LSTN Bowerys

Contrary to what often seems like public opinion (at least to an earphone reviewer), $50 is not a lot to pay for earphones. In fact, it approaches the minimum you can spend and still get some sort of pleasure out of the investment. So the first thing I noticed about the LSTN Bowerys is that, despite being $50 (direct), they look far more expensive. Reclaimed wood is used on the earpieces, and a nylon-lined cable houses an inline remote control and microphone for mobile devices. These are not materials and features typically found on budget earphones, so the next thought is: Are these are going to sound horrible because they spent all the production cost on looks, not performance? The good news for bass lovers is that the earphones actually deliver distortion-free, powerful low-end. The bad news for everyone is that they can often sound muddy.

Design
There's nothing that looks budget or cheap about the Bowerys design. A quality, nylon-wrapped cable descends from earpieces made from reclaimed wood?a striking look that comes in three different wood types (Beach Wood, Cherry Wood, and Ebony Wood?our test unit was the Ebony.) The LSTN logo is tastefully etched into the wood, so that it doesn't really stand out?it's the wood grain you notice more than anything.

An inline remote control and microphone are situated around mouth-level along the left ear's cable. The remote is of the single-button variety, which is better than no remote at all, but it means you can only control playback, track skipping, and answer calls?there's no volume adjusting here. Call clarity through the mic is par for the course in the land of cellular fidelity. Your partner will understand you just fine, and you them, but things don't always sound crystal clear, and this has far more to do with mobile fidelity than it does the mic itself.

Included with the Bowerys: three total pairs of black silicone ear tips, and a canvass draw-string carrying pouch. LSTN also donates a portion of your money to Starkey Hearing Foundation to help those with damaged hearing get hearing aides, so you can feel like you are doing a good deed by purchasing your earphones.

Performance
On tracks with tremendous sub-bass presence, like the Knife's "Silent Shout,"?the Bowerys deliver some deep low-end without any real issues. At absolute maximum volume, the earphones sound and feel as if they're flirting with distortion, but they never quite cross the threshold into real distortion?an impressive feat for a pair in this price range. Many cheaper earphone pairs will avoid distorting on deep bass tracks by avoiding reproducing deep bass frequencies altogether, but the Bowerys deliver a powerful low-frequency punch. Bass lovers will be pleased with the boosting that happens in this range, purists will not.

On Bill Callahan's "Drover," the bass boosting has a bit of a muddying effect on the mix?the drumming receives too much low-end, as do Callahan's baritone vocals. There is some high-mid sculpting that saves the guitar strumming from disappearing in a sea of low frequencies, and the vocals receive enough treble edge to more or less stay in command of the mix, but things are definitely weighted to the bass end of the spectrum in a dramatic way. In this price range, it's rare to find a pair of earphones that can deliver thunderous bass and also handle the nuances of a mix and maintain the balance, so this is not a huge surprise.

The Bowerys deliver Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" with power in the lows, but at times things lack clarity. We get the thump of the kick drum loop, albeit with less accompanying high-mid attack than we typically hear on this track. And we get sub-bass synth hits delivered with power, but not a whole lot of definition?it almost sounds as if the synth and the loop are one, whereas a clearer sound signature would define the contour of each sound more precisely. Vocals on this track manage to avoid any sort of muddiness, mainly because no one on this track has a lower-register voice like Callahan's.

Classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," fare a bit better on the Bowerys in terms of overall balance. Tracks like this often naturally favor the high-mids and brighter instruments, which means they do just fine here without much extra boosting and sculpting in the higher frequencies. The bass boosting adds a subtle low-end richness to lower register strings and percussion?things don't sound too heavily-boosted since much of the low frequency boost focuses on truly deep, near sub-bass frequencies that can exist in an orchestra, but not with the abundance they are found in electronic music or modern pop and hip hop. Thus, the large drum hits at the end sound full and powerful without sounding ridiculously over-the-top, though purists will still find the bass presence here too much.

If it's a more balanced sound you seek in the price range, the NuForce NE-650M is a solid, affordable option. If you like the idea of some bass boosting, but have some more room in your budget, the Sennheiser MM 70s deliver solid low end with balanced highs. And if you're really trying to spend the least amount of money you can without buying garbage, both the RHA MA150 and the id America New Metropolitan offer decent performance for their very-low prices. But at $50, the LSTN Bowerys are a good-looking earphone with phone controls and gobs of bass. If you prefer a sound signature that favors the low-end, the Bowerys are a budget option worth considering.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/wHtEcgU8uZs/0,2817,2422289,00.asp

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