Apple’s EarPods built for durability, but audio quality is questionable

The teardown experts at iFixit have given Apple's new $29 EarPods the typical autopsy treatment, declaring that "Apple had durability in mind" when designing the new headset. While the actual quality of the speakers remains up for debate, iFixit says Apple designed the EarPods to reduce strain on the wires and make them more resistant to water or sweat damage.

iFixit typically assigns a repairability rating to its product teardowns—you may remember the low repairability rating given to Apple's new Retina MacBook Pro. But this time around, the teardown team omitted a repairability rating for the EarPods because headphones in general are still typically seen as a throw-away item. "Repair is infeasible because sourcing parts is next to impossible, and it would be a tough sell to convince someone to take apart their EarPods—they're glued together, and will never be the same once taken apart," iFixit said via e-mail.

Still, the group noted that Apple removed its external microphone grate in order to improve the EarPods' resistance to water—a common problem for runners and other fitness geeks. (I have shorted out at least four different sets of Apple earbuds due to sweat). But when it comes to whether the EarPods live up to Apple's claim that they can perform on the same level as $100+ headphones, iFixit seems more reserved. "Call us skeptics if you'd like, but we're not sure how that could be accomplished with a single-driver setup," the group wrote.

I have been using Apple's new EarPods since the iPhone event last week. Up front: I am no audiophile. Still, I have to agree with the Wirecutter's assessment that while they do seem better than Apple's old earbuds, I wouldn't necessarily go out and drop $30 on a new pair. (EarPods will come with all new iPods or iPhones automatically, though). I have a pair of $10 earbuds with a mic for phone calls that I bought from Target, which appear to provide me roughly the same level of audio performance, so I'm not itching to replace every earbud set I own with EarPods.

Do any of you have EarPods now with observations to share? Let us know in the comments.