Incipio f38 review: Budget headphones with good sound

Incipio Technologies is known for its iPhone and iPad cases, not headphones. But hey, everybody's getting into the headphone game these days, so why not Incipio?

7.0

Incipio f38

$35 at Walmart

The Good

The affordable <b>Incipio f38</b> over-the-ear headphones feature an attractive, retro design, decent build quality, and a relatively comfortable fit, and they sound good for their modest price.

The Bad

The f38s don't fold up or flat, and there's no inline remote/microphone for making cell phone calls.

The Bottom Line

While they may not be truly special for their modest price, the Incipio f38s are solid, good-sounding headphones for the money.

Not surprisingly, its f38 over-the-ear headphones, which can be had online for as little as $30, are based on the design for an existing headphone model, in this case the $70 Fischer FA-004 (this design is also used for other headphones). Since I haven't reviewed the Fischers, I can't tell you whether the two models sound identical. But what I can tell you is that the f38s deliver decent sound for slightly less than half the price of the FA-004s. I also thought they were relatively comfortable.

Design and features
The f38s have a retro look because they're based on a retro design. They seem sturdy enough, with a thicker than average cord, but they're mostly plastic except for the steel wire tracks that the earcups slide up and down on. The headband is padded well enough and covered in faux leather that looks and feels very much like faux leather. The headphones don't look cheap, though they also don't look like they cost more than $50. They come in multiple colors -- I thought the Espresso version, model no. NX-104, looked the classiest.

The headphones felt pretty comfortable on my head, and for over-the-ear headphones, they're relatively compact. The earcups aren't particularly plush -- they, too, have very much a faux leather feel to them -- but they offer decent padding. The earcups themselves aren't all that big, so folks with larger ears might find that the pads sit a little on their ears instead of around them, but they fit my medium-sized ears fine.

Alas, the headphones don't fold up or fold flat.

As far as extras go, you don't get much. There's no inline remote/microphone for making cell phone calls. And the carrying "case" is just a thin cloth pouch that doesn't serve much purpose other than to cover the headphones and keep them from getting scratched up if you stow them in a bag with other objects.

Performance
For $30 headphones, I thought the f38s sounded quite decent, though they fall just short of being special for their price level. They offer a good amount of clarity and bass, though they're a little aggressive-sounding and a bit pushy in the midrange. I compared them with Panasonic's RP-HTX7 headphones, another budget-priced over-the-ear pair that also retails online for around $30. I thought the Panasonics were a little fuller-sounding and slightly more detailed, which is why they're rated at four stars. That said, the f38s performed well with a variety of music. They're fairly dynamic and have some punch to them, they're just not the smoothest, cleanest-sounding headphones. That's not surprising, considering their price point.

Conclusion
I'm always on the lookout for headphones that give decent value and the Incipio f38s certainly fit the bill. For $30 headphones they offer quite respectable sound, and I think the majority of people who put them on will be impressed by their comfort level and build quality. Overall, as far as sound quality goes, the f38s aren't quite as good as the Panasonic RP-HTX7s. I also thought the $13 JVC Flats offer about the same sound quality in a more compact package. However, the f38s are more durable.

While they may not be the steal the JVC Flats are, the f38s are very solid headphones for the money and will be going on our list of best headphones for less than $50.