Coby CV-E92 Isolation Stereo Earphones

I've used plenty of earphones in my day. I've used headphones, I've had the ones shaped like circles that you have to stick in your ear (with our without that piece that wraps around your ears), and I've used big MONSTER headphones that look like those ones that plane traffic engineers use.

Never have I had a pair of earphones that are as comfortable as these. Many times, you get those earphones that you stick in your ear and they are VERY uncomfortable. Not so with these. They are so gentle. Comfort aside, these earphones are EXCELLENT. I can't hear a thing when I have them both on (which I think is a BIG PLUS). And the sound quality is excellent.

And you just can't beat the price for earphones of this size and quality. I highly recommend them.

Sound Quality:
The Coby earphones compare very favorably to the in earphones in the sub $25 range like Philips SHE9500 Ultra Sound In Ear Headphones or JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (White). The sound of these Coby earphones is decent, they also have good bass and pretty good noise reduction. The noise reduction is not as great as some of the sub $100 earphones I have used but is good enough for listening on a plane ride. This is probably the best noise reduction you can get in the sub $20 range!

Comfort:
These are one of the more comfortable in ear phones I've owned. The flex rubber sleeves are thinner than usual and fit comfortably in the ear. I can wear them for hours without feeling any discomfort. They also don't fall out which is a big plus. The only in ear headphone that was more comfortable than these is the Philips SE9850 that came with memory foam sleeves that molds to fit your ears.

Make:
The make of these earphones is ok. The cord is quite thin and does have a tendency to tangle a bit. When you get them you have to tear apart the cord as per your preference, there is a little plastic sleeve midway to ensure you don't end up tearing them all the way down. They did seem a bit flimsy to me but in 2 months of use these earphones have held up quite well. And seriously, even if they do get damaged after a few months it will take only $5 to replace them.

Overall:
If you're like me and like to have more than one earphone lying around, this is a great product. After I lost my $100 Shures when they fell out of my pocket, I prefer to take these with me for more active trips. They sound good, don't fall out of my ears and hold up well to moderately rough use...and if I lose them, no big deal...just get a new pair.

I gave this product 4 stars cause I rated the product based on price/value, product quality and sound quality. Based upon all these I believe for $10 after shipping, you just can not beat the sound of these earphones. Yes, they are bass heavy and tend to muddy the overall sound spectrum a bit because of this fact, but it is easily overcome with an EQ setting on the ipod. The sound seems tight and crisp to me listening to pop, rock and some jazz on a EQ setting of treble booster. I couldnt listen to it at full volume to see where I could head distortion in lower or higher freq. The cable lanyard going into the buds seems kind of fragile. The silicon tips feel much cheaper that the tips on my Sennheiser CX-300's. Yet, these babies play the music on my ipod much louder than the CX-300's and do not seem to distort as easy as the CX-300s in the lower freq from what I have seen. Bottom line-5 stars = price/value, 4 stars = product quality and 4 stars = sound quality. If you are rough on earphones, keep your $10. But, if you are looking for a replacement earphone for your ipod and you are on a tight budget and arent an audiophilist, these may be for you.

I've never been a fan of earbuds because they always seemed uncomfortable and would fall out of my ear. These have little rubber parts on the end that act like a cushion and keep the earbuds in your ear firmly but comfortably. Soundwise, I didn't know what to expect from all the mixed reviews but I'm satisfied. Bass is virtually nonexistent and if you put the bass boost on your mp3player on it sounds awful so don't bother with that. Clarity is very good both for music and podcasts/audio books.

You will notice lots of reviews saying that one bud will go dead after as little as a month with even minor usage. This just goes to show you take every review on amazon with a grain of salt you don't know who works for who. I use mine constantly because I am learning Japanese and am using the immersion method so I always have Japanese of some sort going into my ears. 2 months later my earbuds are still going strong.

Noise cancellation, it's mildly effective. It's enough to block out the annoying people in the apartment next door at even the lowest volume but when I'm on the train or in the subway station I have to put the volume up pretty high to hear it, about the same level as my old headphones.

So to sum it up, they were six bucks, I wasn't expecting much but they are actually pretty good. I'm a hiphop fan and I'm a little sad about the lack of bass but the price tag, clarity, and comfort of these earbuds are enough for me to keep using them and recommend them to anyone who isn't a complete audio snob.

Pros:
+ Low cost.

Cons:
- Sound isolation is minimal to non-existant.
- Sound quality is not very good - mediocre at best.
- One size does not fit all - I really have to jam these things in to get them to stay put. That's probably because the "soft ear cup for maximum comfort" really is not that soft. It is thin hollow plastic surrounding a hard plastic tube.

These are going into the trash can, since at under six bucks it is certainly not worth my time to return them, nor would it be fair to hassle amazon.

I read the other reviewers comments on these earbuds about the tips coming off, but thought I'd take that as fair warning to be careful and bought them anyway. Well, after only two weeks I came home from the gym with my ipod and my "new" earbuds, and noticed the plastic tip was gone when I sat them down. I don't think my ear swallowed it, but never saw it go. These little guys work just fine if there was a way to replace the buds. I should've glued them on.