After lending my Phillips Bass Boosted earbuds to my 14 year old daughter they came back within an hour minus the contoured black silicon covers that enabled them to fit comfortably. When asked where the covers were I received the standard shrug of the shoulders and "I dunno" that generally accompanies such questions and there was no more on the subject. I tried placing standard foam covers on them but they were never the same.
So I decided to invest in a new pair and this time I thought I would try for a pair of in-ear noise cancelling earphones. So I got on the net and started checking out the local auction site. After crossing off all the pairs that required me selling a kidney to finance I found Griffin EarThumps. They looked good, the sales pitch read well, certainly affordable $42.00 (NZD) and a bit of net research bought me to the conclusion that they were worth a try.
Available in black or white I choose the black for stealth. They arrived promptly by courier nicely packaged with three sets of silicon inserts Large, Medium and Small to fit most ear sizes and a pocket sized zip up case for storage which I thought was a nice touch. It appears one of my ear canals is larger than the other so I found a small on the left and a medium on the right gave me the best fit, the bonus of being oddly proportioned is that it gives me a spare pair in case my daughter strikes again. They have the standard Y cord with equal length left and right to the join which I found took getting used to again as the old Phillips had an L cord with the left side shorter than the right and I had gotten used to that but a small matter.
First thing the EarThumps have going for them is that they are much more comfortable that the regular earbuds. They fit nicely in the ear canal with a slight squiggly noise and do help isolate the music you’re listening to from the drone of the outside world. The bass response is very noticeably enhanced because of the snug fit, and I found the Rock equalizer setting gave the best balance between bass and crisp high notes.
Overall I was most impressed with the sound quality which easily surpassed my trusty old pair of Phillips earbuds that I had thought put out good quality sound. They do tend to lack a bit of mid-range though and my initial thought was that everything sounded a bit flat but this may be due to the newfound sometimes overwhelming bass because after a few days of getting used I found this not so noticeable. You will also find yourself setting the volume 5 or 6 notches lower than you normally would a combination I think of the outside noise isolation and the quality of the sound.
There are however a couple of drawbacks to in ear earphones, because they fit so snugly into the ear canal they tend to conduct a bit of noise for instance you can hear the cord move against your clothing if there is no music playing but it is generally not noticeable when music is playing. This can not be said however for the amplification effect the in-ear phones have should you eat while wearing them, toast, biscuits, apples will drown out the music in a most unpleasant way.
Overall though I found the whole in-ear listening experience excellent, the Griffin EarThumps deliver great sound quality with deep bass even if sometimes overwhelming and crisp high tones at the right equalizer setting. They look good, fit comfortably, are priced well and as I said the zip case is a nice extra.
In fact I was so impressed that I decided to spend a bit more money and see how much better a pair of Sennheiser CX 300 would be at twice the price. I bought from the same trader the color choices being silver or black I decided to forget stealth and went for the silver.
Once again they arrived promptly. Despite the extra money the Sennheiser CX 300 come as they are sealed in plastic on a base card with 3 sets of silicon covers (L,M,S) in a small plastic bag no case. These are very stylish looking earphones with a slightly better quality build than the Griffin EarThumps with steal mesh over the internal speaker, softer silicon inserts and the L cord I had to get used to again but must say I still prefer. Again these phones offer a degree of isolation from external sounds which enhance the sound quality. The bass in the Sennheiser is a little mellower and the mid range comes through stronger as a result sound is a little fuller than the Griffin but I still found I used the Rock equalizer setting.
The Sennheiser earpieces are a little shorter than the Griffin and as a result don't seem to extend quite as far into the ear so they don't tend to feel as secure as the Griffin but this does not seem to effect the quality of the sound. They are however a little more sound conductive when it comes to cord movement, I do not know if this is because the cord is a dual wire cable while the Griffin is a single round cable but the Sennheiser even picks up a bit of wind noise at walking pace all of which slightly cancels out the sound isolation effect but does not overpower the music. It is just more noticeable and once again eating with them on is not a good idea.
The Sennheiser defiantly deliver a fuller range of sound than the Griffin but the quality of sound is excellent in both pairs. Having had them both for a couple of months now I must say I do find myself favouring the Griffin and do tend to use them more. I think this is because they fit just slightly more snugly into the ear and the conductive sound is not so noticeable. It could also be that I spent a little to much time in my teen years sitting in front of a huge pair of Goodman speakers with the bass cranked up full and still like the full bass that the Griffin delivers. For great sound at a great price I can recommend the Griffin EarThumps, if you are a bit of an audiophile and prefer a fuller range of notes and a more subtle bass then spend a little more and go for the Sennheiser.
In-Ear Earbuds Reviewed
