Customer Reviews

Panasonic RP-HV280 Portable Earbud Headphones with In-Cord Volume Control

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have tried most all brands of ear buds, including both open type that sit in outer ear and types that are built to seal off the ear canal (usually, those provide the most base if you can take the feeling of them in your ear). For those that sit in the outside of the year, these are among the best sounding ear buds I have ever heard. I only tried them because I had bought a Panasonic MP3 Player for my brother, and was startled by how excellent the sound was with the enclosed ear buds for the money. I have tried the ear buds (extensively) from Apple, Creative, iriver, Koss, JVC (Gummy), etc. These are better than any of those because of vastly superior base response for the open ear type of bud. All such buds work the best if you get and use the little foam covers for them. This pair comes with those, however, the ones you can get in a pack of four at Radio Shack are better(the covers, that is). These ear buds are excellent for 20 bucks, and sound better than any I know of that you can buy separately like this, of the open, sit in the outer ear type.

I'm tough on earbuds--e.g. falling asleep listening to my mp3 player is typical...so I wanted durability and decent sound. For less than twenty bucks, these earbuds satisfy both.

Sound: Sure, there's better sound out there if you want to pay for it--but for the price and features, these earbuds are excellent. The equalizer on my mp3 player kicks up the bass quite well--but if you really want a heavy bottom beat, you might not get that from these. But they really are nicely balanced.

Fit: These earbuds don't really tack into your ear canal with plugs--they hang just inside your outer ear, and that's perfect for me. There's still decent bass response. I need to be able to hear my alarm clock in the morning, as well as to be aware of my surroundings when I'm listening to music in a public place.

Features: The inline volume control is perfect. I have no trouble setting it to the exact level I want without having to mess with my mp3 player's buttons when the player itself is tucked away in my handbag or pocket.

There's also a tiny sliding piece of double tubing that the earbud wires are threaded through. Gravity and a loose fit keep it out of your way, low on the cord where the two wires become one--until you want to put your player away. Then, by sliding this gadget all the way up the wires, you can lock the earbuds together for storage. This really protects the individual earbud wires from getting kinked or twisted--a common reason why earbuds fail over time.

For the price, you won't be disappointed. But the usual caveat applies: one person's preference for sound is generally going to be different from another's. I'd buy these again. (The set that the vendor substituted was white; I assume that the features for the black ones would be the same.)

Added note: you WILL end up replacing these in time because the flexible *white* plastic wires become increasingly brittle after several months' use. Eventually, they will be too stiff to manage easily and/or the plastic breaks, exposing the copper wire inside. But for the money--still worth the useful life you get from them.

I will not consider this, anything special. It is good that they have the case to carry them arround. The sound that comes from them is ok, let's say as expected. Nothing special, nothing fancy.

I also like the volume control... it gives you the ability to change the volume without reaching out on the volumes of your laptop or your CD player in your backpack...

Anyone not looking for special things, but something reliable, this product is recommended

After just two weeks the plastic that protects the wiring came out of the volume control, so now about three millimeters of bare wire are showing. Also, the volume control is on a slider, not buttons, which means you may not be able to raise the volume as much as you'd like.

I would like to have given these a better review, but the earbuds are uncomfortable and sometimes fall out of my ears. I'm never sitting still when using them, but when I tilt my head or bend down, there they go! On the plus side, the sound quality is very good, but even better is the volume control on the cord. That is fantastic! It was such an inconvenience to adjust the volume directly on the mp3, since I keep it in a leather case and is usually clipped on my waist. Also, the volume wheel on my mp3 (Sansa 280)is getting loose and doesn't respond immediately to adjusting the volume ( I have to spin it a a bunch of times, and one day that will stop working I'm sure), so I had to get these earbuds. If only they were more comfortable and stayed in my ears better.....

This is definitely a great earphone for its price. I just got it today and it works great. The downside to it is that the volume control doesn't control the volume as well as it says. It does go from maximum volume to minimum volume, but it doesn't slide from maximum volume to mute as a regular volume control would. But you could always silent it on the cd player, iPod or computer. Anyway, works great!

Just to affirm another reviewer's earlier claims, these open-ear buds do indeed boast some impressive bass. Even with my dinky, somewhat treble-heavy mp3 player, I can still enjoy relatively strong bass and clear mid and high notes. These ones aren't quite as loud as my in-ear pair, however, even with the buds' slider turned up to max. I'm not quite sure if that's just the earbuds themselves or the mp3 player, but it's interesting to note.

Cable quality is good, too; no stethoscope effect at all, so I have to give Panasonic kudos for nipping that issue in the bud. Speaking of the aforementioned slider, I have to express some slight concerns over the potential durability of the unit. A thin, somewhat insubstantial piece of plastic with a sliding part within for volume, I cannot help but feel that such a tiny thing is more fragile than what would be good. Oh yes, and I REALLY wish Panasonic chose to make the jack end in an 'L' configuration. Better for the connection in the long run, I've been told. Nonetheless, I can recommend these hands down for the price point.

They aren't great but they're not terrible. They're good for a lot of things but do lack in the bass department. I bought a pair of Klipsch S4 (yes, totally different price range) that sound worlds better. I thought these were good until I got the S4's. So if you haven't tried any higher end ear buds, these should do just fine.

These are a decent replacement for stock apple ear buds for your iPod. Sound quality is good and the bass frequency seems a bit clearer than the stock apple buds, The in-line mute switch is a nice feature too. The only down side is the cheap feel of the plastic cable, seems like it wouldn't take alot of ware and tear, but so far so good.

These do the job. They don't fall out of my ears while exercising but are less comfortable than iPod earbuds. The cord length is good and long when propping a device somewhere else or connecting to a computer from far away. The volume control is good but you go down to minimum volume it is very quiet, not completely muted.