We spend a lot of money on smartphones, often upwards of £500, yet we tend to use the headphones that are bundled with the phone for music and video playback. Nokia always bundles shockingly bad headphones and the HTC ones are not much better. Apple bundles the best of the lot with the iPods and iPhone, but they still lack the depth of sound that good music deserves. Smartphones are now the main digital music player for smartphone owners (obviously) and few have a separate music player so you may as well invest some money to improve the overall experience. The question is; are the bundled headphones really so bad and are the more expensive headphones really so good?

I have been testing the Nuforce NE-7M because they represent a price-point which most will be willing to pay and yet they are still supposed to offer a superior sound reproduction to the headsets you can buy in most retail stores for a similar price. If you have the spare cash and want to buy a very expensive set of earphones, be aware that this will not always work out as well as you may expect- headphones need to be purposely designed to be driven by MP3 players and phones to get the best effect so do your homework first. The NE-7Ms are designed with portable players in mind and are compatible with the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS (no volume control on microphone for 3GS though), BlackBerry Storm and any device that supports 3.5mm stereo in a 3 or 4 pin plug.

In the box

The packaging is very professional and included in the contents is a carry case and 3 pairs of single flange ear-tips (2 small, 2 medium, 2 large- the headphones already have a set in place as well). An instruction manual is also included which might seem bizarre, but some useful advice is included. There are the expected warnings to not play music too loud for too long, presumably to stop stupid people and sharks in suits from blaming anyone but themselves for hearing damage, and some interesting facts about what makes good quality sound. It is worth a read and you will probably learn something new. The contents are top class and make the purchaser feel like they are buying a quality item before they even try them.

In Use

The build quality is excellent and the gold rims make for an accessory which looks understated, but with a touch of class to show off the quality within. It is hard to quantify, but there the quality shines through in every part; the cable is slightly stiffer than normal and even the clip is heavier duty and more solid than I am used to. It is a strange experience putting them in your ears for the first time because they are in-ear and it can feel a little claustrophobic, but within a few minutes it does feel quite natural so don’t be put off. Now, you may want to spend some time trying out each size of ear-tip to make sure you find the right fit for you. The large ones worked for me which is no surprise; large outer ears= large inner ears I guess. It is important to find the right fit because this makes all the difference to the resultant sound quality.

I tested some songs which have excellent production quality and was astounded by the difference the NE-7Ms made. I played Stardust by Tom Munch and his voice sounded even more clear than normal. The bass in Killing Me Softly by The Fugees was incredibly rich and A Winter’s Tale by Queen blew me away. At that moment I knew that I would not be returning to the standard iPhone headphones. The built-in microphone takes care of calling and the voice quality is vibrant and exceptionally clear. You will need to lessen the volume for music and voice compared to what you are used to, but that is a good thing. Less battery and more clarity are beneficiaries of this.

The goodness does not stop there though. The sound isolation is better than anything I have used before. I had the music turned up ‘loud’ (don’t do that at home) and my wife could not hear a single note sat next to me. For music quality alone these are worth the money, but when you consider the sound isolation, built-in microphone and general build quality they quickly feel like a piece of luxury at a bargain price.

One final point on use- the microphone is very sensitive and so you do not need to worry about having it near your mouth for people to hear you. I was concerned by this so tested it when speaking to a friend who said that it sounded clear and consistent throughout our call- the strange part was that I moved the microphone close to my mouth and away again multiple times and the sound help up consistently. Clever stuff.

Conclusion

You can guess where this is going. It is rare that I am positive about any product the whole way through a review, but credit where its due- these headphones are breathtakingly good at reproducing complex sounds and the price takes my breath away a little more. You spend £500 on a smartphone. It would be daft not to spend 10% extra to improve the sound quality way beyond what the supplied headphones can achieve. My white Apple headphones are now tucked away in a drawer never to be heard from again…

Available from Audiologica for £64.95. My thanks to them for supplying the review unit. If you use the Buy Now button below, you can take £5 off the current asking price.