With my family in Austin, and my work in the San Francisco Bay Area, I both travel a lot, and spend a lot of time on my own.  As a result, I listen to music, podcasts, audio books, and watch a lot of movies and TV on my iPhone (and soon, hopefully, an iPad).

As such–and because I simply can’t stand ear buds–I’m pretty much constantly on the search for some decent headphones.  iFrogz, makers of cases and headphones (and ear buds) for iPods and iPhones, among other things, obviously felt I was suffering, and so into this mix they tossed me a pair of their new Comfort Series headphones, the CS40 (in black, because I’m, ya know, a guy.)  What did I think about them?  Read on!

As is usual for most products these days, the iFrogz CS40s come in an impenetrable plastic package:

Some companies make these packages so you only need to pry them apart; alas, iFrogz is not one of those, and I had to attack them with a big kitchen knife to get my new headphones out.

But, you know, like I said, it’s a problem for everyone these days.

Anyway.

The CS40s are over-the-ear headphones, in my case, black.  Straightforward headphones–no fancy gadgets or gizmos, no low-range boost or bass lifter, no noise-reduction, just headphones.  Which, frankly, suits me fine.  Like most over-the-ear headphones, they fold up for easy transport.

(Sorry it’s a bit blurry.)

They don’t come with a case or a velvet sack or anything like that, but again, I didn’t mind, especially given the reasonable cost.

Comfort-wise, I found them to be really good for over-the-ear headphones.  The headband isn’t padded, but is lined with rubber, and is reasonably comfortable.  Size-wise, at first I thought it was a little small–my head is 7 1/8–but once on, they fit just right.  And because they’re not gussied up with a lot of those other gizmos some headphones have, they’re actually reasonably light.

Often I find that, with over-the-ear headphones, you’re head starts to sweat after a while.  With my Panasonic noise-reduction headphones, for example, unless I’m sitting directly in an air-flow, I end up with sweaty hair after an hour or so.  Not with the CS40s; they were light enough that my hair was mussed, but not all, you know, yucky.

But the main thing that makes the CS40s correct in the “comfort” part of their handle is the earphone padding itself.  It’s soft, with some give, and feels quite nice over your ear.

Like I said:  no sweat or over-heated head.  Comfortable.

Soundwise, these are pretty standard.  They don’t have a boost for the low range, but in my experience, you can’t tell so much unless you’re a hardcore audiophile.  I found the high-range to be okay–it wasn’t chopped off, like it can be with a lot of headphones.  (When I engage the noise-reducers on some headphones, I find you can barely hear the highs.)  Nothing to write home about, but certainly not awful, either.  “Solid” is probably the best word.

The only thing about these headphones that bugs me are the wires.  Instead of coming straight out the bottom, they kinda poke out the middle of the back of the ear pieces.  For some reason, this really kind of bugged me–I can’t say why; it just did.  But other than that, I really quite liked them.

So overall, considering the price, comfort, and the choice of either YO BRIGHT! or guy-flat-black colors, I definitely recommend them.  I’m thinking about getting the pink ones for my daughter, in fact–she likes All Things Pink.

What I like:  weight, comfort, price
What needs improvement:  location of wires
MSRP:  $39.99