A while ago I bought these skull candy earphones at a local Circuit City. These little in-ear babies retails at around $20ish but I saw them for $10, so why not. They fit in my ear pretty well and has a nice look. Sorta like a toned down V-Moda earphones. Of course this one was made with plastic, and has a cheaper feeling. Although not $1 cheap. So as I ripped open the box with “excitement”, I was given an earphones, 3 sets of gel buds (small, medium, and large), and finally a nice plastic fabric case. The case is pretty sufficient and is big enough to accommodate an ipod nano and the likes of these mini mp3.

After checking out the actual earphones I do have some complaint. The earphones plastic cable is pretty thick and awfully sticky. I really dislike them. They can’t stay straight and sticks to each other really easily. Therefore causing them to tangle a lot. Although after some wear, it seems to straighten better and are less sticky. The cable is listed as 1.3m on the packaging and is long enough for most people. Another thing that I didn’t like is the little plastic thing that connects the split earphone to one cable. It was big and chunky. Although it seems to be a trend with new earphones. It also looks like a knock off of the Creative Zen Aurvana earphones. Another thing is those little plastic cable management thing that allows you to keep Y end cable was very resistant to moving. It was so hard to move I felt like I was gonna tear the cable. Even after some use the problem persist. Another problem that although doesn’t matter to me very much, is that the earphone has absolutely no labeling of any kind indicating which is the Left or the Right ear piece. Overall the buds seems solid and these problems are not big enough that it would stop me from using it

The sound quality of the earphones aren’t bad but it isn’t phenomenal. Of course I didn’t expect that much from a $10 buds. The bass are OK although I needed to boost the bass using the Mp3’s equalizer. The company’s specification says it has 20 - 20k Hz. Now keep in mind that I am in now way an audiophile. Just an average “Jon”. After wearing it on a day to day basis, it seems suffice. It blocks out outside noise pretty well for a passive. Although for some reason when I put them in my ears I hear these weird noise. I think it’s the plastic being squished but who knows? Although I’ve tried the in-ear ipod earphones and it did not make that noise. But once it’s in, it stays pretty well.

When you walk with the earphone it makes those annoying but in a way normal rubbing noise. I guess it is common in these in-ear earphones. If you have this problem I suggest that you put the earphone cable behind your neck so it doesn’t bounce as much. Which leads to another problem. Although I favor Y styled earphones (the one with even ear piece cable) for cable management purpose, putting it behind your neck makes this a problem. I hope they make a new kind with the J style (the one with uneven ear piece cable)

Btw. if you are wondering about the difference between Skullcandy Ink’d Smokin Buds and Skullcandy Ink’d Smokin Buds, the only difference is that Skullcandy Ink’d Smokin Buds has not inline control while Skullcandy Smokin Buds does.

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