Strauss & Wagner wired earbuds sound right on the money [Review]

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It's nice that they come with a carrying pouch, but it's great that they have solid sound and a good fit.★★★★☆
It's nice that they come with a carrying pouch, but it's great that they have solid sound and a good fit.
Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac

In the ongoing mania for wireless earbuds and headphones, it’s easy to forget that their older wired siblings still have distinct advantages — namely, great sound for less money.

With no need to worry about analog-to-digital conversion and compression for Bluetooth, wired-gear manufacturers can focus on audio quality at a good price.

New York City-based Strauss & Wagner sent me a pair of its EM205 wired earbuds to try out, and they didn’t disappoint. You can find cheaper wired earbuds with good sound, but you can’t really go wrong with these for $39.95. They feature excellent balance and clarity with a comfortable fit and good build quality.

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Strauss & Wagner EM205 Earphones with 3.5mm Connection and Mic+Remote

Strauss & Wagner EM205 Earphones come with the earbuds, a little branded storage bag and additional sets of silicone ear tips, so you can find a good fit (small, medium and large). This model comes with a standard 3.5mm audio jack, so I used a Lightning converter dongle with my iPhone 13.

Note that S&W also makes the SI201 Sound Isolating Earphones with Lighting and Mic+Remote for about $10 more than the EM205. With the SI201, you can go straight into an iPhone, iPad or iPod with a Lighting port. The company sent me a pair, which I used as a comparison point to the EM205.

For those with USB-C devices, S&W also makes the EM8C, which is very similar to the EM205 other than the connection type.

This review concerns the EM205 model, which I found to be an exceptionally good value at $39.95. The fit and audio quality appealed to me. Whereas the SI201 does indeed isolate sound more, as its name implies, I found the EM205 had better clarity across frequencies.

A comfortable fit

I found the EM205 earbuds fit well right out to box with the medium-sized ear tips. The body of the earbuds is no wider than the eartips. That tends to work better for me than earbuds with a bulbous body that may block the tip from going far enough into the ear canal.

With earbuds, fit is second only to audio quality in importance. And fit can affect sound, too. If you can’t insert an earbud designed to be inserted, you may not get a good seal in the ear canal, and you may not hear the full sound. And of course, if the earbud feels loose or fits uncomfortably, you won’t want to wear it anyway.

While I found the EM205 fit well, one of the days I tested them turned out to be a humid summertime scorcher. And by that I mean I sweat like a pig. Nothing bad happened with the buds, but note that they’re not rated for sports. They have no special water or sweat resistance. They feature no extra anchor in the ear for security. But I found they fit snugly, fine for walking around.

Strauss & Wagner's EM205 wired earbuds come with multiple sets of ear tips in different sizes and a carrying bag.
Strauss & Wagner’s EM205 wired earbuds come with a carrying bag and multiple sets of ear tips in different sizes.
Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac

Good sound quality

The Strauss & Wagner EM205 earbuds sound very good. As noted above, they feature a somewhat tighter focus across frequencies than their sibling, the made-for-iPhone-iPad-iPod SI201.

The EM205s manage a little more articulation in the bass, to my ears, and more volume comes through (which could relate to fit, too — a slightly deeper penetration into the ear canal).

I find the EM205 sound and fit compare well to another, more expensive set of wired earbuds I’ve used, the Beyerdynamic SoulByrd wired buds (which cost $69 – $89). The SoulByrds may have finer resolution, but the EM205s are definitely in the race.

EM205 sound quality is fine for calls, too. And the microphone seems to transmit quality sound from me to the other party, as well.

Touch controls on the cable

The controls sit on an unobtrusive little pod on the wire a little more than 4 inches below the right earbud. Three buttons provide a range of functions. It’s fairly easy to use the buttons because they’re slightly raised, so you can feel which one you’re touching with a little practice, even if you’re not looking at them.

Two of the buttons are volume up and down, so that’s simple enough. The center button between those two does much more, however (but note that remote functions don’t work with Pixel phones on the EM205 model). The center button controls use of the microphone, for use during phone calls.

This image helps explain the use of the center button:

You can make or receive phone calls with the EM205 earbuds.
You can make or receive phone calls with the EM205 earbuds’ button controls.
Photo: Strauss & Wagner

Nice long cable

Another important note with wired headphones is cable length. At 43 inches, the EM205 buds have plenty of cable to give you a little lax when you’re tethered to your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Or, for that matter, a longer cable is helpful if you plug into a treadmill or elliptical at the gym, although try not to perspire profusely all over these buds.

Note that the SI201 model features an even longer, 47-inch cable, in addition to the good sound isolation (though slightly boomier sound — possibly in part to the slightly larger driver, 10mm versus the EM205’s 9mm).

EM205 hardware specs

  • 3.5 mm stereo connector
  • Integrated microphone with -43 db sensitivity
  • 9 mm driver
  • Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
  • Sensitivity: 108dB
  • 43-inch cable length

Bottom line

Overall, the Strauss & Wagner EM205 Earphones with 3.5mm Connection and Mic+Remote are a great value at their price. The sound quality is very good, the fit will suit many people and the call quality will be adequate for casual calls and teleconferencing. The remote center button’s functionality is a little complicated, but not in a deal-breaking way. But if you need earbuds you can get wet, try something else.

Where to buy: Amazon

Strauss & Wagner provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out other in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.

★★★★☆

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