Mobility Digest Review: iFrogz Earpollution Ozone with MIC

So I just got my iPhone 4S today from my local Best Buy and they were offering a free gift to all their customers of a iFrogz Earpollution Ozone with MIC. I have tested some other iFrogz Earpollution Headphones in the past and really liked them. Decent sound for a decent price.  Apple provides a pretty decent ear bud with their devices, which I use in the car when I travel because of my dislike of BT Ear buds. Everywhere else it is my Bose Stereo Headsets. Love em’ and there is no chance in my budget of replacing them. So I was thinking I was going to give these to a family member or friend when I got to thinking that they might actually be better than the Apple provided ear buds, so hey why not, let’s fire up another Mobility Digest Review! Oh, and thanks Best Buy!

The packaging is small and very well clam packed. You aren’t getting into this package with out destroying it first. Which pretty much eliminated my chances of giving these away should I not like them. But the upside is that you know you are getting factory first products and not a return that someone may have had before. Included in the package are three different sized ear bud tip sizes so that you can get a custom fit into your ear canal.

The iFrogz Earpollution Ozone with MIC fit great with the medium size tips that actually came on the ear buds. I found that these are a lot more confortable than the Apple supplied ear buds. The only problem I see is that the construction of the tips are very thing and one of mine were actually ripped slightly out of the package.,

The Ozone’s come with a very narrow 3.5mm plug which will fit almost any device on the market today, and also fit into any protective case slot you might have protecting your device. I had found with some earphones in the past that they were not compatible because of the standard or full size 3.5mm plug, so this is a good thing with the Ozone.

Here are the specs on the iFrogz Earpollution Ozone with MIC so you can do some comparisons to your current ear buds:

Specifications

• Driver Unit:9 mm
• Impedance:16 ohms
• Sensitivity:98 dB +/- 3 dB at 1 kHz
• Frequency Response:30 Hz – 20 kHz
• Cord Length:1.2 m
• Plug:3.5 mm

The Apple supplied ear buds are almost identical except that they have a bit more impedance at 32 ohms where the Ozone’s have 16 ohms. Frequency range is almost the same as the Apple ear buds drop to 20 Hz rather than the 30 Hz by the Ozone ear bud.

After testing both I gotta say that the Ozone ear bud is slightly clearer and has better base. The problem that I had with mine is that they sounded a little hallow in the mid range and lacked some of the depth that the Apple ear bud had. However, for low end performance ear buds on a budget, the Ozone ear bud is much more confortable to me.

The MIC on the Ozone performed well and callers that I spoke to could not notice that I was using them. I would not give either the Apple or the Ozone the edge here and call it a draw.

The iFrogz Earpollution Ozone with MIC  is priced at $24.99 from iFrogz but is easy to find cheaper. Best Buy advertises them at $19.99 for example. The bottom line is that the Ozone ear buds perform pretty well for the money and a very comfortable. I would not however recommend anyone buy these that had already received the Apple standard ear buds supplied in their devices. The quality difference is not that noticeable to me and not worth the money. But, if you are someone on a budget and use your ear buds a lot, then the Ozone ear buds would provide you a much more comfortable experience.