The idea of going on a train journey (or any journey lasting more than 5 minutes) without any music pumping into my ears is almost a crime to humanity in my books. For this reason, when I realised that I had lost/forgotten my Sennheiser headphones on my return to Manchester, the only thing I could do was go buy some new ones. I’d had my eye on the Etymotic hf2 earphones for a while and decided to take this opportunity to get myself a pair from the Apple Store. At £100 a pop they’re by far the most expensive headphones I’ve ever paid for, but I was hopeful that they would live up to my expectations.

Well, after using them for about half hour, the left ear bud fell open revealing the wires inside. ‘Um, no’ was the nice way to describe what I thought at seeing this and decided to return them to the Apple store the next day. They replaced them instantly so that was good and I’m pleased to say the second pair have no suffered the same fate and seem fine.

I guess that doesn’t matter though now. The sound quality from them is simply incredible. Once sealed in your ear canal (they recommend you life your ear upwards and outwards, insert the bud then release as to create a tight seal) the noise isolation is spot on. When on the bus, I can hear pretty much nothing that is going on around me. From the gobby fat girl to the drunken bum, they could be as good as dead. The great thing about this is that you don’t need the volume maxed out to be able to comfortably listen to your music as most of the background noise is removed simply by the seal the bud makes in your ear. The hands free unit works a treat too, although I am now experiencing looks of disgust/fear/confusion from passers by as I walk down Market Street seemingly having a full on conversation with myself.

I was a little annoyed that the cables aren’t set up so that one side is longer than the other so you can run it around the back of your neck. Also, the cable itself isn’t as sturdy feeling as my old Shure buds but their cable broke so perhaps that’s a mute point.
Verdict: If you’re after some great quality buds for on or just below the £100 mark these are spot on. If you’ve got the cash, the Ultimate Ears with hands-free look similarly awesome but retail for £150+ so you’re moving into another class of product.