These days I listen to music on my iPhone primarily in the gym while exercising, and for those purposes the Bluetooth wireless headphones are mostly adequate. However, almost all of those headphones have very subprime sound quality, to say the least. The standard iPhone headphones are not much better, but they are usually the ones that I reach for when listening to music in other situations. Unfortunately, as a consequence of these choices of headphones I’ve been inadvertently forced to settle for a rather inferior music-listening experience. So when I came across XePort’s headphones, I had felt that my ears had been opened. I’ve used high-quality headphones in the past, and in terms of sound quality the XePort headphones are definitely on par with many of those.

***** The Sound Quality *****

The sound quality is definitely one of the biggest selling points of these headphones. They make a crisp, loud and well-formed sound. When listening to classical piano works I can hear each note reverberating clearly and distinctly from the others. The high notes don’t have the “tinny” sound that I’ve been accustomed to from many lower-end headphones. The lower notes are rich and warm, and the headphones can handle the bass sounds as well as any in this category that I’ve tried. The high fidelity of sound is particularly noticeable when listening to the older recordings – all the subtle “noise” of such recordings comes clearly through.

I particularly liked using these headphones with dance/electronic music. They can really push the beat through.

***** Noise Canceling *****

These headphones don’t have the active noise-cancelling capabilities, but their passive noise cancelling was more than adequate for most of my purposes. This is particularly the case when listening to music somewhat loudly – all the surrounding sounds were completely blocked, and hardly any of the headphones’ own sound leaked out.

***** Accessories *****

In addition to the actual headphones, the packaging includes three sets of silicone single flange tips, as well as a few metallic decorative “nuts” for the outer part of the headphone. The tips ought to fit most ear sizes. They are comfortable and easy to replace.

***** Look and Feel *****

The metallic make of these headphones gives them a unique, industrial look. Despite several metallic pats though, the headphones are very light and they fit smoothly and unobtrusively into your ears. Even after a few hours of listening to the music on them they did not become uncomfortable. Oftentimes I have a slight pain in my ears after wearing some other in-ear headphones, but so far I have not had any such experience with XePort 5010-8.

***** Conclusion *****

These are really impressive headphones and they will make any audiophile more than happy. They are solidly built, have an impressive sound quality, and an unbeatably low price. Highly recommended.