Review on DefenderShield EMF-Free Over-Ear Headphones: Crystal Clear Stereo with Microphone & Volume Control - iPhone, Galaxy, iPad Compatible by Zack Frazier

I'm a former Navy FYI and on US Navy ships you have what are known as 'voice phones' in addition to the normal 1MC (hands free system) that work between the bridge key engineering and combat rooms. That's exactly what they sound like, and as you'd expect, they're built for surviving and sending messages in battle, NOT crystal clear, precise music. So I want everyone to know that I came here with LOW expectations for the sound quality and decided that if it's not too terrible it should be passable. Well I can honestly tell you that the sound quality from these headphones is far superior to headphone sound quality. my ship's solid telephone system. In fact, I was completely blown away by their relative sound quality. Understand now that they will not match high-quality, expensive "regular" headphones with a driver placed directly over the ear. And if you expect this sound quality from these headphones, you are honestly expecting unreasonable things. Excuse me. But do you know this. From a technical point of view, using my knowledge of acoustics and the transmission of acoustic impulses as an engineer, I could design you a headphone tube system that can reproduce a very narrow band of frequencies, but to be honest a tube waveguide effect such as this means it will be EXTREMELY difficult to to accurately reproduce the entire audio range (20 Hz to 20 kHz) and transmit it through the tube. The inner diameter of the tube transmits a very specific frequency most accurately, and frequencies above and below the waveguide frequency SLOWLY decay as they pass through the tube and are absorbed by the tube walls and other noise. Waves and the air itself. So you have to use the rest of the system to increase the amplitude of the lost frequencies. The fact that DefenderSheil was able to match the sound quality of an air hose system is quite a decent achievement, to be honest. Because they sound MUCH better than I expected. I won't go so far as to call them "bright" or "detailed" sound. In fact, as expected, the highs sound like you want to boost the "high" on the EQ by 5 or 6dB. You would probably feel the same way about bass. That means if you're listening to a source with an equalizer (e.g. Windows Media Player with the equalizer turned on), you can tweak your equalizer and get REALLY good sound (you'll crank up the bass and treble and flatten out in the midrange). Again what they are. So if, like me, you think they're not going to sound good, think again. With a little EQ tweaking you can get a VERY good sound, you just need to use the EQ to compensate for the shortcomings of the waveguide effect that pushes the sound through the tube. So, overall, their sound quality is really good. So if you want to reduce your exposure to electromagnetic radiation but don't want horrible sounding headphones, then these headphones are for you. They sound way better than I expected knowing what I know. Then, unfortunately, we move on to consolation. Well, I didn't find them UNNICE uncomfortable like some reviewers thought they were. But I certainly won't claim that I found them comfortable. I know what the problem is and in fact it can be solved if the manufacturer just listens to random feedback. They either require 1cm of extra padding for the earcups OR the overhang in the center of the earpiece needs to be significantly less. OR OR solves the comfort problem of these headphones. The problem is that there is a hump in the middle of the ear, and that hump tends to press against the ear itself, so most of the pressure isn't on the pad it's part of, but on the hard plastic hump on top press ear. ear.guys.your Air Tube headphones sound INCREDIBLE. I have a technical background and know a little what I'm talking about. They did a GOOD WORK and made them sound pretty decent (some hardware equalization and boost in the drivers themselves might help if you're looking for design input). But the fact of the matter is, why put so much effort into decent sound and almost zero into decent comfort? Seriously - put the cushion 1/2 - 1 cm further so the hump doesn't touch the ear and this is a BOMB DIGIDI. OR lower the hump at least 1/2 cm Either or fixes these headphones. To be honest, I would have preferred a 1cm thick pillow, but I take BOTH. Maybe add 1/2 inch more cushion and lower the hump 1/2 inch, hitting in the middle. Well, stop trying to tell these guys how to update their product. In short, if your ONLY PURPOSE is to reduce EM, they sound really good, they're just not very comfortable, but you can live in them. If they are cute, soft and comfortable for your ears and head, you probably won't like them. Let's hope they review them and make the appropriate fixes because they will have their hands on a REAL winner.