A few weeks ago I was looking for a decent set of earbuds to enhance my gaming experience on Playstation Vita as well as replace my standard issue earbuds that came with my iPod touch. I wanted something reasonable priced but of a good quality. I had been leaning towards Turtle Beach‘s Ear force M1 but the $60 price tag was slightly more than I wanted to pay. I had seen the Munitio 9mm Call Of Duty MW3 Billets at various places and thought they looked great but did I want to pay $50 (the cost my local GameStop was selling them for at the time) on a brand I knew little about. It came to my attention that BestBuy had them on sale or clearance for $19.99. None of the stores in my area had any in stock but you could still order them online.

They arrived in a cool MW3 box and came with a carrying case, three sizes of earbud covers in two different colors and two earhooks. The earbuds themselves look like bullets and the MW3 logo isn’t all that prominent for those of you who aren’t fans of the series. They feature an in-line mic great for the Vita or  handsfree calling if you are using them with your smart phone. They are designed quite well, the earbud or bullet part is made of a lightweight aircraft-grade aluminum with rubber cables that are Kevlar reinforced. Sure they look great but I was more interested in finding out if they performed well.

Munitio suggests that the Billets will need a period of breaking in to achieve optimal sound. Out of the box I tried them with Resistance Burning Skies on the Vita, I was pleasantly surprised. I could hear which direction footsteps were coming from and gunshots sounded better through these than anything else I had used previously. Next I tried them with my iPod touch and with various types of music.  I’m not quite as impressed with them for Music but the Munitio’s still performed better than any of the other earbud types I’ve used in the past. They favor the bass sounds which tends to drown out some of the other aspects of the songs. They work well for hip hop or dub step and it’s not like they are promoting these to audiophiles.

Also they have indeed improved with use. I’m currently listening to Portishead’s Half Day Closing (a song that has all sorts of sounds going on in it) and the Munitio’s are doing a great job of breaking it up to give it an almost surround sound feel to it. The box states they are not intended for game console use which is true if you’re looking for headphones for your PS3 or 360 however if you have portable gaming systems, smartphones or tablets these are the earbuds you’re looking for. Overall I’m quite pleased with the Munitio’s which come in a variety of styles other than the MW3  branded ones I bought. Even if I would have paid more for them I’d be pleased with their performance and durability. As far as I can tell Munitio is focused on earbud’s but if they ever decide to move into console gaming headsets I’d be willing to give them a try.

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