A Good Earbud is Hard to Find (But Koss Made One!)

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Koss. I was compensated and given 2 sets of Koss FitSeries earphones to review.

The opinions, however, are all my own.

I have always been a music lover.  A good song gets me up to clean the dishes, makes me happy when I have to commute over 100 miles for work, and makes my runs and workouts more fun.  Even the treadmill runs.  However, my experiences with earbuds have been disappointing.

The round ones are too big.

The clips are not the right shape.

The soft earbuds don't hurt, but they fall out of my ears every couple of minutes...which might actually explain why it takes me so long to learn new songs.

Turns out the lyrics are much less nonsensical than that.

I find myself almost obsessive-compulsively pushing my earbuds-especially the left one-back into my ears throughout my entire workout.  Sometimes that can be over 3 hours of this:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who makes super weird faces when putting my earphones back in my ears.

Thus, I was delighted when I was given the chance to review two pair of Koss earphones and share the results with you, my lovely readers!

Check out the package that came with all my goodies!

Koss has been making headphones since 1954.  Recently, Gold Medalist Dara Torres (that lovely lady on the boxes in the photo) teamed up with Koss' female designers to create the world's first headphones designed specifically for women, by women.

Let me tell you, I'm not the person who gets all giggly when products are targeted *just to females*.  I feel like my blister barriers, memo notes, and pens do not have to have fancy designs on the packages to work any better for me.

But my history has led me to wonder:

As I tore through opened the packages, I was happy to find not one, but two sets of earphones!

First I took the FitClips for a spin.  I was excited to see that they were flexible!

SO excited!!

MY EXPERIENCE

I took the FitClips out on some very cold runs 2 days in a row.  The first day I wore a hat for part of the run, but took it off to see how well the clips would stay without help.  I thought maybe they jiggled a little, but I didn't feel any of the pinching or pushing I usually get with earclip headphones.

On my second run I went 3 miles, only touching my FitClips once.  They were a bit loose and therefore I lost some of the fullness of sound,  but the trade-off is that they honestly were so comfortable I barely felt them.

I then moved on to the FitBuds for my gym workout.

MY EXPERIENCE

I really liked the FitClips, but I am in LOVE with the FitBuds!!

They were snug and comfortable and just did not move!  I also took them on the treadmill for 4 very sweaty miles.  They bounced around a bit, which makes sense because I was bouncing, but they did not get loose or fall out!  I think it's due to their hook-on type of shape.

You know you're jealous of my post-run fuzzy hair and red face.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

1.  I felt that both types of earphones (FitClips and FitBuds) produced a very balanced sound, so if you are really into a lot of bass, you might be sad to not have your eardrums blown out.  But being a communication specialist in my big-girl job, I think that is actually a benefit!

2.  The one thing that is missing for me is that there is no in-line microphone/button to skip songs.  I use that feature quite a bit on other earphones.  Koss does have it on some of their other products, and I think it would make the FitSeries even better.

3.  Koss advertises that their FitSeries earphones are 33% smaller than other earbuds, with 3 ear cushion sizes included (you can mix and match like me!), and are sweat-resistant.  These earphones were comfortable and DID NOT FALL OUT OF MY EARS!  For that reason alone I would buy them, but I also like their sound quality!

The Koss FitSeries FitClips and FitBuds will make a great holiday gift for the frustrated music lover with smaller ears, particularly for active women. They are on sale in the U.S. at only $19.99 (normally $29.99) for the holidays at the following stores:

Wal-Mart
KMart 
Best Buy
Walgreens
Sears

Talk about the perfect stocking stuffer!  You can check these out, and all their products at Koss.com

Also, they have a fabulous choice of colours!

Whoops, looks like I got a bit giggly there after all.  

You can also follow Koss on:

Twitter @KossHeadphones

Facebook Koss

Instagram @Koss

Pinterest KossHeadphones

I am so happy that FitFluential and Koss gave me the chance to try out the FitSeries earphones.They definitely get a Thumbs Up!

UPCOMING POSTS:  LONG TRAINING RUNS, 5K RECAP, RUNGER