Having reviewed several sets of headphones before, such as Avantree Hive Bluetooth Stereo Headset and the Trendy Phiaton Moderna MS 200, you can imagine how excited we were when a pair of Street by 50 Cent headphones was sent to us. There has been a revival of these products over the past few years, most of which is thanks to beats by Dr. Dre.
When the iPod was first released it started a craze with those white —in-ear headphones, which was one of the reasons why the iPod took off in such a big way. While they may be easier to carry around, they are often awkward to keep in your ear and tend to hurt after a while and cannot be too good for your ears because of them having to be pushed in.
This is one of the reason why so many people prefer to use the DJ style headphone that and the fact they are a fashion statement, and the new set of headphones by the House of Marley is a fine example of fashion at its best.
In our hands-on Street by 50 Cent over ear headphones review we will take a closer look at the packaging, their comfort, the technology and the overall performance, but if they do as well as the packaging then we are in for a real treat.
The moment we took these headphones out of the box it was delivered in we were amazed at the quality of the packaging and this is the same once you open it up as well, because you are met with what looks like half an NFL ball.
Getting the headphones out is very easy because there is plenty of space in the zip up carrier, and there is even a neat little compartment for the leads as well.
Let’s move on to one of the features that will have you baffled, because these over-the-ear headphones come with a microphone. This is no afterthought because they do come with a passive noise cancellation feature, as SMS (who make the headphones in conjunction with input from 50 cent) understand you will also wish to make and receive calls while walking around trying to look cool.
The button on the microphone allows you to answer phone calls or pauses and plays your music. There are limitations though, as you cannot skip tracks or control the volume, which does seem a little strange. However, with this being a bonus feature it does do a decent job.
Street by 50 Cent over ear headphones design — What we love about these headphones is their durability and flexibility because you can bend these in ways you have not seen before with headphones like these. Okay, so we would not advise you to try, but we were very impressed with this design feature. Taking this into consideration we have no reason to believe why these would not last you for a very long time.
There are two versions of these headphones, wireless and wired, and the ones we have here is the wired model. We have seen with similar headphones the wire to be very thin, which means they could rip. However, with Street by 50 this wire is very thick and durable. The wire is removable, which is great when storing away.
Street by 50 Cent over ear headphones performance — This is the most important feature of headphones, and overall they do a pretty good job. We tested them while playing a few tracks, as well as games where you get high explosives, which is thanks to those 40mm drivers that have been professionally tuned.
However, the enhanced bass was not as good as we had hoped, and could do with a little augmentation to help you feel more of that low-end rumble. There is also an issue with background noise, and while this may not be an issue for most of you, it could put some people off. The performance overall is rather impressive though.
What we were most impressed with is the comfort, because they are light-weight and come with very soft memory foam cushions, You can wear these for hours on your head or round your neck without you really noticing them.
Conclusion — As with all headphones like these you want to know you are getting your moneys worth, and we believe the SMS Street by 50 Cent over-the-ear headphones offers great value for money because we have already established they are durable, very flexible and exceptionally comfortable. In with the price are several bonus items, such as a soft carrying bag, airplane plug adapter, cleaning cloth and the removable cable.
If you visit the SMS Audio website for the US or UK you will see there are a selection of colors, some are limited edition options and so increase the price a little. For those of you in the US the Street by 50 Cent over ear headphones price is lower at the moment thanks to a great promotional offer.
For a closer look at these headphones we have included the official video from SMS.
