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Klipsch issues first on-ear headphones, Image S5i Rugged and bargain Image S3 earbuds
It's been awhile since we sashayed through Klipsch's world headquarters back in December of last year, but the company certainly hasn't let off of the pedal. Today at IFA, it managed to introduce no fewer than three new headphones, including the outfit's very first on-ear set. The Image One was built to bring Klipsch's signature sound to folks who'd prefer cans over 'buds, and it's also amongst the first to have an Apple-centric mic and three-button remote for controlling music playback on iPods, iPads and iPhones. Travelers will be pleased to hear that the ear cups fold flat for portability, but you'll need $149.99 to call 'em yours when they ship this November. Moving on, there's the Image S5i Rugged (shown above) -- essentially, you're looking at the same sound quality we lauded last year, but with a rugged slant. These feature the aforesaid three-button remote / mic as well as a "safety case" that touts a built-in flashlight. We're expecting a demonstration of their toughness at IFA tomorrow, but in the meanwhile you can start sacking away $129.99 for their November debut. Finally, the October-bound Image S3 is the company's new low-end set, priced at just $49.99 but still shipping with a trio of oval ear tips, a carrying case and a choice of gray, red, pink or green hues. The full presser is after the break, if you're into that type of thing. %Gallery-101306%
Panasonic's RP-HC700 headphones cancel a whole lotta noise
We can't say they're the most stylish noise cancelling headphones we've ever seen (far from it, actually), but Panasonic's RP-HC700 sure do cancel out an awful lot of unwanted sine waves. In fact, these retro-inspired cans nix 95 percent of surrounding noise, and they'll also ship in both black and white hues for somewhat obvious reasons. Other specs include 40mm drivers, a 10Hz to 30kHz frequency range and 15 hours of noise cancelling with a single AAA battery. If you're into keeping tunes in while keeping -- well, everything else -- out, you'll need to free yourself of ¥20,000 ($237) next month.
Bose intros IE2, MIE2 and MIE2i in-ear headphones, only charges an arm for 'em
In an obvious non-Bose move, the company has just outed a trio of products that actually seem reasonably priced. Of course, it's not like the outfit is suddenly catering to the low-end market, but those willing to pay a Benjamin or so for a decent set of 'buds now have three more to consider. The IE2 has been engineered for portable media players, while the MIE2 and MIE2i are both designed to handle calls and tunes. The latter, as you'd surmise, is designed specifically to control a range of iDevices, though the whole group ships with StayHear tips that supposedly stay lodged for longer regardless of activity. Curiously, none of these offer noise cancelling or sound isolating technologies, and naturally, Bose isn't handing over any of those pesky specification details. The IE2 is expected on store shelves on August 23rd for $99.95, while the MIE2 ships on the same date for $30 more; as for the MIE2i, that one will surface in October for $129.95.
Razer serves up shockingly green Orca headphones, envy comes free
At first glance, you may think you're eying Razer's Carcharias above. And in many ways, the new Orca ($59.99 / €59.99) is exactly like its perceived predecessor, thought two prominent differences set 'em apart. For one, there's no microphone arm on the Orca, so those who like to chat it up while deathmatching should look elsewhere. Secondly, the Orca is green. Really green. It's also designed for on-the-go use, with a shorter, standard braided cable accompanied by a two-meter extension cord. Internally, you'll find 40mm drivers with neodymium magnets, a 15 - 21,000Hz claimed frequency response and a conventional 3.5mm headphone plug. We'd encourage you to look for these later this month, but with a paint job like this, just glancing around aimlessly should do the trick. %Gallery-99165%
Earbud packaging so cute, you can almost hear it
In-ear headphones, like underwear, present a problem to vendors and consumers: there's no good way to try them out before you buy them, without sharing unsavory parts of your body with others by proxy. So what do packaging designers -- the only ones who can do an effective job of selling you things you can't test drive -- do? One of three things, generally: they keep it boring (Etymotic, Sennheiser, COBY), hit you over the head with xtreme street grafix (Skullcandy, WESC) or they get creative. Panasonic's RP-HJE 130 earbuds exist only in award-winning-designer-concept-land, but we can guarantee you our moms would just flip if they saw them on the shelf at Target, and they'd probably end up in our Christmas stockings no matter what they sounded like. Now can someone out there please make some disposable earbud sheaths for us, for demo's sake? Like those things the doctor sticks on the in-ear thermometer? Thanks in advance.
Blackbox i10 noise cancelling earbuds tap into iPod / iPhone dock connector for power, pleasure
Oh, sure -- you've got at least 893.1 options (at last count, anyway) when it comes to noise cancelling headphones for your iDevice, but do any of those plug directly into the dock connector instead of requiring a separate battery? Exactly. That's the claim to fame for Blackbox's i10, a new set of earbuds that rely on power from your iPod or iPhone in order to achieve that active noise cancelling action that the youngsters are so crazy about these days. According to the company, these will filter out 92 percent of background noise using Phitek Systems' ANR technology, and the inline remote makes it easy to adjust volume and the like. They're available today for £79.99 ($123) over in the UK, but only heaven knows when they'll mosey over to North America. [Thanks, Sharmee]
Jaybird's SB2 Sportsband Bluetooth headset ain't afraid of no rainbow
Not wasting any time on trumping the original, are we Jaybird? Just a scant five months and change after introducing the eye-pleasing SB1 Sportsband Bluetooth headphones, along comes the SB2 for those who just like to live life on the vivacious side. In fact, the SB2 isn't all that different than the SB1 in terms of features, but if you're scouting a set with a little lot more flair, you'll find these available in nine fresh colors: Limonade Green, Sonic Blue, Orange Crush, Runner's Red, Toffee Apple Red, Midnight Black, Polar Blue, PowderPuff Pink and -- drum roll, please -- Snow White. You should know, however, that these also ship with apt-X onboard, which is said to "clean up" your jams while adding depth, bass and treble, and if your BT device has apt-X (or if you use an apt-X enabling BT adapter), these guys can kick it up a notch further with "CD quality output." Best of all, these are still priced at $99, making the toughest decision of all which hue to pick.
WWDC 2010: Square's first steps
Square has already made a big splash with its launch -- the company, founded by Jim McKelvey, Jack Dorsey (formerly of Twitter), and Tristan O'Tierney, has created a system for accepting credit card payments through the iPhone. After a lot of secrecy and hype, the app launched on the iPad a while back. While the Square Reader (a little doohickey you can plug in the headphone port of an iOS device to swipe credit cards in) is still hard to find, we got one directly from O'Tierney himself at WWDC last week. It wasn't free -- he charged us a buck for it (and for the privilege of seeing a demo), taken by swiping my card through the reader, having me sign on the touchscreen, and emailing me a receipt in a process that was quick and painless. Well, mostly painless -- you have to hand it to a company whose demo is dependent on you giving them a buck. But I guess O'Tierney paid me back with his time -- you'll find an interview after the link below in which he tells me the weirdest use of the reader he's seen, what their biggest fraud issue has been so far, and what the company plans to do next.
Beautiful retro handset base for the iPhone
It's the weekend, which seems like the perfect time for a groovy retro item like this one. The iRetrofone is a handset base for the iPhone that brings an old-school aesthetic to your new-school touchscreen cell phone. We've seen cool handsets before, but this one goes all the way. Any iPhone can sit firmly in that space where the rotary dial would be, you can pick up a dialer app from the App Store, and then there's room for the dock to get plugged in, and the handset itself plugs into the headphone jack. "But Mike," you may say, "there's no actual value to that. All it does is make the slim and trim iPhone into a bulky mass of resin." And you'd be right. But the shape of that bulky mass of resin happens to bring back some excellent memories for me, of cradling a handset while chatting with friends and family, and hanging the phone back up when it had fallen off the hook, and carrying the base with me while pacing during an important call. While the item on Etsy is now sold out, if it was there, $15 would be a small price to I'd happily pay* to revisit those memories. [via TDW] Update: Whoops, $15 is the shipping -- the handset is $195, which seems much more reasonable for a custom-shaped piece of resin wired and ready to go. That's not such a small price, but the memories are still powerful.
Psyko Audio finally ships outre 5.1 surround sound headset
Psyko Audio, remember those guys? No? Can't say we blame ya -- after all, they first introduced these very headphones at CES in 2009, and we're just now seeing the first sets ship to consumers in North America. We're just as curious as you as to what caused a nearly 1.5 year delay, but hey, if you've been longing for 5.1 channels of audio in a package that requires nothing more than a source and your dome, we suspect you'll be in the "better late than never" camp. And yeah, the company is indeed charging a borderline insane $299.99 for these, but considering that said outlay buys you an "unfair advantage over the competition through precise 3D sound that drastically heightens awareness of your gaming surroundings," it's fairly easy to justify. Oh, and the public humiliation that'll come with wearing these outside of your basement is on the house. Huzzah! Update: So, we found out that these have been slipping out in limited quantities since last August to those who pre-ordered, but the flood gates have just now opened up.
Jays aims for long-term comfort with stylish t-Jays earbuds
We heard that Jays was gearing up to ship a baker's half-dozen of new headphones this year, and we've got to say -- the t-Jays ain't a bad way to get things rolling. Designed with a "warm and wide soundstage," these 'buds boast an angled sound chamber optimized for delivering deep bass, and Jays proclaims that these might be the best earphones yet for extended listening sessions. They can be worn over the ear or straight in, and the cord has been designed to sit closer to the body in order to reduce burden placed on the ear. As with some of the outfit's other offerings, these too will ship in One, Two or Three flavors -- each will boast the same speaker size, but the frequency response and amount of bundled extras increases with each level. They'll be lookin' to take on Sleek Audio's SA1 and Klipsch's Image S4 when they land in May for $79, $89 and $99 in order of mention. [Thanks, Tommy]
Sleek Audio's SA7 earphones withstand 14,000 Gs of acceleration, dent your wallet accordingly
Do you find yourself whipping about earbuds like boleadoras when you're bored? Here's a pair that can take your abuse. The long-awaited successor to Sleek Audio's famous SA6 'phones -- dubbed the SA7 -- have the same adjustable bass / treble ports and removable cords of their predecessor, but in a case machined from solid aluminum with a carbon fiber shell and titanium screws. Inside, the drivers are cushioned by shock-absorbing silicone that lets them take a 14,000 G beating, which Wikipedia tells us is roughly the same rating as a navigation chip inside an artillery round. The company told Popular Science the SA7's thin aluminum shell lets listeners hear a whole extra octave; if that tempts you, you'll only have to cough up $400 and change (plus an extra $100 for a wireless Kleer kit) for the privilege. Update: Sleek Audio pinged us to say that the SA6 is still hanging around; the SA7 is simply the new flagship. It'll be shipping at some point in 2010 -- we'll keep you posted.
Klipsch's black / white Image S4i and S4 earbuds filtering out to stores
We told you they'd be coming (as we discovered during our tour of Klipsch's Indianapolis campus), and now those deliciously black / white colored Image S4 and Image S4i earbuds are finally making their way out to the general populace. Vann's already has the Image S4 in white up for pre-order, while Apple stores are set to receive their Image S4i (includes an in-line microphone for iPhone yappin') any day now. The former will sell for $79 while the latter demands an extra Jackson, but it's safe to say that either will put Apple's own white earbuds to shame. %Gallery-86496%
Klipsch Image X10i iPhone-friendly earbud impressions
We let you in on one of Klipsch's little secrets when we revealed the Image X10i to the world back in December, and now that the company's highest-end iPhone-friendly earbuds will be shipping en masse within a month, we figured we'd grab a set and let you know if they were indeed worth their weight in gold (or just $349.99, really). The X10 has sat atop the company's most recent lineup of earbuds for awhile now, and with the raging success of the S4i came a stellar idea: add the same iPod / iPhone remote to the flagship set of 'buds. The X10i is just that -- a set of X10 earbuds with the iPhone remote that we highlighted in our S4i review. Needless to say, the X10i isn't aimed at the budget-minded listener, but we were most curious to see if these really were worth the $250 leap from the aforementioned S4i. Read on to peek our conclusion. %Gallery-84384%
Sony's noise-canceling earphones US-bound in February
You didn't have to wait until now to pick up Sony's MDR-NC300D noise-canceling earphones -- after all, they've been imported from Japan since their June debut. Still, now that the 'buds are hitting official status US routes in February, it'll be a heck of a lot easier to make that impulse buy. No price mentioned, but expect at least a few Benjamins to automatically eject from your wallet.
Found Footage: Bose headphones grafted onto Apple inline remote
Our buddies over at Engadget turned us on to this short video, in which modder Freddy Deeble created a sonic hybrid -- a pair of Bose headphones using an Apple inline remote. If you're handy with a pair of wire cutters, a small screwdriver, and a soldering iron, then you can mimic how Mr. Deeble achieved the best of both worlds with his little mod. Not only does he get better audio quality from the over-the-ear Bose 'phones than he would from a standard pair of Apple earbuds or in-ear headphones, but he also gets to keep that sweet little inline "squeezably soft" remote. TUAW, of course, takes no responsibility for any damage you may cause to your Bose headphones, your Apple earbuds with remote, or yourself if you do this. And your warranties? Consider 'em gone... Enjoy the video, and stay safe, kids.
Exclusive: Klipsch introduces iPhone-friendly Image X10i and black / white S4i and S4 earbuds
We recently had the opportunity to tour Klipsch's headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, and while we're currently working up a walk-through showing off gobs of behind the scenes footage from the design lab and quality assurance facilities, we gathered two particularly juicy tidbits that simply couldn't wait. The outfit informed us that since the Image S4i earbuds have been such a success, it will soon be adding its three-button iPhone microphone / remote to the top-of-the-line Image X10, and as you may expect, the resulting product will go by the name Image X10i. They'll officially debut in the same gold and black motif at CES, and they should ship to consumers in early 2010 for $349 (while the original X10 will remain at $349). The other discovery was that the hot-selling S4i earbuds (which we tested out a few months ago) will soon be shipping in a fresh color scheme (black and white, as seen above) and with the same metal tin that the S4 currently ships with. This is actually the first third-party headphone set with an integrated Made for iPhone remote / microphone that Cupertino has agreed to sell in white, and we can safely say that this two-tone look will probably have the Apple zealots drooling. Everything else about the $99 set remains the same as the standard S4i (including the cable material, electronics and price), and while we couldn't confirm, we'd say that chances are high for future color options to sneak out in the S4 / S4i range. Check out the new wares in the gallery below. Update: The S4 earbuds will also ship in the black and white color scheme pictured above. %Gallery-80628%
Sleek Audio SA1 (and Kleer W-1) earbud impressions
Sleek Audio has been trumpeting its "tunable acoustics" for years now, but up until the advent of the SA1, most every set of customizable earbuds from the outfit was only in the realm of feasibility for those with a copious amount of disposable income. Beyond that, the company was one of the few utilizing Kleer's wireless technology in order to cut the cable between your ears and your media player, but again, the lofty price tag acted as a serious barrier to entry. Enter the SA1, which serves as Sleek's first mainstream 'buds that fall well within the "impulse buy" region for anyone on the hunt for a mid-range set. These just started shipping a few weeks back for $79.99, and if the Siam rosewood body didn't turn you on already, maybe the litany of ear tip choices and promise of audiophile quality in a sub-$100 package will. Hop on past the break to see how we felt about our most intimate moments with the SA1 (and the optional Kleer W-1 wireless dongle). %Gallery-80260%
Ask Engadget: Best headset / microphone for podcasting?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Marcus, who's looking to hook himself up with a solid USB headset / microphone for Skype calling, podcasting and just generally having a royally great time. "I've found myself using my PC for a lot of conversations lately, and I'm also considering recording a podcast to share with anyone who will listen. There are tons of USB headset / microphones out there, and I'm hoping someone has some solid recommendations based on experience. I'll consider both headsets and standalone mics, by the way, but I'd like to keep the bill under $100 if possible. Help!" To be completely honest, we're still trying to determine for ourselves which device is best for these kinds of activities. If you've found a diamond in the proverbial rough, spill it in comments below, won'tcha?
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. %Gallery-77847% Show full PR text 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.
