A month ago, I stumbled upon a website called FocalPrice.com, and they were selling some pretty decent headphones. A certain set called the Soundmagic PL-30 has also been getting a reputation for being great headphones for the price, so I decided to give them a go.
I’ve been listening to iPods, CD players for a long time now, and headphones never really mattered to me. There was certainly a difference between the dollar store headphones from China and the ones bundled with whatever player I was using at the time.
A year or two ago, almost everyone seemed to be using the stock set bundled with the iPod, and now everyone seems to be about the bass or whatnot with their Skull Candies or Bose earphones. Ten minutes on Head-Fi gave me lots of good information about why NOT to get those headphones, or NOT to stick with the Apple headphones, but to get a decent pair.
First suggestion that seems to be to buy a $200-$300 set of earphones that will blast out your ears in a matter of days, pretty dumb, and definitely not worth experimenting. But then the PL-30’s started to appear, at a price of $20 (when I bought it), it seemed like the pair I should start off with.
After a few weeks of waiting anxiously I got the set, and I honestly thought that it wasn’t mind blowing, but definitely worth the $20, more as an experiment for newbies than anything.
The most brilliant thing about the package is that it comes with a ton of tips for the in-ear headphones. At first sticking the piece of silicone or foam or plastic into your ear canal is going to feel weird and uncomfortable, but after a day or so, it’ll feel natural, more so than any old earbud did.
The ton of tips is what makes the PL-30’s a great buy, you get to try out the foam tips (which apparently is at least $5), you can try out the bi-flanges (another $5 to buy alone) and of course the regular tips that come in different colors and sizes.
To answer your question, the foam and bi-flange tips generally come with extremely high-end headphones, and replacements aren’t exactly cheap. The foam ones are supposed to be really comfortable because you squeeze them, set the into your ear, and they sort of mold to the shape of your ear. The bi-flanges on the other hand seal your ear, twice, which keeps the sound out and the bass in. I thought the foam tip kind of sucked, but it was worth trying, and the bi-flanges were absolutely brilliant.
The headphones itself was in a way a disappointment. A lot of people made it sound like it was a billion times better than a stock set of iPod headphones, and perhaps to an audiophile it is, but to me, the difference is pretty small. It does sound better, the voices are clearer, the instruments sound more realistic, and the bass has a bigger presence but not overwhelming like some of the other headphones I’ve tried.
To an average user, these headphones sound marginally better. But the $20 I paid (or the $25 you will pay because of the raise in price) is definitely worth it as an experiment of sorts. The different tips are cool to try, the headphone is functional, and will replace your current headphones without a doubt, and well, it has a really nice case. If you are annoyed with the sound quality of your headphones and you are looking for a replacement, then you might want to try the PL-30’s before buying the hyper-expensive set.
I’m enjoying my PL-30’s, and most likely this is as expensive a pair of headphones I will ever buy.
Freaking ugly but I guess the tips look nice. A lot cheaper than my Sennheisers so I’ll be sad if they’re better.
Ugly, and kind of uncomfortable, I think its kind of unbalanced in terms of weight so it is really weird sitting on my ear, but you get used to it.
I think if you’re placing these types of earphones into your ears properly you lose a lot of bass or whatever it’s called.
I recommend these from Play.com for anyone that uses that site:
http://tinyurl.com/927hgd
There are other colours to pick from too!
Skull candies are definitely great for the bass, but everything else is sort of…. average for skull candies. Soundmagic also has other headphones, the PL12’s at $15 are highly recommended over skull candies, and I’ll definitely be getting a pair in the near future.
Also, the bass on the Soundmagic PL30’s is pretty good if you get a good seal. And I’ll be writing something up later on about a certain portable amp that I bought. 🙂
I’ll keep an eye out for Soundmagic earphones and see whether they’re better than the Ink’d skullcandy ones I mentioned. Tbh, I’ve never listened to music on soundmagic branded earphones so I might as well see if they’re any better.
I too haven’t actually tried skull candies all that much, I just mooch off of school friends. But I’m probably one of the VERY FEW people who don’t like a ton of bass. I find that once you get to a certain point, it gets kind of overwhelming and gives a really dizzy feeling. XD
too many bass makes me dizzy too. :p
If you get the Soundmagic pl 12 or anything that are as good as Skullcandy or similar please make another short review wit where u got it from.
Thanks.
I’m VERRRRY tempted to buy the PL12’s, but I’ve been a bit short on cash lately, so I think I might have to let go of some of my other electronics and sell them before I go buy anything new. 🙁
Looks interesting. I might try and buy one myself as I frequently seem to break my earphones
I have the PL30’s. I quite like them. After trying all the different tips, I keep going back to the foamies.
(The bi-flange were nice, but came off in my ears a couple of times!)
ZPE: “I think if you’re placing these types of earphones into your ears properly you lose a lot of bass or whatever it’s called.”
Wrong. If you DON’T put them into your ears properly you lose bass.