I got these from Amazon for $12 today after a) wanting to hear a pair finally and b) needing a throwaround pair for various purposes.
Impressions:
Solidly built. Pretty comfortable - they just plop into my ear. I had to angle them down to get the most sound out of them, as just sitting straight up @ 90 degree angle was missing my earhole somewhat.
Without Pads:
Soundstage: Wide. Open. The sound is coming from outside of your head slightly. These are open backs, so don't expect isolation from the outside world.
Bass -- it's there but extremely polite. No thump, little impact.
Mids: Generally very good. The vocals are extremely well done, with them pushed out ahead of the music. Not super pushed out, but enough you can tell these are extremely vocal oriented earphones. Detail is all there, but maybe slightly veiled. This could be just me or it could be the phones. I have to let them burn in longer to make a determination. edit: I think they needed burn in, I hear more detail tonight now.
Highs: Somewhat peaky in some areas. Not obnoxiously so, but enough my ears could tell and irritation was somewhat there. (pretty minor)
Tone: Pretty neutral, slightly bright-ish. The sound is thin but not shrill. There's very little body to the music -- it's honestly bland sounding. Very little excitement, there's no heft to it. It's very polite sounding. It sounds very good generally speaking, but not involving. The emotion just isn't felt there. Everything sounds kinda flat.
With pads:
Bass - added heft and body to the bass. Not a ton, but definitely more.
Mids: added heft and weight to the vocals. The vocals are pushed back just slightly. Still sound really good and natural.
Highs: Tamed that peakiness. Level of detail remains about the same, but the minor (MINOR) irritation from the highs is gone.
Tone: about the same, but with the added heft/weight, the sounds is MUCH more involving now. More exciting, more emotion, more body. Detail level remains about the same.
Overall, WELL worth the 5 or 10 bucks for these. BANG FOR THE BUCK. I don't think I've heard any earbuds that sound this good in the lower(est) price range.
I'll be trying this out over the next couple of days on my other equipment to see if that changes anything. Right now just using the phone and DFB. Will try my computer setup (Geek Out 2A DAC/amp) later.