I purchased these little guys from Woot. I am always a little hesitant purchasing stuff like this whether it is at a store or especially online, although the store is a little easier to return the item to. I'm always wondering if I'm going to get my money's worth.I'm not a huge audiophile in the sense that I don't need that extra crisp sound or perfectly toned low, mid and high ranges. I just want something to produce a pretty good sound with a fairly small price tag. I know brands like Bose are exceptional sounding products but $25, $50, $100 or more ear buds/phones are just a little ridiculous in my opinion for the every-day consumer. These products may be great for DJs or music producers but I think the layman that buys these is just flaunting their money. Again, I don't listen to my music much outside of my computer and when I do, I often have to keep the volume at a certain level to be able to hear my wife and/or kids if I am needed. The rare times I've been alone to enjoy my music are great but they are so rare that again I can't justify a high price tag.
They were being offered three for $9.99 and I could select three different colors, all different colors or two of one color...you get the picture. Although this seemed a great bargain, I was concerned about the low, low price reflecting the quality of this product. After reading some of the comments on Woot, I decided to take the plunge. I figured that $9.99 for three was better than for one. In the end if they weren't that great, they'd be acceptable enough and I didn't lose much money on the test try.
It's funny how karma works because a couple of days later I get an email from Buy.com for their daily/weekly deals. They had these earbuds listed for $19.99 which was a supposed savings of $20. There is another model that is showing for $9.99. I didn't pay too much attention to the exact model I was getting from Woot but either way, I feel I made out with a better deal.
The factory buds that came with the Zune were a tad too big with the smallest sized bud for my ears. They'd fit but they weren't comfortable having to be almost stuffed into my ear canal. LOL! They sounded pretty good but the comfort level just wasn't there. That's why I've been looking for new buds.
So, I got my order in a few days ago. The box looks pretty cool (inset) and the colors I chose were silver, blue and purple. They are a metallic sort of finish. The cord seems more durable than other buds I have had. It's more of a nylon cord. Well, it is a nylon cord but I think the nylon is wrapped around/over the normal plastic cord. I'm not totally positive. I'm not sure how this nylon cord is secured inside the bud part, like is it attached to the hard plastic of the bud or is it just attached with the thin copper wires sodered to the speaker part, I just don't know without taking it apart or breaking one for investigating purposes - not happening.
Anyway, I've only had a chance to test out one set (silver). All in all, I must say that I am impressed with the sound and product quality. I have a 30GB 1st gen Zune refurb that I bought on Woot about 3-4 years ago and it's still going strong [knock on wood]. I have a WIDE range of music (disco, pop, rock, new age, jazz, classical, country, rap, etc.) on this thing and the earbuds played all of them beautifully (in my non-audiophile-expert opinion). I'm using the smallest rubber condoms on the buds which allows it to slip snuggly and securely within my ear canal. This alone cancels a lot of background noise for me. I'm not sure if this is what they meant but it's almost like using those spongey orange ear plugs when shooting a gun.
Some of the bass was really impressive (again, to me). I couldn't believe that it was coming from such small speakers. By no means is it earth shattering or table rumbling but it was a very good sound. The treble wasn't ear-piercing. Some of my 80s hair band songs where the guy screams a long high not were not painful and I didn't hear any distortion from any other sound ranges.
The only thing that I don't like and it's not this product's fault is the quick, temporary "storage" of the buds, any buds, when I'm not using them for a brief moment or two. It's almost like I want the headphones of old but with the simplicity of the ear bud. Know what I mean? I can't take them out of my ears and have them hang around the back of my neck or anywhere for that matter comfortably and easily. I basically have to put them in a pocket, wrap them around the player, or whatever. Then when I want to use them again, I have to pull them out of the pocket or unwrap them from the player. It's kind of a pain. If it's a pain for me - a person that doesn't use an MP3 player all that often - then it's got to really suck for those others that are regular users of their MP3 players. I used to have some behind the head wrap-around head phones back in the 90s but I haven't purchased new ones since the CD player went out of style and the pricing has gotten outrageously high for a decent product. I am looking into getting some again but I have to find that good price tag for decent quality deal like I did with these earbuds!
There is my brief and non-expert review of the Wicked Little Buds Earphone. I hope it helps from a laymans view. As I mentioned there are two versions on Buy.com, they are the WI-2301 and the WI-2302. I don't know if there are more but that's all I found/saw at Buy.com. I also don't know what the difference other than price is between the 2301 and the 2302.
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