JVC HA-F130 A

...non-Winter Wonderland, hubby noticed the JVC HA-F130-PE - GUMY In-Ear Headphone with Colour Cord on sale for £6.99, so saving £1.01 I parted with my hard-earned (lol) cash!



=== Using the Earphones ===

It was my first day back at work after holiday and I was eager to listen to my new Coldplay album. Having charged my IPod for ages (it has got quite temperamental with age) I sat on the train and plugged ...
...them - personally I think earphones explains it pretty succinctly) in, they don't quite fit perfectly as iPod earphones do, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Oh my Mother Moose, I was blown away by how loud it all was! Having been used to my iPod on full volume I realised that this was actually going to be far too painful with my new pink earphones. Great stuff! I'd always wished that my iPod would go just that little bit louder, ... more

I thought it would be a bit of a challenge to write a review about a set of earphones - not the most exciting product in the world.

Me and my iPod

I got my gorgeous pink 4GB iPod mini back in August 2005 - I was so excited and pleased with it, mainly because it came with free engraving and says "Mary's Music for Moose Missions" on it. The iPod has served me very well, blocking out any screaming kids on my commute from Workington to Carlisle and back. I don't use it every day though (and sometimes go for weeks without - or the month after I accidentally deleted all my songs due to I-Tunes being annoying and lost the will to live), it very much depends on my mood and what book I happen to be reading or if I'm going through a phase of playing on my (pink) Nintendo DS.

Around a year ago the left ear on my iPod (I know it was the left as my Paul McKenna "I Can Make You Thin" CD/MP3 which seems to have actually made me fatter told me that was the left ear) started to go a bit fuzzy. Rather than doing anything, I moaned about it for a year while it got gradually worse to the unbearable point where Holst's "Jupiter" on full volume was pure agony (I can hear your comments already….), not a great start to a Monday morning. I now hear that iPod earphones are notorious for being rubbish, so rather than panicking that I needed a new MP3 player I should have just bought new earphones sooner.

Buying the Earphones

I perused the laminated book of dreams and saw that they had pink (oh joy!) earphones on sale for £8 - I wasn't bothered what they did or what brand (preferably with both ears working though), just so long as they were pink! I pottered into town, and whilst in Woolie's non-Winter Wonderland, hubby noticed the JVC HA-F130-PE - GUMY In-Ear Headphone with Colour Cord on sale for £6.99, so saving £1.01 I parted with my hard-earned (lol) cash!

Using the Earphones

It was my first day back at work after holiday and I was eager to listen to my new Coldplay album. Having charged my IPod for ages (it has got quite temperamental with age) I sat on the train and plugged the earphones (or in-ear headphones as JVC seem to call them - personally I think earphones explains it pretty succinctly) in, they don't quite fit perfectly as iPod earphones do, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Oh my Mother Moose, I was blown away by how loud it all was! Having been used to my iPod on full volume I realised that this was actually going to be far too painful with my new pink earphones. Great stuff! I'd always wished that my iPod would go just that little bit louder, so that I can irritate my fellow commuters!

When I got to work I removed my earphones having spent the best part of an hour listening to "Viva La Vida" on repeat (I tend to get a little obsessive when there are new songs I like), and my ears were ringing. Now I have the volume ever so slightly lower.

So, to list the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Louder than my iPod earphones (although this could be a disadvantage as it might make me go deaf, or irritate people on the train)
• They are pink and very nearly match my iPod perfectly!
• The earphones say "L" and "R" on them which my old ones didn't - they do actually fall out of your ears if you put them in the wrong ones!
• The earphone bits are kind of a bit squidgy, and are comfortable.
• They don't seem to fall out as much as my iPod ones did. (unless in the wrong ears)

Disadvantages

• A slightly tinny sound at times, although this could be the songs…
• The packaging the earphones came in was a nightmare to get into.
• The wires tend to get very tangled up, especially in my bag.
• Annoyingly the bit which keeps the wires together at the bottom can't be pulled up to the top as it could on my iPod earphones.
• The wires don't seem to be as sturdy as they were on my iPod, so can't see them lasting so long.
• Some reviews I have read have said that after a while they make a buzzing sound, and that the left ear goes in the end. I imagine though that this is the case for most cheap earphones.

Other

For those of you who want to know the technical details, which mean nothing to me except for the weight (and all earphones must be pretty similar on that count!):

• Sensitivity: 108 dB/mW
• Frequency response: 16-20,000Hz
• 3.28ft cord with gold plated plug
• Maximum input capacity: 300mW (IEC)
• Powerful neodymium 13.5mm driver unit
• Nominal Impedance: 16 ohms
• Weight: 0.18oz

These earphones are not available at Woolworth's anymore but can be purchased from Amazon for £6.60. Similar ones can be bought in blue.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, these earphones were £6.99 well spent, and as you'll imagine for that price they are nothing special. Even if they only last 6 months to a year (I've only been using them for a month so far), it's worth it just for having pink ones. They should serve me until I get sick of the poor battery life on my iPod and invest in something newer and flashier!

Enjoy the pictures… 

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