I just bought my first pair of ‘noise-isolating’ earbuds today — SonicGear’s EarPump. I paid RM 39.90, so I wasn’t expecting much from them.
I was wrong. The fit is excellent — with three different sizes of rubber in-ear seals to choose from, and a spare set of the medium seals there’s something for most ear sizes. In my case, the mediums fit perfectly and comfortably, sealing out most outside noise.
Overall I’m quite happy with sound reproduction. Treble comes through loud and clear, with bass being a little too far on the restrained side for me. The mid-range is somewhat strong, but that doesn’t bother me too much. Overall I’m quite happy with sound reproduction though I wish the bass was a little more defined.
Apart from the headphones and extra seals, the package comes with a carry case which has spare room for a small MP3 player; something along the lines of a Creative Zen Stone would fit perfectly in there with the phones.
A serious problem that has emerged after my testing is that the majority of MP3s in my library aren’t ripped well enough and have a constant background noise to them. My commercially purchased tracks, as well as higher bit-rate rips sound excellent however.
P.S.: I think EarPump sounds like something you’d rather not have happen to yourself :(
