I find that I listen to a lot of music throughout my day. Not all of us have the luxury of doing so, but I find it necessary in order to get through my work day. So those days that I can use my MP3 player at work and not listen to the radio are special indeed. But nothing can spoil your favorite tune like the snap, crackle and pop of a cheap set of buds. What can you do though? Not everyone can afford a really expensive set of buds. Well, there’s your problem. You’re assuming that good has to be expensive. In this review we’ll be looking at the affordably priced iHarmonix Pro ev-Series earbuds and seeing just how much bang you get for your buck. Click Read More to read the whole review.

Provided By: iHarmonix

Cost: $34.95

Closer Look:

The packaging for the iHarmonix Pro ev-Series Earbuds is eye catching. The circular shape is much more pleasing to look at then an ordinary box. I’ve found that I’m always more likely to buy something if I can open the box and look at it. iHarmonix has decided to save us all the trouble of bringing our box cutters with us when we go shopping, and has gone ahead and made the packaging of the buds see thru. No questions for us and no open boxes for the retailers. Everyone leaves happy.

The back of the package is where the specifications and features of the earbuds are listed. Several graphics advertise the volume control, memory foam ear tips, and the gold plated plug. Also some more technical details such as cable length, frequency and driver size are listed.

When you open the package you notice several other objects besides the earbuds are inside. There is a folded sheet of paper with instructions and information as well as some extra tips made of memory foam. A small velvet bag for storing your earbuds is included as well. I think this is a nice feature. Carrying your buds in a pocket or larger bag never seems to end well. The bag has a pull string so that when you’ve rolled up the buds, then you can place them inside and secure them from falling out.

The Gold Plated plug is a nice feature as well. A commitment to quality construction is always nice to see in an affordable product. Generally it speaks well for the future performance of the device. But that’s why we test, just to make sure. The volume control is something that I believe is a must. Having the option of just moving a small slider to turn down the volume, as opposed to using your players’ controls is smart. Maybe your player is in a pocket and you’re sitting elbow to elbow with a very large and tattooed stranger who’s sleeping and looks as if they most definitely do not want to be disturbed. You could go so far as to say that this feature could be life saving in the right situation.

Continuing our look at the construction of the earbuds, we see that the driver is a respectable 11mm. This seems to be a standard in the industry and it’s nice to see iHarmonix keeping up with the rest. The vents on the back of each bud are located just beneath the chrome highlights and there are three in total. This provides significant airflow without compromising the isolating effect that these headphones provide.

Let’s take a peek at the Specifications.

On to the testing.

Testing:

During the testing I will focus on four different areas. The Low, Mid, and High ranges as well as a speed test. During the speed test I will listen to fast music and determine how quickly the ev-Series buds respond to fast treble and bass hits. Let’s get to it then.

High Range (Treble)

I decided to listen to some classical music. I switched between Bach and Beethoven and found the experience to be quite pleasant. I found that the treble elements of these pieces were accurately rendered by the ev-Series buds. There was a clean crisp sound when needed and the buds were capable of sustained high notes. Nothing detracted from the experience of listening to these pieces.

Mid Range

To test the midrange of these buds I thought I would listen to some vocals. One song that I enjoy listening to is Into the West as performed by Annie Lennox. I find that her contralto is very robust and wanted to see if the buds could keep up. I found that they did very well. I have listened to buds that cost a great deal more and have found that some produce an immensely rich sound. I must admit that the sound the ev-Series made was not quite the same as the higher end buds, but the difference is quite small. For the cost of these buds, thus far I believe that you do get a relatively rich sound.

Low Range

For the low range I split the music between some rap and Yoyo Ma. I found that the beats, while not earthshaking were quite nice. Also Yoyo Ma’s cello came across rich and mellow. If you caught the rhyme in that, then I salute you O’ pun picker-upper. I believe that the driver of the ev-Series buds can build up to a nice rich bass sound, and also does fairly good powering through the beats. I have to say that I was fairly impressed with the range of the buds. They delivered some solid performance through the different ranges and for the cost are a great buy. But wait you say, what about the speed test?

Speed Test

House music and punk are my weapons of choice when it comes to doing speed tests. I listened to some Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Pennywise, and rounded it out with some Sublime. There was no blending of the beats in any of the songs that I listened to. I was again impressed with how well these buds performed even though they come with a low price tag.

Let’s move onto the conclusion and see what the final word is.

Conclusion:

The Pro ev-Series buds are great earbuds. They deliver a sound that you would expect from a more expensive set of buds. Though they aren’t quite audiophile, anyone who considers themselves at least moderately sound perverted (figure that one out) will enjoy them immensely. They have a fairly rich sound in the low and mid ranges that doesn’t get all sibilant in the higher ranges.

Any set of earbuds that has some extra features and delivers great sound is a good buy in my opinion. Earbuds that do that for fewer than 50 bucks are a steal. I would recommend these buds to anyone, except maybe the hardcore bass lovers. Of course, chances are that anyone that listens to music that loud can only hear low frequencies. So I close this review with the statement that I would run out and buy these earbuds, but then I would have two pair.

Pros:

• Affordable
• Quality Construction
• Rich Sound

Cons:

• A Little Light On The Bass

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