Cygnett GroovePlatinum

Introduction

 
The headphone. In this, the 30th birthday year of the Sony Walkman, an apt thing to be taking a look at.
 
I've had some kind of "personal music device" for longer than I care to remember. From a big old chunky Walkman with added radio (still going to this day), on to a fantastic tape based Walkman that was not much bigger than a tape (a bit fragile but a fantastic thing), a Discman that's still going (remember them?) and two mobile phones with in-built MP3 players.
 
I'm always listening to something. Whether I'm wandering around town, riding a bike, gardening, wandering around Tesco or washing the car - you name it, I like to have some accompaniment. Musical often, but also spoken word like radio comedy and podcasts.
 
Headphones are something that rarely last as long as the device they are attached to. In the case of the smaller style headphones that are most prevalent these days, it's usually because the wires become detached, break up, fall apart or generally somehow stop working properly. So you'll often find yourself needing a replacement pair. They're cheap enough nowadays that you don't need to bother prising them apart and getting the soldering iron out...
 
GroovePlatinum are from the latest in-ear range by Cygnett. They claim to offer "crisp bass and twin stereo with a futuristic and fashionable look".
 

Sound Quality

 
Oh.
 
I was full of hope and excitment ready to try these out. I listen to something with my headphones nearly every day of the week. I tried these out and was mightily disappointed to here a very muffled sound coming out of them. There's nowhere near enough treble and both speech and music sound quite poor.
 
I compared them to the standard headphones that came with my phone (which I've been using happily for 3 years now). And it was very clear, they were not clear enough. My normal headphones sound perfect, these just don't sound good at all. The designs are the same (they are both in-ear types with little rubber buds). But for some reason my standard ones are miles superior to these stand alone ones.
 
 
 

Conclusion

 
I'm afraid this has to be a massive no to me. When my standard headphones give up the ghost, I will not be replacing them with these. The sound quality was as poor as those old headphones that you used to get free when you bought a five pack of tapes.
 
Unless you like your sound without very much treble, I can't recommend these at all.