I had planned to replace my malfunctioning Rainbow Shoelace Earphones with another pair. They had served me well, and I liked the look of them. The problem? None of the Dollar Tree locations near me had any when my mom went to pick them up for me. I was crushed. Such is the curse of living in a big city.
Sensing my disappointment, my mom then described the selection of headphones that were available to see if any of them caught my fancy. I was intrigued when she mentioned e-Circuit’s latest offering, the Sports Earphones, which are named for their “cuff” design. I chose the black pair for $1.25. Once again, e-Circuit saved my bacon!
First Impressions
The Sports Earphones, like all e-Circuit products, come in very simple packaging. All I had to do was tear the plastic front away from the cardboard-like back and remove the twisty-tie holding the wires together. I also had to tear the wires coming from the earphones down a little ways to get them from jamming up directly beneath my chin, though.
The earphones are very low-key, appearance-wise. The black color is matte all over except for small shiny spots on the earbuds. The only thing that makes them stand out is the cuffs. Each earbud has an extra piece that curves over the top of your ear and rests down the back. The cuffs are supposed to keep the earbuds in place while you work out or otherwise move around. And they’re effective—they don’t fall out when I’m lying in bed or walking around the house. They didn’t move when I shook my head back and forth either. I love that! No more having to constantly shove the earbuds into my ears.
Sound and Usage
The sound quality is decent for the price. Of course, the hollowness and lack of bass that’s common in all of the cheap headphones I’ve bought so far is present here as well. It’s not a problem for my purposes.
I barely notice I’m wearing the earphones. They’re practically weightless. They’re easy on the inside of my ears too. A fairly thick rubber tip caps each bud and sits no farther than the opening. Most importantly, the cuffs don’t interfere with the arms of my glasses. There can be some discomfort after I take them out. Trial and error has shown me that the soreness comes from listening at too high of a volume for too long, not from the buds themselves.
Putting them on can be a hassle. Like gloves, they only go on one way. You can’t wear the right earphone in the left ear because the cuff will face backwards. Even so, I still waste a lot of time comparing them to each other to determine which earbud is which.
Extras
The special feature on the Sports Earphones is the call/volume bar. Unsurprisingly, this rectangular bar, which is located near the wire’s midpoint, handles calls and the volume.
The round call button is at the top of the bar and is marked with a phone receiver symbol. You push this button when you want to answer an incoming call. Everything sounds fine on both ends. There’s a mic hole beneath the call button to further boost your voice as well.
Meanwhile, the volume button is actually a slider that’s set into a groove on the main bar. You raise and lower the sound by sliding the smaller bar up and down respectively. A head’s up about this would have been nice here. I assumed that the plus and minus symbols were buttons since they look so similar to the call button. I kept trying to push them. Honestly, I would have preferred buttons all around, if only for consistency’s sake, but the slider gets the job done well enough.
Edit 12/12/24: I’ve noticed that when I’m wearing the earbuds while working, the slider occasionally gets triggered if I’m sitting too close to my desk. The raised knob that moves the slider up and down will catch the edge of my desk and all of a sudden, the sound will jump up and scare the crap outta me. This happened a few times before I learned to be more aware of where the slider is and position it accordingly.
Conclusion
So far, I haven’t been disappointed by an e-Circuit purchase. The Sports Earphones maintain that streak. I like these headphones and I hope they last a long time.