Apple Earbuds (White with Gray Earbuds)
by Apple Computer
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Our Price: $64.18 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple Earbuds (White with Gray Earbuds)
Customer Review: Great headphones, and they work on other mp3 players, too!
Summary: 5 Stars
SYNOPSIS:
Compatability: Works with both my computer and my iRiver mp3 player.
Sound Quality/Efficiency: Excellent, including bass and stereo effects.
Price: Can find them for under $40; great price for their quality.
Aethetics: The white color and stylish design is sleek, modern, and combines professional, casual, and fashionable tastes.
Ergonomics: Excellent once you work out your custom fit.
Portability: Lightweight, and comes with a nice compact 5cmx5cmx1.5cm box that easily stores both the headphones and extra pads.
I bought the Apple iPod In-Ear Headphones new from Amazon.com after looking for the best price out of a dozen different websites. However, I don't have an iPod, I have an iRiver iFP-190TC MP3 player, which came with your basic black little ear bud headphones, and I wanted something with a better quality sound and more style.
These work really great! The bass is awsome, too, and when I'm on the road I can catch subtle sounds that normally get lost out of the car speakers unless the sound is blasting. Plus, they block out most external noises better than other headphones I've used so I can keep the volume down lower, which means that not only will my I have less chance of losing my hearing, but anyone sitting next to me on the bus is not going to be hearing the tinny buzz of music from my headphones while I'm listening.
I made sure to read up on reviews before I bought this product so I knew how to put the little things in my ears the right way. They sit really deep within the ear and they hurt a bit after wearing them for a couple of hours the first day I used them at work, but then I switched to the smaller pads that were provided in the kit (they come with the medium size already on, but there are also smaller and larger ones) and they're much more comfortable now.
I think I could wear these all day without discomfort once I get used to the feeling of having things sitting in my ears. They stay in really well when I'm moving around, too. I'm really glad I bought this product because I'm going to enjoy using my mp3 player even more because of them.
Customer Review: Sounds wonderful, once you get them in your ears!
Summary: 4 Stars
After buying these, I am more than convinced that the people complaining of poor sound from these are not fitting them into their ears properly. If you don't shove them in your ears and seal them in there well, they sound awful. However, if you get them in there and get a good seal, they sound absolutely amazing for $40 ear phones.
I was able to get a good seal by using the large rubber pieces (it comes with 3 sizes: Small, medium and large) and doing what other people have suggested on here. Pull up on the top of the ear and insert the ear bud. You should notice that the room noise has significantly decreased around you. If it hasn't, you don't have a good seal and it just simply won't sound good. However, once you get a good seal, you'll definitely enjoy it. It's not uncomfortable by any means. I had a 2 hour flight to Cancun last week and had these in the entire flight and actually would forget I had them in sometimes.
The only draw back is that if you have kind of odd ear canals, these ear buds may become unsituated and start to loosen the seal a bit. Especially if you tug on the cord a bit or if you try to go running with these in. This happens to me sometimes. However, not often. All I do is push the ear bud back in and get great sound again.
If you have an oddly shapped ear canal, I'd suggest you not buy any in-ear earphones because you won't be happy with the sound unless you get a good seal inside the ear. However, the sound of these earphones compares to much more expensive earphones (like the ones around the $100 - $150 range) but for over half the price of those. They're definitely worth a shot. If you find them falling out a lot or you're not getting a good seal in the ear even after you've tried all the ear pieces and tugging and pulling on the ear, just return them and find some headphones.
Overall, I'm happy. Could they be designed a tad better? Sure... They could design them so they create a better seal and makes it easier for the user to insert them to get that seal, but what couldn't be design better these days?
Customer Review: Took a bit to get the fit right, then WOW!
Summary: 4 Stars
The buds that came with my iPod 18 months ago picked up an annoying "splat" in the right bud, so I went out to pick up these I had heard good things about.
When I took them out of the box, plugged them in, and stuck them in my ears I couldn't believe how terrible they sounded. I cursed and thought, "You've got to be kidding me! I've just spent close to $40 for a really crappy set of headphones. Where is the base?"
I came out here to tell everyone to stay away, but looked at some other reviews first. Reading them, I learned that I needed to:
(1) Look closer at those extra rubber plugs. They are different sizes, not just extras. I replaced the medium ones with the large ones.
(2) Stick them WAY in the ear. It's a bit unnerving at first. I swear I can hear my mom telling me I'll damage my hearing with these things. It helps to pull a bit on the top of the ear and to give them a small twist.
(3) Turn the volume WAY down. I have it at about 10-15% and it is perfectly loud. Rocking out is only 40-50%.
(4) Check your equalizer settings. I always used Loudness or Small Speakers with the buds. Those settings sound really "wrong" with these earphones. I am switching between Flat and Classical (basically flat) now and like them both across a wide range of music.
After doing the above, they sound wonderful across a wide range of music (Patsy Cline, New Order, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Beatles, Norah Jones). But they really shine with classical, jazz, and vocal music. Those recordings have a much larger dynamic range (parts that are very quiet and very loud) and the noise reduction effect of the plugs allows me to hear parts that I can usually only hear on my home stereo.
One drawback, if you can call it that -- I can hear very little any external noise. I am used to being able to listen to my ipod at a low level still be able to hear the world around me (i.e., my kids calling for me). I can't do that with these earphones.
Customer Review: Very good ear phones.
Summary: 4 Stars
I read many reviews on here before I bought these headphones. The ones that come with the iPod really hurt my ears. I wanted a more comfortable headphone. I decided to give these a shot even though many people said they didn't like the sound.
When I first ot them they sounded horrible but they where ver comfortable. I was just about to send them back when I read a couple of more reviews on how to insert them into your ear. Once I did that they sounded great!!! You need to make a complete seal in order for them to sound amazing. There is an article on apples web site on how to do this. Which I put at the end of the review. I gave it a 4 out of 5 because of the hassle of creatig the seal in your ear. Very good headphones and comfortable. I recommend them!!!
Instructions:
Insert the iPod In-Ear Headphones so they have a good seal for optimal audio quality.
For optimal sound quality and performance, the Apple In-Ear Headphones need to make a good seal with your ear canal. Simply placing the ear buds in your ear without making a good seal can result in less than desirable audio quality.
To aid in the proper positioning of the ear bud, open your ear canal a little wider when you insert the ear bud. Everyone's ears are different, but you can usually do this by grasping either the upper or lower part of your ear and pulling gently away from your head with one hand while slowly inserting the tip of the ear bud into the ear canal with the other hand. In some cases, wiggling the ear bud into place can also help. Let go of your ear when you feel a good seal . The ear bud should remain securely in place when there's a good seal. Repeat the process until the desired fit is achieved.
If you've inserted the ear bud as far as is comfortable, but can't get a good seal, try a larger ear cap size. If you get a good seal with a larger ear cap size, but it is uncomfortable, try a smaller ear cap size.
Customer Review: If the 'phones don't fit...
Summary: 1 Stars
I find it strange that after so many negative review, there's exactly enough 4- and 5-star reviews to fill the first page on the Amazon site. There should be a way to prevent Apple employees, and stockholders from making false claims on here.
Anyway, I bought these headphones a couple months ago to replace the original iPod headphones which I threw in the trash after the little foam covers popped off for the 10,000th time. I thought to myself, "surely Apple has recognized the design flaws and made an improved product by now." Well, they got rid of the flawed foam covers, but introduced a whole new set of problems. First off, these headphones simply did not fit. Yes, I tried the arm-over-the-shoulder-ear-pulling thing. Yes, I tried changing the cover sizes. No matter how much pulling or screwing into my ear, they would never stay put. At least I could wear the old headphones jogging or working out without having them fall out. These would fall out when I turned my head just sitting at my desk. The sound quality was not great, although I could well imagine this was due to the poor fit.
Another problem I don't see mentioned often on here, is that you really need to clean your ears immediately before using these headphones, or the headphones will clean them for you. Not pretty.
The deal-breaker for me was after about a month and a half of moderate use, the left speaker suddenly became even more tinny than before and dropped about 80% in volume. So in the trash these went and I bought a non-Apple brand of in-ear headphones (Philips) for about half the price that has none of these problems and excellent sound quality and haven't looked back since.
If Apple put as much effort into the construction of their products as they do into the packaging and advertising, they'd be unstoppable. As it is, these are overpriced, non-functional headphones and should be recalled by Apple.