Philips SHQ3000 washable earphones

The SHQ3000s feel very well made. Some pretty brutal yanking and twisting of both the cable and ear-clips suggested that they will stand up well to the rough and tumble of active life.

Adjustable ear clips

To see how the 3000s performed sonically, I swapped back and forth between them and a pair of Sennheiser CX400s using a Cowon V5 media player - reviewed here - as the source.

Compared to the Sennheisers, the Philips 'phones had fuller bass and created a generally warmer sound, but this came at the expense of clarity and separation in the mid and upper ranges.

That gave them an edge when spending an hour in the gym with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Foo Fighters, but chilling out afterwards the Sennheisers did better service to the delicacy of Joni Mitchell's Blue.

That's probably a reasonable trade-off in view of the target market. A little extra bass is handy when pounding the pavement or working out in a busy gymnasium to some good old rock'n'roll. Of course, no matter what you are listening to, the 3000s are a country mile better than the bundled earphones you get with any iPod.

Verdict

With an emphasis of thumping bass, outdoor durability and washabilty, the SHQ-3000s are not the first choice in their price bracket for outright sound quality but they still make a sensible purchase for anyone who plans on using their MP3 player in the gym, on a bike or at the track. ®

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