Sometimes, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Some people say that stats don’t lie, while others claim that all they are are lies and...darned lies, to be polite. One thing is for sure: when it comes to something as subjective as speakers and headphones, the stats can never totally be relied on, since people have such different tastes. Some like soaring highs; others prefer booming, unnatural bass. For my part, I prefer a balance of the two, mixed with warmth and depth that recreate real sound as much as possible.

A few weeks ago, I happened to pick up a pair of Sennheiser MX75 sport headphones. They had great range, at 18-21,000 Hz frequency response; going from just a bit over the bottom of the human detection threshold to over the top at the high end. But guess what? Delivery is important, too, and although these phones could reproduce almost the entire spectrum of human hearing, they really didn’t sound all that great. They lacked balance. I ended up taking them back.

When I did, I bought a pair of Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds to replace them. These were selling for half the price of the Sennheisers ($24.95 as opposed to $49.95), and looking at the frequency range (100-18,000 Hz) they did not have the range the Sennheisers did. In addition, Skullcandy was a brand I was not really familiar with, and I had fears about a gimmicky name and poor sound quality (JVC’s Gummy Phones come to mind).

I was a little worried about that, so since I had my Zune in my pocket, I popped the Smokin’ Buds out of their clamshell package and intended to try them right in the parking lot. It should be noted that these are in-ear phones with soft rubber fittings that pop right into your ear. They have a fairly firm, comfortable grip and form a seal which helps keep them in place while you’re exercising. This is always a concern for me, since I enjoy walking and nothing irks me more than my headphones popping out in the middle of a song. While not truly noise canceling, they do also block out background noise, too, and do a pretty good job of it.

The Smokin’ Buds come with three sets of fittings to match different ear canal sizes; this is also good in the event you lose one. A plastic carrying case is also included. After sorting through all of this, I popped the Buds into my ears-and was immediately disappointed. The phones had almost no volume, and there I was, ready to take these back, too. But this was my bad. That’s because the Smokin’ Buds have an inline volume control, which is initially set to the minimal level. I find this a really helpful feature, because it allows me to lock the controls on my Zune and still be able to adjust the volume.

After increasing this control, I had more volume than I could handle. Indeed, with the last headphones I used the most, the Philips HE-592s ($13-$15) and the SHE-9500s , I usually never went above a 17 volume level out of 20 on the Zune. With the Smokin’ Buds, I now average about 12 or 13. Of course, more volume isn’t necessarily a good thing, but what I immediately noticed was the clear detail and reproduction of both highs and lows at lower levels.

But I was soon even further impressed by the balance the Smokin’ Buds offer. To be sure, they reproduce deep, thundering bass, but they also did a very good job of delivering clear, brilliant highs as well. And they deliver them with a very realistic three-dimensional warmth and depth. In fact, I quickly decided these might be the best headphones in this price range I’ve ever owned.

You don’t need to spend $100 on a set of headphones to get great sound; the Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds will deliver that for about one quarter the price. Highly recommended.



Recommended: Yes