Reviews: JVC HA-FX34 "Marshmallow" headphones
Any speakers I review are attached to an onboard sound chip in a five-year-old Dell, and I'm not exactly a connoisseur of audio quality, so keep this in mind. It's not like it matters that much, considering most people will be using the JVC Marshmallow with an iPod or something, but they're an excellent choice for everyday purposes. Wearing them makes it seem like there's a quality sound system sitting in the middle of your brain. Earbuds are usually annoyingly tinny, but these have very good bass, nearly pounding at times. The sound isolation is sufficient for music at normal volume to almost entirely drown out a Model M keyboard, people in another room screaming at you or watching TV loudly, and probably a falling helicopter. They stay seated reasonably well, but if they become even slightly unseated, external sound leaks in quite noticeably, and their volume drops rapidly as distance increases.
My previous headphones were a Sony MDR-V150, which I actually thought was acceptably decent, but they sound absolutely, unbearably flat in comparison to the Marshmallow. I actually had to reduce the volume by half when I began using the Marshmallow; it was far too loud. Both were $20, but the Marshmallow is unquestionably a superior value.
Rating: 4.5/5
Thanks to Marshall for recommending these.