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Developer/Vendor:
Price: US $29.99
Rating (out of 100): 90

Package Contents

• Ear Subs for Sony PSP : Ear Subs and extra tips for comfort.
• Universal Ear Subs : Ear Subs, 2 AA batteries, and Extra tips for comfort.

Introduction
Ever wish you had better low end response from your earphones? Unless you want to slap a large, clunky, expensive set of headphones on your head, there has never really been an option. Let’s face it, the best ear buds have horrible frequency range and I honestly thought there was no way around that.

"Universal Ear Subs – Our flagship model, these specially designed ear buds and drivers are paired with a patent pending Amplified Electronic Subwoofer to deliver the sound you have most likely heard by now. With these, you can experience high definition audio on all your favorite media devices from DVD players and home audio to portable CD players and satellite radios. The trademark rich bass and clear mid and high range sound will have you addicted to your Ear Subs in no time.

Ear Subs for PSP – While listening to movies, music, and games, you will probaly notice that the PSP just doesn’t provide the audio experience to match its beautiful visual and game play experience. However, when you hook up your Ear Subs for the PSP that is all about to change. Powered off of the system, the Ear Subs for PSP give you the same tiny amp as the iPod version with the same power and quality of the Universal Model. Get every ounce of fun and entertainment out of your PSP with Ear Subs for PSP."

Evaluation
The reviewers package I received contained som literature about the Ear Subs that included a challenge to use your best earphones and your best player and then swap your earphones out with the Ear Subs. I want to talk mainly about the PSP version although they are almost the same.

When I use my PSP to play games, I normally use the internal speaker and I normally don’t use the PSP as my primary MP3 player. Well I borrowed a friends Shure E2c earbuds and was amazed at what I was missing while gaming. Music sounded great as well. I installed a song by Evanesence called "Bring me to Life" that has some extremely low frequency rumbling in the intro that make my JL Audio 10" subs shake in my car to test with. I could tell these lows were present with the Shure E2c earbuds. I then put the PSP Ear Subs on and I could only say "Holy %&$*". The sound reproduction was amazing. The frequency response was great end to end. I am no audio expert and have no way to test for frequency range, but I can only say that the low end was amazing. The overall sound is not easily put into words.

As you can see above, the blade connector that is molded into the plug along with the audio connector provides power to the mini amplifier from the PSP eliminating the need for external power. The Universal Ear Subs utilize a battery powered amp and does not have this blade connector.

The buds have removable tips that come in different sizes to fit various size ears. The only true complaint about the Ear Subs construction is where the pipe that connects to the "speed chamber" seems like it could break easily, but it doesn’t. It is connected with a rubber tubelike material and seemed to hold up to my twisting and turning I did to test it to see if it would break easy. It did hold up ok though. The tips are easy to change out and one of the sizes that came in the package fit my ear nicely and they have not fallen out of my ears yet.

Connection of the Ear Subs on PSP

Connection of the Ear Subs on PSP

Connection of the Ear Subs on PSP

The Universal Ear subs (Above) use two AAA batteries to provide power to the Ear Subs amplifier. Everthing else is the same, including sound performance.

Closing Words
For $29.99, I don’t think you could find a solution to produce such full, rich sound as the Ear Subs ANYWHERE. The low end response is hard to put into words. It is truely amazing that ear buds can provide this type of full range sound. I really like the PSP version since they do not suffer any extra size or weight from an external power source like the univeral version requires.

Pros:

• Price
• Sound
• PSP Version, No extra power source needed.
• PSP Version, Supposed to work with an iPod as well. (not confirmed by me)
• Universal Version, Works with any MP3 player, PPC, or Media Player.

Cons:

• Universal Version, the extra power source is bulky, but I understand its need to be there.

Chris Leckness (3530 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.