Philips SHQ3017/10 Action Fit Sports Headphones with iPhone Remote Control and Mic

These are earhook sport style headphones with hands-free mic should you wish to chat on your IPhone whilst out running (!) I use an IPod Touch or Nano whilst jogging and get annoyed by my earphones falling out or cable pulling, so I was eager to try these. Unfortunately the best I can say is 'they're okay, but overpriced'.

(Being an Android phone user, I can't comment on how well these headphones work with an IPhone, only MP3.)

The in-ear phones were a good shape and only loosened a little over a half hour jog. The plastic surrounds are very light, well shaped, and didn't result in any chaffing or soreness. One 60cm cable was a good length to avoid flapping cable (I wear the IPod on my upper arm). Connecting the two cables to make the full 120cm didn't result in any degradation of the audio quality. The remote audio control (AKA volume button) worked fine, but did weigh the cable down a little causing `cable swing' for more intense running.

Being able to rinse the whole earhook, including in-ear parts, under a tap was nice, but probably no improvement on just using an antibacterial wipe.

The real downside for me was the audio quality. These earhooks are advertised as having "bass pumping stereo sound", but it feels like the Philips wanted the audio experience of a 17 year old's first car stereo. The bass was definitely a bit higher, but the treble was quite shrill and unpleasant. Yes you can hear the bass, but the overall music quality was pretty ropey and empty for a £30 pair of headphones.

In short, stable fit, remote audio a bit heavy whilst running, sound quality disappointing. So perhaps a little overpriced for what you get.

I have used the cheaper virsion of these before and when I needed to replace the beats headphones that came with my htc I picked these. The problem is that while yes it dose stop and start the music and has good sound quality. You are unable to skip track forwards or backwards as this then makes you htc start a call. quite dissapointing really also the volume buttons are useless so in all the product works but not with htc's so dont bother unless you want to pay an extra £15 for a play/pause button.

These headphones were bought primarily for use at the gym due to their over-ear fit in the hope that they would stay in place where other in-ear headphones had fallen out. Having now used them for a couple of weeks I am left disappointed with their fit meaning that their sound quality suffers also. Their over-ear style means that the headphones never fall completely off my ears but conversely they never stay completely wedged in there either. The actual fitting problems may just be a personal thing as I'm sure that everyone has slightly different shaped ear canals and lobes but you may want to bear this in mind before purchasing as you are taking a gamble that these headphones will be a perfect fit for you. Due to the poor fitting issues I would have to say that I'm disappointed with the philips SHQ3017's and wouldn't purchase them again.

In The Box :
- one set of headphones with 60cm cord and mic/volume control
- an extension 60cm cord
- black perforated bag with red draw string tie chord
- cable clip which can be attached to the chord and clipped to clothing to stop chord moving around
- 3 sets of rubber attachments to adjust in-ear bud fit

The Fit :
The actual "in-ear" part of the headphone doesn't seem to fit tightly inside my ear the way that a standard pair of in-ear headphones does. No matter which of the supplied 3 rubber attachments I use they just never seem to stay jammed in there. The fit of the "over-ear" part of the headphones doesn't fare much better. The hook shape fits around the back of each ear lobe and there is a small rubber slider on each which can be used to tighten the hook around the ear. Again, no matter how much I move the slider from all the way loose to its tightest setting the fit doesn't seem to improve at all and the bud still sits loosely in my ear.

The length of the chord was adequate for me (I'm 6ft tall and plug the headphones in at pocket level). If wearing them with an arm band then the 60cm chord without the extension may be adequate - nice design feature this as it's good to have the choice.

The Sound :
Other reviewers have commented on the poor sound quality of these headphones and the reason for this is likely to be the poor fit. If you do manage to get the buds tightly fitted in your ear then the sound and volume is actually decent but not as good as other similar priced in-ear bud headphones. That said if you are just using these for sports then the actual sound quality should be adequate. However the poor fit means that the sound can seem either quiet or light on bass. The buds don't seal the sound in meaning that other gym patrons will have to put up with that oh so annoying headphone hiss.

Features :
I'm glad to say that the mic part of the headphones (one of the main reasons that I purchased the product) works well my with IPhone 4. The mic has 3 buttons : top and bottom for volume up/down and a middle multipurpose button. Music can be started (single click), stopped (single click) and tracks moved forward (double click) or back (triple click). The voice control feature of the iphone can also be accessed by holding down the middle button. The mic control is quite chunky and can easily be found with one hand. Buttons seem fairly solid and feel like they should last.

The headphones are also described as being washable under a tap but not being the sort of person who suffers from an overly sweaty ear I haven't had the opportunity to test this claim.