[averydonovan]

Comes this: http://www.donovansmith.us/image/tid/128

I happened to find these in my mailbox at work one day, not sure where they came from. There were a few different varieties in various people's boxes, like "Party Budz" etc. At first we all thought they were candy, but we realized that candy manufacturers don't list the frequency response on the back of the packaging (maybe baked bean manufacturers should, though). I haven't taken them out of the packaging since I'm afraid the only thing scary about them is the sound

 

[KR...]

take them out and review them!

 

[redshifter]

isn't sending "party budz" through the mail illegal?

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter isn't sending "party budz" through the mail illegal?

LOL

Actually, these were just dropped into our mailboxes as is. I'm not sure where they came from. Must have been a prize for something, or some way for someone to show their appreciation to us.
Quote:

Originally Posted by KR... take them out and review them!

Okay, I did. I also added an image of them to the album linked to above.

Manufacturer: Koss
Model: Scary Budz (part of a series of "budz")
Retail Price: Not sure, they were given to me, but are worth much less
Tested With: iRiver IMP-350 portable MP3 CD player
Comfort: Can hardly shove them into my ears, way too thick for earbuds. The foam covering feels like sandpaper. I'm pretty sure I rubbed off a layer of skin in my ears trying to get these in.
Sound: Pretty crappy overall. Almost no bass, there was some upper bass but midbass and low bass was completely absent. Treble was sucked out, too. The mids were present but still a bit lacking. Overall a bit hollow sounding. They are also extremely inefficient and live up to their 82db/1mW rating. My AKG K 271 Studio headphones, which are known to be inefficient, are more efficient than these earbuds are, by a good margin.
Competes With: Tin can and a string, those outdoor PA system horn speakers
Conclusion: They suck!
Rating: -5/10

 

[Bob Ebophalus]

Sounds like fun! Why exactly are they supposed to be scary? They just look like black earbuds to me.

BTW, my friend has a set of the cheese headphones. :cheesephonesmiley:

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Ebophalus Sounds like fun! Why exactly are they supposed to be scary? They just look like black earbuds to me.

You haven't heard them yet, they scare me senseless just thinking about what they sound like!

 

[Xanadu777]

Koss has been doing scary for a long time...

In 1966 the Beatles were all the rage and so was the Koss Beatlephone, a stereophone featuring earcups with inset paintings of the fab four.

Bet these are worth some bucks in nice condition though...

 

[gpalmer]

Wow, did the kid start off looking like that or was it a mutation caused by the headphones?

 

[SptsNaz]

FYI I own these ugly things (look exactly like the pic). They are absolutely disreputable. To sum it up (again):

Fit: Absolutely impossible to put in ear. They are huge and uncomfortable. Also if the small cushions are lost they are unusable.
Highs: Very present but extremely vague, muffled and thin
Mids: Almost non-existant. Mediocre at best
Lows: Absent

Overall (IMO): Absolute garbage. I think my sony earbuds sound better for the most part. In fact, I just took the small cushions to use with my MX500's and threw them the hell out. Keep in mind though, I didn't burn them in or anything because I figured it was pointless.

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer You haven't heard them yet, they scare me senseless just thinking about what they sound like!

Koss makes some good headphones, but they also make a lot of duds. This is one of them.

Bob Ebophalus, it seems these things were part of a package of earbuds put in various packages with different names. As gpalmer said, the scariest thing about them is the sound. I've heard some bad earbuds, and had some uncomfortable ones, but to have one set that wins the prize for the worst earbuds I've heard as well as the most uncomfortable is truly scary.

SptsNaz, sorry you had to go through that experience. I only got maybe a minute total with them, that was more than enough time to know they were awful. I don't know if I'd even want to reuse the earpads, those things felt like sandpaper when I was putting the earbuds in my ear.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donovansmith LOL Actually, these were just dropped into our mailboxes as is. I'm not sure where they came from. Must have been a prize for something, or some way for someone to show their appreciation to us. Okay, I did. I also added an image of them to the album linked to above. Manufacturer: Koss Model: Scary Budz (part of a series of "budz") Retail Price: Not sure, they were given to me, but are worth much less Tested With: iRiver IMP-350 portable MP3 CD player Comfort: Can hardly shove them into my ears, way too thick for earbuds. The foam covering feels like sandpaper. I'm pretty sure I rubbed off a layer of skin in my ears trying to get these in. Sound: Pretty crappy overall. Almost no bass, there was some upper bass but midbass and low bass was completely absent. Treble was sucked out, too. The mids were present but still a bit lacking. Overall a bit hollow sounding. They are also extremely inefficient and live up to their 82db/1mW rating. My AKG K 271 Studio headphones, which are known to be inefficient, are more efficient than these earbuds are, by a good margin. Competes With: Tin can and a string, those outdoor PA system horn speakers Conclusion: They suck! Rating: -5/10

Heh heh heh... Those so-called "Scary Budz" are just another variation of Koss's crappy P3 earbuds from last year. The trouble is, the "scary" packaging would have jacked up the price to about $10 - and the P3's sold for just $5 at retail.

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver Heh heh heh... Those so-called "Scary Budz" are just another variation of Koss's crappy P3 earbuds from last year. The trouble is, the "scary" packaging would have jacked up the price to about $10 - and the P3's sold for just $5 at retail.

I thought I had seen these before. My sister got a set of those from Wal-Mart and they went back the next day since they are enormous for earbuds and sound so bad. Even at $5 they seem to be quite a ripoff. They belong in the dollar store.

Apparently this is the next generation of this craptacular earbud: http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf...e?OpenDocument

"When sound is as important as appearance" *cough* bull@#$% *cough*

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donovansmith I thought I had seen these before. My sister got a set of those from Wal-Mart and they went back the next day since they are enormous for earbuds and sound so bad. Even at $5 they seem to be quite a ripoff. They belong in the dollar store.

Yep. Even the $8.99 Sony MDR-E818LP's sound much better than the Koss P3/Scary budz, mediocre however the Sony's sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by donovansmith Apparently this is the next generation of this craptacular earbud: http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf...e?OpenDocument "When sound is as important as appearance" *cough* bull@#$% *cough*

That last part is, well, ironic. Those Koss buds linked there were really designed for appearance first - and "sound our foot!" (or, "sound our @$$!").

That said, there are headphones that look good and sound good. You just have to know where to look for them.