My son purchased these because his last pair of apple earbuds and the Philips were terrible.  He decided on these in-ear headphones and loves them.  He says the sound quality is great and so much better than the apple and the Philips.  He said that he had to get use to the in-ear but he got use to them really fast.  Highly recommend and will buy again. 

Question: Does the quality live up to the expectation?
Answer: the sound quality is great