The MEElectronics CC51P earbuds provide a good sound for a good price. Check out the full story after the break.
The CC51P tries to do things a little differently than other earbuds. Most of the earbuds I have been looking at lately have had 10+ mm drivers, but the CC51P has only a 6 mm driver. This worried me a little since the general consensus seems to be that for drivers bigger is better. I'm happy to report that despite the small size of the driver, the CC51P is able to deliver a full sound with plenty of bass. Well, an accurate amount of bass. If you are the kind of person that loves earbuds with "enhanced" bass, then these aren't the earbuds for you. The CC51P is particularly clear in the mids and highs with a minimum of muddying. This level of sound accuracy is partly do to MEElectronics choice of housing. Instead of the usual plastic and metal, or occasionally wood, housing for the earbuds, the CC51P uses a housing made from ceramic. MEElectronics claims that the ceramic they use is "acoustically inert" meaning that the ceramic wont resonate in hearable frequencies. Resonation of the housing can cause distortion of the music and can hurt noise isolation. Another side effect of the ceramic used in the housing is that the CC51P is surprisingly durable and strong. This is something that I don't usually worry about when choosing ear-buds, but I accidentally ran over the CC51P with my chair. Luckily they weren't damaged or even scratched from this little mishap.
The CC51P also has an in-line microphone. The microphone also has a button that will start/pause music and answer calls. The microphone works fairly well without a ton of distortion. This was only tested for phone level quality, so I make no guarantee that the microphone would be useful for anything requiring higher qualities. The buttons for starting music works fairly well. It doesn't cause as many false starts when it is in my pocket as some other ear-buds do.
Along with the ear-buds themselves, the CC51P comes with a carrying case and a variety of tips. The case is simple, but gets the job done. It is a little on the large side, but it still fits comfortably in my pocket. The tips are fairly standard and come in small, medium, and large sizes. The final set of tips are of similar material but are bi-flanged. I find the tips fairly comfortable even after wearing them for an extended time. The tips, when properly inserted, provide good noise isolation. The noise isolation isn't insane, but will make it difficult to ear anything under 40 dB. This translates into you not noticing somebody talking to you while your music is playing. The only downside seems to be that the ear-buds have a large in-ear diameter. It is still small compared to your ear canal, but it means you are unlikely to be able to fit the tips from other ear-buds onto the CC51P.
I think the MEElectronics CC51P are pretty well made. I think my biggest problem with them was incompatible tips, which is not that serious. If you are looking for some nice, durable ear-buds, you wouldn't be wrong to look at the CC51P. If you are still curious, you can see the tech details below.
[MEElectronics CC51P] – (Black) $89.99 (White) $89.99
- Driver: 6.0 mm micro-drivers
- Housing: Ceramic housing with aluminum nozzle
- Frequency Response: 18Hz – 20KHz
- Sensitivity: 98 dB
- Impedance: 16 ohms
- Maximum Power Input: 5 mW
- Connector: 4 pin 3.5mm gold plated 90° plug
- Cable: Solid color 130 cm cable (51 in) with attached shirt clip
- Microphone/Remote: Metal housed inline microphone and single button remote
- Accessories: 4 sets of eartips (small/medium/large silicon; bi-flange), clamshell zipper case
