How to choose headphones and not overpay: testing models from 100 to 224,000 rubles

Now there are many in-ear headphones on the market that differ in price, design and quality, and it is difficult to make the right choice in favor of a particular model. In this article, I will not analyze all the popular models on the market, but will only consider four price groups of headphones using the example of their most prominent representatives.

My testing experience suggests that the results obtained can, with a certain degree of probability, be attributed to other models in each price category (although there are always exceptions and a different perception of sound by each specific person). I hope this article will help you decide when to overpay and when to save money.

So, the experiment was attended by: Ritmix RH-010 for 100 rubles, ceramic Harper HV-801 for 950 rubles, sports Monster iSport Victory for 7,000 rubles and premium Astell & Kern Layla II for 224,000 rubles.

Ritmix RH-010

These headphones and the like of various Chinese brands can always be found in large supermarkets or in online stores at prices ranging from 50 to 200 rubles. Indeed, the money is small, but whether it is possible to enjoy music in such headphones is a big question. It's like a lottery. The fact is that headphones for such a price in production in China, no one will check for workmanship, the main thing is the volume. As a result, half of the items in the batch immediately have problems: a broken earpiece, strong creaks and other "joys".

We were lucky, the purchased "ears" were not defective.

Ritmix RH-010 are sold in a plastic blister with a minimal design, and inside, in addition to headphones, two more spare ear pads of different sizes are waiting for us.

The design is simple: a round speaker housing, from which a wire comes out through a cylindrical tube. The in-ear mounts are positioned without offset. The headphones are made of plastic, lightweight, but they are not very secure in the ear and constantly strive to fall out. Soundproofing is average. The cable consists of two braided wires connected together and bifurcates at a certain place, going to the right and left drivers. The plug is straight and not gold-plated.

The workmanship is very low. With careful use, such headphones last for a maximum of three months, while the average lifespan is a month. After that, the wire near the plug is usually frayed or one of the headphones simply stops working. In other words, with this approach, headphones will cost from 500 to 1,000 rubles per year.

But what about the sound? Theoretically, it is, but here it can be called music with a big interference: no depth and sound of individual instruments, constant wheezing and crackling. The composition rolls into an expressionless noise, occasionally interrupted by scraps of the vocalist's words. The bass is weak, the high frequencies are sometimes not heard at all.

So, if you are the enemy of your ears or you urgently need to listen to some kind of recording, and there is nothing better at hand, then Ritmix RH-010 can be used. But I strongly advise against choosing them as the main headphones, especially with such a quality of manufacture.

Verdict: the sound is bad, the design is inexpressive, the convenience is average, the quality is disgusting, the price is low. Not worth buying.

Harper HV-801

Why did I choose Harper from the huge number of headphones in this price range? The answer is simple: traditionally low price coupled with good sound quality. The HV-801 is seduced by its ceramic cabinet and neodymium drivers, avoiding the rattle inherent in some plastic models and improving sound quality.

The headphones are sold in a compact cardboard box, the contents of which are packed in transparent plastic. It doesn't look too rich, but you can't call it squalid either. All the features of the gadget are indicated on the reverse side. The set includes a cover, additional silicone tips, a clip and instructions in Russian.

The headphone housing, made of glossy ceramic, has a cylindrical shape with rounded ends. On the side there is a small recess with an opening through which air is drawn in. The earbuds themselves are located at an angle to the body.

On the other side, a cable comes out, protected from rubbing with a piece of rubber. The wire has a round thin cross-section and a complex structure. The audio signal is transmitted using shielded oxygen-free copper wires. Copper veins are covered with a black braid, on top of which there is a spiral weaving of a strong thread. All this is enclosed in a soft transparent polymer. This design looks stylish, holds well, and even reduces tangling.

Ends a 1.2m cable with a gold-plated straight plug. On the wire of the left earphone there is a playback control panel with a microphone.

The HV-801s are quite heavy and feel in the ears, besides, the ceramics are a little cold in the ear. The sound insulation here, though not one hundred percent, is very good: the noise of the subway at a low volume of music will be heard, but the sounds of the city are almost completely blocked by the ear pads. When walking, the headphones are stably held inside the channel, but as soon as you start running, they immediately strive to fall out.

I was very pleased with the neodymium magnets: the sound is really good quality, without interference, noise and rattling, even with below average recording quality. Maybe not crystal clear, but dynamic and driving.

The entire frequency range is well worked out: the bass is deep, vocals are heard clearly in the middle frequencies, and the sound is sonorous and biting at high frequencies. It is difficult to verify the sound of each instrument here, but all the same, the sound does not merge into a single stream. The only thing that I lacked a little was the volume: the sound seems a little flat.

Harper HV-801 are very good headphones, especially for their price. Sound quality, good sound insulation, and they look great. There are no complaints about the assembly either. This is an excellent choice for those who want quality sound at a budget price (950 rubles).

Verdict: the sound is good, the design is interesting, the comfort is average, the quality is average, the price is average. You need to buy if you need good sound at a low price.

Monster iSport Victory

Headphones should not only reproduce music of high quality, but also be comfortable. Now remember how often in-ear headphones began to leave their rightful place, as soon as you go from step to run. But what if you are actively involved in sports and want to listen to music at the same time?

The situation can be saved by special sports headphones, a striking representative of which is the Monster iSport line. It includes several models, but since we limited ourselves to wired in-ear "ears", the choice fell on Victory.

The package is a folding case, inside of which there are the headphones themselves, fixed in plastic, a soft carrying bag, a manual in Russian, as well as a set of spare ear pads and silicone hooks. These hooks, located around the speaker, are the hallmark of Victory. This technology is called SportClip: soft tips are inserted into the recess of the auricle and provide a secure attachment in addition to the traditional intracanal one. The ear cushions are also not as simple as they seem. They are made with the OmniTrip technology, which allows them to conform to the shape of the ear canal.

Thanks to the use of these two chips, the headphones will not leave the ear arbitrarily during any somersaults. In addition, they provide such good sound insulation that even the hum of the subway ceases to be caught. At first it seems even a little strange, but you quickly get used to good things.

With the replacement earpieces, you can customize the Victory to fit your ears. The earbuds are lightweight (25g) and are ergonomically shaped, so you don't feel any discomfort when wearing them.

Two other nice features of these headphones are waterproofing and antibacterial coating. Therefore, even with active sweating, "ears" are not in danger, and if you get them dirty, then the gadget can be safely rinsed in running water.

Tangled wires? This is not about Victory either: a flat section gets confused much less than a round one. The wires are shielded to protect against magnetic interference. The 3.5mm plug is also nice: it has an L-shape for longer durability, and gold-plated to improve audio transmission.

In order not to have to pull out the phone when there is an incoming call or switching tracks, a control panel with a built-in microphone is located on the wire, which allows you to receive a call, control playback and volume.

So, in terms of exploitation, Victory is a clear leader, but what about the sound?

Each earphone contains one emitter. They work well over the entire frequency range from 20 to 20,000 Hz, but the bass is most pronounced here. The sound is clear enough, there are no distortions and parasitic wheezing. Although it will be quite difficult to isolate the sound of any particular instrument here, the overall composition looks nice.

You can only tell the difference between the Monster iSport Victory and professional headphones when listening to music in uncompressed format. Complete noise isolation ensures that there are no extraneous sounds in your favorite music. I especially liked the way heavy and dance music sounds in them. The volume margin is decent: for most compositions, 50% volume is sufficient.

The headphones look unusual, stylish and sporty. The build quality and materials are excellent - no malfunctions or damage over the long period of use.

If you lead an active lifestyle, go in for sports, love comfort and good music, and at the same time you have enough MP3 quality, then Monster iSport Victory will be an excellent choice, although not too cheap: the price is about 7,000 rubles.

Verdict: the sound is good, the design is sporty, comfortable, the quality is high, the price is high. You need to buy if you like listening to music while playing sports.

Astell & Kern Layla II

The Layla headphones, named after Eric Clapton's composition, are the oldest model in the Sirens line from renowned musical engineer Jerry Harvey, who became famous for the invention of in-ear headphones. In our hands was the second reincarnation of this model, where inside each earphone there were 12 reinforcing drivers with a four-way crossover.

Of course, it is difficult to imagine that such a device can be cheap (the price fluctuates around 230,000 rubles). And to enjoy all the delights of such headphones, you will need a good Hi-Fi player at the price of no less (we used the model of the same brand Astell & Kern AK320 for our experiments). Let's see what we get for that kind of money?

Astell & Kern Layla II: packaging and kit

Picking up a box with Layla II, you immediately understand that there is a premium device inside: large dimensions, high-quality cardboard and illustrations, everything inside is packed in foam rubber. The package bundle also did not disappoint: the headphones themselves, two detachable cables (with connectors for 3, 5 and 2.5 mm), five pairs of spare ear pads, a cleaning brush, a screwdriver for regulating bass and a cool metal and carbon box for carrying.

The first thing you notice is that the Layla II is much larger and heavier than other in-ear headphones. But, remembering how many speakers are inside, you immediately come to terms with it. To my surprise, they are quite comfortable to wear. It's all about special bows that are hung on the auricles, distributing weight over them. They bend easily, have a memory effect and rub the skin lightly, however, weightless Layla II is clearly not felt. The earbuds are securely held in place and can only fall out randomly with a strong run.

Astell & Kern Layla II: comfortable wearing

The Layla II case, made from a single piece of titanium, has an intricate teardrop shape. Logos are applied to the carbon insert. As already noted, there are 12 speakers inside: four each for the lower, middle and upper frequencies. They cover a frequency range from 10 Hz to 23 kHz.

Three outlet channels are made of stainless steel. FreqPhase waveguide technology adjusts the timing and phases of the drivers, providing each driver with a signal within 0.01 milliseconds so that sounds reach the eardrum at the right moment.

Medium cable consists of twisted braided wires. It came out quite tough, but it will take a lot of effort to tear or grind it. Even if you succeed, you will not have to buy new headphones, but only this cable - this is the main advantage of removable parts. It ends with a straight gold-plated plug.

There is no microphone and playback controls on the cable, but there is a special remote control, for which we need a complete screwdriver. The fact is that Layla II are reinforcing headphones and the sound they reproduce will not be to every music lover's liking, because the bass with this design is traditionally weak. This remote enhances the low frequencies from 0 to 10 dB, making the sound more comfortable for more users.

To connect the cable to the headphones, you need to connect the four headphone plugs with the holes in the thickening of the wire, and then fix the structure with a special nut.

By trying different ear pads, you can change the degree of sound insulation - from medium to almost complete. Also, among the complete tips there are those that remember the shape of the ear canal for greater comfort of use.

Well, and, probably, the main question: how does the “player - headphones” bundle sound for 500,000 rubles? Contrary to expectations, the sound could not carry me to heaven from bliss.

The test started with MP3 songs. All the shortcomings of the recording were heard in my ears: wheezing, creaking and other debris, which is usually cut off by other headphones.

Rightly judging that Layla II was designed for lossless audio, I switched to FLAC. Here the opposite picture awaited me: the sound was perfectly clear. If you listened, you could hear each instrument, analyze the work or vocals of each musician. But another problem arose: there is no sense of integrity. And if in the case of classical compositions this effect is almost imperceptible, then when listening to rock music the drive is greatly lost, and the instruments sound, as it were, a little separate from each other. In addition, even with the bass controls turned to the maximum, the latter are clearly lacking in heavy compositions.

The headphones turned out to be too good for my ears, accustomed to dynamic radiators. But, unfortunately, this is the specificity of all armature monitors.

Layla II - headphones designed for a very limited circle of people. They are audiophiles who love the sound of armature drivers and are willing to spend half a million on portable audio, or they are music professionals, including sound engineers. For them, Layla II will be just the perfect choice, meeting expectations one hundred percent, and as a bonus they will receive high quality workmanship and premium materials.

Verdict: the sound is great (for a reinforcing structure), the design is premium, the comfort is average, the quality is very high, the price is too high. You need to buy if you cannot live without good music.

conclusions

So, where should you choose?

Parameter	Ritmix RH-010	Harper HV-801	Monster iSport Victory	Astell & Kern Layla II
Type of	dynamic	dynamic	dynamic	reinforcement
Frequency response, Hz	20–20 000	20–20 000	20–20 000	20–23 000
Resistance, Ohm	32	16	18	20
Connector	3.5mm	3.5mm gold plated	3.5mm gold plated	2, 5 and 3.5 mm, gold-plated
Soundproofing	Average	Good	Almost complete	Good
Workmanship	Low	The average	High	Very high
Design and materials	Inexpressive, plastic	Interesting, ceramics	Sports, plastic and silicone	Premium, titanium and carbon
Convenience	The average	The average	High	The average
Sound (on a 10-point scale)	1	7	8	10
Average price, rub.	100	950	7 000	224 000

Ritmix RH-010 and other headphones in the price range up to 200 rubles, I could only recommend to enemies. Not only are the signals reproduced through them difficult to call music, but they will also break in a couple of months, so that in a year you will spend more on buying new ones than a good model is worth.

If you have any special requirements: you like to listen to music in uncompressed format or while doing sports, you like stylish things or appreciate high quality - you better choose a model in the range from 4,000 to 10,000 rubles. Yes, a purchase can hit your wallet hard, but this is a high-quality item, and these "ears" will last for several years of daily use. For sports, the Monster iSport Victory is virtually the reference model.

If you are simply obsessed with good music or connected with it at work, do not tolerate compromises and have extra money, then you are in the premium segment for headphones from 50,000 rubles. There is the best design, excellent materials, and high quality workmanship. The sound here is also the best, but it must be remembered that without a good Hi-Fi player and recordings in lossless format, it will be difficult to catch the difference with cheaper models. The tested Astell & Kern Layla II can be called one of the best in-ear armature headphones without any reservations.

Well, if you do not need all these bells and whistles, the MP3 quality is quite satisfactory and you just want to listen to music, then you need to choose from the price range from 800 to 2,000 rubles. There are a lot of high-quality models here, in which - if you, of course, do not have an ear for music - it will be quite difficult to catch the difference in sound with more expensive ones, but you can save a lot. Of course, before buying, you should definitely check the sound of the model you like for yourself. That is why, according to the results of our test, the Harper HV-801 model is recognized as the best in terms of price-quality ratio.