Review: Comply Whoomp
January 12, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 1 Comment
The iPod and iPhone come with probably the best-sounding stock earbuds of any MP3 player or cellphone, but that doesn’t change the fact that they sound pretty lame in comparison to even the cheapest of $20 in-ear third party earbuds. So my advice is generally to replace them right away – you can even find inexpensive in-ear earbuds with basic built in iPhone controls – but in an age where the newest iPhones and iPods can do everything from volume control to voiceover via the earbuds, finding fully functional replacements might not fit in your budget. So for those who’ve decided to go ahead stick with the standard white earbuds after all, there are some inexpensive solutions on the market for making them sound better.
The Whoomp goes about this by snapping onto the flat face of the iPod’s earbuds and adding a foam tip that extends into your ear canal in order to produce a quasi-in-ear experience. As with other products of its type, the Whoomp can’t change the fact that the stock earbuds sound overwhelmingly dry, but they do enhance the bass and offer a significantly improved listening experience with various types of music – not bad for a $10 investment.
In my tests, the Whoomp proved to be more comfortable fit than the competing Acoustibuds that I reviewed late last year, and the Whoomp is also a couple dollars cheaper. I very rarely use the stock iPhone/iPod earbuds these days other than for occasional testing purposes, but I think I’ll keep the Whoomp enhancers attached to them from now on. No star rating because I have no idea how rate a product like this.
Learn more at ComplyFoam.com
