Friday I got some FANTASTIC sounding in-ear phones for £4.33! They are AWESOME!
The items in question are Aiwa's HP-V151 headphones. The immediate thing for me was the balanced sound. I've tried quite a few over the years and I always come back to a pair that came with a Sharp mini disc player. They have a clarity others I've tried simply didn't have. The problem with then is their curtailed bass and a tad inefficient. But I've stuck with them for years. Various Sony ones tried had more in the way of bass - but it was always exaggerated.
Back in the '80s Alvin Gold reviewed Aiwa's HP-V99 earphones - he was impressed. After his Stax Lambdas, they were a particular favourite. They were either £50 or £75 which at that time was a lot of money for "earphones".
Now and again I've looked for a pair (was going to try here but didn't think there was much point) but had no luck and it seems they are sought-after now. Looking on the 'net I was led to the 151s. They had the bass pipe feature of the '99s so I thought I'd have a look and found them at a crazy price on Ebay. The postage of £6 from the USA was more than the 'phones themselves. Found they were 14 year old stock and had a large 16 mm driver with OFC lead and originally cost $50.
They took 2 weeks to arrive, and I've been grinning like a loon ever since. Probably the best headphones I've ever had. If I'd known how good they were I would have bought more than one pair as the additional postage is just $2 per item. Just bought a pair for my sister and a pair for spare.
The other great thing about them is the way they throw-up images. Just been listening to The George Baker Selection's "Little Green Bag" and my head was a mass of images! Crazy man! Crazy!
!Bargain Alert!
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