The last set of headphones I have tried from Altec Lansing are the Muzx XY. These are barebones headphones made for sports. Nothing fancy, no microphone or other fragile parts. Just two in ear headphones, and a long thin cord.
The design of the XY:s is quite simple, but yet there is a hint of the cool looking Muzx line. The color mixture of black and white gives me dark coffee and cream associations. A special design feature is the fact that the main cord goes straight into the left earphone, and then a cord exits from the bottom of the left earphone to the right earphone. A pivoting joint at the bottom allows for quite a lot of movement, and the idea is quite clever. In real life the plastic material used for the pivot joint is far too brittle to withstand the force if the right earphone or cable gets stuck on anything. I even think it looked slightly cracked straight out of the box. After a week of running, and riding my bike the crack has widened slightly. It still holds it together well for everyday usage, or even running if you make sure to not let the right earphone dangle freely.
The sound is surprisingly good considering the low price of the XY. Good power to the bass, and a good range for most audio sources. Perhaps a bit poor when it comes to separating, and dispersing sound sources. Still I am impressed, and the sound is actually more powerful for these due to the fat tip where the silicone tips go. Compared to the other Altec Lansing headphones the power, and noise isolation is closest to the Muzx Ultra due to using the same sized tips. It blows both the Muzx Core, and Muzx Extra away.
For running these work really well. The thin cord slaps about quite a lot, but there is not that much noise transferred anyway. For riding a bike these tend to get a lot of wind sizzling around them, as the speed picks up. Another issue with the bike is the fact that long cords, and wheels are a bit mix. I have managed to keep the cord from going into my wheels, but I have had to be conscious when stopping it red lights.
The silicone tips are the cheaper kind that feels slightly flimsy. For the XY these still work really well due to the tip of the earphone being thick. Those with really narrow ear canals will find these too big, and cumbersome.
The XY is a great cheap alternative when exercising, and even if they don’t excel at anything you get a good sound, great noise isolation and low weight. To me those are features I look for in exercise gear, as I have no need to have warm Bose bass or excellent Sennheiser clarity when out running. Once you are done running/lifting weights/gardening/bicycling these can be hung next to your other training gear. Definitely recommended.