Audio Technica ATH-CKF300

In-ear headphones come in different shapes and sizes today, while some of them look like enormous hearing aids. There have been companies working on reducing the sizes. While the CKF300 isn't the smallest in-ear headphone we've come across, nor is it the technological marvel of the UE 700, it's certainly one of the more eye-catching budget offerings on the market today.

Design And Features

The CKF300's globe-shaped housing comes in glossy finishes only, but offers eight different colors to choose from, with funky names like Peony, Anemone, Gerbera, Lotus, Blueberry, Clover la France and Mint. The size of the 'buds is slightly smaller than the 3.5mm plug.

Wires that trail from the bottom of the ear cups are designed in the traditional Y configuration. The CKF300 features only white cables for the entire color range. While the cables are flexible, they are a little short at 100cm, which may be a bit of a stretch for those who keep their music players in their pants pockets.

That said, the CKF300 is very light, and inserting the buds into the ears is easy, though taking them out proved to be a challenge for those with big digits as the small buds are quite difficult to get a grip on once they're fully inserted into the ear canals.

We were tempted to remove the in-ears by pulling on the cable. However, the cable leads directly into the ear buds with no form of protection to stop it from bending sharply. We had to resort to gradually digging the 'buds out.

Performance And Conclusion

The performance of these earbuds is commendable for the size. While it's not great with high notes, we heard a more neutral response with the midrange. The bass response was good despite lacking depth, and was punchy with most of our music collection, especially with the bass-heavy electro music. However, the sound staging was very boxed in.

All in, the CKF300 in-ear headphones are definitely a no-nonsense upgrade from stock earphones. Just be wary that earbud removal is difficult if you have thick digits or short fingernails. But for ladies, it probably wouldn't be that big a problem.