Apple EarPods the New Apple Earbud Design

Along with the release of the iPhone 5 last week it included many new technological additions to the range.  There was the new charger that has caused quite a bit of controversy over the new pricing and there was the new Apple EarPods included too.  These Apple EarPods though are also available for same separately for those who want to buy them.

With a whole new design and Apple saying that they took around three years to create you would expect something special and they do have a unique look.  The question is of course are they worth an extra purchase or are they just headphones to be left to the iPhone 5 people who get them free.

Design

The first thing people will obviously see when they unbox the headphones are the whole new design.  Gone are the circular earbuds and in their place are earpods that Apple say fit “the geometry of the ear”, this is of course a posh way of saying they were designed to be more comfortable when you are wearing them.  The new design does give it a new more modern look with the recognisable whiteness of the Apple design of course.

Comfort

With the design being created to fit the ears better this is of course for improvements to sound and trying to give a more comfortable fit in the ear.  This may be a slight failure though as the earpods do tend to feel quite loose in your ear, where they should really feel more snug.  Even with this feel though they do keep in your ear and do their job in not feeling uncomfortable while listening to music, which may of course be exactly what the aim was.

Sound

Apple have a certain way to spin their advertising for their products.  They say that the quality is superior and rivals “high-end headphones” that cost hundreds of pounds more.  This definitely looks good in print and while the sound quality is an improvement they fail to live up to the billing.  With a more powerful bass performance though and increate in actual sound performance they are as good if not better than most smartphone headphones on the market (the ones included with the phones).

The problem is though if you are willing to pay a bit more than the asking price (£25/$29) there are better products out there.  An Example of these would be the Sennheiser CX495.  These offer better quality sound.  If you want the official Apple EarPods though these are the ones to go for and although they don’t live up to the hype they are a superior sound than the previous models.

Verdict

When included with the iPhone 5 you’ll notice the sound quality is an improvement and be happy with them.  The problem for other users though, even of the older iPhones is that there is not enough improvement over other products to qualify getting these.  As mentioned of course if you want the brand name over performance then of course they do offer quality, it’s just that there are better headphones out there.

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