Sound Quality
The first song that was played was “Ulaid” by E.S. Posthumus. Ulaid was released with E.S. Posthumus’ first album entitled “Unearthed”, back in 2001. This independent music group’s genre is orchestral with a cinematic style. Ulaid has a celtic tone due to its usage of bagpipes. The track has rhythmic high and lows and an overall ambient feel. Although ARCTIC COOLING gives the Arctic Sound E352 a score of 7/10 in terms of highs, I did feel that these earphones fared much better. Indeed, sound quality was exceptional.
The second song that was played was “M.A.D” by Hadouken!. The song was recently released on the band’s second album entitled “For the Masses”. It has a very heavy usage of bass that can easily mask the highs in the song. Nevertheless, the Arctic Cooling E352 kept a good balance between the highs and bass, and the clarity was top notch.
The third and final song, or piece, that was played was Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major composed by Chopin. The version of this piece that I had was from the soundtrack of The Pianist. Like most classical music, every note contributes to the overall enjoyment of the music, and clarity is a must. Again, the E352 was very good in this aspect.
General usage
Unfortunately, like most in-ear headphones, the cable and the chassis can easily conduct sound from tapping and nudging. This problem was quite annoying when I used the Arctic Cooling E352 for jogging, much more than the Arctic Sound E361-WM. I suspect that the E352’s larger chassis made noise transmission from tapping much easier. Such a problem was also noticed when I wore a shirt with a neck zipper; whenever I would shift around in my seat, the earphones’ cable would rub against the zipper, making a “brrr” noise. No doubt, this is why I still prefer my Grado iGrade, behind-the-ear headphones, for my physical activities.
Overall, the Arctic Sound E352’s sound quality matches the Arctic Sound E361-WM. Compared to Creative Labs EP-630 and Grado iGrado, the Arctic Sound E352 packed a lot of bass without sacrificing clarity. I’ve always thought that only full-sized headphones could deliver in such aspect.
Comparing the Arctic Sound E352 and the Arctic Sound E361-WM was quite difficult. The two excelled in sound quality and differentiating one from the other was not obvious for my ears. I can say, however, that the Arctic Sound E352 was softer in the sense that bass was not as strong as the E361-WM. If this makes the sound “warm and natural”, then ARCTIC COOLING was right when it described its product. Nevertheless, being more expensive than the E361-WM and lacking a microphone, the Arctic Cooling E352 seems to pack less value for the average user.
The Arctic Sound E352 with the Samsung YP-K3
Comfort
The Arctic Sound E352 come with very soft silicone caps that fit snugly into your ears. Given the fact that it comes with three different pairs of silicone caps, you can pick the size that will fit your ear canal the most. In my situation, the medium-sized ones fitted well in my right ear whereas the small-sized ones were a better fit for my left ear. You might say that my ear canals are peculiar, and you are right to say so, but at least ARCTIC COOLING thought about my ear canals by including the extra silicone caps!
Although the earphones themselves are quite large, they fit into my ear quite well. The back of the earphones were easily tucked behind (anterior) the anti-tragus, the small cartilage projection in front of the ear canal and above the ear lobe. This gave the earphones a very tight, but comfortable fit. As such, while jogging, the headphones did not fall out of my ears. After using these headphones for a continuous 3 hours, my ear canals did not feel sore or humid. In other words, these ARCTIC COOLING earphones excelled in comfort.
The first song that was played was “Ulaid” by E.S. Posthumus. Ulaid was released with E.S. Posthumus’ first album entitled “Unearthed”, back in 2001. This independent music group’s genre is orchestral with a cinematic style. Ulaid has a celtic tone due to its usage of bagpipes. The track has rhythmic high and lows and an overall ambient feel. Although ARCTIC COOLING gives the Arctic Sound E352 a score of 7/10 in terms of highs, I did feel that these earphones fared much better. Indeed, sound quality was exceptional.
The second song that was played was “M.A.D” by Hadouken!. The song was recently released on the band’s second album entitled “For the Masses”. It has a very heavy usage of bass that can easily mask the highs in the song. Nevertheless, the Arctic Cooling E352 kept a good balance between the highs and bass, and the clarity was top notch.
The third and final song, or piece, that was played was Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major composed by Chopin. The version of this piece that I had was from the soundtrack of The Pianist. Like most classical music, every note contributes to the overall enjoyment of the music, and clarity is a must. Again, the E352 was very good in this aspect.
General usage
Unfortunately, like most in-ear headphones, the cable and the chassis can easily conduct sound from tapping and nudging. This problem was quite annoying when I used the Arctic Cooling E352 for jogging, much more than the Arctic Sound E361-WM. I suspect that the E352’s larger chassis made noise transmission from tapping much easier. Such a problem was also noticed when I wore a shirt with a neck zipper; whenever I would shift around in my seat, the earphones’ cable would rub against the zipper, making a “brrr” noise. No doubt, this is why I still prefer my Grado iGrade, behind-the-ear headphones, for my physical activities.
Overall, the Arctic Sound E352’s sound quality matches the Arctic Sound E361-WM. Compared to Creative Labs EP-630 and Grado iGrado, the Arctic Sound E352 packed a lot of bass without sacrificing clarity. I’ve always thought that only full-sized headphones could deliver in such aspect.
Comparing the Arctic Sound E352 and the Arctic Sound E361-WM was quite difficult. The two excelled in sound quality and differentiating one from the other was not obvious for my ears. I can say, however, that the Arctic Sound E352 was softer in the sense that bass was not as strong as the E361-WM. If this makes the sound “warm and natural”, then ARCTIC COOLING was right when it described its product. Nevertheless, being more expensive than the E361-WM and lacking a microphone, the Arctic Cooling E352 seems to pack less value for the average user.
The Arctic Sound E352 with the Samsung YP-K3
Comfort
The Arctic Sound E352 come with very soft silicone caps that fit snugly into your ears. Given the fact that it comes with three different pairs of silicone caps, you can pick the size that will fit your ear canal the most. In my situation, the medium-sized ones fitted well in my right ear whereas the small-sized ones were a better fit for my left ear. You might say that my ear canals are peculiar, and you are right to say so, but at least ARCTIC COOLING thought about my ear canals by including the extra silicone caps!
Although the earphones themselves are quite large, they fit into my ear quite well. The back of the earphones were easily tucked behind (anterior) the anti-tragus, the small cartilage projection in front of the ear canal and above the ear lobe. This gave the earphones a very tight, but comfortable fit. As such, while jogging, the headphones did not fall out of my ears. After using these headphones for a continuous 3 hours, my ear canals did not feel sore or humid. In other words, these ARCTIC COOLING earphones excelled in comfort.
