I wrote a post a while back about my constant search for affordable and good earphones, and I even wrote about how I was always against in-ear ones because the thought of something poking on the insides of my ear felt icky. Ever since that entry I bought myself two earphones already: JBL Roxy Reference 230 and Philips SHE2675B6. Still, I wasn’t satisfied. Also after using it for a while, the Philips one started developing a “can” sound. I’m not sure what the right expression for it is but it’s like you’re listening to music inside a can and it gets really annoying. I’m still using it as my iPod Touch’s mic and phone handsfree though, it’s a really good replacement.
Going back to Jakarta from Cebu I had a stopover in Singapore and dundundun, I wanted to buy earphones again. I was so close to buying new ones and even considering these in-ear ones from Sony “Jienne Pop” which cost around $40-$50 then decided against it, I settled for an electric toothbrush instead because I have so many earphones piling up inside my bag already. Fast forward the next day after my arrival my mom gets back from a business trip in Taipei and I hadn’t really spoken to her since after a the new year because she left early from Cebu for work and for this business trip. She comes home with two things, an iHome iD91 for my sister (that I still ended up using) and *drumroll* the Sony Jienne Pop earphones that I was eyeing in Singapore.
Here’s the verdict: it is great. For its price, it sounds really great. The bass doesn’t sound cheap and very much clear and the only issue I have with it is that it’s in-ear, so I’m still getting a bit used to it but if you have no issue with that then I suggest you go out and get yourself one of these. In the US it only costs $19 but in Asia they raised the price a bit more. Oh well expected. I’m totally loving them right now and have the listening mojo back on wherever I am. Looks like the search is over for now 🙂 if ever this breaks I’m going to get myself another pair because I’m already very satisfied with it.
Hmm I’m afraid I’ve given up on earphones long ago and just use headphones. I personally use a pair of Wesc Maracas, but i’ve bought several pairs of Sennheisers (split costs with friends, obviously!) for people as birthday gifts and so on and I would swear by them. But i guess that’s not quite what you’re after… The thing I find with earphones is that I can’t hear the bass properly unless i turn it up dangerously loud – and being a jazz bass student, i need to hear the bass clearly (and older jazz recordings are awful for lower end stuff) so there’s the conundrum. I also find that earphones don’t cancel noise like headphones, and since i take the ferry to uni… well heck, they’re loud! haha.
And it’s such a shame you couldn’t tag along with your mum! Next time you really must! And yes, Taipei just keeps getting better 🙂
What really made me laugh is the fact that you settled for an electric toothbrush!