It doesn't take long to realize just how bad the quality of standard headphones are when you plug these in and have a listen. Had them for a good few years now.

Sound >>>> Within seconds you realize how much sharper each note is, deeper the bass is, and provides superb external noise blocking. Use this near enough every day and they still work perfectly thanks to the small pouch provided. The pouch also has the great advantage of keeping the headphones relatively untangled somehow which is very handy. Back to the noise blocking, sennheiser have got this down to a tee, and people will struggle to hear what your listening to, and as a consequence of this, it means that you can achieve much higher volume levels than with most in ear head phones that do not feature the rubber style design plugs. So loud in fact that you rarely have them on full volume, and i do know loud, being a fan of seeing Motorhead live.

Extras provided with headphones include:

+ A little sennheiser branded clip, this is great for stopping the headphones getting caught on your clothes whilst walking.
+A little rubber wire wrap around device, this enable you to insert your headphones and then wrap the remaining wires around it, a nice idea, but doesn't fit into the pouch, which i found provided better protection.

Advantages: Cheap, high quality, extremely loud, easy to transport, crisp sound, lots of different sized plugs to suit all ear sizes, built in volume controller.

Disadvantages: Being picky, volume control on the cable seems to be of lower quality but has served fine till now, join from cable to headphone seems like it might break easily, but again hasn't so far.

In comparison to my old headphones, a set of Phillips in ear, these sennheiser headphones provide louder volumes, deeper base and crisper notes. The Philips also started to show high signs of wear after around 2 years, with splits in the cable and the in ear components starting to deteriorate in general.

Overall: Buy these if you want good quality sound whilst still getting change from a 20 pound note, just be wary that they may not last as long as if you pay into the 50's.