I buy these as a replacement for my broken px 200s 1st edition . my experience with the 1st gen be that they be great overall , although they have the follow con : 1 . the cable be make up of two individual wire . this mean that the cable would get tangle upon itself and just about every time id put they on , I would have to spin the cable around to get it straighten 2 . the cable split to both ear piece . this result in the cable always be directly under you chin which could at time be awkward 3 . extend use -lrb- 1 hour or more -rrb- make my ear get sweaty , regardless of volume the 2nd gen have correct each of the above mention issue . the cable be one solid wire , mean no tangle . the cable only connect to the LEFT ear piece , mean that the wire go down more gracefully by the side of you face . Ive wear they to the gym 3 or 4 time , and have not experienced much ear-sweat , if any . quality\/comfort I be not a audiophile , but in my opinion the sound quality be great for gym usage with hip hop\/rock\/techno playlist . the headphone block out the music playing at my gym quite nicely , which be critical because Lifetime Fitness have invest in a quality sound system which they use to blast Britney Spears and Rihanna all day . they be as comfortable as any other headphone I have ever worn , although I have not use that many well know headphone besides the 1st gen and some lower price Sennheiser model . spec : the cable be roughly 4 foot long , with the volume controller be about 1 foot away from the end of the cord . one other aspect of the volume controller that be worth note be that it have a `` clip '' mechanism on the back of it that allow you to attach it to you shirt\/pants\/etc . they be closed style , which mean that nearby people will not be able to hear they ... make they a nice option for work environment . one more nice feature be that you can turn the ear piece 90 degree -lrb- so that if you be wear the headphone around you neck , the ear piece will be point outwards -rrb- to make they more collapsible for storage . you can also point the ear cup outwards and play music for friend or yourself . con : the only con I be aware of so far be that they do not collapse quite as nicely as the 1st gen because the volume controller get in the way . they still collapse though -lrb- just not as well -rrb- , which allow for more convenient storage than 95 % of decent sound portable headphone . Summary : if I be in the market for a portable headphone , I would buy these again ... as long as they be within $ 20 of the first generation version .