List Price: $35.19
Sale Price: $13.73
Today's Bonus: 61% Off
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Update October 2, 2013
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2 pairs later, I have decided these earbuds are not for me. Yesterday I pinched one of the cables slightly causing the sound to go out for one of the sides. I've only used the earbuds for less than a month, and they have been in my pocket every day. I'm not sure if most people use earbuds as much as I do but a few days after receiving these earbuds, the plastic piece that holds the tiny speaker separated exposing wiring. I want to like these but unfortunately with my experience I can only give them 2 stars. There are much better products out there and I will use them for now on.
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Update August 28, 2013 3 Star Review
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Well the cons of my original review were apparently worse than I thought. It seems like the right earbud has pretty much cut out completely and now if I rotate the wire on my MacBook slightly it cut out completely. My Galaxy Nexus, and most of the other headphone jacks that I use have this same issue. Also the rubber pieces seems to pop out a bunch which is quite annoying when the weather is super humid out like it is now since they send to stick to everything in my pockets.
I am planning on buying another pair so I can make sure my review is super accurate which is why I revoked my review from five starts to three for the moment. For a few extra dollars, the skullcandy earbuds without the volume controls seem like a better buy at this moment.
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Original Five Star Review Posted July, 22 2013
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I am comparing these ear buds to the SkullCandy Ink'd 2 with a microphone as shown here. Skullcandy S2IKDY-010 Ink'd 2.0 Earbud Headphones with Mic (Black/Red)
The outside of the ear bud is constructed out of metal and the rubber ear pieces come in assorted sizes. The wire is not cloth on the outside like other MonoPrice ear buds but it is the flat style which from my experience, prevents tangles. From what I can tell, the headphone jack is gold tipped and the control located on the left earbud speaker wire includes a pause button, inline microphone, and volume controls. The pause button works with Android but unfortunately the volume controls do not work with Android 4.2 on my Galaxy Nexus at the moment. I have not tried these ear buds on an iPhone but I can change the volume on my MacBook Pro just fine as well as pause my music and use the microphone.
Compared to the SkullCandy Ink'd 2 ear buds:
They sound about the same although the volume control is a compelling feature that the Mic'd Ink'd 2 ear buds do not have. Neither of these ear buds are top of the line to say the least but for the price, they are difficult to resist. Both styles have the flat cord style which is nice as far as preventing tangles goes, however the MonoPrice ear buds for the connectors and plastic pieces feel a bit more sturdy and don't have a bunch of logos (in fact there is only one logo). Both also come with different sized earpieces.
At the time of writing, these ear buds are $13.73 while SkullCandy's are $18.99. Although SkullCandy has a lifetime warranty on their products, normal use typically wears them out on the connector between 3-6 months. I am not sure of MonoPrice's warranty policy but the typical cost and time of shipping a pair of ear buds to Utah and dealing with SkullCandy's website may not be worth the extra price for SkullCandy products (I've probably shipped back a total of 30 products back to SkullCandy, I'm getting too old for this).
Pros:
>Sound really well and have more features than other leading products.
>Seem to be well built
>Don't have a bunch of branding
>Are not too costly
Cons:
>The metal casing for the actual ear buds can get cold in air conditioning and feel a bit weird if you are not used to it
>With my Galaxy Nexus (which I use for audio playback via the headphone jack every day), the cord comes out slightly with just a little yang however it still will stay mostly in the headphone jack. I tried this with various Dell Desktops, Laptops without any issue and my MacBook Pro (which often has headphone plugged into it as well) which also did not have this problem.
>When listening to some music while walking, it seems like you can hear the cord moving.
>In a way, the rubber pieces make a vacuum on your ears which cause a weird effect if you have ears like mine.
Overall: If you are the fence or are deciding between the SkullCandy Mic'd Ink'd ear buds (and do not send products in for warranty when they break) I would buy these. I've only had these for a day so I will check in if I break them and compare them to other similar products in that regard.
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