As always, I’m a bit excited to get a new bit of audio kit.

I don’t like headphones. The kinds on soft cords that you stick in your ears never worked for me. Possibly I have an oddly shaped right ear canal, because that one always fell out.

I don’t like “over the ear models” because they make my ears sweat.

The absolute ideal was a Sony model that had a strap that went over your head, and two small (3/4″ ?) disks that it held to your ears. But they stopped making it, and I’ve never been able to find a substitute. So I’ve resigned myself to the over-the-ear type.

And I don’t particularly like how headphones make music sound. For me, the gold standard is speakers and a decent sound system:

But often I’m lazy and want to listen on my tablet, so for a long time I had these cheap ($22) Chinese headphones:

The ear cushions kept falling off, and eventually the left channel died completely. Time for a replacement!

A Google search on “best cheap headphones” led me to these ($30):

Potential pad problem averted via adapter:

For an additional $8, these seem pretty sturdy, well built, and there’s no way the pads can fall off.

But, you ask, how did they sound?

Honestly, it was kind of like night and day. The treble in the previous ones was fairly harsh. Here it’s much clearer and more pleasant. The bass, instead of being restricted to a limited range, seems to cross octaves. So all in all, this is much better balanced, and I’m giving it a big thumbs up.

-R