Rockford Fosgate Punch Plugs Review

Big Bass in Your Ears!

Rockford Fosgate is a company that knows bass. They make some of the most beloved car audio subwoofers on the market. So it's only natural that when they decided to expand their business and start developing earphones that they would go with what they know best.



The Punch Plugs also exempify another aspect of audio products for which Rockford is well known. I'm talking about their industrial design. Not only do their woofers, like their Power series, deliver in terms of audio, but they're cosmetically very appealing as well.



These new in-ear monitors set themselves apart immediately with their design. The monitors are unusual first for the size and secondly for the shape. Neither aspect interferes though with the fit. In fact, of the many products in the category that I've tried I have to say that the Punch Plugs are one of the best in terms of fit. It's made with the right angle for easy insertion and a very good seal. The product is sold with five sets of different sized "Comfort Plugs". I also like the flat cable with a low friction jacket that is intended to reduce mechanical noise. It's also stylish and much less prone to tangling than your standard rounded cables. Plus the low profile 3.5mm connection means it won't cause you problems when you try to plug into your encased iPhone or other device.



The Punch Plugs, as I mentioned, are very big. That's because it features a 15mm driver. That's significantly more than the typical earphone. And you will hear the difference. A lot of times an earphone is too bright and the type of bass that we enjoy in the car doesn't transfer when you're listening through them. That's not an issue with the Plugs. This is the closest I've heard to hearing the type of mid-bass to bass we're used to listening to within a vehicle cabin. Now whether that's something truly desirable is a separate issue.



Ad advertised, the Plugs don't distort at high volume levels. You'll get an unreal dose of bass though. It'll remind you of some bass-heavy system in a car that you heard at some show. Depending on the type of music or particular song, it can be quite enjoyable. But what's its best selling feature can also be the very quality that undermines it. The audio reproduction isn't that realistic; the balance of frequencies is skewed by the dominating low-end. It's actually a lot of fun listening to bass music or genres like rap and certain types of electronica or some heavy rock on the Punch Plugs, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're listening to lighter fare. I preferred one of my other earbud monitors. But at $99, I don't think you have to think of the Rockford product as your single solution, so to speak. It's like speakers that have different audio qualities. If you could, you might want to listen to certain music with specific speakers. It's difficult, of course, to swap your car speakers for different genres, but you can swap earphones. In a way, it's great fun to have the Punch Plugs and use them the way you might increase the gain on the bass controller in your dash and crank a tune while driving on the open road. As long as you bear all that in mind, the Punch Plugs are a cool product to have.