Creative EP-650

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Caractéristiques
Headphone Type	Semi-in-ear
Frequency Response	6 Hz - 23 kHz
Speaker	9 mm neodymium magnet drivers
Impedance	16
Sensitivity	NC
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Cable Length	1.2 m
Weight	9
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Tristan François
Test date: March 9, 2010

In-ear headphones: do they beat earbuds hands down?

Not necessarily: in-ear headphones certainly don't beat traditional headphones every time--far from it in fact.

It reminds us a little bit of the early days of MP3 when everybody thought it was the perfect format: in-ear headphones are new, so everybody's impressed. Isolating the listener from outside noise, they've allowed many people to discover whole swathes of their favourite songs that other headphones just cut out.

But as long as you have a quiet environment, it quickly becomes obvious that lots of earbuds do better than entry-level in-ear options--and without breaking the bank, either.

That leaves two areas in which in-ear headphones still have a clear advantage: the isolation is excellent, and the earbuds that manufacturers usually throw in with other products are quite simply awful.

Creative is easing its way out of a long hibernation during which new products were few and far between. While its Aurvana In Ear headphones were something of a success several generations ago, but in 2010, the manufacturer is marking its return with the EP-650s.

Handling: as comfortable to wear as all the others

Do they seem familiar to you too? You can be forgiven if you have a sense of déjà-vu when you see them: these EP-650s, Sennheiser's MX300s, and the Razor Morays all look very similar, or the same in fact. The EP-650s are nothing more than a simple redesign of Sennheiser's best-selling headphones. The only thing that's changed is the look. The black exterior of the EP-630s has become chrome, while the metallic strip has switched back to black. No doubt you'll love this little aesthetic swap as much as we did.

Everything else is just more of the same. When it comes to accessories, the rations only amount to the bare minimum, with just three different sizes of tip available. That's pretty flimsy. Fortunately, the 650s don't go very deep into your ear, so they shouldn't pose too many problems, whatever the shape of your ear canal.

Audio Quality: nothing new

Of course, it wasn't worth expecting any revolutionary changes in the quality of the sound these headphones produce. They fall into all of the same traps as other semi-in-ear headphones with small driver: inflated bass that sounds too rounded, decent mid-range sound and treble that you either can't hear or shouts. The whole thing is topped with a deliberate blur that leaves a rather confused sound.

After such a harsh opening statement though, it's time to plead in the EP-650s' defence. Despite their many flaws, these headphones produce a sound that's reasonable enough for occasional use, and above all, are better than the majority of earbuds supplied with mobile phones and MP3 players. It's just important to bear in mind that you can get a lot more from in-ear headphones, without necessarily spending that much more money.

Despite the long wait then, there's nothing that new about the EP-650s. The 630s were a big hit back when in-ear headphones were really coming into their own, but Creative has struggled to equal that success here. The arrival of a whole new generation of affordable semi-in-ear headphones has recently begun arriving hasn't helped much ...

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Pluses

Weight

Reasonable audio quality for entry-level headphones

Minuses

Unclear sound

Lacking in balance

Headphones from a previous generation