On first appearance, the ‘Hooky Ear Phones’ did not seem like my cup of tea at all. All white, with big ear pieces and a ‘z’ in the brand name – Urbanz. However on research they do come in other colours. I wasn’t sure what market they are trying to hit with these ear phones, but given the cheap price (sold at under £15) and the trendy packaging design, probably early teens.

I was even less impressed when it took me over ten minutes and a fight with scissors and plastic to get the ear phones out of the packaging… and it turns out my girlfriend broke her ‘Hookies’ trying to release them from the plastic prison they are encased in.
[Ed’s Note – the first pair were indeed broken in the process of trying to remove them from the packaging and were replaced by the reviewers. Whilst this is peripheral to the product itself, it is nonetheless a point for both Urbanz and consumers to be aware of]

However I persevered and plugged them into my mp3 player. I can be quite specific in my expectations of ear phones and a few things are important to me –

1. Do they fit in my ear and stay in, comfortably?
2. Can I hear what I want to at a decent volume?
3. Do they make me look like a space alien?
4. Do they let everyone else hear the delights of my mp3 and podcast collection on the way to work as well?
5. And a cheeky 5, do they help me block out the noise of everyone else on the way to work?

My current headphones meet my expectations well but they were more than double the price of the Hookies and on the verge of needing replacing so I was happy to give another pair a go.

I found the hook a little difficult to negotiate first time – working out which piece when on which ear, and which way round it’s supposed to hook. But once you’ve figured it out I would imagine you’d remember. I have small ears though, and even on the small setting (they are adjustable!) they were a bit loose. Still the ear phones themselves fitted very comfortably in my ear.

The audio quality was surprisingly high – better than my current set and very crisp. However the downside, and this may be to do with how comfortably it sits in the ear, there is no noise exclusion - I could still hear those annoying commuters, and on testing, once the volume reached about ¾ full you could hear noise coming out from the ear phones.

I think for the price they are decent value for the sound quality, and great if you are going to be wearing them on the move, eg at the gym or on a run as they will hold themselves in place very well. But they are not ideal if you are going to use them whilst commuting or on public transport as you have to turn up the volume to hear over background noise and in doing so you will be sharing your music collection with everyone else.

Available from www.urbanz.co.uk for £12.99 in white, red & black