SKULLCANDY HEAVY MEDAL

For starters, the Skullcandy Heavy Medal's are very lightweight and have a great design. Initially, I had some difficulties getting these to stay in my ears; however, after swapping out the tips they fit like a glove. It's really helpful to have three different types of tips in the packaging. To say the least, I would've been really disappointed if I ordered these and had to run out to get some tips, but fortunately they came with everything I needed to rock out. Here's a little tip for you: use the complimentary pair of Comply Foam Tips thats included, they worked the best for me.

What I really liked about these was that they are very strong (hence the name Heavy Medal). The earphones are housed in solid metal, but were surprisingly lightweight. It's kind of like an oxymoron- solid and lightweight. The cord on these seems to be very nice, and the volume, song control, and microphone was placed well enough that it wasn't a nuisance.

Inside the metal housing are very large 13.5 mm drivers. This is great because generally 11 mm is standard-fare for earphones. My favorite Skullcandy's are the FMJ line, which sound great with 11 mm drivers, so I was really anxious to give these a shot.

In honor of the last nights Grammy Awards (& Valentine's Day), I checked out Esparanza Spalding's album on iTunes. First of all, I'm not much of a Jazz person; however, her music was very interesting and gave me a wide range of sounds to test these bad boys out. In terms of the earphones, they sounded great- although that's not surprising since Skullcandy always holds themselves to a high standard, especially for the reasonable price.

I was very surprised at the bass these packed. Although, after sifting through the press release I realized it's because they were engineered to increase the air flow in the ear canal, which also helps with the other little bullet point: outstanding directional sound projection. I honestly can't imagine picking a better test album, because all of the interesting little elements of Esparanza Spalding's music were very clear - in fact, I was kind of shocked at how great the directional sound was, as I felt as if I was really at the concert. This was really kind of shocking for a pair of earphones.

As usual, I tried these out with an iPhone and Droid (G2) to make sure everything worked- much to my surprise, the controls worked with the G2, which most of them don't. The microphone sound quality was actually very impressive. The one thing that confused me at first was how to use the track control, but I figured out that I needed to actually press the button (it clicks), which I came to enjoy because most of the track controls are so sensitive it changes by brushing into your coat.

The bottom line is that these are great earphones for whatever you need. If you're looking for something that provides exceptional sound quality, works seamlessly for the iPhone & iPad, and is sturdy and durable, definitely check these out. Not to mention, these are under $100, so right in my price range! I actually enjoyed these so much that I may need to give them an extended testing.