Creative Labs EP-630/A Earphones

My first impressions when using them were truly awful. No bass, tinny sound, worse than the headphones the MP3 came with AND the darn things kept falling out...........

THEN I figured out how to fit them properly......WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

I'm a bit of a sound nut but for the money these sound great AND they cut out a lot of the background noise such as car traffic when I'm walking the dog. Will be on a plane at the weekend for 10hrs so these should help with the noise there as well.

How do you fit them.

Well first of all try the various sizes of rubber earbuds until you find the right size for your ear. It took me several goes.

When fitting try the following;

Take your left hand over your head to grab top of your right ear with the left hand's fingers.

Pull the top of right ear up to open up your ear canal

Put your ear phone in while you hold up your ear as above.

While you hold in the ear phone, let go the ear held by left fingers.

Keep pressing the earphone in place with your right hand for a few seconds to let everything settle down as this help the ear "grip" the earphone bud and hold it in place

Do the same thing for the other side .... just use the right hand over the head instead..

If its a good fit you can tell as if you tap the earphone (gently) it feels as if the noise is inside your head. You need to get a good seal to give the right sound with decent bass.

I thought I was fairly intelligent but it took a search on the internet to find these instructions (they're not mine then). Now fitted correctly I'm very impressed.

Would I buy these again......you bet. Highly recommended


EP-630 Earphones. The best for the money   December 29, 2005
68 out of 69 found this review helpful

I've tried a lot of headphones over the years being a pro musician, but these have 3 major plus points:
1). They have excellent freq response - deep bass, clear treble, a very good overall sound.
2). They keep out much of the noise going on around you. This isn't total isolation (for that you are going to need something like the Shure E2c, or Etymotic ER6 and the price that goes with them!). This has the huge hearing health benefit of enabling you to turn the volume of your player right down because you are not fighting with other sounds. Better for the ears (and those around you who don't want to hear your music).
3). The price. Other models from top brands like Sony, Phillips, Senheiser etc. in my opinion are not as good - yet they cost more.

Down side? In my view they are somewhat delicate compared to 'closed shell' plastic models. So don't expect to stuff them in the bottom of your bag and not to damage them eventually. It would have been good for Creative to supply a little case to avoid this.


You won't believe how good they are   April 10, 2006
54 out of 55 found this review helpful

Before trying these ... I've loved (I mean really LOVED) the Sony MDR-EX71SL headphones. Same earbud design, with the rubber caps ... and oh wow, the sound was fantastic. Very odd thing about the Sony's though is that the cable is just way too short for anything but a top shirt pocket. Or the extention made them way too long, an extra metre or so, too long. And the cable was flimsy (mentioned by nearly everyone who owned them).

The creative headphones are designed better, and cost 5 less (always seems the way with Sony). Perfect length cable for pocket or bag, nice weight, very comfortble to wear. Cable feels stronger too.

I got fed up with Sony's ridiculously sized cable, but really loved the sound (actually I'm convinced that phones at 5 x the price of these wouldn't sound better). I spent a long time testing these headphones, comparing them with the Sony's, and honestly couldn't tell the difference in sound. I really listend for it, absolutely sure that there must be something. But no. Excellent bass, deep, strong, rich (etc). Very clear trebles, and everything in between.

The best sound is achieved by choosing the right sized cups for you. You get 3 sizes, and once you have the right one, you'll know. It might take a little while to get used to it feeling as though you have your fingers in your ears, and being able to hear everything internally, like breathing and walking, and zipping up your jacket ... but it tunes out after just a little while, and you never really notice it again. I sometimes put them in my ears with no music on just so I don't have to hear people's inane mobile phone conversations. It's wonderful, and makes your train journey calmer, and more relaxing, just for that.

Highly recommended over the Sony's, over any others in fact. The tech specifications are identical, the quality is absolutely excellent, the price is ... shocking! I used to recommend the Sony's, but now I recommend these to everyone I know now.

Get 'em - you'll love 'em.


A commuting pariah no longer   October 28, 2005
Mark (Brighton, sussex United Kingdom)
39 out of 41 found this review helpful

Absolutely perfect for the train. These earphones have made my daily commute a joy. No longer do I get glowered at for playing music, and no longer does my music get spoiled by annoying things like noisy eaters, people talking and other people's "personal stereos". Great sound quality with excellent bass. Battery is lasting longer on my mp3 player because I don't need to have it so loud any more. They make it possible to listen to quiet music if you should feel the need.
Take some getting used to at first, essentially like walking around with your fingers in your ears. Bodily sound are amplified (DO NOT EAT CRISPS WITH THESE EARPHONES IN!) and the sounds of everyday life abolished (e.g. approaching cars, railway announcements). They don't fall out as often as I'd expected, but i think jogging with them would be difficult (and noisy).
For what I use them for these are the perfect earphones


Better than the Sony EX-71   November 28, 2005
30 out of 31 found this review helpful

I've had two pairs of Sony EX-71 both of which developed identical faults (lost sound to one earphone due to faulty connection in the cable). I decided that after two pairs developing the same fault, it was a design flaw with that product and I wouldn't buy again.

That said the passive noise reduction and sound quality the Sony EX-71 earphones offer is excellent for commuting (I'm on the tube for 2 hours every working day). After looking at alternatives for a while I noticed the Creative EP-630 earphones and given that they were only £20, took the risk and bought them straight away.

So far, I've found these earphones surprisingly good. They are as comfy as the Sony headphones (which is not surprising since the ear buds seem to be identical). I think audiophiles are dopes, but I can say that I *believe* the sound quality is pretty good from these headphones. I get sufficient bass and there isn't too much screechy treble like you sometimes get with cheaper earphones. In fact, I might even say that the sounds quality is better than the Sony's, since with the Creatives I can actually hear the very quiet digital distortion that I know some of my CD rips have got (from ripping from some specific copy protected CDs).

All this said, I haven't had these long enough to be sure they won't develop similar faults to the Sony's, but at first glance the earphones themselves seem to be of better build quality (nice little grills rather than Sony's wax prone single little holes) and the cable quality seems fine.

One final point, these earphones come with a full length cable and not a short cable with additional cable extender like the Sony EX-71 earphones do. This isn't a problem for me as I don't have an inline remote for my player, but might put some people off as there can be a lot of spare cable to deal with if you do.

All in all a nice little pair of earphones for commuting, and comfortable enough to use for several hours in the office too.