iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones Review

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iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

Spring is in the air!

If you’re wondering what spring has to do with headphones, the answer is: nothing, really.  However, to test the noise-isolation design of the iLuv IEP336 Earphones, I took them outside and mowed my lawn while listening to Pandora.  Let me tell you something, these earphones fit so nicely inside my ear, that it really did remove a lot of the noise from my gas-powered lawn mower and allowed me to enjoy the music I was listening to.

The iLuv IEP 336 High-Performance Earphones have a few nice features that set them apart from your everyday, run-of-the-mill earphones.  These earphones have a flat cable design, which helps to resist the ever-annoying headphone cable tangle.  They also come with an in-line SpeakEZ remote with built-in microphone.  Finally, to ensure a perfect fit, the IEP336 earphones come with three different eartips.

iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

I’m not usually a fan of in-ear headphones, because they always feel like they are about to fall out of my ear, but these earphones fit so perfectly that I was absolutely shocked.  I even ran around a little bit and they barely moved; I would not be afraid to go for a run using these headphones, even though I’ve avoided earphones in the past for this reason.  As I mentioned earlier, the perfect fit assists in the noise-isolation of the earphones.  The noise-isolation works almost too well when you’re using the earphones to talk on the phone.  The earphones sound great when listening to the person on the other end of the line, however when you hear yourself speak, you sound so different that it’s almost jarring.  I have a feeling that this is just something you’ll have to get used to if you plan on using the earphones a lot for voice calls.

iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

Speaking of voice calls, I was told that I sounded very good from the other end of the line, so the microphone does its job well.  The remote/microphone combo hangs just below my jaw, so it’s in a good position to deliver my voice across the phone line.  Other than the fact that I sound a bit weird to myself, it looks like these earphones are great for all-around voice and music use while on-the-go.

iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

The in-line SpeakEZ remote is well designed, looks great, and works well as well.  It includes a microphone, click button, and a sliding volume control.  The click button will accept and end a voice call as well as play and pause your music.  The volume slider feels very nice and gives you nice control over the volume of your music, however, there is one slight quirk with this slider.  The top range of the slider will only go as high as you have the volume set on your phone.  If your slider is all the way at the top and you want to raise the volume, you’ll have to do that from your phone.  A simple solution to this would be for iLuv to replace the slider with two click buttons.  Also, the remote does not include and skip or rewind functionality.

iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

The only place that these headphones disappoint a bit is the quality of sound while listening to music.  Audiophiles will likely overlook these $35 earphones anyway, so this should be no surprise, but these earphones do not seem to outperform their price tag.  The bass does not feel low enough and there is not enough contrast in the sounds being delivered through my ear canal.  As I said, if you’re on-the-go and would like to listen to your music on a train or subway, these are a great solution.  But if you’re planning on laying on the couch and enjoying an all-around auditory experience, you’ll want to look somewhere else.

iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 Earphones

The iLuv Neon Sound IEP336 High-Performance Earphones can be purchased directly from iLuv, here.

MSRP: $34.99

What I like:  Noise-isolation works great, perfect earphone fit, voice call quality is great, flat cable design does resist tangles.

What Needs Improvement:  Music quality leaves a bit to be desired, I would prefer click buttons for the volume so that I can raise the volume past what’s been set on the phone itself.

Source: Manufacturer Supplied Sample

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About the Author

Perry Brauner
I'm an architect by trade, but the overarching theme of my life has always been trying to keep up with the newest, coolest technology. Ever since I picked up an NES controller, I've been hooked on the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, and toys. Whether it's gaming, mobile phones, and accessories, or PCs and Apple products, I'm interested. I use many Apple products in my daily life, such as the iPhone, iPad, and my MacBook Pro. I've also built a few PCs in my day, so I'd like to say that I'm a pretty well-rounded techie.