If you’ve never heard music through $400 earbuds, there’s no real reference point; the best way I can paint the picture is to say that none of the usual superlatives like “incredible” or “pristine” have any hope of being sufficiently accurate. You’ll hear new intricacies in your favorite music that you’ve never previously noticed, and the overall audio experience is so expansive it’ll leave you so spoiled that any subsequent attempt to listen to less expensive earbuds will leave the music suddenly sounding oddly two-dimensional.

In that sense the 10vi fully lives up to its billing. And while the inclusion of what probably amounts to a few cents worth of iPhone-specific functionality may not sound like a deal-maker (even some $20 earbuds come with those same built-in controls), my tests with the 10vi were the first time in my 2.5 years as an iPhone user where I could actually take a phone call while listening to my music with earbuds this good (without having to frantically unplug everything so I could hold up the iPhone to my ear or put it on speakerphone). So this product changes the entire equation for iPhone users who value the built-in controls as much as I do, as from our standpoint there simply is no usable competition at this price point (in fairness there are third party mic/button adapters available for use with any earbuds, but they place the mic too far away from your mouth, make the cables too long, and typically make the whole thing too heavy – I’ve used such adapters and I don’t recommend them as anything other than a last resort).

That having been said, from an audio standpoint, the 10vi needs to be compared to other earbuds at its price point whether the competition is iPhone compatible or not. At $419, that means we’re looking at Westone’s competing 3, which sells for a similar $399 and is presently our highest-rated earbud product at that price point. After having spent time with both products, if I were choosing based solely on audio quality, it would be a close call – but I’d have to go with the Westone 3. When the audio sounds this amazing, you can only make comparisons in terms of degrees of magic, and the 3 audio experience is just a tad even more magical than the 10vi audio experience. But if I were to arbitrarily assign a percentage based on my perception of the audio quality, I’d end up pegging the Westone 3 as being five to ten percent better-sounding than the 10vi. In other words, unless it psychologically eats at you that there’s a similarly priced competing product out there that sounds slightly better than the one you’re using, there’s no harm in choosing the 10vi due to the fact that it has iPhone controls and the 3 doesn’t.

Strangely enough, where the 10vi falls down a little is in its physical design. As you can see in the photos, the earbud casings are larger than than what you’d find on less expensive (lesser-sounding) earbuds, and that’s to be expected. But I’ve used various Ultimate Ears earbuds priced anywhere from $60 to $250, and they’ve all managed to be plenty comfortable – yet the 10vi is actually a bit less comfortable than other Ultimate Ears earbuds. The problem appears to be that the rubber/foam buds end up right next to the casings, with no space, so those of us with smaller ears have no breathing room even when we do use the smallest included rubber buds.

In the included accessories category, the 10vi delivers the kitchen sink as you’d expect. In the box you’ll find four different sized rubber earbud tips, plus two sets of foam earbuds tips (which I’ve found consistently improve the audio experience of almost any set of in-ear earbuds), a splitter, a quarter-inch stereo plug adapter, a low-profile port adapter that turns ninety degrees, a cleaning brush, and a hard metal case. The idea of protecting a product this expensive inside of a steel compartment sounds like a good idea, and it is, although the included metal case is about thirty percent larger than the hard plastic carrying case that comes with less expensive Ultimate Ears earbuds and thus doesn’t fit into your pocket as easily.

The TripleFi 10vi isn’t perfect, which is a shame because at this price you have a right to expect it to be. But based on the fact that it’s the only product that can give me this kind of audio quality with built-in iPhone controls, I’ll take it. Even though it’s not even the best earbud product at its price point, nor is it as comfortable as most other earbuds the 10vi is still my new favorite set of iPhone earbuds. Just don’t ask me to give it any more than four stars out of five.

It’s worth pointing out that with Apple’s move toward three-button volume and voice controls for newer iPhone and iPod models, it’s probably just a matter of time before most major earbud manufacturers offer three-button versions of your favorite earbuds (we saw quite a bit of this at CES this month, although nothing in this price range). But as of today, these are the best-sounding iPhone-enabled earbuds at any price – and by a million miles.

As a side note, although I wasn’t able to separately test them, Ultimate Ears also offers this product in a non-iPhone “TripleFi 10” version for $399, which appears to be physically identical to the 10vi but without any iPhone controls.

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.

review by Bill Palmer

They’re unique looking. And comfortable. And they sound good. So when is good enough not quite good enough? In the crowded iPod earbud market, which essentially includes every set of non-specific earbuds out there with a standard headphone plug, AKG’s interestingly-colored K 330 (left, $99) and K 321 (right, $79) are two classic examples of a product that seems like a winner, and is, but simply isn’t enough of a winner to be more than modestly recommendable.



The short of it is that they pretty much get everything right (provided you like the colors), don’t screw anything up, and yet can’t muster more than a mediocre-ish rating because there are too many competing options out there that offer a better listening experience at the same price, or an equivalent listening experience at a cheaper price. If you bought either of these sets of earbuds (the K 330 sounds a tad bit better, hence the $20 higher price than the K 321) and then only ever used them in a vacuum, you’d probably feel like you got your money’s worth; on the other hand, if you bought these earbuds and then compared them to our Best of 2009 winners… well, suffice it to say that you’d understand why these earbuds weren’t among the winners.



Still, if you really like the color combinations, it might be justifiable. Just be aware that the audio quality is about equivalent to the best $40-$50 earbuds out there, which is to say that you’re basically paying a premium for the colors – which is fine if it’s that important to you. But within the scheme of the overall iPod earbud landscape, AKG’s K 330 and K 321 are average three-star products, with an extra half-star thrown in because of the uniqueness of the styling.

Learn more about AKG K 330 and AKG K 321.

review by Bill Palmer

In a year where many iPhone accessory vendors have looked to adapt their signature products for significantly lower prices, v-moda’s new “faze” is essentially an attempt to recast its popular $119 vibe ii iPhone earbuds at a surprisingly inexpensive $49 price point.



The faze sports a styling more similar to the original vibe than the vibe ii, perhaps in an attempt to keep “this year’s look” limited to just the more expensive model. But looks aside, the faze sports largely the same characteristics of the vibe ii: a bassline that’s a little more prominent and a lot clearer-sounding than most other earbuds, along with mid and treble ranges that more than hold their own. Does the faze sound nearly as good as the vibe ii overall? Nope, not even close – but you knew that as soon as you looked at the price points.



The more relevant comparison for the faze is how it stacks up against other $49 iPhone earbuds on the market. The Macally HifiTune is a little cleaner in the mid and higher ranges; the Radius AtomicBass offers a ridiculous amount of bass for those who want that sort of thing; the iFrogz Timbre offers a more natural sound overall. But the faze bests them all in terms of clarity of bass, and is likely the best option for those who like bass but don’t want an outside-the-mainstream amount of bass. Users who most often listen to acoustic guitar are probably best off going with other earbuds with different strengths. The nice thing about the $49 iPhone earbud price point is that there are a number of very strong options, meaning you can be picky based on your specific preferences.



Bottom line with the faze is that it’s essentially a $49 scaled down version of v-moda’s own vibe ii, no match for the vibe ii of course but really well done for its price – which is great news for those users who’ve always liked the vibe ii but couldn’t afford to plunk down the $119. Only available through Best Buy, oddly enough.

Learn more about the v-moda vibe ii at v-moda.com.

review by Bill Palmer

Even if we waited to release our “Best of the Year” awards on New Years Eve, there would still invariably be one enticing product that shows up just after the deadline. In this case it’s not an entirely new product, but instead a revised version of Shure’s SE115 earbuds. The original SE115 was the most highly recommendable set of iPod earbuds on the market at its $119 price point. But its optional add-on implementation of iPhone-specific controls made the product overly bulky and put the controls in the wrong place, and also added $49 to the price point, pushing the product into a price range where it couldn’t compete – leaving the SE115 in the odd position of being a five-star product for iPod users, but not recommendable for iPhone users at all.



We here at iProng complained loudly, and so did users. And to their immense credit, Shure has responded with the new SE115m+, which is basically just the original SE115 but with an iPhone mic and play/pause button built into the left earbud cable, right where it belongs, at the same $119 price point. This evolution wasn’t unexpected. But in a mildly surprising move, the controls also include volume up and down buttons and the ability to record audio. Nice touch. Of course that functionality only works with the latest iPhone and iPod models (sorry, iPhone 3G users), but it’s a great addition that I’d like to see implemented on all earbuds going forward.



Until now, our advice at $119 was simple: the SE115 for iPod users; the competing v-moda vibe ii for iPhone users. But the SE115m+ changes everything, and had me conducting some serious listening tests across various genres, now that the SE115m+ and vibe ii actually compete with each other instead of being different accessories for different devices. And those listening tests confirmed what my previous experiences with the original SE115 had told me: they have a slightly more expansive sound than the vibe ii overall, and sound a bit fuller in the higher and mid ranges – but the vibe ii continues to dominate the lower ranges. Acoustic guitar sounds better on the SE115m+, while Lady Gaga’s new single sounds better on the vibe ii. You get the idea.



The wild card, of course, is the additional controls built into the SE115m+. If you’re a user of the iPhone 3GS or new iPod nano or shuffle, the volume controls in particular may prove to be very handy. On the other end of the spectrum, an iPhone 3G user might consider it an annoyance to have on-board volume controls that flat-out don’t work. This is Apple’s fault, of course, for not implementing the ability to receive volume commands into the iPhone sooner. But it’s likely that your relative enthusiasm toward the volume controls is going to be specifically dependent on which iPhone and/or iPod models you currently have or plan to purchase soon. Ironically the biggest winners here are probably third generation iPod shuffle users, who more or less have to purchase earbuds with these controls or be stuck with the earbuds that came with the shuffle.



Beyond the whole “functionality is dependent on which device you own” angle, there are two other caveats when it comes to the SE115m+. One is that while they’re already available from the Apple Store, they’re going to only be available from the Apple Store (including the online store) through at least the end of 2009. While that’ll amount to no more than a one-time annoyance on the day you purchase them, the more tangible caveat is that unlike the original SE115 which comes in colors ranging from red to black to pink to blue, the SE115m+ is currently only available in black.



If you’re looking to spend $119 on earbuds and you’ve read this review, and then looked at the fact that the Shure SE115m+ and v-moda vibe ii have both received five-star ratings, and are thusly unsure of which one you should purchase, then I’ll cheerfully suggest that you go back and read the review again. While neither can measure up to the audio fidelity of Etymotic’s $179 hf2 earbuds for iPhone (our star ratings are price-dependent), both of these products are ridiculously strong offerings for their $119 price point. Which of the two you choose should depend on what style of music you primarily listen to, which generation of which iPhone or iPod you own, and if it’s important to you, preference for color and styling.



The bottom line here, at the risk of sounding cliche, is that iPhone users who’ve lusted for the original SE115 are the winners, as they’re no longer left with the difficult decision of choosing between fidelity and functionality; they now have equal opportunity for both. I’ve tested too many dozens of earbuds over the years to get excited often, but I have to admit that as an iPhone user the Shure SE115m+ has me genuinely excited.

Learn more about the Shure SE115m+ at store.apple.com.

review by Bill Palmer

While the best iPhone earbuds have prices that run into the triple digits, those users on a budget should be pleased to learn that they too can drastically improve their listening experience simply by replacing their iPhone’s bundled earbuds with almost any in-ear earbuds at any price point. And while the number of options is reduced if you’re looking for earbuds that include iPhone-specific functionality including a built-in mic and play/pause button, there are in fact a few iPhone-specific in-ear earbuds that clock in under the $20 mark. And while their audio quality is likely to get scoffed at by those accustomed to the aforementioned $100+ earbuds, those used to using the bundled iPhone earbuds will be pleasantly surprised at what twenty bucks can them – as most recently evidenced by Macally’s TunePal earbuds for iPhone.



These all-black earbuds look fairly stylish for their price (I’ve seen more expensive earbuds that looked cheaper), and while many inexpensive earbuds suffer from lack of bass, the TunePal goes in the opposite direction by cranking the bass up to a level that’s higher than most other earbuds I’ve tested at any price point. It’s not a particularly sophisticated bass like you’d get from more expensive bass-leaning earbuds, but it’s not bad, either. It certainly adds to a user’s options at this price point. As far as overall sound quality, however, you can do noticeably better by paying five dollars more for RadTech’s competing ProCable earbuds.



So you really only want to lean toward the TunePal if you’ve got a specific reason, such as being a bass lover, or liking the all-black styling, or if your budget is tight enough that $19.99 sounds that much more attractive than $24.95. While it seems like a fairly random inclusion, the TunePal’s free bundled headphone splitter may also come in handy for you. Is the TunePal the best-sounding option in this price range? No. However, it’ll still represent a marked improvement over the audio quality of the iPhone’s bundled earbuds, without losing any of their functionality. [No star ratings one way or the other for sub-$20 earbuds.]

Learn more about the TunePal at Macally.com.

review by Bill Palmer

Some folks refuse to listen to any speaker systems but those made entirely out of wood, favoring the more natural sound that such systems provide. And based on the ones I’ve tested over the years (Vers 2x, Speck Retro), I can understand why, as it gives what might be described as a more “human” edge to music that these days is typically recorded, produced, and played back in an otherwise all-digital capacity. iFrogz has taken that same concept and improbably applied it to iPhone earbuds in the form of the $49 Timbre with mic (also available for $39 without the mic).



What initially appeared to be a mere styling choice instead turns out to be the real deal: these are wooden earbuds that offer up that same natural sound you get from wooden speakers. And while I’m not about to give up the significantly more expensive, better-sounding-overall iPhone earbuds that I use most of the time, I really appreciated the Timbre’s unique sound. If you’re the type who thinks that CDs and MP3s sound too warm, then you’ll really get a kick out of these. The rest of you may appreciate the Timbre or may not.



Setting aside the wood factor and judging them on overall sound quality, the TImbre is doesn’t quite measure up to Scosche’s $49 IDR350m but is on par with Macally’s $49 HiFiTune and the Radius $49 Atomic Bass, which is to say that the Timbre is near the top of the pack in terms of audio quality at this price point, although not quite at the top.



Close enough, though, if you think the wooden sound is something you’ll prefer to that of traditional earbuds.

Learn more about the Timbre at iFrogz.com.

review by Bill Palmer

The sheer number of earbud products available for the iPod (which essentially includes every single pair of earbuds on the market) allows users to be more than a bit picky when it comes to not only getting the best overall audio quality for their dollar, but also the specific bass/treble mix, built-in features, and even aesthetic styling and color choices that suit their own personal tastes. And that’s what makes AKG’s new K 340 earbuds interesting in a comparative sense.



First of all, they sound excellent in their own right. But put them up against similarly priced competing earbuds and you’ll be less than enthused. Do they measure up to, Westone’s “1” earbuds, priced at a modestly higher $139? In a word, no. The 1 has an expansive sound that isn’t found here with the K 340. So how about Shure’s SE115, priced at the same $119 as the K 340? No, not quite. The SE 115 still sounds noticeably (if not hugely) better. So we’ve established, rather quickly, that the K 340 doesn’t compare to the top products in its class when it comes to audio quality.



So how, then does the K 340 still end up with four stars out of five? Three factors come into play. One is the built-in volume slider, which is all too rare for earbuds, and even more rarely done well (the Westone 1, for instance, includes an overly bulky volume wheel, and the SE 115 has none). It’s not true volume control, as it just reduces the iPhone’s output by a percentage, but it’s svelte and one of the better in-line volume implementations I’ve seen. Secondly, the K 340 has a higher than usual bass-to-treble ratio, not so much as to be outside the mainstream, but the bass is immediately noticeable. Users who prefer it this way generally have slim pickings in this price range (v-moda’s $119 vibe ii is tops, but only comes with iPhone controls built-in which don’t do anything with an iPod). And for good measure, while the K 340’s styling isn’t anything too unusual, it does have a unique look.



And that’s the story of the K 340, a set of earbuds worth 3.5 stars based on overall audio quality, finds itself getting bumped up to four stars based on the total package (the built-in volume control in particular). Audio quality is still king when it comes to earbuds, but sometimes the devil is indeed in the details.

Learn more about the K 340 at AKG.com.

review by Bill Palmer

It’s the classic traveler’s dilemma: do you lug along full size cup-style noise canceling headphones, which surround your head with enough anti-noise to make an airplane’s engine noise almost disappear, or do you save room in your carry-on by settling for in-ear earbuds that do a nice job of blocking out normal ambient noise but are overmatched on an airplane? The middle ground comes in the form of Audio-Technica’s ATH-ANC3, a set of earbuds that employ the same noise canceling technology as full-on headphones.



Putting the ATH-ANC3 earbuds up against Audio-Technica’s own ATH-ANC7b full-size headphones, I found that the depending on how loudly I turned the music and what kind of music it was, these earbuds were about half to two-thirds as effective at silencing nearby loud noises – but then the laws of physics alone more or less predicted that these little earbuds wouldn’t be as effective at noise canceling as giant headphones. In my other tests I found that these earbuds were much more effective at blocking out loud noises than even the best in-ear earbuds I’ve tested.



Audio-wise, the ATH-ANC3 offers roughly the same sound quality (background noise not factored in) as the best sub-$100 in-ear earbuds I’ve tested, but didn’t measure up to the best earbuds in the $100-$150 range. In other words, you’re paying about $69 extra for the noise canceling functionality, which means you’ll need to put it to good use in order to get your money’s worth. On the other hand, Amazon currently offers the ATH-ANC for $101, so if you can nab these at that price then you’re essentially getting the noise canceling technology for free.



Well, not exactly free. You’ll have to tolerate the added bulk of a control panel on the cable that houses an included battery, which makes the ATH-ANC3 not exactly lightweight by normal earbud standards. But for those who’ve wanted noise canceling technology put didn’t want to put up with full-on headphones, these noise canceling earbuds may be viewed as a godsend – particularly when traveling.

Learn more about the ATH-ANC3 at Audio-Technica.com.

review by Bill Palmer

iPod users who decide to invest in higher-quality third party earbuds have budgets that vary significantly in size, and in recognition of this, JAYS offers earbuds that range in price from $70 to $249. The company’s j-JAYS are the low end of the product line, at a price point where you know you’re not going to get the same audio quality you’d find at $200 or even $100, but you’re still entitled to have pretty high expectations for what you can get with your $70.



All told, the j-JAYS does pretty well on that front. Before you even fire up these earbuds for the first time, you’ll find that the package includes not only three different-sized pairs of rubber earbud tips but also a pair of foam tips (very rare for this price point), along with a zippered carrying pouch, an airplane adapter and headphone splitter (again, rare for this price point), and a cable extender (we’ll get to this in a moment).



As far as audio, the j-JAYS are impressive with a sound that’s crisp in both the higher and lower ranges. At $70 you’d expect them to sound almost as good as this category’s current dominator, Scosche’s $79 IDR600, and they do come close – but not quite close enough to justify not spending the extra ten bucks for the IDR600, which on most of the music I tested had a noticeably wider range than the j-JAYS.



About that cable extender: it would be a nice option if it were merely optional, but thanks to the fact that the cable built into the earbuds themselves so short as to be unlikely to reach your waist, the extender becomes a necessity – and an annoying one, as it makes the cabling so long that I could literally lay my iPhone on the floor while wearing the earbuds standing up. And yet without the extender my iPhone didn’t even reach to my pocket (higher priced JAYS earbuds suffer from the same bizarre design). In all, these are four star earbuds based on audio quality, which get bumped up to 4.5 stars due to the generous bundled items, but then loses the extra half star due to the cable length. But they do sound nice and crisp for their price.

Learn more about the j-JAYS at jays.se.

by Bill Palmer

Westone’s four hundred dollar “3” earbuds are impossibly awesome sounding – but the price tag means that for many users, owning the 3 is just an impossibility. Enter the new Westone 1, currently available for pre-order, which essentially takes the triple-driver 3 and reduces it to a single-driver product, at about one-third of the price.



The 1 comes with all the high-end trappings of the 3, including an astonishing ten different pairs of foam and (single and triple flanged) rubber earbud tips of various sizes, in-line volume control, a zippered carrying case, and an adapter that allows the earbuds to be used with larger quarter-inch stereo ports.



The catch, of course, is that the 1 doesn’t sound anywhere near as perfect as the 3. Nor would you expect it to, of course. The only fair test is to put the 1 up against similarly priced competitors. The first obvious litmus test is that the 1 blows away any sub-$100 earbuds I’ve ever used. From there the most direct comparison is Etymotic’s $149 hf5 (a non iPhone-enabled version of their award-winning hf2). In my tests I found that the two were a virtual tie in terms of audio quality, with one or the other sounding slightly preferable at various times. In the case of an audible tie, the nod goes to the 1 for including the attachable volume control (even if it is bigger and clunkier than it should be), at least for those users who care about that; then again, the hf2 does come in a choice of colors. Those who care about none of the above may instead consider styling in general, which is secondary to audio quality but, again, works as a tiebreaker.



Bottom line is that this is a fantastic set of earbuds for the price, and as an iPhone user I’m left wishing there was a version that included iPhone-specific features. The only thing that keeps the 1 from a five star rating is that they’re not a category-killer. And for those users who consider the $399 Westone 3 to be the best earbuds they’ll never be able to afford, the Westone 1 might make for a heck of a consolation prize. Westone’s four hundred dollar “3” earbuds are impossibly awesome sounding – but the price tag means that for many users, owning the 3 is just an impossibility. Enter the new Westone 1, currently available for pre-order, which essentially takes the triple-driver 3 and reduces it to a single-driver product, at about one-third of the price.



The 1 comes with all the high-end trappings of the 3, including an astonishing ten different pairs of foam and (single and triple flanged) rubber earbud tips of various sizes, in-line volume control, a zippered carrying case, and an adapter that allows the earbuds to be used with larger quarter-inch stereo ports.



The catch, of course, is that the 1 doesn’t sound anywhere near as perfect as the 3. Nor would you expect it to, of course. The only fair test is to put the 1 up against similarly priced competitors. The first obvious litmus test is that the 1 blows away any sub-$100 earbuds I’ve ever used. From there the most direct comparison is Etymotic’s $149 hf5 (a non iPhone-enabled version of their award-winning hf2). In my tests I found that the two were a virtual tie in terms of audio quality, with one or the other sounding slightly preferable at various times. In the case of an audible tie, the nod goes to the 1 for including the attachable volume control (even if it is bigger and clunkier than it should be), at least for those users who care about that; then again, the hf2 does come in a choice of colors. Those who care about none of the above may instead consider styling in general, which is secondary to audio quality but, again, works as a tiebreaker.



Bottom line is that this is a fantastic set of earbuds for the price, and as an iPhone user I’m left wishing there was a version that included iPhone-specific features. The only thing that keeps the 1 from a five star rating is that they’re not a category-killer. And for those users who consider the $399 Westone 3 to be the best earbuds they’ll never be able to afford, the Westone 1 might make for a heck of a consolation prize.

Learn more about the Westone 1 at Westone.com.

review by Bill Palmer

That the market has become deluged with third party iPhone-specific earbuds here in 2009 is a testament to just how many iPhone users there now are – or perhaps a testament to just how many current iPod users expect to find their way to the iPhone before too much longer and thusly want any accessory purchase to be forward-compatible (of course they generally also work with the BlackBerry, but we don’t talk about that around here). In any case, we’ve now tested earbuds that have the built-in microphone and play/pause button at nearly every ten dollar price increment from $19 to $99 and up. And with so many good options out there, users have reached the point where it’s okay to be picky.



As such, the new iP-HS5 from Maximo is a perfectly good sounding and nice-looking set of $79 earbuds ($69 at PowerMax) which comes with double and triple-flanged rubber earbud tips, rare at this price point, along with an optional cable extender, a shirt clip, and sturdy carrying case – and yet still can’t manage to score more than four out of five stars on our scale. The bottom line is that while they sound better than the top $49 iPhone-enabled earbuds, for instance, they just don’t come close enough to the best $89 and $99 iPhone earbuds to merit any higher of a rating. Don’t get me wrong here, as these are the kind of earbuds you could give to even a fairly discerning listener who wasn’t familiar with similarly priced competing offerings, and they’d be impressed and thank you for the gift. But of course that’s why you’ve come here to read the reviews before buying, particularly in a field as densely crowded as the sub-$100 iPhone earbud market.



Then again, the fact that no sub-$100 iPhone earbuds have ever earned five stars tells you that the variations in audio quality between the best of these earbuds is sufficiently incremental that if you like the styling or the included items, you might reasonably opt for the iP-HS5 over competing earbuds that sound a little better.

Learn more about the iP-HS5 iMetal at MaximoProducts.com.

review by Bill Palmer

If you’re going to spend this much on earbuds for your iPod, they’d better rock your world. They should sound so stunning that you start noticing things in your favorite songs that you never knew were there. They need to create such an expansive, three dimensional listening experience that if you close your eyes you can convince yourself that you’re wearing full cup-style headphones instead of tiny earbuds. And they’d better come with enough various-sized earbud tips that you can get a good fit.


The q-JAYS earbuds offer all of the above and then some. Small and lightweight, they offer the kind of sound quality that you swear should be coming from a product ten times as bulky. It only took me a few songs of listening before I was able to identify a subtle instrumental part in the background that can’t really be noticed with earbuds half the price. Included are eight pairs of earbud tips (including a foam pair) that should match up with every sized ears out there – along with two airplane adapter plugs and a zippered carrying case.



In short, these earbuds provide the highest quality listening experience in the $200-$300 range I’ve ever encountered. And yet my quest for the perfect $249 earbuds continues, thanks to one odd design choice that makes the whole product just a tad less practical than it should be. Two extender cables are included, one with a flat head and a straight-on one, but both the same length. Which is good, because without using one of the extenders, the built-in cabling isn’t long enough to keep the device stored in my pocket while listening to it. But both extenders are a few feet long, so long in fact that I was able to lay my iPod nano on the ground, while standing up, with the earbuds still in my ears. The excess cable can be rolled up and stashed into your pocket, but that’s not what you’re looking for from $249 earbuds. Fine if you keep your iPod on your arm or clipped to your shirt (in which case you can just skip the extender), but that’s not where most iPod users keeps their iPod.



I’d personally still choose the q-JAYS over the other lesser-sounding earbud options in this price range, even with the absurd cable length, but it does keep these otherwise stunningly awesome earbuds from earning five stars.

Learn more about the q-JAYS at jays.se

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

review by Bill Palmer

Because they sound so much better than traditional earbuds because they go inside your ear canal instead of merely sitting next to it, and are available at so many reasonable price points, that you’d think they’d be the number one most popular accessory for iPhone and iPod users. But walk down any crowded sidewalk and you’ll see evidence that most users end up sticking with the traditional all-white earbuds that came with their iPhone or iPod. Pick your reason: budget, complacency, ignorance, a desire not to fix what doesn’t seem broken – or more recently, an unwillingness to give up the device-specific controls built into the earbuds that come bundled with devices like the iPhone and the third-generation iPod shuffle.



So if those standard white earbuds are to be retained, for whatever reason, can something be done to improve their quality? According to Acoustibuds, the answer is yes. And according to my tests, their answer is correct. These rubber-hose-attachment-looking pieces slide onto your existing white earbuds, turning them into quasi-in-ear earbuds that in my experiences deliver noticeably better sounding audio, particularly in the bass ranges, along with a more comfortable fit. Since I’ve never had trouble with the stock iPod earbuds falling out of my ears, I’ll have to take Acoustibuds at their word that their product helps with this (along with the company’s claims that they can be used with Zune, Palm Pre, and BlackBerry Curve stock earbuds, which are all outside of my ability to personally confirm).



The catch? The Acoustibuds can only work with the audio they’re getting from the earbuds in the first place. So while your music will sound richer, it’s still going to be as dry-sounding as what you’d get from the stock earbuds on their own. For about the same money, iPhone users can buy true in-ear earbuds that sound better than this, making the product probably more appealing to 3G shuffle users whose VoiceOver feature is harder to get from third parties at a reasonable price point. The $19 does get you two different sizes, which is fortunate since the “size 6” didn’t fit my ears at all but the “size 5” fit comfortably. I can’t tell you whether this product is the right choice for you, but I can confirm that it does what it claims to.

Learn more about the Acoustibuds at Acoustibuds.com

review by Bill Palmer

When it comes to sub-$20 earbuds there’s often not a lot to say; you’re not going to find world-class sound quality in this price range, so the various options either sound acceptably decent or they don’t, placing such products in more of a thumbs-up/thumbs-down category than actual review territory. But two things make the latest Plugz earbuds from iFrogz sufficiently differentiable to warrant a full review. First, they’ve got a built-in microphone and play/pause button for use with your iPhone, which is rare at this price point. More superificially, the color choices and unique-looking styling and not often to be found at such a generic price point either.



First the good: even at this price point, these earbuds are going to offer you better audio quality than what you’ll get from the earbuds that come with your iPhone, thanks to the fact that the Plugz are in-ear earbuds. And while the play/pause button is located up around your chin where you can’t eyeball it, as opposed to the more ideal chest-high location usually found on more expensive iPhone earbuds, the bottom line is that the button and mic on the Plugz both work just fine.



The “bad” is that for five bucks more you can get RadTech’s ProCable earbuds with the same iPhone functionality and audio quality that’s noticeably better (particularly in the lower ranges). Unfortunately the Plugz are hampered largely by the fact that the rubber earbud tips that come with it are thin and flimsy in comparison to the ones that generally come with even the modestly more expensive in-ear earbuds (including the ProCable). This keeps you from getting a perfect seal in your ear canal with the Plugz, and waters down the audio in comparison to what it could be.



As I said before and want to emphasize again, the iFrogz Plugz will improve your music-listening experience over what you get out of the box with your iPhone, even with the above stated limitations. You can do better elsewhere for just a few bucks more, but if you love the Plugz styling and color choices, there are worse ways to invest $19 into your iPhone user experience, especially if you’re on a budget. So in that case a tentative, if not enthusiastic, thumbs-up.

Learn more about the Ear Pollution Plugz with Mic iFrogz.com or buy now.