Altec Lansing UHP301 Snugfit Earbuds w/ Silicone Ear Pads

I read AE's review but bought these earbuds anyway. I should have followed his advice! None of the cushions fit so I ended up taking them off and using the earbud cores alone.

I wanted a really good set of headphones that I could use with my cell phone and still be able to jog using my phone as an MP3 player. My phone has a 2.5 mm jack. I called Altec-Lansing twice to confirm the size of their jack because it is not listed anywhere on their website or specs. Although I was twice told the jack was 2.5 mm, it turned out to be 3.2 mm so I had to shell out another $10 at Radio Shack for an adapter.

The volume control is useless but I did not expect an amplified headset for the price. The UHP301 is nothing special. It does nothing more than any ordinary $6 earbud headset.

By the way, for those that care, it is made in China.

Fit : Maybe my ears just dont like these "snugfit" designs but they refuse to stay in my, or anyone else's ears. They come with 3 soft silicon earpieces but each are equally worthless. Take off the silicon earpieces and they turn into normal earbuds, They have another silicon ring around the speaker which cushins them somewhat but I find standard earbuds uncomfortable after a short period of time so no go with that either.

Sound : Very bright sounding earbuds, very little to no low end extension but thats a common on sub 100 dollar ear buds. Music is fairly clear but the harshness of the high notes doesn't lend towards long listening times. The passive noise reducing factor doesnt matter much since earbuds generally already do passive noise canceling since you're sticking something IN your ear.

Volume : The volume control is useless. The 3/4's of the volume slider are too quiet to be usefull on any device. The difference in volume between the last 1/4 slide...Read more

None of the 3 silicone ear pieces would fit in my ears. Never had a similar problem with any other earphones I have owned. Even the smallest size is close to 3/4 of an inch in diameter and they are hard and not very flexible.You need huge ear canals to use these things and sound quality is poor when they don't fit properly.Would not recommend these to anyone unless they can comfortably fit a medium size olive in their ears!