Philips SHE9850

The basics

The Philips SHE9850 is an in-ear headphone. It uses a combination of rubber and foam that you can place inside your ear. The rubber is used to stabilise the headphone inside the ear. It also has a cable clip for more security. Other parts include storage box and cleaning items.

The good

First things first, if your chosen buds come with foam covers, like this Philips offering, then stick 'em on. It improves both fit and sound delivery. Once suitably dressed, these ear-fillers deliver great sounds. We selected a dub-laden tune from our MP3 player and the highs were crisp, mids were steady and as for the bass, well, that really was ear-nuzzling. You get four different silicone ear canal tips, too, so they fit snug in pretty much any lug hole (from small to Prince Charles), which really helps cancel out annoying noises.

The bad

While there is very little to dislike here, we would say that they don't really offer anything over other decent brands. For that reason alone, we deduct a point. Harsh, yes. But then we have high standards.

The bottom line

Philips has its finger on the musical pulse with these high-performing headphones. They effectively cut out background noise and for that reason are ideal for peace-loving commuters.