A while back, I managed to snag the cable of my earphones on a branch, which ended up with the ear piece being ripped off and hence, I was in the market for a new pair. Now being an avid user and reader of DooYoo reviews, I noted that these Skullcandy variants seemed to be popular and were getting a lot of decent reviews. They appeared to come in a whole range of colours and styles, together with a range of prices, but I decided to buy an averaged price black pair from Amazon for just under the £15 mark.

So for the money, what do you get? Well these particular earphones are the in-ear type. That means that they have a soft rubber gel like 'plug' that pushes into your ear, allowing the cup to take up the shape of your inner ear. Initially this keeps the earphone in your ear, but also has the effect of blocking out any external sound, allowing you to experience a more realistic purer sound from your music player without any external noise. These are then connected to the 1.2 m long flat lead, linking down to the 3.5 mm gold plated plug to plug into your phone or your mp3 player. The ones I have are finished off in a totally black design with a little skull motif on each earphone, but they are also available in a variety of other colours and combinations for the more fashion conscious. You are also supplied with a nice little travel bag, which is ideal for keeping them safely stored away when not in use.

What are they like in use? When fitted into your ear, the earphones do stay put quite well, and I've not yet had any problems with them falling out. Of note, I normally do have a bit of a concern about using these in-ear type earphones because sometimes the rubber 'plug' bit can be quite hard, and rather than the rubber shaping to your ear, your ear shapes to the rubber, and hence after wearing them for an extended duration, they can become uncomfortable. But with these Skullcandy Smokin Buds, that doesn't appear to be a problem. I've worn these out on walks for a couple of hours at a time, and they have still remained quite comfortable. But you need to note that everyone is different, so whilst these earphones suit me and my ears, it may be a case of trial and error for others to determine if they will suit your ears.

Sound quality wise, they are very good. I find that the inner ear plug is really effective at blocking out external sounds, giving you a much clearer sound reproduction. The frequency response range for these earphones is detailed as 20 Hz (for the bass range) up to 20 kHz (for the treble range) and for me, that seems to give me the quality of musical notes and sounds that I want. You can get other earphones with a lower base range (apparently giving more base) or high treble range, but at those frequencies, it would be very hard for many people to notice any difference. The gold plating on the 3.5 mm plug is always claimed by many manufacturers to give a better electrical contact with your mp3 player socket, hence producing a better sound quality, but personally I think this is more just a sales gimmick rather than a major plus point because I've never noticed any difference between gold plated plugs against normal plugs..

Durability? Well they have lasted me well for a good few months now, although I do use the little storage sack supplied with them when I'm not using them. So I suppose that goes some ways towards protecting them in my pocket.

In summary, the price of these earphones sits them roughly in the middle of the earphone product market, and whilst they are a little more expensive that most, the sound reproduction is very good, and that nice little touch of providing a little storage bag just adds that little bit of panache to this set of earphones. For me, they are durable and comfortable to wear for long periods. So overall, a 5* recommendation from me.

Review also on Ciao under Randal1.