Announced at Oculus Connect 3 and launching alongside Touch, the Oculus Earphones were touted as a noise-isolating, more immersive alternative to the standard headphones. After days of using and testing the Earphones, I’ve been able to judge how good they really are (spoiler: very). Oculus announced the Earphones last month as a replacement for the headphones that ship with with the headset in the box. The sensibly priced $49 pair is available for pre-order now from Amazon and the Oculus Store, and ships on December 6th. Summary First, the quick rundown, and then we’ll get into more details as well as a comparison with a much pricier pair of in-ear monitors (IEMs) further below. Remember, too, that these are subjective impressions, which is important because everyone physiologically hears sound differently to some degree. Pros The Oculus earphones are noise-isolating, which leads to not only less distractions from the real world, but an easier time hearing the ambient noises from VR content that you may have never been able to hear before, an important factor in immersion. Balanced sound signature comparable to the standard headphones, but at an even higher quality. No pressure on the ear lobe (this is if you have a problem with the comfort of the standard headphones). Easy to install. Great value for the price. Cons People in your vicinity can have a harder time communicating to you while you’re effectively blind and deaf to them. Pressure in the ear canal (this is for people who generally dislike the feeling of IEMs or earbuds in their ears). More annoying to switch out if you let other people use your headset often. Slightly longer 'setup' time to use the headset compared to the headphones. Can’t be used on their own, since they have a unique connection to the Rift headset. The improvements in sound quality and noise-isolation far outweighed any of the negatives for me, and at $49, these Earphones are a steal. Installation Getting the Earphones onto the Rift is simple. In Rift box, Oculus provided a small plastic rod that tapers down to the shape of a flat head screwdriver. This is used to unscrew the existing headphones from the headset. If you threw this piece out not knowing what it was, Oculus handily included another one with the Earphones (you could also use a screwdriver or coin, but risk scratches). Ones the headphones are unscrewed, put the Earphones in place and tighten using the same tool. The Earphones are labeled L and R, and their design also implies which side of the headset they should be on. The audio contacts align automatically when you have the Earphones installed correctly, and now you're ready to listen. Comfort It was pretty easy to find the optimal placement for the earphones so that they feel good and create a seal with the ear. An improper seal often results in less bass, and less noise-isolation, so getting it right is important. For me, the medium tips fit well, but so did the large and the small. I could also switch out for other brands of tips, including Comply (model T400 and T500), Spinfit (CP100), and Meelectronics (single/double flanged), which I’ve tested and confirmed to work. The Comply tips were the most comfortable, but I still preferred the stock eartips for the sound they produced. Sound Using VR applications, music, and sine wave generators, I’ve determined that these IEMs have a similarly balanced sound signature to the original Rift headphones, but extend and emphasize slightly better in the high and low frequencies, meaning that the sound of both rumble and sizzle, for example, were heightened, and just enough to make things sound better to my ears. Not at one time did I feel like any part of the frequency spectrum was overpowering the others. As a result, I noticed that sounds were more accurate to their position in 3D space, and music came out more clear, more impactful, and with better texture. The differences weren’t a huge step up from the original headphones, but were noticeable. The bigger difference was that bass and treble frequencies were slightly boosted, with slightly better extension as well. In essence, the Earphones sound like a revision to the tuning they did on the original headphones, where the boosts help in different areas to make things sound even more natural in VR Continue Reading on Page 2 >> In-depth Frequency Response Lacking the equipment to do a measurement of the sonic characteristics, I’ve instead noted details on the frequency response by listening to sine sweeps. (No idea what frequency response is? Check out this primer). The original headphones have a very similar curve, but seem to be a little less smooth over the entirety, especially in the region from 3-12 kHz, where a small dip happens at 4 kHz, which then turns into a peak at 5.3 kHz. Usually, such a resonance in that frequency range above 5 kHz can lead to a relatively more “artificial” or “metallic” sound. However, it was a very small difference, and was hard to notice in normal use. In my tests with VR applications, I could certainly hear the difference between the Earphones and the standard Rift headphones. In the Oculus Dreamdeck experience for example, the dinosaur at the end roared with incredible rumble, but also with a very coarse air coming out of her throat that was much sharper. In addition, the positions of these sounds were more apparent and separable from each other, as I could more clearly tell the air in dinosaur’s throat apart from the roar. Something else I tried was closing my eyes, and just following the sound with my ears. On the standard headphones, I found that the sound from the dinosaur was harder to pinpoint as the breathing was more ambiguous and “smeared” across the left and right channels, meaning that the “imaging” characteristic was somewhat worse. Though the complete explanation is more complicated, these results make sense because humans sense the locations of sounds mostly through high frequencies, which these IEMs have improved on. On the last characteristic I’ll talk about, I found that the “soundstage”, or the ability to render sounds at distances is better than the standard headphones. The Earphones sounded a lot more natural to my ears in how they represented sound at equal distances. Before, for example, when you were looking directly at the fireplace in Oculus Home, the flames would sound more faint and distant, and when you turned to let it face your right or left ear, it would sound a lot closer. That wasn’t a problem on the Earphones. Not only that, but they were also able to present nearer sounds more accurately. In the miniature town part Oculus Dreamdeck, I could get so close to the paper airplane flying around that it felt like it should have been touching my head, while with the standard headphones, it was as if the sound source was just a bit shy of wanting to touch me, preferring to stay somewhat distant. Much of these differences actually have to do with the inherent properties of IEMs compared to headphones, but that’s beyond the scope of this review. Noise-isolation While I’ve harped on about sound quality, actually the more important thing I’ve noticed is that the Earphones block sound enough to let you clearly hear the subtle ambient noises present in many VR applications without distraction. If you have a humming PC or the sound of cars outside your apartment while doing VR, the real ambience can, without you consciously knowing it, distract from the feeling of actually being in the virtual world. I found that while using the Earphones, it was much easier to forget where I was in real life, and I could really hear subtle sounds I wasn’t easily able to before, like the echos of my footsteps while trekking through caves in FATED: The Silent Oath. This feature alone already makes these IEMs worth getting if you’re someone like me, who lives in a bustling house with other people. Effect of Tip Selection I found that the difference in sound between the packaged tips was imperceivable, while tips from different brands had a big impact. The Comply foam tips, while they were more comfortable and blocked more outside noise, somewhat muffled high frequencies. The Spinfit eartips made things sound a bit “tinny” or “artificial”. The Meelectronics actually didn’t change the sound too much. In the end, I still preferred the tips that shipped with the Earphones. Comparison to Ultra High-end ($1,300) IEMs When the Oculus Earphones were announced, the company claimed they compared favorably to $900 pair of IEMs. While they didn't specify exactly which, I'm fortunate to have a pair of JH Audio Roxanne Universals handy for comparison. These IEMs retailed for $1,300 and were critically acclaimed for having superb clarity and transparency in vocal detailing. In other words, they had really good midrange sound, and I’ve confirmed all of this from my own testing. However, even if the Roxannes perform well for what they were designed for (vocals), they don’t fit certain other tastes of music or use cases as well. It could be said that the technical capabilities of the Roxannes are beyond those of the Oculus Earphones, but the their tuning doesn’t work with VR as well. For VR, the frequency response should follow a balanced curve so that things are as accurate as to what you would hear in real life, and the Oculus Earphones achieve this. A balanced frequency response has a huge impact on almost all characteristics of sound perception, so it can not be underestimated. That’s why I’ve concluded that these Earphones sound (mostly) better than the Roxannes for use with VR. In almost all instances when dealing with audio that wasn’t mainly vocals, the Oculus Earphones represented sound with more accurate tonality, clarity, and spatial positioning. When I was listening to Let it Rain by Amanda Marshall, the Roxannes sounded slightly more congested and closed in with regards to the instrumental track, but truly did output the vocals with a feeling of tactility that was not present on the Oculus Earphones. When I examined the Roxannes’ frequency response with sine waves, I could perceive a very smooth curve across the whole range with really only one big peak at around 6-8 kHz that rose gently. On the other hand, the Oculus Earphones had a more bumpy and wild curve. They also had a bit of harmonic distortion, which wasn’t present on the Roxannes, though it was only noticeable with close listening of sine sweeps. Despite that, Oculus Earphones still sounded better for the majority of my time using them, and definitely had the upper hand when used for VR. Oculus probably pushed their transducers as far as they could with the budget they had, and the result is something that’s technically imperfect, but impressive in practical usage. So yes, to those who were skeptical of Oculus’ claims, it would seem to me that the Earphones can in fact compare favorably to $900 or more IEMs, even if not in every aspect necessarily. But speaking honestly, this doesn’t come as a surprise to me. It’s generally observed in the headphones industry that the more you pay, the less you get back in value per dollar. And with technology constantly improving, the returns keep diminishing, so it makes sense that this special case of IEM is partly able to compete at a much higher price point. Nevertheless, it is highly commendable that Oculus has achieved this level of proficiency. Disclosure: Oculus gave all attendees of their Connect developer conference, including this reviewer, a pair of Earphones.