£5 Maplin ear canal N/R earphones

[jpgreenwood]

I,ve trawled this thread for months looking for some comfy ear canal earphones. Shure, sennheiser, sony, audio technica etc. I want to try before I buy but the fact is you just cant. Hygene or something. Bloody Health and Safety people. Today I was looking in Maplin for some pc speakers for work and noticed a big bargain bucket full of white ear canal earphones. They are made by BANDRIDGE (i,ve never heard of them either). Sealed packaging as usual but nice rubberised white earphones with white cable and 24k plated mini jack, 6.3 converter supplied also in 24k. There are 3 different sized adaptors and the phones offer noise reduction with "ear-tubed" technology. So, for a fiver I decided I had nothing to lose. I,ve just tested them on my mp3 and they're great. Nice clean bass, excellent clarity and comfy as hell. You dont even know they're in there. Placement in the ear is quite important to benefit from the full bass but that might be due to the bud size wrong. I have yet to try the other 2 sizes. I listened to Faithless/Tiesto-Tarantula, great ghostly vocals fom maxi jazz, Jamelia-live lounge numb, you can hear the guitarist's fingers twanging the strings, and Taio Cruz-I just wanna know, excellent bass line and mellow as a marsh mallow rub down. Anyway, sorry for the rant but just thought these might be a great inbetween phone for the undecided and confused
SPEC;
BANDRIDGE BHP159
9mm Speaker
30mw max speaker input
16 ohm impedence
100db sensitivity
20-20000HZ freq range
1.5m cord
3.5mm and 6.3 adaptor
Maplin £5:00 GBP
No, I'm not paid to endorse this product.

[TheBoingoBandit]

Banbridge make lower end audio and video cables.

I would be wary of buying cheap ear canal phones as I bought a £6.99 Maxell pair from HMV. They while trying to change the buds, both earpieces fell apart within a week. No wonder HMV had greatly reduced the price.

[Reano]

Everything is cheap for a reason. My motto is you can only get really cheap 'Quality' items if it's stolen (unless you are extremely lucky).

[jpgreenwood]

I agree guys but as I said, they're ok as a stop gap pair whilst saving for or researching more expensive pairs.

[mattski73]

so if these £5 earpones are so good, what were you using before?

[jpgreenwood]

I was using the standard Samsung in the ear type that came with my mp3 player. They're too big for my ears and were uncomfortable. I,m not trying to tell people that these are the best things since sliced bread, just my opinion on a cheap item which works temporarily for me. Its not all about the most expensive, best sounding products all the time is it? Surely views of alternatives can be expressed. This forum seems to have the same re-occuring theme, "which earphones for mp3 on the tube" etc. I thought these might just appeal to the lower end of the market searchers.

[pwood]

Why not put up with the poor quality ones until you can afford the likes of Sennheiser Cx300 which can be got for around £20. £5 Maplin jobs wont be a massive leap ( if any) on what you have at present.

I wish you could hear the difference yourself now, then you would wait!

Headphone are a bit like shavers, once bought you're stuck with them

[Spacecat]

I had a pair of Shure Ec2's nd while they were very good its like sticking 2 potatos in your ear and the cable is very heavy.

after i broke them i got the Sennheiser Cx300 's and I couldnt be happier. Super light, very comfortable, great sound and HALF the price!

I travel on the tube every day and they do a great job

[Reano]

Originally Posted by pwood

Why not put up with the poor quality ones until you can afford the likes of Sennheiser Cx300 which can be got for around £20. £5 Maplin jobs wont be a massive leap ( if any) on what you have at present.

I wish you could hear the difference yourself now, then you would wait!

Headphone are a bit like shavers, once bought you're stuck with them

Got to agree, Best to stick with the free one's until you buy something you are unlikely to change. Never heard the Senn cx300 but everyone rates them. I have the Shure e500 and I look down on you from my lofty position ....

[jpgreenwood]

I would say the Maplin jobbies are as good as the OEM Samsung supplied. But the comfort factor was my main aim and these are great for me. I use my mp3 infequently and I dont travel on the tube, trains etc. I mainly listen in bed or sat at the pc so very little surround noise.