Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

add me to the list of folks who got a dud pair - red light would come on when charging - charged when first received them until light went off (which means charged, per instructions) and they then wouldn't power on no matter how many time or how long I pushed the power button. Called their support, sat on eternal hold, while reading other 1-star reviews and decided I wasn't in the mood to mess with it and have already packaged them back up to return. Appreciate amazon making it free and easy (rather than dealing with Anker and paying for shipping - if the other reviewers are accurate on that at least). Too bad, this was my first try with an Anker product - and probably my last.... update: so, after less than a day after my review gets posted, I get an email directly from Anker, kindly expressing their regrets for my experience. It was surprising to me because I had already returned them to Amazon. She explained how important customer service was to the company, and offered to send me another set free of charge (!!) - I had to read it twice to be sure I wasn't misunderstanding her. Why would I not take advantage of that offer? The set came in a few days and they worked fine - I got the red charging indicator as I did before, and after fully charging them, I then tried to turn them on to pair with my iphone and the blue light came right up (which was a relief because I was then sure that I wasn't doing something wrong on the first pair). Props to you, Anker! They paired easily with my phone and I'm listening to Phil Collin's remastered version of "In the Air Tonight" and I can honestly say that for a set of $20 earbuds they sound quite a bit better than I anticipated. They don't match my ultimate ears superfi pro 5's but I didn't expect them to. These Ankers have a pretty balanced sound, and lack the typical hollow, lifeless sound that one usually gets from your typical mass-market buds (like Apple's, and the assorted other brands you see on every shelf). Waaaay better than those - I wouldn't even bother trying anything else unless you want to spend over $100. I'm still fiddling with the fit with these, but they include enough various sized attachments that I don't think it's going to be an issue. I'm super-happy with these. In the meantime, I also would point out that on Lifehacker last week, they showed these buds were far and away the winner by their readers for earbuds of this type -- so look no further. I was temped to go for 5 stars, but because of there being a few duds out there (many have mentioned the same issue I had) I just can't make them perfect but I will give Anker 5 stars for going above-and-beyond with customer support. They've gained a customer for the next time around! (and thumbs down to any reviewers who have said they had to pay return shipping to get their defective earbuds back to Anker - that is apparently false. The rep from Anker said they cover return shipping in these situations....)