Ultimate Ears iPhone headphones/headset

Elina gave me this excellent set of headphones designed expressly for the iPhone, with a microphone and control button, for my birthday - thanks babe! Although in-ears aren’t my favorite type of headphones, these are light-years ahead of the crappy earbuds that Apple shamelessly includes with the phone.

Pros:

• great sound
• highly custamizable fit
• good passive attenuation of ambient sound
• separate microphone and control button makes both more convenient and effective
• high quality materials and construction
• iPhone-specific plug

Cons:

• can hear cord bouncing around as I walk, I think this is called subharmonics, I find it really annoying, but I think it’s a general problem with all “canalphones”, not just these.
• The phones seal really well, and don’t feed any of my voice into the audio, so I can’t hear myself speak, so I end up speaking very loudly - good for callers hearing mr, disconcerting for myself and people around me.
• callers hear a lot of ambient noise when I’m out on the street. (but I am in new york)

Bottom line: excellent headphones with a few quirks, which shine where it matters. And a great gift. Thanks Elina!

(Posted from my phone while walking through Central Park, listening to music, taking calls, and shooting some snapshots.)