The other day I saw a product announcement over at Playlist Mag for new noise reducing earphones that just hit the market…. called Comply NR-1. I had a little birthday cash burning a hole in my pocket, and I’m going on a trip in a couple of days, where I’ll be on a plane for a while (more on that in a later post). So, I thought I would give them a shot. I rushed the shipping in order to get them here in time.
They arrived today… and they’re going back tomorrow… The Comply NR-1 earphones SUCK! They sound terrible! I’ve had $5 earbuds from Radio Shack that sounded better then these pieces of crap. I was stunned at just how bad they really sound. They make my stock iPod earbuds sound like a high end stereo. There is absolutely no base… I mean zero. Anything resembling a low tone is completely lost. The sound is just a high pitch, tinny, whine. I never even got a chance to evaluate the noise reduction. It’s kind of irrelevant if the earphones sound so bad that you wouldn’t want to listen to music through them anyway.
Before I bought these, I tried to find some reviews online. I couldn’t find any, so I thought I would go ahead a risk it. I’m sorry I did. Now I’m out the rush shipping costs to get them here, and the postage to return them. Hopefully, this review will save someone from making the same mistake I did.
Try the Apple in-ear headphones. They come with 3 different size silicone covers and provided you use the ones that fit correctly (i’ve read may reviews from those who havent) they’re really great. The earbuds fit in your ears like earplugs, don’t slip, and block out a ton of sound. Actually it took some getting used to – you can’t talk to others and listen to music at the same time. The silicone covers provide the bass response and work really well. They come with a case, but I recently bought an earBuddy keychain for mine.
Anyway, if that’s the type of thing you’re looking for I’d highly reccomend them.
Best product review ever! We need more like this. We NEED to be told when something is crap. Then there will be less crap because people will know not to buy it.
You might want to try a pair of Shure headphones. I bought the cheapest one for $100 at the Apple store. It comes with a bunch of ear covers made out of a variety of materials, or maybe just in different shapes and sizes.
I like ’em on airplanes, cuts the noise out really well. In order to get good bass sound, you need to cram the thing in your ear, which is weird at first.
I have them and for the price, they are pretty damn good – the comfort is quite awesome.
I was initially disappointed with Comply earbuds. Then, I plugged them into a seperate headphone amp, and they easily outperform both my Panasonic and Sony active noise reduction earbuds. I realize many will never go to this trouble, but to be fair, these can sound outstanding. Now, they are my favorites. I even stayed in noisy motel recently and was able to sleep using them.
I just bought a pair of Comply NR-10 earphones, which have an adjustable volume control (in case the in-flight entertainment system is too loud) and come with two size foam tips: regular and narrow.
I use foam earplugs a lot, so I’m used to squeezing them down and then inserting them in my ear. I couldn’t get the Comply tips to fit properly. The narrow ones go in easily but don’t fit snugly nor do they block out plane noise. The regular ones don’t seem to fit properly.
The instructions aren’t much help, since they say things like “bend the tip toward you” without indicating what that means or how the bent part should be inserted.
Hurm, well I’ve just received some headphones which use comply ear-tips (Goldring Gx200) and I must say I’m actually very impressed, they are extremely comfortable and cut out external sound far more effectively than anything else I’ve tried thus far.
I’m sorry you haven’t had a good experience with your headphones but I’ve found the tips themselves to be great.
Just as a question and I don’t want to sound patronizing, but are you sure you’ve put them in correctly? The reason I ask is that a lot of the time when someone complains about the ‘tinnyness’ of inear headphones its because they are not putting them in properly. The ‘usage’ instructions for my headphones are that you squeeze the tips so they squish down to being quite a thin tube, you then (fairly quickly) insert into your ear so they position themselves quite deep in your ear canal (you may find pulling back on on your ear lobe helps with this). Within 5 to 15 seconds (temperature dependent) the tips should expand giving a tight seal.
But I don’t actually have a pair of these so I can’t really comment on them specifically… but I can highly recommend the GX200’s from Goldring.
I also have the Comply NR1 headphones and have absolutely no trouble with them. The sound is great and they really block out background noise as well.
I especially like the additional slim tips that you can switch in for the standard size tips–regular ear bud headphones won’t stay in my ears, but the slim tips work well.
I’m guessing you had trouble with them because you didn’t insert them properly. On my first try I didn’t squish the foam tip enough and didn’t insert it correctly into my ear. Yes, the sound was distant and tinny. But on the second try, it worked perfectly and the sound was great. You really have to compress the foam and insert it rather quickly to make it work. But they DO work just fine when you do it right.
The NR10 headphones are $30 more for an adjustable volume, but since you can adjust the volume on your MP3/iPod, why pay the extra cash?
I agree with the guy above.. Sounds like you didnt insert them properly. I have the NR-1’s for listening while riding motorcycles. They do an excellent job of blocking out ALL of the exhaust noise and providing a very clear and good sound. Plenty of bass.
You must have gotten a defective pair or maybe weren’t able to fit them in your particular ear canal or something, because the pair I have sound great and have a *very* full bass response. In fact, sometimes the bass is almost a little too loud.
I assume you were using them with the foam part attached, right? Because that is where the bass comes from. If you use them without the foam tips or without having the foam fully inserted in your ear then the sound will be completely messed up. They are designed to only be used with the foam attached and fully inserted into your ear canal.