Discussion of the Best "Old School" (Lightweight, Banded, and Wired) "Fitness/Gym Earphones" (especially the Sennheiser PMX 680), A Call To Industry, And Possible Alternatives

[eagle999]

Hi folks.

This is my first ever "proper" thread-starting post. I hope it is informative.

I’m a UK-based headphone and earphone user, and this post will reflect that.

My main interest is in so-called "banded fitness earphones" -- that is, earphones that are worn during physical training, be it running, gym-based training, or any other forms of physical training.

I'd like to dedicate my first thread-starting post to a now long discontinued -- but quite brilliant -- lightweight, banded and wired fitness earphones solution, the Sennheiser PMX 680 earphones.

I have been using my own set for circa 15 years, facilitated via numerous repairs over that time. I can attest that they are a completely successful fitness earphones product on all levels.

To repeat, I recommend these for users who want a set of fitness earphones that are “old school”, in that they are:

• Banded, via a “behind the neck” band.
• Wired.
• Lightweight.

Here are some pictures of the set I run (which feature a repaired [replaced] cable):

If you manage to pick-up a pair second-hand, this product absolutely will satisfy your search for set of lightweight, banded (via a “behind the neck band”), and wired fitness earphones.

In addition, they also provide what I would describe as “very good” (not “elite”, but “very good”) sound-quality, and certainly better sound quality than a number of other lightweight, banded and wired "fitness earphones".


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More Details About The Main Benefits of These "Fitness Earphones"

The main benefits of these fitness orientated earphones are as follows:

(1) Well manufactured “behind the neck” headband, which is robust, and provides ample “clamping force”, in order to ensure the earbuds stay in the ears. I cannot stress how helpful it is to have earphones where I am not having to “faff around” with the earbuds during a strength or fitness session. Separate in-ear buds and/or IEMs simply don’t work for many consumers, as the earbuds continually fall-out of their ears. I am one such consumer. I cannot get the majority of separate in-ear buds / IEMs (Bluetooth or otherwise) in the marketplace to work for me. These earphones solve that problem completely, via a robust and “sufficiently clamping” headband.

(2) Mindfully and properly positioned earbuds generally.

(3) A two-part cable system. In my view, this is really a “high-point” of Sennheiser’s cable system design for their lightweight wired fitness earphones. Later designs, sadly, abandoned this design. The key benefit of this product’s cable design is that the “short section” can be used only. It is possible to plug this short section, direct from the earphones, straight into a lightweight “clip on” digital music player, such as a SanDisk Clip variant, which you may “clip” to the neck of your t-shirt when doing your fitness/training session. This means you don’t have a long and annoying cable “flapping around” while you are running or doing gym-based training. Meanwhile, the “long” part of the cable, which features a somewhat “heavy” volume controller, can be discarded.

I have uploaded some pictures of my repaired circa 15-year-old Sennheiser PMX 680s to demonstrate what a setup involving the earphone’s “short cable only”, connected to a SanDisk Clip digital music player, can look like. (Note: I had my earphone’s cable repaired after the original cable reached the end of its lifespan, after many years of intensive in-gym usage. However, the repaired [replaced] cable in my photographs is roughly the same length as the original “short cable”.) I hope you can visualise how well this can work. A lightweight SanDisk Clip digital music player, clipped to the neck of a t-shirt, in combination with these earphones, works brilliantly during running, fitness training or strength training.

Over many years of physical training, a set of Sennheiser PMX 680s, plus a lightweight SanDisk Clip digital music player, clipped to the neck of my t-shirt, is still the best audio solution for physical training that I have found.

(4) A viable alternative to separate “in-ear-buds” and the gamut of Bluetooth solutions.

This solution allows you to ignore all of the following “more modern” solutions:

• Bluetooth earbuds. (Requiring a signal from a phone or Smart Watch.)
• Bluetooth headphones. (Requiring a signal from a phone or Smart Watch.)
• Bluetooth “bone conduction” earphones/headphones. (Requiring a signal from a phone or Smart Watch.)

There are plenty of fitness enthusiasts who do not want separate “IEMs” and/or in-ear buds (which, for many users, commonly fall-out or are ill-fitting), or the gamut of other Bluetooth based options.

The Sennheiser PMX 680 fitness earphones will, without a shadow of a doubt, fulfil the needs of these fitness enthusiasts. In my 15-year usage experience, they are a great solution.


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Ancillary Comments: Sadly, At Time of Writing, Sennheiser No Longer Manufacture Lightweight, Banded and Wired "Fitness Earphones"

At time of writing, disappointingly, Sennheiser no longer participate in the “wired fitness earphones” market. To the best of my knowledge (and after widespread searches and researching), Sennheiser no-longer offer any similar products to these earphones, and second-hand items are hard to come-by.

It is a disappointing situation.

In my own case, I am running a circa 15-year-old set of Sennheiser PMX 680s, which I have had repaired at considerable expense, as I simply have not found a better solution than a set of Sennheiser PMX 680s -- combined with a SanDisk Clip digital music player -- for fitness/training music playback.


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Other Sennheiser “Lightweight Banded Fitness Earphone” Options (All Discontinued)

Both before and after the Sennheiser PMX 680, Sennheiser also brought a few other lightweight banded fitness earphones to the marketplace.

Sadly, all of them are discontinued.

If of use, here is a brief summary of other Sennheiser PMX “wired and behind the neck banded” models I know of, in chronological order of release date:

• Sennheiser PMX 80.
• Sennheiser PMX 680. (Detailed above.)
• Sennheiser PMX 684i.
• Sennheiser PMX 685i.
• Sennheiser PMX 686i.

Out of the bunch, I feel the Sennheiser PMX 680s are the best of all, mainly due to the 2-part cable design, and solid headband design.

That said, all of the other options (Sennheiser PMX 80, PMX 684i, 685i, and 686i) will all still serve you well, if you cannot track down a set of Sennheiser PMX 680 earphones. I own (or have owned) -- all of them, and have found them all to perform well for fitness purposes.


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Alternative "Non-Sennheiser" Options to the (Long Discontinued) Sennheiser PMX Series: The Best Amazon US and UK Sourced Options

You are welcome to try to find some Sennheiser PMX lightweight, banded and wired fitness earphones from various online vendors and platforms. In my experience, they appear rarely in the market.

Looking purely at Amazon UK, I have found a small number of alternative options for lightweight, banded and wired earphones. That said, I have not been able to find any viable options with a band that goes behind the head. Rather, all my finds have a band that goes over the head.

The ones I have found (and purchased) are as follows:

• Sony MDR-W08L
• Koss KPH14W Side Firing Headphone
• Sonxtronic XDR-8000, Black
• Sonxtronic XDR-8001, Ice White

I will not link to any online commercial listings for them in this, my first “proper” thread starting post, as I am keen to avoid spamming the forums with commercial type links or content. In any case, they are all easy to find.

In my opinion, following some brief testing, none of the above are as good as the Sennheiser PMX family of lightweight, banded, and wired options, but they will "suffice" if you cannot find any Sennheiser options in the usual online marketplaces. They are all quite imperfect. If forced to choose out of the 4 listed options above, I’d pick the Sony MDR-W08Ls. I will expand on why in a follow-up post.

On the flip-side, I have also found, purchased and tested some lightweight, banded and wired "fitness earphones" that I can only say are “best avoided”. The name of the product that I recommend avoiding (due to very poor quality), and which is available on Amazon US/UK, is:

• Mucro Sports Headphones

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A Call To Industry

It is my hope that the right company can make a good-quality alternative product to what I feel were “classic” lightweight, banded and wired “fitness earphones” from Sennheiser, which are now, sadly, longer available to purchase brand-new. The Sennheiser PMX 680 design, in my view, was a high-point, but the other versions I have tested (PMX 80, PMX 684i, PMX 685i, PMX 686i) all still do a very good job.

It is my hope that a company deems there to be a sufficient opportunity in the market, to cater to fitness enthusiasts who want good quality lightweight, banded, wired “fitness earphones”, especially:

• People who are frustrated with many of the current in-ear-bud or earphone options, as they cannot get them to stay securely or comfortably in their ears.
• People who do are not interested in gamut of Bluetooth based solutions, and who don't want to pipe music from a phone or smart-watch to Bluetooth-type earphones (or headphones) while doing their physical training.

Perhaps I am shouting in the dark here, but who knows.


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Final Comments

The (now discontinued) Sennheiser PMX 680 lightweight, banded and wired earphones, in my opinion, are a great all-round fitness/training earphones solution. When doing your running or training, you will not be disappointed with these lightweight, banded and wired earphones, especially when paired with a lightweight “clip style” digital music player (with arguably, the most ubiquitous example being the SanDisk Clip variants). They stay in your ears, are comfortable in your ears, and get the job done, every time.

Thank you for reading this review/experience/account, and my first “proper” thread-starting post.

 

[eagle999]

Hello again folks.

Just a quick follow-up post.

In this post, I will set-out some observations about the best alternative options I know of, to the long discontinued Sennheiser PMX 680 lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” (discussed in the opening post, above).

This post will focus on Sennheiser alternatives, should you manage to find any of them on the usual marketplace websites.

Outside the Sennheiser PMX 680 (discussed above), I know of the following alternative Sennheiser lightweight, banded (via a “behind the neck band”), and wired “fitness earphones”:

• Sennheiser PMX 80. This is a very old product. However, it offers the benefits of no in-line volume controller on the cable (which would merely add unnecessary weight to it), and earbuds which, to my ears, still sound great today.
• Sennheiser PMX 684i. Pretty good.
• Sennheiser PMX 685i. Alright, but not great. Some apparent cost savings look to have been made in this unit’s production.
• Sennheiser PMX 686i. Pretty good.

Similarly to the discontinued Sennheiser PMX 680 (discussed above), the above-listed alternative Sennheiser “fitness earphones” are also all “old school” in many respects, as they are:

• Lightweight
• Banded
• Wired

Here are some of my experiences with all four of the models above, from a “fitness / physical training usage” perspective.


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All Units: Cable Setup Observations

Similarly to the Sennheiser PMX 680s, I feel that all of the following “fitness earphones” are best used with a lightweight SanDisk Clip digital music player (choose any variant you like), clipped to the neck of your t-shirt.

When setting it all up, I recommend “coiling up” the excess earphone cabling with cable ties, and also adding a plastic “earphones clip” to the cable, to prevent the cable from becoming distracting while exercising.

I have demonstrated what this can look like in all the uploaded pictures in this post.

If you need an extra “earphones clip” (over-and-above the one provided by Sennheiser with all the earphones below), they can be easily found by searching for that term on Amazon or Ebay.


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Sennheiser PMX 80 Observations

Pictures:

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Good clamping force.
• The earbuds felt very stable and secure in my ears.
• The earbuds felt very comfortable in my ears. Sennheiser, compared to their competitors in the “fitness earphone space”, really had a knack of getting the earbuds to fit in the ears “just right” -- not too deeply or aggressively, but not too shallow either.

(2) Sound:

• These old earphones sounded great. I was surprised at how good they sounded. In fact, I felt these very old earphones perhaps even sounded better than some of the later models in the Sennheiser PMX banded earphone product line (e.g., Sennheiser PMX 685i). Overall, the sound was not “elite”, but was nonetheless “pretty good” for earphones of this type.
• Not quite as good as Sennheiser PMX 680s in my opinion.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the alternative Sennheiser PMX offerings, the cable design is not as good as that on the Sennheiser PMX 680s, which featured a “two part” cable design (which I have discussed at length, above).
• A plus point is that despite having a longer-sized cable, there is not a volume control unit on it. This is actually a positive for fitness training, as a volume control unit merely adds extra weight and bulk to the cable. Nonetheless, I still recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• The earphone cable is reasonably robust feeling.

(4) Final Comments:

• I liked these a lot, as a lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” solution.
• I place these very old fitness earphones as a close-second to the Sennheiser PMX 680 (my favourite option), and above the Sennheiser PMX 686i, PMX 684i, and PMX 685i.

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Sennheiser PMX 684i Observations

Pictures: Regrettably, I don't have any images of these, as I had to put my damaged set (following a failed modification) in the bin.


(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Pretty good clamping force.
• The earbuds felt stable and secure in my ears.
• The earbuds felt comfortable in my ears. Sennheiser, compared to their competitors in the “fitness earphone space”, really had a knack of getting the earbuds to fit in the ears “just right” -- not too deeply or aggressively, but not too shallow either.

(2) Sound:

• Pretty good, as far as “fitness earphones” go. Not “elite”, but “pretty good”.
• Not quite as good as Sennheiser PMX 680s in my opinion.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the alternative Sennheiser PMX offerings, the cable design is not as good as that on the Sennheiser PMX 680s, which featured a “two part” cable design (which I have discussed at length, above).
• The cable design is a single cable, with a volume control unit on it. The length of the cable, plus the added weight of the volume control unit, is not ideal when doing fitness training. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above and below (for the alternate units).
• The earphone cable is very thin and quite delicate (perhaps too thin and delicate for my liking).
• Sadly, my unit’s cable did not survive an attempt at implementing a “custom cable” -- or rather, shortening the cable and removing the volume control unit. So, I had to bin my unit. I am still on the look-out for another.

(4) Final Comments:

• I quite liked these, overall, as a lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” solution.
• I place them below the Sennheiser PMX 680 (my favourite option), slightly below the Sennheiser PMX 80 (my second favourite option), about equal with the Sennheiser PMX 686i, and above the Sennheiser PMX 685i.

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Sennheiser PMX 685i Observations

Pictures:

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Decent clamping force.
• The earbuds felt stable and secure in my ears.
• The earbuds felt comfortable in my ears. As noted above, Sennheiser, compared to their competitors in the “fitness earphone space”, really had a knack of getting the earbuds to fit in the ears “just right” -- not too deeply or aggressively, but not too shallow either.
• Headband looks and feels to be of a lower manufacturing quality to the Sennheiser PMX 680, PMX 684i and PMX 686i. My unit arrived with a slight “bend” to the headband. It is not critical, but it indicates a slightly lower level of quality in its manufacture.

(2) Sound:

• Pretty decent, as far as “fitness earphones” go. Not “elite”, but “pretty decent”.
• In my opinion, not quite as good as Sennheiser PMX 680, PMX 684i, or PMX 686i.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the alternative Sennheiser PMX offerings, the cable design is not as good as that on the Sennheiser PMX 680s, which featured a “two part” cable design (which I have discussed at length, above).
• The cable design is a single cable, with a volume control unit on it. The length of the cable, plus the added weight of the volume control unit, is not ideal. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• The earphone cable is very thin and quite delicate (perhaps too thin and delicate for my liking).

(4) Final Comments:

• I feel these are an “okay” (but not “great”) lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” solution.
• I place these at the bottom of the Sennheiser PMX family, in terms of overall quality (i.e., they are “less good” than the PMX 80, PMX 680, PMX 684i, and PMX 686i). That said, they are still better than all the non-Sennheiser “fitness earphones” I have tried-out.

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Sennheiser PMX 686i Observations

Pictures:

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Pretty good clamping force.
• The earbuds felt stable and secure in my ears.
• The earbuds felt comfortable in my ears. Sennheiser, compared to their competitors in the “fitness earphone space”, really had a knack of getting the earbuds to fit in the ears “just right” -- not too deeply or aggressively, but not too shallow either.

(2) Sound:

• Pretty good, as far as “fitness earphones” go. Not “elite”, but “pretty good”.
• Not quite as good as Sennheiser PMX 680s in my opinion.
• Broadly comparable to the Sennheiser PMX 684i in my opinion.
• Better than the Sennheiser PMX 685i in my opinion.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the alternative Sennheiser PMX offerings, the cable design is not as good as that on the Sennheiser PMX 680s, which featured a “two part” cable design (which I have discussed at length, above).
• The cable design is a single cable, with a volume control unit on it. The length of the cable, plus the added weight of the volume control unit, is not ideal when doing fitness training. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• The earphone cable is a little thicker than that seen on all earlier units (Sennheiser PMX 680, PMX 684i and PMX 685i). I saw that as an improvement, as it feels more substantive, and works well when “coiled up” with cable-ties.

(4) Final Comments:

• I liked these, overall, as a lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” solution.
• I place them below the Sennheiser PMX 680 (my favourite option), slightly below the Sennheiser PMX 80 (my second favourite option), about equal with the Sennheiser PMX 684i, and above the Sennheiser PMX 685i.

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Ranking the Sennheiser PMX Lightweight, Banded, and Wired “Fitness Earphone” Family

In summary, I have been able to acquire and test the following Sennheiser “PMX family” lightweight, banded (via a “behind the neck band”), and wired “fitness earphones”, all of which are now out of production:

• Sennheiser PMX 80.
• Sennheiser PMX 680.
• Sennheiser PMX 684i.
• Sennheiser PMX 685i.
• Sennheiser PMX 686i.

Ranking the units in order of my preference, I’d go for the following run-down:

• Sennheiser PMX 680.
• Sennheiser PMX 80.
• Sennheiser PMX 686i.
• Sennheiser PMX 684i.
• Sennheiser PMX 685i.

I hope this post (and the prior post) has been useful to any fitness enthusiasts interested in one of these units, or in finding a decent set of “old school” lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” generally.

Looking ahead, I intend to make another follow-up post with some observations of some non-Sennheiser alternatives to the now long out-of-production Sennheiser PMX 80, PMX 680, PMX 684i, PMX 685i, and PMX 686i.

 

[eagle999]

Hello again folks.

Here is my second follow-up post (and third post of the thread).

In this post, I will set-out some observations about the best alternative options I know of, to the long discontinued Sennheiser PMX series (PMX 80, PMX 680, PMX 684i, PMX685i, PMX 686i) of “old-school” lightweight, banded, and wired “fitness earphones” (discussed in the posts above above).

This post will focus on non-Sennheiser alternatives, all of which, at time of writing, are reasonably easy to source and acquire.

To repeat, similarly to the discontinued Sennheiser PMX series (discussed above), the following alternative non-Sennheiser “fitness earphones” are also all “old school” in many respects, as they are:

• Lightweight
• Banded
• Wired

One caveat: I was not able to find any alternative “non-Sennheiser” options with a band that goes behind the head. Rather, all my finds have a band that goes over the head.

In summary, at time of writing, here are the four main viable lightweight, banded (via an “over-the-head band”) and wired fitness earphone options I am aware of, all of which are quite easy to source:

• Sony MDR-W08L
• Koss KPH14W Side Firing Headphone (White, or another colour option)
• Sonxtronic XDR-8000 (Black)
• Sonxtronic XDR-8001 (White)

For the avoidance of doubt, none of the non-Sennheiser options are as good as the (long discontinued) Sennheiser PMX series (PMX 80, PMX 680, PMX 684i, PMX 658i, PMX 686i) offerings that I have covered above, but they will “do a job” if you cannot get hold of a Sennheiser PMX unit.

I will go through each alternative in more depth, as follows.


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Sony MDR-W08L Observations

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Quite mild “clamping force”. While the “clamping force” is mild, it is still enough to keep the earbuds in the ears.
• Earbuds are quite comfortable in the ears.
• Headband and earbud design is “passable”, but definitely not as good as Sennheiser PMX options.
• The headband length setting “notches” are quite distinct and solid-feeling.
• Will suffice for running.
• Perhaps not so good for very kinetic exercises (e.g., Burpees).

(2) Sound:

• Not as good (by a long shot) as tested Sennheiser PMX options.
• Very neutral sound.
• “Reasonable” clarity for a set of “fitness earphones” of this size and type.
• A little bit “anaemic” however.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the “fitness earphones” I have discussed so far, I feel these, once again, are best used with a SanDisk Clip digital music player (choose any variant you like), clipped to the neck of your t-shirt.
• Under such a setup, the length of the cable is not ideal when doing fitness training. It will “flap around” and become distracting. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• The earphone cabling is very thin and quite delicate (perhaps too thin and delicate for my liking).
• You will need to add your own plastic “earphones clip” to the cable, in order to “clip” the earphones cable to your t-shirt, to prevent it from “flapping around”. Sadly, an “earphones clip” is not provided by Sony in the box. To find an “earphones clip”, simply search for that term on Amazon or Ebay.

(4) Availability:

• At time of writing, still available on Amazon.com (Amazon USA), but not Amazon.co.uk.
• At time of writing, fairly abundant on Ebay.

(5) Miscellaneous Comments:

• No longer in production, and increasingly hard-to-find -- and expensive -- to buy new.
• Buying second-hand from an online marketplace may be a better plan to acquire these.
• These feel fragile and quite delicate in the hand. Indeed, according to many Amazon.com (Amazon USA) reviewers, they have questionable long-term reliability, and break often.

(6) My Conclusions:

• For fitness training, while not as good as any of the Sennheiser PMX options, I still quite liked these, overall.
• They felt a little fragile, but the sound quality was “acceptable” as far as “fitness earphones” go.
• The earbuds stayed in my ears, were comfortable, and did not irritate my ear canals.
• I’d be happy to use these, if I did not have access to any Sennheiser PMX options.

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Koss KPH14W Side Firing Headphone (White) Observations

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• More intensive “clamping force” than Sony MDR-W08L. These will definitely not fall out of the ears.
• However, a little uncomfortable feeling after a little while. My ear canals were getting irritated. Due to the earbud design and the very reasonable “clamping force”, I felt that the earbuds were “burrowing in” to my ears somewhat, which I did not like.
• Headband length setting “notches” are reasonably distinct.
• For my own (seemingly larger sized) head, I have used what is nearly the maximum extension of the headband's variable adjustment settings.
• Due to the security of the fit, these are quite acceptable for “very kinetic” exercise variations in my opinion.

(2) Sound:

• Clearly (by a long shot), not as good as tested Sennheiser PMX options (detailed above).
• Lesser sound quality than the Sony MDR-W08L in my opinion.
• Somewhat “anaemic” and “thin” sounding.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the “fitness earphones” I have discussed so far, I feel these, once again, are best used with a SanDisk Clip digital music player (choose any variant you like), clipped to the neck of your t-shirt.
• Under such a setup, the length of the cable is not ideal when doing fitness training. It will “flap around” and become distracting. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• You will need to add your own plastic “earphones clip” to the cable, in order to “clip” the earphones cable to your t-shirt, to prevent it from “flapping around”. Sadly, an “earphones clip” is not provided by Koss in the box. To find an “earphones clip”, simply search for that term on Amazon or Ebay.

(4) Availability:

• At time of writing, available on Amazon.com (Amazon USA) and Amazon.co.uk.
• Note that the Amazon.co.uk listing involves an import from the USA.

(5) My Conclusions:

• For “fitness training” purposes (or indeed any purposes), I’m a little ambivalent about these.
• The clamping force on these was more than that on the Sony MDR-W08L earphones (above), meaning they will fit securely.
• At first, I quite liked the more intense clamping force, but my ear canals soon began to get a little irritated by the earbuds.
• I place these as a second-choice to the Sony MDR-W08L.

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Sonxtronic XDR-8000 (Black) Observations

These “fitness earphones” are purportedly “inspired” by the Sony MDR-W08L.

My purchased unit was a total failure, as poor manufacturing meant that I could not try them on at all.

The cable did not “diverge” into two distinct cables for the left and right ears, until a very late stage, meaning it was impossible to put the earphones on.

In addition, the headband adjustment “notches” were loose, indistinct, and of were generally of poor quality.

Overall, this was a very poorly manufactured product.

Conclusion: I do not recommend this product, due to poor manufacturing and build quality.


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Sonxtronic XDR-8001 (White) Observations

(1) Headband clamping force / earbud security in the ears / earbud comfort:

• Quite mild “clamping force”. While the “clamping force” is mild, it is still enough to keep the earbuds in the ears. The “clamping force” is very similar to Sony MDR-W08L.
• Earbuds are reasonably comfortable in the ears. The earbuds felt very similar to those of the Sony MDR-W08L.
• Headband and earbud design is “passable”, but definitely not as good as Sennheiser PMX options.
• The headband length setting “notches” are indistinct and of poor quality.
• Will suffice for running.
• Perhaps not so good for very kinetic exercises (e.g., Burpees).

(2) Sound:

• Not as good (by a long shot) as tested Sennheiser PMX options.
• Very similar sounding to Sony MDR-W08L.
• Very neutral sound.
• “Reasonable” clarity for a set of “fitness earphones” of this size and type.
• A little bit “anaemic” however.

(3) Cable Design:

• Like all the “fitness earphones” I have discussed so far, I feel these, once again, are best used with a SanDisk Clip digital music player (choose any variant you like), clipped to the neck of your t-shirt.
• Under such a setup, the length of the cable is not ideal when doing fitness training. It will flap around and become distracting. As a solution, I recommend “coiling up” the cable with cable ties, as demonstrated in the images above.
• The earphone cabling is very thin and quite delicate (perhaps too thin and delicate for my liking).
• You will need to add your own plastic “earphones clip” to the cable, in order to “clip” the earphones cable to your t-shirt, to prevent it from “flapping around”. Sadly, an “earphones clip” is not provided by Sonxtronic in the box. To find an “earphones clip”, simply search for that term on Amazon or Ebay.

(4) Availability:

• At time of writing, available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
• Note that the Amazon.co.uk listing involves an import from the USA.

(5) Miscellaneous Comments

• Purportedly “inspired” by the Sony MDR-W08L.

(6) My Conclusions:

• Fragile, and with inconsistent manufacturing quality.
• In my opinion, a poor “knock off” of the Sony MDR-W08L. Instead, if you can afford them, get an actual Sony MDR-W08L, either new or second-hand.

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Other “Non-Sennheiser” Alternatives to the Sennheiser PMX Family: Amazon Sourced Earphones to Avoid

You may have found, in your Amazon UK or Amazon USA search for alternative lightweight, banded and wired fitness earphones, an offering from a brand called Mucro. The unit is called, broadly, “Mucro Sports Headphones”.

I have purchased these, tested them, and immediately binned them. They are woeful, in terms of both fit and sound quality. I don’t recommend these at all. They are an extremely low-quality product.

They are quite abundantly listed on both Amazon USA and Amazon UK, in Blue/Black and Green/Black variants. It seems to be the same fairly terrible product all the listings.


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Final Conclusions

In my opinion, if you are in the market for a set of “old school” lightweight, banded, and wired fitness earphones, try to get a Sennheiser PMX (PMX 80, PMX 680, PMX 684i, PMX 658i, PMX 686i) pair first, as per the initial two posts in this thread.

If you cannot find or source a Sennheiser PMX unit, you might have to consider an alternative option.

As mentioned above, the reality is that none of the non-Sennheiser options are as good as the (long discontinued) Sennheiser PMX units that I have covered above, but they will “do a job” if you cannot get hold of a Sennheiser PMX option.

In my view, a non-Sennheiser “fall-back option” lightweight, banded, and wired "fitness earphone" priority list should go something like this:

• If you cannot get hold of a Sennheiser PMX unit, try to get a Sony MDR-W08L.
• If you cannot get a Sony MDR-W08L, try to get a Koss KPH14W.
• As a last resort, pick-up a Sonxtronic XDR-8001.

That’s my opinion.

It may be subject to change, if I become aware of -- and manage to test-out -- any new lightweight, banded, and wired fitness earphones options.

Thank you for reading this post, and I wish you the best in your physical training endeavours!

 

[Death_Block]

Goodness me. I don't know what to say.

 

[eagle999]

Hah hah!

Yeah, I went a little overboard.

It's been a little project of mine.