I Love My Skull Candy Headphones!

I've had many headphones and earbuds over the years. I have several Studio Monitor units including AKG, Sennheiser and Sony. I used them for serious listening - mostly symphonic, classical, classical piano and organ and new age music content. For about 18 months, I was using my Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia In-The-Ear Headphones but the main wire began to fall apart. It looked like it was rotting away. So, I was on the lookout for something to replace them. Now, understand that I use them almost every night, plugged into my iPod and that's how I fall asleep. So, during the night, I do toss and turn a bit so the cord does take a beating until I wake up and take the earbuds out of my ears and go back to sleep!

While doing some shopping for some various sundry things, I happened to see these on a rack in Target Stores for a mere $15. I thought they couldn't possibly be very good at that price but I got them as a "disposable" set for knock-about use. If I lost them or ruined them - no big deal.

When I got them home and opened up the blister pack, I was, totally, blown away!!! Wow! The sound is spectacular. The highs are a little over emphasized but not too badly and the bass is so solid that I really get a genuine vibration or feeling of it in my head. The bass is so good and solid that I turn off the bass boost on the iPod or the CD player that I am using at the time. It's that good! There is no weakness or dip in the frequency response across the audible spectrum. They are smooth, balanced and are very comfortable in the ear.

There is no hype on the packaging raving about their frequency response. It seems to be aimed at the teens and young adults market as they come in many bright colors. But, I chose plain black/silver.

When you open the blister pack, again there is no marketing hype about how good they are. All there is - is the earbuds with a "Y" split of about 10" for the individual earbud drivers and about 4' of cord. This is plenty for fitting them into the ear and the "Y" hanging down under the chin. The cord seems fairly robust. The plug is a standard stereo mini-plug jack.

Also included are 3 silicone ear cushions. Simply slip them onto the grooved receiver on the earbud. Select the one that seems to fit most comfortably and simply insert them gently into the ear canal. My ear canal is small so the smallest ones worked well for me. These also do an excellent job of blocking out ambient noises. And, they are perfect for my use of going to sleep as it does not "leak" sound out that would disturb my wife in bed. When I used conventional 'over-the-ear' headphones, that was a big problem - regardless of sealed or open-air design. These Skull Candy units are the perfect solution.

I like their comfort, audio performance so well that I bought 2 more pair and gave them to my two grown sons as stocking stuffers for last Christmas. They love them, too!

These are much better than my previous Sony MDR-EX51LP ($35) Fontopias at almost twice the price and significantly better than the even more expensive Sony, Shure or V-Moda units.

And these simply blow away the stock Apple units that come with all iPods. I feel sorry for anyone that is still using the stock, cheap, dull-sounding Apple earbuds when such a vast improvement is available for such a small cost!

In some of the other reviews, I saw some negative comment about the left/right channels not being identified. Who cares???!!! Unless you are a complete perfectionist and expert that knows where the placement of each instrument in a band, orchestra or symphony is, it is simply extraneous. What counts is the stereo separation and the ability to 'sense' the spatial sound stage. If you switch the earbuds to reverse them, you will not suffer any loss of listening pleasure. I've, actually, come to like the idea of not having the left/right noted because it just takes another little hassle out of my life. I just insert them into my ears, plug them into my iPod and I am a happy camper!!!

And don't bother me about the frequency range or other technical details. To me, the proof is in the listening experience and in my book, these can't be beat by anything less than 3 X more money!!!!!

Try them! You will be surprised at how good they are, especially at the ridiculous low low price ofa mere $15! These will make you wonder why the others are so much more expensive!

My only regret is that I did not discover these, sooner!

Jim