Neat little earbuds that sit deep inside your ear canal and don't sound all that bad. Included dual-pin airplane adapter and t-splitter are great for travellers.
Running through airports is something that I find myself
doing quite frequently these days. It is not a fun existence. Listening to music
or even recordings of my son’s first words is what keeps me sane. Untangling
poorly designed headphone cords as I fumble for my plane ticket or passport
pushes me over the edge sometimes. Yes, I do drink a lot of coffee. More than any
human being probably should. Traveling with large, cumbersome headphones such
as my reference Sennheiser HD650s is not the best idea, so I usually bring two
or three pairs of in-ear or portable ear pad headphones with me to listen to while
I wait for my flight or sleep on the plane.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered a decent pair of
headphones at Brookstone. Not only do they sound okay, but also they are
actually designed for business travelers. Including a dual-pin plane adapter,
T-splitter, and encasing the headphone cord in a retractable housing were all
the right moves. Someone actually thought this product through. The cord management
system works most of the time, but it does snag occasionally and it can be a
pain to reset it.
The earbuds sit rather deep in the ear canal, and at first,
I wondered if they were sitting too deep for my liking. They are not
uncomfortable, but it felt somewhat weird the first few times I put them in.
You get used to it.
Sonically, the Brookstone earbuds are no giant killers,
lacking a firm bottom end, but they do not tear your ears off either. I have
heard far worse. Are they as comfortable as the $10 JVC Gumy headphones? No,
but they offer far more advantages for the business traveler and that makes
them worthwhile in my opinion.
I shall be keeping these for the plane adapter and okay
sonics.