review: Phiaton PS 210

Most users who’ve spent time with both in-ear earbuds (the kind that go inside your ear canal) and on-ear earbuds (like the kind that come with your iPod) will agree that in-ear runs circles around on-ear when it comes to audio quality, for the simple reason that placing the audio inside your ear canal makes for a more intimate and less degraded listening experience. So Phiaton’s description of its new PS 210 earbuds as being “half in-ear” initially sounded like a curious experiment, but one I wanted to hear. After all, it’s not every day you get to listen to an entirely new kind of earbuds.

The best way to describe the PS 210 is to imagine your iPod or iPhone’s bundled earbuds as they are, but with a rubber piece jutting out of each bud into your ear canals. While I’ve never had a comfort problem with in-ear earbuds, putting on the PS 210 immediately made me realize their best feature: for those who have never been comfortable wearing in-ear earbuds that basically rely on nothing more than suction to stay in your ears, the PS 210 does offer something a little less daunting, as the outer piece stays firmly wedged in the outer area of your ear, holding the in-ear piece in place. And as a side note, Phiaton’s bizarre decision to include almost no bass on its earlier PS 200 earbuds has been alleviated here, as the PS 210 has a nice treble-bass balance. And having some of the audio coming out of the outer bud, instead of all of it coming from the in-ear piece, makes for a nice expansive sound.

The trouble comes when you compare the $119 PS 210 to the top-rated traditional in-ear earbuds at various price points. Shure’s $119 SE115 sounds noticeably crisper and more expansive overall, and even Scosche’s $79 IDR600 sounds little better. So while Phiaton’s PS 210 is a novel idea that wears comfortably and sounds good, it’s difficult to recommend them over regular in-ear earbuds unless you’ve never liked the physical feel of wearing the latter.

Learn more about Phiaton PS 210 at Phiaton.com