I am what you would call, a serious audiophile. I work in radio and after years of working (very) closely with digital audio, I believe I have quite a picky sense of what I like when it comes to headphones/earbuds. They either work and sound good, or not, plain and simple.
If I had the money to spare, I'd buy me a pair of BOSE Quiet Comforts, but being in radio, I DON'T, so I bought a pair of Phillips Noise Cancelling Headphones, which I was profoundly impressed with. So much so that I went and got a pair of noise cancelling earbuds for my mp3 player. Once again, I am equally impressed. I tried them out the first time while driving in my car (yes, I KNOW I shouldn't wear earbuds while driving, and to be honest, I did it only as a test...) and to also try out my mp3 player on my way to work. I have a rather short commute, and this particular morning the wind was HOWLING quite fiercely. I figured if these little babies could stamp out the wind from the inside of my little Chevy, I might really have something here. I put them in my ears (they fit reasonably well and are almost comfortable--and I cannot STAND uncomfortable earbuds or headphones) before I drove out of my garage and after a couple of songs, I turned off the noise cancelling feature and to my surprise, the inside of my car sounded not unlike the cabin of a 727 in an attempt to hit altitude in record time. MAN was I impressed! With my mp3 player completely OFF I could only barely hear the wind outside my vehicle...and trust me, it was LOUD.
In a nutshell, that is the best barometer for -- in my eyes -- what really counts. Great sound under harsh sounding conditions. Are there better functioning earbuds available? Almost certainly. But are they truly worth the impossibly high price most of them cost? I'm going to say NO. Don't get me wrong, I have several choices, were I to have the budget to afford them, that I would purchase in a heartbeat if I could over these...but being the picky person that I am, I have to say that once I got used to my Phillips, I don't feel like I am missing out so much like I used to.
For the money, I personally believe the HN060 earbuds to be MORE than worth the value and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone who wants great sound but cannot -- or would rather not -- have to spend so much to get it.
Hope my opinion helps. |
Philips HN060/37 Noise-Canceling Earbuds home electronics.