First impressions will throw most people off this pair of headphones - "A pair of SONY headphones for under £20? Something must be wrong with them.."

Unlike Plasma TV's, these headphones have no real faults at all and the only logical explanation as to why they are so cheap is that the materials used, look and feel like weak, cheap plastic. They may not appear too hideous but the sound of the plastic rattling about certainly explains a lot. A slight knock or touch to the actual phones will impact on your listening experience, being more amplified than the music itself. Apart from those flaws there isn't much more to whine about in their build, so its onto the EQ system called 'Sound Mode'. Its either Music or Movie and the difference is so minimal, it seems a bit of a silly addition, unwanted switches on each phone that effectively do nothing whatsoever. The length of the cable seems just about over 3 metres which is quite good for indoor use, plugging into computers, stereos, amps and televisions, but are a bit overzealous for outside use on an mp3 player. The jack is your standard small one to fit a normal port found on most mp3 players, computers etc. These are extremely adjustable too, offering head band sizes suitable for the freakishly large dome to a petite bonce. The ear pillows are quite comfortable too but can get a bit sweaty and depending on whether or not your ears are perfectly symmetrical, can cause a bit of an ache with long periods of use.

Most of the negatives I've mentioned are really just me nitpicking, as most of the problems these have are a common issue with all kinds of headphones. The best way to describe the sound quality is to comare them to a standard earphones, its like the difference between a digital SLR camera to standard point a click. Huge. Just like the volume - as deafening as all the other options available, blocking out most background noise but unless the volume is high, you won't exactly be dead to the world. For under £20 you can't really go wrong, and when it comes to music, appearance and materials are irrelevant, its the sound that matters and these are legit, ok maybe not the most professional but certainly as close as you can get to the real deal expensive headphones.