Whenever it comes to choosing the right headphones it’s like a minefield out there, as you do not know if you should go for over the head, in-ear, wired or Bluetooth. Your decision will come down to various factors, such as how long you intend to use them each time, what sort of music you listen to and the most important, price.

We love being sent headphones because we get to inform you if they are worth the purchase along with how well they perform. Today we will be looking at the trendy Phiaton Moderna MS 200 earphones, and as always we will review this product with several songs just to see how they handle different music arrangements.

It’s always nice to see that the packaging of a product being given a lot of thought, although we do feel as though it’s a huge amount of waste in a time when we should be thinking of the world that we live in. However, we have come to expect that high quality products also have high quality packaging.

When you open the flap of the box you will be met with a set of Phiaton Moderna MS 200 earphones, but to get at them you will need to lift another piece of card, that has a plastic window showing the earphones off. Once this is removed you will also see a black carrying case, which houses several silicon ear tips and also a foam set as well.

Before we set about our review we needed to choose several songs, and as always we went for The Black Eyed Peas, Boom Boom Pow, Queen, with Bohemian Rhapsody and also Michael Buble with Cry me a River. The reason we chose these songs is because they cover a range of dynamics, so is ideal for a real world test.

First we needed to select the right size tips because getting it wrong can impair the quality of the sound. There are four silicon tips of varying size and also a foam pair.

The main features of these MS 200s are Dual Chamber to give you a rich overall sound and powerful bass. Red-hot carbon finger design, which reduces weight, Multi-Tune Acoustic design and also cable that is oval in shape to help reduce tangles. We always find that it’s best to not change any audio settings, so no EQ at all, just the standard audio settings, as this is the way most people listen to their music on portable devices. Just so you know we stuck with the iPhone 5 when testing because we did have a quick listen on other devices, and the quality did not change at all.

Having tried each of the three songs we noticed a pattern, and that was the fact that the bass levels were pretty good, even when playing at a low to medium volume. However, we did find that these earphones would distort when turned up too loud on Boom Boom Pow, as we know the bass levels on the song are pretty high. It was at that point that you would need to play with the EQ settings to make it more enjoyable.

Another issue for us was the fact that there was a lot of outside noise coming through, but after changing to a different set of ear tips it did help a little, but was still unable to get that all-important perfect seal. However, these do not come with noise-canceling technology, which is an issue for those who want to listen to their music in a noisy environment.

Overall the mid-range is pretty good, but the MS 200s win out in the high frequencies, which come into their own when listening to the crisp sound of Buble, while also offering a great deal of depth at the same time.

The MS 200s never felt uncomfortable once when we had the stock buds in, but if you need to get more from the earphones this will mean swapping over to a set of the other buds, but these would feel a little uncomfortable after a long period of time. This can be an issue for some of you as you will need to trade quality sound for comfort.

The price for these Phiaton Moderna MS 200 earphones is around $120 now, so not a bad price when you consider just what you are getting. More details can be found by visiting the official Phiaton website.

Main Specs include:

• Cord Length: 3.93 ft / 1.2 m
• Frequency range: 10 Hz ~ 27,000 Hz
• High quality dynamic speakers: 14.3 mm
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Maximum input power: 30 mW
• Sensitivity: 100dB at 1 kHz
• THD: Less than 1% at 1 kHz
• Weight: 5.6 g (without cord) / 0.012 lb (without cord)

In The Box:

• 4 sizes of silicon ear tips (XS, S, M, L)
• Carrying case
• Comply™ Foam tips
• MODERNA MS 200 Earphones
• Quick guide
• RightFit™ Silicone ear tips
• Warranty Card

Other Photos

In 2011 and on systems like the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3, you expect some level of graphics that should be far superior to the PS2 or original Xbox; there really is no excuse to lower the graphics to that level, no matter what the story. Sadly Homefront has done just that, the first thing that hit us while reviewing the game was graphics, and the lack of anything remotely above average.

You can see a few screenshots on this page, and this was after we tried to get the best from the game. We did not expect graphics to be the level of Crysis 2 (the best yet on a games console), but we also did not expect them to be of such a low standard.

Kaos Studios developed Homefront and THQ published the first-person shooter, which since its release has seen reviews bashing the game from all angles, but its not all bad. After playing Homefront for a good hour you start to forget about the lack of realistic graphics, and start to enjoy the story.

It’s hard to believe, but there was a bigger shock than the bad graphics, and this was the impact the story gives. From the start you’re met with a small movie that takes you through the downfall of the United States, and how the “United Korea” movement aims to take over the world.

This in itself is an shocking thought, but the way you’re taken through the storyline, from sitting on a bus at the start of the game, and watching blood splat all over the bus window from someone’s head, and children running around with bullets flying, its shocking.

Homefront certainly can boast one accomplishment, and this is a daring story that has impact from the start. We take our hat off to John Milius, who wrote the story and helped give the game something many others lack. Whether you like Homefront will depend on your need for graphics, for us it was a nice experience for a couple of hours, but sadly poor graphics is something that’s hard to ignore on a system like the Xbox 360 or PS3.

You cannot have everything in a game (well most of the time), but Homefront fails to please at a time when the FPS genre is crowded with massive titles. If Homefront had anywhere near the graphics of Crysis 2 with it’s great story, then we would’ve been more compelled to play for longer. Sorry Homefront, but you just don’t cut it in 2011.

Have you played Homefront, and if so what do you think?

MORE SCREENS:

Samsung’s latest Galaxy S phone has gone on sale in the United States for the price of $249.99, and with a 2-year contact. The 4G handset has some “Epic” features, which include a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 8MP sensor, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a really clear 4-inch AMOLED screen, and can give the HTC EVO a run for it’s money.

Rather than repeat all the same details, we thought we would show you a video review for the Samsung Epic 4G that lasts only 60-seconds, but is very informative to those that do not know much about the device.

See the quick video review below (by the Miami Herald). Will you buy the Samsung Epic 4G this week?