iPhone 4 accessory review-Beats Tour earphones by dr.dre

Hi again and what a gorgeous day it is. Bright sunshine, warm weather and the cricket World Cup going well, what more could a man ask for! Anyway back to the post, the weather will have to wait!

The iPhone 4 is an exceptional device but is sadly let down by terrible earphones. I know of very few people that use the OEM earphones beyond the first few days before they buy a decent set but the choice of after market earphones is huge and can be very confusing. I guess I am like a lot of people in so far as I generally go on recommendations.

Today I would like to introduce you to the,

Monster Beats Tour "in ear" earphones by dr.dre.

What's in the box?

The first thing you will notice about these earphones is the packaging which is incredible. A lot of time and effort has gone into the quality of the packaging and the contents do not let you down either.



a box full of goodies!

In addition to the earphones, Monster supplies you with a sturdy carry case, instructions and, other than the ear buds already fitted, there are an additional 5 pairs of buds to ensure you find a perfect fit. The attention to detail fills you with the confidence that you are dealing with a quality piece of hardware.

The earphones.

Monster Beats Tour earphones

The first thing you will notice about these earphones is the cable which is flat! Monster claim that the cable is tangle free and from my experience they are. The days of spending ages untangling a spiders web is certainly history with these earphones! The cable is also very generous in length being about 4 feet long from jack to speakers.

The earphones are very well made and a fair bit heavier than others I have tried. You can really feel the quality of the materials used and they look very smart in the black and red colour scheme. Whilst they are not noise isolating, once fitted correctly they certainly reduce any outside noise.

quality materials throughout

Each speaker is clearly marked and nicely finished with a silver chrome edging. A tip when trying out the different ear buds is to squeeze the foam, insert into the ear and allow the foam to expand within your ear. I do this each time I use any set of "in ear" earphones and it certainly helps with the fitting.

The earphones are also fitted with what is called ControlTalk. This is basically a hands free mic and control that is fitted so it falls close to hand. With ControlTalk you can answer calls and talk hands free. You can also pause, advance tracks and control the volume.

"ControlTalk"

Another nice feature of the Monster Beats Tour is the way the jack is angled at 45 degrees to the cord thus allowing for a flush fitting to your device. I have tried these earphones with a number of different cases and they have always fitted well.

angled jack

flush fitting even with a case

In use.

First off and as already mentioned is the fact that the Monster Beats Tours are heavy. This does sometimes give the feeling that they are about to fall out and as such I would not recommend them when "on the go". These earphones are most suited for home use where they perform extremely well.

The audio quality is excellent with the bass being deep and the treble crisp. The earphones certainly reproduced my music choices well throughout the volume settings with no noticeable distortion. I dare say if I had younger ears I could really get an acoustic thump going lol!

When not in use they store away nicely in the carry case provided.

carry case

Conclusion.

Overall the Monster Beats Tour earphones perform very well in certain environments. As mentioned, they are not really suitable for use when exercising etc due to the weight of the speakers.

All materials used are of a very high quality and the finish is second to none but this does come at a price to your pocket. The Monster Beats Tour retail at £139.99 which will immediately put them out of some budgets however they are available for considerably less if you are prepared to shop around.

Ear phones are very much an item of personal choice. What suits my ears may, very well be totally unsuitable for others so it is important to take the time to try different makes.

A final word of caution when buying these ear phones via the web. They are very widely copied, the fakes are very good. With that in mind please take the time to search on WWW.YouTube.com for various, informative videos on this particular problem.

I give these ear phones 4/5.

Andy