Headphone Extravaganza

Danls92 is taking a look at various different headphones in a lengthy comparison and review - a Hack the iPod touch exclusive. Danls92 is an occasional writer for us here at Hack the iPod touch, and although his articles are published under my name they are fully written by himself.

Seeing as the holiday season has just passed, and I’m willing to bet a bunch of you have some money burning a hole in your pocket, I decided to do a head-to-head comparison rather than review each of the headphones independently. This way, you can see which headphone fits your need (and your price range) best. Below you’ll find a comparison chart, and a brief review of each with my impressions and opinions.

Continue reading for the full comparison and reviews of various different headphones.

I also broke the headphones into 3 categories: Low-end, midrange, and high-end, as it wouldn’t quite be a fair competition to throw them all together. The overall rating is a simple average of the headphone’s scores.

The Categories

Comfort - This category is fairly self-explanatory: how noticeable they were in my ears and generally how easily I could stand to listen to them for a prolonged period of time.

Durability - This is how well the headphones stood up to everyday use. My normal schedule is listening to them for about 45 minutes in the morning on the way to school, with the accompanying jostling and bumping coming from a packed bus ride. Then after school another 30 minutes on the way home. After that, the headphones are in my ears more or less until I go to sleep.

Build Quality - I decided to separate this from durability, in that this category ranks how well the various parts feel to be made, and how in the long run they will maintain their integrity. Build quality is more the individual parts, whereas durability is how well all the parts stand up together.

Lows / Mids / Highs - Once again, this is a fairly self-explanatory section. I listened to a variety of tracks representing various genres in an attempt to get a good feel of how eat pair of headphones handled these portions of the spectrum.

Comparison Chart

Note: The chart below is based on personal opinion and yours may be different.

Stock iPod headphones

Price: $29.00 US (included with iPod/iPhone)
Overall Rating: 4.0

These headphones were included more as a control than as a serious contender. Anybody who owns an iPod, has a friend that owns an iPod, or has not been living under a rock for the past 7-8 years has heard of these things. They’re simple, and they get the job done, but anybody who enjoys music and has the money to do so should spring for a better pair.

In the comfort category, these things are pretty good. They don’t go in your ear at all, so they don’t block out extraneous sound, but some people don’t like the feel of in-ear headphones. As far as durability and built quality goes, these are bottom of the barrel. These headphones were evidently designed to last no longer than the period of time needed to get a better pair. The cord insulation on my headphones wore off, along with the rubber ring around the headphone itself, all within the period of about 2 months. I have yet to come across somebody who has owned a pair of these for a substantial amount of time, and kept them in good working order.

In terms of sound quality you can do worse, but not by much. Midranges sound alright, but the headphones simply lack the power to output good lows or highs. Lows sound muddied and distorted, and highs lack any emotion or punch.

Skull Candy Ink’d

Price: $20.00 US
Overall Rating: 7.6

These headphones don’t really deserved to even be in the same category as the stock iPod headphones, but I was forced to put them there to keep the categories relatively straight-forward. These headphones are designed for a specific audience, and if you fit that audience you’ll love them. Skullcandy headphones are known for their two major traits, volume & bass, and neither of which are disappointing.

As far as comfort goes, these are pretty good. Unlike the stock iPod headphones, these are in ear. I personally never found a pair of ear-tips that provided an amazing fit, so I gave it a lower score, but I’ve heard from other people that they fit them perfectly. These things are meant to take a beating and keep going, and I have confidence in them. They are my brother’s so I wasn’t able to test them to the “extreme” but their metal and hard plastic casing implies that they can stand up the rigors of everyday use. The cord is rather thing and readily-tangled, and it carries vibrations well so I rated it a bit lower. In terms of build quality, the headphone casings themselves were fine, but the eartips were flimsy and cheap feeling. For headphones of this price-range they weren’t bad, but I had hoped for a bit higher quality.

The Skullcandy headphones are made for bass, and they don’t disappoint. These readily provided the loudest and most powerful bass of any of the headphones. Until the Radius Atomic Bass, the bass never sounded especially muddied or confused. The midranges also are strong, but lack clarity which also affects the highs. All in all, they aren’t bad but they leave something to be desired.

Radius Atomic Bass

Price: $39.99 US
Overall Rating: 6.7

These headphones, like the Skullcandy headphones above, are designed for bass. Overall, they were quite usable, but I didn’t see anything particularly amazing about them. They got the job done, and they were more comfortable than most of the other in-ear headphones, but they just seemed slightly over-priced for their performance. I should also mention that they make a model that has an incorporated microphone for iPhone and iPod Touch 2G users ($49.99)

These headphones are shaped slightly different than all of the other pairs excluding the Shure e210’s. Rather than going directly into your ear, they bend at an angle so the main body of the headphone is perpendicular to your ear, yet the ear-tip fits comfortably into your auditory canal. I had no problems with durability, but they seem slightly more fragile than the other pairs I’ve tested. They have a sort of chrome plating near the ear-tip, which while decorative, makes them seem rather cheap and fragile. I also had a problem with the build quality of the headphones. The ear-tips are even more flimsy than those of the Skullcandy. When they were in my pocket one day, the ear-tip fell of the “stem” of the headphones and I was unable to find it, a problem that I experienced with no other pair.

These headphones are made for bass, but even in that category I found them to be slightly lacking. They provide an ample amount, but they are neither as powerful nor as controlled as those of the Skullcandy. During loud moments, the sound tended to get muddy and confused. The midranges were good, but the highs lacked anything distinctive.

Overall, I was actually happy with these headphones (contrary to what that review might have led you to believe). I have recommended these to several friends, and would recommend them to anybody looking for stylish headphones with good bass. Taken out of the context of this review, I would be more than happy with them, they just didn’t seem to match up against the other pairs that I reviewed.

If you would like a pair of your own, the people over at Radius were kind enough to code “ipodtouchfans” (sans the quotations) which when put in during checkout at www.radiusearphones.com will get you 5% off, and free shipping.

Sennheiser MX 85

Price: $59.95 US
Overall Rating: 7.7

These headphones are slightly different than the other pairs in this review, as in they are meant more to be used while engaging in physical activity than solely for the enjoyment of music. I was going to do a separate review of them, but considering they handily hold their own with the rest I incorporated them.

The first thing you notice when looking at these headphones is their distinctive shape. They are engineered so that you twist them into your ear, “locking” them in place. I lent this pair to my father (an avid runner) to see how they worked and he was extremely happy with them. He told me that at no point did they fall out or shift, and that they felt comfortable during his entire run. Compared to the other headphones, they felt slightly odd and uncomfortable when just sitting around, but the feeling faded somewhat after using them for a while. These headphones are meant to endure harsh conditions, meaning that they are both sweat and water resistant. I took a few points off build quality because I found it much more difficult than it should be to switch out the various size ear tips.

In terms of sound quality, these headphones lacked somewhat in bass, but made up for it with pristine mids and highs. The bass wasn’t especially lacking, but compared to the Radius and Skullcandy offerings, they couldn’t compete. The mids and highs sounded terrific, but tended to sound slightly too clinical and devoid of emotion.

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4

Price $129.99
Overall Rating: 9.3

Ultimate Ears has a reputation of making terrific sounding headphones, and they most definitely lived up to that reputation with this pair. Although I had some issues originally with finding a good fit, once I did these headphones produced some truly astounding sound. They weren’t quite as good in terms of bass as the Skullcandy or Radius headphones, but their midranges and highs more than compensated. As with the Radius pair, Ultimate Ears offer the Super.fi VI ($149.99) with a built in microphone.

The big distinction between these and the other headphones I reviewed were the quality that went into both the ear tips and the headphones themselves. While it took me a while to decide on the appropriate ear tips, they fit snugly and comfortably into my ears. A tip to anybody who gets a pair, angle them into your ear so that they make a line down your auditory canal rather than attempting to insert them perpendicularly into your ear. You need to push down with a little force in order to make a seal, but once you do, they do a terrific job of blocking out sound. The headphones feel exceptionally well built, with a metal body, and ear tips that don’t feel flimsy at all. With the hard chassis, I can see them enduring a serious amount of abuse. They come with 5 different sets of ear tips, one set of foam and the rest of silicone.

As I said above, the one place where these headphones are lacking is in bass. It is definitely present, but it just doesn’t have much kick to it. Rather than feeling warm as bass generally does, it felt slightly subdued. The highs and midranges are extraordinary though, bringing forth details and nuances that were previously unrecognizable.

Shure se210

Price: $149.99
Overall Rating: 8.7

This pair of headphones was slightly difficult for me to review, because they really produce a weird sensation in your ears stemming from the noise cancelling aspect. I found this unsettling, and the feeling did not go away. I did my best, and I feel that my review did not suffer from it, but I figured that I would include that piece of information so as the reader can take my opinions with a grain of salt.

I won’t go into the comfort piece too much, owing to the above information, but it is certainly an acquired comfort level. From my research online, it seems that this feeling eventually went away for most, but I never got over it. Shure really does its best to conform to every possibly customer, with ear-tips spanning from silicone to foam, and classical along with flange style tips. The build quality is superb, and the amount of engineering expertise is evident. Additionally, these headphones are undoubtedly durable, but in accordance with their price-tag, I would be hesitant to use them for more than domestic use.

In terms of sound quality, I found them to be very relatable to the Ultimate Ears pair. They definitely excelled more in the bass category, possibly owing to their superior sound isolation. In midranges, they were about the same. Highs showed a slight victory for Ultimate Ears, as the Shure pair seemed to not emphasize them as much, favoring the mids and lower frequencies.

Wrap Up

I highlighted the highest score in each of the categories, so if you are looking for the best bass, comfort, etc. you can refer there. Overall I enjoyed testing each pair (with the possible exception of the iPod stock headphones), but I highly recommend the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 4’s if you have the funds.

Which of these headphones are your favorite? Do you have another pair of headphones you would like to see reviewed? Whatever you have to say, drop us a comment below.