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Being the cynic I am, on seeing Atomic Floyd's packaging boast that its HiDefDrum AcousticSteel earphones are "the pinnacle of world class acoustics" I couldn't help but feel a little driven to disagree. Such preconceptions may not be fair but, when innumerable emails a day (ones that aren't offering to sell me illicit hallucinogens or resize various body parts) claim whatever product they're touting to be the bees knees, cat's pyjamas and dogs… proverbials, a little scepticism is par for the course.

With the Atomic Floyd earphones, though, I was for once pleasantly surprised to have my preconceptions proved a misconception. Because, as it happens, the HiDefDrums aren't rubbish at all - far from it in fact.

Notably the HiDefDrums are not canal-phones, despite the fact that in-ear models seems to be the design of choice these days. Instead the 'phones twin driver arrangement consists of an inner nib which points into the canal handling mid and high end sounds and an outer bass port which, as the name suggests, deals with lower frequency audio.

Speaking of the HiDefDrums' construction, it has to be said that they really stand out given their £85 price point - although that's a blessing and a curse. The buds are built from some very sturdy stainless steel - or rather AcousticSteel which is presumably somehow better - there's a real feeling of quality that puts even my Shure SE420s to shame.

That construction extends to the 3.5mm jack and the in-line remote, which has both a button and a microphone built in, allowing it to not only control iPod touch or iPhone music playback, but also make and receive calls on the latter.

Sadly this ruggedness to the HiDefDrums' construction isn't entirely a good thing. After becoming used to the Klipsch Image X5 canal-phones over the last couple of months the bulk and weight of the HiDefDrums makes a stark contrast.

Having so much metal hanging on an earlobe definitely takes some getting used to. Once adjusted to though, the fit is secure and there's no discomfort.

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