Have you ever had someone ask you to borrow your earbuds? It’s gross, right? I typically say yes, but I’m always skeeved out, and reach for the alcohol wipes afterward. Bottom line: earbud sharing is not acceptable social behavior. More »
We already knew that New Jersey was a hotbed for personal audio innovation, so it certainly came as no surprise when the Garden State’s ECKOUNLTD (Ecko Unlimited, with a hint of Jersey Shore) hit us up with a slew of new stylz. We’re most curious about the new Zip ‘buds, which replace the traditional cord with a functioning zipper, presumably to keep that ever-so-prevalent tangling issue from crampin’ your style. These in-ear beauts will set you back just 30 beans — or about a half-dozen servings of Ron Ron Juice. Other offerings include the $13 Zone earbuds, $15 Chaos II (that Chaos I was off the hook), the $20 Stomp, $25 Lace (which include a shoelace-inspired cord), and the $40 Chain, which, as you probably guessed, features a beaded dog-tag chain cord. At those prices we wouldn’t expect stellar acoustics, but if you’re rockin’ out to any of these budz, you’re probably most concerned with lookin’ good. And nothing says six-pack like zippers and chains.
Update: As it turns out, the zip ‘buds concept was in fact not born in New Jersey, but rather in Carlsbad, CA about a year ago. Those appropriately named Zipbuds are still currently in line for a patent, hence the copycat ‘buds above. Hit up the coverage link below to see the original version.
Ecko Zip earbuds pump tunes through a functioning zipper, let you drop your fly in public originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re surmising that Bose has at least one other thing on the docket for its September 15th press event, but for those who still think Bluetooth headsets are must-have accessories… well, this guy ought to be hitting store shelves soon. The BT2 just passed through the FCC’s database, showcasing a left ear placement and letting us know that it’ll be “powered by a rechargeable, non-replaceable lithium-ion polymer battery.” We’re guessing it’ll be priced accordingly (read: incomprehensibly out of reach for most), and will have precisely zero specifications printed on the box. But hey — would you really expect anything else? Stay tuned.
Bose BT2 Bluetooth headset cruises through the FCC, unsurprisingly mum on specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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To the joy and delight of babysitters everywhere, Sony announced a boatload of new noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds to keep you sane in loud situations. Leading the pack are the $200, on-ear active / passive MDR-NC200D headphones, which have a 40mm drivers in each ear, 22-hour battery and folding design. For $150, users wanting portability can cop the smaller in-ear MDR-NC100Ds, which have a lower price tag and 13.5mm drivers. Both headphones feature Sony’s “Artificial Intelligence Noise-Cancelling” technology, which claims to automatically reduce ambient noise by around 98.2 percent — because you know, precision matters.
Also launching today are two new smartphone headsets — the $40 in-ear DR-EX14VP and the $60 DR-XB23VP earbuds — with connectivity to Android, iPhone and BlackBerry phones, as well as Sony Ericsson, Nokia and other phones thanks to an included compatibility cord. Pulling up the rear are the new iPhone control headsets — the $60 DR-XB22iP in-ear silicone hybrids, the $40 DR-EX61iP earbuds and the $150 “over-the-head” DR-ZX701iP. Currently accepting pre-orders, the headphones will be available for purchase sometime in October — just in time to tune out the doorbell this Halloween. Check out the full PR after the break.
Sony launches party pack of noise-cancelling headphones, your personal discotheque awaits originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Do you like to do things and listen to music while you’re doing them? Me too! We have so much in common! Maybe you should try these C5 in-ear headphones from Bowers & Wilkins. They’re great for listening while doing. More »
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. More »
Budwrap wraps buds
Budwrap isn’t an insulating collar to protect your delicate office-worker’s hands from your chilled can of watery beer, although it could presumably be used as such. No, Budwrap is a silicon bracelet around which you can securely wrap your cellphone’s earbuds.
Designed by Mark Williams, a high school teacher from Texas, the Budwrap was inspired by two things he saw students doing every day: wearing rubber bracelets and wearing earbuds. The band sits on your wrist and has two ears which wrap over and provide open-sided tunnels into which the earbuds themselves are slotted. Then you wrap the cord gently around the band (the edges are raised to keep it from slipping off) and the jack socket has its own hole to keep it safe.
Because the Budwrap is sized for Apple’s white earbuds, the holes are in all the right places. What’s more, it turns out that your wrist (or the notionally perfect Budwrap wrist) is the same size as the iPhone 4. Or at least it also wraps around the iPhone, longwise, so you don’t have to wear this on your arm.
Mark is soliciting funding from Kickstarter, where a pledge of $15 will get you a black Budwrap “sent directly to your doorstep.” More colors will appear once the project is successful.
Budwrap product page [Budwrap. Thanks, Mark!]
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Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’re giving your ears some love with a plethora of headphones that will keep you rocking around campus — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!
Whether you’re dubstepping, duck walking or just plain sprinting to and from classes, you may want to add a soundtrack to your campus travels with some slick new headphones. Although, with so many choices and styles it can be a bit overwhelming to find a set that’s right for you. Luckily, we’re here to help! Don’t forget to enter our giveaway as well if you want a shot at winning your own set B&W’s brand spankin’ new C5 in-ears — not to mention more than $3,000 worth of gadgets that are sure to induce an extreme case of Gadget Acquisition Syndrome!
You’ll find some of our own recommendations just past the break, and another chance to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and click on over to our giveaway page for all the details.
Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: headphones
Engadget’s back to school guide 2011: headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hello, and welcome to yet another installment of Engadget Laboratories. This time around we’re taking a pseudo scientific look at sub-$100 earbuds. We’ve all been caught out, headphoneless, and desperate to put some tunes in our ears. So, the question is, what exactly do you get for your money when you stumble into a Best Buy and pick up whatever happens to be hanging on the shelves? Clearly you’re trading convenience for selection when you shuffle into a big box shop for your audio needs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should just grab the cheapest thing hanging by the register, or the most expensive for that matter. We randomly selected four sets of phones, at four different price points, and put it to a group of average Joes and Janes to see if they could actually tell the difference between a $100 pair of buds and a $10 pair (while blindfolded and trapped inside a booth).
Continue reading Big box earbuds put to a blind ‘taste’ test in the Engadget Labs
Big box earbuds put to a blind ‘taste’ test in the Engadget Labs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You probably don’t think “top-tier audio” when you ponder the wonders of Colorado Springs, but sure enough, one of music’s best kept secrets is headquartered there, camped out slyly in quite the nondescript building. A few months back, we were granted unprecedented access to Westone’s lair (just a year and change after visiting Klipsch’s HQ), and they even let a film crew in for good measure. The goal? To show you, the budding audiophile, exactly how a set of custom in-ear monitors are crafted, and what kind of work goes into creating one of the planet’s most diminutive speaker arrangements. We’ve whipped up the entire experience there in the video above, but if you’re looking for a more textual perspective, head on past the break.
Westone lab tour: how in-ear monitors are made, from impressions to impressing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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