Hullo, I've gotten many quality reviews of audio products on head-fi, from many competent people that have shaped my buying habits. But I've never actually written a review and given back to the community, so when I went down to my local HMV and purchased a pair of 10 euro ($11ish) (£8ish), and they startled me with their quality, I took it as an opportunity to return the favor
Having destroyed my second pair of Brainwavez Deltas the day I received them (don't be deceived by the metal housing, they are VERY easy to break), I was strapped for cash and headphone-less. Conveniently, my friend had just purchased a pair of MX170s, and was astounded by their quality for the mere 10 euro he spent - upon his recommendation I left school one afternoon, walked into town, and bought my 170s.
Unboxing the 170s it's pretty clear that they're budget earphones, they came in see through plastic packaging, with no thrills in sight. In the packaging lay one pair of MX170s, and one pair of cheap foam eartips to make them sit a little more comfortably. After struggling to fit those on (they were REALLY tough, had to ask another friend to help me get them on), I put them in my ears, grabbed the jack, shoved it into my phone, and blasted out a range of music.
Immediately it's weaknesses were clear. There's no real sound-stage to speak of, there's something, and it's alright - but you're not gonna get a spacious sound out of these. Highs were sharp, at full volume they became quite uncomfortable to listen to. Mids were acceptable, high mids were clear and pronounced - just about perfect but kind of eclipsed by the overemphasized top ends. The lower mids were there, and identifiable, but a little too quite for my tastes. A nice segway to the low-end, the bass was there, and you could feel it, but it was a little too quiet. It was surprisingly tight, but nothing that's gonna blow anyone away. If I had to label it as a sound curve, it's a U with an emphasis on it's top-end, but inherently insufficient bass.
We can about how they sound on a technical level, but I find it's far more direct to talk about how that translates to your listening experience.
Assuming you're listening at 70-85% volume, music sound bright but not painfully so, those highs could be a little rounder, a little less harsh, but they're balanced enough to listen to with a little EQing (literally just -1Db on the top frequencies, and +1Db on low-mid and bottom frequencies). Mids and lows are kinda ambiguous, or so I've found, not wonderfully tight, not wonderfully pronounced, but genuinely acceptable. I should stress here that I am ANAL about having a balanced sound with my equipment, any over-emphasis on a set of frequencies and I can't listen to them full stop, but these little MX170s at 10 euro were actually alright. And herein lies their incredible strength. In fact, with the right EQ in not too noisy an environment, I could really enjoy all genres of music on these (I listen to a VERY wide range of music, mostly: Rap, Metal, Classical, Punk, Inde, Rock, Pop, Techno, and Dance.).
The important thing to take from this is that I don't know of a SINGLE competitor that offers enjoyable sound for 10 Euro!!
The clear wining factor for these understated contenders is their sound, but there are honorable mentions to make here, because they've got qualities that deserve them
Headphones do NOT have a nice time of it with me, I've broken about 6 pairs of HD201s, 2 pairs of Brainwavz Deltas, and 3 or 4 pairs of over-ears I can't recall the make and model of. I sit on headphones, I tangle earphones, I pay not attention to how much tension they may or may not be subjected to during use, which includes building work, hiking, and working out. These have lasted for over 5 months with no signs of wear, and completely intact.
*Well deserved slow clap*
Unfortunately Sennheiser still has some revisions to make to these earphones before they'll deserve a five star review. For one the earphones are immediately uncomfortable for men or women like myself who have smaller ears, uncomfortable at first, and really rather painful for prolonged sessions out and about, whenever the earphones rub up against the cartilage or pull at their cables. Some people even find that the left and right sides are more comfortable when swapped around! I see this as being a pretty inexcusable design error - maybe I'm being pedantic. The foam pads they supply to combat this didn't help at all, merely providing more friction for me. Even then, I didn't get to spend a lot of time using these pads, because along with being difficult to attach, they fell off
all the bloody time.
Furthermore it really must be noted that the top-end at loud volumes is uncomfortably harsh. This cacophony is acceptable for a track or two if you really NEED the volume, but it's after not too long it becomes horrendously fatiguing, almost as painful as their poorly-fitting design.
To surmise this review, you may as well just look at it's title, it's an apt description. These little earphones offer unrivaled value for money (and I'm willing to back that up mathematically*), with really decent sound, not outstanding, but in the right place, perfectly enjoyable. They fit perfectly for those in need of throw-about earphones in that they will survive whatever you throw at them, behaving less like earphones under duress, and more like rope. They're in need of some perfectly affordable revisions I'd
love Sennheiser to address, particularly regarding ergonomics. With some tuning, these could become the indisputable champions of budget audio.
And yes, I could recommend these. I could recommend these above literally any other contenders at this price point. While you
could find better spending a mere 10 euro more it's okay not to. Yeah, I reckon you might have a much nicer time spending a little more - but not everyone can, for those, buy these, the poor man's saviour.
Tl;dr: Buy these, unless you can spend about twice as much. In which case don't buy these.
*At 10 euro these offer more utility than any other headphones I've ever owned. To name two competitors at slightly higher price points - the Sennheiser HD201s at 20-25 euro, and the Brainwavz Deltas at 25-30 euro. I have owned and used both of these, and I can promise to everyone reading this that my 201s aren't literally twice as useful as the MX170s, and the Deltas are certainly not 3 times what the MX170s are.
*If anyone has any contenders, please name them! I'll be sure to buy a pair and revise this review 
