Freak369's Full Review: Maxell EB-125 Consumer Headphones
Headphones are something that I am never without. Even when I am on the computer; nine times out of ten I have headphones on because everyone complains about my taste in music. Over the past couple months I've gone through some pretty horrible headphones and earbuds; one of the worst choices I made was the Maxell EB125's. Sure, they might look cool but getting them to stay in your ear is impossible. If by some chance you do have pixie ears and get these to stay in place, the sound quality is simply horrid. No, I am not talking 'bargain bin' horrible, these are even worse than that. The only way I can describe them is like this; take any pair of headphones or ear buds, hold them a quarter inch from your ear and crank the volume. That, in a nutshell, is what you get from these. They weren't worth the money that I paid for them and Maxell is going to hear from me about these.
Maxell EB125 Consumer Headphones
When I saw these at the store I figured that they couldn't be 'that' bad; Maxell is a huge name in consumer end electronics and they've generally never let me down in the past. Suffice it to say, the EB 125's were a complete shock to me. No, I'm not going to let you off that easy Maxell; after I bought these crappy earbuds I had to go out of my way to hit another store to get another pair of headphones for the gym. What did I end up getting? Some cheap two dollar pair at the dollar store [Phillips HP57] and they sounds incredible compared to your inferior EB125's. If it sounds like I am irked, I most definitely am. I understand that not everyone is going to love ever paid of headphones or ear buds that they buy but these are so bottom of the barrel that they aren't even suitable to use when everything else is broke. I used them for about fifteen minutes before I ripped them out of my ears and headed to the store to get another pair.
What makes these so crappy? The design is fine, the cord is your average three foot in length, the "L" shaped plug is there to help keep the wires from cracking – so far – everything looks great. Hell, that's what I expect from any set of headphones or ear buds. Now, if these were shaped like other ear buds and didn't have to be jammed into your ear canal to stay in place, that would be cool. For what ever reason the connectors that run from the actual ear bud to the cord are on the front of the bud instead of the bottom. This means that gravity is going to constantly be screwing with these and the slightest tug that happens to the cord is going to knock them out of place. I suppose that if you were sitting perfectly and completely still these would stay in your ear but who the hell is going to do that just to be able to listen to music? Now, let's say that you try these and like them. More power to you but good luck having these last more than a couple of weeks. Why you ask? The cord that runs out of the ear bud isn't protected by anything; no little rubber wrap around, nothing. Gravity, once again, is going to do a number on these and you are going to end up with them giving off static, the first sign that the wires are getting ready to snap.
OK, so I wore them for fifteen minutes. I can't submit a review on that so I am going to endure some more torture on this lovely Friday The 13th to see if maybe there is something that I am missing. Maybe if I tried them out on some different electronics I might get some different results. I hope you people appreciate the things that I put myself through to give you well rounded reviews. The first trial run here is going to involve the Skull Candy 360 CD Player and one of my all time favorite CD's, October Rust by Type O Negative. Why this combination? The Skull Candy CD player makes pretty much anything sound good so if there is any hope at all of these ear buds making the cut, this is the CD player that can make it happen.
[22 minutes later]
Wow, that was horrible. I should ask Maxell if they are going to give me that chunk of time back. Somehow, I doubt it. There was absolutely no bass coming through the headphones, everything sounded tinny and hollow, like I said, it's almost like these aren't even in your ears, kind of like they are close but not inside the canal. If you have used ear buds you know that it's usually the opposite, usually they sound muffled because they are shoved too far into the ear [not recommended unless you want to have ringing in your ears and the possibility of long term hearing loss]. So, at this stage in the game things aren't looking all that good for these ear buds. I am really hoping that maybe I got a bad pair but I don't thing that is the case. I think these are just incredibly shoddy. It's a shame though because they look nice, it's when you try to shove them in your ear and use them that things get ugly.
So I am a glutton for punishment. Let's give this another try with another combination. I'm not screwing around this time, I am breaking out my Philips MP3 player so there is no way I can blame the sound quality on a CD. What am I jamming to? Everything from 311 to Kid Rock, Duran Duran to KC & The Sunshine Band. Skipping around from song to song, I am getting pretty much the same abysmal results as I did with the CD player. Even Sevendust and Black Label Society sound bad on this and they are some of the songs that I actually paid to download so I know the quality is top notch. I get the same tinny sound and it sucks. Sure, I like to crank my music but I shouldn't have to do that if I don't want to and if you want to hear anything on these, that is what you are going to have to do. Not only is that going to really cut the life of these in half but it's going to screw with your hearing if you use these on a regular basis.
I paid four dollars plus tax for these and you can bet your butt that I am sending them to Maxell for a refund. I would have taken them back to the store that I bought them from but that wouldn't really do much to let Maxell know that they are putting out complete crap. You know, I've said the word crap a lot in this review; I wish the content filter would allow something a bit more harsh or descriptive but "big pile of steaming feces" doesn't exactly capture the flow that I am going after. If you are dead set on trying these then make sure you hold on to your receipt and the packaging that this comes in so you can get your money back.
Lightweight Stereo Ear Buds in a unique design provide dynamic sound reproduction with all portable music players. Ideal for use with all portable mus...More at eBay
EB-125 Stereo Earphone feature 3 soft-touch rubber cord, 3.5mm nickel-plated L-plug, a 20-23,000 Hz frequency response, 3 dB channel balance and 13.5m...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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