Let's Talk Tech
Good things come in small packages, especially if you’re an audio nut. Cambridge Audio‘s solution here is formidable, especially for those looking for the highest quality audio playback in a manageable form factor.
Shop the DacMagic XS on Amazon
Since 2004, V-Moda has been offering up high quality audio solutions with stylish design. The Crossfade M-100’s follow in this tradition, and come with the handy trick of modular cabling, making them one of the more flexible solutions on the market. Let’s take a look!
V-Moda Crossfade M-100, BoomPro, and CoilPro on Amazon.
V-Moda Site
Working in voice over, I know Sennheiser from their mics, and I think they make fantastic recording solutions. I don’t actually have a lot of experience with their various headphones, but my all time favorite pair of studio monitors are their HD25’s.
I was stoked to try out some of their consumer solutions on the show floor, and even used the built int headset mic on the Momentum to record the audio for this video. Spoiler: I was very impressed with the sound of that little mic…
Blue Microphones is enjoying something of a tech re-branding. From traditional recording solutions, to USB mic powerhouse. Now they’re tackling mobility.
Details are slim, and this video is barely a tease, but the word at Blue is headphones. Mo-Fi is a move towards higher fidelity mobile audio, and if anyone can shake up a market, Blue can. Considering the EQ tweaks and color Blue uses on their recording kit, their headphones could provide some interesting competition to the current crop of designer ‘phones like Beats By Dre, or the Nokia Purity.
Can we at least give Blue a thumbs up for using the accurate term to describe high quality audio? I’m so happy to see them not fall prey to calling their product “High Definition”. Long live “Fidelity”!
I LOVE audio gear. Speaker reviews. Headphone reviews. They’re all good!
I haven’t tackled a pair of cans for a while, and thankfully I’ve got a MONSTER pair of Nokia cans to check out (see what I did there). One of my first gadget reviews was the wonderful Nokia Bluetooth BH-905’s, and now with the BH-940’s Nokia has added NFC pairing to their wireless headphone formula.
Retailing for around $250, let’s see if this is peanut butter jelly time!
We’re sending off the last generation of consoles with a Youtube giveaway!
We’re giving away an XBox 360, and entering is easy!
You have to do all three, which means you also have to figure out the whole Google Plus comments thing. Sorry. Thems the breaks.
To sweeten the deal, we’re giving away a pair of Plantronics Backbeat Go 2 Bluetooth headphones to a runner up courtesy of AT&T in Southern California! They’ve been stocking some killer accessories lately, and are sharing some goodies to give to you! We’re all feeling generous. We’re cool like that.
We’ll accept entries until Thursday November 14 at 8pm Eastern, when we’ll go live on Youtube to announce a winner and a runner up, so get subscribing, and get commenting!
The ironic thing about most “wireless” earbuds is that while they don’t connect to your phone via a wire, they probably connect to EACH OTHER via some kind of wiring. Kinda betrays the concept when cables get caught behind the neck or on things like scarves…
Well, Greenwing Audio is looking to cut the cord, actually ALL the cords with SPLIT. SPLIT is a standalone music player which uses a low power radio signal and internal clocks to time left ear and right ear buds for playback. Greenwing is estimating radically less power consumption and radiation absorbed by the body that traditional Bluetooth wireless headphones.
Form factor is  about as minimal as you can get, pretty much just the size of a traditional earbud driver. This leaves about zero room for controls, but the SPLIT uses accelerometers to detect bite motions from your jaw to skip tracks and control volume. I’m not sure how SPLIT will determine between “control” bites and  say “eating” bites, but it’s a novel solution for keeping the earbuds as small as possible.
Greenwing has 27 days left to fund its project. Pricing looks like it’ll fall around $150 for a 256MB version of SPLIT. Check out the project video below. These things are teenie…
What we do know, is Dr. Dre and Mr. Iovine are looking to seriously expand the reach of the Beats brand to include more pro gear, speaker systems, in-car audio, and more consumer electronics. Maybe we could see Beats branding on other phones, tablets, and tech like we did back during their HP partnership.
What we don’t know, is why the pair of producers parted ways with HTC. We can speculate that the Beats brand is becoming a vanguard for a new crop of consumer designer audio, developing consumer mind share that rivals companies like Bose. Unfortunately HTC hasn’t been able to boost its own image in the world of smartphones. While delivering critically acclaimed handsets, they still haven’t cracked the consumer nut yet, with sales of their flagship and mid-range phone lagging.
HTC announced the sale should be finished by end of year, and that Beats will still be a valued partner, but we don’t know what this new relationship will resemble. While Beats is a popular brand, HTC has partnered with other audio companies in the past, like Dolby for the HTC Surround.
(via NASDAQ.com, pic via Billboard)