Sometimes little things are the source of our happiness. I mean, seriously. Who could have thought. A really cheapo earphones with the longest name – “JVC HA-ECX20-B Sweat Proof Headphones” – just made my day, and this is their story:
I’m trying to be one of those people who don’t forget stuff. Especially while traveling. Unfortunately, the forces of nature made me a special kind of breed and there is always at least one small item that I don’t bring along. I mean, sure, you pack your laptop. Then the iPad. And all the gadgets such as the GPS tracker. Possibly some clothes too. And me too, I can make that work. Luckily, my wife is in charge of kid’s stuff so there are no flaws there.
But if there’s one thing I left at home more than once, it must be my headphones. Ones that I use for running (because wherever you go, to run you must). Or for watching movies on my iPad. Or for Skype calls. Well. You get the drill.
Last time this happened to me, I decided I’ll just buy something that comes along (and now they’re in my car playing the “backup earphones for running” part – Take That, Universe!)
Anyway… at the local store I picked up the JVC HA-ECX20-B headphones for a price of a bigger pizza. It was an emergency impulse buy from my emergency twenty-buck fund, check if you can get one on Amazon on sale:
JVC HA-ECX20-B Sweat Proof Headphones Review: will they make you a happy person?
Well, let’s look at it:
First of all, I get it, earphones, headphones whatever. Potato potato. It’s not a big deal, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Well, unless you want to listen to your Bose Home Theater system (all along with everything other Bose 🙂 ), but people still love when stuff works well for less money.
I still like to have good headphones when I am listening to something that I care about. Hopefully you have the same life policy, especially if it comes to your wife (or husband).
Let’s get back to running. And music during running. Because although sometimes running with a pinch of meditation involved is cool… you know, when you just dose off into your inner self and realize how awesome a person you are, but then the crazy ideas of what you need to do, or shopping lists, or business ideas pop-up and annoy you… anyway, so even though sometimes it is fun to run in silence and enjoy the solitude, I like my music loud and crystal clear beating in my ear so that I can try and catch the pace of Red Hot Chili Peppers singing.
And these small JVC sport headphones seem to be doing the trick very well.
The fit
To be honest, it fits better than I thought it would.
Here’s a bad quality ear-selfie made with my phone in dimmed light (sorry, can’t see what I am shooting at). And no, usually I’m not that Jumanji style with 5 days of unshaven beard, but sometimes people just go lazy about it. Also: beard is cool.
Once you get used to putting them on (for me it was a little tricky at the beginning) they are a good fit for any ear, not only because of their design but also because there are three sizes of earbuds you can use.
Here are the other two versions of ear plugs that you can use with this JVC headphones. See picture below:
Spare earbuds
Sweat proof
Now we’re talking! There’s this common knowledge that runners mostly sweat like pigs. I ain’t no exception to this rule, but I refuse to accept that this is something gross. I rather think that it’s more of a detoxication of my body, and also, losing all that liquid from my body makes me much more thirstier which is a good thing for my apres-running endeavors.
The sweat proof and splash proof feature is supposedly helping you not lose your sound while running or hiking your hikes near waterfalls. For me it worked pretty well.
Finally, the sound
You know that things are getting real when you compare your cheap JVC headphones with any other more expensive more robust and definitely more advanced headphones. Sure, they don’t look like anything extra, and (see below) maybe some stuff could be improved, but the quality of sound is pretty damn good for a replacement pair of headphones.
As one user on a forum said, it’s crisp enough. Whatever that means. Want to know more? Find Out Here
Not everything is perfect
As we discussed, the sound is good and the fit is nice and you can sweat all you want it won’t break these babies, but there are things I wish they were different. There are possibilities, yes, but they go with a little higher price too.
For example, for the love of God it’s the XXI century, why do we still need cords? That’s just too much wire for me. With the clipper you can fix it to your t-shirt or whatever and they don’t bother you too much. But they still bother you. Or me. Or us. They bother.
So if you are shopping for better quality wireless earphones, you might want to consider
Plantronics BackBeat Fit Bluetooth Headphones
Excellent for sports activities and such. Also comes with sweat and splashproof material and they’re all in all nicer. But cost kind of 5 times the price of the JVC basic ones. Find Out More
Or maybe check
Atlas Media Wireless Bluetooth Headphones
Which are excellent if you want to run around and be on the phone like Ari Gold in Entourage, because these have little buttons that make your gadget also phone-friendly for picking up or, you know, if your mother in law calls, hanging up. Find Out More
Final Verdict?
Not much to say. There is no need to sing songs about an item this cheap. But let me just say, for me, it’s on the short-list of best earphones you can buy if there are no other options available.
Oh and, if you’re a more colorful person than I am, note that these come in more colors so just pick your best pick and off you go.
