Headphones Reviews

Earbuds that actually sound good. What will they think of next? Sounds better than a lot of open-air headphones I've tried. The only thing I don't like is the right wire is a lot longer than the left. The stereo jack wire goes down your left side instead of down the middle and the wire going to your right ear is long enough so it can go behind your neck if you want.

I've bought and tested about 8 brands, which I'm not going to name, but the only brand and model that exceeded my expectations was this one, I've been using them for a long time and they continue to work perfectly.

If you are looking for a nice sound afordable headphones don't hesitate, this are the best by far.

I think these are fundamentally good headphones, and I don't have the issue (that others below evidently do) of the ear buds not conforming to my inner ears (in fact, mine fit very snugly).

The chief benefit of these headphones is that they don't have those stupid foam coverings that eventually either get lost or ripped. Instead, it's just a very thin, lightweight layer of rubber that slips over the speaker. I can't recommend the sound enough for headphones that are this inexpensive.

Like the reviewer below, I may also be too stupid to realize why one ear bud cord is longer than the other; all I can think of is that it helps when coiling the headphones back into the container. However, this oddity in no way detracts from the overall high quality of these headphones. THIS IS THE BEST HEADPHONE VALUE EVER!

tired of reviews cranked out by the marketing department of the company in question? well here is an actual review by an impartial CONSUMER:
honestly, there are a lot better headphones on the market, but if you want to exercise in them... good luck. i've gone through two other sets of headphones before using these, the previous pairs died under the deluge of sweat proffered by my overheating body, but these sony's, they are still alive; for now. anyways, sound quality = so-so, but you're excercising so deal.

Had these for a few months before opening the package and trying them on. First tried to use the buds as they were packed - without the little spongy covers over the buds - and was totally disappointed with a loose fit, weak midrange, scratchy treble, and almost no bass whatsoever.

Finally got the brilliant idea of putting the covers on and giving them one last try ... Wha?!?! Were these the same phones? The buds fit much better in my ears and I had a totally different experience with great mids, good treble, and very decent bass.

These earbuds won't change your life but they'll make your MUNI commute more pleasant by allowing you to block out the miscellaneous grunts and chirps made by your fellow transit commuters.

Just remember to use the sponge thingys.

I always use ear-bud headphones when walking, for some reason the over-the-ear headphones give me headaches. So I've always also just assumed that I'd never have clear sound. No more! These headphones are wonderful.

The range of music I like is very much varied. These sound great for all types, and most surprisingly is their ability to handle resonant bass in some newer songs. I'm really amazed, actually. It's weird having sound that's as good as a nice stereo when you're walking the dog.

One setback is that I need to use the foam covers because the plastic buds along fall out of my ears at the slightest tug of the cable. It's a setback for me. Maybe my ears are getting bigger as I get older? This has never been an issue. Regardless, it's a tiny fault for the best, cheapest headphones I've ever bought.

Bought these a few weeks ago, have been using them purely for studio work, which I'm convinced they were designed for without much thought to the home user. These have a very flat frequency response and a sharp and unforgiving dynamic response, along with very little of the harmonic excitement or sound colouration that makes consumer headphones sound "better". You can pick the parts from the mix with ease and you can almost see the knobs on the dynamics effects used in recording whatever you're listening to. If you're looking to make music and want to hear PRECISELY what is coming through the wire, these headphones can't be bettered under £150. If you haven't the slightest clue what I've been talking about and just want to listen to your music, go buy something else, but beware; audio equipment that colours sound (ie the vast majority of supposed "audiophile" equipment) will sound great with one peice of music and will kill another stone dead.

After using these for about a month, i am very pleased with them. I am a home user, not a recording engineer, but if you prefer a neutral sound, these might be just what you want. They don't add to or take away from the music. Attenuation of external noise is pretty decent (i chose these in part to reduce the noise from the computer, and was not disappointed). Despite the good noise attenuation, the pressure against one's head is not uncomfortable (even for someone with a fairly large head). You can easily wear these for one or two hours at a time without discomfort. I would describe the sound simply as full and complete: good clarity in the highs, prominent midrange, adequate bass.

Although saying something sounds "neutral" may convey an impression of boredom, these headphones do deliver that unquantifiable feature known as *pleasure*. They are involving. You will probably not find yourself thinking "if only i had bought better headphones". Overall, for the asking price, these are a very good value. Sound equipment *should* be neutral :)

As everyone else has said, they have extremely tight sound, uncolored, and neutral as possible. No extra reverberations that make music seem warm or bright; as a result, everything sounds straight out of the studio. You can use an equalizer to make the response not so flat, but you can not recoup the extra colouring with an equalizer. If it's what you desire, look else where.

On the other note, great sound isolation, well in excess of 20dB for higher frequencies (les than 10% of sound gets through)

I've had these headphones for about two or three years now. They just six months ago started falling apart. The main problem for me was that the cord connecting both phones (in the band that goes behind your head) kept falling out. And when I put it back in, it just won't stay there. This started to get a little annoying. But, they are still the most comfortable behind-the-neck style headphones (that is, if you take out those wierd plastic things near the phones). If I hadn't taken out those plastic things, I couldn't have worn them for thirty minutes at a time. But, now that they are gone, I can wear them comfortably for about two hours. The sound quality is very good for these style headphones, and the price is decent. All around, a pretty good buy.

These headphones are awesome. They have great sound quality, are comfortable, and are cheap(no more then twenty bucks at a retail store). The only downside is that they begin to come apart after a while. The parts that come off are the rubber tabs behind the ears and the foam on the earpieces. Even after this they are fully functional(still), but are not nearly as comfortable anymore.

...I bought a Sony D-E221 cd player with it and the headphones give excellent sound. They are also quite comfortable. They look good and match the colour of my portable cd player, too. So, my advice is: If you can afford it, go for it!

The Sennheiser active headphones are among the most uncomfortable headphones that I have ever tried. The head band is brutally hard on my pate after only 10 minutes and the ear pieces feel "wiggly" and loose - like they will slip off momentarily. The sound reduction system seems to work to a limited extent, although no where near as well as I had hoped. When I sit next to my noisy tower computer (I unfortunately have no choice in this matter) and plug in the headphones to my small radio, the active sound reduction clearly limits the volume of unwanted noises. However, instead of cancelling repetitive, background noises, it seems to trade one set of humming frequencies for another, albeit slightly less offensive, set of sounds. I think that until I can afford to fork over the big bucks for the Bose headphones, which I have also tested to greater satisfaction, then I am better off with my existing giant radio earmuffs (Peltor Worktunes) which are annoying, sweaty and bulky to wear, but are overall more versatile, comfortable, and effective than the Sennheiser headphones.

I just finished a round trip flight, 4 hours each way, and these worked fabulous. With the noise reduction turned on, there was a significant reduction in the level of engine noise, and made it much easier to hear the audio from my portable DVD player. I was quite comfortable wearing them continuously for nearly 4 hours, so I don't understand other people's complaints. Also included is an airplane 2-pronged adapter to listen to the in-flight audio, rather than paying for their cheap headphones.
You don't even need to be listening to something; you can just wear the headphones to quiet down your environment. I did notice that hearing a conversation is also easier in a loud environment, such as on plane, while wearing these.
I also tried these out as the passenger in a car on the freeway, and these headphones again did a great job of filtering out the excess noise.

Ive had this headset for over 6 years.
I cannot think of travelling without these headphones. I can clearly listen to the words in a movie and enjoy on-flight music .. as bad as it usually is.
There is a slight pressure on the ear due to the interaction between the low-frequency sound and reverse phase LF emitted my the headphones, so do not leave them on for more than a few hours.
Ive used it with my CD, Minidisk and MP3 players. The batteries easily last for 100 hours. I clip the battery compartment to the seat pocket.
The headphones intentionally let high-frequency sounds through so that you can hear announcements. I wish I could modify the circuit to block out HF sounds as well!

The headphones sound fine and are comfortable, but the Phase 2 cord that came with mine was shorted out, so the sound only came out one ear. I called Koss customer service, and they told me it could be repaired under the lifetime warranty. They instructed me to send the Phase 2 cord in along with $5 for handling expenses. I also had to pay $3 to ship it to Koss. Two weeks later, I received what I thought was a repaired cord. After testing it I found out that it still had the same problem and there was no note explaining why it hadn't been fixed. When I called Koss and told them what had happened, the lady on the phone tried to tell me that there wasn't a lifetime warranty on these headphones. I told her that I was holding the box and it said that there is a lifetime warranty. At this point she started to get angry with me and in a demeaning tone (as if I were stupid) tells me that I should have sent in the whole headphone set. How was I supposed to know that? The instructions on the box did not say that I had to send everything in. So I spent $8 to have nothing repaired and there's not a chance for refund -- some lifetime warranty.

I bought a pair of these a few months ago, and was quite happy with the quality of sound and the comfort of the headphones.

However, after about three months of use, one of the plastic pieces that connects the ear cup to the headband snapped. Looking at the other side revealed that it was developing a crack in the same place. I could probably get the headphones fixed under warranty, but the cost of shipping to do so would be about half of the value of the headphones themselves. Since it's obviously a design problem -- far too much stress is placed on those flimsy plastic pieces -- I hate to send it back when it seems likely that they'll just break again in another three months. I'll probably find some other set that isn't as likely to fall apart.

It's certainly a shame, because reinforcing that piece probably would only cost them an extra few cents, and would make the product much more durable.

If Amazon is still selling these phones for $40, snap them up; you are getting an excellent deal. The sound is crisp and clean and full-bodied. The closed earcups let you hear bass far better than open air designs, but even so you will occasionally have to raise the bass level a little bit to compensate for the small headphone speakers. The speakers _are_ large enough to harm your hearing, so be careful with volume levels. I've found that I can listen to music at comfortable levels and almost no sound leaks out of the phones. The isolation provided by the earcups is quite good.

The headphones come with two coiled cables, only one of which is needed to use the phones. This is nice if one cable gets yanked or stepped on. Both cables have a modular headset plug on one end (same as goes into the handset of a telephone) and a mini-plug (walkman style) on the other end. An adaptor is included so you can use the headphones with equipment that requires a 1/4 inch plug. One of the cables has an inline control that lets you invert the phase of the left/right signals and send them to the opposite ear, which yields the "wide stereo" effect that some boom boxes offer. You have complete control over how much or how little of this effect you want, and you can turn the effect completely off.

For reasons unknown the headphones do not have "left" and "right" marked on them, so I'll save you some trouble and tell you that the left earcup is the one the cable will be hanging out of.

The bad things about the product are about what you would expect. The closed earcups are comfortable but will inevitably make your ears sweat. The phase inverter controller is cheap; expect some scraping static as you move the sliders back and forth.

I'm a long time Koss fan, and I'm afraid I have to say I'm very disappointed with those phones for portable devices listening. Currently I have a mach7 (from 1989) and a R90 (from 1999) in this price range. I purchased this one after looking at the tech spec. Everything seamed to be right on. But the actual sound quality is not good, compared to the previous models. This one is dull and lack detail. What you should be looking on headphones is the stereo image that you get mostly with the high end of the spectrum. Portable players today don't have tone control. They only give you a bass boost (if that much). The UR29 does not have clear highs at average volume. You have to crank this thing up to listen to highs, if you don't have a tone control. So the first impression you get when you try those on is that they are "dull". You might get used to it after a while, and they deliver quality for the buck. But compared to the R90 (in the same price range) the R90 is superior in sound and comfort. Even the cheap mach7 sounds better. Looks? Ok, this one wins, but unfortunately my ears don't see...

For this price range, the UR29 may be agood choice. Still, I'm giving a bad review because Koss did make way better products in this price range in the past, and I'm disappointed they have slipped the high grade quality for this one.

If I've tried those on a store, I would not have purchased them.

The UR-29 is of the new Koss product mission. This mission appears to be in no way related to the TD nor -Pro (portable headphone series) mission.

I personally have not had an extremely pleasant experience with these headphones. I have been listening to Koss headphones since the TD-60s and am convinced that the UR series of headphones employ a totally different driver engineering. The "Koss sound" is not prevalent in these drivers. Furthermore, the touted 101db/mw rating is misleading in the fact that the nominal impedance of these headphones are 100ohms. Surely, 100ohms puts to rest any idea of listening to these headphones in a portable fashion, for the 5mw continuous output rating of a good amount of portable players is for a 16ohm impedance.

Taking this idea and applying it to these headphones, you won't even induce 1mw from your player's amplifier. Why? Well...
16ohm=5mw
32ohm=2.5mw
64ohm=1.25mw
128ohm=0.625mw
And if everything is linear, just for the sake of argument, you'll scratch 1mw with the volume turned to maximum...which includes distortion and clipping. Thus, these headphones are more suited for computers and other items that plug in with stronger amplifiers.

As everything comes down to sound quality, it is far from worth it. Again, the Koss sound is totally absent from these headphones... Voices sound hollow, treble sounds scattered, and bass sounds tuned. It's an overall bad experience.

Shame on Koss for releasing these headphones.
I am presently waiting for my TD-80s to ship to me so that I can right this wrong that I have committed.

Peace.
Gen.

PS. The Three Stars are all based on their being Koss headphones, and the fact that I could've purchased a defective pair.

Awesome pair of headphones! You will not find a better pair even among those in the next "higher" price range! They're that good!
I use them for at home Music and Computer gaming.
I have to say, if anyone out there is looking for a pair of headphones to enhance your computer gaming expeiriance, these are your phones! And my music CD's sound great too!
There is only one thing I would change on these headphones. The tightness of the band. It's flexible and I can wear them for hours. But I would much prefer them to be looser. They fit a bit too snug. But I can put up with it, there just isnt another pair of headphones out there that can match their sound quality and price.

Well... the sound is average... bass is not as good as I'd thought it'd be... I'm thinking its because it's not really suited for my ears...

the treble is a little scruffy too... kinda ruins the mariah carey squeals....

Frankly.. they are pretty much just your pair of above average earphones... nothing that will blow your mind away....

Don't be mislead by the frequency range of these earphones...

High school physics says that a sound of frequency below 20Hz is not sound at all but just beats... so if the headphones have a frequency range of 6Hz..its not sound at all.....just beats at 6hz a second.

Also.. the average human ear can only detect sounds up to 20,000KHz.. so having a 23KHz note playing is kidna useless and can only be heard by like 5% of the human population whom are professional musicians....

Overall I think that these headphones have the potential to produce very good sound, however it does have some major problems that keep me from giving it a higher rating. First of all, the acoustic plus technology doesn't really work as well as it theoretically should. Unless it fits properly in the ear it does not isolate the sound and it also prevents the bass from being audible. I think the acoustic plus technology would have worked much better if the silicone earpads were actually sealed because then it might fit more snugly in the ear. As it stands, they just kind of collapse and get squished in the ear and the hard edges of the earbuds become fairly painful. I do not know how well they fit in everyone else's ears but they definitely do not fit in mine properly enough to sound good or be comfortable. However, I do realize that the drivers in them do produce decent sound so I am not rating them any lower because they may just sound great to the people who have the ears that these earbuds were specifically designed for.

I'M BUYING HEADPHONES FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS, LOOKING FOR QUALITY. THE FREQUENCY OF THIS HEADPHONES GOES FROM 6 TO 25,000 HZ. THE WIDER THIS RANGE, THE BETTER QUALITY YOU WILL HAVE. USUALLY THEY GO FROM 15 TO 20,000 (EVEN WORST). AND THEY COST 40 TO 80 DOLLARS. THIS AIWA HAVE THE BEST SOUND I EVER HEARD. ALSO, THE SOUND DOESN'T GO OUT OF YOUR EAR, AND YOU WON'T BOTHER PEOPLE IN THE BUS OR AT WORK. IF YOU WANT TO BLAST YOUR EARS WITH THE BEST SOUND YOUR CD PLAYER CAN DELIVER, THIS ARE THE HEADPHONES YOU NEED.

I recently purchased these headphones and must say that I am dissapointed with their sound quality. While the range and volume is fine--bass response is ok and highs play without distortion--the overall sound is muddled. The sound is not crisp and clear. Rather, it sounds as if my music has already passed through some heavy object before reaching my ears. There is no problem understanding the music, don't get me wrong. Compared to the Coby headphones (bought at around the same price) that I was trying to replace, however, these headphones are simply not very good. I think Sennheiser makes good headphones, but I wouldn't waste any money on these. If you want a pair of Sennheisers, pay a little more to get one of their better models.

I'm really impressed with these headphones. This is my first pair of Sennheiser headphones, and unlike other headphones I've had throughout the years, I use these for a variety of purposes: watching movies, working at my computer, or rocking out at the office. They're great sounding, but best of all they're really comfortable. These headphones never get uncomfortable on my head, so I can get the ultimate experience while watching The Wall, The Song Remains the Same, or the Godfather Trilogy. Don't matter. These things are a great set of headphones, especially for the price.

Very comfortable, blocks other sounds, wonderful fidelity, great price, I love them!!!!!

Great basic headphones for the kids. Why spend more on something likely to be stepped on, yanked on, or lost?

Sony makes some of the best headphones. I paid a bit more for these 3 years ago, they last a long time. The foam pads fell off after two years of regular use, but I had spares from a old pair. These 'phones are made to last and unlike some of those other funky headphones they are comfortable to wear, I wear them for hours at my PC while writing papers/ doing hw. Highly recommended, even for those who like good sound. These deliver rich base, and are good for mp3 listening as well as dvd watching. In fact, for the price I just might buy a spare. A plus side with this is if you are hard on stuff or simply like to carry headphones in your backpack you don't have to worry about them--the price is so low. I hope this helps. What are you waiting for? Buy some headphones. These headphones fit into anyone's budget.

Can't beat the sound for the price. Use mine for jogging. Used for over a year and still going strong.