Creative EP-630 - a quick review

So my ageing Panasonic HJE50 aren't going to last much longer. It has already gone through 3 surgeries, 2 to re-glue the shell together, 1 to remove the dirty and gunked-up cloth filter that was blocking all that sweet music inside. I don't think it'll survive another surgery. So I had to get another pair of canalphones.

Oh wait, isn't this supposed to be a quick review? Ok I'll get to the meat straight.

Pros: These are loud earphones. Much louder thn my already-loud HJE-50. This pair of earphones has good amounts of bass and treble, although it doesn't reach as low and as high as the HJE50.

In addition, they're really light. And costs only $38 at the Creative booth in Comex 2006. That by itself makes this earphones extremely tempting, as they have often been compared with earphones twice its price.

Cons: While these earphones have plenty of bass and treble, it's not spread smoothly across the spectrum, causing everything to sound quite artificial. It's not all bad, but this problem makes voices sound totally unlike the original.

Another thing I have a beef with is its inability to reproduce the sweet overtones of drums. The bass drum sounds like an axe being forcefully swung into a log. Loud, but lacking character and punch. The toms and snares sound dead - without the resonant ring that usually goes with them.

The cable is a Y-cord, which doesn't make sense considering that almost every manufacturer empraces the J-cord design that lets you loop the cable for the right earphone behind your neck. A Y-cord hangs in front of your neck, causing great inconvenience.

gonococcus's verdict: Good value, fun to listen to, but lacks accuracy.

4/5 Stars.