Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote & Mic, Observations of an average user
Jul/093
Another review? Not exactly.
I’m not calling this a review because there are plenty of those available to you as it is, what I intend here is to document some of the things that reviews tend to miss in their rush to publication. So this is more of an (attempted) unbiased look at why you may or may not want Apple’s dual driver IEM’s, from the perspective of an average user.
In the three or so months from announcement in September 2008 to street date of December I spent a fair amount of time researching mid to high end earphones with the intention of replacing my old Sony Fontopia MDR-EX70LP In Ear Monitors which were phenomenally good for the price at the time. Knowing that Apple were also including an ipod Touch (second generation) compatible in-line remote was certainly a plus towards their product but quality of audio was going to be the deciding factor and I wanted to try to stay sub €100 in whatever choice I made. Obviously I settled on the Apple in-ear’s after all the reading.
Roughly seven months have since passed and there are several things I wish I had known before I had decided to buy them. Technical specifications are great for comparing some products but when it comes to audio the numbers do not matter so much past a point of established quality and from there it is all down to how the individual perceives the sound. Reviews should be vital information in that case by providing opinion based on use but not one of the reviews I read before purchase mentioned any of the problems I will detail, problems that if I had known beforehand would have prevented me from buying them.
Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote & Mic