Denon is a manufacturer that is very much part of the hi-fi world.  For a while now, it's been producing mobile products, including in-ear headphones.  The first pair that we've had a chance to test is this AH-C452, direct competitors to both the Sennheiser CX300s and the Creative EP-630s.

Design: more imaginative than the list of accessories

The accessories that come with the AH-C452s include just the bare minimum: three different sizes of silicon cup, an extension lead, a clip and a small soft case.  It's still more than you get with the EP-630s from Creative, and not unlike the bundle  that comes with the Razer m100s, which are rebranded CX-300s.  Remember, the CX300s, EP-630s and other equivalents are all manufactured by Sennheiser.  We like the extension cable, which, when removed, allows you to use these headphones with the handsfree kit on a mobile phone without having too much spare cable.

The curved form and slightly out of the way cable make wearing the C452s rather comfortable.  As they're semi-in-ear headphones, there shouldn't be any risk of wearing them incorrectly.

Sound quality: nothing new

There's no surprises with the sound quality.  The C452s are neither particularly good, nor particularly bad, just pretty average.  Like all semi-in-ear headphones that use a membrane, they are best at providing bass that dominates and lacks detail.  In general, the sound produced is muffled, and nothing exceptional.

Now that many mobiles come with a pair of headphones like these, it's hard to justify spending more money on a product like the C452s.  Do look at the tech specs though, as there are some real gems out there.

Denon has produced a fairly unsurprising set of headphones.  They don't have any real advantage over other similar headphones, apart from being noticeably more comfortable.