Arctic Cooling aren't the first brand you'd think of when anyone asked you about audio gear - instead, you'd probably (rightly) think of their CPU and GPU heatsinks. However, when we were sent the first set of E361's in Australia and asked to review them, we decided to put them through their paces.
There's no local distributor lined up for the E361-WM yet, but a price of US$60.95 roughly translates into AUD$73 when you convert and throw in GST, so these are definitely not going to be very expensive when they do hit the market. They're aimed at the iPhone user, thanks to the included inline mic, but any device with a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack will still be perfectly compatible with it - including MP3 players, notebooks and gaming rigs.
Packaged in easy-to-rip-open plastic and cardboard, there are a bunch of useful extras thrown in with the earphones themselves: a hard carry case, an optional cable clip to attach it to your shirt (and get it out of the way), two spare sets of silicon caps for big-or-small ears, and an adapter. This adapter is pretty handy, splitting the 3.5mm TRRS connector up into two separate 3.5MM TRS connectors that give mic and audio in separate streams - perfect for use with a computer.
 |
The E361 TRRS connector, pictured against standard TRS.
|
I'll give these earphones a serious listen on the next page!
