Philips SHE3580, audiophile sound for $5.99

I force myself to catch bus these days as a way of exercise; so I need a pair of earbuds that can isolate some noise and still produce audiophile sound. I happened to see Philips SHE3580 in T.J.Maxx for $5.99; so I gave them a try - nothing to lose.

Wow, I cannot believe my ears. What's going on? How can something made by Philips for less than 10 bucks sound more favorable than my $330 Etymotic ER4S?

So I did a Google search and, no surprise, I was not the only one felt that way.

No kidding. as good as it is, the ER4S simply does not have bass, even if I insert them so deep into my ears that almost break my ear drums! The bass from the SHE3580, however, easily shakes the roof or my butt. Don't get me wrong, the bass is still very well controlled without killing other parts of my music. I know, they must have a "V" shape frequency response curve, but these little guys simply sound good in the first place, the good sound is not a result of the "V".

If the "V" shape bothers you, you can use a "^" EQ to make it flat. For example, the music player in my Samsung Stellar has EQ (see above). However, I actually prefer the "V" as is. You know, when outside is noisy, the most damage is to bass and thus some boost to bass is very welcome. And, when it is quiet like in-bed listening, while sound level is low, "V" is a good thing too, like loudness control.

These Philips earbuds are very comfortable too, because the tips are shallow, they don't go much into my ears. Even better, the body and the whole thing is very tiny, fitting perfectly to my ears; I don't feel a thing when my ear is against the pillow.

Cannot be any more ideal. And did I say $5.99? I went back to the store and got home a bag of them.

There are red, blue and black colors. There is also a version (SHE3575) for cell phones with in-line MIC, for $15 or so.

BTW, all above photos are from the Samsung Stellar, not bad, ha? for a 3MB cam. Never be fooled by "MB"!

The left and right bodies are slightly differently curved. Knowing this, you can hardly put them in wrong sides.

PS: a simple and small adapter can improve the sound even further: