Denon AH-C551 earphones review

Average user rating

8.3

excellent

Average user rating from 3 users

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Denon AH-C551 earphones user reviews

July 16, 2008

Posted by: dmr

"Almost, but not quite"

What I like:

Build quality, stealth appearance & sound quality

What I don't like:

Daft cabling arrangement, range of fitting options & poor external sound insulation

Review:

Bought to replace my third set of Shure E2Cs (which give great sound performance until they break). My second set of warranty replacements are in the process of dying and I am getting a bit hacked off with Shure. Since the E2Cs have been discontinued I wanted to try something altogether new. Enter the Denons.

I have had these for a couple of weeks and my first impressions are that the sound quality is at least as good as the E2Cs with excellent range and the added bonus of a bit more bass. The overall build quality is excellent with the aluminium housings a particularly nice touch.

As they are quite new and still running in, I would like to indicate my reasons for deducting 3 marks from my rating.

One point is lost immediately due to the silly cabling arrangement. Without the supplied extension the cable is only around 55cm long (ear bud to jack), which for me is too short for any practical use. The extension adds an extra 90cm giving 145cm overall - which I would call a decent length. Unfortunately the connector that joins the two cables adds a significant amount of weight to the set up causing it to swing and drag. This is especially irritating when every contact is transmitted up the cable and resonates in the ear.

The second point is lost due to the poor level of external sound insulation compared to the E2Cs. This may be due to the thin, soft material used for the ear buds but could also be down to my inability to get a decent fit...

The third point is lost because of the small range of fitting options. Only three different sized sets of black rubber buds are supplied (the E2Cs came with nine different fitting options). At this point in time, and after much fiddling (and sore ears as a result) I cannot get a fit which both keeps the buds in place and sufficiently cuts out external noise. I suspect that foam fittings would solve this but I won't find out because Denon don't supply them!

All in all i'm fairly happy, but will reserve full judgement until the earphones have broken in properly and i've decided whether or not the shortcomings become deal-breakers.