Gold and black with a unique look and design is what the Muzx® Ultra from Altec Lansing is all about. It has a really distinct style with the cord going into the back of the earphone in a small visible arc. A plastic piece that extends from the lower back of the earphone holds the cord in place. I have never seen this type of open cord design before, and it really adds a level of freshness and excitement.
The sound produced from these in ear headphones is balanced without any weakness, or any impressive strength. They are good for listening to for example jazz, as there is quite a good spatial dispersion of the audio sources. For more directly powerful music such as metal these fare less good, as there is a lack of punch. For hip hop or other beat heavy music these work quite well providing a nice warm bass. In my opinion these give a lite version of Bose bass, with a warm fuzzy feel. These are not comparable to Beats by Dr Dre headphones that have a more direct punchy bass. For most users the Muzx Ultra will provide a good clean sound, but at the price most consumers probably want more personality.
The design is really cool with a fat bullpup shell, unique cord fastening and colour scheme. This is perhaps the main reason to get these instead of one of the competitors in the in ear market. The cord design might mean that it will lengthen life of the cord quite well. It does however come with a large disadvantage. The large shell, and cord extending backwards gives the wind a large surface to blow across. When going at more than 30 kilometres and hour on my bicycle, or running at full speed the wind noise becomes unbearable. For exercising these headphones are not recommended.
The microphone is placed below the cheek at neck height. This is kind of low, and I have had to hold it closer to my mouth for more than half of the calls I have made to be clearly audible. It comes with buttons for volume controls as well. I like the design even though it is kind of large, and would have benefited from a smaller profile. When exercising it bounces about quite a lot, as there is no shirt clip included in the package. I had to use one form an old Sony Ericson headset to counter the long heavy cord when out running and bicycling. The cord is actually extremely long, and as it is thick and rugged it becomes heavy. It is not prone to tangling, or carrying that much extra noise from rubbing against clothes. I have got the cord stuck in my bike and on door handles. This is another reason why these headphones are hard to recommend when exercising. I can just picture myself getting tangled when trying to do some max weight bench press exercises, ouch.
Finally the four different sets of silicone tips are hard to find a good fit from. This is due to size, and the fact that the end of the earphone is really thick. People with small ears will have trouble inserting these earphones even with the smallest silicone tips. I have managed to use the medium, and the dual flanged ones quite well.
Altec Lansing has created a really cool looking headphone design that stands out from the crowd with a large housing, and open cord back. The sound is decent for most users, but that really depends on finding a set of eartips that work. For smaller ears these are hard to recommend. For exercising the long cord, and wind noise makes it hard to recommend. In the end it all comes down to how much you like the cool design.
Final Rating
Muzx Ultra at AltecLansing.com $99.95
