Headphones Reviews

As others have noted, sound quality is a hit or miss venture - it depends on the combination of phone and headset. Frustrating, but reality. I use my Plantronics with a Uniden TRU346, I've had to max out the volume on the phone and in both places on the headset to achieve adequate enough volume where no one complains about not hearing me. Fortunately, both the M175 and Uniden have excellent volume control features, otherwise I'd have had to return this headset. The only downside to this is that when dialing, if I forget to turn down the volume before dialing it's too loud, after connecting I then can max the volume - a minor annoyance.

I use a business level (read: very expensive) Plantronics headset with amplification module at the office, but that ties me to my desk, when working from home, I use the Plantronics M175, put my phone in my pocket, and can roam hands free for as far as my phone will take me. Plantronics quality of materials, design, construction and sound is among the best. A handy mute button and volume control dial located mid point on the cord makes quick adjustment a breeze. It would have been nice to have had a call end button on the cord, but for this price, it's a deal without it.

I actually prefer the shortened boom, my headset at work has a longer and adjustable wire boom, but it gets in the way most times - being bumped by my hand (makes for an audible shock to the other party), getting in the way while taking a sip of coffee, etc., and with the shorter boom on the M175, when my allergies are in full swing, I can hit the mute button and blow my nose or sneeze without moving the boom, and the caller doesn't know what I just did - sounds funny, but think of how often one's immediate needs are limited by being on the phone. Also, Plantronics does a better job than most at eliminating background noise.

Buy this unit if your phone has excellent volume control abilities and you want the option of using as a headset or ear setup. Shop around, you'll be surprised at how low priced Amazon is for this unit.

I wanted an improvement over the headset that came with my AT&T 900MHz cordless phone where the people I was speaking with had problems hearing me and the earpiece hurt. This is a huge improvement, I particularly love the volume controls for both the microphone and speaker, and the easy mute button. I find this headset extrememly comfortable and it comes with three sizes of earclips. I did not rate it with five stars because on our other cordless phone, a Panasonic 2.4 GHz, I cannot hear the other person as clearly.

I use this headset with a Motorola Star-Tac. I works perfectly. What make this better is that it is tele-coil compatible, yet reasonably priced. I also find the over the head style more stable, especially on long rides in the car.

This headset does not fit everyone. I suspect it does not fit most women at all. My husband loves it but it will not stay on my ear unless I sit perfectly still and do not move. I am not particularly petite, but it just falls right off when I am talking.

This headset is the best 10 bucks I've ever spent. The sound quality is perfect (by phone standards) and the set is so comfortable I can't tell that I'm wearing it. The clip-over-the-ear style had me worried about comfort, but now I think it is superior to any overhead style. The mike placement is great, it picks up my voice clearly yet is off to the side enough that I can eat and drink without even realizing that the headset is on. It almost seems like telepathy, talking to and hearing someone distant so clearly, with no handset in your hand and no sensation of wearing a headset!

We got 2 of these; my wife has arthritis and holding the phone hurts her wrist. Now she can water the garden while she yaps away. I like to work on my cars while I'm on the phone. You do have to attach the clip on the wire to your lapel to keep the wire from tapping the mike. I usually nitpick and complain about something about every purchase, but none here.

I bought one for my home phone (a Panasonic 2.4 GHz) & it works great. I even use the headseat more than I thought I would. (It seemed like such a gimmick at the time...but a cool gimmick.) I just bought a new mobile phone (an LG330) & this headset works well with that too (with the addition of one cheap adapter that I had to buy from GTE). I wanted one for my house & one to keep in my car. For 10 bucks, you can't beat it. In fact, GTE (temporarily) sold me a headset for $60 (before I realized that the one I had would work). Their's was a piece of JUNK! It was flimsy; wouldn't stay on my ear; had a tiny speaker that only sounded well when it was shoved into my ear (which is very uncomfortable); and a thin wire as a microphone which was hard to control since the position on my ear was always changing as it slid around. Besides, I did sound tests to compare the 2: the AT&T sounded better on my end and the people I spoke with could hear me better with the AT&T. No contest. I just ordered my 2nd AT&T 90800.

I purchased the Koss QZ-5 Headphones.
THESE ARE NOT ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES!!!
I was duped. I believed these were active noise cancelling headphones, but they reduce noise by adding a ton of padding. These headphones are HUGE. The picture displayed is very decieving, only showing you the profile of the headphones. If you wear it and look in a mirror, you will look like a geeky mickey mouse. They stick out of the sides of your head making you look like a weirdo.

In addition to that, the sound quality is extremely poor. At the moment I am listening to the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, and any bass makes the headphones crackle. Bass performance is absolutely poor. Do not get these headphones, they are a waste of money. Do not get these headphones!

The Koss QZ-99 is a very nice product, for certain things. I would never recommend this type of product, without knowing the context. I use it for listening to books on tape, on the street or in a gym, on an old portable tape player. Since I am just listening to narration, I care much more about outside sound being blocked out than I care about sound quality. If you use Bose headphones in this context, you are going to get much better sound, but that is a drawback: you will hear the crackles and rattles and pops on the your 8 year old Walkman and the 5 year old library book-on-tape. Noise reducing headphones can be too good. If I were listening to classical music on a CD player, in an airplane, a higher quality, and/or active noise reducing product would be better. But for my situation the Koss is very nice. I did not realize, until recently, that I could swivel the ear pads as well a lengthen and shorten the band between the pads. It works very well.

Overall I enjoy these headphones. I love the way the look and feel, the weight of them and the comfort factor. I have only a few complaints; One, they are not as sound proof as I was hoping they would be. Random noises still manage to creep in and disturb the your listening. Two, Although they don't hurt at all to wear for long periods of time, if by chance, someone knocks on the ear piece your in for a world of hurt my friend. Three, I bought a [less expensive] pair of headphones for [a few] dollars and noticed the bass and treble are slightly better than in the KOSS pair. At times I wondered if too much bass would blow them out or if they were really designed for music at all.

I'm not saying KOSS isn't a great headphone maker, but if your looking for something soundproof avoid these headphones. If your looking to block out ambient noise and the majority of sounds then these are definitley yours all the way. Very comfortable and well made, KOSS is an amazing company I was looking for total soundproof protection though. In the end I kept them and still use them for my music. I very much enjoyed this product and highly recommend it to anyone out there.

I purchased the Koss QZ-5 Headphones.
THESE ARE NOT ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES!!!
I was duped. I believed these were active noise cancelling headphones, but they reduce noise by adding a ton of padding. These headphones are HUGE. The picture displayed is very decieving, only showing you the profile of the headphones. If you wear it and look in a mirror, you will look like a geeky mickey mouse. They stick out of the sides of your head making you look like a weirdo.

In addition to that, the sound quality is extremely poor. At the moment I am listening to the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, and any bass makes the headphones crackle. Bass performance is absolutely poor. Do not get these headphones, they are a waste of money. Do not get these headphones!

The Koss QZ-99 is a very nice product, for certain things. I would never recommend this type of product, without knowing the context. I use it for listening to books on tape, on the street or in a gym, on an old portable tape player. Since I am just listening to narration, I care much more about outside sound being blocked out than I care about sound quality. If you use Bose headphones in this context, you are going to get much better sound, but that is a drawback: you will hear the crackles and rattles and pops on the your 8 year old Walkman and the 5 year old library book-on-tape. Noise reducing headphones can be too good. If I were listening to classical music on a CD player, in an airplane, a higher quality, and/or active noise reducing product would be better. But for my situation the Koss is very nice. I did not realize, until recently, that I could swivel the ear pads as well a lengthen and shorten the band between the pads. It works very well.

Overall I enjoy these headphones. I love the way the look and feel, the weight of them and the comfort factor. I have only a few complaints; One, they are not as sound proof as I was hoping they would be. Random noises still manage to creep in and disturb the your listening. Two, Although they don't hurt at all to wear for long periods of time, if by chance, someone knocks on the ear piece your in for a world of hurt my friend. Three, I bought a [less expensive] pair of headphones for [a few] dollars and noticed the bass and treble are slightly better than in the KOSS pair. At times I wondered if too much bass would blow them out or if they were really designed for music at all.

I'm not saying KOSS isn't a great headphone maker, but if your looking for something soundproof avoid these headphones. If your looking to block out ambient noise and the majority of sounds then these are definitley yours all the way. Very comfortable and well made, KOSS is an amazing company I was looking for total soundproof protection though. In the end I kept them and still use them for my music. I very much enjoyed this product and highly recommend it to anyone out there.

I purchased the Koss QZ-5 Headphones.
THESE ARE NOT ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES!!!
I was duped. I believed these were active noise cancelling headphones, but they reduce noise by adding a ton of padding. These headphones are HUGE. The picture displayed is very decieving, only showing you the profile of the headphones. If you wear it and look in a mirror, you will look like a geeky mickey mouse. They stick out of the sides of your head making you look like a weirdo.

In addition to that, the sound quality is extremely poor. At the moment I am listening to the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, and any bass makes the headphones crackle. Bass performance is absolutely poor. Do not get these headphones, they are a waste of money. Do not get these headphones!

The Koss QZ-99 is a very nice product, for certain things. I would never recommend this type of product, without knowing the context. I use it for listening to books on tape, on the street or in a gym, on an old portable tape player. Since I am just listening to narration, I care much more about outside sound being blocked out than I care about sound quality. If you use Bose headphones in this context, you are going to get much better sound, but that is a drawback: you will hear the crackles and rattles and pops on the your 8 year old Walkman and the 5 year old library book-on-tape. Noise reducing headphones can be too good. If I were listening to classical music on a CD player, in an airplane, a higher quality, and/or active noise reducing product would be better. But for my situation the Koss is very nice. I did not realize, until recently, that I could swivel the ear pads as well a lengthen and shorten the band between the pads. It works very well.

Overall I enjoy these headphones. I love the way the look and feel, the weight of them and the comfort factor. I have only a few complaints; One, they are not as sound proof as I was hoping they would be. Random noises still manage to creep in and disturb the your listening. Two, Although they don't hurt at all to wear for long periods of time, if by chance, someone knocks on the ear piece your in for a world of hurt my friend. Three, I bought a [less expensive] pair of headphones for [a few] dollars and noticed the bass and treble are slightly better than in the KOSS pair. At times I wondered if too much bass would blow them out or if they were really designed for music at all.

I'm not saying KOSS isn't a great headphone maker, but if your looking for something soundproof avoid these headphones. If your looking to block out ambient noise and the majority of sounds then these are definitley yours all the way. Very comfortable and well made, KOSS is an amazing company I was looking for total soundproof protection though. In the end I kept them and still use them for my music. I very much enjoyed this product and highly recommend it to anyone out there.

About 3 weeks into gaming I heard static on the right side of the headphones, a week later I could hear more static. Now I hear noting on the right side. The microphone is medicore in quality and I dont think I will ever purchase this headphone again but for $20 their isnt much too lose unless you buy yourself 3-4 for the year..Sorry Plantronics I give you 1 Star..

I bought this headset mainly because of its high reviews and I've owned a plantonics headset before and was impressed by them. I'm pretty disappointed by the sound quality of this set. I recently bought the Aiwa hp-J30 behind the head headphones to go with my port-CD player, and the sound quality spanks the Audio 90's. I assumed the quality of an over-the-ear set would have been the one to sound better. Especially when Audio 90's cost twice as much. I will say that the mic picks up sound well for this price range. The set is comfortable. The bass is very good, but it's mainly the highs & the clearity that's missing. I would have given three stars, but for what I paid, I can't complain that much.

Wow, just wow. The sound quality is unparalleled by anything. Music, games and everything in general sound real with this headset. The microphone is awesome as well, there are no snaps, crackles or pops when it records and it sounds almost exactly like my voice.
At first sight, the headphone pads look as if they would be uncomfortable. However, if you put them on correctly, they are almost unnoticable and help greatly in keeping out ambient sound and keeping in the high quality audio.
I strongly recommend that you buy this product if you're going to buy a headset of any sort. Unlike the DSP-500, there is no software required and you can use it for anything with the mini-plug jack. Great buy, thanks Amazon!

The Sony CD-180 is a very unimpressive headphone, even at (dollar amount). Then again, most closed headphones at this price are a poor choice.

Deep bass is lacking badly, but upper bass is exaggerated somewhat, giving them a boomy, fake bass sound.

Mids aren't much better - some midrange frequencies are very prominent, and voices drill into my head in a rather fautiging manner, and smear together with insturments to my displeasure. They also have a very hollow quality that probably has something to do with the closed headphone design.

Treble is very muted, but lower treble is exxagerated, and it makes the CD180s sound at first like they have a lot of detail, which they don't.

Imaging (Placement of insturments) is poor. Everything sounds like it is either coming from the center of my head, or the right or left side, there isn't much in the way of seperation otherwise.

They also have a fairly cheap feel, although they are reasonably comfortable - they don't clamp down on your ears overly hard, and they are circumaural (Go around your ear, not on top) so the pressure is put on the area around your ears.

They do sound better then other closed Sony headphones in this price range like the MDR-v150,200,250, but sound somewhat worse then the Koss UR-20s which are also closed, and much worse then the open Koss KSC-50s which can be had for the same price. The next step up from the Koss UR-20s with a closed headphone is the Sony MDR-v7506, which is around (dollar amount) - there isn't anything worth buying in between.

As always, keep headphone listening volume reasonable - you can damage your ears very easily. As a general rule of thumb if you can't tell someone is talking to you when you are not engrossed in the music, they are up too loud.

These Sony MDR-CD180 headphones are certainly worth the money. For $20 you get great sounding, high quality headphones with a great and long cord, gold-plated plug, and excellent ear pads. The sound that emminates from these is very good, especially for the price. I've used my pair continuously for well over a year and a half and these have never let me down. They block out just enough outside sounds and keep just enough music in; so you're not distracted and people around you aren't distracted.

My only problem with these at all is that my ears get slightly fatigued and hot after hours of very loud usage, but other people I know that have used them disagree, so it may be just me.

The only reason why I'm not using them anymore is because I just dropped $80+ on a newer, nicer pair of Sony monitor headphones. I didn't get new ones because these MDR-CD180s let me down or anything, I just had enough money to buy more expensive (and thus, higher quality) headphones. I'll keep my MDR-CD180s as backups for sure.

I would defintely recommend these to anyone looking for a great (and cheap!) set to last you a long time!

I bought these on the advice of Consumer Reports; they're a Best Buy as great sounding but very cheap, comparing favorably to Sennheiser 570's, at 1/6 the price.

I was exhilarated to find they fit comfortably over my ears, encasing them entirely, and were very comfortable overall. I'm 6'4, and these were the best fitting headphones I've worn in my life.

The one drawback, no volume control on the cord, which isn't a problem when listening on my computer, but a minor irritation when working out on my rowing machine.

Bought this because of the price, and it seemed like a good value besides. But a total disappointment. Everyone complains they can't hear me well. I've tried every position with relation to my face and mouth, all three mic settings. Nothing helps. My friends on the other line identify the device right away ("Get off your headset!"), strangers complain I'm speaking too softly. Shouting only causes distortion. What a waste.

The only problem with this headset is that people you are talking to will have trouble hearing you. This is pretty important to me, so I only give it 2 stars. I have used it extensively with both my cell phone and my cordless phones at home with the same problem.

I actually originally bought this for my cell phone (a Nokia) however for some reason it was not compatible with it and didn't work (so take that as a warning to all you folks with a Nokia). However, instead of returning it, I decided to test it out on my home phone and it worked great! The ONLY negative thing I can really think of to say about it is that this headset is definitely made for people with smaller heads. If your head is anywhere on the bigger side than it may be a little small for you. But as far as sound quality if concerned, you hear everything crystal clear and it is very durable (at least compared to other headsets I've bought in the past). Definitely a good purchase!

When I first recieved these headphones as a gift, I thought they were wonderful. The sound quality was incredible, and they were very lightweight and comfortable. After five months, the headband above one of the ears snapped. When I still tried to wear it, it would occasionally pop out and hurt my ear. I've read other reviews of others who had the same problem. I sent mine back through customer service, and got a free replacement (it was still under warranty), however I was very disappointed. For $150, most people expect quality headphones that will last longer than five months. Two months after I recieved my replacement, they broke AGAIN! I finally asked for a refund, and I'm awaiting their response. Sure, there are plenty of good reviews here, but why risk having the headphones break, and waste $150? Trust me, these aren't worth $150, or anywhere near that insane value.

I bought a pair of these for use in Iraq, and I must say the sound quality is excellent. I wouldn't necessarily say they are $100 better than a pair of $40 JVC headphones I own, so in that sense they are a bit overpriced. The Bose name probably accounts for over half the price tag.
On the downside these headphones are constructed of cheap material. The plastic halo piece is fragile, and the metal sliding piece on mine broke through during the first week of limited use. You have to be careful with these at the portion where the plastic ends and the metal headpiece inserts.

Bottomline: Love the sound, drowns out the noise in the gym, including the gym's sound system. Rich, full sound.
Cheap construction. Bose should have used an aluminum alloy or something more durable for headphones costing $149.
Given another choice I'd stick with the $40 headphones and spend the other $110 on some nice CD's to listen to with them.

At first I purchased the Sennheiser HD280 PRO headphones after reading great reviews on sound and comfort and I did not want to spend the $ on Bose, mostly because I figured Bose was more market hype than sound quality. After I received the Sennheiser headphones, I was okay with the sound but greatly disappointed on the comfort which ranked high on my list.

Not satisfied with these headphones, I reluctantly purchased the $ Bose Triports after reading reviews and thought I couldn't lose since Bose guaranteed a 90-day customer satisfaction. The only way to be sure was to compare the headphones side-by-side with the Sennheiser HD280 at home. The first thing I noticed was how much more comfortable the Bose Triports were over the Sennheiser, they were light and very comfortable on the ears and the headband did not give that annoying feeling on the top of my head like the HD280 did. The Triports had much better and thicker material construction on the ear cushions than the Sennheiser did. Also the Triport has a metal headband that you can widen to your fit.

Now on the sound comparison: On my MuVo MP3 player, the Triports had a cleaner and tighter sound than the HD280 which sometimes sounded a little muddier on the bass. I also immediately noticed
the Triports had a higher volume output probably due to the 32 ohms vs. 64 for the HD280.

Then I compared them on my home system listening to Jazz and Rock on an Arcam Alpha 7SE thru a Denon receiver with all settings on flat. The HD280 had great bass, some midrange and a bit bright on the treble. I'm sure the HD280 would sound a lot better later given the reviews of burning them in for a week but my biggest complaint is that these headphones are NOT comfortable as others have reviewed. The Triports, surprisingly, sounded a lot better with more midrange and an overall balanced sound.

The two negative things I can say about the Triport are: 1) For the price, like other reviewers have said, is that it comes with a cheap looking pouch to transport your $ headphones. 2) It doesn't include the handy in-flight adapter. Why Bose didn't include the adapter or a better bag like the one the Quiet Comfort has I don't know. Bose almost makes it appear that for another $100, your getting more amenities rather than the noise cancellation technology -- which I think goes against their marketing based on their ads.

Anyway, bottom line, I am returning the HD280 and keeping the Triports. Albeit I am spending more than I wanted to but after listening and wearing these comfortable headphones, I am very satisfied with my decision. If you're looking for great sound with great comfort, I highly recommend the Bose Triports. Everyone has a different sound taste, so I recommend comparing the Triports yourself since Bose has the 90-day return and you'll hear and FEEL the difference yourself.

I bought the 6 gig version of this product right when it came out, which I think was a little over a year ago. I was amazed that it could hold 6 gigs... why would any one ever buy 128 or even 32 meg ones!!!????? It seemed too good to be true... turns out, it was!
When I first started using it, it worked Ok... It has always had excellent sound quality, and with my head phones, it sounded awesome. If you play with the 'Parametric EQ', and turn up the 'Mid Frequency', then you can get it to play REALLY REALLY LOUD!!!!! I really don't understand the reviews that say it can't go up loud, this is the loudest portable Mp3 or CD player I have ever used!!! That was a definite plus for me... It the beginning the only drawbacks were that the batteries only lasted 3-4 hours, (It takes about 4 times longer then my laptop to charge, too!) that it would periodically shut off for no apparent reason, about one in every 10 songs I put on it wouldn't work properly, and it's reaaaaallyyyyyyy sllloooooowwwww!!!!!
Then it kept getting worse.... the batteries started dying faster and faster, it started shutting off all the time - it always dies when going over rough spots in a car, and now the majority of the time it won't turn on at all, and when it does it won't work on any batteries, it only sometimes works when plugged into the wall. - Which is completely useless, because I might as well just use my laptop, which isn't nearly as annoying.
Overall I wish I never would have bought this product for any amount of money had I of known the aggravation this nasty machine would cause me... I recommend looking into one of the other 10 gig mp3 players (Don't settle for an 128 Mb, it's useless!)
(Don't shy away from other 'Creative' products though, my Creative speakers, sound card and CD burner work great!!!!!!!)

My first portable MP3 player was the Rio Volt. What a piece of junk. So I bought this Nomad Jukebox 10GB player. I don't have 10GB of MP3s in my music collection, but I'm pretty close. With these hard drive-based MP3 players, I was under the impression you could just connect it to your computer, have it show up as a removable drive in Explorer, and just copy over the files. On the contrary, you have to start some bloated software to connect to the Nomad and copy the files over. Unfortunately, navigating a large collection with the Nomad is difficult. For example, you can't organize the files into folders on the original Jukebox models. Fortunately, the computer software does make it a tad easier to create playlists than on the Jukebox alone.

Battery life is short...maybe 4 hours using AA rechargeables. The power adapter doesn't seem to charge them very well, so I use an external battery charger. At least it doesn't use a proprietary battery like the iPod. I've dropped the unit a couple of times. The unit shuts itself off, but I was able to turn it back on with no problems.

If you need to carry your extensive music collection every where you go, the Nomad Jukebox is a good choice. I absolutely recommend you go to nomadworld.com and upgrade the firmware to 4.1. You will have fewer problems. Also, stay away from the Nomad bloatware. There is a freeware app called "MP3-Library" that works very well with the original Jukebox. If you have a the Jukebox 2 or 3, look into Notmad Explorer (redchairsoftware.com) which allows you to move files to and fro in Windows Explorer. It costs a little, but the software is updated every 2 weeks or so with new features and the updates are free forever. Also check out nomadness.net for underground info on your Nomad.

Personally, the volume isn't loud enough to hear over my lawn mower or whatever when doing chores. The Nomad takes a good minute or two to start up which is slower than my computer. I'm constantly rotating in and out the songs I listen to. It takes about as long to copy the files over to Jukebox as it does to burn a CD, so I think I am going back to a MP3 CD solution (Samsung MCD-HM200). It's easier to use and cheaper, so I won't cry when it breaks.

Seeing that the reviews here are all really good, or really bad, let me explain. I bought this a short time ago,and have had no serious issues with it at this point. Battery life is only about 4 hours, which is about right when you consider they're running a hard drive (moving part, always uses more power.). Second, transferring music. It can be a little confusing to get your mp3's transferred over, but once you figure it out, it really isn't too difficult at all. Sound quality is excellent, and while some reviews may sway you away from the products, Creative Labs tends to make an excellent line of audio products. I'd say this product is worth buying, at the very least if you see it on sale...and don't worry too much about those who blasted it with just one star...most likely frustrated "Newbies".