Creative EP-830 headphones

It can be very annoying having to stand next to someone on a crowded train who's listening to music with the sound leaking out for all to hear.

The cheap headphones bundled with many music players aren't good quality, leak sound and pick up noise from outside sources. The EP-830 ‘noise-isolating’ headphones from Creative Labs solve most of these problems.

The EP-830s are in-ear headphones, so they come with rubber grips that go right inside the user’s ear (three grip sizes are supplied). Sound quality was very good and even when listening to music at three-quarters volume in the Computeractive office, there were no complaints of leaking noise, which is a first for this reviewer.

They're even better at removing noise from outside sources, which is one reason people turn the volume up too high on headphones, which can also damage hearing. We would recommend most people buying portable music players who care about sound quality to junk the almost-certainly cheap pair they get and invest in new headphones.

The EP-830 worked perfectly, although it’s a little on the expensive side: many other sets of headphones will also do the job, and cost no more than £20.