Phiaton PS200 Headphones Review - Tour & Design

	Tour & Design
• Unique aesthetic, although overall they aren't particularly attractive. • Some durability issues with the plug, but are otherwise of average durability.
	Introduction	Page 2 of 12	Sound Quality

Tour

The Phiaton PS200s are a basic set of in-ears. Since they don't do anything vastly different with the cord and plug, let's start by looking at their ear buds, sans sleeves.

As you can see, other than the gumdrop shape to the ear bud, these headphones look about average. The nozzles are a bit open, which will be a pain to clean if something gets in there.

Below you can see the PS200s' main design flourish, the fan blade.

The PS200s are symmetrical headphones, meaning that the left and right cables are of an even length. If you held up the headphones, they'd look like an upper-case Y. By contrast, asymmetrical headphones typically have a much shorter cord leading up to the left ear bud and a longer one leading to the right ear bud, so they hang off to the left side and sling around the neck to the right.

The left and right sides converge at a neck split with an adjustable slider.

If you use the neck split, then rest assured: the PS200
has a neck split just for you.

After the split, the cord continues down to a standard 1/8-inch plug.

For more on this plug, read the durability section below.

Below you can see the PS200s on HATS. Try to picture your handsome/pretty face on HATS's ugly mug and, through the power of imagination, you'll have a pretty good idea of how these headphones will look on you.

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In The Box

Inside the PS200s fancy-looking box you'll find the headphones, a posh carrying case, and two different sizes of sleeves (making 3 sizes total).

Durability     (4.40)

The Phiaton PS200 headphones have the same durability issue as a lot of headphones we've reviewed: a fragile plug. These headphones are about on par with the Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote and Mic in terms of their horrible plug design. When you pick up headphones, try to get a plug that's bent at a 90º angle with a good cord guard. The plug is one of the biggest stress points on your headphones. If your headphones, much like the average videogame villain, fail to adequately protect their weak spot, we recommend wrapping the area in electrical tape as a precautionary measure. Sure, it will likely cheapen the overall aesthetic, but it will increase the longevity of your headphones.

As mentioned in many other reviews, this plug is a poor design.

Other than the plug issue, which is one of the most common problems we see on in-ear headphones, the only other real issue we saw was with the PS200s' nozzles. If you look at the below picture, you'll notice there're open to the air for the most part. This is bad, because it makes them far more vulnerable to accruing grossness and grime and is also annoyingly difficult to clean out.

Overall, the PS200s seem slightly less durable than average. They suffer from many of the common poor design choices in headphones, but aren't remarkable in their mediocre durability.

Aesthetics     (4.50)

The PS200s have a fan blade design that's reminiscent of jet engines. We just reviewed the Turbines a while back, which seem to have followed this theme suspiciously closely. Overall, however, we weren't really "fans" (this is the best pun ever) of the PS200s aesthetic. They have a unique look, which is refreshing, but the design on the back almost look like a bike wheel, as sometimes the shadowing makes the ridges there look like spokes. This being said, we're so used to boring designs that our inner, subjective, in-ear aesthetics scale only spans from, "I don't really like the way this looks," to "I guess this looks kinda cool." Our vague sense of dislike at the PS200s' design is made much less palpable by the sheer presence of an innovation.

Of course, aesthetics is entirely subjective. As we advise in every review, take all opinions (especially those found on the internet) with the grain of salt they deserve. Check out the PS200s in person and maybe try them on in front of a mirror if you're especially concerned about their look.