Part Five
Headphones!
Yes, that required bold and bigger writing because without decent headphones, you can't enjoy your music. If you can't enjoy your music, then you can't get PUMPED while working out.
Songs help me get through some of my more difficult exercise sessions and therefore, I need good headphones. Make sense? It does to me.
I am by no means an audiophile, but I can tell the difference between good and bad headphones. For instance, at work I use the Bose QuietComfort 15 Noise cancelling headphones. By far they are the best headphones I have ever had the pleasure of using. For my work I need good headphones because I have to hear every word the characters are saying. I am a HI captions producer BT-dubs. And I get really annoyed when people around me talk and I'm trying to focus on my work. So I took the plunge and bought these expensive headphones. But boy, oh, boy are they worth it. They block out a good amount of sound, are comfortable and sound amazing. I would wear these all over the place if I could. Oh, and they work really well on aeroplanes in case you were wondering. Probably not. But now you know.
The problem with them is that they're really big and bulky. You can't exactly wear them while gyming or cycling or even running because I think they'd become heavy, sweaty and probably more painful than anything. So that takes us into the world of in-ear earphones. Ugh. Or are they?
I am a Bose fan from having the Quietcomforts but I also invested in their IE2 audio headphones a while back. They work well, sound great and are pretty comfortable for a while at least. The problem is they broke after a year of having them. I'm not unhappy buying a new set every year but I thought I'd give the rest a go.
First up:
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Lady Gaga Heartbeats by Dr Dre.
I must admit I don't like them at all, and I really tried to, I promise! They sound good when they're wedged so far into your ear canal that it itches, but otherwise they're uncomfortable, the bass isn't good unless, again, you wedge it into your ear. They fall out constantly! It's really annoying that even when you aren't working out they fall out. I can be walking around the house cleaning and they fall out constantly. And, yes, I have tried all the sizes that comes with it. I like the way they look but more than that I really feel like I should have saved my R1000 ($100) odd I paid for it. I know that Monster has a range of exercise earphones but since the quality of the sound isn't good, I'm not wasting anymore money on their range.
2/5
These are nice earphones. Good sound, good base, don't fall out when you move your head. All the things you want. However, they broke after a year and to be honest they become uncomfortable and fall out when I workout for a while. Not as much as the Heartbeats but the moment you start sweating they become itchy and threaten to fall.
The are, however, up to this moment one of the best sounding earphones. I can get into my grove with them on. 4/5
There are now Bose SIE2 sport headphones that I have yet to try which are apparently sport-specific and promise to be water resistant, comfortable not fall out your ears. If I get them, I'll review them.
New to the scene is the Yurbud range. I have seen them at shops but because of their price I always disregarded them as cheap earphones that probably sound terrible. I am happy to admit I was completely wrong. I picked up a pair of their Ironman range (R299 at Musica) for athletes to test them out after hearing about them on the interwebs.
So they guaranteed to never fall out. Pretty bold statement to make. These are designed by two athletes who actually do marathon runs and lead active lives and not by someone in a lab who doesn't know what a gym looks like. This makes a huge difference because they wanted to make a product they wanted to use and not just for the money that they are now making. They're pretty comfortable, although I haven't had them for very long so I'll have to test out every day use then transitioning into sweaty gym mode and let you know if they become any less comfy.
Ergonomically designed to avoid nerve rich areas of the ear; made with flexible silicone, Yurbuds are ultra soft and comfortable. They use a twist and lock system, sounds weird but it's easy and doesn't hurt or take more than a second to do.
They use 15mm drivers making the sound really good. I am more impressed by these than any Dr Dre /Monster range I've heard. The pitch is good, base it good.. all good! The only thing is that these do allow noise to filter through. This believe it or not is a good thing for road running so I can't really complain about that. Obviously if you're running on a road with cars rushing past, you want to be aware of your surroundings.
I have to give these a 5/5 because they come with a lifetime warranty so even if they break after a year, they'll give me a new pair. Up until I find something wrong, they'll keep their rating with me :)
I have had other earphones from Skullcandy (never again) and the Apple earphones which I don't mind too much but not for exercise. At this point I really do recommend the Yurbuds. If that changes I'll update.
LLAP
