Review: Lenntek Sonix-3

review by Bill Palmer

Two years into the iPhone era, and the verdict is firmly in: iPhone users only want to use earbuds that have the same built-in microphone and play/pause button functionality that comes with the iPhone’s bundled earbuds – and no earbuds lacking these features are going to find a home in the iPhone universe. As iPhone-specific earbuds have found their way to market over the years, with prices that range from $20 to $200 and up, the sweet spot seems to be $99; if you’re going to bother replacing the bundled earbuds then you might as well do it right, and a hundred bucks allows you to improve your audio experience night-and-day without having to spend as much on the earbuds as you did on your new iPhone 3G S itself. The latest entry at the $99 price point is the new Sonix 3 from Lenntek, although if you shop around you’ll probably find them for as little as $69.



Sound quality matters the most of course, and the Sonix 3 holds its own against others in its price range. In fact the Sonix 3 ends up in a virtual tie with the competing $89 MetroFi 220, which up to this point has been the best-sounding iPhone-enabled sub-$100 option on the market. Based on listening tests, the Sonix sounds a bit clearer in the upper ranges but the 220 has slightly crisper bass; you can’t go wrong with either. One bit of differentiation is that while most iPhone earbuds (including the 220) place their play-pause button down around your chest so you can see what you’re reaching for, the Sonix 3 places it on the microphone itself up by your chin. You can’t see it, and that should be a bad thing, but I actually found it to be preferable due to the fact that nearly the entire thing is a button; you don’t have to aim at it to hit it. Yes it’s something of a copycat of Apple’s own implementation, but frankly, I wish more earbud makers would copycat it.



My advice for those looking to spend $99 on iPhone earbuds is still the same: scrounge up another $20 and get the $119 v-moda vibe ii, which are more than worth the extra $20 in terms of audio quality. But Lenntek’s Sonix 3 is yet another example of excellent $99 iPhone earbuds that are increasingly nipping at the vibe ii’s heels, and certainly worthy of consideration if you prefer the styling or the button implementation.

Learn more about the Sonix 3 at Sonix-3.com