You will know better than us if the price tag on this set of earphones is too high.
If you are happy with the earphones that came with your iPod, then the price will probably hit you as quite a whack. Then again, if you listen to your iPod all the time - on commuter trains for example - and want to get the most out it, then it's less of a stretch to write them off as an investment.
Punchy sound
These are mid- to high-end earphones for iPods, not iPhones. The extension cable has an L-shaped 3.5mm jack that was not suitable for our iPhone which has a recessed earphones port. You could always buy a different extension cable separately.
The sound quality from these Denons, as with the nearly identical AH-C700 pair we saw at the tail end of 2007, is excellent. Every part of the audio profile is well-formed. It's a lively, punchy delivery that did well with thumping rock and delicate acoustic music.
Bass is particularly full and it didn't distort, despite sufficient volume and strong efforts from Jamaican music producers giving it their dancehall best on our iPod!
Simple and tough design
The casing is a sturdy aluminium in a bullet-shaped design that provides certain sound-isolation properties.
The best earphones also cut away ambient noise, although sometimes, when the music is low-volume, we find the sound of our own breathing and chewing off-putting.
The shape, though, is not suited to jogging, not because of the weight, which is negligible, but because the cups aren't designed to stay in place with all that bouncing around going on. Also, there's no volume control or pause buttons on the cable.
Quality headphones
As both a set of commuter earphones, and as earphones for use when you're not on the move, we loved these.
Denon, like Bose, has crossed into this price bracket with some exceptionally strong products. We are ardent iPod devotees and they did us proud.
