Headphones Reviews

I bought the MP100 (AUD$24) because they were cheap, because I have faith in TDK as a brand and they looked pretty decent. I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD320's (supra-aural design), and used these for reference.

The MP100's are a closed back design, DJ style without all the fancy features of your standard DJ fare (HD25, etc). They're a simple pair of cans and I was hoping to use them as a secondary pair at work - purely for music, not games or watching DVDs.

I am not an audiophile, nor a sound engineer, although I have studied audio engineering for a year or so. I'm a musician as well as a music lover and would like to think I have discerning ears!

The HD320's are a pair of headphones I have had for some years now, and I've grown accustomed to their light weight, comfort and very natural sound. They were great value when I bought them at AUD$120. I can listen to them all day without fatigue and because they sit on gently on my ears as opposed to gripping tightly, they are very comfortable. The flipside is that they fall off rather easily!

The Sennheiser design seems to be of a generally higher standard than the TDK - quality plastics, cord, connector, 1/4" adaptor, etc. You would expect this at 5 times the price.

The TDK's are firmer on the head, with a nice cushion underneath the headband. They grip quite firmly without being too tight, although if you have large ears you might find that your ears don't fit perfectly.

Sonically, how do they compare? Well the Sennheiser's are definitely the winner and that's what I expected. BUT, the TDK are far from being ....

The TDK's are more trebly and tend to have a slightly more EQ'd nasal and brittle sound. I don't listen to these at high volume for hours because they are fatiguing. The mid range on the Sennheiser's is far more natural and vocals sound more forward and defined.

The Sennheiser's also have a warmer and solid bottom end, whereas the TDK appears a bit thinner.

My audio source is just my PC, running through a Creative Sound Blaster - no fancy stereo components here. It's a good test I guess because many people out there buying the TDK's would be on a tight budget.

Here's the verdict - the TDK's are decent. They will be fine for casual/general listening - look good and sound alright to boot. They won't please an audiophile or a serious muso/engineer, yet you wouldn't expect them to at this price.

They are definitely better sounding than some Sony's I have used at double the price and FAR more comfortable too.

Well done TDK, I look forward to more of your products in the future!

I'm a Sony fanatic. I buy Sony first (save for Bose speakers & iPod stuff). I have a Sony receiver, Sony CD changer, Sony DVD player, Sony Walkman, and on and on and on. This is the single worst Sony product I've ever purchased. It is so bad I challenge Sony to show my one documented photo of a single Sony employee who has ever used the product. First, my Bose noise-cancelling headset doesn't hiss--Sony's claim this is normal is bunk. Second, the endless mass of controls and weirdly assymetrical cords make it almost unusable on the train and ferry. Walking with it is nearly impossible owing to the tangle of wires. The weight of the control box weighs enough to pull th ebuds out of your ears. This may sound picky but if you buy these you'll soon see what I mean. It makes then useless for motion--I can't imagine running in them--which is in part why I bought them. The earbuds don't fit in my ears (I can use the standard iPod buds, but none of the Sony buds fit well).

Did *anyone* at Sony actually try this product before it hit the market? At $100 a pop this product is a rippoff. And as a huge Sony fan I warn fellow consumers--go straight to Bose. (I bought these to compliment the Bose because I thought the in-ear design would be better for my daily commute and walking.)

I got mine 2 weeks ago and here is my report. BOTTOM LINE: with these headphones, noise cancelling is achieved PRIMARILY by good, tight fit (i.e., just get the cheaper non-noise cancelling circuitry type). As it says in the manual, the circuitry only cancels low frequency sounds like AC unit drone. When in use at Starbux, neither voices nor the milk steamer will be cancelled. Based on my senses, Sony has attempted to attack high frequency noises simply by boosting high frequencies of your music (i.e., a big part of the "noise cancelling" relies on INCREASING noises...which can be damaging and also means it is not effective when music is not played through them). In combination, (tight fit, low freq cancel, high freq boost) you get decent isolation at the expense of altered EQ, extremely limited ability to reduce ambient sounds without playing music, and a STEEP retail price. Again, the cheaper in-ear sony phones without the circuitry are a good alternative if you are unwilling to splurge for the Bose. I have had the opportunity to try the twice as expensive Bose unit...NO COMPARISON. The Bose headphones are absolutely amazing. TRUE noise cancellation. They work stunningly and do not rely at all on music being played through them. Don't try them on at a store without having $300 to spare because you won't want to leave without them! I'm still saving up for mine...

If you're looking for maximum noise reduction, go for the over-the-ear headphone. However, I take my laptop and assorted peripherals with me when I fly and I simply don't have room to store full-size headphones in my carry-on computer case. I purchased these earphones during a business trip a couple of weeks ago, and I've found them to be a good alternative. They're small, but deliver good performance for their size

I wasn't too impressed with them when I tried them in the airport, but my first flight with them was in the back of a 757 and I was surprised at the amount of engine and background noise that they cancelled out. They definitely made the flight a more relaxing experience.

A couple of observations:

1. Make sure you get a good snug fit from the earbuds. If they don't fit snugly, the noise cancellation effect is significantly reduced. It may take some experimentation with the 3 different sizes Sony includes.

2. Once you turn the power on, it may take a few seconds for the noise cancellation to reach it's maximum effect.

3. The earphones don't block the sound of your own voice like the over-the-ear headphones do. In fact, they seem to amplify it. (But then, you're normally not conversing with anyone while listening to music or watching the movie.)

All in all, it's a good value for the money if you spend a lot of time on airplanes and don't want the hassle of carrying the bulkier over-the-ear headphones.

Lousy reception makes listening very irritating. Plus the too loose volume dial can cause the volume to be painfully loud if it gets accidently knocked.

I've bought several of these the last few years, as I always seem to lose them somewhere, and each time I do--I look for others that are better. So far, I haven't found one.

I use it at the gym and running, and it rarely falls off. Radio reception isn't very good, but it was much worse with the most recent Panasonic [RFSW200] I tried while waiting for this one to be in stock again. Another virtue is the ability to tune to a specific frequency [for audio from the gym TV's], as opposed to only certain increments on the Panasonic. Also, battery life is better--working a long time before replace the 2, as opposed to the very quick depletion of the single battery on the Panasonic.

Sure it's a bit large for what it's doing--but you can easily reach over and tap the pre-select buttons while running, and it curves around my arm and the velcro works well [although to be fair, Panasonic's strap was actually superior while dealing with a much lighter product], so I can recommend it despite the wish for improvements--including the irritating idea that you have to turn the radio off to even see the time.

This is the best walkman I've found for using at the gym. You can velcro it around your arm or wrist while lifting weights or velcro it to the treadmill or stairmaster if you don't like wearing it. Programming stations is easy and there is a hold feature which allows you to stay on a station even if you accidentally bump one of the buttons. The hold button is also useful for keeping the walkman off when it's in your bag so the batteries don't run out. Also, about batteries, they last for quite a while with this walkman. The headphones that are included aren't the most comfortable - that's basically my only complaint.

Overall, this product has a great design and wonderful features.

Well i see this product has already gotten it's share of bad reviews but i still wanted to take a shot.

The first thing that is wrong with these is the actual earpeices. They're not very comfortable and like everyone else says they just won't stay in your ears. The second thing i don't like is that the chord is in the back. It's the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen. I mean the chord is already too short, but now if you're plugging them into anything in front of you it has to wrap around your neck which takes away several inches of chord length. It's also uncomfortable and it makes the earphones fall off if you turn your head even slightly.

The only reason i'm giving it two stars instead of one (or none at all) is because the sound is pretty good (although you can get just as good with a better designed head set) and i like how flexible the thing that wraps around your head is.

Although the Nike HJ020 headphones are shown as discontinued by Amazon, I thought I'd still add a few comments for those considering purchase at a local store such as the Best Buy where I bought mine.

In short, for my needs they are great, and they provide some of the best sound I've heard out of earbud-style headphones. They don't have the depth of bass as my Koss "The Plug" heaphones do, but they are as good as, and perhaps even better than the Sennheiser MP300 phones that came with my Rio Nitrus. I was surprised to see them spec'ed at around 12 or 16Hz on the low end of the frequency range; while I bit skeptical they'd be that good on the bass, I hoped it at least meant they were better than many of the earbuds I saw that were rated more commonly around 40-60Hz. Also important was their sensitivity rated with an SPL of 104, meaning they should give good volume even with a weak signal.

My observations bear out the merits of those specs: The bass is easily good enough to give some nice bottom end on the music I listen to. Whether I'm working out, cycling, or what, I enjoy music enough that I'm unwilling to sacrifice much of the tonal range in the music just for convenience sake. Although the Sennheiser earbuds sound the best of any buds I've received with an audio unit, they're still the type that simply dangle in your ear and are thus not too suitable for exercising in without their falling out. The behind-the-neck design of the Nike headphone band works well for me and gives just enough "clamping pressure" to discourage the buds from falling out. True to the other comments however, the neckband does pop out the buds if it twists much when turning your head. Still, I find the buds are overall much more comfortable and secure than the typical dangle-type buds.

This may simply be another product where one size doesn't fit all. I can understand the comments about the neckband being too large, but the only place where it causes me a minor annoyance is that it hangs low enough to grab a shirt collar. But, as I bought these primarily to work out in, a t-shirt collar poses no real problem.

In summary, for a non-isolating earbud headphone that is lightweight, more secure than most, and offers nice sound characteristics, I think the HJ020 is easily worth the $20 cost.

I purchased a pair two weeks ago. I may not be very athletic but for my ears they fit well and seem to be a great steal at $20. Audio Quality is ok, my iPod has delivered better but the range is just as good as the comparable Sony and Apple headphones. The design is cool, and very comfortable and yes I do agree they are a little long but that I believe is made to make it extremely flexible. The best part about the headphones is that the Buds tilt up to nudge themsellves in your ear, making a nice solid connection. The length of the cable is just fine when you figure in the gigantic cable of the remote that the iPod came with. Also what is cool is that under a hood they are virtually undetectable. I recommend them and will have all my friends try them. The reason why I purchased them was becuase I broke my iPod ones and realized that this is a great buy with cool uses and cool results (hint noy great but cool which is worse by jsut a tad bit)

Dont buy the iRock. First of all, it eats batteries like a madman! Second, when you move it, it distorts the sound on the radio. Third, it only has 4 stations, and if there is a station broadcasting on any of thoes, it runs over and distorts the sound on the other 3. Fourth, after taking care of it, and using it for about 3 weeks, the wires in the conector from the mini-jack to the transmitter broke, and now they short circuit, draning batteries and distorting the sound even more!

My sugestion, if it is for an iPod, buy a Griffin Technology iTrip. They are great!! If not for an iPod, get a cassette adapter.

I got one of these for a 12 hour road trip with a friend. First of all, there are only four frequencies to choose from, and they are all right together. If there is a good station transmitting on anything near that, you are out of luck. My friend ended up having to hold the stupid thing the whole time to get a good signal out of it. We spent a LOT more time trying to get it to be useable than we did enjoying our tunes.

That's the short of it - don't waste your money on this one.

There are FM transmitters that do work just fine. The one I got after the iRock disaster was the iTrip from Griffin Technology. You can transmit on any frequency on the band, and you can even get international frequencies from their website. If your car can pick up, say 80.5 (it has to be a foreign car) you can use that frequency on the iTrip. It's awesome! The iTrip isn't sensitive like the iRock, either. You can turn your songs on and throw your iPod in the seat next to you, and you don't have to worry about the sound getting staticky. Oh yeah, and you don't have to have a battery for it either. It steals a tiny bit of juice from the iPod.

My old battery draining iRock has now had the (depleted in less than a day) battery removed and is one of my cat's favorite toys.

I bought this unit to use with an MP3 player. It has four different frequencies to choose from (88.1/88.3/88.5/88.7 MHz) and uses two AAA batteries. It simply plugs into the headphone mini stereo jack with a very short cable and has a simple power on/off button with LED indicator.
I found that for my car stereo to receive the signal from the Irock! it needs to sit within 2-3 feet of the antenna. This requirement leaves me only one choice for placement and that is on the passenger side dash. Unfortunately the placement means that every time I turn a corner the Irock! and my MP3 player slide across, and often off, my dash. If I had a car with the antenna in the back this would have been useless.
The low power of this unit allows even very distant FM channels to interfere with reception and causes me to retune to one of the other channel selections often. Also I expected longer battery life, while I can get up to 6 hours on a set of batteries I find that the power output drops quickly after the first 2 hours and requires new batteries or the 2-3 foot antenna distance drops further.
While usable I would not recommend it to any one traveling where there is a possibility of moderate to strong FM in the units operating frequency range.

The only use I have found for these headphones is to use them directly in front of the TV. Even then the sound is extremely poor. Any sharp noises like clapping or drums comes out as static. I have to fiddle with the tuning constantly to keep the static down, and that's without moving around. If you position yourself just right, have the tuning just right, they are almost usable. Don't even think about using these for music as that experince would be painful with these headphones. I also cannot use these in most parts of the house as they tend to pick up noise from Fluorescent lights and cordless telephones quite easily. Do not waste your money on these, as they are not worth it even if they were free.

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but all I wanted them for was to sit at my desk in studio since strereos, or out loud playing of music, is against policy. I figured these would get the job done and wasn't expecting much. WOW, was I suprised! I love my music and I got much better sound quality than I expected for the money I spent. However, like all inexpensive product, the Jensen Wireless Headphones takes a while to tune into the right frequency and requires very fine tuning across a very wide band to get superior sound quality. If you want to save the money and get these, be prepared to have patience before enjoying at full potential. I give it 4 stars!

I received these as a gift. I believe that they retail for 50$ (less on line here). I don't understand why most people hate these so much. Sound quality is great for something this inexpensive. The reception does fade sometimes but, so what?!? They're on your head! How hard can it be to retune them? Since they are a 900Mgz product I would imagine that they won't work well if your cordless phone also works on 900Mhz (unless of course you want to easedrop on someone).
They are fairly comfortable I like that they are "right on top of your ears". Would be nice if they where adjustable headband. The only "issue" that one might have is the fact that they don't have a lot of bass Spec is 40hz and the high end only goes to 16 khz. Highs do get somewhat "hissy". But I doubt that you could beat them for the money.

The only use I have found for these headphones is to use them directly in front of the TV. Even then the sound is extremely poor. Any sharp noises like clapping or drums comes out as static. I have to fiddle with the tuning constantly to keep the static down, and that's without moving around. If you position yourself just right, have the tuning just right, they are almost usable. Don't even think about using these for music as that experince would be painful with these headphones. I also cannot use these in most parts of the house as they tend to pick up noise from Fluorescent lights and cordless telephones quite easily. Do not waste your money on these, as they are not worth it even if they were free.

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but all I wanted them for was to sit at my desk in studio since strereos, or out loud playing of music, is against policy. I figured these would get the job done and wasn't expecting much. WOW, was I suprised! I love my music and I got much better sound quality than I expected for the money I spent. However, like all inexpensive product, the Jensen Wireless Headphones takes a while to tune into the right frequency and requires very fine tuning across a very wide band to get superior sound quality. If you want to save the money and get these, be prepared to have patience before enjoying at full potential. I give it 4 stars!

I received these as a gift. I believe that they retail for 50$ (less on line here). I don't understand why most people hate these so much. Sound quality is great for something this inexpensive. The reception does fade sometimes but, so what?!? They're on your head! How hard can it be to retune them? Since they are a 900Mgz product I would imagine that they won't work well if your cordless phone also works on 900Mhz (unless of course you want to easedrop on someone).
They are fairly comfortable I like that they are "right on top of your ears". Would be nice if they where adjustable headband. The only "issue" that one might have is the fact that they don't have a lot of bass Spec is 40hz and the high end only goes to 16 khz. Highs do get somewhat "hissy". But I doubt that you could beat them for the money.

The only use I have found for these headphones is to use them directly in front of the TV. Even then the sound is extremely poor. Any sharp noises like clapping or drums comes out as static. I have to fiddle with the tuning constantly to keep the static down, and that's without moving around. If you position yourself just right, have the tuning just right, they are almost usable. Don't even think about using these for music as that experince would be painful with these headphones. I also cannot use these in most parts of the house as they tend to pick up noise from Fluorescent lights and cordless telephones quite easily. Do not waste your money on these, as they are not worth it even if they were free.

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but all I wanted them for was to sit at my desk in studio since strereos, or out loud playing of music, is against policy. I figured these would get the job done and wasn't expecting much. WOW, was I suprised! I love my music and I got much better sound quality than I expected for the money I spent. However, like all inexpensive product, the Jensen Wireless Headphones takes a while to tune into the right frequency and requires very fine tuning across a very wide band to get superior sound quality. If you want to save the money and get these, be prepared to have patience before enjoying at full potential. I give it 4 stars!

I received these as a gift. I believe that they retail for 50$ (less on line here). I don't understand why most people hate these so much. Sound quality is great for something this inexpensive. The reception does fade sometimes but, so what?!? They're on your head! How hard can it be to retune them? Since they are a 900Mgz product I would imagine that they won't work well if your cordless phone also works on 900Mhz (unless of course you want to easedrop on someone).
They are fairly comfortable I like that they are "right on top of your ears". Would be nice if they where adjustable headband. The only "issue" that one might have is the fact that they don't have a lot of bass Spec is 40hz and the high end only goes to 16 khz. Highs do get somewhat "hissy". But I doubt that you could beat them for the money.

The only use I have found for these headphones is to use them directly in front of the TV. Even then the sound is extremely poor. Any sharp noises like clapping or drums comes out as static. I have to fiddle with the tuning constantly to keep the static down, and that's without moving around. If you position yourself just right, have the tuning just right, they are almost usable. Don't even think about using these for music as that experince would be painful with these headphones. I also cannot use these in most parts of the house as they tend to pick up noise from Fluorescent lights and cordless telephones quite easily. Do not waste your money on these, as they are not worth it even if they were free.

After reading some reviews I was skeptical but all I wanted them for was to sit at my desk in studio since strereos, or out loud playing of music, is against policy. I figured these would get the job done and wasn't expecting much. WOW, was I suprised! I love my music and I got much better sound quality than I expected for the money I spent. However, like all inexpensive product, the Jensen Wireless Headphones takes a while to tune into the right frequency and requires very fine tuning across a very wide band to get superior sound quality. If you want to save the money and get these, be prepared to have patience before enjoying at full potential. I give it 4 stars!

I received these as a gift. I believe that they retail for 50$ (less on line here). I don't understand why most people hate these so much. Sound quality is great for something this inexpensive. The reception does fade sometimes but, so what?!? They're on your head! How hard can it be to retune them? Since they are a 900Mgz product I would imagine that they won't work well if your cordless phone also works on 900Mhz (unless of course you want to easedrop on someone).
They are fairly comfortable I like that they are "right on top of your ears". Would be nice if they where adjustable headband. The only "issue" that one might have is the fact that they don't have a lot of bass Spec is 40hz and the high end only goes to 16 khz. Highs do get somewhat "hissy". But I doubt that you could beat them for the money.

For a long time I thought these were really good headphones but I eventually got sick of them because they wore out the batteries too fast.That was the only really big flaw.When the batteries were new the headphones sounded clear and sharp but only a week or two later they needed new batteries.These are like the Sega Game Gear of headphones. In other words they are battery hogs.Like I mentioned before I got sick of them for this reason and not having very much money I bought a 30 dollar pair of Sony headphones that werent wireless. I was glad I bought those.They dont take batteries and the sound is just as clear with plenty of bass.Plus convenient volume control.Those were a true bargain over these ones.I say stick with the wired ones they stay in focus and dont require batteries and if you get good ones like I did youll be much happier.Thanks for the time.

The best headphones for your money are Optimus's ones that sell for around 35 or 40 dollars.These will last you for more than a week and even a year even when played at loud volumes.They dont fuzz out at the end of the week like Ear Huggers and they come in smooth and clear unlike Sony Wireless.You can listen to all your favorite hits by Marilyn Manson,Metallica,Nirvana,etc at a high volume without fear of it fuzzing out.
Sony Wireless are just not loud enough I say your best bet is Optimus cause they excel at volume without hurting your ears. Period.

Sheesh. If I'm not reading about how these sound while listening to vintage (passe, played out) "thrash" metal, I'm reading about them not functioning well amongst stacks and stacks of electronic equipment.

What are we reviewing here? These are inexpensive, 900mhz wireless headphones, and if you've ever owned a pair of these, you know some hissing and interference is to be expected. And this isn't ear-blasting static either. Just a quiet hiss or temporary drop. No big deal. Ever owned a 900mhz cordless phone before? There's your experience. They will occasionally (briefly) cut out for a fraction of a second or you'll hear a little blip of interference. But for the most part, considering performance against competing products, these perform within the realm of acceptability.

If you're a normal person using these to hear the TV, you'll probably be pleased. If you're a real audiophile or whatever you shouldn't be buying 900mhz headphones in the first place.

Battery hogs, yes. Get some rechargeable AA batteries. Done.