 |
 |
 |
Published: November 24, 2009
Apple In-Ear Headphones are designed in the minimal and sleek Apple tradition. Nothing extra, nothing fancy and nothing unnecessary. They are like two small pieces of art in the minimal tradition, and just like most art they also look somewhat frail. Perhaps this frail element is what makes them so visually appealing. As many artists have shown there is beauty in frailty. Yet I never feel that the headphones are frail so it is a visual illusion, because the headphones feel sturdy.
The packaging of the In-Ear headphones is as usual something to behold. If those people designing Volvos had just a hint of the touch of the brilliance that Apple’s design teams seem to have Volvo would still be the pride of Sweden. Back to the box, and more importantly what is in the box. The Apple In-Ear headphones come with a carrying case, three sets of silicone tips with one for each size and two replacement mesh caps. The mesh caps can be either cleaned or replaced, and it is important to keep them clean to keep the sound quality high. The carrying case is not the most practical, as it is a hard case and strangely shaped. Still it lets you wrap the cord up to avoid the usual travel entanglement.
Technical Specifications of the In-Ear headphones
• Frequency response: 5Hz to 21kHz
• Impedance (at 100Hz): 23 ohms
• Sensitivity (at 100Hz): 109 dB SPL/mW
• Drivers: Custom two-way balanced armature (woofer and tweeter in each earpiece)
Like most in-ear headphones these have to create a proper seal to give you a good representation of the sound. What sets them apart is that they are quite short, and thus only reaching half a centimetre into my ears. This is not the best part of the ear canal to place earburds as they tend to become itchy. You know the feeling when an earphone feels like it is falling out of your ear. I get that feeling quite often even though the Apple In-Ear headphones sit perfectly still. This is because of the placement of the earphone, and the short distance it is inserted in the ear. To me this makes longer sessions quite uncomfortable.
The cord and microphone is the same that comes with the Apple Earphones that ships with the iPhone 3GS. Actually the cord is what Apple has used for all iPod and iPhone earphones I have encountered. I have never liked it as it transfers sounds whenever it moves across a piece of clothing or even my face. This transfer is by far worst when using the In-Ear headphones as they are good at blocking out other sounds. The cord is also really prone to entanglement, and it is near impossible to put them in the pocket to retrieve them untangled later on. The square design of the microphone is also a bit of a nuisance as it snags in clothes, and gets stuck in pockets. I would have preferred a bit rounder design for it, as that would also harmonise better with the rounded design of the earphones.
The sound quality is good with a good range of sound due to having a separate tweeter and woofer for each earphone. Despite having a separate woofer the In-Ear headphones lacks a bit of punch in the lower registers. To get power from bass heavy music I had to change the equaliser settings of the iPhone. I usually have it set to off, but to for example listen to Infected Mushroom I changed it to Bass Booster. This is of course a matter of taste, but to me it is hard to listen to music that I know is based on a thumping bass to convey the feelings intended. When listening to some dark martial ambient folk music such as Arcana the In-Ear almost felt like they where going to thump out of my ears, great. I hate having too much bass when listening for example to jazz or classical music, and thus I had to turn off Bass Booster in the EQ setting to listen to for example Susan Boyle.
When playing games the above applies, a bit lacking in bass so those games relying on for example chiptune rumbling sounds like Squareball needs to have some sort of equaliser on. Mellow music, and ambience works perfectly right away such as Ravensword.
The sound quality of the microphone is good as usual. I have not had anyone complaining on the other end, and they even say that I sound clearer than when only using the iPhone.
The In-Ear headphones isolate really well by blocking out unwanted noise. With three different sizes of the silicone ear tips it is easy to find a size for everyone. I would say that the noise isolation is almost on par with that of the leading headphone when it comes to blocking noise: Etymotic hf2. When calling though I have to remove one of the headphones as it becomes uncomfortable having the full noise isolated seal while talking. This is common to most of the In-Ear headphones with effective noise isolation.
The Apple In-Ear headphones are uneven, and highlights include the overall good sound quality, beautiful sleek design and good noise isolation. The poor noise transferring cord, lack of bass power and uncomfortable fit lowers the final impression. A real positive aspect is that the microphone controls comes with volume controls, and thus making the iPhone completely handsfree when taking a call. I would definitely say that overall the Apple In-Ear headphones is good value for your money, but it is a long way to the quality found at the top of the in-ear headphones segment.
Final Rating
Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic at the US Apple Store $79.00
Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic at the UK Apple Store £59.00
Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here
2 Comments on "Apple In-Ear Headphones review"
Nacho Andrade, USA on Tue, 24th Nov 2009 9:13 pm
I find the fit to be superior to any in-ear earbud I have ever tried. Including the foam & silicone tips for my shure buds.
legend.inc on Thu, 26th Nov 2009 8:31 am
i have a set of cheap sony headphones and no money to buy these fancy ones. But i can always imagine by reading the reviews!!