SOL Republic is a new audio company founded by the same people who worked on the Beats headphones at Monster. Their singular goal is to provide a headphone that sounds good and doesn’t cost a fortune.
SOL Republic is company founded by Kevin Lee, Seth Combs and Scott Hix, all individuals with experience in audio (Lee, who was a senior executive at Monster, is the son of founder Noel Lee). Seeing the success of the Beats product line, but also seeing the massive price tag, SOL Republic felt they could deliver a quality alternative at a fraction of the cost.
Intended more for the MP3/iPhone crowd as opposed to the tube-amp-obsessed audiophiles, this vision has manifested itself in two products, each with two variants: the Tracks (and Tracks HD) on-ear headphones and the Amps (and Amps HD) in-ear headphones.
The Tracks are a $US100 pair headphones intended to emphasise clear mids and highs, but still provide respectable bass. The Tracks HD, whose price and release date are still TBD, are designed to a bigger, fuller sound across the spectrum. The headband is also a source of pride for the company, made of a material that is virtually indestructible, regardless of how you bend and twist it. The headphones are completely removable from the headband, which was done because SOL Republic eventually plans to offer the headband in a variety of customisable colours. If it was up to them, you’d probably have a different headband for every day of the week.
Meanwhile, the $US60 Amps headphones are an in-ear model that emphasise comfort, style and a tangle-free cord, in addition to quality sound. Like the Tracks HD, the Amps HD promise a bump in sound quality over its non-HD counterpart, though price or release date has yet to be determined.
Expect to see the Tracks and Amps in stores soon.