Price: $20
Ratings: 3.5/5
First impressions
Tangle free earphones with an in-line
remote/mic built in?! Wow! Isn't that what every audiophile wants while
enjoying his music on the go. Unfortunately, not all earphones can give you
excellent performances on all the devices you own. So, looking at the spec
sheet and build of these Cowon EM1 earphones, we were expecting it to be really
good for mobiles and some laptops. But how good were they really?
Tangle
free earphones with an in-line remote/mic built in?
Review
The tangle free rubber wiring ensures that
no matter how you put these earphones in your pocket, they always are really
easy to untangle when you remove and use them. There is a marker on the right
earphone with 'R' engraved in it, but not on the left - although since the
in-line mic is on that side, you'd easily figure that one out even without
looking closely (and you DO need to look closely to see that R!). Anyhow, the
3.5mm stereo plus is not a right-angled one (thankfully!) and has a good
tapered shape on its rear end which makes it easier for a user to remove it
from any audio jack. The canal type earphones also have a nice padded design
which is curved to match the thickness of our fingers and makes it easier to
hold. Little things like these really added to the overall experience.
Unfortunately, however, the earphone did not seem to work seamlessly on all
devices. Certainly not on Android smartphones, but on iPhones and iPod's they
really excelled. Same with desktops and laptops too, especially the depth of
sound and loudness. Clarity wasn't pitch perfect, with the mids and lows
especially suffering a few places, but was not that bad overall. The bass was
strong, but not punchy. We even tried testing it out on YouTube 3D sound videos
and were quite impressed with the overall sound quality that was being rendered
in both left and right channels. Long-pressing the play/ pause button on the
in-line remote activated Siri on the iPhone 4S, but as always, was a bit of a
frustrating experience. But that was more to do with the Siri software, not the
EM1. The mic was fairly good in its part, providing an added feature that let
you being plugged in with the earphones while continuously using your iPhone.
The
Cowon EM1 Earphones
Remote & mic
The basic play/pause functionality worked
really well in the remote, but nothing much else. Also, the mic was good for
closed and quiet environments, but not so impressive with loud and outdoor
ones.
Verdict
For the asking price of just over 1K, these
set of earphones are not that bad. Especially if you own an iPhone and are
looking to use them occasionally on laptops. If you want to use them on your
Android phones, however, there would be no point - as they don't seem
compatible with them. On laptops, desktops and other heavy computing devices
they performed really well, but the bass is not as punchy nor the mids and lows
are that crisp. But, for casual listening they do the job quite well.
For
the asking price of just over 1K, these set of earphones are not that bad.
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Specifications
·
Dynamic Canal Type Earphones
·
10 mm driver unit
·
20 Hz to 20 KHz Frequency Response
·
103dB Sensitivity (at 1mW)
·
Y type cord, 1.2 mm length
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