After my last pair of earphones wore out on me, I needed a new pair fast. The model of Sony earphones that I liked weren’t being made anymore so I needed an alternative. This was not it. My sister had a pair of Philips SHE9501 earbuds, which I borrowed for a day and I loved them. For some reason I could not find that particular model at any of my local stores, so I tried out the Philips model SHE5920 surround sound earbuds thinking that they would be very simliar. How wrong I was!
The Biggest Problem
There is one huge flaw with these earbuds. I like to listen to my iPod when I am on a walk or at the gym, so I expect my earphones to keep up with me as well. These headphones constantly fall out! Every ten seconds either one of the earbuds falls out, or I’m readjusting them. These earbuds are meant to sit in your ear canal, but no matter how far I jam them in, they end up falling out in no time! Forget exercise; they can’t even stay in when you’re sweating.
Comfort
Moderately comfortable, aside from the fact that you constantly have to stick them back in your ear. They just don’t really fit right because the part that goes into your ear is much too short and a bit too wide. They won’t stay in your ear because the ends of the earbuds don’t have enough length to stay in, and the outside of the earbud is so big that it puts all the weight on the outside of the earbuds which contributes to them falling out. However, the comfort is alright otherwise. Could be better.
Sound Quality
The sound quality is actually really good! My only complaint is that there’s a lot of bass but there doesn’t seem to be enough treble and moderate midrange. This can be easily fixed by setting the EQ of your listening device to a different setting. On my iPod Nano, I use the classical EQ setting. Even so, the sound is clear as crystal. These earbuds also claim to have surround sound, which I haven’t really noticed. This could be because 98% of music tracks are just in stereo.
Noise Canceling
Because these earbuds go deeper in your ear than traditional earbuds, they make for good noise canceling. Often I can walk around town and almost not hear anything around me, even when I’m listening to quiet tracks. This may seem like a great feature, and it would be if the buds didn’t always slip out.
Tangle Proof?
My last pair of earbuds, the Sony MDR-E818LP Fontopia earbuds, had a cord made of a different material with a kind of rubber that made it more tangle resistant. Rarely did I ever get the God forsaken tangle with which most earphones have been cursed with. This is a feature which should be applied to all earbuds, in my opinion. The Philips earbuds don’t tangle too badly, but it’s mostly the two cords that go to the two buds that tangle. This is because those cords are smaller than the main one. This isn’t too hard to remedy though, unlike many traditional earphones. I still believe that this should have been a problem solved by the developers.
Conclusion
Did the designers even test these earbuds? It seems to me like they must have tried them on for about 5 seconds and then decided to start manufacturing them afterwards. These could be great earphones if they were made to fit into your ear much better and have a bit more treble when it comes to the sound. However, I found these Philips earbuds very useless because they just keep slipping out! (I can not emphasize enough how annoying that is!) What I do recommend if you need a good pair of earbuds are the Sony MDR-E818LP Fontopia earbuds which I talked about earlier. They have great sound quality, they fit nicely and don’t fall out, and they are very tangle-proof. Plus they are solid state and very durable! The only reason that I got rid of them originally was because they wore out after a few years of intense use. I highly recommend those earbuds. After returning my Philips earphones, I immediately went on to Amazon.com to purchase a new pair of Sonys. If you would like the Sony earbuds, the only place they are available now is on Amazon. I have not been able to locate these in any stores recently.
