So a few weeks we said a thing on Twitter along the lines of 'need to buy some new headphones please make suggestions'. The rules were that they had to be in-ear and they had to be iPhone compatible in some way. There was a massive response from Popjustice's followers — Sennheiser seemed iike front runners but then Atomic Floyd (?!) emailed us and said, "we've got a new range of headphones coming out, they'll be in all the Apple stores from mid-June but have a look at our website and choose a pair and we'll send you some". We chose the 'Hi Def Drum' pair and while we're not in the habit of reviewing things just because they arrive in the post these headphones are seriously amazing for the following reasons:
1. The sound is properly incredible.
2. The wire has a sort of fabric outer thing (rather than a rubber one) and is just the right length to go from pocket to head without loads of extra length swinging around all over the show.
3. One problem with in-ear headphones is their habit of getting yanked out if you catch them on your bag strap or if some idiot thrusts a London Paper into your path while you're trying to stride purposefully down the street while pretending to be in a pop video. These ones have stayed firmly lodged in our ears (we are not sure why).
4. Even though the headphones are an accessory there is a great attention to detail with the product's own bundled accessories:
5. We've always found that the removable rubber earbud things on in-ear headphones have a habit of falling off when we shove the headphones in bags, pockets etc. (Yes thanks we know this habit of shoving them in bags and pockets is the reason we get through so many pairs of headphones.) These ones are removable too but they seem to stay firmly in place — possibly because of the slightly firmer red rubber (see picture) used on the inside. Perhaps it is simply magic.
6. The headphones work with iPhone 3G — there's a lightweight button which you can use to start, stop, skip and rewind songs. The button also includes a microphone so you can answer calls (again, using the button) while walking around with your headphones in, thus achieving a perfect 'I'm a lunatic talking to myself do not approach me' look.
Anyway we know from some of your Twitter responses that you were after suggestions for new headphones so here is one — they're not the cheapest headphones in the world but they're really brilliant and we'll probably buy identical replacements when this pair inevitably gets shoved in a bag, twisted around a pen then stamped on by a twat at a gig.