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Nokia has one of the best browser-based advertising toys we've seen in a long time. You can design your own outlandish headphone concept with a smooth, easy to use 3D interface. The best will be chosen for real (probably also conceptual) fabrication, but we're wondering...WHY IN THE WORLD CAN'T WE ACTUALLY BUY HEADPHONES THAT ARE THIS AWESOME??
Posted by Nick Broughall at 11:16 AM on September 26, 2008
Last weekend I was up in the Hunter Valley at the Media Connect Influence forum with other leading technology journalists, networking and checking out some of the latest technologies. And, through my ability to ride a virtual horse better than anyone else on Sunday night, I won a pair of Sennheiser PXC 450 noise-cancelling headphones.
While the headphones aren't exactly new, they're still impressive enough for me to want to share the experience with you guys. While I haven't had much of a chance to really test them out properly, I have had enough of a hands on to tell you that these headphones are like a rugby union prop - they're big, but they get around and they perform well. Really well.
Thanko's Sounds Live magnetic earphones aren't quite in-the ear, and they don't have a head-strap: instead these odd gizmos clip onto your earlobe and have a speaker that points roughly into your ear canal. I guess it's kinda like the the bone-conducting type headphones in that you can hear your surroundings, and if you're listening to music while jogging then the magnets mean they probably won't fall off (though your lobes may take a pounding). Plus they're designed to be decorative, acting like "real" earrings...and there's a skull and crossbones version—perfect, me hearties, since it's international Talk Like a Pirate Day. Out in Japan for around $US18. [Product via Akihabaranews]
We've shown you bone-conduction headphones of different shapes and sizes before, but these new Audio Bone 1.0 ones may be the first genuinely stylish-looking ones (though you'll undoubtedly get people asking why you've not got your earphones in your ears.) They're a development on the version we showed you ages ago, hanging around behind your head, and making contact with the bone just in front of your ear: hence you get your MP3 sounds directly delivered to your inner ear without blocking the sounds around you. They've got a frequency response range of 50-12,000Hz, and come in different colours for $US189.00. [Product page]
Skullcandy and Metallica have teamed up to create these absolutely metal headphones, showing the world just how into a burned out, old-man rock band you are. Ride the lightning, bro! My recommendation: steal them, just like you steal Metallica's music (OK, don't really steal stuff, but still, screw Metallica). [Pocket Lint via SlipperyBrick]
If you check out the ratings for V-Moda's Vibe or Vibe Duo headsets at Amazon or Apple, they're kinda crappy, bogged down a tons of complaints that they die fast. After an "unacceptable" rate of returns, V-Moda is acknowledging that the jack is behind the genocide and quietly launching a redesigned, reinforced one that'll hit shelves next week. Unfortunately there's no way to know if you're buying the newer, longer lasting model with a quick glance at the box.
To go with the Skittles smorgasbord of new iPod nanos, Apple's got a bunch of new accessories. By far the most exciting are their new premium in-ear headphones. They've got dual drivers (woofer + tweeter), a setup you don't see until about the US$200 mark with say, Ultimate Ears' Super.fi 5 Pro or Shure's E4c-n set, which used to be over US$300. And these have got a built-in remote and mic. Yet they're only US$79. The first iPod earbuds that don't suck—amazing. Not so amazing: It appears that their remote and mic only work with the iPods launched today.
When I'm in the gym I love listening to music, and hate the way my headphone cord whaps against me as I'm exercising... and that's exactly the sort of problem Sony's DR-BT160AS heaphones are designed to stop. The "active stereo" 'phones connect wirelessly over Bluetooth, are splashproof, have volume and play control buttons, a mike for mobile phone compatibility and adjustable earpieces. But that's where the goodness stops: the design also has "pods" that house the batteries and circuitry, sitting behind your ears like a chunky black hearing-aid. Maybe I'm wrong, but it just looks like bad design. Due out October, price still to be announced. [Digitaldrops via OhGizmo]
As you know from our recent Battlemodos, we love Shure's SE line of in-ear headphones, especially when paired with the Music Phone Adaptor that gives you a microphone and control button for your iPhone. Previously, the MPA was a US$50 add-on and the cheapest phones you could get it with were the US$120 SE110s, but the new SE102MPA set adds the SE line's modular design to the low-end (but still great) SLC2 phones from Shure's "Pro" category and adds an iPhone adaptor for US$100, total. And on top of that, they've bundled the MPA with the whole modular SE line for even more deals.
In order to prove how far Sony has come since ATRAC3 and long-playing MiniDiscs, a new ad attributed to the company shows a NYC subway map traced in its entirety by black Sony earphones, accompanied by a Network Walkman. As if it wasn't enough to try to retake ownership just one iPod-saturated public transit system, a search revealed similar designs for both the London Underground and Sydney's Metro. That last one makes sense, since Sony retained the Sydney office of badass ad agency Saatchi and—repetition is key to messaging—Saatchi for the inspired work. One prob though: As any seasoned straphanger will tell you, you kinda need the colours, or else all the lines run together. [The Cool Hunter]
