What they've done is developed the means for you to literally create your own earbuds at home. I was sent the kit for a set of PCS-150 custom fitted sculpted eers to test. At a list price of $199.00 Canadian a pop (the company is Canadian) the price might seem rather steep. However, if they can deliver on what they advertise the price isn't that out of line when compared to the cost of high end speakers for a stereo system. Remember, no matter how much money you spend on the other components it's the speakers which will determine the quality of the sound you listen too. A bad set of speakers will ruin a good system, while great speakers will make K-Mart quality components sound like an audiophiles dream. So if you have a $300.00 portable music player do you really want to listen to what they produce through a set of headphones that cost $19.95?
The first thing you'll notice is the quality of the packaging the materials come in. Everything is contained inside a durable, hard cardboard box, which when opened reveals the carefully sealed contents. The kit includes what looks to be a set of headphones but is actually the SonoFit Custom Fitting System. The system fits over your head just like a set of headphones, but instead of containing wires and speakers its guts contain a pair of inflation pumps and medical grade silicone. At the receiving end of silicone and pumps are two modular ear pieces which can fit into even the smallest of ear canals. The ear pieces look like your typical ear buds down to the loops to fit over your ear, but that's where the similarities end.
Looking at everything was a little intimidating, especially with the notice warning you not to play with any of the buttons before beginning the customization process. However it comes with easy to follow trilingual (English, French and Spanish) and comprehensive instruction manual and a very efficient quick start guide as well. The latter contains all you need to know for creating your earbuds while the former has detailed instructions for how to care for your product and other helpful information. In an nutshell what happens is you use the head band and over the ear loops to position the ear pieces in your ear's canal. Once you have pushed them in as far as comfortable and done any fine tuning adjustments you require for comfort and fit, you activate the pumps which shoot the silicone into the pieces. The hardest part is sitting still with your head level and not talking for the five minutes required for the process to take place. When the time is up you simply snap the pieces off the frame and put the included face plates in place and, voila, you have your very own custom fitted ear buds.
Okay, I didn't go into the full details of how it works. However, the instructions are easy to follow, and if for some reason you have any problems they give you a link to a video to watch showing how its done and supply a 1-800 number to call for help as well. What's more important is whether they deliver on their promise of sound quality and ambiance? Well the apartment I live in right now is on my city's main street. Traffic at almost anytime of day or night includes 18 wheelers, Harley Davidsons, diesel passenger buses and cars equipped with sub-woofers big enough to knock over buildings. Normally if I want to listen to anything, including talking on the phone, I have to close the windows. With the windows open not only was I able to hear the music from my iPod with no problem, I could barely hear the sound of the passing traffic, and this was at four in the afternoon smack in the middle of rush hour.
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