Not a lot of talk about these around here so I figured I'd chip in my 2c. I have the JVC Riptidz HAFX8B, JVC Xtreme Xplosives HA-FX101-BE and Sony MDR-ED12LP. For the sake of those looking at buying a budget IEM I'll throw up a quick shootout. All songs are V0 MP3's played through iTunes on my Macbook. We'll go from the most expensive phones to the cheapest.
Xtreme Xplosives:
Out of the box these sound dreadful. Nasty and sibilant, so don't even bother listening with them. A good burn in is required here.
These headphones get a lot of love here, and I while I hated them initially, I have learned to get the most out of them in time. Read this and take heed well: If you intend to listen exclusively to tracks with high energy and large bass, these headphones will be great for you. Perfect, in fact. Go buy them now. They sounded pretty damn good with the Weeknd's "Wicked Games". Likewise some high energy Dubstep type songs worked fairly well too. Kendrick Lamar's banging "M.A.A.D City" was simply thunderous. Hip Hop loves these phones.
The Xplosives come unstuck completely listening to any other genre, and will need extensive EQ to sound any good. If you are listening mainly on your laptop or if your mp3 player has a 10-band EQ then you will be fine. For iPod / iPhone usage these may cause more frustration than they're worth. Even laid back electronic music sounds strange. The bass is abundant yes, but overly so. Not only is there too much of it, but its of a low quality (flabby, uncontrolled, no tone/musicality) and it comes at the expense of mids, which are bloated, and the treble which is peaky and fatiguing. Emancipator's "Minor Cause" sounded plain wrong. The bass has a growl to it which seems cool at first, but gets annoying within seconds. The song quite simply isn't meant to be driven through it's kick drum & bass line.
The good news is, with well gauged EQ, these phones have a lot of potential to sound good. At the price point, they have potential to sound great in fact! They still shine brightest with Hip Hop, yet if you can tame the lower midrange bloat and reel the bass in (make cuts at 32, 64, 125, 250) then the sound begins to tidy itself up. They won't wow you with sweet or rich treble - so perish the thought right now. Yet they do have a somewhat lively sound which is quite pleasing, if a little fatiguing. They are definitely a step up in quality from the Riptidz, which are voiced in a very 'dark' way to hide their blemishes. The XX's are like the fat girl at that party wearing a mini skirt and a size 10 tank top - it's all out there on display. Another characteristic they exhibit is loudness. I listen to them with my Macbook's volume at its absolute minimum. Turn the volume up to 3 bars and they really start to fall apart, so there is definitely a sweet spot here.
Verdict & Score: For Rap & Dubstep music these guys get a solid 4 Stars in their stock voicing, and 4.75 with EQ. For everything else, they get a 2.5 stock, and a 3.5 with some EQ. Overall, I think they are a great phone at the price point. The bass really is the draw card here, and if you aren't in to that kind of thing save your time. They aren't exactly an all rounder, yet you could happily use them as your main pair if you listen to mostly bass heavy music or don't mind constantly fiddling with EQ, and at their rather low price point they wouldn't hurt to keep around for the occasional indulgence or action movie. Final score: 3.75
Riptidz:
The cheaper little brother of the Xtreme Xplosives has a completely different sound going on. Kmhaynes says these have a 'duller' sound which I would describe as roughly true if a touch unkind. They are certainly super laid back compared to the Xplosives. These lack 'razzle dazzle' in the sense that they don't really exhibit any sparkle in the highs or menace in the bass. But conversely they have certain things going for them that make them a really decent budget all rounder IEM.
Firstly, they don't have any glaring weakpoints. The sound is relatively flat with a slight emphasis on the bass. After spending more time EQ'ing these I would say they aren't super responsive to tweaking. The bass will happily come forward a bit. The mids and highs will only accept small tweaks before things begin to sound very pear-shaped. What you see is what you get here- which isn't too great of a problem, because the Riptidz play it safe for the most part which means they won't sound too far out of place in any situation.
The mids and high's are probably the weakest points overall for these phones. They are a little thin sounding all told - which is IMO the least of your concerns for a set of phones that cost under $7. The most important thing here is that the presentation is listenable - and once EQ'd to taste actually quite enjoyable. Because the bass is a little stronger overall than the mids and highs these phones actually lend themselves very nicely to electronic music, yet are well rounded enough to reproduce acoustic instruments and vocals faithfully. All told the Riptidz are a great option for an 'all-rounder' IEM style headphone that can be had for very cheap. You can and will find headphones that surpass these, but it really is cool the level of sound quality one can receive for such a low price.
Verdict & Score: Nice bass. Mids / Highs are thin and somewhat dull yet not offensive. Versatile and pretty good for electronic music. At $6.91 these are definitely a winner in the budget category and get a respectable 3.25
MDR-ED12LP:
Whilst being the cheapest in my line-up of suspects (I got them on sale), the Sony's are actually somewhat capable although they do have certain failings, namely in the level of bass they output, comfort and thin/dry sound. The mid and high content is still thin, as with the Riptidz, but more engaging with a slightly larger sense of space and brightness that isn't harsh. In comparison to the Riptidz I would say the Sony's have noticeably better treble yet even weaker midrange and far less bass due to not being conventional IEM's. Male vocals are slightly brittle and distant. The overall sound is bright, dry & crunchy. Whatever that means
Another sore spot with Sony's is the fit & comfort. These are an IEM in a sense, although they don't create a seal and aren't intended too. Resultantly the bass suffers, and the design leaves hard plastic contacting the ear - which really begins to hurt after a while.
On the bright side they look pretty cool and came with a nice carrying pouch which has been useful for taking to uni.
Verdict & Score: Considering that I like warm, rich sounding phones I could go on for ages about everything these phones do that I don't like. But I won't because they're actually kind of likeable and surprisingly easy to listen to. They have a kind of character to them that I could only describe as 'crunchy' - almost like listening to a low bitrate mp3 which is a sound I hate yet I still kind of like them. Weird, huh? Considering I got these for $10.49 shipped all the way to my sun drenched door step, these were an absolute steal. I give them 3.0 and recommend them if you like bright sounds vs the darker presentation of the Riptidz and don't really care about isolation (which these don't offer at all).
Summary:
None of these headphones are going to set the world on fire, but offer an easy way to get your feet wet in the world of private audio. The Riptidz present the most consistent front in my experience and are currently a paltry $6.91 on amazon, although I paid $15 to get a pair shipped to Australia. The Riptidz and Sony's both offer a decent product which will service different sectors of the market depending on taste. Pony up a little more and you can get the Xplosives which will offer you a livelier sound with a veritable barrage of booming bass - which would be great for the apartment living basshead who cant set up his subwoofer.
