Hasta La Gadget!

Skunk Juice. It’s a name that makes me nauseous just to write, and embarrassed to say out loud. But the earbuds that the company makes are actually pretty neat.

They work a lot like the mag-safe connector on a MacBook, only with two sections. Plug the jack into an MP3 player or computer, and plug the earbuds into your ears. The two sections snap together with magnets, letting them break apart when the cord gets tugged. As someone who has killed more than one pair of headphones by snagging them on a passing piece of street-furniture, I can dig this feature.

There’s another side-effect of this magnetic coupling. The termination of the ‘bud section is double-sided, so you can stick and stack more headphones on top. Thus you can snap your headphones onto your buddy’s headphones and share (up to four people can hook up together).

The idea is a good one, but the Skunk Juice earbuds look cheap, and come in at $36 a pair (extra connector sections are $13 apiece). It’s a better solution for sharing than those two-into-one adapters, though.

Skunk Juice product page [Skunk Juice via Macworld]

See Also:

• Powercurl Cord-Winder Makes Magsafe Heatsafe
• DIY Magsafe Connector for Any Notebook
• Lawyer Bait: Replug Invents MagSafe for Jackplugs

The NAMM trade show — also known as the musician’s candy store — is kicking off today out in Anaheim, which means that audio-focused press releases are starting to pour in. Headset and mic manufacturer Shure is beefing up its line with the introduction of three new models — a set of buds plus two cans. On the bud side, the SE 215 slots in predictably beneath the SE315, offering a budget-friendly single driver in your choice of black or fancy translucent casing; it comes in at a retail price of $99, some $100 less than the SE315. Moving to cans, the SRH550DJ (pictured center) is — as the name implies — targeted at DJs with a “super-aural design” for full isolation and a 90-degree swiveling headband for flexible wearing positions; this one will set you back $99 on the store shelf. On the upscale side, the SRH940 is billed as a reference set with a premium padded headband, and you’ll pay for it: it’s $299 at retail. All three models will be available this spring; follow the break for the press releases.

Continue reading Shure adds SE215 buds, cans for DJs and studios alike

Shure adds SE215 buds, cans for DJs and studios alike originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nox Audio’s brought a couple clever concepts to market before, but the Admiral Touch headset is something else — a set of stainless steel and cans with most every high-end feature we can think of, and one in particular that’s never been done before. Yes, that’s a 2.4-inch touchscreen color LCD embedded in the right earcup, running Android 2.1 on an ARM11 chip with 1GB flash storage and 256MB of RAM — on top of a set of noise-canceling, 7.1 virtual surround sound wireless headphones that connect via both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth simultaneously. There’s not much to do with the tiny Android at present, as its only launcher screen holds just four icons that change the headset’s mode, but we’re told it might be hackable later on (there is a microSD slot and a USB cord), and in the meantime it supports touchscreen gesture controls for volume and swapping tracks. Believe it or not, we’ve just started to describe the features, so hit the break for more.

Continue reading Nox Audio Admiral Touch preview: the wireless noise-canceling surround headset with Android 2.1

Nox Audio Admiral Touch preview: the wireless noise-canceling surround headset with Android 2.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We spotted Sleek Audio’s Platinum headphones when we interviewed 50 Cent yesterday, but we followed up with the company to see what more we could find out about the upcoming cans. We were bummed to learn that the only functioning pair at the show were the ones around 50’s neck, but we got a full rundown of the deets from one of Sleek’s reps. First off, these are ‘Wireless Hybrid’ headphones, which means they’ve got Kleer technology built in for 16-bit lossless, cordless streaming, though you can jack in a wire (with inline microphone) if you run out of juice. Each earpiece has music controls — one handles play / pause, the other does volume — and there’s a microUSB charging port as well. We still couldn’t squeeze out a release date, but we’re told that they will probably be somewhere in the $350 to $400 range — whether that includes the Kleer 3.5mm dongle is still unknown, though we’d hope it’s included given that wireless is a standout feature. The company’s promised us a pair as soon as they’re available so we can get some real ears-on, but for now the carbon fiber eye-candy is all yours to enjoy. Bonus shot of the dongle after the break.

Continue reading 50 Cent Platinum headphones by Sleek Audio hands-on

50 Cent Platinum headphones by Sleek Audio hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Ludacris has some big news to announce, where does he go? Why, Gearlog, of course. We met up with the rapper/actor in a posh hotel room in Vegas to discuss Soul, his new line of headphones.

Of course, Ludacris isn’t the first rapper to get his own line of branded headphones–Dre and Puffy already beat him to that one–be he seems pretty sure that his is the best. Soul features five different modes, the High Definition Professional SL300 Powered Noise Cancelling headphone, High Definition On-Ear models SL150 and SL100, and the SE99 and SE49 High Definition In-Ear headphones.

All boast “world class” noise cancellation and audio mixing, according to the company. After the jump, check out our interview with the man himeself.