iFrogz, probably better known for their iPhone and iPod cases than their audio equipment, has come out with a pretty damn fine set of earphones with the Timbre Pro.

In terms of design, they look great. The chamber is made out of a nice, whiskey-colored wood (walnut, I know, I just like writing whiskey), which also helps give the earphones better resonance. The chamber is sandwiched between thin, chrome accents. That assembly in turn is sandwiched between a sturdy black rubber connector and black ear nubbies.

The cable — strangely my favorite part of the package — is woven grey and black nylon. It looks and feels wonderful. And it helps keep the wires from getting tangled. If they do (inevitably, because it just happens sometimes), the nylon weaving makes it a comparable cinch to untangle. Excellent.

The Timbre Pros are all about lows and highs.

The bass booms. Heavy metal (like the badass new Anthrax album) really thumps in a pleasant way. And dubstep like Skrillex sounds superb thanks to the low-end punch. These phones also manage to maintain audio fidelity at high and low volumes. There’s no degradation in quality.

The high-end fares similarly well, with guitar solos and cymbal crashes coming through clean and clear, even at high volumes, and even with all that bass rumbling around in your brain. The frequencies that the phones reach are solid.

So, again, excellent on the lows and highs.

Where the Timbre Pros stumble, though, is the mid-range. It’s just kind of … meh. Mids are easily lost amidst the crazy lows and highs (which are the Timbre’s obvious strong point and selling point). At least, follow me here, the mid-mids and low-mids are easily lost. The high-mids are dealt with better. I don’t think this is a deal-breaker by any stretch, because, other than audiophiles, I am not sure precisely who is going to notice.

The Timbre Pros also come with an in-line mic, which functions well and has a very nice clarity to it. It’s stuck unobtrusively along the left branch of that nice woven cable.

Speaking of which, I mentioned that I loved the tangle-free nature of the woven cable. And I do. But this is something of a double-edged sword as the cable picks up far more interference than some others. You won’t necessarily hear that slight ripping-of-fabric noise if they rub against your shirt. But if the cable hits a zipper or button, you’ll definitely notice.

The Timbre Pros are very good headphones with a smart design and great sound. Especially for $50. Their flaws are, I think, pretty easily overlooked considering the price point. And I’m comfortable giving them four out of five stars.

Go here to buy from iFrogz.

Specs:

Driver Unit:10 mm

Impedance:16 ohms

Sensitivity:103 dB

Frequency Response:20 Hz – 20 kHz

Cord Length:1.1 m

Plug:3.5 mm