Lift Audio Groove Series Noise-Isolating In-Ear Headphones (Black)
by Lift Audio
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List Price: Category: CE 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 Lift Audio Groove Series Noise-Isolating In-Ear Headphones (Black)
Customer Review: Good for this price range.
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I have a lot of different ear buds and headphones. I'm not an audiophile, but I am a bit picky about the sound quality and comfort of things I'm wearing on my ears. While these are nowhere near the quality of high-priced buds, they're adequate replacements for the stock buds that come with most consumer electronics.
Audio quality is decent, but not awesome. The bass is a little limited unless you cover the little holes on the outside end of the buds. I didn't notice these do much more than my other mid-quality earbuds in terms of noice-canceling, though. For music, videos, and standard functions these are fine if you're not an audiophile. They're certainly better than the cheap "style over substance" Skull Candy buds I'm seeing everywhere. The range on these is better, and frankly, I think they look a little less cheesy, too. The metallic look is polished and clean. In fact, when it comes to looks I'd say the photos don't do these earbuds justice. They're kind of nice-looking.
However, I do notice there is nothing in the way of labeling which bud is right channel, and which is left channel. Some of us listen to music or videos that use stereo effects a specific way, and without knowing which bud to put in which ear, it's all trial-and-error. A little "R" on one of them would have been nice. This is kind of a no-brainer for audio equipment!
The little case they come with is really nice. It's good for keeping them around, but out of the way.
The packaging was, as described, frustration free. There is a lot of cardboard involved, but that's better than a terrible hard polymer case that will only get cut open and trashed. I appreciate this option in products, and I hope more suppliers take advantage of the Amazon Frustration Free packaging. Kudos also go to Amazon for shipping it in a sane way. The last Frustration Free item I got was a small item shipped in a giant box filled with lots of packing materials. Amazon has listened to our complaints about shipping with reasonable packaging.
All in all, for ten bucks these are a good buy. I wouldn't have recommended them at the "regular" price, but at a discount? Sure! They're a heck of a lot better than the earbuds included with the iPod, Zune, or most other MP4 players and portable media players. If you're trying to decide between these and Skull Candy, get these... Unless style is more important to you. If, however, you're REALLY picky about sound and don't mind spending a little more money, you might consider moving up to something in the near-audiophile range.
As with anything that is designed to interface with human senses, your mileage may vary.
Customer Review: Realistic, Natural, Well-Defined Sound at a Great Price
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I gave these Lift Audio "in-ear headphones" a somewhat brutal test - the seventh track ("Mombasa"), on the soundtrack to Hans Zimmer's "Inception," and the fifth track ("Ain't No Son"), an excellent, rocking track on the new Court Yard Hounds' self-titled CD. Both tracks have highs, lows, booming bass and bright treble, and either track will put ANY headphones or earbuds through a serious test.
I've lost over 20% of my high-end (treble) hearing over the years, so I tend to like a somewhat higher than normal brighter sound, but appreciate deep, rich, natural-sounding (not shallow), bass as well. I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised with the sound of these earbuds - though the driver is only 9mm, they have a rich, clean and most importantly NATURAL sounding low bass, but not booming or excessive, to bright, but not excessive treble. VERY good, clean, overall natural sound!
I could not find any left or right designation, and I noticed that to appreciate the sound these can truly deliver, they must be placed and sealed in your ears very well (not a hard task to accomplish with the enclosed kit and a little common sense), or you will lose much of the quality sound these are more than capable of delivering. The noise-isolation was impressive. I had my TV with built-in surround sound and external Klipsch speakers on moderate volume in the background, and these did a very good job of isolating the noise, even when the buds were at a lower volume.
All in all, a terrific, natural-sounding, quality product that one might expect to pay close to $100.00 for, but be warned - some people DON'T prefer a natural sound. They prefer more booming bass or brighter treble, and if you are looking for either or both of those, you might be disappointed with the well-balanced, natural sound these offer. I have a pair of Etymotic ER-4S ear canal headphones that cost close to $200.00, and a top PC mag said the following about them in April 2009:
"The ER-4S is an industry standard for consumer-level flat-response earphones, offering a pure, unaffected listening experience."
An excellent review, and for these Lift Audio earbuds to even sound CLOSE to the Etymotics is high praise indeed. Well worth the price (which varies), and highly recommended... 4 1/2 stars.
Last but not least, these also come with a somewhat inexpensive looking vinyl case (with a key ring) on it. I liked the case on the 6mm Lift Audio phones much better, but this is purely cosmetic and does not detract from either earphone being an excellent value for your money.
(Please see my Lift Audio Noise-Isolating Earphone 6mm review.)
Customer Review: HIGHLY recommended, a STEAL at this price!
Summary: 5 Stars
Can't beat the price of these 'phones with a big stick. At this price I purchased 3 - all function fine, the sound quality is equal to that from much more expensive 'phones. The one potential problem area (especially if these are bought for/by someone who treats his/her gear roughly) is the phone wires where they enter the phone. The only anchor for the wires appears to be the connection in the housing - a good tug on the wires - and you could have an expensive re-wiring job. Also the wires are subject to abrasion where they exit the downtube of the 'phones. Both of these problems could have been alleviated by adding covering to the wires (rubber tubing or a modern plastic that prevents movement and resists strain) at the cost of fractions of a cent. Pity that Lift didn't do this. Otherwise, at this price point, these phones are EXCEPTIONAL. (In case anyone's wondering all three sets are functioning fine, but then I look after my gear).
One thing missing from the phones - they are NOT identified as Left/Right - a BIG omission. For the purists amongst you with access to a computer you can easily identifiy L/R earpieces. Modify the Volume Control app. (Windows), set the Balance Control hard Right. Preferably verify that sound is only coming from the right earpiece of a set of phones with identified earpieces (L/R or Blue/Red). Plug in the Audio Groove phones and mark the earpiece which has sound coming from it with a piece of tape (the other phone will sound dead, you can swing the Balance Control hard Left to verify that it's working). Now put a dab of paint on the downtube RED for Right (the one with sound) BLUE for Left (the "dead" phone in this test) - or you can use your wife's, sister's, mother's, girlfriend's... Nail Polish (almost certainly she'll have Red, most teenagers will also, probably, have Blue). Voila, job done. (NOTE: I've found that the Balance Control on most stereo systems does NOT affect the phone output balance, only the speakers (and hence is NOT useful for identifying the L/R phones). Hope this helps.
I notice these phones are now north of $20 (IMHO still worth the price, but they were MUCH better below $10).
UPDATE: June 2010:
I've had my 3 pairs phones hanging up to dry after adding oil paint to identify L/R earpieces (use nail varnish folks, it dries MUCH faster). In the interim I've been using my MUCH more expensive Panasonic and Altec-Lansing 'phones. I plugged the Lift Audio phones in again today and I'm just blown away by the clarity of these 'phone. I notice that Amazon has brought the price down to under $13 - these 'phones are a STEAL at this price (especially if you treat your equipment with respect - I can't speak to their long term viability, especially in the hands of people who use a knife as a screwdriver). (NO, neither Lift Audio or Amazon is paying me to say this stuff - these 'phones are just INCREDIBLE at this price point).
Customer Review: Inexpensive price, but very iffy build quality
Summary: 1 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Lift Audio Groove Noise-Isolating In-Ear Headphone is a set of earphones currently offered at an attractive price. But there are a few things I dislike about these that force me to downgrade them.
Build - The Groove is certainly an attractive earphone, but on the large side for an IEM. The metal casing gives you the feeling that these earphones can stand up to some abuse, but I'm concerned that without any type of strain relief where the cord comes out of the metal housing, that this will become a failure point for these headphones. The Groove comes with 3 sizes of rubber earpieces and a small carrying pouch.
Sound - I was pleasantly surprised by the bass output of the Groove. The bass seems to go as low as any of my other earphones, and there isn't a huge mid-bass hump that is often used to hide the lack of deep bass. Unfortunately, there seems to be a big dip in midrange response around 1 KHz - 2KHz, causing the sound to be very recessed. I'm not sure of the correct term to use, but the sound of the Groove reminds me of how I hear when my sinuses are clogged up due to a cold. Needless to say I found this quality a bit annoying. The treble appears to start dropping off above 7 KHz or so but is OK.
EDIT - the poor sound above appears to be due to a defect with one of the earphones. Since this was a review pair I don't have the option of returning for a "good" pair to see how much the sound improves.
One other thing to note - the metal casings have hole in them that allows some sound to leak out and some outside sound to leak in. I personally don't like this (I expect IEMs to block out as much outside sound as possible) but in some situations you may prefer this design.
In all, these Lift Audio earphones are tolerable for the discounted price, but I would suggest spending a bit more for the JBuds J2s) or JBuds J3s (which I have not tried but are well reviewed) or the Altec UHP326NPs (which I own).
EDIT 2 - while trying to change ear fittings, one of the earphones began to pull apart (where the colored band meets the main housing of the earphone). This coupled with the defective earphone noted earlier reflects poorly on the build quality of the Groove, and my rating has been modified accordingly.
Customer Review: NOT For Use On A Motorcycle!
Summary: 2 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I know, these are not made for motorcycles right? Well I have bought over 6 different sets of earphones/buds here at Amazon that I use for riding, inside my helmet. Problem is to keep them IN my ear while riding at high speed and allow me to still hear traffic etc. So sorry but my review is related mostly from this prospective along with a bit about home use listening as well.
When this was offered in the Vine Program to evaluate I jumped at it for the above reason. I start with this. If you put these in your ear, and put a motorcycle helmet over your head? You risk driving these through your ear drum! SCARY....The protrusions hanging out your ear make these absolutely dangerous if putting any sort of helmet over your head. I assume same risk if falling if involved in any serious sporting activity and were to have any contact with falling or a ball hitting you etc. I never considered the danger of having these "spikes" sticking out of you ear.
Sound. I like the standard units that came with my 3 different brand MP3 players better. Like my Sony buds better, like all of my other brands better. For COMFORT anyway. Sound? Well I just began listening to Classical music (since a heart attack) and am TRYING to ditch my Leonard Skynyrd for awhile... But in the name of science, I whipped out ALL my music & went to my most hated YouTube sites to test it on video that always irritates me when I am not able to hear due to the fact so many people have no clue on how to set up their microphone.
On ALL music, I find this set of earphones lacking. They sound tinny, canned, muddy to me. NO bass, NONE. The only surprise is I NOW finally have a set that when I go to YouTube & can't hear some idiot who put a microphone in another room so you can't hear them? THEN it works! That's all these are good for for me anyway. I will never use these for anything other than YouTube. Sad since I don't like having to keep track of an item used for such a limited use. I know this isn't a review like most would look for. But I am not an audiophile. I'm an old dude who likes motorcycles and listening to music of ALL types. I am an old dude who finds these HURT going into his ear & who better never EVER try putting a helmet on again with these in his ears! I hate the hollow sound of music with these. I love the bag that comes with them. Will make a handy storage pouch for my GOOD headphones....Good ear-buds FILL your head with music. These? They fill your ears with pain. For me anyway.