Selection Guide

Altho these are touted as a terrific value, one channel had no output after only a few hours of use. None of the provided ear pads fit my external canals adequately and if "screwed in", remained stuck in my ears after I removed the driver. The sound while they worked was just OK.

For the money, I have a hard time believing these things can be beat when it comes to the quality of the sound, especially if you're a bass lover. They have a warm, clean, inviting sound that works well with pretty much every type of music I've listened to with them.

With my ears, at least, it was a little tricky at first to get a good seal, until I found the right ear tip (I had to use the largest one provided) and the proper angle to insert them. With practice, though, I can now get a seal without much effort. You'll know when you get a seal when the bass fills out--without a seal, there's almost no bass whatsoever.

Once they're sealed, they do a pretty good job of blocking outside noise, though I've found that very high frequencies will get through. For example, a cricket chirping sounds almost as loud with them on as it does with them off, but voices and my computer's fans get blocked very well.

They're comfortable to wear for awhile, and the rubber tips are soft and pliable and will conform to the shape of your ear without exerting much pressure on them, though after having them in for over an hour or so, the edges of the entrance to my ear canal can become sore where the metal rim of the earpiece presses against it, and I need to take them out for a bit to let my ears rest. Leaving IEMs in your ears for too long without giving them a chance to air out probably isn't a great idea, anyway, so it's good to let your ears rest from time to time.

Now for the bad part: These are not durable headphones.

First, and the most obvious thing you'll notice as soon as you open the box, is that the cord is extremely thin, and mine already had a kink in it before I even took it out of the box. I've taken pretty good care of them, and I haven't had any issues with the cord breaking, but several more kinks have appeared in it during the time that I've owned them. While I'm talking about the cord, I should mention that you will get some microphonics through it, though not a significant amount, and I've found that if I loop it over my ears and tuck it into the arms of my glasses, that mostly eliminates it.

The worst part, though, is with the earpieces themselves. After about six months of owning them, the right earpiece fell apart. It's held together with glue, and after awhile the glue will come lose and won't hold the earpiece together anymore. Once it comes lose, it's only held together by a pair of extremely thin wires.

I RMA'd them, and I'll give credit to Maximo here because it was a very quick and painless process. They mailed out the replacement pair within a couple hours of receiving the broken pair, and the replacement arrived a mere three days after I mailed them the broken ones.

Unfortunately, a little over a year after I received my replacement pair, the exact same thing happened again: the glue came loose and the right earpiece fell apart. I inspected the left earpiece, and it was coming loose as well, and I was able to pull it apart without any effort. This time, I decided I'm not going to bother RMAing them again, and I glued them back together myself. So far, it seems to be holding, but if they keep coming apart, I'll probably end up buying something else to replace them.

Another issue I had with the replacement pair: A few months after I received them, the metal mesh that protects the driver fell out of one of the earpieces. It snapped right back into place, and it seems to be secure now, but I would hate to get that stuck in my ear if it falls out while I'm wearing them.

Overall, it pains me to give these earphones such a mediocre rating, because the sound quality really can't be beat for the money. Unfortunately, it seems like they put all of their materials and design cost into making them sound good, and cheaped out on the build quality. I would gladly pay double what these cost to get the same sound with a thicker cord and more durable earpieces, but with all the issues I've had with them falling apart on me, I have a hard time recommending them.

I got to back everything Headroom has to say about these headphones in every aspect! These things sound just amazing. I'm really particular usually with my highs and I was floored by how AMAZING they sounded considering they were WAY under $200!

A reviewer complained about an unpleasant tinny quality to the sound but I just don't hear it. It's far from being flat, in fact the highs might seem a bit weak but it's totally tolerable in my book and their clarity completely makes up for it.

Fortunately this thing is under a 2 year warranty (which I am in the process of using right now) because mine's right side spontaneously died after just over 3 months of usage with no unusual wear and tear nor abuse on my part. Unfortunately, I have to say that this specific con is totally unacceptable.