Every so often, we do a few hardware reviews.  This is one of a series of reviews for the Arctic Cooling brand of products.  For more information about the company or its products, go to Arctic-Cooling.com.

The Arctic Sound E351-WM series of earbuds gives you a lot of bang for the buck.  Priced at $42.20, these headphones deliver great sound and are marvellous at blocking out background noises and delivering music or audio that is clear and crisp.

The headphones come in black or white trim, which is differentiated by simply the "WM" or "BM" after the E351.  The "M" at the end means that the headphones also come with a microphone built-in.  Accessories include 3 sets of silicon caps to fit in ears of different sizes (one of which is already on the headphones), an adapter to use the headphones with a computer and a carrying case.

Starting with the headphones themselves:  as mentioned, the sound is fantastic. The bass is deep and provides a nice clean tone.  The mids and highs are both clean and pronounced and sound like what you might expect from an in ear headset like these at a much higher price point.

Unlike the Apple-branded headphones that come with the iPod touch, these in-ear phones fit snugly in the ear without falling out.  I had to use the largest size of caps for my huge ears.

This model comes with a microphone that worked very well when I tested it using Skype on my device.  It picked up my voice clearly and allowed me to hear the other party without any real background noises.  I also tested using the computer adapter that comes with the earbuds and the results worked similarly well.  On a side note, the same dongle containing the microphone also has a button on the other side to pause and resume any audio that might be playing.

The attractive carrying case that comes with the headphones is compact and well-designed (the same case comes with all of the high-end Arctic Cooling headphones).  You simply place the buds in the center and wrap the cord around the circumference.  It makes it easy to carry the headphones around without getting the cord tangled or stuck somewhere.
I suppose if I had any minor complaints about the set, it would be the lack of volume controls on the dongle.  The Apple earphones do come with such a volume control and it is convenient to have particularly if the iPod touch or iPhone is in a pocket.  However, there are still volume controls on the side of the device and the capability is more of a nice-to-have than a need-to-have.

At approximately half the price of comparable Apple earbuds, the high-quality sound of the Arctic Sound E351-WM headphones makes it an absolute bargain.