Marshall Major 50 FX 50th anniversary headphones hope to pack ’50 years of loud’ into a pair of cans

Veteran audio manufacturer Marshall’s new headphones are vintage through and through.

Lately, headlines have been bulging with news of new products fretted with frills. That’s all well and good, but the audiophile in us is pleased to see sound quality take center stage every now and then. The Major 50 FX 50th anniversary headphones from Marshall sport a vintage black & gold finish, but the company hasn’t hung around for fifty years by dint of their designs. Their ‘phones tend to sound solid and these should be no different.

The new/old model is an update of the original Marshall Major . The update, however, appears aesthetic in nature. It’s clear there isn’t much ground being broken here, but with their trademark heavy sound and vinyl-clad, retro design, the Major 50 Fx model is shooting for one word – classic.

Ideally suited for guitar-gear addicts, this model features a 40mm moving coil dynamic drivers capable of the  typical  20-20,000 Hz frequency response.  As an added bonus, a remote, mic, and canvas carrying pouch are all included. We mention guitar-gear enthusiasts because Marshall was formed at the behest of Pete Townshend and Richie Blackmore, two men who know a thing or a million about the instrument.

The only thing that gives us a bit of pause here is the price. We expect they’ll  retail for about $150, but the suggested price sits at $170. That’s a little on the pricey side, even for solid performance from on on-ear headphone. Still, you get some nice accessories with your purchase, and 50 years of sound doesn’t come cheap.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Pass the pipe: Urbanears intros their funky Plattan Tweed Edition headphones

Hand-woven tweed headphones are a rarity to say the least, but the Plattan Tweed Edition phones from Urbanears are all about funky style.

When you hear tweed, you probably think of a pipe-smoking Harvard professor circa-1945. Urbanears’ new Plattan Tweed Edition are anachronistic to be sure, but tweed is about  the only thing they have in common with the last century. The funky, ironic phones are equipped with 40 mm handmade drivers, an in-line remote/microphone and a socket on the earpiece so friends can listen in.

We’ve evaluated Urbanears’ products before, and we haven’t been blown away, but this model’s selling point is more style than substance. In other words, audio junkies might be left wanting, but hipsters will swoon over the aesthetic. It’s probably safe to say that we don’t have many tweed connoisseurs in the audience, but in case you were curious, their exterior is constructed of hand-woven harris tweed, made of 100 percent virgin wool. These look comfy for the winter, but on a hot summer day, we don’t know that you’d want to rock a woolen headband.

The phones – which are the third entry in the Urbanears Editions line – also feature a 3.5mm plug and a collapsible design. They’re available now at urbanears.com for $80.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

V-Moda M-100 headphones offer slick features for the urban audiophile with a fancy price tag to match

V-Moda ventures into the tumultuous world of audiophilia with its new M-100 headphones. Armed with dual inputs, a music-sharing cable and the ability to add a boom mic, the M-100 are a bit of a departure from the company's previous offerings. The same can be said for the price, which is set at $300. Expect the M-100 to drop sometime this holiday season.

 

Today,  V-Moda launched their M-100 headphones, which it says were designed by “crowdsourcing” DJ’s, journalists, and consumers. Once the design team had collected enough input, they began working on the headphones with outside recommendations in mind. Still, the company indicates it was never going to stray too far from its roots, as an organization reportedly obsessed with the intricacies of audio.

“Speaker drivers must be carefully quality-controlled like grapes at fine vineyards,” said Val Kolton, Chief Visionary Officer at V-MODA. You know when a company is comparing the crafting of its speaker drivers to the making of fine wines, it’s run by folks who consider themselves real audiophiles. If you’re not one yourself, you may want to skip this high-end offering.

The real question, however, is: do the M-100’s deliver? As part of the Crossfade series, the phones are billed as versatile, durable, and functional. In terms of versatility, the dual inputs are said to allow the phones to serve as an on-the-go mixer, and there’s also the option to add-on a Boom Pro mic if you’re the gaming/podcasting/broadcasting type. As for durability, the V-Moda M-100 come equipped with detachable, kevlar-reinforced cables, and in terms of functionality, the phones feature a SharePlay cable for music sharing without the aid of extra adapters.

The literature for the M-100’s is laden with the phones’ supposed features, but no amount of marketing savvy can make a shoddy pair of cans sound spectacular. When we reviewed the V-Moda Crossfade LP’s, we found the sound quality a bit lackluster but we’ve yet to get our hands on these as of yet, so we’re still in wait-and-see mode. Looks like we may be there for a while too, as  V-Moda is a bit nebulous on release details. The company says only that the Crossfade M-100 will be available this holiday season. They’re priced at $300 and for an extra $10, you can pre-order a pair at V-MODA.com, which will ship with an extra set of personalized shields and a set of Faders VIP Tuned Earplugs for a limited time.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Beats By Dre Releases Pill Bluetooth Speaker and Executive Headphones for Holidays

What do you do when you have 56 percent of the premium headphone market in the U.S.? What do you do when people everywhere are wearing the red wired headphones with the B insignia? You make products, that’s what you do.

Today Beats by Dre is releasing two new products for the holiday season — its Executive noise-canceling headphones and a new portable Bluetooth speaker called the Pill. In 2008, when Beats released its first product, Monster Cable was granted a five year contract to make Beats-branded headphones. These two new products are the first releases for Beats without the Monster partnership.

“This marks our first release as an independent Beats. As we define who we are as a company, the fundamental business of great sound experience and great design stays,” Luke Wood, president and COO of Beats, told ABC News in an interview.

And that’s our first impression of the new products, which will be introduced by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the founders of the company, in New York City today. The Pill is a Bluetooth speaker no bigger than a bottle of shampoo, and it is shaped just like a pill. Yet with four drivers it blasts out some pretty powerful sound. It also has an NFC chip inside so that you can link an NFC-enabled phone, like the Galaxy S 3, with the speaker by just tapping it on the back. (It didn’t work with a Galaxy Nexus, however.) At $199, it costs less than Jawbone’s Jambox, but the sound didn’t seem as full.

If you’re looking for a more private listening experience, there are the new Executive noise-canceling headphones. The $299 headphones are well-made and comfortable to wear; the earpieces are covered in brushed aluminum, and lined inside with hand-stitched leather. Like other Beats headphones, the Executive requires AA batteries, and there is an on/off switch. On a cross country flight the headphones made the background noise of the plane and a crying baby disappear and provided very full sound when we listened to music or watched an episode of “Breaking Bad.”

Both the Pill and the Executive headphones are available today.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

SOL Republic’s college-themed Tracks headphones offer yet another way to showcase your fandom

SOL Republic's latest line of headphones let you represent your school with your ear-gear.

It’s autumn once again, and with the first semester half-over and the college football season in full-swing, school spirit is abound. Headphone-maker SOL Republic is looking to capitalize on this trend with collegiately-customized versions of its Tracks headphones geared for students and alumni alike.

Tracks phones feature an in-line mic, three-button remote and the company’s V10 Sound Engine drivers. The college line comes equipped with a fan-band if you will, as the “track” connecting the stock earpieces is emblazoned with your school’s logo and/or colors. A selection of schools are now available to ship,  offerings include: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Boise State, California Berkeley, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, LSU, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.

Standard Tracks HD cans retail for $130, and the school-specific versions cost the same. We’re evaluating the original Tracks HD’s now and we’ll let you know where they stand. Beyond that, you’ll just need to decide how hard you want to rep your school of choice.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

JAYS of Sweden adds Scandinavian flavor to your headphones, we go ears-on

JAYS of Sweden brings a rare, but welcome Scandinavian approach to personal audio products. The Stockholm-based company offers headphones which along with being well-made, sport an affordable price.

Quite frankly, my only experience with Scandianavian-flavored headphones has been trying out Bang & Olufsen headphones in a store. The goodies from the Danish company are well known for their quality and design, but also come with hefty price tag. In the case of JAYS of Sweden, I got a chance to try out the a-JAYS One+ and the a-JAYS Four. Both headsets are priced slightly above the $50 range, which was enough to get me curious.

The a-JAYS Four earbuds are specifically designed to work with Apple products. Naturally, they do sport a three-button remote control and a built-in microphone for making phone calls.

The a-JAYS Four headphones offer one of the cleanest designs I have encountered. The headset is utilitarian all the way with no unnecessary distractions. A couple of contrasting JAYS signs grace the headset, which comes available in black or white.

a-JAYS Four live photos

Build quality is great. The headphones feature a 5mm wide tangle-free cable and an L-shaped connector, both of which are well made and ready to take plenty of abuse.

There are no complaints on the ergonomics’ side either. At 14 grams, the a-JAYS Four headphones are among the lightest I have used. The retail package includes five different sizes for the ear sleeves, so finding the right fit was not a problem.

And now the most important part – the sound. The a-JAYS Four feature 8.6mm speakers with frequency response ranging between 20 Hz and 21 000 Hz. Sensitivity and impedance are 96dB and 16 Ohms at 1kHz. The headphones produced fine sound with a well-balanced high and mid-range. Bass was good and punchy as well, but we’ve come to expect such a thing from much cheaper headphones.

The a-JAYS One+ on the other hand is an entry-level headset, compatible with any smartphone, sporting a 3.5mm jack. The headphones feature a single-button configuration to go with the built-in microphone.

Design and build quality of the a-JAYS One+ headphones are virtually identical to those of their a-JAYS Four siblings, save for the button configuration. The same goes for the ergonomics and weight – the a-JAYS One+ weigh 14 grams, too.

a-JAYS One+ live shots

In order to make up for the one-button configuration, the a-JAYS One+ headphones come with an optional application for Android smartphones. It allows you to apply custom controls to the music player through the headphones’ only button.

The dedicated Android app

Sound-wise, the a-JAYS One+ is slightly less capable than its Apple-loving sibling. The headphones pack practically the same size speaker, sensitivity and impedance. The frequency response range of 20 Hz – 18 000 Hz however is slightly more limited. The resulting sound is more bass oriented, compared to the one produced by the a-JAYS Four headset.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Sony X headphones backed by Simon Cowell/X Factor

Sony seeks to cash in on the rampant popularity of headphones in the youth market with its own celebrity-backing and prominent promotional placement.

Plenty have jumped on the bandwagon that Beats Audio  has been towing for the last couple of years, but few have posed much of a challenge to the company’s strong popularity among younger listeners. Now Sony has entered the picture.  

Sony Electronics has just announced the Sony X headphones and, based on the marketing material we’ve seen, it is throwing some serious money behind the project. The electronics giant courted Simon Cowell for an endorsement and, along with him, the ridiculously popular reality TV talent show, X Factor. 

Seen American Idol lately? Beats headphones are all over that. Watch America’s Got Talent much? Chances are you’ve seen Monster and Nick Cannon’s NCredible headphones. Now you can expect to see a whole lot of the Sony X during X Factor.

It’s a little obnoxious, but celebrity endorsements and shameless product placements during prime-time TV seem to work and we don’t see any reason to be surprised by Sony’s decision. After all, Sony used to be a huge consumer headphone brand back in the 80s. Now that headphones are super-popular again, it make sense for Sony to make a power-play. 

Cowell gives the headphones some pretty positive lip-service: “I chose to make a set of headphones with Sony because I simply wanted something better than what is in the market today,” said Cowell.  “I’ve tried all of them, literally every single one. Sony and I set out to create the best headphone in the world.  We are absolutely blown away by these. With the X headphones, it’s like being in the recording studio when the records are made. The sound is that clear.”

But that’s what marketers said about Beats by Dr. Dre and we know from experience that the endorsement doesn’t always pan out to be accurate. We’ll find out for ourselves when we get our hands on a pair. For now, we’ll just have to admire the swagger-infused headphones from a distance. 

As for details on the Sony X: you get all the bling you’d expect from a Beats competitor, along with a fold-down design, case and accessories, in-line microphone and iOS device control, 50mm drivers for head-bursting bass and some generous padding to keep the music in and outside noise out. 

The Sony X will sell at Sony stores starting September 15th for $300 and at retailers nationwide by the end of the month. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com