Hasta La Gadget!

V-Moda’s been in a vampire swing recently, sinking its design teeth into some True Blood branded headphones. It’s finally seen the light though — one of its existing on-ear headphones, the V-80, has now officially been re-released as the Crossfade M-80. The metal-clad M-80 looks nearly identical to the company’s veteran LP over-ear headphones, but this noise-isolating set is actually 53-percent smaller using 40mm dual-diaphragm drivers (down from 50mm) equalized to 31 points for more versatility across musical genres. There’s memory foam padding on the earcups with an ultra-flexible headband wrapped in suede to keep things comfy, and vents on the swappable faceplates for a wider soundstage. Two kevlar-wrapped cables with a microphone and different in-line controls are included to support most smartphones. When it’s finally time to take them off an included hardshell case will keep ’em safe — though V-Moda claims they can survive over 70 six-foot drops onto concrete. Hot stuff, and thankfully above the collar. The M-80s are available now for $230 from V-Moda — PR with more details after the break.

Continue reading V-Moda remixes headphone lineup with Crossfade M-80 supra-aurals, yours for $230

V-Moda remixes headphone lineup with Crossfade M-80 supra-aurals, yours for $230 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 05:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  V-Moda  | Email this | Comments

Iovine, Chou and Dre. Two of these men just got a lot richer. Photo HTC/Christopher Polk

Cellphone and tablet maker HTC has bought half of the headphone company Beats by Dre. HTC has purportedly paid $300 million for a 51% share of the company. New products integrating “Beats technology” will begin to appear this fall.

And apart from that, we know very little. The almost 500-word long press release rambles on with only a few nuggets of information hidden within the corporate mutterings. It looks like HTC is really only buying Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s brand to be slapped on its cellphones to attract the youth market. The press release all but admits this:

Bringing these two great brands together will create superior mobile music and sound experiences while accelerating HTC’s entry into the youth and accessories markets globally.

Cynicism aside, that may be a very lucrative market. I see way more people on the streets than I would expect wearing the overpriced Monster-manufactured headphones. Given that the cheapest Beats cans go for €180 ($256) over here in Spain, it would seem that the “youth” market has a lot of money to spend.

My best guess is that we’ll see Beats-branded handsets with upmarket headphones, kind of like Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded phones, only cool.

HTC and Beats by Dr. Dre Set to Introduce New Era in Mobile Audio [PR Newswire]

See Also:

• Beats By Dre
• Monster Cable Defends Overpriced Cables: The Short Form
• Should You Pay $120 For A 2 Meter HDMI Cable?
• Monster Phones – Wired

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.

Continue reading Westone lab tour: how in-ear monitors are made, from impressions to impressing (video)

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.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

How seriously is Apple considering the possibility of adding inductive charging to its line of iOS devices? Seriously enough to submit some crudely drawn images to the USPTO, at least. The company’s application for “Using an Audio Cable as an Inductive Charging Coil” surfaced today, featuring some interesting solutions to the problem of inductive charging. The first looks a bit like an iPhone scratching post. It’s a big monolith you wrap an audio cord around several times, effectively turning the cable into an inductive receiving coil. The earphones in the example have a metal mesh that serve as a contact for charging the device.

Another proposed system also puts the earphones to work — though without the need for that giant charging post. Instead the headphones slip into an acoustic charger, which cause their speakers to vibrate, creating a current that charges the device. As ever, just because a patent application surfaces doesn’t mean a final product will ever see the light of day — and these methods (particularly that big charging post) do seem like a long way to go to shave off the precious millimeters that inductive charging traditionally brings. But hey, Apple’s all about the svelte devices, and stranger things have certainly happened.

Apple’s inductive charging patent application finally puts its earbuds to good use originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Patently Apple  |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments

There are two types of people in this world — those who need absolute silence to sleep, and those who need background noise to carry them off to sleepy land. Unfortunately, when these people share a room or, worse yet, a bed, wars can ensue. Sleeping with a pair of headphones on is, at best, uncomfortable. That is, unless you happen to own a pair of Bedphones — or so its creator Eric Dubs claims. These ear-hook style buds are extremely thin and held in place by a length of moldable memory wire. There’s even a Bedphones app that can turn the screen of your Android phone into a giant play/pause button, slowly lower the volume as a timer counts down, or shut off completely when you fall asleep (as determined by how much you move) in “smart mode.” We wouldn’t expect this tiny pair of phones to produce the greatest sound, but they’re probably more than adequate for drifting off to an audiobook or podcast. They’re available at the source link for $30.

Bedphones put tunes in your ears, won’t come between you and your pillow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Bedphones  | Email this | Comments