Logitech Stealth In-Ear's, Perfect for Black iPods

[Piarco75]

Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. I've got a black nano, and wanted some headphones that fitted the look of the nano. After owning some EX51's (awesome) and EX71's (not so impressed due to the treble) I wanted to try something else.
I've got a set of ER-6i's in white for my incoming 5G 60gigger, but wanted a decent yet inexpensive pair of in-ear headphones which would have a similar design to the EX71's (i.e. the isolating silicon buds).
Yesterday I got a circular from one of the PC companies I've dealt with, and in the new section were the Logitech Stealth headphones. And they looked sweet!

Logitech Stealth (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/GB/EN,CRID=2362,CONTENTID=10184)

3 different sized sets of gel buds (a la EX71) and the headphones themselves came in a cool black and silver - definately matching the nano. And at £16 I thought they were worth a purchase! (They can be found for even less: Play.com do them for £12.99 apparantly).

They arrive today, and I'll be giving them a good run through tonight (if I have the time). I would prefer a straight connector rather than an L-connector, but its a minor issue. Two things of note though: The cable is only 1m long (which is perfect for my use) and this is due to the second thing of note - they were designed for the PSP.
This makes me think that the bass may be overwhelming, but in the only review I've found, this isn't an issue and even the reviewer said that he uses them now predominately with his black nano.

I'll be back with updates after a suitable burn in period!

[bav]

shure are coming out with black in-ears for their "E" series for the new black iPods..

I'm kind of glad i got the e3c's in white.. black cod, but white buds, which still keep some form of original iPod colour :)

look fwd to your review man.. lets see what a sub £20 earphone can bring :)

[Piarco75]

Do I need a restraining order bav? ;) :D
I think me wanting these headphones is your fault anyway - I was happy with my white 2GB nano in the "Waiting for nano to arrive UK" thread, and then a couple of posts from you and I've upgraded to a 4GB white nano... and now switched to a black 4GB nano! I think I'll point my bank manager in your direction:D

I don't have particularly high expectations from the Stealth's, but if they are somewhere in between the quality of the bundled Apple headphones and the EX51's I'll chalk it up as a success. Hell, if they were the quality of the Apple headphones, but with the bonus of half decent isolation I'd be happy!

And as a side bar, you were totally right - I should have stuck with my original order for the 5G... it would have arrived today, but instead I'm still waiting for them to show up in the Apple Store. May wait until some of the decent cases (Contour Showcase) are released for the 5G's now, and "make do" with the nano......

[Piarco75]

I didn’t have time to even open the headphones last night due to a trip to a restaurant and then the cinema, so I’ve just opened them up about 30min or so ago. And my thoughts are:

Design

Well they sure look good! The silver section of the headphones is more of a matt silver plastic than the shiny look in Logitechs own pictures. Works well though, although it doesn’t make them look like the worlds most expensive headphones. The cable is of good thickness, with the same sort of fitting slider as found on the newer Apple headphones. The plug is more of a bent L shape and is nicely rounded… I don’t need to worry about loose connections there! No gold plated plug though, but as cheap as these can be (£12.99) its not surprising!
The design of the earphones is great with a nice thick rubber lead into the hard plastic section (kind of like the EX's only not tapered in, just entering the main hard section). The silicon buds themselves are of similar size to those bundles with the EX71/51 series, and so the medium size fitted my ear straight away. Good fit with a similar, if not the same, reduction in ambient sound as the 71/51’s.

Cable length at 1m maybe too short for some, but for me (at 5’10”) it’s a perfect length from my ears to my pocket with enough slack for movement. No need to wrap a little cable like I need to do with my ER-6i’s.

Sound

Bass is immediately evident! A definitely significant increase over the stock earphones. They produce a warm sound, and the bass was initially overpowering the treble, but then it did for my 71’s until I’d burnt them in. Midrange could do with a lot more clarity though - I think thats definately down to the fact they are aimed a gaming on the PSP rather than the nano.

I’m doing a burn-in period now, so hopefully by the weekend, they’ll be more representative of what their true sound is.

I have a treble test for my headphones. In My Place by Coldplay is the track, and in my 71’s everytime Chris Martin hit an “s” or “c” sound it was quite intolerable, in my ER-6i’s its perfect, and in the Stealth’s it is fine too. Mind you that may well change once the burn-in is complete.
Needless to say dance music sounds awesome :)

Piano led tracks (Beethoven’s Late Piano Sonata’s) were OK, but again would benefit from clearer treble, again I’m hoping the burn-in will remedy this.

Overall

For £16.99 I think these were a steal, so at £12.99… well its worth a go isn’t it? Big bass increase, nice fit and design, good sound isolation, perfect cable length and not to mention the fact that they suit a black nano perfectly… the Logitech Stealth’s have a lot going for them. I’ll report back again after I’ve done the burn in period. If there are any requests for further pics, or specific tests, I’ll try to accommodate!

Update

After a leaving the headphones to burn in a little at work on my PowerBook, I've had a chance in the evening to really use them with a nano and a 4G iPod.

I'm very impressed all in all. Midrange is more defined, bass is still strong, but no longer overpowering, and the treble is good -not brilliant - but everything is more clearer.

When you put the performance of these headphones up against the cost, they are nothing short of a steal. For half (or less!) of the cost of the EX71's you get around 90% (maybe more) of their performance. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these, even if they only see use as a backup (or "safe" headphones as my housemate calls them, with them being black, you don't mark yourself as an iPod owner) pair of headphones, they do provide a performance punch above their price range.

[bdb]

Thanks for the review. It seems they sound similar to the 71s...which I suppose would make them a relatively good value.

Its funny that you want the straight connector. My Sennheiser PX-100s have a straight connector, and I hate it. It juts out nearly an inch from the iPod, and jabs me in the side when I clip the iPod case to my belt. I'm also concerned that the wire gets crimped whenever the straight connector is pressed upon. I wish it had an L-connector.

[Piarco75]

no probs bdb!

I think the connector thing is down to conditioning by Apple! Prior to getting my first iPod around 20 months ago, I would only have bought headphones with an L-connector. Since getting iPods, and their bundled straight connector headphones, I seem to just want straight connector headphones... like the ER-6i. My lack of willpower when it comes to these things is pretty darn worrying!

After spending the day trying to burn in the headphones, I've noticed that there is a change in quality (mainly clarity, especially in the midrange) as long as the volume is set over 50%... below that its definately on the warm side, and the mid-range is definately lacking in clarity.
Mind you, thats with my PowerBook, and I'll try it with my iPod in a while to see if its the headphones or the soundcard.

If its not the headphones, they really are a good and cheap alternative to the EX71's. I'll report back as soon as I've checked!

EDIT: Added an update to the review