 "Good, EXCEPT for the wasteful packaging." | 2009-11-16 |
| - Reviewed By ricosf |
Most of my earbud listening is to podcasts, so exquisite audio quality isn't too crucial to me. Being able to hear a podcast discussion over the street noise is important, and comfort is important, and these earbuds are great at that, and have a pretty reasonable price.
I tend to go through a pair of earbuds every six to nine months (doing yardwork, for example, with the player in a pocket tends to wear out the cable right next to the plug), and recently bought two pairs of earbuds from Amazon. One pair were these Sonys, the other were JLab's JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black). I'd used both before, and both are prefectly adequate for podcasts, and in a quiet environment they're also both adequate for music.
The big distinction I discovered was that the JBuds packaging was very minimalist (they make a point of mentioning it, and their reasoning, on their packaging), with a small zip-lock bag holding a single piece of folded thin paperboard, and the expected twist-tie around the cable. Oh, and an even tinier zip-lock bag with the spare silicon earpieces for fitting.
Sony, on the other hand, uses the same packaging they do for store shelves, so you get a blister-pack glued to a paperboard backing (so they can't be cleanly separated for recycling), yet more cardboard and paper inserts inside, as well as one of those absurdly useless vinyl draw-string bags for "storing" the earbuds. Does anyone really use those things? Seriously, don't we all just wrap the cable around the body of the player? To top it off, Sony's packaging was big enough that Amazon had to use a cardboard box to ship it instead of a cushioned envelope.
Why Amazon split my order of three products into three separate shipments is another complaint, but my point is that Sony's packaging is wasteful.
So: if all else is equal and you're considering this Sony product or something else (esp. the JBuds), then skip Sony and give your business to a company that is paying more attention.
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 "Great Headphones for the $$$" | 2009-11-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2N1QQZW84YYQU |
| I'm an audio engineer and use headphones daily for more than just listening to music. I've been through about 10 pairs of these things since 1998 and have yet to find an earbud that fits my ears and sounds better for the money. I even decided not to get any earmolds made because these are so cheap and high quality that spending more than 20$ on a set of headphones would be ridiculous! The plastic that forms the sub cavity tends to get brittle and crack after a few years. I forgive them...they have shifted models and model numbers since I found the first pair with the sub cavity- and have retained their quality. I highly recommmend these headphones. |
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| "Overall good headphones" | 2009-11-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1B796WXIQFI99 |
| Being someone with funny-shaped ears, I have previously found it hard to find earbuds that will fit into my ears. These were the first ones I found that would not fall out. Sound quality was good, and they kept me company through many a train ride, with lots of background noise. My only complaint is that I found that they would not last very long, even though I am very careful with my belongings. The wires would fray and eventually lead to the demise of stereo headphones; only one side worked. They were good enough, however, that I bought another pair before moving on to greener pastures (i.e. the Bose in-ear earbuds -- much more expensive, but worth it, too!). |
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| "Rugged" | 2009-10-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: A35V0TDX1P4UJC |
I bought one pair of these a quite a while ago and was so impressed that I bought a second pair for another device. These are the most rugged earphones I have ever owned. It usually doesn't take much to break the wires in a set of headphones. I've broken plenty of them by snagging them on something.
But these have taken more abuse than I ever expected them to survive and yet they keep on working great. A few weeks ago I snagged the cord on a doorknob as I was walking through. It not only ripped the earbuds out of my ears, but also pulled my heavy player right out of my pocket. I couldn't believe they survived, but they did, no worse for the wear. I wear these to bed sometimes and when I awake, I find that my tossing and turning has ripped the connector from the player and wrapped the cord around my arm (thank goodness, not my neck). On several occasions I have accidentally dropped the player from chest-high, leaving it dangling from my ears. Once or twice the dog has snagged the cord with a paw, again ripping earbuds out of ears and player off clip. Still, they live on! |
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| "Comparing to the Sennheiser CX-300..." | 2009-10-28 |
| - Reviewed By secondadd |
I compared this Sony to the Sennheiser CX-300s and the Panasonic RP-HJE300. I thought the Senns and the Sony both had better sound than the Panasonic set, and I liked the way they fit my ear better, so I'll compare just those two. This is one of those cases where both earbuds have their plusses and minuses, it just depends on which you prefer.
The CX300 has a cord that wraps around the back of your head (i.e. cord to right ear is longer, whereas the Sony has equal-length cords. Both are about the same length. The CX300 has a cleaner, more trebly sound. The Sony has much more bass, it's louder than the CX-300 at the same volume, and it's muddier (but still a surprisingly good sound; I found it especially good for more easy listening type music). I'm not a bass freak, but I like a balanced sound. While the Sony sound seems more artificial in its bass boosting, on the other hand I've always found that my Nano never provides enough bass. I've tried a lot of headphones in the under-$30 category, and I've never liked the bass (or lack thereof) on any of them... so I think I actually prefer the artificially boosted bass in this case. The CX300 fits snugly in your ear, whereas the Sony is a plastic piece that kind of clips into your ear in an interesting way (and very easily). The Sony is surprisingly comfortable and easy to put in, although I wouldn't want to be lying on a pillow and turn my head as it is all-plastic and it has a piece that intrudes a bit into the ear. Both units actually stay in your ear nicely, which is a big improvement than the cheap headphones I had before. I'm not sure if the Sony will fit all ears (it's a one size fits all design), but it fit perfectly into my average-sized ears. The CX300 has those rubbery attachments to fit into various size ears. Its medium pieces felt slightly snug in my ear, but I think that is how they are supposed to be. I think the Sonys would be more comfortable than the CX300s when worn for a long period of time-- they don't jam into your ear-- the exception being if you are lying down, as noted earlier. While the CX-300s are not as loud as the Sony on the same volume, they do cut out much more ambient sound. If you clap your hands in front of the CX300s, your claps will sound muffled, whereas little ambient sound is lost with the Sony. It's strange that the Sony is much louder than the CX300 at the same volume although it lets in more ambient sound, but that was indeed the case. If closing out the world is more important to you, you'll probably prefer the Sennheisers. If you want to be aware of your surroundings, the Sony's would be better. In sum, Sony has louder, more bassy and muddier (but still acceptable) sound, and a more comfortable earpiece for long periods of wearing, whereas the Sennheisers have a cleaner sound, they shut out ambient sound better, and they might be better when lying down on a pillow. |
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| "Excellent, Cheap Earbuds" | 2009-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2N88CO1PDWZ6G |
| If you are looking for a cheap set of earbuds with very good quality, look no farther. |
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