I think I slept through the discussion on wood in my Materials Science engineering class

But you know what? I have to admit… my music does sound better with these earbuds. I tried all kinds of comparisons — listening to the same song with the Apple earbuds, followed by the Sony headphones (an improvement) and then the CW31s. And, yes, the sound quality is that noticeable, especially on those songs with some heavy bass guitar. Even the high notes that hurt my ears with the Apple earbuds seem to sound smoother and less tinny with the CW31s.
But even though I’m loving the improved sound quality with the lightweight CW31s, especially when I’m listening to music, there’s still that issue of whether they’ll stay in my ear.Apple to Make Your Docking Accessories Obsolete.Fortunately, the package comes with a variety of small rubber pads in a number of shapes and sizes. At first I didn’t like the look of the one that had a series of 3 large-to-small ribbed edges that made it look like a hand-drawn Christmas tree, so I tried the simple rounded pads on the ends of the speakers. But I suffered the same issue here — moving my head around or lightly tugging on the cord would inevitably pull them out of my ear. So, I pulled those off, stuck on the Christmas tree rubber pads and shoved them into my ear. And what do you know? They stuck. I had a feeling they would, given the increased surface area and the fact that they look like they’ll give some resistance when pulled on, but I was surprised at how well they fit and that they didn’t feel at all strange (my biggest concern).
So, I swapped out the Sony headphones for the CW31s and headed out to the gym. Now, I tend to run the cable under my shirt, up through my collar and into my ears when I work out or run. These are more than long enough, so much so that I actually had to wrap the cable around the iPad twice because the cable would form a loop coming out of the bottom of my shirt (not tucked in, of course) and got caught once or twice while I was squeezing through the machine area. No big deal, really.But the sound… wow. Most of the time I actually tune out the music anyway, but even in the noisy gym, I could definitely tell a difference. And given that they’re basically the same price as the Apple earbuds, they’re not going to break the bank should those of you who got a pair with an iPod decide to ditch the white pennies (it feels like I’m trying to keep a penny wedged in my ear) for something else.
All in all… very impressed. I can’t honestly say it’s the wood housing that makes the CW31s sound so good, but I think there may be something to it. These are definitely my new gym earbuds.