In my quest for the perfect pair of sub-$50 earbuds, I came across the MHP216 Muzx earbuds by Altec Lansing. I think I paid $25 for them at Wal Mart.
They look ridiculous. Let me make it clear that the "large brilliant crystal" is NOT why I bought these headphones. I hadn't ever tried anything by Altec and I figured I might as well. I didn't read any reviews or do any research before my purchase - I blindly grabbed from the rack at Wal Mart (which didn't have much in the way of selection).
Turns out that was a mistake.
Here's why.
At first I was fairly pleased with them. After a night of playing randomly through my music to start the burn in, I put them through my completely arbitrary tests; playing a variety of music and determining whether it sounds good or not. They performed about as well as a pair of $25 earbuds could be expected to perform. BUT, after less than 2 months of everyday use, they broke. The glue holding the two pieces of each earpiece together simply fell apart. Kaput.
Looking through Amazon, I found that this has happened to others as well. The sound was pretty good, the isolation was decent, but when construction quality is that terrible - there's just nothing I can do. I won't be buying any cheap Altec Lansing buds in the future. In fact, I've already purchased my replacement pair from Amazon - the "JBuds J3 Micro Atomic In-Ear Earphones." According to user reviews, these do a pretty good job as long as they are burned in first.
If these new Atomic buds can stand my abuse, I'll be sure to do a post on them as well. Of course, if they flop tragically I'll end up doing the same thing.
