By now, I’m convinced any pair of headphones cable manufactured by Apple is purposely design to break or fall apart after some determined amount of time. It’s a pity to have such good quality products with such poor quality accessories. 

Do you own an iPod? iPhone? Does your USB cable start peeling off from both ends? How about your earbuds?

On my way back from SXSW Interactive last week, I came to realize my iPhone headphones had stopped working —full stop. Not the most pleasant feeling to have mid-air when you just want to sit back and relax listening to M83.

On our stop in Houston (TX), I decided to look for a pair of iPhone-friendly headphones anywhere I could, and I found a great looking pair by none other than Creative: the EP-630i.

(something you should know about me is that I am, always have and most likely always be a massive fan of Creative for anything sound-related.)

I decided to buy these almost blindly (because they are made by Creative), despite the fact that they were in-ear headphones: something my ear anatomy has never really allowed for.

To my placid surprise, these headphones sound and feel great! They claim to be noise canceling and indeed they are, which is something I never really believed was possible with in-ear headphones.

As I mentioned before, the pre-requisite was to find “iPhone-friendly” headphones and these meet the one basic requirement: a microphone/button combo.

The EP-630i go a bit further. They may not be going with the minimalistic approach that Apple is know for (by having a “white block” that serves as microphone and a button if you squeeze it). Creative has included an actual button you can feel and press with confidence. Answering phone calls, pausing and skipping songs back and forth simply feels better with these headphones.

I constantly had one problem with my Apple earbuds: when wanting to skip a song, the “button” would stick and made the iPhone believe I was in fact pressing and holding the button, which resulted in Voice Control being activated far too often. The frustrating, interrupted experience I never thought possible with my iPhone had become a reality.

And the sound quality? indeed far superior than what the Apple earbuds can offer. Not even the U$80 in-ear Apple earbuds deliver the quality of sound Creative offers (and I know because I did buy Apple’s in-ear headphones. They were returned roughly 5 minutes after the transaction had taken place).

Simple, functional, comfortable and great-sounding headphones that work with any iPhone for U$49.99? Yes, please.

The only thing I don’t like about these headphones cannot be attributed to Creative, but to in-ear headphones in general: because they are noise-cancelling, listening to whoever I’m talking with on the phone sounds great, but once I start talking, I can hear myself uncomfortably loud. It feels weird: I don’t know if I’m talking loud enough and I’m simply not used to hearing my voice so close to my head (if that makes any sense).

Despite this, I highly recommend the EP-630i if you are looking for a non-bluetooth, iPhone-friendly pair of headphones as an alternative to the iconic-yet-poorly-built earbuds that came with your beloved iPhone.