Why well its the cheap headphones that many MP3 manufacturers ship with their products and that Applies to Apple whose earbuds are frankly poor especially on heavy bass tracks. The solution is often to spend almost the same amount on new earphones as you did on the player from names such as Shure and Koss.

However this isn't strictly necessary with a bit of research you can get a better sound at a great price, how does £25 sound? This week we've been using our iPod with a set of EzEars SX50's, they were sent to us along with a batch of well priced earphones for review and these stood head and shoulders above the others.

First up the design is quite iPodesque with the Apple ice white look and a silver back plate to the driver, they have just the right amount of right amount of weight to feel good in the hand and yet fit comfortably in the ear. The chord is not overly long or too short at 1.2 meters, as long as your MP3 player is in a pocket or on your belt the EzEars should reach with enough length for some athleticism. Perhaps our only criticism is that the Y section of the chord is a bit short meaning that if you wear them normally (rather than the cable behind the head and over ear) its a tight fit if you have a chubby face.

With the EzEars SX50 hooked up to our 3G iPod it was time to put them to the test could they really beat a set of Shure E2C's? Initially we were very surprised as they instantly had more bass than we could have wished for, the in ear seal is very good and therefore adds plenty to the isolation of background noise and helps the bass sound warm and rich.

We worked our way through a whole range of styles with FatBoy Slim's Palookavile providing a great test of some complicated tracks and a decent bass line, the SX50's coped well and managed to provide an enjoyable listen. Compared to the E2Cs form Shure they do lack a bit of separation in that the whole sound a bit too stuck together and the real top end sounds a bit muted by the very warm and rich bass, having said this its much better than a weedy bass and tinny reproduction offered by most headset at this price.

The drivers with their 10mm magnets seem to do a good job of pushing their way through busy and punchy tracks although the overall audio output was lower than other sets we have tested, luckily our iPod has the pesky volume safety feature switched off so we could driver the EzEars just fine.

A week of use proved the SX50's to be very comfortable and all who tried them said the same, the little rubberised ear mouldings fit well in a range of ear sizes, which is just as well as unlike the bigger brand names you only get one size of moulding. One disappointment is that they do not ship with a carry case, this is available as an optional extra, although the supplier we spoke to "soundwise.co.uk" is looking into getting a pouch to ship them in, depending on the price adjustment this may alter the value for money of the overall package.

In summary we are impressed with the EzEars SX50, they offer a combination of style and comfort while punching well above their weight in terms of both sonic quality and value for money, don't put up with second rate earbuds splash out £25 and find out just how good your iPod really is.

Check out the EzEars at soundwise.co.uk

Published - 14/04/2006

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