Rivet Stereo Earphones/Headset

Rivetmore product info

I read good things about these headphones so I decided to give them a try. I'd been considering an adapter to work with my existing in-ear headphones, but then Adina started borrowing my headphones and taking them to work instead.

There were a few things I wanted to accomplish by purchasing these:

1. Be able to use headphones with my iPhone that blocked out more outside noise than the Apple headphones.
2. Have headphones that were more comfortable for longer periods than the Apple headphones.
3. Have an inline remote switch and possibly microphone like the Apple headphones.

This was not my first attempt at getting this. My first try was the iSoniTalk from Monster, which was an utter failure. I guess I shouldn't call it an utter failure, as it turned out to work great in the car, just not anywhere else. It added way too much bulk and cable clutter to be useful. It worked with my existing Sony earphones, which I liked, but that was about it.

I also looked at other solutions, but wasn't satisfied that any of them would give me good usability when it came to things like cable length and positioning of the remote switch.

The Rivet headphones, however, satisfy all my criteria. The earpieces fit very securely in the ears, and block out a good deal of background noise, even though they aren't noise-canceling headphones specifically. They also have decent sound, once you get used to listening with no ambient noise. I've found that they work great on my motorcycle by blocking out much of the wind noise and allowing me to actually hear the music without blowing my eardrums out.

They include multiple sizes of rubber earpieces that should work for a wide variety of users. The remote switch ends up in a good spot, although it's not so good if your headphone cable is running inside of a jacket as it does on my motorcycle.

The coolest feature of these headphones, though, is the way the cables are arranged. The cable ends up hanging on your neck instead of your ears like most earphones do. This allows for adjustability, less strain, and the ability to easily remove the earpieces from your ears without dropping the headphones. Unlike my Sony earphones, which required me to drape them inconveniently around my neck when not in use, these just hang there waiting for me to pop them back in.

The adjustability also makes up for the problem where the remote switch isn't always in a good spot. I just adjust the cord more so that the switch is hanging higher up and at the edge of my collar. I can then reach it while flying down the interstate to skip easily to the next song, or pause the music when I pull up to the guardhouse at a gated community so I can actually converse with the attendant.

There is one other small drawback. The first few days, the plug was a bit snug fitting into the iPhone. I had to press it quite firmly to get it plugged in correctly. It seems to have loosened up a bit, though, but it was disconcerting at first.

Overall, I recommend these headphones for iPhone users. They're a great balance between price, quality, and usability.