C510E Open Back In Ear Dual Chamber Aluminium Headphones / Earphones with Comply Tips

Was a bit dubious about buying these as there isn't much info out there about them but I found a good review on Golden Ears and they seemed to be outperforming far more expensive units (e.g. SONY MDR-EX300LP). I bit the bullet as they fitted what I was looking for which specifically was a decent low cost high impedance in ear set of phones. High impedance was very important as I shall explain. I just recently upgraded my phone to a Samsung Galaxy S4, their flagship smartphone. It turns out that this particular model,the I9505 Qualcomm quadcore is known for having audio crackling at moderate volumes especially with bass notes with low impedance headphones (anything less than 16 ohms). People with very expensive earphones were finding they couldn't listen to any music without significant distortion. I had this issue with a (luckily cheap) set of Skullcandy Titans which were rated at 16 ohms. Well now with my new Cresyn 510E's not only can I play at absolutely maximum volume distortion free but they sound much much better! The bass is absolutely superb, deep and accurate. The mids are a little muddy but pretty natural and it's a similar story with the treble. That said the dynamics are excellent and the soundstage is pretty big with good stereo seperation. Honestly I didn't think the Skullcandys were that bad for cheap units but compared to these they sound awful. As a comparison I have some HD202 Sennheisers headphones on my PC and these out perform those as well in most departments except for the slightly less clear midrange. I was worried about the fit and the sound isolation as they are half in ear types but they are actually much better than my previous fully in ear Titans. I tried the Comply memory(?) foam tips that are included supposedly for a better seal but I found they dramatically altered the sound making it really muggy and dull. It didn't improve the bass, if anything it seemed to be absorbing a large proportion of the sound these drivers produce. I went back to the normal tips straight away with no hesitation. These aren't the be all and end all audiophile listening by any means (I own a pair of Grado GS1000i's combined with a Woo Audio WA6 tube amp for comparison) but they are really good for such a moderately priced unit. I would recommend with them no hesitation.

Clever design lets the earphones rest lightly in the outer ear while the inward-curving 'in-ear' part delivers the sound directly to the canal, without the usual struggle to press the buds in deep to hold the them in place. Sound is great, too. This is the first time I've spent more than £12 on earphones, and am pleased that these are worth it. Update 24Jul17: Original review was 5 star, but reduced now to 3 star. The first pair lasted 4 months before the cable in the plug stopped making proper contact; the second pair lasted 7 months then failed for the same reason.

Terrible product; very cheap made of poor quality materials. The cable broke within 2 days of me receiving the item so I requested a return and refund, which was granted. I would highly recommend NOT buying these and purchasing some SoundMAGIC E10s instead.

EDIT - Unfortunately my earphones have stopped working after only 3 months of use. There seems to be a connection issue near the jack. I've never had a pair of earphones break this quickly! I don't think I'll be buying this make again. First off, I'm not an audiophile. I use my earphones for general use with my mobile phone. I listen to music and watch netflix - that's about the height of it. When I received the product I was very excited. The packaging was second to none! Everything was very well presented and couldn't wait to test them out. I listened to a few songs and noticed that the bass for very good, but the treble was difficult to hear. I read a few professional reviews online and they said that the earphones needed some time (100 hours?!) before they produced the correct sounds. So I've listened to over 100 hours and they've got a bit better I suppose. These earphones were next to useless with netflix. You could hear the background bass noises, but not the voices (Ok, you could hear them, but it was a pleasant listening experience). This has gotten a bit better now, but still nowhere near as good as a budget pair of sony earphones (about the same price). I tried the no-comply foam earbuds but this made the experience even worse, so I quickly reverted back to the normal earbuds. Putting the comply earbuds back on took me way longer than it should have. The inner cylinder is thin rubber like the outside of the earbud, so placing them on was a nightmare. While removing the foam earbuds, part of the casing came away (The shiny chrome plastic part). Obviously I'm not too happy about this but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I used some tape to stick it back on. The cable isn't great quality either. Its quite stiff kind of holds its shape. Even with the sound up loud you can still hear what's going on around you. Even worse, everyone around you can hear what you're listening to! A lot of sound escapes from these earphones. I won't be recommending these earphones to anyone, which is a real shame because I thought I was on to a winner when I saw the well presented packaging and great reviews on Amazon.

These earphones are a great find. The sound across all ranges is crisp and clear. No levels are drowned out and the blend is superb. The bass response is also very good for an earphone, but it isn't overdone as many bass-heavy earphones are these days. The bass here is truer. My only issue with these earphones that nobody else has seemed to highlight is the leakage. They do seem to leak moderately. They are not in the same league as Apple earphones, for example, which are the bane of the commuter's existence. But the leakage is noticeable, to the point where you feel self-conscious listening to music at the volumes you would like to in quiet places, like a train for example. As mentioned, the leakage isn't too severe and don't let it put you off these great earphones, just be aware. So only 4 stars for now and I look forward to the next edition of these generously priced earphones where they sort the leakage issue out.