Customer Reviews

Altec Lansing UHP326 BackBeat Titanium noise-isolating earphones

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I have a set of UHP336s and I'll have to say while these 226s sound amazing and better than 336 they have a major flaw!

What makes them flawed:
Their cloth-braided cords - With the lack of over the ear malleability in the cords. This is a feature of the 336 model and the plastic wrapped cords on the 336 seem to transmit less "rubbing" noise to the ear when the user is moving around. The amount of noise transferred through the cords on the 326 compared to other models is just excessive.

Sound production:
The quality of sound that comes through these ear buds is just amazingly good. IF you can stand to sit still and not move at all you will get an unbelievable experience with the music you play. Only downfall of this is that if you download low quality music you will be able to tell how bad anything less than 192K bit rate really is.....

All in all the sound is amazing but the interference is just ridiculous, even when compared to like style headphones. It's nearly off-putting to even use the set with the level of this problem.

I owned the Altec Lansing Upgrader Series UHP306 headphone and I can tell you the sound is comparable. I replace them with this new backbeat series after my UHP306 broke when they get stuck with my car door (don't know how it happened). I wanted to buy again the UHP306 (which I already reviewed it) but when I looked at them, their price was higher (I paid at Amazon.com $49 for them and now they are at $59). Don't get me wrong, they're still worth the money; I just can't allow me to pay more for the same item. So I get this Backbeat 326 series and I'm happy again. They sound, as I said before, is comparable with the Upgrader Series UHP306. The difference is that this one has more Treble (they sound crispier) and produce a little more of bass (almost unnoticeable). UHP306 has less treble which seems to produce more bass, but Backbeat 326 has level up bass to match up the treble and produce a very balanced sound. Actually, ju can even let off the EQ settings in the iPhone and still you'll get balance highs, mids, and lows, with crisp sound. The UHP306 is less crispier and can make you feel that produces more bass. Backbeat 326 has much more bass than the Sony MDR-EX71SLA Fontopia (which bass is non existence and treble is overwhelming for sure) using LATIN EQ in an iPhone 3G sound very similar (just more crisp) with UHP306. The construction is very similar as the UHP306 (cloth cable - very resistant) but I feel backbeat a little bit lighter and more flexibility in the cable, which I prefer. Also, it comes with TWO (2) years limited warranty in the US which is a huge plus. For sound quality it has a 4.5/5 (Imagine a BOSE triport quality audio with enhanced - really enhanced - bass for about half the price and double the warranty). If you don't like much high frequencies, probably is more a 4/5 (or even 3.5/5 for those BASS FREAKS), but sound is very balanced. For money value it has a pretty solid 5/5. I recommend it without doubts. Hope this helps!

The quality of sound coming from these headphones is superb, but like other reviewers said, the cloth-esq cover on the cords transmits an extreme amount of interference and noise while listening to music due to the cords brushing against your face, clothes, and other objects in your environment. Even the slightest brushing is transmitted up the cord and into your ear.

The only one one can enjoy the nice sound coming from these headphones is if one is sitting perfectly still with the cords suspended in mid air away from your body. The texturing on the cords is just too disruptive, and ruin what otherwise would probably be an amazing pair of headphones.

I bought these phones 1 month ago. They had been making good sound since then, so I reviewed here.
Description: In ear headphones with hard plastic enclosure and gold accents, a logo (ALTEC)written over each piece, 4 pairs of white tips that do not resemble the traslucent ones in the advertisement, one of them are of the flanged type, the rest are small, medium and large tips. A shoe-lace type cord, of very good quality, grey, with equal lenght at each end of the phones, with an slider guide to adjust the cord in the last feet or so. The mini-plug looks like gold-plated, of the straight variety. A soft grey carry bag, also with the logo Altec Lansing, very useful to carry the phones and maybe an Ipod shuffle too.
Use: the mini plug fits easily in my Mp3 player. The tips are of good lenght to let the phones snug tightly in the ear canal, the cord is very very noisy, specially in the last two feet, where every touch or rub against you or your clothes send bumps to the phones. The phones do not fall easily because are very light.
Sound: these phones have decent, extended, articulated bass, which improves with the right eartip size. Try all of them before choosing the one you'll use, it's a mandatory test to obtain more extended bass and noise rejection from the outside, but do not expect lots of bass: these are more than enough to satisfy all users except hip-hop and electronic music lovers. The mids is where these phones really shine: liquid, tactile, natural, neutral. And the highs is where they really fall short of more expensive phones: At first they sound crispy and brilliant, but after few minutes of use you'll discover that they are forward, grainy, and sometimes produce harsh sound, if you have an equalizer in your player turn down the 4khz and above bands to obtain a more relaxed and natural sound, otherwise you will end up with hearing fatigue. Thinking it was my mp3 player, I tried them with my hi-end cd player, obtaining the same results.
Comparisons: against the stock phones of my mp3 player, is a no contest situation: always change the stock phones, otherwise you'll not enjoy any resemblance of good sound. More enlightening was the comparison agaisnt the similarly priced Sennheiser CX400: the Altec Lansing are a better product in quality of materials, cable (cloth vs. plastic), the tips have more stiffness than the ones of the Sennheisers (keeping the phones in place), and in the sound department the Backbeats have better and more robust bass, same midrange sound but with less agressive highs, more extended and defined. To my surprise, this was also a no contest.
Conclusions: these are one of the best values in its price range, you can find better sound spending a lot more money. Good fit and finish (although the traslucent tips looks more gorgeous), very good sound, Amazon price outstanding. Go ahead, you will not be dissapointed.

To start, yes there is some interference with the cable rubbing which occurs with all in-ear headphones. This one is just much more audible. However, the other side is the fact that these cables feel like they won't have any issues with shorts making them more durable. I found that throwing your MP3 player under your shirt and leaving enough cable for the movement of your head will stop any interference, plus a mic clip would solve the issue. Also they have the adjustable length at the split so be sure to set that right.

As for the rest of my review, the sound is great out of the box using the stock tips although slightly uncomfortable to me. Nevertheless, adding some Comply T-400 Foam Tips - 3 Pair Pack opened these right up and made them sound like a pair that should cost around $300 not $20. Highs are crisp, bass is almost brain rattling at times, and that's only half way on my volume setting.
Whichever way I look at it, you cannot go wrong at this price.

For $29 + $15 tips, you CANNOT get better sound than this.

I bought these because I was getting bored with my American Audio EB900's which cost $180 when I purchased them. I just got them today, and I must say that I am very pleased with there sound. There is plenty of deep bass but it does not overwhelm the mids or the highs. Everything is smooth and balanced and nothing is over-powering. For those bass lovers out there let me just say now that bass is not everything, and you wont get the fullest out of your music with over-powering bass. So get these, and do it fast, because you wont be dissapointed. They are very comfortable and the cable is made of a durable rope like material. There are 8 inter-changeble earbuds to ensure the securest fit in your ear. Oh, and when you buy these and get them please do the common courtesy of reviewing them like I did. Great Value, Great Sound, Great Buy. Nuff Said.

Every positive review on here is correct. These are some of the best in-ear heaphones, if not the best pair of on in-ear headphones, you will find at this price point.

Songs just sound crisp. Altec Lansing makes no mention of this on their packaging but even the cord to these in-ear headphones is a welcome surprise. Every pair of headphones I have owned have been made of a black plastic cover. The UHP326's cord is constructed of something completely different that seems so much more durable (as the plastic has been known to come apart in cold weather or simply wear off with plenty of use).

I am 100% satisfied with this purchase. No regrets.

i have "normal" ears. i am not an audiophile. got an ipod. got sennheiser earbuds. sounded nice. way better that apple phones that came with ipod. they broke. was looking for replacement buds. too many listings! hard to pick. cross referenced with customer reviews on mid-priced units and consumer reports. narrowed it to a few final candidates. picked this one. nice price on Amazon. love them. sound friggin' great. perfect for airplane use. cloth cord a nice feature. pouch holds buds for storage and travel (though not big enough to also hold ipod). comes with several additional earbud covers (silicone, i think). so i was able to make a nice fit. highly recommend.

These headphones are the best you can get for the money. They have the sound quality of much more expensive headphones, and having compared them to the $80 Klipsch Image-4 headphones and there was virtually 0 difference in sound quality.

The only con i can think of is that you can hear friction against the chord, but snake it up through or shirt or jacket and you're all set.

These are really good especially for the amazon price and they do deliver a rich and clear sound. The bass is good and nothing really gets distorted.

They should however come with a clip so that the wire does not bang around for it does produce some extraneous sound when it does (nothing that interferes with the music though!!).