Even though Dragon Ball is 25 years old, it’s still one of the most popular anime and manga series out there. There are tons of Dragon Ball-themed video games and other merchandising stuff all around the world, but Tokyo-based gourmandise [JP] today announced what seems to be relatively rare: Dragon Ball-inspired gadgets. Their so-called DRAGONBALL HEADPHONE will be available in two versions.
Not too long ago, Devin reviewed the Sleek SA-6 earphones. He gave them a pretty good rating, but one of the issues (at least for me) was that $250 price tag. Well, good news for me (and for you) Sleek has released that SA-1, a lower priced version of the SA-6 that still uses the removable tip system.
The Short Version: A pricey pair of headphones, but an excellent and unique one as well. These headphones offer more punch than the Klipsch X5s and very nearly the level of clarity. If you’re looking for a high-end pair of in-ears, you can’t do much better than this.
The Long Version: As a spoiled blogger and gadget reviewer, I get to test out a lot of headphones. Sometimes I struggle to find the salient differences between one pair and another, especially are both good, as in the case of Logitech’s G35 and the Razer Megalodon. In Sleek Audio’s case, I have no trouble separating them from the pack. The use of switchable components makes these units unique to my knowledge, and allow me to settle this right away: it’s not just a gimmick.
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German headphone manufacturer Ultrasone has announced a new flagship for their HFI line. An open-back pair titled the 2400 with 40mm gold-plated drivers and all sorts of other bells and whistles.
EXCITING TIMES, MY FRIENDS! Meritline just dropped a headphone bomb of awesome-tastic proportions with these – WAIT FOR IT – double-sided earbuds! One side is a cruddy, cheap earbud like you’d find included with a cruddy, cheap MP3 player while the other side is a fancy earbud that goes into the deepest depths of your ear for the ultimate in fancy sound, just like all the cool kids from Party Town, USA get to listen to all the time! Now you can too!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of tech reporting it’s that you should never say Bose makes good products. Bose, like Apple, is a lightning rod for informed and uninformed attacks from both the pro and con camps and to say they do things well – or poorly – is a dangerous proposition. That said, I’m here to tell you that if you travel a lot then you should get the QuietComfort 15 headphones.
I tested these headphones during three long overseas flights. I’ve been a fan of the QuietComforts for a few years now and always wore the QC3s, the smaller version of the original QuietComfort headphones. However, the noise reduction built into the new model is quite staggering. In an airplane cabin turning these headphones on and off shows you how effectual they are. Instead of the steady, buzzing hum of the airplane you hear silence.
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Normally we don’t spend valuable Internet real estate on ordinary headphones, but this new pair from Sony is just so damn sexy. At ¥5,900 ($65 USD) I’m sure the MDR-770LP headphones sound good enough, but that’s not why I dig ‘em.
We (well, I) completely forgot about the BIG Sony Ericsson announcement that went down yesterday. It may have to do with the fact that nobody e-mailed us (well, me) about it, and that the FCC announced its Net Neutrality deal. Be that as it may, we now know, definitively, what Sony Ericsson was on about last week: yes, it’s a pair of headphones that sense when they’re in use. People are dancing in the streets already.
In-ears are the way to go as far as I’m concerned, but there’s still a wide range of quality and styles and lots of companies are getting in on the game. Auvio is a brand I wasn’t aware of, but their Armature headphones, at $80, are an attempt to get a little of that mid-range market. Do they succeed? Partially.
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Pro gamer outfitters SteelSeries have put out a new headset, joining in the USB-audio virtual 7.1 surround battle royale. With extremely good options available already from both Logitech and Razer, the Siberia v2 has its work cut out for it, but SteelSeries makes good gear, so they’ve at least got a fighting chance.
Say what you will about Dr. Dre, but the man is a hip-hop legend. Say what you will about Lady Gaga, but she’s terrible. So you can either consider the fact that “Heartbeats by Lady Gaga” was just announced as one of two things: a callous cash grab, attempting to earn (?) more money while Lady Gaga is still popular, or… no, that’s the only reason these things exist.
Mid- and high-end headphones are everywhere these days. AKG, previously known for recording and broadcast equipment, just added to the bunch by outing a slew of headphones, including these totally acceptable $119 K 340 in-canal buds. I’ve spent some good listening time with them, and I have to say that they are solid performers once you get over the somewhat awkward design.
Don’t you hate pants?! Wait, wrong post intro. Don’t you hate when your headphone wires tangle?! There you go. Behold, a solution!
Sennheiser is a reliable brand for mid-range headphones, which is a good thing because there’s really nothing else to go on here. These new headphones, the HD-428, HD-438, and HD-448 all look fine to me, but there’s only so much you can say without actually hearing them. The press release says the 448 offers a “lifelike sound experience,” the 438 a “natural sound signature” and the 428 a “powerful bass response.” May as well say one is dashing, the next handsome, and the third fetching! I mean, if you wanted to get all Jane Austen up in here.
I don’t have any info on these headphones besides that they are homemade and awesome. But what info do you really need? It’s not like you’re going to actually make some of these. And I’m guessing that if you have the skill to make these coconut cans with instructions, you can probably figure it out on your own anyway.
Dau Gi Bach via MAKE
JVC knows what’s up. It’s good to see that not every set of headphones outed by A/V companies lately are in-ear models. Over-the-ear cans are not only so much more comfy, but they generally sound better than in-ear ones too. These two new models come to us under the Black Series label – whatever the hell that means.
My, my, what do we have here? Noise-canceling headphones for $8? That’s insanity in a box!
More power to Apple and its legion of accessory makers. Asking people to pay $20 to use your own headphones with an $80 MP3 player is ballsy — brass ballsy. Such is the story of the new iPod shuffle, though, and I’m willing to bet that people will indeed pay for an inline headphone adapter.
Shure has been known for years as a company that makes high-end earphones, but that image might change slightly with these three over-the-models. The cans start out at $199 for the SRH840 Professional Monitoring Headphones designed for reference quality frequency response. The $99 mid-level SRH440 are designed to be more portable with a collapsible design. Lastly are the previously announced $59 SRH240 headphones that are, well, less expensive and likely not nearly as good as its big brothers, but are still probably better than most other options at that price point. The two higher price models are available now from retailers, while the SRH240 should be available shortly.
Photo Gallery by Picturesurf
Razer’s had the Moray headset for some time now, but I never considered it worthwhile since really, it was just a pair of mid-range in-ear headphones. That’s changed a bit now, and I just got a package with a pair of Moray+ headphones in it. What’s the difference? Well, now it’s got an in-line microphone, which I foolishly did not include in the picture I just took. It’s an unobtrusive little band and they say it’s omnidirectional, but we’ll see soon enough.
