A tale of two earphones

I really don't have much luck when it comes to aural accessories for my iPhone. In the two and a half years that I've been conducting my life through a touch sensitive screen I must have made it through a dozen earphones, each flawed in their own little way. But then came the RCA pair which, for a short time at least, appeared to be exactly what the doctor, or at least I, had ordered. Of course nothing could be that simple...