The stock headphones that come with most phones and other audio devices these days work great…if you’re willing to put up with cords that tangle easy, have so-so sound, and when they break (and they will break), you’re not too heart broken over it. Now getting yourself a pair of ZAGGBuds is a great way to upscale your audio experience.
The Power of the Pyramid
As soon as I saw the unique pyramidal packaging I knew I was going to be in for a treat. As is the trend these days, manufacturers have put a lot of effort into their package presentation.
The plastic insert houses all of your ZAGGBuds essentials, including a black bag for storage of the ZAGGBuds and the 10 adapters. The supplied adapters easily provide sizing options for the ZAGGBuds. Changing the adapters was quick and easy, though I wish there were a larger range of sizes available to find just the right fit.
Living With Your ZAGGBuds
At first it was awkward putting the ZAGGBuds on. They are completely different than the stock earphones. There are three sliders on the nylon cord, and one of these must be pulled up first, then you can put your head through the hole that is created between the left and right cords. The ear buds can then be pulled up from behind your neck and into your ears.
The ZAGGBuds are brilliant in their simplicity. When you pull the phones out of your ears they drop down to the side and are suspended by the slider behind your neck (what ZAGG calls Hangin’ Tight). This way they are always ready to be re-inserted (a handy feature for those situations in which people keep asking you, “Hey, where’d you get the cool ear buds?”).
Sound
Now for the fun stuff…the sound. I hooked these up to various devices including my Palm Pre, a Creative Zen media player, a Nintendo DS Lite (playing Animal Crossing), and my home stereo. The MP3 files I played on the Pre and Zen were ripped at 320kbs and VBR and I set the EQ on the devices to flat. Various CD’s were selected to play on the home stereo system…and I had no control over the Animal Crossing music. Bottom line the sound was incredible. With the proper adapters the Z Buds provide some amount of external noise reduction (my guess would be about 20db). With the outside world muffled and the stellar bass that is naturally produced, these bad boys really produced some incredible sounds. Dynamics were very impressive and I found I had to reduce the volume from my normal settings.
Fit
These are shipped with a total of 10 different adapters that will fit most ears. All adapters offer external noise reduction and are very durable. The only complaint I have is I wore these on a 4 hour bike ride. After about 2 hours I could feel the inside of my ears where they contacted the adapters getting sore. Now I don’t know if I had initially selected the wrong adapter or if my ears just couldn’t take having something in them for that long. I did not experience this while wearing the ZAGGBuds during shorter durations though.
Final Thoughts
The ZAGGBuds met all of the expectations and requirements that I have for headphones. Wait, did I say “headphones”? Well they do have that wonderful sound that seems to only come from over-the-ear headphones. The cord never tangles, the sound never falters, and I kept having to tell the kids, “No, you can’t borrow them” because once they tried them they both wanted a pair.
Get your ZAGGBuds Here