iAudio 7 Earphones Are Dire

[keef]

Received my iAudio 7 yesterday from AMP3Players - the usual excellent service from them. But when first listening to the player with the supplied earphones I was disappointed with the dull yet hissy sound [sad]

Swapped from the supplied headphones to some Sennheiser MX550s - problem solved, fantastic hiss free punchy sound, even better after fiddling with the JetEffect settings [thumbsup]

Put simply, the supplied earphones are absolutely appalling, probably the worst I've ever used, which is a shame cos they look pretty cool.

Moral of the tale - ditch the supplied earphones, but then I guess you guys may have already known this? I usually buy iRiver & their earphones aren't too bad.

K.

[Martinp]

Included earphones always suck, but normally the iAudio earphones aren't too bad.

/takes out i7 earphones and plays quiet song - okay this isn't too good ... It also depends on the encoding quality of your songs I find though. I will definitely mention this in the review though.

[GSV3MiaC]

I always leave them in the bag for the next sucker when I eBay/Amazon marketplace the player later. However they are generally not bad enough to cry over.

The i7 is definitely 'cost reduced' .. no charger, no 3.5mm jack lead (line in/out whatever), no case, no lanyard, and a new low in bundled earphones. Basically as little as they could fit in the box. (I'm comparing it with the G3, D2 etc.). Mean mean mean .. however I'm much more worried about the SQ, the lack of gapless, the limits on folder/files, and a memory expansion option would have been nice (even if only microSD would fit).

The screen looks like overkill, but that may be the cheapest screen you can buy these days.

[keef]

Just thought I'd mention that I replaced the packaged headphones with these babies:

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/880672/Sennheiser-CX-300-In-Ear-Headphones/Product.html

And coupled with the Iaudio 7 the sound is superb (and rather louder).

Very much recommended [yes]

K.

[androaudio]

the supplied earphones are indeed unbearable. I don't even think they LOOK cool. I need some new Sennheiser anyway...

[justinjstark]

I like the bundled earphones over the cheap Sonys I have. I'm not saying they aren't bad but they are better than some alternatives.

The part I never figured out was why the cord for the left ear was so much shorter than the right. I tried some different configurations but the bud would pull out of my left ear because of the shorter cord.

I usually only listen to music in one ear anyway because I like to hear things going on around me. So, I cut the left ear bug cord off and just use the right. Plus, I'm hoping that if I pan it all the way right, I will get a little more battery life.

[omega215A]

I agree that iRiver does bundle some decent headphones for out of the box use. They are made by Sennheiser and re branded under the IRiver name.

Those headphones were pretty good until I decided to try some Shure headphones. I forgot what made me thought about buying them though.