Philips SBC-HP 400

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Good
Comfort	Good
Looks & Design	Good
Durability	Satisfactory
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Cheap Price, Nice styling, Jack Converter, Good enough sound
Disadvantages:	No noise isolation, plastic casing, tangle prone cable, fall off alot

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Bought these as I was looking for a cheap pair of over-ear headphones with a long cable and a 1/4inch jack for use with an amplifier. Most headphones I saw had short cables (5 foot or less) or had just 35mm (mini) jacks. These headphones have a 2 metre (nearly 7 foot) cable and comes in 35mm jack, with a 1/4inch converter. You can find these headphones for £16 from Amazon.

In the box: Headphones, 35mm to 1/4inch jack converter, and strangely no instructions or warranty?! Weird.

Styling:
These headphones are alot smaller than most over ear headphones, so you won't end up looking like something out of the 70s. They are made of plastic in a mix of silver, black and gold colouring, which ends up looking quite stylish. One thing is though, if you have a thin head like mine there is quite a gap between your head and the headband which looks a bit silly.

Build:
As Ive said, there made of plastic, so I don't expect them to be super durable. The cable is pretty thin and tangles easily. The headphones are marketed as DJ/Hi-Fi headphobnes, so the ear pads are twist in a few directions and allow you to fold them flat. They don't fit my head too well and constantly fall off if I lean forward, which is a pain.

Sound Quailty:
Heres the biggie. Im pretty much used to wearing in-ear headphones so I may be a little biased here. Unlike with earphones, the music feels alot less personal ,These make your music feel more like a "live" recording. The sound quality is good but not perfect. There is enough bass and the music is clear but It just feels like something is missing. Anyway they give a pleasant enough sound for the price and there are no major problems.

Volume/Noise Isolation
These headphones aren't to loud, especially if your used to earbuds like me. They don't block out much outside noise so I doubt you'd be able to listen to them outside or on the train comfortablely. Also there is quite alot of sound leakage.

At the end of the day:
These are a nice pair of headphones for the price, but don't expect perfection. Sound quality is good but not amazing, good enough for home use though. One bonus is the jack converter which would normally set you back an extra couple of quid.