Pros: sound, price, comfort, replacement earbuds, looks
Cons: a bit hard and plastic feeling cord causes microphonics
Value
Having a thing for throw-away grade earbuds, I saw these pretty sleek things for 9,90€ in a supermarket and thought hey, why the hell not! I wasn't expecting anything, but damn these little things surprised me!
Audio Quality
The lowest of low frequencies roll off ever so slightly, so one might consider them mid- and high-frequency weighted, but the term "natural" comes to mind more. The buds perform very slightly might weighted so without feeling shrill or "Grado"-like, not emphasizing anything too much. The sound isn't aggressive and doesn't cause ear-fatigue. The sound is clean, doesn't distort at high volumes, and at least I seem to pick plenty of detail from records with these buds. I like them a lot!
Design
Very sleek and pretty, I like them more than most much more expensive products!
Comfort
Stays in ear very well with the smallest of the three replacement buds, the bud material is good and they don't fall off the actual earphone easily at all, very firm on that aspect too.
Isolation
4/5, I heard my wife when she raised her voice. Good for commuting, loud public areas, and ignoring anything else but the wife.
I can't emphasize this enough, if and when you've got extra $10 to go towards your audio hobby and you come across these, GET THEM! Sorry for the hype, but I would say they're worth it, as it's the first time I come across this good sound for this price. The DealExtreme's CX-300 clone came close, but were inconsistent sample to sample. I would suspect a retail Sony earbud is more trustworthy.
Having a thing for throw-away grade earbuds, I saw these pretty sleek things for 9,90€ in a supermarket and thought hey, why the hell not! I wasn't expecting anything, but damn these little things surprised me!
Audio Quality
The lowest of low frequencies roll off ever so slightly, so one might consider them mid- and high-frequency weighted, but the term "natural" comes to mind more. The buds perform very slightly might weighted so without feeling shrill or "Grado"-like, not emphasizing anything too much. The sound isn't aggressive and doesn't cause ear-fatigue. The sound is clean, doesn't distort at high volumes, and at least I seem to pick plenty of detail from records with these buds. I like them a lot!
Design
Very sleek and pretty, I like them more than most much more expensive products!
Comfort
Stays in ear very well with the smallest of the three replacement buds, the bud material is good and they don't fall off the actual earphone easily at all, very firm on that aspect too.
Isolation
4/5, I heard my wife when she raised her voice. Good for commuting, loud public areas, and ignoring anything else but the wife.
I can't emphasize this enough, if and when you've got extra $10 to go towards your audio hobby and you come across these, GET THEM! Sorry for the hype, but I would say they're worth it, as it's the first time I come across this good sound for this price. The DealExtreme's CX-300 clone came close, but were inconsistent sample to sample. I would suspect a retail Sony earbud is more trustworthy.
But I will keep that in mind and see if I can find Riptidzs somewhere. Thanks!