BassBuds earphones review – all show and no go?

Shoving the sound source in to my ear is not my ideal but this is what I do for you gadgety faithful. I have been sent some rather bling BassBuds to test. Not the gold ones – could you imagine me wearing gold earbuds?.

I much prefer on-ear or over-ear headphones for enjoying some personal audio but I do realise that there are loads of you out there that love a decent pair of earbuds. The best I have tested so far are the Musical Fidelity EB-50 IEMs but these metallic blue BassBuds Classic are certainly more eye-catching. Do they sound as good as they look though?

BassBuds design

I will hold my hand up in defence of earbuds in a couple of areas – they are much lighter and easier to pack away than any headphones I have come across, including the AKG K450/K830BT.

I dare say that earphones are probably a bit more adept when you’re doing fitness things too as they should stay in your ears whereas most headphones will slip off your sweaty head.

With BassBuds you certainly get plenty of choice too.

Flicking through the catalogue which came with my blue set there’s 10 to choose from in the Classic range alone. As well as the metallic finish, which is carried on through the “tangle free” cable, there’s a Swarovski Elements crystal embedded at the back of each earbud so people can see your shiny bits.

The rather nice presentation box includes a carrying pouch, certificate, that catalogue I’ve just mentioned, and a selection of earbud tips for different ear sizes (see picture in Conclusion below).

As well as a little round mic which sits on the cable at about jaw-level, you get a rather groovy inline controller in the shape of a single circular button emblazoned with the BB logo. One press will play or pause content, two presses will skip forward, and three will skip backward.

You can also long-press to bring up voice control on supported devices.

BassBuds sound

I’ve had my player on random so that I get quite an eclectic mix to listen to whilst making my way around London. I wasn’t expecting overly much from what I assumed were mostly a fashion accessory first and earphones second (kinda like most of the Beats by Dre line).

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I first put them in and started listening to Portishead. The percussion was crisp and the bass nice and round. I was expecting something a lot lighter – even though they’re called BassBuds.

As my player ran through tracks by The Prodigy, Aphex Twin, Carter USM, Girls Aloud (random means random on my player!) and Pop Will Eat Itself the BassBuds proved themselves to be lovers of music with a decent beat and bass.

Taking the mood to more lighter electric and acoustic-lead lands such as those inhabited by All About Eve, The Concretes, The Sundays, and Pop Levi these earphones still yearn for bold bass but occasionally at the expense of the more subtle nuances provided by the mid range. The mids are not completely lacking but they do have to fight hard to be heard over the bass.

The BassBuds are loaded with 9mm dynamic drivers using neodymium magnets, as well as using BassBuds’s own Crystaltronics sound tech to cut down noise. The result is quite pleasing for most forms of music.

BassBuds review conclusion

BassBuds by name and BassBuds by nature. It should come as no surprise to read that these little earphones really do enjoy kicking out the bass. If that’s your thing, then you’re in luck.

They’re not as heavy-handed with the bass as some earphones but they certainly do give preference to the low end. The sound is much better than I was anticipating from these ultra-fashionable ear pleasers.

Drafting out this review I was more-than-happy to recommend BassBuds to anyone that enjoyed the bass – especially pop/hip-hop/electro/dance music fans – but today (day 5 of wearing them) the little silver mesh grille in the left bud decided to play hide-and-seek. I knew it wasn’t in my ear and on closer inspection it had managed to curl up in the bud itself. After some deft tweezer work all was back to how it should be. This could well be a one-off incident but, as it happened during review time, I feel I have to report it. I am guessing that the glue that fixes the grille to the metal case had got warm as I had them in their pouch in my pocket.

So – BassBuds are really worth checking out if you like to bring some glam to your commute, just don’t keep them in your trouser pocket on a warm day.

BassBuds price

The BassBud Classic Collection earphones are £39.95, Fashion are £44.95, and there’s the special edition sports which are decked out in Premiership Football team colours and the award winning 24ct Gold edition.