Phiaton’s new Moderna MS 200 earphones ($149) sound good and have great sound isolation, sure, but what’s more important is how good they look plugged in to your new iPhone 5.
Oh sure now Apple decides to improve their ear buds! I haven’t tried them, but I’m not convinced. Regardless of the hype around the new Apple earbuds (I’ll have to try the new design, right now my Apple ear buds are purely “backup” when all other options aren’t available), I think it’s worth checking out earbuds from folks who just do earbuds.
We’ve had BodyGaurdz here before, but I think this is the first time we’ve had a pair with a mic—BodyGuardz Moxy Earbuds With Mic—which is a must-have for me. See I don’t want to carry a set of earbuds for music and something else for calls (or worse have to use the iPhone or iPad mic for calls when using earbuds). It’s about having a compact kit, you know?
The Phiaton PS 210 BTNC ($129) earphones—yes, they named them all that—have all the same functionality as your white Apple earbuds; you can chat with ’em, listen to tunes with ’em, even control your iPhone with ’em. But unlike your white-wired buds, they do all that wirelessly via Bluetooth, and include some sparkly noise-canceling technology that deliver audio to your ears sans a world of ambient sounds.
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Can we just face facts folks, the ear buds that Apple includes with our iPhones and iPods (funnily enough not with the iPad—you don’t get ear buds at all) are okay as back up ear buds, but if you really want to enjoy your music you need to step up your game.
Today we have BodyGuardz Tonic Earbuds for a steal at $20. Great looking ear buds that should make any audiophile happy. Yes, you can check out Beats headphones. Oh yes, they are amazing. I’ve used them and was blown away. They also cost a fortune. Let’s not break the bank just to have music that sounds good shall we?
No doubt some of you will spring for these simply after hearing the name; but Fanny Wang is hoping their new bud-style Wang Buds earphones will conquer a territory they feel noone really owns yet: The earphone middle ground between the comfort, safety and simplicity of the iconic Apple buds, and the sound reproduction generally achieved by in-ear monitors — think really, really good Apple buds.
Let me count the ways that I have killed so many successive sets of earbuds, whether from Apple or otherwise. Rain, sweat (ears), sweat (general, dripping), wet ear canals from insufficient after-shower toweling. More rain.
You get the idea.
If only I’d had a pair of Klipsch’s new rugged S4i earbuds, which are rubberized against both the elements and also my deadly perspiration.
The earbuds are also fully iReady, with a mic for calls and a three button remote for play/pause/answer and volume control. The specs say that the sensitivity (a good measure of how loud they are) is 110dB and the frequency response goes from 10Hz to 19kHz – a respectable range for a ‘bud.
But the toughness is the thing, and these multicolored cans can put up with most exercise and outdoor activity.
I doubt they can resist my single most common way to break a pair of headphones though – the Tug. The Tug can be achieved in many ways, but has one common element: you forget about a dangling cord and catch it fatally on an immovable object, or your own body. I have ended the life of a pair of Porta Pros by standing from a crouch and catching the cable on a knee. And I butchered a pair of retro Panasonic over-the-ear headphones when the cable snagged on a post in the street.
I should probably be more careful.
The S4is will be available soon.
Source: Klipsch
Thanks: Ashley!
Would you pay $20 to keep your Apple earbuds in your ears where they belong? Me too. Especially if the solution was as tiny, neat and portable as the earbuds themselves. So keep your fingers crossed (or better, stump up some cash) and hope that Zach Herbert and Adam Orshan’s Kickstarter project gets funded.
Your music is important to you, so why use the crappy earbuds that came with your device? Oh sure, they are great as a backup pair to have in a drawer or your gear bag (in case you forget your good ones), but let’s face it, basic earbuds don’t do anyone’s music justice.
Today’s deal gives you the chance to get a great pair of earbuds for only $37! The BodyGuardz Moxy earbuds look great, sound great, and have touches like woven cloth cords that don’t tangle. What are you waiting for?
Please note: product can ONLY be shipped to the CONTINENTAL United States.
Custom molded headphones are — it turns out — pretty great. But what a pain to visit an audiologist and get silicone injected into your ear-holes. What if there was a fun, geeky way to do it yourself, in the comfort of your own home?
Thanks to SonoFit Eers, there is. I tested out the $300 PC250 headphones and found the fitting process to be kind of freaky and fun, and the results to be quite excellent. Read on to see just how they work, and how good they sound.
There appear to be a few ways to stop your earbuds from dropping to the floor when you unplug them from your waxy canals. One is to just run the cable from the iPhone/iPod in your front pants pocket up through your shirt/t-shirt/muscle-vest and out through the neck hole. Pop out the earbuds and there they dangle. This is so easy and well-known that even clueless teenagers can manage it.
The second method, I have just discovered, is to use the Props from Quirky.
Earbuds are a compromise. Bang for the buck, you’ll always get better sound and bass from over-the-ear headphones, and probably better comfort as well. Notoriously fragile, you’ll likely get more longevity with headphones than earbuds, too. But these are all the sorts of drawback you live with if you want to listen to your music on the go without carrying around a big pair of cans with you, and all of the technology of earbuds are largely extended towards minimizing their deficits when compared to their bigger, richer brothers.
Enter Sony’s XBA range of earbuds. Spanning four models, each defined by its number of drivers — the Sony XBA-1iP, the Sont XBA-2iP, the Sony XBA-3iP and the Sony XBA-4iP — Sony’s making a concerted effort to deliver high-end over-the-ear sound in a slim, light and portable package. But how well did they do?
It’s a first-world problem to be sure, but that doesn’t make tangled headphone cords any less annoying. Wrapping them around your iDevice helps, but you’ll probably do it too tight and end up breaking the cables. And those reel-em-in hand-cranked spindles so beloved of Sony in the 1990s have disappeared, probably because they’re too much hassle, or just kept getting lost.
Bluetooth promised to be the answer, but still sounds awful and requires recharging one more gadget. So Quirky’s new Wired tangle-free earbuds have got a lot to prove. Can they do it?
I love Apple’s Smart Cover for the iPad 2, and I’ve had one stuck to my device since the day I bought it. It looks good, it protects my display, and it’s useful. I often wonder whether the same kind of concept could work for the iPhone, and it seems TidyTilt has an answer.
TidyTilt is like a Smart Cover for your iPhone 4 or 4S, only much smarter. Not only does it act as a kickstand for your device when you want to type, watch movies, or play games; it provides tidy storage for your earbuds, and a whole lot more.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Fittingly for a line of music accessories bearing the name of reggae legend Bob Marley, some of the product components are made from hemp.
The carrying pocket for the House of Marley earbuds, for example, are made from hemp fibre, a spokeswoman told me. Bob Marley famously used hemp for something else, of course.
The House of Marley launched a range of about a dozen music products here at CES, including a boombox, iPod speaker dock, and several headphones and earbuds.
It’s not just hemp; the products are made form a variety of eco-concious materials, including recycled plastic and aluminum.
They also sound pretty good. At least, they did in the cavernous press hall. The twin-speaker boombox pumped out a pretty hefty sound — but it’s impossible to give anything a proper listen at CES.
A portion of profits goes to 1Love.org, a charity supported by the Marley family.
Pictured above is Bob Marley’s son, Rohan, wearing a pair of Marley cans. Here’s some pictures of some of the other products:
Apple’s official line of headphones and earbuds have always been pretty lackluster in my eyes, but a secret acquisition might mean that Cupertino is planning on changing all of that: according to reports, Apple might have quietly purchased a small Bluetooth wireless headphone designer a couple of months ago, and are hard at work in their labs on a new pair of totally wireless cans.
Sennheiser is a stalwart brand in consumer headphones, but their latest range will be of specific interest to iPhone or iPod Touch users looking for excellent audio quality coupled with hands-free or Voice Control functionality.
In a headphone range spread across the Sennheiser MM 70i, IE 8i, PX 100-IIi, PX 200-IIi, HD 218i and HD 238i models, each pair of Sennheiser’s latest cans comes with an in-line microphone and remote control.
Swiss designers Big Game have just launched a collection of pimped everyday objects called “New Rich” by replacing one plastic part on each with real gold.
In it are Apple earbuds with a gold “bolo tie” look, lending a hint of bling to your iPod. Subtle, yes. Practical, no. Cool, definitely.
The idea behind it?
“We’ve picked standard, universal products, and replaced a part of each object by an equivalent in gold”¦We love the shrewd blend between the down-to-earth functionalism of mass-products and the ultimate precious material: gold.”
Prices to come…
via Josh Spear
