[neoufo51]

Ok, after burning them in from somewhere between 200-300 hours, I'm ready to compare these to my old Atrio M5's.

Build Quality:

Superior to the Atrio in all respects except the plug. The plug is an aluminum casing with a sleeve of cabling material as stress relief. It's two pieces put together, as opposed to the solid one pieced molded plastic with stress relief that the Atrio has. Personally, I find myself more wary of damaging the plug on the C700's than with the Atrio's. The C700 plug is made of metal and feels rugged but the stress point where it meets the cable, even with the sleeving to protect it, feels as if it could tear if manhandled against a pocket that is too tight, while the Atrio's solid L-plug felt much less prone to damage. On the plus side, the C700 has thick cabling much like the Atrio and wins out by having thicker cabling on the portion of the cable that separates to the ears. Finally, the Atrio's IEM's are plastic and feel sturdy but lose completely to the C700's solid aluminum housing. The Atrio's 2 piece rubber and plastic housing feels as if it could tear (and wore down over use) while the C700 feels as if it could last forever.

Fit and Isolation:

The main problem that will steer people away from the C700's is their lack of isolation and tendency to slip with certain ears, but I find that the C700 is actually more isolating than similar earbuds, such as the Sony EX series, V-Moda Vibes, etc, most likely due to how wide the housing is. Also, the C700 can easily be put over the ears, which reduced slippage entirely and greatly increased my personal comfort. They are also extremely light, despite looking heavier in photos, so they never feel like jewelery that is weighing down your ears (cough Vibes cough) The cabling is "bouncy" and yes, never tangles. I hear that the orange Shure foamies fit these, so I might have to check out "Idealsound" on Ebay to get myself a pack to try out the fit. Overall, while I miss the isolation of the Atrio's, I'm not at all turned off by the fit and comfort of the C700's.

Sound Quality:

My source is a Samsung P2, and the C700 is only about 1 notch quieter than the Atrio. The Atrio's were dead silent hiss-wise on my P2 and the C700's were the same. Volume-wise, there was virtually no difference. After about 50 hours of pink noise I began to listen to them, and what struck me at first was the clear difference between these and the Atrio M5's. While the Atrio's have a warm, punchy sound to them that slightly fogs the sound with its thump, the C700 have both a warm punchy sound and a "sparkle" to them that the Atrio's lack. Right away, listening to all the music which I had listened to with my Atrio's, I could tell I was missing out on significant amounts of detail. The clash of cymbals in the Pixies' greatest hits became more apparent, and the vocals of Bon Iver's latest album were fuller and more rich. I have to say the the bass on the C700 is nearly that of the Atrio, which of course would lead you to believe thats how its able to achieve more detail on a wider range. The highs are brighter too, and thats very apparent on a lot of electronica, which this canalphone excels at. Overall, I'd rather have a fuller sounding headphone than a little more bass, but that's just me.

I'm very satisfied with my purchase. I got them when they were 99.99 at Amazon and I don't regret it one bit, especially considering I paid more for the Atrio's. A tip to potential buyers, if you care more about bass than anything else, pony up the extra cash for that little bit of added thump to your music with the Atrio's. If you just want a full-sounding canalphone with almost the same amount of bass, wait for Amazon to drop the price on them again and pounce. When it comes to canalphones, nothing comes close to the C700's.

Tip: Match them with a warm sounding player like the new Sony players to get the most of out of them. Even the smaller S61X series players easily sound better than my touchscreen Samsung P2 when paired up with the C700's.