In the past 3 years I've owned a few sets of earphones. The standard iPod earphones that came with my iPod are about 3 years old now and still working. They aren't really that bad, but I say that only because my ears are small and encasing it in those foamy covers help keep them in my ear. I bought 2 pairs of earphones in Hong Kong last year for ridiculous prices. $8 for a pair of Sony in-ear earphones, which I use at work to prevent coworkers from hearing my obnoxious music (and fit quite comfortably for my small ears) and $15 for a pair of Bose in-ear earphones (which retail for $100+ here!). The Bose ones are VERY nice and I bought them on recommendation from a friend. I bought a 2nd pair for the bf and he really likes them.But no matter which pair of earbuds I have bought so far, they will not stay in my ear while working out. My left ear is just .. deformed?? Ok maybe not deformed but let's just say that no earbud will firmly stay in my ear while I'm moving. The iPod earphones have fared the best so far, since all the foam covers I plaster on it help keep them in my ear. But needless to say, after about 2 minutes of running, the left one will eventually wiggle out and I'll have to pop it back it in. The Sony and Bose ones, while good for sitting (and good for people with "normal" ears), pop out of my ear while WALKING, so forget trying to exercise with them.
I don't know how I endured this for so long but eventually one day I thought maybe I should invest in something different. I chose to search on Amazon because I find they have more customer reviews than other websites (i.e FutureShop/BestBuy) .. and I find them more accurate and helpful. The funny thing is that there are NO reviews on the Amazon.ca site but the Amazon.com site has many reviews for the same product! I guess it's just a bit of a hassle trying to figure out which earphones are good and also checking to see if it's available on the Canadian website.
It was either between this pair or the Philips SHS3200 earphones. These were cheaper so in the cart it went. It arrived about 2 weeks after I ordered it.
Comfort/Fit: 4/5
The ear pieces have a simple adjustable piece to fit all ears, which is kind of nice. I had my first run with it today, and it was fantastic not having to shove the earpiece back in my ear every 3 minutes! I didn't have to adjust it once (I habitually kept nudging it to make sure it was there ..). The earbud itself has a little plastic ridge on it (I guess to help keep it in your ear?). After a period of wearing it (1hr+ for me), you do feel a bit of ear pain .. but that seems to be the only downside of it so far. I'd rather take this but not have to adjust my earphones all the time!
Durability/quality: N/A
I've only had these for a few days so I can't really comment yet. I'm not one of those people who excessively sweat and so hopefully no short circuiting should occur. I frequently catch the cord on random things like chairs and it causes a tug on the cord so hopefully these will hold up. The cord is average length .. good enough for me.
Sound quality: 4/5
The sound quality on these earphones are decent! Comparable to my Bose ones, actually. My music has average treble/bass (although I've heard of some distortion happening with bass-heavy music). My rock music fares pretty well on it (and anything treble-heavy). I don't adjust any of my AV settings on my player and the sound comes out quite clear.
Overall rating (so far): 4/5
For $20, I find these earphones to be a bang for their buck so far. Granted I haven't had them for very long but so far they're exceeding my expectations. I was willing to plunk down $50 for a decent pair. These fit my ears and stay on my ears while working out. They're relatively comfortable and look decent (not the best looking pair but let's not nit-pick now). The sound quality is pretty good (for my music) too.
