Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

**Quick Review*** Overall: 3 out of 5 Sound Quality: 3.5 out of 5 Sound Trueness: 2 out of 5 Build Quality: 1 out of 5 Comfort: 2 out of 5 Noise Cancellation: 2 out of 5 Style & Appearance: 4 out of 5 Value: 5 out of 5 ***The above are based on comparing these headphones to headphones priced as high as $350. I rated these headphones “5 Stars” on Amazon because they are easily a perfect score in every category when compared to products within a $50-$80 price range.*** Full Review: I purchased these headphones after seeing the insane amount of positive reviews over a $15 pair of headphones. My headphones of choice are the studio staple Sony MDR-7506. My pair is, however, wearing out quite a bit. And before investing another $100 on a new pair, I figured I’d give this set a try. Being someone who uses headphones for audio engineering and sound mastering, my preferences are typically geared towards a “clean” or “true” sound rather than a “good” sound. In other words, I’d rather my headphones leave bad recording quality sounding bad rather than making a poor recording sound great. Because of that, I have rated these headphones on both sound “quality” and “trueness” as separate categories. I will be grading these headphones in comparison to headphones of any price range, so the below ratings will not be a reflection of comparing these headphones with comparable models at similar price. Sound Quality: 3 out of 5 For casual listening, it does not get too much better than this. The bass hits hard and these headphones can get loud without the slightest distortion. In my experience, sound quality is typically not this high until you are at least in the $60 or higher range of headphones. I won’t go so far as some other reviews have gone in comparing these to Beats Audio or Bose, but such comparisons are not completely misguided. The biggest miss for sound quality overall comes in that the headphones have a very “roomy” or “small” sound to them. Nothing ever feels live or vivid due to a limited EQ range. Where the headphones hit, they hit hard. Unfortunately, you don’t ever hear the full depth of a song with these headphones. Something is missing. Despite this, these are far superior to the sounds of most standard or high end ear buds and on par with upper-mid range ($60-$100) headsets. Sound Trueness: 2 out of 5 Without boring anyone not looking to use these for music editing I’ll simply say this: I’ve gotten far less quality with far more money. Yet, these are in no way replacing my Sony MDR-7506 for studio editing anytime soon. The sound is too bass heavy and flat. High ends are a struggle and replaced often with dull mid-tones. Mixes done exclusively with these headphones would likely have weak bass and extreme high ends through other speakers if made to sound neutral through these headphones. Build Quality: 2 out of 5 These headphones look and feel like $15 headphones. The plastic feels flimsy and cheap. They are very light, in a bad way, as well. Handling these headphones makes me very worried I will break them quite easily. Time will tell if that plays out to be true. Regardless, for $15, it is not really going to make me very upset if these do break within a year. Comfort: 2 out of 5 These headphones are a bit too small to be very comfortable on the ears long. They grip tight and stay put, which is a plus, but the cushions press against the ear causing that “warm” feeling. These headphones are not for marathon uses. I did like that they have a nice cushion on the arch on top of the head and the fact that the buds themselves are capable of pivoting is another nice feature. Noise Cancellation: 2 out of 5 This comes down to the size again. Because the headphones do not fully envelope the ear, and rather rest upon the ear, they are not capable of fully muting external noise. These headphones do a pretty decent job at tuning out the world around you however, but it is usually due more to their loudness than their actual noise elimination. Style & Appearance: 4 out of 5 Sleek, simple, matte, compact. You can’t go wrong with simple and sweet. They also come with a very nice felt case to carry in, an unexpected bonus for such an inexpensive pair of headphones. Only complaint is, oddly, the lack of branding. A little Amazon logo or something would actually tie this piece together nicely. Without any branding, you feel more like you have a pair of headphones picked up at a convenience store. This will be a positive to some, but for me the absence of branding added to the “cheap” overall feel of the headphones. Value: 5 out of 5 This is a no brainer. You won’t get within galaxies of this quality for $15 with any other pair of headphones. Bottom line, if you aren’t going to invest more than $100 in headphones, there is no sense investing in any other than Amazon’s offering here. Period. Overall: 3 out of 5 All things considered, these are $15 headphones performing at the level of $100 headphones. You can’t go wrong. Don’t expect to throw away your Bose, Sony, or Beats headphones anytime soon as some reviewers have suggested, but these headphones will give the “average Joe” a pretty compelling reason to not invest in any of the prior-mentioned if you have not already done so.