1. I’m not big on advertising something I don’t believe in.
2. No one is sending me free stuff to review.

If you are someone or you know someone who’d like me to review stuff that is weight loss/fitness related make sure they contact me. I love free stuff and I love to be a consumer advocate. Well today that’s about to change.

As you might remember I have bought an mp3 player a week or so ago. Usually the earphones that come with an mp3 player are rather cheap and mediocre quality and anyone who gives a flip about music will get their own set. I’m not a big fan of portable music and I’m certainly not a fan of earphones. They are tinny, they feel like they are about to fall out and they are just plain not comfortable. And the set that came with the Sansa Clip+ was no different. However, the set I ended up buying is quite the opposite!

As usual I have started my extensive research prior my purchase and it seemed like that Sennheiser was the only player that really had a decent set of sport earphones. And lucky for me they have just introduced a new series of earphones designed and developed in conjunction with Adidas. I think Sennheiser gave the speaker technology while Adidas gave the fitness know-how to produce these puppies. They sell four different versions of them.

• PMX 680 neckband headphone – has a band that goes around the back of your neck
• OMX 680 earclip headphone – has clips that go behind the ear like your glasses
• MX 680 earbud headphones – your usual earbuds that go inside your outer ear
• CX 680 ear-canal headphone – these plug into your ear canal for a tight fit and sound

The PMX, OMX and MX all seem to use the same driver and they all retail for $79.99 and street price ranges from $47 to $59 on them. The CX seems to be the top of the line with a suggested retail price of $119 and they can be had for around $89. I wasn’t too keen on having anything dangle around my neck so the PMX was out of the race before it even started. I run with sunglasses on so I wanted to keep my ears clear of other stuff hence the PMX was not an option. That left me with either the MX as regular earbuds or the CMX which goes into your ear canal. The CMX is substantially more expensive but it has a better driver and I felt that it would have a much tighter fit. I ride my motorcycle every now and then and I wear earplugs so I know exactly how it feels to have something in your ear canal. If you never stuck anything in your ear before you might want to test it before you decide whether it’s for you or not.

So I have ordered a set of the Sennheiser CX 680 and waited with anticipation. $89 for a pair of earphones seems like a lot of money so I was really, REALLY hoping that they would be good. They cost more than the mp3 player I bought for crying out loud!

When they arrived as soon as I took a look at the box I knew I was dealing with a quality product. The box looks great with black/blue colors and a reflective shiny inside that showcases one of the earbuds. On the side of the box there is a window that displays the volume control prominently. I could hardly wait to rip the box open and I really had to control myself not to tear it apart before I took some pictures of it for your viewing pleasure.

As you can see the earphones look very sharp. But running and music is not a fashion contest so the more important question is how functional are they?

As far as fit goes they are fantastic. They come with three sets of rubber buds for different size ear canals. I’m using the smallest one as that is what fits my ear and it fits it just perfect. The little devil horns also come in three different sizes to accommodate three different outer ear sizes. I am using the middle one and, again, it fits me perfect. There is also a blank cover that has no horn on it if you just want to wear them around the office or on the subway but I find the horns so comfortable that I don’t see why I would want to wear it without it. There is also a clip that can be attached to the bright yellow chord to keep the wires in place while you’re running. Keeping the wires from moving is important as the sound of the wire thumping on your chest/arm travels all the way through to your ear which is unavoidable with the in-ear design. When I’m out on a run the earbuds don’t even budge and I tend to forget they’re even in there. They feel very natural, all in all a perfect fit. The bright yellow cable is made from DuPont kevlar material so it’s supposed to hold up well under the daily abuse of my active lifestyle.

The cable and the earbuds are not only resilient to abuse with their kevlar mateial they are also sweat and water proof. They can be washed under running water in the sink which is a great plus if you sweat as much as I do. I also like that there is no foam on the buds, just rubber so cleaning them is an easy task. The only foam piece is inside the plastic tube that is in the middle of the rubber bud that goes in your ear channel to block out particles entering the speaker. Sennheiser was kind enough to provide some spare ones and a tool to replace them with. They also provide a nice pouch to keep all the giblets in when they are not in use.

There is one more extra accessory that is pretty handy which is a cable extender that comes with a built in volume control and a clip on the volume control itself. Luckily the cable that is on the headset is really short at 1.97 ft (60cm) so it does not have a lot of slack when you mount it on an armband. If you want to stick the player in your pocket just attach the extension with the volume controller and you can keep the player in your pocket and still adjust volume on the fly. Sennheiser is so confident in the quality of the earbuds and the wire that they give a two year warranty on the unit which is unheard of when it comes to earbuds.

So the fit and finish is superb on these puppies but how do they sound? I must tell you that I am not an audiophile. I do like good music and I did pay $1,000 for the sound system in my car and I spent a lot more than that for tunes in my previous car. I have also sang in a children choir when I was younger and I have played the clarinet with great success. But as far as music goes coming out of a portable mp3 player I really don’t care all that much. And this earset sound great to my ears. The bass is loud but not overwhelming and the highs are very clear. The Sandisk Sansa Clip+ is supposed to be one of the best portable mp3 players as far as sound quality goes and when they are paired with this headphone they sound fantastic.

My bottom line verdict is that these as probably the best set of earphones anyone can buy for running or an active lifestyle. They are not cheap but I think they worth the price big time! If you like music on the run I highly recommend you pick up a pair of these.

Now that I spend a lot of time alone outside of my car, mostly running, on the elliptical machine and at the gym, I thought it would be nice to be able to keep myself entertained with some tunes. So I decided it was time to buy an mp3 player. When I decided that there is an actual need that has to be fulfilled by one of the latest gadgets I research them. I knew I wanted something small and portable. I didn’t care about touch screens, big LCD screens, all I wanted was something small that I can stick in my pocket or snap on my arm and go for a run.

I have never been a fan of Apple and their marketing department. I’m a PC guy. I’d get an Android phone before I’d get an iPhone, mostly because my carrier is T-mobile and I’m certainly not switching to AT&T. But I must say that their iPod truly has a great user interface and it is very well designed. That user interface is by far the nicest and most useful I have seen. But I swore I would never be found toting an iPod with the white earbud like a drone who succumbed to the marketing hype. Plus their Nano is too big for running, has too many features that I don’t need and I will not install iTunes on my Windows 7 machine unless someone is beating me with a stick. The shuffle looked like a super unit though. It is as small as mp3 players get. But it still has the mandatory iTunes requirement to put music on it and it needs a headphone adapter if I ever wanted anything but the $5 junky earpiece. So I opted against it.

Luckily Sandisk came to the rescue and I purchased a SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player. This unit is truly amazing. It’s tiny and packs a great feature set. And best of all it’s not an iPod. I have loaded a ton of music onto it already and we’ll see how I’ll like running with the music in my ear as soon as I’m back on my feet running. It is audio book and podcast compatible as well as has an FM tuner in it. Since I’m not too big on finding my own music I might try one of their new slotRadio cards. They’re supposed to have 1,000 songs on them from a given genre and play like a commercial free radio channel. This just might be the thing I need.