Originally Posted by
patentcad
Incorrect. When I have the volume too high on the cheap headphones, I sometimes won't hear the cars coming up on me (road and engine noise). That's why I keep the volume quite moderate. You'll always hear a car horn, but you may not hear other sounds you want to hear.
This is precisely why cheap headphones aren't the best idea for listening in traffic--they result in you turning the volume even louder to overcome the already loud sounds of your external environment. Good phones don't require you to turn the volume up nearly as much because they're already cutting out a lot of background noise.