Etymotic have used their isolator technology to produce headphones that reduce outside noise and promote hearing safety, by blocking out background noise you don’t need to turn up your music to full to be able to hear it clearly. The Mk5’s reduces noise by 35 - 42 dB which make them ideal for wearing whilst at the gym or on the commute. I had a particularly annoying couple of women plonk themselves behind me on the train and started rattling on about their incredibly dull jobs and how Lisa from finance is always gossiping blah blah blah so I put the earphones in and even before I turned on the music it had drowned out their inane chatter.  The sound quality of these headphones is pretty good for the price, you need to make sure you have a really good seal by twisting the headphones right into your ear canal or by using a different sized ear tip that way you will get the most out of the sound especially the bass which is perhaps a little lacking when it comes to bass heavy tunes.

The Mk5 comes with two sizes of 3-flange ear tips and a set of Foam ear tips which are nice and comfortable to wear, I personally preferred the foam tips as the stayed put in my ears and where as I found I would have to twist the flange tips in again now and when I removed them my ears felt hot unlike when I wore the foam tips. The headphones are made out of plastic so they are light to wear however it does mean the cord will tangle up within the blink of an eye but it comes with a handy little case and a clip that will keep the cord in place whether you are wearing them or not. Due to the low profile you can wear these headphones under a hat or helmet although due to the noise reduction please be careful when using the headphones if you need to wear a helmet, not a good idea to cycle when you can’t hear outside noise. All in all for the price these are acceptable headphones which provide great noise reduction and reasonable sound quality whilst looking after your hearing at the same time. RRP £54.95

3.8 out of 5

Buy now

Pros

Good value for money

Low profile

Reduces background noise

Protects your hearing

Cons

Plastic casing a little cheap and flimsy

Might not be suitable to bass heavy fans