There have been some posts about the
Boxwave miniBuds and when looking for more info myself prior to ordering them I wasn't able to find any good images besides the ones on the Boxwave website, so I thought it might be useful for someone to post some images and share my thoughts on the miniBuds.
I ordered my miniBuds together with a ClearTouch Crystal (3-Pack) for my X50v via Boxwave's website Sunday, January 2. They shipped Thursday, January 6 and I got them the following Wednesday (January 11). I'm located in Sweden (that's northern Europe) and it was no problem shipping overseas, I got all the stuff in a bubble-wrapped envelope directly home. I ordered the silver white version, but they're also available in black. The plug size fitting my X50v is 3.5mm (1/8 inch) and I assume it is the same for the other X50s as well.
I used the (now expired) discount
posted here which made the total of my miniBuds cost $13.15 plus shipping. The dollar is as of now very weak compared to the Euro and my currency (Swedish Kroners) so it made it all a little extra benefitial.
My initial impression was that they looked really convenient when rolled up. The casing containing the cord felt a little bit plastic and the green Boxwave sticker was slighly uncentered giving a somewhat sloppy impression. Not able to stand such a flaw I quickly peeled it off using my penknife and centered it. Despite these minor issues my overall initial immpression was good.
Cords are pulled out.
The main thing with the miniBuds is the retractable cable design. You pull out both ends at the same time and they stayed locked when you release them. Pulling again and they are retracted. Somewhat similar design as many vacuum-cleaners. You may choose how much you want to pull them, so you don't have to pull them out to the maximum if you don't want to which is really good. The only downside I see is that both ends have to be pulled out equally so they have the same length, which might no always be ideal. The retraction-thingy in the middle doesn't seem overly solid, so I guess there is a chance of it breaking sooner or later if you use it somewhat violently.
On the back of the case (or "wire-manager") there is a little lapel clip allowing you to attach it to your clothing.
The casing is not entirely closed, which might be hard to see on the images at the Boxwave website, the sides are open. However, I guess this might be a good thing if the cords do tangle themselves up (which I've had no problems with on the other hand).
The retractable cable design works really well, as long as you are somewhat gentle and don't uncontrollable release it at its maximum length a let it violently snap together. Fully extracted the total length from plug to headphones is about 100 cm (that's about 40 inch
according to Google).
I have no experience with the earlier Boxwave headphones and I'm no hifi-geek so you better take my impressions about the sound quality with a grain of salt. Previously I used a pair of very basic and cheap headphones with my Axim and the sound quality was somewhat bad, but most importantly it wasn't loud enough. If riding a bus or taking the underground/subway it was hard to hear even if I put all volumes to 100% using my old headphones.
Using to miniBuds was for me a big (positive) difference compared to my old cheap noname headphones. Now I have no problem with low volume (even if I put the system volume as low as I can) and the sound quality is comparable really good. I'm really happy with the sound quality, but as I said, I'm no über-hifi-geek so I guess my ear may not be as sophisticated as needed to pick up the really fine details of sound quality measurement. ;-)
Conclusion
Overall I'm really happy with my miniBuds, the sound quality, IMHO, is good and most importantly they are neat, small and compact when the cord is retracted. However, now without the discount they go for $22.95 at the Boxwave website, which I think is a little bit too much. I'm not sure I would've bought them at this price point, they're not
that good, but for the $13.15 I payed I'm really happy with them.
I hope someone might have found this post useful, if not you've at least seen a couple of more pictures of it.
