Hasta La Gadget!

Laird Hamilton is as tech savvy as surfers get, using jet skis, kites and hydrofoils to have more fun on the waves. Here are his first experiences with waterproof music, and his discovery of H2O Audio earphones and iPod cases:

The thing about the water is that a lot of times you have other people out so having music to listen to is a way to block out people’s questions. Kidding aside, it’s one way to be in your own little world.

I use music in my regimen when it involves anything with long distances—if I’m doing a really long crossing, or something that’s going to take me a while, music is a good distraction. It’s a way to kinda let time go by.

Then I found that surfing with the right song creates a whole other situation that you don’t have when you’re not listening to the music. It’s almost like you use a different part of your brain than you normally would without music. Sometimes I feel like things slow down, and I have more time to do maneuvers and to observe what’s happening. (I’m not sure if there’s any scientific research on that.)

Obviously, when waves are at 80 feet and our lives are on the line, we’re not listening to music. We need to hear what’s going on and, being put in a demanding situation, we need to be able to communicate. But we do it a lot on our foil boards—those hydrofoil boards that we ride—and again, with the right song, it’s a little bit like a movie with a soundtrack. Music just really turns it into a whole different experience.

Before H2O Audio and the iPod, we had music. We were hungry in the early days, so we had the Walkman. They made a little case for a Walkman, with some earphones. We’ve been using music in surfing and paddling since it first became available in any form.

Laird Hamilton has been a surfing hero since the 1980s, solidifying his reputation as the king of big wave surfing when he conquered Tahiti’s Teahupo’o Reef at its most perilous in August 2000. As an innovator, he pioneered many new activities including kitesurfing, tow-in surfing and hydrofoil boarding. He’s on the board of directors at H2O Audio, makers of pro-level waterproof iPhone and iPod cases, and has his own signature line of Surge waterproof earphones, proceeds of which are donated to the Beautiful Son foundation for autism education.

You knew somebody would do it, and now you’re just downtrodden that said somebody isn’t you. Yes friends, the gadget you see above really is a pair of working headphones with coconut halves for earcups. We already got word that Dave Chappelle’s crack-infused twin fully approves, but we’re still waiting for Dr. Dre to give us the all-clear before we deem them “street credible.”

[Via MAKE]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Coconut headphone mod makes us long for Kokomo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The suits in Cupertino already confirmed the existence of a proprietary chip in the new iPod shuffle headphones, but if you’re squarely in the tin foil hat crowd, we’ve got one more shred of evidence to win you over. iLuv’s newest adapter, the iEA15, outrightly asserts that it is “equipped with a remote control chip provided by Apple, Inc.,” but it’s the functionality of said adapter that has our interest piqued. Rather than settling for a set of VoiceOver-capable earbuds that you aren’t really fond of, this here go-between enables any headphones with a 3.5 millimeter jack to connect with (and control) Apple’s newest shuffle. Moreover, it’ll play nice with the iPhone family as well, and the built in microphone enables you to handle a call without ever removing your ‘buds. The frightening part is that no price and release date have been set, which probably means iLuv’s lobbying to get that Made for iPod tax down in order to not charge $50 for this thing.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

iLuv’s iEA15 adapter lets any headphones work with VoiceOver, iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today, Shure announced a new line of “professional” headphones. The
good news for you: They aren’t any more expensive, really, than the
company’s mid-level earphones for consumers. The SRH240, the SRH440, and the
SRH840 are, respectively, $75, $125, and $250 list–which means they’ll cost even less in stores.

Shure is definitely taking aim at the home studio crowd, but there’s no
reason folks with iPods who prefer headphones to earphones can’t check
out the new line. If the headphones are anything like a typical Shure
earphone pair, you can look forward to a generally flat response with a touch of extra bass response, but nothing booming.

We’ll be checking out some of the new headphones at PCMag.com in the near future, so stay tuned for our reviews. All three pairs will be available this summer and will come with a two-year warranty.

CNET has some choice words for the $4,500 Woo Audio WES amplifier and the $2,410 Stax SR-007Mk2 headphone combo — namely, it’s the world’s best headphone sound money can buy. Far be it for us to argue, but given the steep cost of entry, we’ll also be hard pressed to find out for ourselves. Needless to say, only the purest of audiophiles need apply — we’ll be sticking to working out our mixtapes with aurally subpar three-figure ear pieces, thank you very much.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

The $6,910 “best” headphone sound system: how can you afford your audiophile lifestyle? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments