TDK BP100 Headphones review

4 January 2005 11:09 GMT / By Kenneth Henry

For once we can believe the packaging; TDK's BP100 in-ear headphones are as comfortable as TDK says, greatly helped by the rubberised parts. I can't stand in-ear headphones. However I was forced to admit, in spite of the short cable, it was easy to adjust the set for comfort. Deliberately shaking my head to make them fall out of my ears didn't work and unlike lesser phones, you don't need to shove these so far into your ears that they might get stuck.

When judging sound quality, 11dB less sensitivity than the neckband version fails to diminish the sound. Given that it's right against your eardrums, it helps to focus what you're hearing. There was only one case where we missed that additional range and that was with Enya's voice on the first Lord Of The Rings Soundtrack, which was slightly boxed in compared to the Neckband NP100s. The bigger brother of the range brought through her voice plus Howard Shore's score; the BP100s were above average with the strings but the voice was a step too far. However the operatic score, Ave Maria by Calli from Donnie Darko's soundtrack, fared better on the BP100s than the Neckband set. You could hear the rasping sound of bow on string for Christopher Young's Entrapment soundtrack, which was better quality than expected. Shirley Bassey won the battle between chorus and instruments on Goldfinger from the remastered Bond Compilation, but the bongo drums were discernible, if not totally separated, from the buildup to the end with Bassey's full soprano.

Verdict

The BP100s performed better than we expected. The set also has the rigid rubber design, which makes it easy to wear and adjust, an additional plus point. Sadly, these bonuses make it even more of a shame that the cable is so short. It’s almost as if the set is aimed at children or short adults in general. Above average sound but ultimately, Sennheiser’s MX500 street price has dropped below £20 on the internet and they have a better case and the all-important length - 1.1m just isn’t enough nowadays, unless you can manually extend it.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: TDK
Price as reviewed: £
The good: Carry case; comfortable; earphones’ rubber covers easy to clean
The bad: The bad points: Short cable and no remote
Quick verdict: The BP100s are certainly comfortable and sound reasonable, but Sennheiser’s MX500s still have the better carrycase cable length
Score