Phiaton PS200

Design

The Apple In-ear headphones have the better design. The Phiaton PS200s suffer from the same bad plug, but they don’t have the cord guard issue they simply don’t look as good as the Apple In-ears. Sure, the Apple In-ears have somewhat worn out their aesthetic novelty, but they still have a better overall aesthetic.

Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Frequency Response

The two headphones have pretty much equivalent frequency responses. They both have decent bass, weaker mid-range tones, and a screwy high-end. The PS200s result was slighty better than average, while the Apple headphones were slightly worse than average. On this one, the PS200s come out in the lead slightly.

Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Distortion

The Apple In-ears had less overall distortion. Even with the noise towards the high end (that little plateau towards the right in their graph), they still have much less overall distortion. The only time the PS200s have a leg-up in this situation is if you like listening to quiet or a capella music, where the Apple In-ear’s noise will likely be more apparent than the PS200s evenly-spread distortion.

Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Tracking

If you couldn’t guess by looking at the graphs, the Apple In-ears have a much better tracking.

Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Isolation

The Apple In-ears actually take home the gold here, although it might not be 100% apparent from looking at the graphs. If you’ll notice on the low end, the Apple In-ears have a giant bump while the PS200s maintains a low overall isolation level. Also, towards the high end the PS200s have a bit of a divot while the Apple In-ears are more well-rounded. For isolating either bass or higher-end sounds, the Apple In-ears are better headphones.

Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Comfort

This section is a bit of a toss-up. If you plan on moving around, the Apple In-ears will fall out less. If you’re sitting down, however, the PS200s will fall out less. If you wear them under your jacket/shirt/blouse/torso covering, the friction between the fabric and the cord will be enough to pull the PS200s out of place constantly. The Apple In-ears will still fall out, just not as much. When sitting, the PS200s will stay in, while the Apple In-ears will gradually fall out all on their own.

Wear
Phiaton PS200	Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic

Verdict

These two headphones are actually very comparable, providing you aren’t necessarily looking for a remote and mic. The PS200s had slightly better frequency response, the Apple headphones had slightly less overall distortion: in the end, the PS200s have slightly better audio quality.

The main deciding factors in this match-up will be your personal preference and price. Personal preference we really can’t touch upon since we have no idea who you are (aside from whatever our traffic analytics software tells us). If you’re looking for a deal, the Apple headphones are a better choice. We think the Apple In-ears might be more suitable for commuters, while the PS200s are a better set of office headphones.