange” earbuds series by Sennheiser are sweat proof and there is a different design for every taste.

If orange is not your color, the just released Denon AH-C452K is unbeatable for under $70.

Read more here.