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Bowers & Wilkins first ever P5 headphones follow the iPod money trail

When you've got the brand cachet of a Bowers & Wilkins, the decision to launch your first-ever headphone will be met head-on with plenty of pre-defined market expectations. But with products spread wide across diverse audio tastes and prices, well, pretty much anything goes. So it's probably no surprise then to find B&W prostrating itself to the dollar with its P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphone. These Made for iPod noise-isolating cans with speech and device control are meant for use far beyond your carefully constructed "critical listening" audio nest at home. You can, however, swap out the iPod cable for the B&W supplied gold-plated cable by popping off the magnetically attached ear pad. Mind you, the P5 does not offer electronic noise cancelation, instead, the listener is isolated through a combination of the P5's closed-back design and sealed leather ear pads. They also bring the promise of "unfatiguing performance" thanks to B&W developed ultra-linear neodynium magnets and Mylar diaphragms. Naturally, we'll reserve judgment until these babies ship sometime in January.
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Bowers & Wilkins headphones hit the streets

Concert for one


Unfatiguing natural sound gets you closer to the music. Noise isolating design for use on the move. Metal an sealed-leather construction maximizes comfort, for life-long listening. Made for iPod®, weith cables supplied for speech and device control.


Bowers & Wilkins is proud to announce its first ever headphone. Designed for use on the move, the P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphone allows people to have Bowers & Wilkins sound quality wherever they are.

Some 45 years of audio experience has gone into the P5; close to five-decades of research into what true sound is. The ultimate aim of all Bowers & Wilkins products is to bring the listener as close as possible to the sound intended by the recording engineers. That is as true of the world-renowned 800 Series speakers used in the likes of Abbey Road Studio, as it is for the best sounding premium iPod® speaker available, Zeppelin. And now it's true for Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones.

Recognizing that many mobile headphones can be tiring when listened to over extended periods, Bowers & Wilkins' engineers at the world-famous Stenying Research Establishment have worked tirelessly to produce a headphone with a natural, unfatiguing performance. The use of specially developed ultra-linear neodymium magnets and highly optimized Mylar diaphragms provide the best possible sound quality. As always, countless hours of critical listening and tuning have played a major part in the P5's natural and engaging performance.

This pristine sound performance is married to design and construction techniques aimed at isolating as much noise as possible, for consumers that do not require full electronic noise cancellation. This isolation is achieved through a combination of the closed-back design featuring a rigid metal faceplate, and the sealed-leather ear pads. These materials not only remove a lot of external noise, providing an enveloping listening experience without completely removing the user's sense of place, they also offer an extremely comfortable user experience. The leather-clad headband has been designed for extreme comfort where it interfaces with the side of the head, while the softest available sheep's leather from New Zealand has been used for the ear pads. Recognizing the dominance of Apple's iPod and iPhone® in the portable media market, the P5 comes supplied with a Made For iPod approved cable, which allows for speech and device control. It also comes supplied with a high-quality, standard audio cable with gold-plated plugs. Switching between the two is facilitated by the magnetically attached ear pads, which simply pop off allowing access to the cable.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini provide the best possible sound from an iPod at home, and now the P5 lets you take that great performance with you wherever you go. Bowers & Wilkins P5 is available from January 2010 To find your nearest Bowers & Wilkins stockist visit www.bowers-wilkins.com.

Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset does Bluetooth and VoIP

Considering that Bluetooth headset makers are now dealing with the harsh realization that consumers don't actually like these things any more, Plantronics -- a staple in the sector -- is hoping to snag some dollars from the unknowing corporate purchasing managers in attendance. The Voyager PRO UC is a dual-mode headset that packs integrated Bluetooth capabilities and ships with a USB dongle that allows softphone conversations (think Skype) to take place on your headset rather than through your laptop's built-in microphone / speaker. Users can even stream audio over it and hear alerts when a VoIP call rings in, and as expected, there's quite a bit of noise nixing technology baked in. The only problem? The $199.95 price tag that'll be affixed to it when it ships later this month.

[Via HotHardware]

Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset review

Finally, the teaser's over. The latest delivery to Engadget's UK penthouse is the Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset due out in the US on 8th November, and we took no time to extract the pebble from the transparent cylinder. In front of us are the two parts of the STONE: an earpiece of a breakthrough form factor that instantly makes you pity its rivals, and behind it is the accompanying portable charging base which serves as an external battery. The latter is equipped with a micro-USB port and an LED indicator -- simply green or red -- to show whether there's enough battery juice for one full charge. It's a pretty neat idea as this is the only feasible way to fit eight hours of talk time (or twelve days of standby time) into such tiny package: two on the earpiece and an extra six from the surprisingly light battery base -- our scale reckons it is just under one ounce. We also dig the auto-off function when you dock the earpiece and vice versa. Docking and undocking are pretty straight forward too: just snap in for the former, and poke your thumb through the bottom hole of the base to push the earpiece out. The generic click button hidden under the Jabra badge is easy to access and responds well. Above that is the invisible vertical touch strip for volume control and similarly it responded nicely to our strokes. What's left on the earpiece are the two LED indicators on the underside for Bluetooth connectivity and battery. So far so good, but what really matters is the ear-on experience and the audio quality -- listen for yourself after the break.

'Unique' Bluetooth banana has truly limited applications

Some products require no explanation. Take this "Unique Banana Shaped Bluetooth Handset," for example -- either you get it or you don't, but no amount of marketing, advertising, or sweet-talking is going to get a skeptic to appreciate its brilliance. If you're still reading this, maybe -- just maybe -- you fall into the "I need this, particularly at just $17.70" camp, and for you, take heart in the knowledge that you can be just 2 to 5 business days away from talking on a simulated piece of fruit that's connected to your phone via Class 2 Bluetooth 2.0. When's the last time you heard "standby time" quoted for a banana, anyway?

[Thanks, Larry]

Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset brings extreme noise blocking, $130 price tag

Okay, so this thing is way more "traditional Bluetooth headset" than "a round object that looks nothing like a Bluetooth headset," but we'll give the marketing team credit -- STONE sure got us looking. Jabra's newest Bluetooth headset has just become official, bringing with it a behind-the-ear design, a wireless portable charger (which doubles as a carrying case) and Noise Blackout Extreme technology to keep things quiet when your yammering. There's also a "nearly invisible touch-controlled volume pad" on the outside of the headset, a battery good for 8 hours of talk time (or 12 days in standby), dual BT pairing support and A2DP compatibility. Unfortunately, you'll have to waltz into an AT&T retail store starting on November 8th to get one, and worse still, you'll walk out $129.99 poorer. But hey, you'll leave Stoned. (Sorry.)

iBike Rider case for iPhone aims at bikers, people with their arms full


The iBike Rider is a wrist-mounted iPhone case designed to give you easy access to your handset as you cruise around town looking for fights. When paired with its heaphone / mouthpiece, you can listen to tunes or accept calls via the headset. Of course, if you actually wanted to place a phone call it's a simple matter of stopping the bike, removing the phone from its case, removing your gloves, and then dialing away. But once you've done all that, jump back on your "hog," look both ways before entering traffic, and you're an Easy Rider once again! This bad boy is also useful for turn-by-turn GPS instructions -- but if you don't know your way to Bass Lake by now, what kind of a Hell's Angel are you? Available now for £34.10 (about $54).

[Via So Easy GPS]

Jabra Stone to bring 'new shape' to Bluetooth headset field


C'mon, cut us some slack here. We're suckers for teasers, and our intuition says that you are too. Jabra, who has definitely done a thing or two for the Bluetooth headset realm, is apparently looking to reveal a "new shape" on October 20th, though it'll only be sold through AT&T (at least initially). Heck, there's even a countdown timer over on the outfit's teaser page for those who'd like to watch every second from now till then tick away, not to mention a brief video that tersely details the forthcoming excellence. So, got any bright ideas about what this thing could be? The second coming of the BT headset? Just another tchotchke?

[Via Electricpig]

Video: BudsGoBlue teaser hints at iPhone 3GS-controlling BT headphones


Itching to command your iPhone 3GS via voice control, yet aren't willing to wrap one more cable around your precious dome? Your wildest dreams could possibly come true next month, when BudsGoBlue launches an iPhone-friendly set of Bluetooth earbuds that should act as headphones and a BT headset. We're hearing that the loops on each earpiece are "completely flexible," and judging by the teaser video hosted up just after the break, they look fairly seductive, too. Hop on down and have a peek for yourself, won't you?

[Via mobilitysite, thanks Toni]

SteelSeries takes another stab at gaming headsets with Siberia v2

We played with the original Siberia headset from SteelSeries, which was specifically designed to emphasize "gaming noises" like grenade pin pulls and footsteps -- but didn't do much good for listening to anything else. The Siberia Headset v2 looks to solve some of that with slightly larger speakers, an enclosed design to reduce ambient noise, improved frequency response and increased volume. There's also a built-in mic now. We took a listen and found the music listening capabilities much improved, especially in the bass end, but still no challenge for "regular" over the ear headphones. Still, serious gamers should get what they need out of the cans, which will be offered in models with and without a USB 7.1 virtual surround soundcard in November. No word on price until then.

We also got a quick look at the new Xai and Kinzu gaming mice. The ambidextrous-friendly nature of the pair is nice, materials are great, and mousing around briefly on a fancy SteelSeries mousepad certainly felt effortless and accurate, but mouse technology is so wild these days it's hard to differentiate one multi-megapixel optical or laser sensor from another -- to these untrained eyes, anyway.

Bluetooth headset use plummets in the US, humanity celebrates a small victory

Join us as we rejoice together: "Finally!" Look, we can't straight up say that Bluetooth headsets don't have their place in this world, but seriously, we've yet to not be freaked out when walking up to someone who's apparently speaking to the ghost we can't see. In a recent survey conducted by the quizzical minds over at Strategy Analytics, they found that only 26 percent of US-based Bluetooth headset owners use their device each and every day. That figure is down from 43 percent in 2008, proving that style may have just notched a minor victory over utility. Of course, the study also found that daily BT headset use was up slightly in Europe, but hey, it takes awhile for these so-called "trends" to float across the pond.

[Image courtesy of eHow, via HotHardware]

Samsung's WEP870 Bluetooth headset comes with earbuds, bundles of joy


Nothing too exhilarating here, but if you're looking for something new to sit atop the peak on your ear, Samsung's got a new trio it'd love for you to consider. The most interesting of the three is undoubtedly the WEP870, which marries a noise-canceling Bluetooth mono headset (with BT music streaming) to a set of earbuds. As with the less thrilling WEP850 and WEP470, this one also features multi-connection technology in order to pair with up to two BT devices at once. The 870 steps things up with an LCD screen to display battery level, call status and BT connection status, while the other two handle calls and little else. All three are available for purchase right now for $89.99 (WEP870), $69.99 (WEP850) and $39.99 (WEP470).

[Via HotHardware]

Creative set to unveil World of Warcraft headgear at BlizzCon

The Creative Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset is quite a mouthful to say, and judging by the teaser image above, it'll be no less flashy to look at. Following in the footsteps of SteelSeries, Creative has put together a customized set of high-end headphones catering specifically to the millions of Warcraftsmen (has anyone used that term before, can we copyright it?) out there, who need comfortable cans for lengthy raiding sessions. They'll come in both wired and wireless flavors, and will be the first to feature THX TruStudio PC sound, which we're willing to bet makes as recognizable a difference as a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the Amazon. BlizzCon kicks off this Friday, so you shouldn't have to wait long to grab a pair of your own.

[Via Far East Gizmos]

Nokia's world-beating BH-905 Bluetooth cans slip into the photo booth

Nokia's BH-905 made some serious waves when it debuted back in early June, but what else would you expect from a product that calls itself "the best headset ever made?" The Bluetooth-equipped cans, along with its ten microphones, supple ear cups and A2DP / AVCRP support, are expected to launch globally next month for around three hundred bones, and the fine folks over at NokNok have already managed to score a pre-release model. Aside from visibly gushing all over themselves, they also note that the cans are far smaller than the original press shots made them seem, giving cautious travelers reason to breath a sigh of relief. Hit the read link for a luxurious hands-on look.

RIM working on Bluetooth watch, other spellbinding accessories?

We're not sure why we didn't hear more about this way back at RIM's WES conference way back in May, but it was apparently mentioned by VP Antoine Boucher at the time that they're working on a Bluetooth-enabled watch. Furthermore, it's said to be more advanced than the models Sony Ericsson has put forth so far, featuring streaming audio (3.5mm jack on the watch, perhaps?) and Twitter / Facebook updates in addition to the usual things like caller ID and text messages. Note that the image floating around today of this thing isn't real -- it's just a Sony Ericsson MBW-100 with a swapped logo -- so it remains to be seen what this magical wrist accessory will look like, assuming it's real and coming to retail. It seems Boucher also mentioned a high-end Bluetooth headset codenamed "Alpha 1" that'll allow you to stream music and get navigation directions through some sort of totally awesome silicone earpiece boasted to possibly be "the best solution on the market." It's pretty hard to pique a lot of interest these days with something as vanilla and ubiquitous as a headset, but at any rate, it's interesting to see the depth of RIM's apparent commitment to the accessory market right now.

[Via techfresh.net]

Razer preys on unsuspecting StarCraft fanboys, teases new mouse, keyboard and headset


We wouldn't go so far as to say that Razer is taking a note from the teasers over at Voodoo, but the gaming accessory outfit is definitely hoping to play on the emotions of anxious StarCraft fanatics. With the long (long!) awaited sequel finally nearing release, Razer has decided to link up with Blizzard in order to develop a new mouse, keyboard and headset designed specifically to cater to future StarCraft II gamers. For now, all we have to go on is the image above and whatever our imagination deems fit for believing, but we suspect all will be revealed when Blizzcon kicks off later this month. You can hardly wait, huh?

[Via HotHardware]
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