Griffin TuneBuds Lanyard for iPod nano

Griffin's lanyard competes admirably against Apple's lanyard earphones

By Charlie White

Until recently, Apple had a lock on the lanyard earphone market for the iPod nano, cornering the market with their unique earphones whose wiring is integrated with their necklace, with the nano securely attached to the bottom of the lanyard. Now Griffin enters this specialty market with TuneBuds for nano ($34.99), combination earbuds and lanyard available in either white or black. Besides their price, they differ from the Apple's iPod nano lanyard ($49.99) in a few key ways. Let's take a look and listen.

At first glance, it's immediately noticeable that the length of this Griffin lanyard is not adjustable. I thought that would be a detriment, but as soon as I attached the lanyard to my iPod nano and hung it around my neck, I realized that Griffin had determined the perfect length for this lanyard, with no adjustment necessary. Because it didn't have the telescoping adjustable wiring of Apple's iPod nano lanyard earphones, its overall book is cleaner, and it seemed to be more resistant to tangling.

With the Griffin TuneBuds I noticed that the jack and dock connector end of the lanyard was rather difficult to plug into the iPod nano. That also made it much more difficult to unplug it, which was almost impossible without pulling on the wires, something that could damage the internal wires of the lanyard over time. On the plus side, because of this tight fit, the iPod nano is unlikely to accidentally disconnect from the TuneBuds lanyard, and my assessment was that Griffin's designers probably decided to err on the side of caution rather than risking their customers' nanos crashing to the ground because of a too-loose fit. However, Apple's lanyard headphones are much easier to remove, and after months of rigorous use have never resulted in any mishap.

I liked the arched styling of the TuneBuds' chrome jack, with its chrome finish matching the shiny back of the nano perfectly. I also like that TuneBuds are available in either black or white, and since we have a black iPod nano, this immediately became the only lanyard available that matched Apple's black nano music player. Another good reason to get the black lanyard is that Apple's white lanyard tends to yellow over time, especially if you wear it in a warm climate.

Notice the Griffin lanyard's neckstrap isn't adjustable, as the Apple lanyard is (below).

 

Apple's nano lanyard has an adjustable neck strap, but is only available in white and costs $15 more.

Another key characteristic of the TuneBuds is their in-ear style, and they include three pairs of eartips of various sizes, assuring you that one of them will closely fit your ear canals. This in-the-ear style immediately disqualifies some listeners, who can't tolerate having any objects in their ear canals. I prefer the in-ear style, though, because a tight seal inside the ear using this type of earbuds dramatically enhances the sound, making it much more vivid. In fact, to achieve this effect with my Apple iPod nano lanyard, I use Griffin's EarJams which turn conventional earbuds into inside-the-ear earphones. 

After fully assessing the usability and comfort of the Griffin TuneBuds, my conclusion was that they were user-friendly, nearly tangle-free, and held the nano securely. They were comfortable both around the neck and in the ears. Next it was time to listen to these lower-cost earphones, comparing their sound to that of Apple's more expensive (by $15) iPod nano lanyard headphones.

After extensive auditioning of one and then the other, my conclusion is that you get what you pay for, but only to a slight extent. Apple's lanyard headphones have a somewhat smoother sound, with deeper bass and cleaner highs, while the Griffin TuneBuds still sounded very good but had a more strident high-end and subtly reduced bass. This is not to say that the TuneBuds didn't sound good -- I found it quite pleasant to listen to them, and their in-the-ear style made it easier to achieve a tight fit and hear a solid sound. Unless I was listening to one pair of earphones and then the other immediately following it, it was hard to tell the difference between the two, especially when listening to MP3 files, whose quality is unquestionably less than stellar.

Summing up, I'm going to use the TuneBuds in my daily exercise routine instead of Apple's lanyard headphones, because they stay in my ears more securely while moving around. They are less likely to tangle, and their earpieces fit in my ears better than Apple's earbuds in combination with the Griffin EarJams. Plus, Griffin gives you a choice of black or white lanyard, letting you pick one that matches your nano. The difference in sound quality between the two was minimal, and if I want to hear the finest quality sound, I'll listen to my sure E5c earphones, which have the best audio quality I've ever heard from any sound reproduction device. But for exercising and casual listening, although I do like both Apple's and Griffin's lanyards, I pick the Griffin TuneBuds because of their user-friendly comfort and acceptable sound. They're also a superior value. Recommended. 8.5 stars out of 10.