Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

About a year ago, I paid $60 for Etymotic MC5 earbuds. These sound every bit as good as those ever did -- And the Etymotics didn't stand the test of time. One of the buds started making a horrible rattling sound after about a month or two. Don't know about longevity on these yet, but I'd buy them again even if they only last me 3 or 4 months. These are great headphones, although if you don't need the built-in mic, I would recommend the very similar Panasonic RPHJE120S model. They're about $8.50 and, believe it or not, I think they even sound a little bit better than these. I bought both because I tend to lose/break headphones a lot and I wanted to have a backup pair anyway. But I was also interested in comparing them. The cheaper RPHJE120S model sounds just as clear and rich, but seems to have slightly more volume and bass. They are very comparable, though. If these make your ears sore at all, use one of the smaller tips included. I'm a big-ish guy, so I assumed I'd need one of the bigger sizes, but the medium one was killing my ears. I switched to the small tip and it's perfect. It still seals the ear canal, just doesn't squeeze as hard. I only have two minor complaints about this model. One is cosmetic -- the cord looks and feels cheaper and flimsier than the comparable Apple buds. (The RPHJE120S ones have a similar cord as well.) Certainly not a dealbreaker -- especially considering the price -- and it doesn't affect the sound at all. My other complaint is that the button doesn't control volume the way the Apple ones do. Instead, it pauses and plays a song. On a Mac, it launches iTunes and then plays or pauses your song, which is kind of annoying if you're using Spotify, for example. It doesn't work the same way as the play/pause button on the keyboard in that way. I'm giving these 4 stars instead of 5 mainly because the lack of volume control/annoying button behavior and because I think the cheaper buds are actually slightly superior. But they're very, very good. If you DO need the mic, it would be hard to do much better for the price.