Product Reviews

The unusual design of the EP635s is something you'll find either ingenious or a bit naff. Coming in either an iPod-matching white or traditional black, the strangest thing about them is the integrated neck strap. Put them over your head and the earbuds hang down either side. At the bottom, there's a strap to sling your MP3 player into, with the gold-plated 3.5mm jack given about six inches of slack to plug in.

It's a nice idea in theory, but not many of our MP3 players had the necessary loop to attach them, and the ones that did were a bit big to have discreetly hanging from your neck. If you prefer to keep your player in your pocket, you can also leave the neck strap hanging down, albeit with

ADVERTISEMENT

a bit of slack complicating things. Creative supplies three sizes of silicon earbud, securing firmly on to the drivers, but we found these a little too flimsy to be comfortable or to create a really good seal.

Speakers can use two, three or more drivers, the bits that vibrate to produce sound. These earphones rely on a single one for bass, mid-range and high frequencies, so it needs to be good to cope with complex material like Suzanne Vega's Rock in This Pocket, which we used for testing. While the EP635s' 9mm neodymium drivers aren't too bad, the quoted frequency response of 6Hz to 23kHz would be irrelevant even if it was credible, thanks to their lack of control.

There's an acceptable sense of space and reasonable stereo separation, with just a touch of distortion at higher volumes (not that they're sensitive enough to blast your eardrums). But a decent showing at the higher end is overshadowed by over-enthusiastic low-end response that's more boxy than warm. Compared to the Shure and Sony units, the EP635s sound muffled and claustrophobic.

We can't see anyone being really disappointed with the EP635s: for most styles of music they'll do the job, and the price is right. But if you're bothered about more than just hearing your music, they're not exciting either.