Home

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Better than Sonys

Written by JM from GREENVILLE

Dec 23, 2008

I've been using a set of Sony MDR EX70LPs for about 5 years. Great product, once you get used to having a speaker jammed in your ear. I usually wound up fiddling with them a bit after 30 minutes of so, they seem to slightly irritate my ear.But the bass is so much better than conventional buds or phones (I've tried countless Sony, Yamaha, every brand under the sun). A few months ago, I wondered if Sony had improved the product any and bought a set of MDR-EX81LPs. Slightly better phones, but more awkward to wear.

So when I heard I was getting an iPod touch for Christmas, I figured I would order a set of these and give them a shot. Got the phones two days before Christmas, decided to try them out on my 5g iPod. Plugged them in and turned on iTunes, awaiting sonic nirvana.

But...no bass. None, zip, zilch, nada.
OK, so, something isn't right. The medium rubber pieces seem a little loose, maybe I need to try the other ones. I open the capsule with the others...but they look smaller. Then I notice the label on the capsule, and pull open the other side, marked L, swap in the bigger rubber pieces, pop the phones back in, and...

Oooooooooooh yeeeeeeaaaaaaah. That's what I was looking for. Some hip hop. Yep, plenty of bass. Norah Jones - perfect female vocals. Guns'n'Roses - guitar works.

As is the case with all in-ears I've tried, they telegraph a lot of noise from wire movement, but that's controllable somewhat depending on how you wear them. And as another review pointed out, wearing them while eating will sound horrible.

These are the best-sounding headphones I have ever owned. I haven't compared them to the Etymotic Research, but they are much more comfortable than either of the Sonys - I've had them in for an hour and haven't touched them.

If you try these and can't stand in-ears, or if you have odd-sized or shaped ears, that's a shame. If you try them and think they don't have any bass, you need to try the larger pads - when they seal to your ear, these things go as low as any speaker I have ever heard, and I can't even begin to turn my iPod up all the way (though admittedly I don't have any hearing damage, as some other 35-year-olds do).

2225 of 2699 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Sweet music to my ears...

Written by SG from Lakewood

Dec 12, 2008

These are best earphones I've ever had. I've had sonys, the stock iPod buds, the previous generation of apple in-ear buds, and some others and by far these are purely AWESOME.

On the first listen, I thought they were just OK, but after a while I truly got to experience all the different sounds and how well these earphones produced them. Bass is amazing (although, it seemed to need just a bit more boom - but that might just be me :) Treble is great too. These do seriously sound like several-hundred-dollar earbuds. Also, these are the MOST COMFORTABLE earphones ever. I almost don't even notice them in my ears - they are that amazing - while they still provide a firm fit so movement doesn't dislodge them.

Packaging is beautiful, the additional silicone tips are a huge plus, and the added mesh caps are a nice touch.

My only issue is the lack of volume control for iPhone. Hopefully that'll come at some point?

1856 of 2275 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Definite Must Have

Written by VT from Markham

Dec 10, 2008

Just received mine in the mail today and these are the most comfortable and best-sounding in-ear headphones! For those wondering, the remote/mic work with the iphone 3G except the volume control

309 of 389 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Almost as good as my $400 UE Triple-Fi

Written by RJ from Flower Mound

Dec 23, 2008

The title says it all. I've owned the Ultimate Ears Triple-fi canalphones for about two years now and they are the BEST! I needed a pair of less expensive ones to take to the gym, so I ordered these new ones from Apple. Wow! I'm blown away. The Apple In-Ear monitors are almost as good as my Triple-fi's which cost 5 times as much. And, the Apple ones are much more comfortable. Buy these. You'll be glad you did.

182 of 211 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Unreal Sound! Unreal Price!

Written by BB from Lubbock

Dec 11, 2008

I'll start by saying that 1) I never take time to write reviews, but felt this was warranted and 2) I consider myself to be an audiophile, not just a casual listener.

That being said I think that Apple really hit the mark with these. Dual Driver phones for $80 is unbelievable. These have crisp highs and a very defined midrange - not atypical of a headphone in this price range. The bass however, is a very different story. The 'previews' of these 'phones have all said that they seem to be lacking in bass. I completely disagree. The bass is very tight and pronounced. I am listening to Sade "By Your Side" right now and the kick drum is literally rattling my head. If you think it is going to sound like you are standing next to a subwoofer you might be let down slightly (90% of that bass is 'felt' not heard anyway), but the bass certainly beats anything anywhere near this price range that I've heard. They also respond really well to the EQ settings in itunes. Feel free to play with the low end - you dont get the distortion most other in ears get. Remember the key is getting a good seal with any IEM - the Apples do a great job of isolating me from the outside world - I can't even hear myself typing a a low volume.

I can compare these to the Shure SE110 (dog chewed these up, a decent IEM) and the SE210s. I did some A/Bing with the Apple in ears against the 210s and the in ears won in every conceivable category - hands down. Bear in mind the 210s retail for $179. The 210s just do not come close to replicating the base these babies do!!!!

I'm not going to even bother comparing these to the stock buds apple offers...

134 of 151 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Best

Written by MH from CASTLE ROCK

Dec 12, 2008

This month I was on a journey to get the headphones i liked best.
And i have tried V- Moda vibe duos, V- moda vibe due 2s, Bose earbuds, And these and I absolutely love them out of all the ones I have tried.
Absolutely Must Buy.

131 of 162 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

The Quality of 'separates' for you audiophiles!!!

Written by PC from CORINTH

Feb 10, 2009

At first I was not very impressed. They were bright and lacked base. Then after swapping out my Sennheisers over and over again I realized it was the Sennheisers that had it all wrong, and I was used to it. It became clear to me that it can be likened to someone with a BIG system with lots of punch and someone with separates with gold cables and lots of quality. I was so used to tons of ear shaking base that when I heard clarity, I mistook it for tinny, overbright sound. But as I have used them more and more I find myself saying, "I never realized they put a very slight echo in Nora's voice on this song" or "I didn't realize the cello kept playing once they started singing." These headphones are able to cover every range very well. My Sennhiesers now sound louder, but muffled with all the low tones they are trying to throw out.

It is like the difference between all the game stations out there. Everyone was fighting to give better graphics, better graphics, until Nitendo said, "Wii." It was the playability that won it over the graphics race. The same can be said for these headphones. Yes, you can find more punch for the money but I know you wont find more clarity and equal response across all the sound spectrum for this price.

Make sure you have the right tips on and pull your ear up from the top when you insert them. Get a good seal. You need to listen to a few albums to detox yourself from the heavies out there in headphone land and then you realize the real music you bought, not the interpreted drone your other phones were feeding you. At least that is my experience.

It also goes without saying that, hey, it's Apple's top notch build quality and I don't find flaws in much of their stuff (although they still need to sort out their Bluetooth headset.....sheeeesh)

It is, at the end of the day, your preference. Like one famous singer said, "If it sounds good, it probably is good." Good luck!

99 of 121 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Amazing

Written by DL from Mechanicsburg

Jan 31, 2009

For those folks that find the sound lacking bass, they must not be getting a good fit. These are as neutral as any high fidelity headphones should be. They provide extended bass that is very tight and the highs are effortless. They also are much more dynamic that my Sennheiser HD 595's. If you're new to in-ear headphones then you may have to play around with the fit, but once you get it right they are very comfortable to wear and the sound reproduction is exceptional. Highly recommended, especially for the price.

73 of 79 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

The best 'phones under $100, bar none.

Written by JS from Paw Paw

Jan 14, 2009

I am 35 years old, and have been a DJ for over 10 years. Sound quality is of the utmost importance to me, whether at home or at work. I have $850 UE custom 7 Pro headphones, and have tried the best available. Clearly, these new headphones from Apple cannot compete with a triple armature, custom-molded set of monitors like my UE's, but let me be to the point.....They are the absolute BEST value at $79.

Many have complained that there is some external artifacting occuring during use. Hearing the heartbeat, chewing noises overpowering the music, and of course, the cables themselves cause distortion when they rub against eachother or other things. That's going to happen any time headphones are positions so far in the ear canal. Have the cables loose on the head and that problem is virtually eliminated. Neck straps are an easy fix for that.

Some have said that the music sounds tinny...
That's because the armatures are not far enough inside the ear canal.

Some have said that the bass response is marginal, at best...Again, the armatures are not far enough inside the ear canal.

I think the best thing users can do is encode their music to 320kbps, as opposed to the standard 128kbps that iTunes uses when tranferring CDs. The average song is 8mb, versus 4mb for a 128kbps encoded song, but the sound quality is most assuredly worth it.

In closing, I am thoroughly pleased with the quality of these in-ear phones from Apple. At $80, one simply can't beat them.

65 of 67 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Finally, in-ear's that work for me!

Written by MR from Oakland

Dec 28, 2008

I'm one of those people who couldn't seem to get any in-ears to sound good. They always sounded to me like there was no bass and it was really tinny. I finally tried the large sized earpieces on my fiancee's sony's and was able to get them to sound pretty good. I was hesitant to open the Apple in-ears I got for Christmas because I have never been able to get them to sound good. Once I got hers to work for me (it took a little work), I opened the Apple in-ears.

Oh wow. I immediately went to the large sized ear pieces and wasn't able to get them to work well for me. I went back to the mediums and focused on getting them seated correctly. Once I was able to get them in, they sound amazing. I'm getting used to the underwater feeling of in ear's, but they sound amazing.

These really do sound better than a lot of other earphones I have tried. For 79 bucks, you really can't do much better.


So happy to finally have these work for me!

/m/

79 of 98 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Very Impressed!

Written by SB from Raleigh

Dec 11, 2008

As a self described Audiophile, I have tried just about every brand of in-ear headphones. I bought these because I was intrigued that Apple could sell a dual-driver headphone for $80. I was very impressed. They honestly sound as good as my Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5's. The only pair of IEM's that I have heard that beat the overall sound quality of these are the UE Triple.Fi's. Noise Isolation could be slightly better, but the sound is rich, crisp and very balanced. Great bass response without losing a tight low-end. If you rip your music in 256kbps or higher, then these will make a huge difference. If all of your songs are 128kbps, then they will probably make your music sound terrible. The bottom line is, if you are a true music lover, you won't be dissapointed.

62 of 76 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Best Yet!

Written by RS from Calgary

Jun 14, 2009

These are my 4th set of earbuds, and they are by far the best, even though less expensive than the last set I purchased.

The biggest difference seems to be in the fit, the earpieces included are more comfortable and have a better seal than any of the others I have.

The disappointments? The bass, until I realized I was expecting the sort of bass I would get out of a full size set of speakers with woofer. The cables, their noisy and they tangle easily when not being used. The quality of the sound over rules though.

61 of 76 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Exceeded my expectations!

Written by SL from Hampstead

Mar 14, 2009

I have very high expectations for headphones because I'm a huge fan of Bose. I usually am carrying around Bose on-ear headphones and I needed something more portable.

Then I discovered these. These have a true clean sound and the bass isn't over-excessive. The best part is no more giant headphones to carry!

PS: The quality matches that of my Bose headphones and they're worth every penny.

60 of 74 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Impressive for the Price Tag

Written by MR from Eastchester

Feb 5, 2009

I am an electronics expert and musician so I am very particular about the sound quality of my music. I was wandering around the Apple Store trying to figure out how I was going to spend my $70 gift card and I figured I would give these a try for my Shazam app.

I must say, I was a bit skeptical at first reading some of the reviews on here, but now that I have tried them, I must say that I am very impressed with Apple's effort with these earphones compared to Apple branded ones of the past. The sound quality for a pair of $80 earphones far exceeds the price tag. The bass is smooth without overkill and the treble quality helps even the low-bit recordings (downloaded from sites such as Limewire) sound better, although the quality of these earphones may reveal the imperfections of such low quality recordings. There is a review by someone with a profile name of MB who states he is an audio engineer with 18 years experience and has a very informative and thorough review that should help sway you to purchase these earphones and explain everything in detail. However, he did state that the sound conducted through the cable may become audible. (Such as chewing gum, swallowing or the cord rubbing against your clothes.) I must say, I have never owned a pair of earphones that weren't specialized, noise canceling headphones that virtually cut out the sound of my gum chewing, swallowing or anything else such as these earphones. (I am replacing a pair of Sony in-ear earphones that were horrible with this... and I thought they were great sound quality.)

I HIGHLY recommend these earphones over any other pair in the store... whether Bose, Shure... anything because for the price... and the microphone enabling the use of the awesome Shazam app... you cannot go wrong. And you won't be disappointed!

48 of 53 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Excellent value earphone

Written by DC from San Diego

Feb 8, 2009

I am a speaker designer, and an owner of far too many headphones and earphones to fully bother listing.

My favorite was, and still is, my Shure SE 530s. but at $400+, they are hardly the type of device to carry to the gym, or wear when you are just knocking about. Until now, I'd used a set of Sennheiser cx500s for that. These little earphones have changed that.

They are, for the dollar, the best transducer I've ever heard. The top-end is particularly clear, without being "tipped up" or "tizzy" or the bass distorted to "club-like" boominess like so many poor-quality SONY, BOSE or Panasonic products. And if you have the ear-piece properly sized for a tight fit, the bass, while not overwhelming and a little low spectrally, is nonetheless quite satisfying.

For example, listening to acoustic tracks, like Bruce Cockburn's gorgeous "Speechless" album, in tracks like Rise and Fall you can clearly hear the body of the guitar resonating, and when the cymbals come in, the are crisp and clean, and very extended, without dominating the mix.

On bass-heavy content, like the fantastic bass-drums in "The Eternal" by ABA Structure, or , the bass is satisfyingly deep, present and extended, with no fuzziness or high-order distortion. On the bass drums, you can clearly hear the strike of the sticks on the drum heads. On the bass, it's slightly light tonally compared to the Shure reference headphones and not quite as extended.

Compared to the Shures, the are less neutral and less revealing. Spectrally they are brighter, which sometimes gives a sense of false detail, yet the Shure is simply more subtle and accurate, and a bit less "forward." Layers of detail in the mix or reverb or echo which are apparent on the Shure's do not reveal themselves as easily. But at 1/5 the price, I'm not expecting a miracle.

As a final note, the remote is quite handy with a Nano 4, and the mic works great with the iPhone, as does the pause. It's a pity the iPhone doesn't support the volume control.

Bottom line: if Apple can tune up the sub-100Hz bass about 1-2DB, these things will really be amazing. It's genuine high-end quality, and while not the best you can find, it's the best value I've seen.

46 of 50 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Super sound!!!

Written by TC from Sun City Center

Mar 13, 2009

Owned the Bose in ear and bought these to go with my Ipod touch. I thougth I would use them just for the microphone apps. Boy was I surprised. These are alot more detailed than the Bose and have a much less bloated bass. I recommend them to anyone who wants a detailed and true sound.

43 of 48 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Sound reinvented

Written by SR from brooklyn

Dec 28, 2008

I've used this for just a few day's and i feel sound has once again been reinvented.

It fits great in the ear, comes with a great case to carry it around.

The controls are great, I've never had such a great pair of Headphones at such a low price.

Works great on my 4th Gen nano, however the controls wont work with my 1st gen touch, that is the only down side i have.

48 of 59 people found this useful

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

A solid upgrade I can recommend.

Written by AV from Magalia

Dec 18, 2008

I compared these headphones to my current pairs: Bose Tri-Port over-ear (large model), Bose Tri-Port In-Ear, and the standard iPhone headphones.

Unsurprisingly, they were much better than the standard iPhone headphones, but I was surprised to find they sounded much more balanced than my Bose in-ear headphones. The Bose pair sounded muddy and bass-heavy in comparison. In my opinion, my Bose over-ear headphones still sound the best, but I really like having a streamlined, in-ear pair that I can wear in bed without having to deal with a headband or if I want to travel light; the Bose over-ears are quite large in comparison. Having the microphone and pause/rewind/fastforward clicker is nice too. It is a shame the volume controls don't work with either iPhone model, which you would think could have been worked out since the iPhone 3G and these headphones were surely in development simultaneously. Oh well, perhaps people are right that it might only require a software fix to make them work.

Also, for those that bought Apple's previous in-ear headphones (me) and are worried about fitting and comfort issues (which I had), I would definitely give this pair a chance. I found the fit to be as close to perfect as any in-ear headphones I've ever tried, including the Bose in-ears.

Overall, I think these headphones are a good purchase, especially for iPhone owners who want better sound with the same remote they've had at a competitive price.

49 of 61 people found this useful