to further my personal exile...

i can now block out the world with help from Panasonic.

as mentioned in the comment section of a previous post here on the P.Pole (to read "Go GO Gadjets and Gizmos" click here), i've been taking some long, wanton looks at different audio apparatuses (namely, earphones / buds, and / or headphones) and i settled comfortably on Panasonic's RPHJE50S Earbuds with high hopes. luckily for me, i was not disappointed when my dad surprised me last night by - as you may have already surmised - pulling out the fancy little package, the contents of which were obviously the aforementioned earbuds.
these are Noise Isolation earbuds, meaning that they eliminate external noises (that would otherwise intrude on one's listening enjoyment) in a passive manner. that means instead of receiving, inverting and playing back external disruptions (i.e. using Active Noise Cancellation), it simply blocks it out, thereby stopping the noise in a more simple, yet just as effective (and much less cumbersome) way. they came with three different pairs of tips: large, medium and small. these tips go directly into your ear, past where normal earphones would rest (and way past where any self-respecting headphones would reside) and literally into your ear. that might sound very uncomfortable (and it may be if it weren't for the varying sizes) but the super-soft rubber is quite gentle on my delicate ears, after i found the right fit. being the tiny asian that i am (O.o), i settled on the small pair which fit me perfectly, forming a perfect seal in my ear yet not difficult to put in place or painful to wear for extended durations of time. excellent.
the noise reduction functionality of these earbuds is amazing. with it, i never had to turn up the volume of my mp3 player (which obviously has limited playing time per battery - even more so with the volume jacked up) even in the loudest of surroundings (i.e. Dai Chune, the restaurant place at the Dynasty Center). i decided that my mother's warnings of going deaf were starting to come true when i would hear ringing sometimes after long periods of listening to loud music so i decided there must a smarter way to solve this problem. i'd say the earbuds, with a good fit, can reduce about... 80 - 90% of outside noises just by putting them on. play some music at even a low volume setting and the rest of world disappears into unperturbed music. lovely.
about music, well let's discuss (or rather, i will give my opinion and you will accept it or leave) the matter of sound quality from these earbuds. well, first off, i'd like to establish the fact that i do not claim to be or have the abilities of audiophiles. for you not so in the know about geek talk, audiophiles are well... think of it like this: pedophiles are people who take a "special" almost sick (actually, always) sick interesting in children. the prefix "pedo-" means "to do with children", similar to "pedia-" in pediatrician (which is a children's doctor). now, what does that leave? the suffix "-phile" which is the "special/sick[ening] interest" in specific things (in our case, "audio-", meaning "to do with sound"). basically, i made you read all that to come to the conclusion that an audiophile is someone obsessed with sound (quality) and these individuals have immensely sensitive ears that can pick out even the tiniest of sounds. i'm not one of those, but i do think that i've got - if not hypersensitive then - somewhat picky ears. i like my music clear and crisp. i don't need to hear static or distortions where there should be none. these new earbuds provide just that, clean, crisp, very clear, almost transparent sound. no muckiness, no fuzzy static, just music. wow! just like the reviews all said!
these earbuds came with: an extension cable (since the earbud's wire was designed for players to be put inside say, breast pockets) if you need the extra length, the previously mentioned sets of customizable tips, and quite a cool little pouch for storage of the earbuds. are there any adverse effects of these earbuds, you ask? well for one thing, you will most likely miss out on directions given in class (i tend to listen to my mp3 during class whilst i work or while the teach blabs on about irrelevance / redundancies) and you might become addicted to the silence and quiet that is found only when isolating yourself from the outside world.

Scores:
here's my A to F scoring system. obviously, these are factual, not opinion-based scores >_O

Appearance: 10 - For the sleek, silver, modern look that's easy on the eyes plus the super cool and almost cute carrying case.
Buy/Don't buy: Buy, if you're somewhat serious about music, easily disturbed / annoyed by outside noises (like talking mouths or bus engines), and are not willing to shell out too much.
Cost: 9.5 - weighing in at approx. $50 CDN including taxes, i'd say it's actually a very economical choice compared to some of Sony's earbud models which are either overpriced (clocking in at around, say... a couple hundred), or equal in price, but all supposedly, worse in sound quality than these. anyway, Sony's overrated.
Durability: ? - i have yet to have owned them long enough to know how durable they are but i'm sure i'm not going to purposely / extensively test this category...
Ergonomic Value: 8.5 - these earbuds are obviously very light (unlike some of those enormous and bulky headphones out there for true audiophiles) and mostly comfortable, but they are a bit awkward at first; afterall, they do go IN your ear, which may even leave you with some discomfort after taking them out... they did for me. however, i got accustomed to the sensation relatively quickly and easily.
Final: 9.5 - they are excellent earbuds and serve their purposes very well, but are somewhat tricky to get used to at first.