List Price: $19.99Price: $12.00 You Save: $7.99 (40%)as of 11/21/2009 17:14 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days
Binding: Electronics
Brand: JVC
Color: Red
EAN: 0046838033612
Item Dimensions: 14970815255
Label: JVC
Manufacturer: JVC
Model: HAFX34R
MPN: HAFX34R
Publisher: JVC
Studio: JVC
Features:- In-ear headphone design
- Soft memory foam earpieces
- Sound-isolating design seals you in with your music
- 3.28-foot red cord
- iPhone compatible plug
Accessories:
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The HA-FX34 Marshmallow has been designed with wearer comfort as a top priority. Super-soft earpieces in two sizes are supplied as standard, providing a snug fit for a wide range of users.While the earpieces provide a perfect fit for the ears, the range of seven body and cord colors complements perfectly Apple?s third-generation iPod nano and iPod shuffle models. Furthermore, the gold-plated connection plug is fully compatible with Apple?s iPhone, making the HA-FX34 an ideal choice for music on the go.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Fit much better than the iPod"s original headphones -- and are more comfortable as a result.
Rating: -
Sound quality is good but the "marshmallow" foam is not easy to get into your ears and I feel like there's no way to get the sound close enough. Going back to previous brand.
Rating: -
Just as my Lexus has a smoother ride than my Miata, they aren't intended for the same use. I don't use my sound cancelling headset while jogging. The 'Marshmallows' leave in just enough sound, so I won't get squashed by an ambulance or I can tell if I'm being spoken to. Plus, they are by far the most comfortable set of inserts I've ever had. I listen to a wide variety of music from Beethoven to blues, rock and most things in between, and think the sound is great. After owning, and being displeased with, four different brands, some costing four times as much, I just purchased my second set of JVC MARSHMALLOWS. I love 'em!
Rating:  -
I listen almost exclusively to classical music, which has a wide dynamic range. That means that unlike popular music, the loud peaks are much louder than the quiet valleys, and the quiet valleys are, naturally, much softer than the loud peaks.
I bought these because on a recent plane trip, I couldn't hear half the music on my MP3 player unless I had it cranked up all the way. I figured the fact that these were sound-isolating earbuds would help.
They don't help very much. At best, they muffle the sound a little bit, but I can still hear normal conversation pretty clearly even with them in, no matter how far I pushed them into my ears.
As far as the sound goes, they sound very nice in the upper registers, but the bass is severely lacking. I put some organ/orchestra/choral music on (Hector Berlioz's "Te Deum"), and the bottom notes of the organ, which you should almost feel rather than hear, simply vanished, even though I had the buds tightly inserted into my ears. A pair of over-the-ear headphones I bought at CVS for about five bucks do far better, though they don't block out any sound at all.
[Begin educational derail]
The packaging claims the frequency response is 8 Hz to 23,000 Hz. This is a meaningless claim. Any frequency response claim that does not include a +/- disclaimer (e.g., 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz +/- 3 dB) is meaningless if it doesn't say how much the frequency response drops off at the extremes. The 8 Hz claimed here is meaningless for a couple of reasons: 1) No human can hear 8 Hz. You can probably wiggle your index finger 8 times a second, but there's no way you can hear it. 2) As I wrote above, there are bass notes so low - for example, the bottom notes of a pipe organ, around 32 Hz - that they are at the threshold of hearing; it takes high-end equipment to reproduce them (a pair of Klipschorns I used to own could do it). Maybe there's something in these earbuds that can vibrate at 32 cycles per second, but they do it so weakly that you can't hear or feel it.
The same goes for the claim of upper frequency response of 23,000 Hz. No adult human can hear anything that high - only infants and dogs can. It's a meaningless claim. And if you've been pumping head-banging rock into your ears at high volumes for years, you'll be lucky to be able to hear half that.
[End educational derail]
Comfort - not too bad, considering how deeply you have to jam these things into your ears. I was able to listen to Glenn Gould's entire second recording of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" without particular discomfort, and they sounded pretty good (you could hear Gould's characteristic humming as he played), probably because there isn't much bass information in that particular piece of music.
If you've ever read O. Henry's short story, "The Gift of the Magi," there's a funny little parallel here. I bought these about a week ago, didn't mention it to my wife. They came today. Two nights ago, a package arrived addressed to my wife from Amazon. She gave it to me, saying, "Here's your birthday gift." Turned out she had bought me the JVC HA-NC250 noise canceling headphones. They're a lot more expensive, but they're not just better than these earbuds - they're on another planet entirely. They block out noise better, even without the noise-canceling on, and when you do turn it on, furnace fans and microwave ovens and other such noises vanish almost entirely.
I'll be using the noise-canceling headphones for serious listening, and the el-cheapos at the gym. These... well, maybe my nephew will want them.
Rating: -
Since I listen to audiobooks mostly, I cannot judge bass issues etc. Very clear sound, block out some ambient noise. Wish the cord was longer. Looks sturdy and hope they last.
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