Juicy Electronics Scented Juice Box Earphones Review

Posted on March 13th, 2012. Written by Kiven.

We got our hands on Juicy Electronics Scented Juice Box Earphones which , on paper, is perfect for audiophiles that want something that looks – and in this case, SMELLS – different. We tested it and was it worth it?

Aesthetics, build and accessories
Bored with your gray-and-white iPod earphones? Try the Juicy IEMs for a bright splash of color on your generic white earbuds. Depending on the variant (er, flavor) this IEMs comes in just about every shade of the rainbow. The review unit is green and has (you guessed it) an apple scent.

The review unit is generally white with the flavor-appropriate color on the 3.5mm straigt-angle plug, cable split, microphone-remote combo (if any, some models have them but the review unit does not), and earbuds themselves.

The earbuds are 9mm dynamic drivers enclosed in a droplet-shaped shell with the Juicy script logo printed on the outer side. At first glance I thought it was to be worn over-the-ear style but that would invert the logo. The earbuds have no rubber strain relief; this might shorten the life of the IEMs’s cables so users might need to be a little more gentle on this one.

The Y-configured cable is of a stiff plastic-y feeling and tangle-prone material. This is something that you won’t just toss in the bag unless you like to untangle stuff. It also feels as if the cable is liable to suffer from memory effect if you store it folded; a case whenre you can roll this in for easy storage and deployment would be recommended.

The Juicy comes with small, medium and large silicone ear plugs so one can just find which fits best.

Sound characteristics and quality
The Juicy IEMs sounds… interesting. It’s rather bright, with the highs sounding more forward than everything else. Snares, cymbals and other high tones are very prominent. However, the bass feels slightly boosted and in front of the mids, resulting in a slight muddling of the sound during bass-heavy portions. The mids are recessed compared to both highs and lows.

What does that mean? Given a standard IEM (Soundmagic’s old-yet-highly regarded PL30) and a certain track (in this case, Fuseboxx’s “Pagbalik”),

The guitar isn’t as prominent unless it’s doing the solo. The vocals also tend to blend in if the vocalist is an alto/baritone. The piano and electronica at the intro and in between verses sound bright while the growl of Abby Clutario’s Chapman stick tends to match the guitar’s. The crash of the cymbals and the snare are more prominent through the entire song.

The sound stage is average; one can easily differentiate the instruments if the track is mixed properly. Using lossless formats help too. To give you an idea on how the Juicy sounds like, set the equalizer of your favorite PC media player to ‘full treble and bass’ and listen to music using neutral-enough head- or ear- phones.

Final Word
The Juicy can handle complex musical passages and layered vocals easily (e.g. musicals) but there’s the issue of artificial boosting. If you lean toward clean tones, the Juicy might not work for you. In the end it’s a matter of taste and preference; I can’t say the Juicy sounds bad (it sounds good actually) but I prefer the PL30′s tone. The lack of strain reliefs might also be a cause for concern. If you’re quite harsh on your earphones (e.g. tugging at the cables to remove from the ears) this might break sooner than expected. However, if you like the sound signature and is even slightly fastidious when it comes to your electronics, you will listen to the Juicy long after you stop sniffing the delicious flavor it came with.

You can purchase the Juicy scented IEM earphones at the following stores:
Beyond The Box
Digital Hub
Digital Walker
iStudio
Bratpack
Hobbes And Landes
Technoholics
iGig
Gadgets In Style

The Juicy Box Grape, Apple and Blueberry costs Php950 while the Juicy Box Remote+Mic Strawberry, Banana and Cherry costs Php 1200.

Thanks to Marcus Alianza for helping out with this review!