Bass Buds

Here’s another in-ear headphones review for you – this time Bass Buds classic in the limited edition white colour, complete with Swarovski crystals and memory foam earbuds.

One of the things to remember about headphones is that you need to get a good fit in order to get good sound. A good fit also means less noise leakage. Bass Buds come with a plethora of earbuds to sort that out for you – with these I got a set of white ones, a set of black ones, and a set of memory foam ones. You just swap over to the ones that work for your ears best; think comfort and size. I have the middle-sized memory foam buds on now and they are comfortable and fit well. With the small white ones on they were getting a bit uncomfortable after an hour or so, but the memory foam ones work much better for me. I also now find the noise leakage is a lot less, which my colleagues in the office must prefer!

Sound quality wise, once I found a decent fit, these do product a clear sound. Before the good fit I found them a bit rubbish really – noisy, crackly, overly bassy and not really any good for the kinds of music I listen to. Thankfully, with the memory foam ear buds in they became much better. They are still very bassy, but it is clear. Over the last week or so I’ve used them for hours, and they have become better with time too. They’re still not what I would consider a really top quality sound – there are elements in tracks I can’t hear and I don’t like how some tracks sound. Where they are great is listening to the radio or the television – where pin point quality isn’t as important but clarity is vital. Bearing in mind that these currently retail for £35, they do live up to the expectations I might give that price bracket – definitely superior to the headphones you get with an iPod, but not as good as a decent set of Sennheisers or Klipsch in ear phones.

I often moan about cables. It doesn’t matter how neatly you wind up a headphone cable, it will always tangle up. Apparently this is to do with probability and the number of ways the cable can be – literally 100s of ways it can be tangled but just the one untangled (thanks BBC Science Club!). Anyway, Bass Buds have a “anti-tangle” cable that is double wrapped to make it durable. I wouldn’t say that my cable has remained completely tangle-free, but it certainly hasn’t got knotted or been too difficult to sort out. The little (actually it’s quite large, too big really) storage bag helps keep these nicely too, and at least means the headphones don’t get all tangled with everything else in my handbag!

The in-line control and microphone means you can use your phone and music player without taking it out of your pocket. It works fine with my iPhone – I can answer calls and have a conversation as well as start, stop, skip etc music tracks, and even use voice control. That’s great when out walking, there’s no need to take my phone out of my pocket or bag to use it, especially important when the weather is a bit rubbish. It does really lack a volume control though, I would find that very useful.

You can get Bass Buds in a really wide range of colours, and the fashion range come with Swarovski elements in the ear pieces. Much more subtle than the Quarkie headphones I reviewed, they do give a feminine charm to them – who doesn’t like sparkles?!

These fairly low cost headphones (currently £35) have an okay sound quality and with all the earbuds you get you’re sure to find a decent fit. The in line control is useful but lacking volume, and the simple shape and sparkly crystals make them a fashionable gadget.

The nice people at Bass Buds have given me a £5 off code to share with Splodz Blogz readers, which makes these perfectly affordable and a great idea for a Christmas present. Order from www.bassbuds.co.uk and use code BB38468 to get the discount.