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headphones posts

Ears-on with Sony Ericsson MH907 Motion Activated Headphones

by Richard Lai posted Nov 4th 2009 @ 3:57PM

What we have here today isn't just another pair of ordinary headphones: Sony Ericsson's MH907s are button-free, minimalistic headphones that activate upon the magical touch of your skin. Well, your ears to be precise. You must bear in mind that the MH907s are exclusive to Fast port-equipped Sony Ericsson phones thus excluding the forthcoming XPERIA X10 -- so chances are you're already not interested. That said, we shall see if Sony Ericsson is really going to change things forever with these gleaming buds featuring SE's SensMe Control technology, or by just stopping everyone from using their 3.5mm headphone jacks. Read on to find out how these €39 ($57) headphones fared.

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

by Darren Murph posted Aug 17th 2009 @ 8:03AM

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.

Nokia's Bluetooth BH-905 is 'the best headset ever made'

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 2nd 2009 @ 6:26AM

Pretty strong words from Nokia calling its new BH-905 headset "the best headset ever made." The claim comes as a result of a partnership with Wolfson Microelectronics to add its 10-microphone "feed-forward" active noise-cancellation technology to the headset -- 8 mics for capturing background noise, 2 for your voice. The headset can connect wirelessly over Bluetooth or via a selection of plugs for your home stereo, MP3 player, or airplane jack. It also features high-performance speakers with stainless steel audio controls on one can, phone controls on the other. They'll hit globally in August for a steep pre-tax price of €285 / $403. Hey, that's not bad for the best ever.

Gallery: Nokia's Bluetooth BH-905 is 'the best headset ever made'

[Thanks, Stephen R.]

Read -- Announcement
Read -- Microsite with video

NTT DoCoMo's spatial audio tech provides superhuman hearing

by Darren Murph posted May 11th 2009 @ 9:06AM

Upon first read, we were inclined to believe that the words gracing our eyes here simply couldn't be true. But then we realized that this is NTT DoCoMo, and beyond the realm of feasibility is where this company resides. In a beautiful attempt to provide superhuman-like hearing to all Earthlings, the company has developed a highly efficient mobile spatial audio transmission technology that enables "a mobile phone user to assign a spatial position to each sound source when listening to multiple sound sources, such as during a game or a conference call." Put simply, the tech allows a user listening with headphones to "hear each speaker's voice as if it were coming from a unique direction, creating a virtual face-to-face communication environment." We're not told specifically how many voices the average bird can hear before it becomes too overwhelming, but we'll go out on a limb here and say three or four, max.

Jabra HALO hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 3rd 2009 @ 2:41AM

Finding awesome stereo Bluetooth hardware is challenging. There are a few good reasons for that: one, you've got to somehow pack a battery inside the headset itself, two, you've got radio circuitry in there, and three, it's all got to last a bunch of hours between charges. We're not saying that Jabra's just-announced HALO is for everyone, but it's an awfully interesting product -- probably one of the best A2DP sets we've seen -- and unlike most on-ear sets, it folds small enough to carry with you pretty much everywhere you go. The jury's out on audio quality and fit until we get our hands on an actual review unit (they're showing some pretty loose pre-production prototypes at CTIA) but considering how the HALO looks and works, we're cautiously stoked that this is going to end up being one of the better multimedia accessories of the year.

Gallery: Jabra HALO hands-on

Nokia shows off song-inspired Bluetooth headset designs

by Donald Melanson posted Mar 25th 2009 @ 4:53PM

It didn't exactly cause that big a stir when it was first announced, but it looks like Nokia's Music Almighty headset design competition still managed to attract a respectable 6,000 entrants, and Nokia is now showing off the five winners that have been manufactured as fully-functional, one-off headsets. The hook of the contest is that all of the headsets had to be inspired by a song, which expectedly drew a whole range of designs from the stylish Daft Punk "Robot Rock" set above to feat of subtlety that is the R. Kelly "I Believe I Can Fly" headset after the break. Hit up the link below to check out the remaining winners, including not one but two Michael Jackson-inspired sets, and look for the whole lot to make their way to the Nokia Regent Street Flagship store in London next month.

[Via Core77]

Continue reading Nokia shows off song-inspired Bluetooth headset designs

SRS TruMedia brings "5.1" surround sound to your cellphone... again

by Darren Murph posted Jan 20th 2009 @ 10:16AM

Ah, nothing like preying on the forgetfulness of the human brain. Nearly a full year after SRS Labs outed its SRS CS Headphone technology -- which supposedly takes 2-channel audio and creates the effect of surround sound -- the company is introducing a solution that sounds mighty similar, just with more channels. TruMedia, as it's so affectionately dubbed, is expected to make mobile phones, PMPs, Bluetooth headphones and "gaming consoles" (saywha?) emit "engaging, theater-like 5.1 surround sound" when multichannel video content is viewed. Kind of sounds like drawing blood from a stone to us, but who knows, maybe six bona fide channels of audio really can flow from a single set of earbuds.

Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic bundled with Shure SE210 earphones in Hong Kong

by Darren Murph posted Dec 19th 2008 @ 1:19PM

As you can probably tell from the naming convention used on Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic, this here phone was designed with music playback in mind. Shocking, we know. That being the case, we're not surprised to see this here Nokia / Shure bundle surface in Hong Kong, and honestly, we're a little surprised it took this long. The special edition kit will come packaged with one handset and one set of Shure SE210 earphones, and it's expected to go on sale today for around $620. Too bad you'll have to jet to Hong Kong and drop by the currency conversion joint to actually snag one.

[Via The Nokia 5800 Blog]

Confirmed: T-Mobile G1 has no 3.5mm headphone jack

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 23rd 2008 @ 1:18PM

Hey, that's pretty awesome that Amazon's thrown together an MP3 store app for the G1, isn't it? What would be even cooler still, though, is if you could actually listen to those tracks without a crazy dongle hanging off your phone. Like many recent HTCs (Touch HD notably excepted), the G1 eschews a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for its proprietary ExtUSB connector, meaning you'll need custom headphones or an adapter to plug in your own. What's worse, the adapter won't be available immediately at launch, just a bundled headset. Why, HTC? Why?

Nokia to early N96 buyers: no phone yet, so here's a headset

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 21st 2008 @ 3:43PM

Here's a little Espoo humor for you: offer a crazy-expensive limited edition of the N96, make buyers think they'll be getting it early, and when they don't, ship them stereo Bluetooth headphones as a consolation prize which -- wait for it -- you need a phone (like that unshipped N96, for example) to use. Whatever, we suppose it's better than getting a cold shoulder, but the silver BH-503s getting shipped to at least some of the Face The Task buyers sure aren't a substitute for the real deal.

Motorola "Jay-Z" Bluetooth headphones hit the FCC, branches on the ugly tree

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 18th 2008 @ 11:52PM

Hmm, Hov, you may want to check the fine print on whatever deal you've got with Moto, because these Jay-Z-branded MOTOROKR S7-HD Bluetooth headset aren't exactly big pimpin' -- and compared to Dre's big ol' cans, they look downright sad. Of course, the FCC's legendarily nasty product photography isnt helping here, but even A2DP stereo support and the integrated mic can't salvage this mess -- was this really worth unretiring for?

[Via Crave]

Philips launches SHB9000 Bluetooth headset

by Paul Miller posted Jan 6th 2008 @ 5:19PM

Philips's claim that its new SHB9000 headset offers the best-ever music and conversation quality from a Bluetooth headset might be a bit optimistic, but it's their PR, so we'll let 'em say what they want. The over-the-ear headphones offer native MP3 decoding for loss-less streaming, 40mm neodymium speakers and can automatically switch between calls and music. There's a digital signal processor to filter out background noise and echo when on the phone, and you can connect to your phone wirelessly or via a provided cord. We're not quite sure what the difference in SKUs is, but Philips is offering this one in the Spring for $99 and $129 "respectively."

Nokia goes retro with new wired headsets

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 6th 2007 @ 2:42PM

Perhaps the sleeper of this week's announcements out of Nokia's aptly named Nokia World event, the WH-600 and WH-700 headsets kick it old school by eschewing Bluetooth for good, old-fashioned, reliable wires. They've got all the bases covered, too: the WH-600 goes on the ear while the WH-700 is a traditional bud style, offering three different cup sizes in the box. Both can be used for music and calls alike -- obviously -- and include 3.5mm jack adapters for use with any ol' music player you like. Get them both starting in January; €65 (about $96) for the WH-600 and €50 (about $74) for the buds.

MadCatz announces iPhone-compatible AirDrives headphones

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 1st 2007 @ 12:32PM

MadCatz may be best known for its video game accessories, but it looks like the company isn't about to let the iPhone bandwagon pass it by, with it now announcing that it'll soon release an iPhone-compatible version of its AirDrives "interactive headphones." Helping the phones earn that distinction, it seems, is their use of MadCatz's trademark InAir technology, which lets wearers still hear what's going on around them. New to the iPhone-friendly model (that's the non-iPhone version up above) is an integrated microphone, and the always-useful one-touch music-to-phone capability. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from using them with something other than an iPhone, although if you don't need the headset functionality, you may want to opt for the standard $100 models, as these'll drive a slight premium of $120 when they're released early next year.

V-MODA re-ups Vibe Duo headset for iPhone with music control

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 2nd 2007 @ 12:33PM

Anyone who's been repeatedly reaching for a iPod remote control clipped to their wardrobe while using their iPhone -- only to discover that it doesn't exist -- will be delighted to hear that V-MODA has revamped its Vibe Duo headset to add integrated music control. The control button, which seems to be positioned and operated the same way as the one on the iPhone's bundled headset, can be used to fiddle with calls as well as tunes. It's not quite the four or five button set we'd like to be able to track forward, back, play, pause, and change volume, but considering that the iPhone lacks a control socket beside its jack, we'll take what we can get. Get the updated 'phones now for the same $99 as the original.