By Odeisel

If there was ever anything that annoyed me about portable music, it’s cheap ass headphones. I know sometimes you get caught out there and you have to buy some on the run occasionally, but cheap headphones can totally ruin music for a two big reasons.

You’re probably playing some “music” nobody else likes but thanks to your poorly made headphones, everyone can hear every single word of your crappy music, even on the loud subway, even though you’re at least 10 feet away from others. Second, you’re already listening to an mp3 and the quality of your music needs all the help it can get to stretch itself into the realm of CD quality sound. (Tough luck trying to get that big echo record sound. We’re out on that). A good pair of headphones can bring out the lows and treble highs without sounding like noise.

You may prefer ear buds with noise reduction or ear muff style, over-the-head phones that block out sound. If you’re at the gym, those may not be the most conducive to getting your workout on (and not breaking your headphones). This column is about introducing you to the latest in headphones of all varieties and brands.

This edition of Headphone Home takes a look at Griffin Technology’s Woodtomes Walnut earbuds. They are very into being green as the enclosures and housings are made of recycled wood from furniture. They come complete with a carrying satchel made from hemp. Packaging was very minimal and contained as little plastic as possible and not that industrial, make-you-hate-it-because-it’s-hard-as-hell-to-open plastic, which is always a plus. As is standard, they come with three sizes of ear cushions, a 4-foot long cable and 8-mm neodymium magnet drivers.

I tested these babies in the gym on the elyptical for a half-hour listening to Justin Timberlake’s latest work, 20/20. The headphones performed much more ably than the album (Good for Griffin, not so much for JT). the midrange sound was strong and the default ear cushions were stable desprite the movement. The cord was long enough to not become entangled and fit in your pocket.

The WoodTones were used in conjunction with a Samsung Galaxy S III. Volume was full, with the buds securely in, I didn’t have turn the volume up overly high to hear the music over the hum of weights and workout machines. The control microphone was highly functional, with one click for play/pause, two clicks in succession for forward and three for rewind. Didn’t break a stride, very simple. Phone call came in and it was one click to answer, one to end, Of course with signals and other phone mishaps you want to actually look at your phone, before you end up threeway callign your ex wife and your baby mother or something similar. I wouldn’t trust the phone click thing but that’s not Griffin or a design issue. Just part of the game.

Very functional, nice length, clear call and sound quality and a very affordable $29.99 pricetag. I’ve heard better sounds at higher price points, i’ve heard better bass with mics nowhere near as functional at lower price points. You can do way worse. Here are the specs.

• Impedance: 16 ohms ± 15%
• Drivers: 8 mm moving coil neodymium
• Sensitivity: 103 dB ± 3 dB
• Cord: 4′ (121.9 cm) with gold-plated 1/8″ (3.5 mm) stereo-mini headphone plug
• Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz