Symphonized Wired Earbuds with Microphone – Noise Isolation Ear Buds with Mic, in Ear Headphones Wire for Computer & Phone, Earphones 3.5 mm Jack

Being a fan of the legendary Ink'd earbuds by Skullcandy, I was disappointed when they were discontinued. I had since been on a search for the best pair of cheap earbuds I could find. This is definitely the best comparison I have found. First off, I read the reviews before purchasing these. I read a lot of great reviews, and I also saw some questionable reviews. However, the terrible reviews that I saw left me impressed because they had been updated saying that the seller had dealt with the problem promptly and had been very considerate. That was a major selling point for me. If I had any problems, I knew from the history that the providers would take care of any problem without much hassle. Fortunately, I have not had any problems. If anyone sees any review about poor quality and breaking, they were not treating these correctly. After using these frequently for quite some time, I have definitely felt for durability. What I have found: - The microphone is very well built. Seams are small and hardly noticeable, making it difficult to separate and break. - The buttons are firm (but not too firm) and deliberate with movements, making it feel very sturdy and durable. - The connector is definitely interesting. It's a mix between the elbow and the straight connector. I will follow up on the review later to explain how this holds up after time. However, it is not a weak point in the build as it commonly is with headphones. Looks like it will last a while. - The black part under the earbuds themselves are very sturdy (yet somewhat flexible) pieces of plastic, creating an environment that is difficult to lose connection because of the lack of mobility, but just enough to not have too much resistance. - The cable itself is a little stiffer than the average auxiliary cable, making it feel more protected from bending and connection problems. To sum it up, these are very well-built and do not feel like they will break any time soon. Next, I will address the quality of the sound. The first thing I do with any pair of headphones or earbuds is test the sound. I test the quality and the limits of the sound. Most headphones can reach fairly high sound levels, however you probably don't ever want to because it will hurt your ears or the quality is compromised significantly. I have played these with minimal sound, and I have played with maximum sound. I have played classical music to rock to dubstep. I can say that the sound quality is not compromised by playing too low or too loud. It is just as good loud as it is low. They have a great range of sound. I have had a lot of headphones that do not have any depth. Most can go pretty loud, but it feels like they are missing something. These earbuds do not feel like they are missing anything. I honestly feel just as immersed in the music wearing these as I do when I use my Studio Beats (which is why I honestly don't use my beats much anymore.) Sounds great on the highs and sounds amazing on the lows. They do have great bass, I'll give them that. I love the fact that they can produce so much bass, but it's honestly not a feature I will use often because they can tickle the inside of your ear because of the bass. In other words, you literally can feel the bass, which is great I think. Just be careful because it can be a weird sensation if you are not prepared to have your eardrum tickled (try it, its definitely worth trying) Well-made, beautiful design, sound great, no problems so far, therefore I give them 5 stars.

These are truly impressive headphones! Opinions on these things are unavoidably subjective and depend heavily on personal tastes and listening habits, so it's probably relevant to state those of mine upfront: My enthusiasm for classical music veers dangerously close to the nutty edge, as my collection of 2,100+ CDs (about 95% classical) would attest. For decades, I have also attended (and sometimes participated in) performances of symphony orchestras, choral groups big and small, as well as chamber ensembles and individual recitals. So, even though I am not "audiophile" enough to be equipped with headphone amps, I sure know what my music should sound like. I also have a bunch of headphones for comparison listening, including -Sony XBAH1 -Sony XBA-C10IP -Marshall Mode -Brainwavz Delta -Panasonic RP-TCM125 Ergo Fit All of these were among Wirecutter.com's top picks one time or another recently, and all of them I have found pleasing in one way or another. After a few months of living with my Symphonized NRG 3.0 headphones, I come to the conclusion that, over all, I would prefer these headphones to all the others. The very first thing I noticed right away with my Symphonized NRG 3.0 pair was the exceptional efficiency of volume production. At the usual volume setting I listen with other pairs, these are considerably louder. I like to listen to music loud enough so that the full sound quality of the instruments/voices can be clearly discerned, but not so loud as to bust ear-drums. It is known that people tend to favor louder speakers/headphones during listening comparisons, so in forming my opinions I have tried my best to reduce the player's volume setting to offset its higher efficiency when I listened with the Symphonized pair. The first few recordings I listened to using the Symphonized pair happened to be string quartets. I was awe-struck by how good they sounded. It took a while before I figured out what gave the additional listening pleasure: The four instruments are presented vividly at four individual locales in the sound stage. And thankfully, this was not accomplished with edgy or shrill sound. The tones are pliant and alive and the instruments are clearly and palpably THERE! The quality of the Sony pairs listed above that I appreciate the most is their ability to render individual instruments with air around them (so to speak). But the Symponized pair presents the instruments with a steady vividness unlike anything I heard before. This effect may be a little less noticeable with other instruments or orchestral sections but still quite noticeable. I have no idea whether this has anything to do with the fact that wood rather than plastic is used for the ear-pieces, and honestly I really don't care. Sound quality is what matters to me. Like most people, I often wish headphone could produce a bit more bass than they are usually capable of. Here the Symphonized 3.0 pair also does a lot better than most other headphones. Better yet, the bass sound is musical, sounding like real low strings or timpani should, not at all boomy or boxy. It's probably not for people who prefer to hear heavy drumbeats over everything else, but it's plenty satisfying for me. I want the bass to provide firm support for the music, not be the prima donna of it all unless during a timpani or double-bass solo. On good stereo recordings, the Symphonized 3.0 pair produces the sense of an unusually wide sound stage and a fairy nice sense of depth too. It fills the whole sound stage with a warm, unforced, and very musical sound. Though occasionally I hear some hollow piano tones, I suspect that's more the faults of the recordings. All in all, I have found the Symphonized NRG 3.0 headphones a very happy purchase that makes extremely pleasurable listening, especially if your musical tastes and listening habit resemble mine. You will find their sounds warm and full. More than any other headphones I have listened to, these give a lot of vivid presence to the music. Very very impressive indeed! I could wish for clearer indications on the ear-pieces to distinguish the left from the right, but that probably amounts to ungrateful nit-picking.

Pros: Fairly decent headphones for a very, very low price. Easy to get a good fit with the included silicone ear tips. Unique look to the earphones due to use of wood, metal, and silicone. Inline microphone and remote with 3 buttons that works on Android. Loads of bass. Cons: Frequency response on the low end leaves the large amounts of bass a little muddy Other: 45° bend in the strain relief near the plug splits the difference between the 90° (traditional) and the 0° (modern). The Short Answer: If you were going to buy Koss' "The Plug" spend the extra $5 on these and you'll be far happier. If you were going to buy almost anything else with a microphone and inline remote these most likely provide better sound than anything around 21 price-point. If you want them as your primary music listening pair you may be disappointed by the clarity of the bass. The Long Answer: So my replacement AKG headphones (which were replacements for my the pack-in AKG headphones that came with my mobile device) gave out after about 4 months. I was looking for something that was wired, in-ear, had reasonable sound, an inline microphone, and an inline remote that would work with Android (even better if it had both the universal button and the volume buttons). My first choice for headphones in the $20-50 (the "decent enough sound and won't break on you in 3 months" range), Sony, had reduced the number of wired headphones in this price range by quite a bit and the few left only had a singular, universal button. So I started poking around on Amazon. This was suggested and so I figured that at just over $21 (at the time of purchase) wasn't a horrible chance to take on something that had an inline microphone, 3 buttons on the wired remote, and would work properly with Android. I was mostly right. First Impressions: Out of the box the headphones felt pretty decent with its unusually heady coat of insulation on the main cable. The silicone ear tips fit snugly and were surprisingly firm (the barrel seems to be made to be a bit stiffer than most ear tips), yet comfortable. The jack end of the cable was a bit of an oddity to me—it had a 45° bend in it at the strain relief (the somewhat ugly, but very necessary collar of rubber near the jack housing; A.K.A. the part that tends to fail first on otherwise well-built Apple products). Normally I like the traditional 90° bends over the modern 0° bends (wire straight out of the jack) since the 90° bends sit more closely to the body of the device while 0° bends are better suited to devices that may require full extension of the cable or many cables of the type in close quarters such as amplifier cables, microphone cables, and RCA plugs). My problem with the modern 0° bends is that they were responsible for the death of the last two sets of earbuds that I owned as the straight out cable was just trouble waiting to happen as a cable sticking straight out will tend to be forced into a 90° bend whenever it's plugged into a device and put into a pocket. That said the people at Symphonized seem to understand that people are going to use this model on mobile devices and so a 90° bend is probably not great for when the phone is held at arm's length (selfie photos, video recording at concerts, etc), but will still get shoved into pockets and bags where a 0° bend would just get destroyed. Audio (both earbuds and microphone): My initial test for the headphones was on my mobile device (where they'd most often be used). They were a massive improvement over the less expensive AKGs! The high end was immediately clearer and the audio a good amount louder. Several mobile games that I play make extensive use of solid sound design and the one with a fully orchestrated soundtrack really showed off the mids and highs of these headphones. Also, there seemed to be a solid amount of bass that made instruments in the lower range stand out a bit more. However, the lower-mids to bass range felt a tad fuzzy, but I wasn't sure if it was just my device or the headphones. My second test was to make a call with them. One of the first things that the person receiving the call mentioned to me was that the call audio did seem a lot clearer (I hadn't mentioned that I was using a new set of headphones). I've yet to test out the audio in a recording scenario, but I'll update with those results once I do. The third test was to plug these headphones into my computer. Instantly I could tell the difference between these headphones and the more expensive Bluetooth set that I normally use—the Symphonized NRG 3.0 was just better in most ways. I tested both on a few different songs—several orchestral pieces (which tend to have the highest dynamic range)—a few pieces from the '60s (one being The Beatles' "Penny Lane" since it has both rock and traditional instruments as well as '60s style left-right separation), a few modern electronic pieces, and Free's "All Right Now" (which has a plucked bass that will sound like more like a tuba when the bass isn't as clear). Most of the orchestral pieces sounded amazing, "Penny Lane" sounded excellent (it's very mids and highs heavy), and the electronic pieces sounded sufficiently thumping. However, on Free's "All Right Now" the headphones sadly delivered what I had feared; a more tuba-like sound when faced with the bass. In fact the tuning and clarity of the low-end of these headphones reminded me a lot of Koss' "The Plug" (which after looking it up have a similar frequency response of 16Hz-23kHz—the NRG 3.0 has a response of 18Hz-23kHz). Sadly these didn't offer the low-end performance of my favourite Sony MDR-EX71SL (which had a frequency response of 6Hz-22kHz)—but the Sonys were also $9-15 more expensive and didn't offer an inline microphone and an inline remote with volume controls. Conclusion: I came to these wanting something that could work as a wired headset for my Android device and competently play music and game audio. These deliver on that and at a very good price. However, if I had wanted these as my sole pair of headphones for music listening I might be disappointed with the lack of clarity on the low end—which may or may not be a concern to someone listening to music with more synthesized bass-lines (modern pop, modern dance-pop, and club-standard E.D.M.). If you were going to buy cheaper headphones buy these instead!

Outlined Review: These are much, much better than I expected. (Purchased with my own money. Genuine Review.) Who are these for: Anyone looking for a low budget set of wired headphones and still wanting a full, rich sound. The Plan: While looking for low-cost wired earbud headphones for my VR headset, I was fully prepared to purchase headphones that were more expensive than these as this is the lowest I would spend. I wanted quality full sound since I wanted them to use for media, and I wanted them to take up a small footprint to go into the case I also store my VR headset inside. First Look Impressions: A). The packaging was as simple as any retail store. It opened right up out of the box easily. To my surprise, I suddenly find the small pouch included as well as the color ear tips I chose (red) when buying these and black set all in small, medium, and large. The mediums fit me perfectly even though my ears are small. They also threw in a small wire clip to secure to your clothing, a very appreciated touch since it’s a better experience with all noise reduction wired headphones if the wires are limited in movement. ***Note: As mentioned, noise reduction wired headphones commonly make noise. This isn’t a defect, it’s a sideffect of isolating out exterior noise. Any movement of the wires will cause feedback bumps, if you will, like the sound of a cotton swab in your ear. It isn’t a distraction after a minute or two, and you’ll rarely notice it. Listening: Absolutely mind blowing. I have no idea how these sound so well honestly. They don’t look like they would produce such a quality experience. But they do. And that isn’t putting down the looks. They look great, but they sound more expensive than they look, easily. I tried these with all genres of music. The genres I believe it sounds best are R&B, Pop, Country, Dance, and Ambience. The genres I believe they sound worst are Classical, Accapella, Jazz, and Rap. All others were neither good or bad, but still sounded fantastic for this price. I also tested these on gaming and movies which didn’t disappoint either. Also, I paired a Bluetooth transmitter coming from my computer to a portable Bluetooth receiver I plugged these headphones into.There was no delay in sound and they sounded just as good as if they were plugged into my computer itself. Then, I took a battery-powered DAC and plugged these into it. These headphones handeled well at low and high volumes and there was a nice, clear, crisp sound. And while turned up to max volume, there was no distortion and very little sound leakage heard while wearing. In conclusion: I didn’t purchase these because they were the best or worst. I purchased them because the older version of them had an overwhelming positive amount of reviews. And while these didn’t have many reviews at the time I got them, I took the chance, and I couldn’t be happier that I did. Pros: - Sounds and looks more expensive than they cost. - Lightweight and easy to include with everyday items. - Thin slick cord makes it easy to untangle if they ever do. - In-line controls are compatible with many devices. Cons: - A nylon corded option would be nice. - I wouldn’t use the pouch while carrying in my pockets as I prefer a hard case. ... I honestly don’t think there are more cons than these. I would recommend these to anyone and I would purchase these again when needed. Thank you

I'll start by saying that these are good headphones, in terms of most of their stuff. They are made of good construction quality, the wood gives them the appearance of a luxurious finish and the sound is really affected by the construction and the use of the wood material. Their cable feels a little thin to me, but it's sturdy and doesn't look like it's going to break anytime soon. You get a small bag with them which is nice and stickers as if we invested much more here than we received. The tips and adjustments for the ears are also received without any proportion to the size. About 16 tips, which is crazy... you don't get that in premium headphones either, certainly not in entry-level headphones. I returned it anyway. It really bothered me that it doesn't have a sound stage at all. That is, everything is located inside your head. Maybe you know how to say a little better what is on the right and what is on the left, but everything is inside your head. I couldn't hear it at all. I immediately returned it. In addition, its sounds are very dark, this is not necessarily a disadvantage, but I don't like it. Its basses are actually relatively good, and feel good in headphones. I didn't get to use the remote so I don't know how it is. All in all, there is good value for the price here, but those who buy it to listen to music have to open their pockets and pay a little more. Otherwise, this is an excellent choice.

I’ve been buying Symphonized earbuds for years and love them - superior sound and comfort. I decided to try this model (although I prefer the all white version) because of the updated design of the jack - it’s angled and looked to be a sturdier design (the jack has been a point of failure on the previous model (NRG X) that I’ve purchased many times). Now that I’ve been using these for a bit, I definitely like the new jack design better. However, I didn’t realize I’d be giving up the angled earbud housing that I dramatically preferred. So, if the folks at Symphonized read this - please keep both the angled earbud housing and the sturdier, angled jack in future versions. I love your headphones and will continue to buy them for years to come! I have sensitive ears, so comfort is a big deal (I can’t tolerate Apple’s AirPods or many other earbuds) and the tips you provide are so comfortable. I was a bit overwhelmed with the plethora of options included in the package for these headphones - and ended up sticking with the style & size I’ve always used, so now I know. I think I’m pretty hard on headphones - I use them for hours each day, so I tend to go through a pair every 3-4 months. Anything you can do to improve the durability and strength of the common points of failure (the jack and the wired connection point at the earbud housing) would be greatly appreciated. The low price point makes it so it’s not a nuisance to buy a new pair, as needed, though. Thanks for a great product!

Received the product today, got the black/grey NRG3.0. Straight to the point, there’s no clear instructions on what the buttons do for the in-line mic controls. (See Pic) Obviously the “+” is volume up and “-“ is volume down but neither of those buttons worked when connected to multiple devices so I’m having to get it replaced to give them a second chance. Now for that middle nondescript button I have no idea what it’s supposed to do but seemed to be the only one that marginally worked by making audio louder when held down, although my assumption was this was meant to be a mute/unmute but I can’t say 100% because I couldn’t find a description for it on their site or their manual. For a brief period the mic made a loud intermittent popping noise as if there’s an issue with the internals that eventually went away. On that note I hooked up the mic to my laptop and recorded some voice audio, the quality was ‘okay’ but the volume of my voice was quite low played back and to be heard clearly and loudly enough the mic must be very close to your mouth. Luckily it comes with a lapel clip which could be used to clip it to itself higher up on the line and closer to your mouth. The good part, the audio quality is in my personal opinion exceptional. I’m by no means an audiophile but compared to other ear buds specifically it sounds clear and well pronounced in all aspects. The audio is to my ears just as good as good as my more expensive over ear headphones with the main difference being less isolation. This is the only reason I’m giving this product a second chance so I truly hope the in line mic and controls work on the next pair. UPDATE (7/18/23) - Replacement set came in less than 24 hours later. Insane. Anyways as you can see in the last pic this pair had a different male component that was straight. Either way, once again the controls don’t work on the mic for both volume and muting. So unless it’s made to change the volume of your own voice both sets were broken on arrival. I can’t recommend these to anyone, the second pair immediately had a buzzing sound due to the mic/buttons that only went away after some tinkering. Useless headphones for anything except decent sound quality. Will be returning. I hooked both sets up to a laptop, gaming system, my TV, sound bar. Only thing I didn’t use it on was a phone.. because iPhone. Buttons are not only useless but cause malfunctions.

UPDATE 8/11/21: Right earbud failed - went to use them yesterday and no sound from right channel. These lasted 5 years, so I guess that's OK, though I've never had headphones fail in one channel before no matter how old. I used them only rarely - less than once a month I guess. So I'm knocking off a star for build quality; sound was decent while it lasted. Won't try this brand again. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Nice-looking, though really, who cares? I mean, my eyes are in the front of my head, not the sides, and I don't expect people to notice the details of what's in my ears when they walk by - if they looked that closely, I think I'd try to put as much distance between us as quickly as possible. And it's not like I spend any time admiring the beauty of these before I stick'em in my ears. The sound is only fair - nothing to write home about, not as good nor as bad as other in-ear headphones I've owned. Whether they're good enough for the price - well, the sound isn't as good as the cheap Apple headphones that came with the phone. The Apple sound is much fuller and warmer (but of course they fall out as soon as you put them in - kind of a non-starter for headphones). The Synchonized sound is kind of muddy on bass unless I crank up the volume - the difference in sound quality in proportion to volume is really substantial. It doesn't help that the digital form of volume control raises and lowers in distinct steps rather than gradually, so much of the time it's either louder or softer than I actually want. Don't know if that's the iPhone or the headset, but it's tolerable - for now anyway. I'm experimenting with the EQ, but so far haven't been able to improve the sound noticeably. Whether the wood actually helps the sound is debatable - these things are so small that any effect of wood would be equally small. I've had plastic headphones (Altec Lansing UHP336 - OMG, it was 6 years ago already!) that cost somewhat more ($39.95, but no phone functions) that sounded much better . Which is where build quality comes in - those headphones fell apart after a year, like the wires pulled out of the earpieces with normal (i.e., gentle) use (they're discontinued, for good reason). These seem like they'll hold together, though appearances can be deceiving - the Altecs looked pretty sturdy too. The cable on these seems strong - fairly thick and springy, you would have to work at it to kink them. Can't say how firmly the cables are attached to the earpieces. The fit is poor for me - my ears are normal, but I've never had such a problem with getting eartips to fit. None of the supplied tips would stay in my ears - and I can shove earplugs deep into my ears every night so I can sleep in this noisy city. I tried all of them and none would go in far enough to be secure, and so they not only start dislodging quickly but the sound disintegrates just as quickly. I could never jog or do anything physical with them in except sit. Thankfully, I had saved the Altec eartips, which included some double-flange tips, and those worked - though not as well as they did with the Altecs, probably because of the geometry of the Synchronized, which are heavier. If anybody else is having problems, you can buy double-flange tips here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=eartips+double+flange. But really, Symphonized should supply them. Another issue with fit is that the weight of these plus the weight of the cord still works them loose from my ears when I move - despite the double-flange eartips. I've tried to solve this by looping the cord over my ears before I insert the earpieces. That works fairly well - the cord is so springy it can spring right off my ears, but it stays put better when I have sunglasses on holding it down. Finally, the instructions lack an important piece of information: how to make phone calls. All the instructions say about it is "Press the button on the cord to Pause/Answer." Hmmm...something is missing here, like which button (there are three) and how to "end calls, activate Voice Control" as the description of the headphones says you can do. I asked about it here but got no answer, so I had to write Synchronized. It's the center button. You end calls by pressing it just as you did in answering. You activate voice control by pressing and holding, then speaking. I haven't tried this yet so don't know how it works. SO - Okay is as good as I can rate these. I've had them only 5 days, took me a day to give up on the eartips and scrounge up my old ones. So these are still on probation. I understand that things like sound and fit are very subjective, so what seems awesome to the 5-star reviewers might be not so much for others. I bought these myself with no discount or freebie. And frankly, I'm going to look at some Altec-Lansings (and see if they still make headphones that fall to pieces - maybe Altec has improved their build quality in the last 6 years).