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Etymotic specializes in putting inexpensive moving coil drivers inside noise-isolating buds that can, as an optional upgrade, be individually molded via the company’s international “Custom-fit” program. Previous models have been iDevice only, at least in terms of their microphone function and button controls, but the new mc2 should also get along happily with Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, WebOS and Symbian smartphones and tablets. It’s due for release by the end of the week for $99, which will buy you noise isolation up to a claimed market-beating 42dB, 8mm (0.3-inch) dual-magnet neodymium drivers, an all-important mic and an assortment of ear tips — Custom-fit costs extra, and substantially so. Listen carefully and you might just hear the PR after the break squeaking for your attention.

Continue reading $99 Etymotic mc2 earbuds claim market-beating noise isolation, full platform ambivalence

$99 Etymotic mc2 earbuds claim market-beating noise isolation, full platform ambivalence originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Behold Final Audio Design’s latest high-end earphones: the Piano Forte X-VII Series. Each of the four models that comprise the series features a large neodymium magnet driver, nestled inside a rigid metal housing made of alloy powder and natural resin, designed to minimize bad vibrations. The driver is a hefty 16 mm in diameter, and boasts roughly three times the surface area of your garden variety earphones, resulting in enhanced low frequency soundscapes. Final Audio Design also added a proprietary pressure ring to each model’s diaphragm (to ward off sound artifacts), as well as special pressure vents (to optimize air pressure around the diaphragm). Internal air pressure, on the other hand, is kept in check thanks to the X-VIII Series’ metallic earpads, which allegedly allow your ear to naturally adjust to any barometric shifts. Each of the four models comes in a unique metallic housing, reportedly capable of delivering different audio blends. But they all share one important characteristic — they’re really expensive. At the high end of the price spectrum are the X-G and X-CC models, which will put you back some ¥220,000 ($2,668). Bargain hunters, meanwhile, will have to settle for the VIII, priced at a slightly less obscene ¥80,000 ($970). Granted, these earphones may very well warrant that kind of cash and scientific hyperbole, though it’s certainly difficult to gauge their value without taking them out for a spin ourselves.

Final Audio Design’s Piano Forte earphones promise concert hall sound at bank-breaking prices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Often, we see CGI rendering of concepts that look just like real products. Urbanears’ Bagis headphones are the opposite: a real product that looks like a computer mockup.

The optical illusion is no doubt helped by the Bagis’ single-color construction. Made from rubber, every part is the same shade of whatever garish color you choose. Some may say they look cheap, but I like the look, and if you live in Eastern Europe you could set off your sense of Ostalgie by buying a pair in drab gray or olive green.

Fancy colors are nice and all, but the Bagis (that’s a horrible name, by the way, a cross between “bag” and “haggis”) also have a neat trick: the earbuds snap together like Lego bricks. One ‘bud is male, the other female, and they join together to keep your cord from tangling when not in use. This also provides a quick visual (and tactile) reference as to which is left and right, something tricky to determine with many earbuds.

Finally, like all Urbanears cans, the Bagis have an in-line remote and a mic for making calls. The Bagis are available now, for $30.

Bagis product page [Urbanears. Thanks, Valerie!]

See Also:

• UrbanEars Medis Cling to Ears Like Spiderman
• Big Urbanears Headphones Good for Sharing, Traveling
• Marshall Headphones (Probably) Go to 11

Active noise cancellation’s the secret sauce that keeps us counting sheep even when surrounded by the cacophony of crying babies and the dull roar of jet engines — though we often find the bulky form factor of those serenity-inducing cans unwieldy. Luckily for us, Pioneer has released its SE-NC31C-K noise-cancellation earbuds that promise to remove 90 percent of ambient noise at the flip of a switch on its AAA battery-powered in-line module — all for around a hundred bucks, which is a far more palatable price than its sound-suppressing brethren from Sennheiser ($320) and Sony ($415). Should you run out of juice, fear not, for you can bypass the noise cancellation features to listen to your tunage as you would with a garden variety set of buds. Given its (relatively) bargain-basement price, we aren’t sure how well Pioneer’s latest nullifies ambient noise, but there’s only one way to find out if they can give the best headset ever made a run for its money. Should you not share our skepticism, hit the source link and grab a pair for yourself.

Pioneer’s SE-NC31C-K noise-cancelling earbuds are cheap, but are they effective? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Love sleeping with earbuds in? Hate setting your smartphone in its alarm dock before you go to bed? The folks at Thanko have unveiled a little something called EARINALM which may be right up your alley. The premise is pretty straightforward: it’s a set of earbuds that contains an alarm clock, stopwatch, and a calendar. The package includes a USB adapter of charging. Yours now for a mere ¥2,980, or roughly $35. The As Seen On TV infomercials practically write themselves.

Earbud / alarm clock takes the comfort out of sleeping originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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