For standard-issue headphones, the Apple iPod ones are pretty good. But there comes a point where you have to wonder, what is there out there that will make my music sound better? Well, a good start is getting your music closer to your eardrums. A couple of the aurally-probing ones that we tried were the Apple in-Ear Headphones and the Shure E2c Sound Isolating Earphones.

The first thing that was noticed with both of the earphones was the lack of sound loss to the outside world. People sitting next to you on the tube wouldn’t even know you were listening to Celine Dion… You, however, would be enjoying her in full Las Vegas-esque surround sound and no-one would be any the wiser.

Shure E2c Sound Isolating Earphones
The E2c headphones from Shure come with a variety of foam or flex earpieces to ensure maximum external sound is blocked. The challenge is getting the right ones to fit, as putting the earphones in your ears for the first time was a bit of a challenge (note: clear earphone is left, clear-and-black earphone is right). We found that the earphones didn’t really accommodate very well for small ears, but that the foam pieces worked the best: they could be compressed and then expand when inside your ear to mould to its shape (plus they are what rock stars use, which means they must be hip. And good for sound quality of course).

After the initial unfamiliar sensation of something filling your ear, and the strange pressure difference, you eventually get used to the feeling and it becomes unnoticeable. The earphones produce a really impressive, high quality sound with deep bass and a near-perfect balance. You really will notice all the parts of your music that you missed before. They block the majority of ‘white’ noise, i.e. constant noise such as that experienced on a tube or aeroplane, and most of conversational noise as well. You can have your music at a loud enough level to drown out exterior noise and yet quiet enough to not feel like you are going to blow your eardrums. The reduced volume level also means less drain on your iPod battery.

Aesthetically, the earphones are mediocre. They resemble a mechanically engineered insect when out of your ear, and it takes a reasonably large ear to accommodate them comfortably when they are in. However the discreet, behind-ear cables are an advantage, and look better than some of the more conventional front-hanging cables. They also serves to reduce ‘drag’ from the weight of the wire, which is slightly thicker than Apple’s cable.

Slightly gross-yet-handy is the provision of a wax removal kit, which is for cleaning the end of the earphones. It is also recommended to clean the earpieces with soapy water routinely.

Apple In-Ear Headphones
These earphones also come with 3 sizes of earpieces in order to gain best fit, and maximum noise exclusion. They were more comfortable than the Shure E2cs and looked a lot better; the design is more conventional and obviously with being made by Apple they are better-matched to the iPod. They weighed a lot less, which could contribute to a more comfortable fit due to less ‘drag’ on the ears. Again finding a size to fit was a bit difficult, but generally the smaller ones could be inserted deeper into the ear. A cable toggle also served to customise the fit and keep the wires a bit more tangle-free.

The sound quality was disappointing. The sound isolation was fairly effective, but as the earphones weren’t a very tight fit it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Disappointingly the material that the earphones were made from was far too slippery to enable them to sit comfortably in the ears. Unless the earphones were held further in than they naturally sat the bass was poor if heard at all, and the overall sound was quite tinny. The treble was acceptable, but unless you are listening to country and western music I’m thinking you might require a bit more than that. If you are looking for an improvement on the standard ones, the Apple In-Ears will not live up to expectations, apart from preventing people overhearing what you are listening to (which maybe a good thing if you are listening to country and western music).

Overall...
Overall, the sound quality of the E2cs was a huge improvement on Apple’s standard issue headphones. The sound isolation was very effective, the earphones were comfortable once they were gotten used to, and for their quality they are a reasonably low-cost product for the market that they are in. The Apple earphones were barely an improvement on the standard ones, and the sound quality was not as high as should have been expected. Visually however they were more appealing than the E2cs, and should you not want to stray from the iPods impeccable accessory co-ordination, these earphones are a reasonable investment.