Nike Vapor earphones or Nike Vapor Adjustable Sport headphones as they are called, come in black or white and at the time of this review retails for $39 US.  Now, remember the Bang & Olufsen A8 that these Nike earphones pay homage to, retail for around $160 US.

Bang & Olufsen A8 vs. Nike Vapor earphone

Pictured here, the black pair on the left is the Bang & Olufsen and the white pair on the right being the Nike Vapor. Compared to the other high-end earphones I’ve tested, the Bang & Olufsen is above average. That’s with taking into consideration, not just the sound quality, but the overall package; ergonomics and comfort, build quality, cable and jack quality, and of course, a good two thirds of the marking goes to the sound quality. If I had to give an overall mark to the A8, it would be something around the 75%~80% mark.  It really feels well built. Sound quality across the frequency range is rich and crisp, from the high symbols to the deepest low bass. Noise isolation and cable quality could be better.

The Nike Vapor looks quite similar but sounds and feels nothing like it. The sound quality is like listening to my Bang & Olufsen with a bad cold after a long transatlantic flight! It totally lacks any definition at anything but the mid-range. There were no Frequency response , S/N ratio, or technical spec. in the package to share with you. The build quality is OK for $39 and that’s about it.

Yes, I was disappointed with these earphones. To be fair to it however, they are sold by Nike to simply address stability on the ears while exercising. That, they do very well – as does the A8 of course. If that is your only reason and you are not really musical, the Nike Vapor headphone might well suit you. But, I get reasonably stable earphones for around the same price from the likes of Sony or the Klipsch S4, with significantly better and pleasing sound. Even the out of the box Apple iPhone/iPod earphones seem to sound superior to the Nike’s.

Given everything; cost, intent, performance, etc., would I recommend the Nike Vapor to a friend?

A very short word:    NO

Sorry Nike!

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