Ok, I'm not a total Audiophile but I do appreciate a good sound and listen to all kinds of music through my 20 year old celestion speakers at home.
I can understand that these type of earphones are not suited to everybody. However they seem to be suited to most people and I love them. There not so expensive that you have to worry every time it rains but they give good enough sound for a really enjoyable listening experience. Having owned the original cx300's for 2.5 years they finally gave up and I decided to try out the newer incarnation.
Can't tell if they are that much better than the orginal cx300's, but they certainly seem to give a good rounded sound with all the high's and lows that I'd expect. To test my old used, abused and busted cx300's side by side wouldn't be fair.
Some people like the asymmetric cable design (1 side is longer than other and goes round back of head), others don't. I actually ordered a pair of CX400II's but cancelled the order as soon as I realised that they were symmetric as I just find this design to save me so much hastle.
One point I should make is that these headphones do sound better after a few hours of use so don't pull them out of the box, decide that they sound naff and come on here and post a review.
Also, these headphones do block a fair amount of noise as long as you get a good fit in your ear (which is paramount on this design). I sometimes use them on my motorbike, which I'm sure some people will abuse me for but personally I love cruising along on a nice summer day weaving to my favourite chillout tunes.