With a plethora of headphone brands springing up lately, it’s getting harder and harder to sort the wheat from the chaff, so we thought we’d help out by bringing to your attention one of the lesser known products to enter the scene in the last couple of years.

There’s a pretty obvious hint to the styling of these headphones in the name, Eskuche have gone for a cool, retro design based around the vinyl LP, aptly name the 33i. The build quality is relatively good, but like all moderately priced headphones, susceptible to damage in every day use. What sets these apart from many is a good quality corded cable which is actually replaceable – Eskuche include two, one for just headphones and one with a mic and function button incorporated for use with your iPhone. The headphone jack is right angled and the iPhone is straight, there’s only the one function button for all purposes, and there’s no volume control. A nylon carry pouch and 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter make up the rest of the included accessories.

The Eskuche 33i headphone enclosure is closed back so shouldn’t disturb those around you too much when listening at louder levels; although they are on ear as opposed to around ear so will spill a little bit of noise. There’s three colour options to choose from: black, silver and rose gold. They have a low impedance so can easily be powered by your iPod or iPhone and they will play as loud as most people would require.

In terms of sound quality you certainly get your monies worth from the Eskuche 33i. They’re not hi-fi listening quality or accurate studio monitors but as far as fashion headphones go, they sound as good as any in this price range, especially if you like plenty of bass. Although heavily emphasized, the lower frequency range still remains very clear making these perfect headphones for dance music or any other genre that is predominantly bass-orientated. The mid-range sounds a little compressed and not very clear but that is the case for most headphones in this price range and if it were boosted then the bass would not stand out as much. and there’s a bit of roll off at the very top end so you lose a bit of the finer detail. However, we’re not comparing them to a top end hi-fi headphone here, they are a fashion item as well as a headphone and they suit both purposes admirably for the price.