The purpose of this review is to give people an idea of how these little earphones compare to medium-top end audiophile headphones. This would have been useful for me before I bought them. You may think it unfair to compare earphones which cost £12.99 with headphones costing £150 but I think it is useful from a reference point of view.
The Creative’s will be compared to the following headphones.
Sennheiser HD250 Linear II (Closed back)
Sennheiser HD580 (Open back)
Beyer Dynamic DT770 (Closed back)
All headphones were tested using a CD player connect via optical link to a JVC surround sound amp set to straight stereo mode (no effects).
Music tracks used for the tests:
George Michael – Older – Spinning The Wheel (this has a 36Hz bass note – lower than the lowest note on a bass guitar [41Hz] when conventionally tuned)
Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic – Any Major Dude Will Tell you (nicely recorded acoustic guitars and a great arrangement)
First of all I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a good fit into each ear canal. For me the medium “bud” fitted my right ear and the small “bud” fitted my left ear. This gives me a spare pair of buds – Bonus. The fit not only affects the bass response but also the quality and imaging of all frequencies below about 500Hz IMO.
Right, having obtained the perfect fit after about 30 minutes of experimenting, it was time to compare the EP-630’s to my other ‘phones. Let me first of all say that the Sennheiser HD250 linear II’s are my favourite ‘phones in terms of overall sound quality. The HD580’s are excellent in terms of openness but
not quite as extended on the bass as the 250 II’s. The Beyer DT770’s are the poorest of the three, they seem to have slight colouration (odd minor peaks in the audio spectrum), but I’m being hyper critical here. All three are excellent headphones.
Right straight into George Michael, how would the Creative’s handle that 36Hz bass note? Well….., no problems at all. Nicely defined and on a par with all but the HD250 II’s. The “airy” tom toms at the beginning of this track also sounded surprisingly clean and open. The track has many types of instrument including electric guitar, brass, saxophone, tambourine, female backing vocals, that deep bass and of course George’s great voice to name a few. The Creative’s were very impressive for such a modest price and handled the overall mix without a hitch.
Next Steely Dan. I always use this track to check clarity, sparkle and soundstage aspects. The track starts with two acoustics one panned left, the other right playing essentially the same chords but slightly out of time with each other. This really shows up any weakness in headphones but the Creative’s gave a very convincing performance, conveying real presence and space. The Creatives rocked along with the rest of the track, vocals being clear and well focussed. The soundstage was well defined with plenty of space around each of the instruments.
Conclusion.
There is nothing to compare with these earphones for the measly £13 price tag. For that sort of money they are nothing short of amazing. In absolute terms they do not have the openness and ultimate space around each of the instruments that my £150 Senny’s have but that would be asking too much, wouldn’t it.
You must make sure that the fit is correct for each ear or you will seriously compromise the bass response and just as importantly the low end imagery. Make sure both earphones fit properly and you will really appreciate the astonishing results you can achieve from these little beauties.
I am convinced that these are identical to the Sennheiser CX300’s but at half the price. Save your money buy these.
Linear Mode
