Sound
We have to admit that EarPods bring an
amazingly good sound quality compared to its price of $29. Could it defeat
headphones that cost “hundreds more” like what Apple claimed? We do not go that
far, but we can be confident to say that it is much innovative compared to the
original earbuds of Apple, which are small and harsh. When trying EarPods with
laptop, many iPhone generation, iPad 2 and Galaxy Nexus, everything can manage
working with them easily. The Earphone creates smoother, fuller and more
balanced sound, with the center of innovation is bass and low mid. However, the
most noticeable difference is that how low the volume needs to be set on your
device. It is recognizable that we need to increase the volume many click
higher in the old earbuds than on this new EarPods to get the equivalent sound
output – and at that time, the old model starts to be distorted considerably. Therefore,
the new design brings the sound directly to your ears, but we do not mean that
the louder output with lower settings is the only innovation. When increasing
the volume in many different devices, we recognize that EarPods are capable of
maintaining much clearer signal than other older generations. Usually, until we
start to increase the EQ that we start to notice distortion and clipping.
The
combination of EarPods and iDevice
Although the sound quality is improved, their
sound is just like the earbud. The certain life-like quality level that might
be found in more expensive headphones is not here. The full sound becomes hard
to recognize especially in louder environment. In short, the treble does not
turn out to be too abrasive or distorted when you increase the volume to have
clearer sound in loud environment. We also recognize the absence of power in
cymbal hits, which can be found in better headphones. Outside an absolutely
quiet room, it is so hard to determine how much this set of earphones has been
improved. What we can conclude is that this set works really better than the
latest generation buds (or even the in-ear ones coming with Samsung devices). However,
their quality is still behind such in-ears like the $100 S4i and $180 B&W
C5, despite the opposite statement from Apple. Apple has made a huge step with
this EarPods, which is on the way to approach more senior models, and we hope certain
aspects of this design can inspire the design idea of Apple’s $79 in-ears which
might be something very exceptional.
Of course, there is also the onboard
microphone and its quality make us pleased as it is the same as that on the
older buds, which we have never encountered any problem during the voice calls.
However, our words might not be convinced enough, so just check out the
recordings for more precise assessment.
Conclusion
It is quite sure to say that Apple has just
increase the height level for the cheap/ bundled earbuds, but we will not go so
far to suggest running to the store right away to buy them as an independent
set. The most important thing that needs to be kept in mind that this set is
good to use – an essential innovation compared to the uncomfortable and abysmal
sound quality of its predecessor and many other headphones. To be specific, most
of the audio improvements are hard to be judged exactly outside the quiet
space. If you purchase for a new iDevice, we still recommend you to choose
better in-ear ones, especially when you wish to use it outside or on the go. However,
do not get rid of the intention to own them, because they play good role as a
secondary set. The EarPods might be better earbuds among the $29 ones that we
are able to find, but after carefully considering, there is nothing more.
The
EarPods at closer look
Info
·
Price: $29
Advantages
·
Comfortably fit
·
Best quality among the same class
·
Innovative in-line remote
Disadvantages
·
Not really ideal for loud environment
·
Easily get dirty as they are white
Verdicts
·
These new EarPods of Apple are an obvious
innovation compared to the old models of this company, but that is not saying
much.
These
new EarPods of Apple are an obvious innovation compared to the old models of
this company.
|
Specifications
·
Manufacturer: Apple
·
Headphone type: earphones
·
Speaker: Dynamic transducer
·
Cable length: 1.2 mm
·
Weight: 9g
·
Remote control: yes
·
Microphone: Yes
·
Inline Volume: yes
·
Wireless: no
·
Noise cancelling: no
|
