The YurBuds Inspire Vivid Review

Of all the earphones I've used, the first ones to always give out are the ones I used while working out. The earbuds get tangled, pulled and, when my workout got (relatively) intense, really sweaty. So when my last workout earphones gave out, I used the stock earphones that came with my iPod. It was not a pleasant idea: whenever I got sweaty, the earbuds stopped working... My theory was that the sweat I produced shorted out the circuitry of the unit and sound was no longer produced. (After two days, when the sweat has evaporated off, the buds would work again.)

So I went around looking for a new pair of proper workout earphones.

I saw the Yurbuds Inspire Vivid in one of the stores here in Metro Manila and the wife and I checked it out. The tagline on the box says that it was "Developed by Athletes", so I thought the designers know something about getting sweaty...

I like the "FlexSoft" silicone ear tips because its design delivers sound straight to your ear canals. However, the word "like" may vary from person-to-person...

You see, the ear tips are big. Yurbuds provides two sizes of the silicone tips and even the smaller ones takes a great amount of getting used to. When I first put the buds on, my ear canals hurt a bit. However, with constant use, I got used to it and my ear canals don't hurt (as much) anymore. And don't worry about those things falling off -  they will not! The cables will be detached from the ear pieces first before the buds will fall off your ear! I even have a hard time removing them.

Now, for sound quality... The buds deliver a lot of bass, and, for me, that's a good thing because I always listen to hard-thomping music whenever I work out. I have not listened to classical music while wearing the YurBuds but I am happy with it when it comes to hiphop, rock and electronica. 

However, there's still a lot to be desired when it comes to noise isolation. When there is no music playing, I can still clearly hear the music coming from the gym sound system; the sound isn't muted. And because there is no noise-isolation feature, I am forced to increase the volume of my iPhone when I work out, something that I don't like to do (hey, I want to preserve my eardrums you know). I could have used the bigger silicone to seal my eardrums more, but the size of those spare silicone isn't comfortable to wear for me anymore.

But overall, I like the earphones despite those setbacks. It is still something I prefer over the stock buds that came with the iPod. And if it's a choice between losing my eardrums between my music or the gym's music, I prefer it to be my music...

#TheShyPhotographer recommends it. 

Photos shot with an iPhone5s, edited with the iOS app Mextures!