SHS850 Extra Comfort

Good Gear Guide

Lately, we've reviewed an awful lot of headphones and a lot of awful headphones, so when we saw the design for the Philips Extra Comfort portable headphones we had to get our hands on them. They are unique, with a strange and futuristic design. However, it's not the future we think of now, it's more how we thought the future would look back in the 1980s. They are black fabric wrap-around headphones with blue trim, two rubberized ear pieces and rubber ear loops. The cable extends from headband at the rear and is long enough to reach most devices, stored either in the pocket or a carry bag. The headphones also fold up easily becoming quite compact and easy to fit in your pocket.

Pros

  • Innovative design, Excellent sound

Cons

  • Bass could be better, Can hurt after extended use, Design not for everyone.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced set of headphones that are unique and deliver excellent sound, the Philips Extra Comfort are highly recommended.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 69.95 (AUD)

The sound quality of the Extra Comfort's is rather good with accurate sound reproduction in most registers. The bass is a little quiet and could have been better but overall they produce comfortable sound at a reasonable volume. At high volumes, the Philips delivers very little distortion, if any. We're not going to talk about the sound stage or assault you with any jargon in this review as these are a very simple, cheap set of headphones. Stacked up against the HiFi headphones, these are no match but we have to review them in context and to that end they deliver really well.

When a product is called something like "extra comfort" the first instinct is to check how comfortable they are. To our surprise they actually lived up to their name to some degree, although extended use does get a little painful around the outer ear, but as long as you aren't wearing them for hours on end this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

One of the best features of these headphones is that they are extremely flat and sit close to the ear. If you lay down on your side they don't hurt your ear like most other earphones. This is great if you like to listen to music while lying in bed or have your head pressed against the window of a train trying desperately not to fall asleep on your way to work.

The design is both a good and bad point for this product and it all depends on your taste. While we found them to be rather attractive and loved the innovative aesthetic, we noticed many people giving us weird looks when we wore them in public. The design may not be everyone's cup of tea but for those looking for something different, these headphones are highly recommended.

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