Tech tip: Apple In-Ear Earphones

For those people who landed on my blog while googling, welcome.

I just bought the Apple In-Ear Earphones (the new ones with the dual-
drivers, mic, and remote). And I thought I should write a review on it.

As a pre-review disclosure, I have previously owned the Sennheiser
CX300 and MM50 (which are the same, except that the MM50 are meant for
iPhones and come with a remote and mic. My CX300 spoilt, so I got the
MM50. It's not because I desperately needed the extra features, just
that the prices were the same).

The Apple In Ear Earphones with remote and mic, hereon referred to as
the cans, is a decent earpiece. These cans have a tweeter for the
treble and woofer for the bass, or so Apple says. They come in a nice
packaging with extra ear cups for small and large ears (more on that
later) and a nice case (not recommended for daily use, as it's quite
unpractical, the way it's designed).

The cans have a remote for play/pause/forward/previous track and a mic
that works with all latest-gen iPods and all iPhones, as well as the
latest MacBooks. In addition, the iPods and MacBooks support the
volume control. The iPhone 3G, unfortunately, still doesn't support
the volume control yet.

The most important thing about any can(s) is its ability to produce
beautiful sound and feel comfortable.

These cans have the best vocal production I've ever heard (very
realistic reproduction of vocals, I might add). Mid-range and treble
instruments (pianos, most guitars except the bass and some electric,
the ukulele, etc) sound awesome.

You notice I've not mentioned the bass. Well, it's, to put it in a
nice way, technically and accurately balanced. But, unfortunately,
this means it's weaker than other cans which tend to produce pumping
bass for the same price, + or -. Why did Apple choose to keep it
balanced? Maybe the audio engineers there are acoustic communists, but
whatever the reason, many people will feel it's lacking. I'm one of
them, having come from the MM50 which produces strong, sometimes
overpowered bass. Mind you, the Sennheisers are one-driver earphones
(as far as I know, that is).

But other than that, I do recommend trying the earphones for yourself
before buying them. I used the large and medium ear-cups. amazingly,
the large ear-cups resulted in much improved bass, possibly due to a
better fit, so do note these when you try or buy yours. Test the 3
sizes for sound quality, fitting, and comfort.

Also, Apple may have accidentally designed these phones such that
people with certain ear shapes will get better sound (specifically,
bass) than others. I'm lucky to be in the lucky category, as long as I
use the large ear cups.

Ok, I want to read what you guys think. Do post on my tagboard what
you think of earphones, especially in-ears!