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Apple In Ear Headphones Impressions

A

ACiB708

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2008
123
0
Hi all. My headphones arrived two days ago and I have been testing them. In short, they are great, and easily comparable to very hi-end headphones such as Bose and others alike.

The highs sound really good, as well as the lows and bass. You can hear every bass stroke in them. Try listening to The Stroke's Juicebox. As for mids, they are really well defined, vocal solos in The Great Gig In The Sky sound absolutely great.

I really recommend this ones, they are pretty hi-end and they cost about half as others, they sport dual drivers and also ship with what you'd normally expect (small, medium and large earpieces, replacement metal caps, etc) they are quite cheap for what you actually get:

Apple In Ear Headphones $79
Bose In Ear Headphones $99
Beats by Dr. Dre $149
B&O Headphones $159
V-MODA Vibe II $119

The only drawback is that they are not fully compatible with the iPhone. Play/Pause, Next Song, Previous Song all work, but Volume up and down will not work. I tested the microphone in phone calls and it works very good, you can answer and end calls with the button.

This is what Engadget and Gizmodo think about them. Their reviews are quite positive as well.

I'll be posting photos as soon as I get my camera back. Great heaphones for my iPhone 3G!
 
thanks for the impression.don't know what to think. some people say good. some people say bad.

I'm holding out for january to see if they release updated iPhones that will support the volume controller.
 
How is the noise through the headphones when the cord rubs against clothes or such? Thats the only thing that really bothers me with in-ear headphones. What do you think?
 
The Ultimate Ear Super Fi 3 are worthy competitors too and are roughly the same prices as the Apple ones. I like Ultimate ears ones because they have a stiff wire for an inch or so after coming out of the ear bud so that it can form around your ear. I think that really helps keep them in you ear when doing strenuous exercise. I never could use the stand apple headphones as they would work loose even when I would be mostly sitting still. Plus the upgrade in sound with in ear style headphones is totally worth it.
 
Not sure I'd use the Boses as a comparison - they're quite poor performers in reality.

I'd be interested to hear them against my B&Os, but there's no way I'd want to replace them.
 
Returned mine....very disappointed.

jawzzy said:
How is the noise through the headphones when the cord rubs against clothes or such? Thats the only thing that really bothers me with in-ear headphones. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I returned my Apple in-ear headphones a couple of days after purchase. The noise from the cords rubbing against clothes as you walked down the road was intolerable.

The sound quality, to my ears, was poor. No-where near enough of an improvement over the basic Apple hp's for the price.

It's a shame, particularly after the long wait.

D
 
They sound appealing, and I'm tempted by them... but my biggest concern is the inline mic. I've been through 2 sets of iPhone buds in the past year. The right bud will start skipping in and out because the cord wears down around the mic/button.

My replacement has the same issue, only fixed by tying the cord around the mic to keep a good amount of pressure on the cord (to keep it from shorting...).


So, I'm curious as to whether or not the $80 pair will have the same issue. I don't see why it wouldn't. I tend not to baby my headphones (I throw them in a bag, where they're always tangled into a rat's nest) so I guess this may just be my problem...
 
The problem I have with them is that the sound from clothes or anything touch the cable is directly heard ad bad ad I never had it with any headphone I owned before. Also the the normal "body sound" seems to be amplified. I can almost hear my heart beat and if I walk with them I can hear the sound of every step really annyoing.

Anybody having the same experience.

When not moving they sound really great, clear sound very detailed.
 
Dazzerukuk said:
I returned my Apple in-ear headphones a couple of days after purchase. The noise from the cords rubbing against clothes as you walked down the road was intolerable.
D
Click to expand...


That is my concern with all cannal earphones.

Has anyone campared it to Monster Beats in-ear?
 
Dazzerukuk said:
I returned my Apple in-ear headphones a couple of days after purchase. The noise from the cords rubbing against clothes as you walked down the road was intolerable.

The sound quality, to my ears, was poor. No-where near enough of an improvement over the basic Apple hp's for the price.

It's a shame, particularly after the long wait.

D
Click to expand...

I can second this. I wrote a reply to another thread that focused on sound, but this was also a big problem.

I have some from Bose that I bought in a pinch (overpriced, but they sound half decent) on vacation when my others broke, but the Apple models sound terrible by comparison.
 
klipsch custom 3 all the way, i own alot of expensive iem's and these are by far the best.
price went donw to $150 on amazon from $300 so why not spend a little more? you get what you pay for..
 
Many headphones, like bose occasionally, try to compensate too much and boost low end frequencies. For some reason, people associate loud bass as a "good" headphone/speaker. When in reality, you want the frequency range to be as flat and tight as possible to represent the way the music was mastered (on studio quality speakers that have extremely flat frequency ranges). In my humble opinion, apple's in-ear headphones are closer to the desired "flat" frequency then many other headphones (so yes, that may mean less bass for some, but it seems tighter and less muddy). I prefer having a flat response because you can always add on bass boost or another EQ. I think as long as you know what you are buying then you will be happy. That being said, there may be a little to much mids, but they are MUCH better than the standard apple headphones. And by the way, the mic/phone component of the headphones works very well.

PS... all in-ear headphones can be loud if the cord is rubbed on your clothes, with movement, etc...
 
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