It's looking like Sennheiser has a trick or two up its sleeve planned for CES this year -- the audio company is about to drop what appears to be the first commercially available pair of standalone wireless earbuds. The MX W1, as the buds are lovingly known, utilize Kleer technology to transmit audio from their dongle (base station?) to your ears. The same technique was used to poorer effect in RCA's S2501 JetStream DAP / earbud combo, which (virtually) lassoed the buds to the less-than-thrilling player. Sennheiser, on the other hand, provides the MX W1's free of a player and ready to be plugged into your unit of choice -- a huge boon for the marketability of this particular product. It should be noted that these appear to be output only, so those looking for a mobile phone solution will have to look elsewhere. Still, for audio enthusiasts fed up with wires, this is likely music to their ears... er, literally.

[Via PC Magazine]

Update: Looks like we've got a price, and it's $600. Zing. Thanks Arief.

Not satisfied with simply unveiling a single set of new earbuds today, Sennheiser decided to roll out four new flavors for your ears' enjoyment. Up first is the CX 400 ($99.95), which touts a short cord ideal for arm-worn MP3 players, but does include a three-foot extension cable for other applications. Upping the ante is the CX 500 ($129.95), which enters as the flagship unit in the Classic lineup and arrives in a trio of colors. The CX 55 Street ($79.95) boasts a bit more bass than the other guys, and the CX 95 Style ($139.95) places its emphasis on lookin' good whilst parked in your ear. The whole lot is slated to be available starting this month, and you can take a peek at photos of the rest after the break.

We first saw Sennheiser's noice-cancelling PXC 450 cans at CES, and while the company missed its March ship date by a couple months, it looks like it was worth the wait -- the first reviews are pretty positive, apart from the price. PC Mag says the sound quality "blows away" its Bose Quiet Comfort rivals, although the low-end is a little exaggerated for audiophile tastes. The Talk Through mic worked as advertised, and even the styling won praise -- rare for a pair of big cans. CNET felt the same way, raving about the crisp high end, excellent noise reduction, and passive operation capability. Overall, it seems like Sennheiser has a winner on its hands -- if it would just do something about that fat $450 price tag.

Read - PC Mag review
Read - CNET review
Read - Pocket-lint review

Audiophile headphone and audio component company Sennheiser announced their new PXC 450 noise cancelling headphones at a little consumer electronics show you might have heard about. Its active noise reduction reportedly allows you to distinguish between the sound of someone speaking to you and the sound of an aircraft, enabling you to have a conversation without actually removing the headphones (although they don't address the social awkwardness of actually putting this into practice, wherein your new best friend in 17F starts shouting at you to be heard over your cans). The closed ear cup comes with plenty of padding and can be collapsed for more convenient storage. Convenience and audiophilia don't come cheap, though -- expect to part with $500 to offend people on planes with these come March.

The handheld conglomerate market must be booming in China, as RAmos is getting in on the action with its very own V100. Similar to all the renditions that came before it, this do-it-all portable renders all sorts of still photos, and plays back MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, and FLAC on the audio side, while playing nice with MPEG3, XviD, and DivX on the video end. For a dash of retro gaming, it supports NES / SNES emulation, as well as "flash games and animations." Powering this sleek machine is a 200MHz Freescale CPU, which is surrounded by a 2.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution LCD, Philips UDA1380TT audio decoder, built-in microphone, dual headphone jacks, an SD slot, and a potent Li-ion cell that reportedly lasts "up to 10 hours." Additionally, RAmos supposedly tosses in a pair of Sennheiser MX500 earbuds to round out the package, and somehow charges just 700 CNY ($89) for the 512MB version, and 800 CNY ($102) for the 1GB edition.

[Via DAPReview]

Sennheiser is set to drop 17 new headphone models (just a sample in that pic above) onto the world's ears next month spread across the new Style, Sport, and Street product lines. A select few of these units like the MX 90 VC (pictured) will flaunt a new twist-to-fit ear securing system which relies upon a small rubber "stopper" you can twist thereby securing the headphone to the outer ear. The Style range of headphones gun for optimum sound quality while remaining stylish and elegant via a "metal look" (and very German) design. The antithesis of the Style range must be the Sport range then, which dishes out a healthy slathering of neon "fresh" green knowing that jockos everywhere secretly long for the color palette of wee little girls. These headphones are designed with max comfort and secure fit in mind and rock regardless of rain, sweat or low temps... making them equally at home for postal delivery. Rounding things out is the Street line-up which conspicuously omits any old-school can designs but are said to be specially designed based on teenager feedback nevertheless. These headphones feature unusual design, secure fit, and practical accessories with plenty of bass for use with both MP3 players and gaming systems. Expect to see all the new skull candy in stores starting next month.

[Thanks, Dan F]