Phiaton, a newcomer to the market, falls into the high-end category of head speakers. Their first product was a finely wrought set of over-the-head cones, which we found to deliver clean, well-balanced sound and atypical comfort. The company’s latest offering, the PS 200, is a set of earphones with an asking price of $250. They come with a stiff carrying case, which is a nice addition, but my guess is that most users are like me and just wrap their phones around their iPod and don’t bother with a separate case. They also come with a 2-prong adapter for airplane audio jacks.
The PS 200s are the in-ear, sound isolation variety with flexible silicon inserts to fit different ear sizes. The black and chrome design gives them a cyberpunk look. They appear sturdily built with a gold-plated jack and fairly thick casing around the wire, which makes them a little more tangle-resistant than others. Phaiton says they use a dual-speaker design for full-range sound. They don’t appear to be ported like recent models I’ve used from Bose and Denon, but they’re also less bulky than the Future Sonics I reviewed a few months ago.
The Phiatons can be extremely comfortable, but you have to be sure to put the right flexible sleeve over them for the perfect fit. I first tried the medium sleeves and liked the fit, but wanted to see if I could get the phones a littler further in my ears with the small sleeves. That worked, to a degree, but the flare design of the exterior made them extremely uncomfortable, so I switched back to the medium sleeves.
I compared the earphones to several other high-end models costing $100 and up as well as some more basic models selling for about $30. The Phiatons easily outperformed the cheap models in clarity and dynamic range. Among the high-end competitors, the results depend on what you’re looking for. While they produced more bass than the cheap sets, its wasn’t an overwhelming amount of bass, which may be a good thing. Where they really stood out for me was in the high and mid ranges. There the Phiatons produced impressive clarity and detail.
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
|
|||
|
