Philips HE591 Surround Sound Ear Buds (Black)

Rating:
Summary: Missed Potential
Review: After receiving an unexpected MP3 player for the holidays, I had to go about replacing the horrid earbuds, and these were one of the items tried.<br /> <br /> These buds are really a case of missed potential. As might be noticed by the other postings, the fit is hit or miss. If the work, great, if not, it is going to feel like someone has stuck coke cans into your ears. A pretty good approximation, is the negative terminal end of a AAA battery. Find a dead cell, and very carefully insert it into the ear canal about 1/4", no further. That is pretty much the size and shape of the end of these Philips earbuds. Note: when properly inserted, they will point towards your nose, not the center of your head. If the battery trial holds promise, the HE591/HE595's might be worth considering.<br /> <br /> As to sound, in comparison to my reference headphones (an old pair of Grado SR80's), the HE591's aren't even close. They have no real bass response below 35Hz, and there is a serious peak around 500Hz. The peak can be taken care of with a bit of equalizer diddling, but there is nothing to help the deep bass output. The Grado's sound perfect with the equalizer off, the HE591's need help.<br /> <br /> As others have mentioned, the asymmetrical cord layout is silly; would have preferred a bit of extra length for the left bud. The simple case is a nice piece of work though. In addition, these are vented buds, which means you can hear a bit of what is going on around you. Good if you jog and an want to keep a sense of your surroundings. Despite the venting, they don't really leak much sound.<br /> <br /> A quick tip if you try them. Lightly moisten the soft silicone tip before gently "screwing" them into your ears, again, with the axis pointing towards your nose. Do not try to point them towards the center of your head, it won't work. I like the cable exit pointed to the top and foward, with the cords looped over my ears. You may like a different orientation.<br /> <br /> I think they are going to work fine for jogging and exercise, but they won't replace my Grado's for serious listening. BTW, if you have never heard of Grado, their SR60 and slightly more refined SR80 represent two true values in high fidelity. Despite their dowdy retro look, they sound gorgeous, and are made right here in the US. If you ever have an issue, they will support you. I just bought some new foam surrounds for my 15 year old pair, and they sent me some replacement gimbal yokes, to replace my cracked ones, free of charge. <br /> <br /> If Philips had simply included a couple of sizes of soft tips, like Sony or Shure, and knocked down that low mid-tone peak, they could have had a real winner. As currently sold, they are simply OK if they fit, and dreadful if they don't.<br /> <br /> Hope that helps.

Rating:
Summary: Great sound for price
Review: As other people have said they may not compete with $100 priced heaphones, but the sound is great. I am a big guy and do not have trouble keep the buds in my ear all day. To me they are very combfortable. They produce very good sound. They do not eliminate outside noise. I need this because I need to hear outside sounds.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing sound and PERFECT fit!
Review: First of all, these headphones fit me like they were custom made! The buds fit snugly (never fell out) and were extremely comfortable! The cable was the only thing reminding me that I had them on. I was very surprised to see that the fit was a problem. I also read a review that noted that the sound seemed distant. This is mostly likely because the reviewer covered the small hole (under the logo) on the outside of the buds. Just make sure nothing's blocking the hole as it is Philips patented reflected-speaker design. I must say the surround sound effect created is AMAZING- it felt like I was hearing the sound right inside my head and not through headphones.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome sound, but some problems
Review: First of all, these sound great. They sound just as good as the $50 earmuff style headphones I have. Great response, good bass, good highs and lows.

Some people complain that they didn't fit well, or they hurt. I did not find this to be the case for me. They fit beautifully in my ears, and delivered great sound.

My only qualm is the fact that the wire for the right earbud is much longer than the left. Because of this awkward arrangement (Philips, why did you do this??!!), there is more weight pulling down on the left earbud, and quite often, it gets loose in my ear, and I have to push it back in.

So yeah, that's pretty annoying. I would not recommend these headphones for an active listener ie. jogging, working out, or moving around a lot. However, for relaxed listening, maybe some light walking, these things are great, and you get fantastic sound for the price. I would definitely recommend these.

Rating:
Summary: Ow ow ow ow ow
Review: First off let me say that these earphones provide great sound, BUT you can't use them for more than 5 minutes without your ears being split in two. I wore them for about 15 minutes and my ears were red for the rest of the day. I fixed this problem by cutting sections out of the plastic tubes and then melting them back together. After this they fit perfectly, but I still had a problem with them slipping out of my ears. Overall these are great earphones if you want to spend time modifying them, but I would reccomend something else...

Rating:
Summary: Comfortable and sound great!
Review: First, let me say that I don't understand how the other reviewers could find these little gems uncomfortable. They are amazing! They fit snuggly in the ear and DO NOT fall out. On top of that, the sound is just amazing. After looking for replacement earbud style headphones to replace the horribly uncomfortable Sony ear clips and the earbuds that just fall out during exercize, I was delighted to find these Philips wonders. My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that the little rubber cushions can can come off after months of use. Like one other reviewer mentioned, they are too uncomfortable to use without the cushion, but these are so wonderful that I've re-purchased them several times. It would be wonderful if they would package these units with extra cushions. I definitely recommend these.

Rating:
Summary: Not entirely worth your twenty...
Review: I have an apple ipod, and the little earbuds that came with them broke so I set off to find a pair at Target. However, they do not carry the original buds in stores, and my Target was out of the in the ear-bud ipod headphones. So I decided to try these. I wasn't very pleased. Their sound seems very distant and doesn't block out activity around me. Also, they don't have good volume. I liked the bass, but I just felt it sounded like I was in a large room and the music sounded distant. Overall, I would spend the extra 20 for the apple in the ear-bud headphones.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I ordered a pair of Phillips surroud sound headphones at the Target website. The first thing that dissapointed me was the shipping price. Seven dollars for a light package package that would fit in my mail box. Once I opened them I was very dissapointed. The ear buds that came with my mp3 (which probbably costed five dollars) had deeper richer sound. They are not even comftorable. It's like when the doctor looks in your ears. They might have "surround sound" but they are not special, not worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Ouch These Really Hurt!!!
Review: They may sound great, I don't know... I could not get past the fact that these really hurt you ears. It feels like your ears are burning with them in. I guess you need to have large ears for these to fit.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sound and Horrible Fit
Review: UPDATE! Boy was I wrong. I returned these the other day after my ears being in extreme pain! They were fine the first day or two, but when used for more than an hour at a time I couldn't take the pain. I can't seem to change the star rating for this review, but they are not a 5! More like a 1!

I have read the other reviews about the how these sound great but fall out. I find these to be a perfect fit for my ears and very comfortable. These are the best headphones/ear buds I have tried, however I have always bought cheap ones. I think they are definately worth $20. I actually had to turn down the TruBass and SRS WOW settings in WMP since these produce better bass and simulated surround than the desktop speakers attached to my laptop.