Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips SHE9850 In-Ear Headphones with Advanced Acoustics

These are really great ear buds, especially for less than $100. Terrific sound quality. I've been shopping for something that would allow me to enjoy music during my noisy commute on Chicago's L Train system, but I didn't want to walk around wearing big over-ear Bose phones. I just tried the Philips yesterday for the first time and the little foam sleeves included with the ear buds worked amazingly well. They make a very comfortable, but tight seal inside the ear canal which blocks out a lot of external noise. I could hear my music perfectly and even noticed a lot of tiny, little sounds I hadn't noticed before on recordings that I've heard many times and know very well. All this while surrounded by clanking train sounds, door-closing warning bells, conductor announcements, etc. I am very happy to have found the Philips SHE9850.

These headphones blow away the Bose in-ear headphones. I have to admit to being a Bose snob, but what an incredible difference in the audio. I had been disappointed with the Shure ($400.00) and sent it back. I should've returned the Bose too but didn't. Ordered the Phillips for a Christmas gift, but wanted to listen to them first. I'm keeping those and re-ordering another pair. They don't disappoint.

I have been struggling to find a good set of earbuds for a long time. I owned some Sonys for a while but they got torn apart during a plane trip recently. I own several Philips buds that are of pretty bottom drawer value, including a set of "noise canceling" headphones which basically *adds* noise.

I really wanted to get some ear buds with good sound isolation because I was going on a very long plane trip back home. After looking at more upscale sets I came upon a review of the SH9850 set and was convinced to give them a try. They were fantastic on the plane. I had to stick them quite a bit up into my ears, which wasn't too comfy, but A/B comparison to cheaper sets show that they add at least 50% to the volume and thus I can turn down the volume and still get more sound.

The best thing is that they really do isolate the sound - I commute by local train daily, and these ear buds work really well. I can finally listen to quiet podcasts which my old buds couldn't bring above the ambient noise level.

The sound quality is quite good. These are not pro headphones in any way (compared to my home studio over-ear set they are quite lacking but then the sources I throw at them are also not too good - mostly MP3s and podcasts). For the money they are excellent value, however, and outclass most of what I've heard that lie $100-200 over these in price.

These earphones are excellent. I'm using it with my ipod and the sound is amazing. I'm not an audiophile, so for me this phones are pretty good. It has good price too.
When I was on the subway I could barely hear the sounds around, Great!.

I've been looking for some earbuds to replace my sonys after I lost one of the earpieces. I looked at Shure, Etymotic Research and Sony as well as others. For the price point and the performance, the Philips seemed to be a good compromise. I was not dissappointed. These earbuds offer good dynamic range and reasonable noise isolation. I actually prefer earbuds that don't totally block out ambient sound, because I still like to know what's going on around me. They come with a very nice metal case and the earbuds themselves look great. I believe form and function should work together, and these do.

Plus, the price is really good for the quality. I'm very happy with these earbuds.