Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon 730 Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

as opposed to all the thumb down reviewers on this product, I find it very good sound quality. I have owned UE 5 pro, shure e4c and UE 3. the sound of this phone is more close to the shure e4c (same definative highs, but more bass than shure).

the trick to get good sound from it is the fit, the foam plug always give you good fit but it filters too much highs, I use the tri-flange plug, it was too big for my ear so I cut the last flange so it can be inserted deeper, that does the trick. the sound is full, live and very balanced.

I encourage everyone to try this, and it uses the same sound driver of etymotic's er4p and hf5, so get it half the price of those is a very good deal for me.

I am the only happy owner of ep 730 on amazon, oh well

I bought two of them.
One is myself, and one is for my friend as a gift.
For the one, I used:
After I tried the earphone, there is a loud noise, as "Zzzzz", when the volumne is slight high.
If both side of the earphones are the same, I may think it is the natual of the design or construction.
However, the problem of "Zzzz" only happen on left side. The right side works very well.
Therefore, I doublt on the quality of the earphone.
Also, I wrote an Email to the customer service of Harman Kardon. However, there is no reply.
As the result, I am very disappointed by the earphone and the brand, Harman Kardon.

My goodness. These headphones are bad! Got them FREE with some other speakers. They weren't worth the bother of shipping. They belong in the garbage. No bass at all. I'm not an expert at these type of headphones, but these deserve a zero. Horrible.

I also bought these headphones for use in medical transcription as the previous noise suppression headphones I owned were Sennheiser, very good but creating a ridge in my hairdo. So I thought small ones would be nice and also portable when I work inhouse and not at home. Imagine my surprise when I plugged them and everything, music and voice, sound so tinny. There is an option switch between treble and bass boost, but it did nothing to change the sound. Expensive and horrible. Wish I had seen these other reviews before I wasted my money.

I have been using these headphone for a several years, they fit in your ear very tight. They are comfortable and quiet. I use them because they knock out all outside noise so you can keep the volume low for minimal eye damage. As for bass I read about I have several high end headphones and none of them have much base, they're mini headphones, if you want bass buy full size headphones. The volume control is great especally when I am on the open road on my bike. Dont us them in town because you can't hear outside noise.

Before Harmon Kardon licensed them, the only way you could get a pair of these type of noise reduction earphones was by purchasing them from the original designer, Etymotic Research - at almost three times the price. But thanks to this marketing alliance, the famous Etymoyic design -- a high compliance driver that sends its output through a very effective earplug -- is now available to people outside the high end audiophile universe.

Now, the design of the patented Etymotic three-flange "eartip" (read: plug) isn't for everyone. For it to work properly , it has to sit deep in your ear, which some people find uncomfortable. But for those who aren't bothered by it, the 730 is the weapon of choice for high fidelity sound in noisy commuting or traveling environments like trains and planes. The eartip design provides a full 35db of noise isolation, which means once inserted you enter a virtual black womb of silence (a REAL one, not the mythic one Bose hypes but doesn't deliver with its less effective active noise reduction approach), which lets you truly enjoy your sound source without having to crank it over ambient background noise.

And the quality of the sound is excellent. No, it's not quite as nuanced as my reference full-sized headphones (a pair of Sennheiser HD600s) but is worlds above the junk that comes with Ipods, especially in the low end. The 730s have a combination inline volume control and equalizer that allows you to switch between bass boost vs. full audio spectrum. I find the bass boost is overkill and somewhat dulls the overall sound, but it may work for others.

An additional factor to take into account when purchasing any set of earphones is build quality. The cable on the 730s is a definite improvement over the original Etymotics I purchased almost a decade ago. Those had problems with the cable wearing poorly; the Harmon Kardon version has beefier wiring with a thicker, true rubber jacket. If you coil the cable properly when it's not in use and store the phones in the included carry case (nicely designed with lots of extra space for adapters, memory cards, etc.), they'll last.

And are worth every penny.

I rec'd these as a promo with some car speakers. Thought they would be good since harman/kardon is a respected name in audio. These came with a beautiful hard shell case. The sound is stunningly bad...I can't believe how bad they are...

This review may come across as a bit of a rant because to be honest it probably is one. I bought these headphones less than a week ago, and to say there are awful is an understatement. So awful were they that the very next day I went out and spent another hundred dollars on a pair of Bose earphones (which although not perfect are still pretty good and far far superior to these ones). I feel cheated as they are pretty expensive, and yet sound like you are listening to the cheapest pair of earphones in exsistence while at the same time managing to break any of the bass capibilities of your i-pod etc... In fact I still use the 1gb Sony mini disc recorder as even though it may be out of date compared to the i-pod I find the sound quality so much better. So imagine how disappointed I was to realize these headphones make it sound like the poorest walkman on earth. Those 20 dollar 'Sony Fontopia' earphones are better. So anyonned am I that I may even email Harmon/Kardon to see if they can explain.
Sorry this is so long but at the end of the day it may have saved you some money.

Without a doubt the crappiest electrical item I have ever bought.
Why can't I give it no stars?
Oh and I did email Harmon/Kardon but they never bothered to reply. Poor, poor, poor, poor....