I've owned a set of Sennheiser MM50 for the iPhone, and because I lost the earcup, I needed a new earphone. Enter the Apple In-Ear Headphones - 2nd Generation.

I do not treat my earphones well. I do not use the case that comes with the earphone (to be frank I doubt you will if you are a busy person). As such, my 'mishandling' has caused the rubber piece that covers the part where the cable and the earpiece joins have come off. But mind you, this headphones have only been with me for less than 2 months.

Sound-wise, the headphone offers generous and rich mids and decent trebles. You'll be mesmerized by the vocals and piano sounds that this thing produces. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the bass. It seems that Apple has gone with the "true to nature and unbiased" attitude when it comes to the bass. I say this because some reviewers find that the bass sounds weak only because we often compare the bass of this headphone to other headphones with pumping woofers, and so we feel this headphone is weak. In actual fact, Apple is trying to keep the bass natural. Personally, I hate this decision by them. However, I find that getting a tight fit helps in improving the bass. Obvious, I know, but I thought the Medium cups fit me best, till I tried the large size, which was less comfortable, but made me hear more bass.

The earphone comes with a remote with volume control - the volume control does not work with the iPhone 2G/3G and older iPods, but it will work with the unibody MacBook/MacBook Pros, which is a nice bonus.

As with other in-ears, you will hate the earphones when walk with this earphones on. You will hear every movement from your earphone cable. Can't be helped, really.

The sound isolation on this earphones is sufficient - better than my Sennheisers, I dare say. But it's not going to block out everything, and it's not safe to keep these on while crossing the road.

Some extras - I love the fact that Apple included extra protector for the 'earphone' diaphragms, but couldn't they also include extra earcups for each size? Or at least sell them separately like the Nike+ transmitter. That would be nice. But until that happens, make sure your ears can adjust to two sizes in case you pull off one earcup while removing it from your pants pocket. I lost one L cup, and now I have to use an M-cup and an L-cup.

Sound & Isolation: 6.5/10
Build: 5/10
Extras & Features: 8/10

A Good 2nd attempt on Apple's part, but although the room for improvement has shrunk, it has not disappeared completely just yet.