If you have come in search of the perfect sound, you have come to the right place.
I love music. You undoubtedly love music. Millions of people around the world love music. But how many people love that perfect sound? You know, the sound you hear when you are listening to your favorite song on your favorite MP3 player, set to your favorite Equilizer setting, pumped through your favorite headphones. (It almost makes me want to cry, just thinking of it)
Wait, you don’t know what I am talking about? You have never experienced this? What?!
Yeah, me neither. Not yet at least. That is the purpose of this website. To find that perfect sound. Who knows, maybe along the way you will find it as well.
I can’t promise much at first in the way of regularity, as I am just a college kid, trying to work my way through college without all the debt. So things might be a little slow until I get some more money.
But I can guarentee you that you will come here looking for information about a specific device or headphones, and, assuming I have reviewed that specific device or pair of headphones, you will find what you came looking for – The Perfect Sound.
So, I wanted to start reviewing something other than in-ear headphones, and this is my second on-ear headphones review. I also bought these as I found out the hard way, that a high use of in-ear headphones can cause ear pain, no matter how comfortable they may be.
The Sound:
At first, it was a little difficult to get used to on-ear headphones as I almost never use them. So I was a little disappointed in the sound at first. I thought it was horrible. But then, as I got used to the different profile of on-ear headphones, I became impressed with the sound quality. I’m not saying that it was great, but for the price range ($10-20) the sound was pretty good.
I think that it has a little trouble with the highs, and the bass isn’t that powerful, but these headphones are a nice average pair, and you would have to pay 2-3 times the price to get a better sound.
The Design:
These headphones have a nice design, I wouldn’t be embarrassed to wear them. They come in several different colors, meant to match all the iPod colors, but I chose the black. They have a nice glossy finish on the earpieces, and the headband is not uncomfortable. They are nice and light, without feeling too cheap.
One of the nice features of these headphones is the swivel hinge on the earpieces that allow them to twist flat. That way you can store them easier and safer. Additionally, being able to twist to fit perfectly on your ears adds to the comfort of the earpieces. The earpieces have a nice sized cushion, and I found it to be pretty comfortable, unless I used them for a long time, then my ears started to hurt.
Conclusion:
These are a nice pair of headphones for the price. I didn’t mind shelling out somewhere in between $10-20 for these small headphones. I would recommend them if you can’t afford anything more than $20. If you can afford something more, there is a lot out there.
I got these because when I went jogging, my earbuds would fall out of my ears. Very annoying. I had high hopes for a pair of headphones that come from a company that claims “Ultimate Sound in Style” What I found was that the M6 were an adequate pair of headphones.
The Sound:
Like I said before, I had high hopes for these headphones. And actually, I found that they sounded pretty good without customizing the EQ. Probably one of the better sounding headphones when using a standard EQ setting. You would think that something that sounded pretty good would sound great with a little tweaking of the EQ settings. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Customizing the EQ only made them sound a little better, if better at all.
Now, about the actual sound. I thought that the bass was lacking, especially when compared to the Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus. Whenever I switched from the M6 to the Backbeat Plus, I got that nice boom from the Altec Lansing that I had been missing from the M6s. The mids and highs were OK. They could sometimes sound a little flat, and other times sound pretty good. I think that it depended on what music I listened to. Maybe not just type of music, but just different albums would sound different. I know that that sounds obvious, but I would say that these headphones emphasize the sound difference between different albums.
The Design:
The M6 headphones are a pair of in-ear buds that is designed so the cable runs behind the ear, thus reducing the possibility of the earbuds being pulled out of your ears. Fortunately, (for me) they do just that. I can be jogging and the headphones will stay exactly where I placed them in my ears. They won’t even adjust position in my ears.
The aesthetic design of these headphones is good. Just a plain, glossy black. You can order these headphones with a clear body, but that is not my style.
These headphones come with a large variety of ear tips. It comes with a pair each of three flange small tips, three flange large tips, two flange large tips, and small, medium, and large single flange tips. I am actually not sure if the single flange tips are different sizes, as if there is a difference, it is a small one. That is a lot of tips, and I commend MEElectronics for covering their bases by including all of them.
Another interesting and useful feature of the M6 headphones is that for the first two inches of the cable from the earbuds is wrapped with memory wire. This allows you to custom fit the cable around your ears.
Speaking of the cable, this one is an OK cable. I don’t have to mention how much I love cloth covered cable, and unfortunately, these headphones are a simple plastic. Oh, well, it is OK. It doesn’t seem to tangle that much. That could be partly due to the fact that it comes with a small case to store them in. So when I am done, I just wind the cable around four of my fingers, put them in the case, and zip it up. The case also stores the extra ear tips, in case I want to swap them out.
Conclusion:
These are a good pair of headphones for the money (around $20), though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them.
It was suggested that I review these headphones, so, here is the review. At first I was a little skeptical, as I had been disappointed in JVC before, but after the first time I heard these, I was surprised. But after prolonged listening, a bomb dropped.
The Sound:
First off, I was blown away by the bass on these headphones. I think that kind of distracted me from the lack of powerful enough midrange. So, after adjusting the EQ my Rockboxed Clip+, I finally got it to where these headphones sounded the best. So I used them like this for a couple days. It didn’t take long though for the bomb to drop. After a short amount of time using them, my ears would start to hurt. Now I am talking about sound here, so it was my inner ear that hurt. The problem was the piercing highs. I kept trying to adjust the EQ, but I could never get them to lose that piercing quality.
So in conclusion, the bass was awesome, the midrange was very poor, and the highs were too shrill.
The Design:
The design of these headphones is very unique. It has an actual “air cushion” on the opposite side of the headphones as the earpiece. This air cushion is basically a hollowed out piece of silicone, that adds some cushion to the headphones. I found that the air cushion also helped to hold the headphones in my ears. The one problem with the air cushion is that it collects dust and earwax, which is kind of gross.
The headphones also had a nice low profile. And what I mean by low profile is you could have something pressing on the headphones from the outside, such as a hat, helmet strap, pillow, and there would be no adverse affect on comfort and sound. I especially look for this in all in-earbuds.
The cable is a standard plastic or silicone covered cable, which is highly conducive to tangling. I prefer a cloth covered cable, which is much easier to handle. I did appreciate that it was a solid cable up until it splits for the earbuds. I also like that it came with a cable clip to clip onto clothing.
These headphones come with three different size silicone ear tips, and as a bonus, they come with a pair of memory foam ear tips.
My Conclusion:
All in all, they are a pretty good pair of headphones. I know that everybody’s ears are different so these may work fine for someone, but not for me. Also, I tried to not let this factor influence my review, but the pair I purchased (for around $17), had a defect; the right ear was quieter than the left ear, and changing the balance on my MP3 player didn’t help much.
These headphones can be found at the manufacturers website here.
Well, I thought that I was going to be done reviewing Skullcandy headphones, as there is a general consensus that Skullcandy headphones are not good headphones. However, in the absence of any other headphones to review, I decided to review my brother’s pair of Double Agents. On first impression, I wasn’t impressed. But then again, I wasn’t expecting to be impressed.
The Sound:
As with the rest of these headphones so far, I was not impressed with the sound. At their best, they sound OK. I had to spend about fifteen minutes adjusting the EQ settings on my Sansa Clip+ before I could even stand listening to it for an extended period of time. These headphones are better at playing the lows then they are at the highs. No matter what I did with the EQ, I could not get them to sound good with these headphones.
Another factor I had to deal with is the fact that these headphones were going to sound different than in-earbuds would. For years, I have been using in-earbuds, but it was definitely a different sound type coming out of over-the-ear headphones as compared to the sound of in-earbuds. I gave these headphones a fair chance, and I would like to try some more over-the-ear headphones in the future.
The Design:
First off, I have to say it. What in the world were they thinking when they made these headphones this ugly green? I don’t know who would buy a pair of headphones that were this color. In fact, it makes me wonder, why did my brother buy these headphones. I know that he doesn’t like them. He only wore them for a couple weeks and never used them again. The last thing I will say about the color is that I would be embarrassed to where these in public. I don’t think that they would even useful as a fashion statement. The Double Agent headphones come in many different color combinations, but none of them are anything I would be caught dead wearing.
All right, ‘nuff said. Moving on, lets talk about the usability of these headphones. One of the concerns that I have with over-the-ear headphones is how comfortable the top band is. On these headphones, the top band was pretty good. It was OK comfort wise, but it is definitely not the most comfortable headphones in that respect.
The second concern I have with over-the-ear headphones is the comfort of the earpieces. I am going to say that these earpieces are downright uncomfortable. As you can see, the earpieces are some sort of rectangle shape with rounded corners. This means that the earpiece doesn’t fit comfortably on your ears. And after a short time of use, my ears started to hurt underneath the earpieces. In my opinion, it is unacceptable for a pair of headphones to hurt my ears. I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but that is the problem I have with them.
There is one design feature the Double Agent has that I like. It has a cloth headphone cable. I have a lot of trouble with non-cloth cables getting tangled extremely easily. However, with a cloth cable, for some reason, they are much easier to untie or untangle than the normal rubbery, plasticy stuff standard cables are covered with.
Special Features:
The Double Agent, in order to live up to its name, I guess, has a second way to listen to music. A SD (Secure Digital) card slot is built in to one of the earpieces, and on that same earpiece, there are several control buttons. This allows you to load your music on a SD card (They come with a 1GB SD card) so you can listen to your music without having to deal with a headphone cord.
While this is a neat feature, I personally prefer to have something I can see, in order to choose my music. I am not one to just shuffle all my music. That is mostly due to the fact that I listen to several different genres of music, which don’t mix well, such as classical and pop. So, I guess that it would work well for people who do that often, or people who are already used to using an MP3 player such as the iPod Shuffle. However, I am not one of those people, so this feature is definitely not something I would pay extra for.
My Conclusion:
Here is how I would summarize my take on the Skullcandy Double Agent: They are ugly, they sound bad, and they are downright uncomfortable. I can say without reservation, because I don’t think that even the cloth cable could save this, that I would NOT recommend anyone to purchase these headphones. I almost don’t even feel like giving the link to the manufacturers website, but a policy is a policy, and since I made it, I suppose I have to abide by it.
These headphones can be found on the manufacturers website here. (Please don’t buy them, I can almost guarantee that you will hate them)
The Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus come in for a close secondfirst in my list. They are now my primary pair of headphonescurrently my secondary pair of headphones.
The Sound:
Just last night I realized how great these headphones were. I was messing with the EQ on my Sansa Clip+ and suddenly I found a place where these headphones just clicked. Now that this has happened, I can better describe them.
These headphones have a great sound. Period. They have excellent bass, but is extremely well balanced by the highs. The midrange is not left out, and helps to improve the overall quality of the sound. Whereas my previous primary headphones, the Skullcandy ink’d, I thought had a clear sound, it really just had a flat sound. The Altec Lansings have a better range than the Skullcandys, and they just make them sound terrible.
These headphones have a good sound; not that bad, but not that great. They have a pretty good bass response, but the overall sound is a little muted. I think that the high tones are not prominent enough, so all you get is a lot of bass, which gives a lopsided sound to these headphones.
The Design:
The overall design of the Backbeat Plus is OK. Though if you think about it, since in-earbuds are small headphones that fit mostly inside your ear – they don’t need to look that great, as there is not much there to look at. (When was the last time you heard someone rave about the aesthetic design of in-earbuds.) They do have a nice bronze stripe on each ear to break up the plain black color, and they have clear(ish) silicone ear tips.
My favorite “feature” of these headphones is the fabric covered cable. I think that all headphone cables should be made out of fabric. Not only does the fabric feel great to the touch, but it almost never tangles.
These in-earbuds, like most, come with three different size ear tips, for different sized ears. As with most in-earbuds I have tried, the medium size is what works best for my ears. It turns out that the small size tips actually allow these headphones to stay in my ear, however, they don’t provide as good a seal as the medium.
Now for the second reason that they are not my primary pair of headphones. The design somehow allows for these headphones to slowly come out of my ears, until they drop out completely. Comically, smiling speeds up the process of falling out of my ears. The only time I use them are when I am in bed, trying to fall asleep. The reason I use these ones, instead of my primary pair, is because when I am lying on my side, with the side of my head pressing into my pillow, 1) the pressure does not cause any pain, and 2) with the pressure, I can still hear the music perfectly. With my current primary pair, the Skullcandy ink’d, any pressure somehow cancels the noise, so you now can’t hear any music out of that earbud.
Another Feature these headphones sport is an inline microphone. However, this only works with a smartphone, and since I don’t have one, I haven’t tested this feature.
Conclusion:
If you can get these headphones to stay in your ears, and can ignore the muted sound because of the good bass, or you need unobtrusive headphones for when you go to bed (yeah, you know who you are), then go ahead and try these headphones.These headphones are a great pair of in-earbuds, and the win the title of my Current Primary Headphones. I received mine as a gift, but they can be easily obtained for around twenty bucks ($20).
These headphones good headphones, but they are not that great. I know that sounds like an oxy moron, but it’s true. They fit nicely in my ears, have a OK sound, and look nice as well.
The Sound:
The sound quality of these headphones impressed me from the minute I got them. The bass was noticeably there. Almost all of the headphones I had before (such as the JVC Gumy earbuds, the Sony Mdr-E10Lp earbuds, etc.) were always lacking in bass. Not so with this pair.But then, I got the Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus which I believe sound much better and are now my favorite in-ear headphones.
The range of sound also impressed me. While I know they aren’t the best headphones of its style, I liked the range of sound that these headphones pumped out. I have heard dull or muted headphones in the past, but these ones had a crisp, clear sound. But like I said before, I like the sound of the Altec Lansings better. They have more bass, and sound even clearer.
The Design:
The design of the ink’d headphones was average. I loved the way they fit in my ear. However, the design led to not being very secure in my ear. Every little tug or bounce of the dangling cord would pull them out of my ears. The first tug would unseal my ear canal, allowing a ton of external sound to enter my ears, and after a while, they would eventually fall out of my ears.
The actual look of the headphones was good enough. Not that I hold much stock in looks; mainly just the sound. I thought that the plastic microphone part was larger than it should be, and contributes to the weight of the cord. The cord is long enough, at 1.3 meters, but it is not the braided nylon as advertised that helps prevent tangling.
Also, these headphones come with three different sizes of silicone earpads; small, medium, and Large. For my ear size, the medium work the best.
I haven’t been able to test out the microphone, as I don’t have a smartphone, but I assume that it would work fine.
Conclusion:
The ink’d headphones are a nice pair of headphones, with an OK sound, for the price, (around $15 is what I got mine for).
In Search of the Perfect Sound 