Headphone News

The Zen Aurvana are Creative’s latest pair of noise-isolating headphones using their own AuraSeal technology.

The rather swish looking headset is going for £90 and claims to cut out 90% of background noise by forming a seal around the listener’s ear canal. Luckily for odd-eared people they come with three different sizes of earbuds for the even the largest of ears.

Other features include Creative’s Balanced Armature driver to provide excellent sound quality and a slider to adjust the length of the cables. Also included in the price is a cleaning tool and a handy carry case. Nice.

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Bose have introduced their new QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones.

Similar to the QuietComfort 2, these headphones include noise canceling technology but are smaller and lighter than their predecessors being earpad headphones rather than full “cans”.

Despite the smaller size, Bose claim the sound quality and noise canceling capabilities of the QC3 are just as good as that of their bigger brother’s.

The headphones are due out at the end of the month with a recommended price of $350 but they’re bound to be available cheaper online.

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Here’s one for all the DIY enthusiasts out there, a pair of Do-It-Yourself headphones.

Made by a contributor at instructables.com the headphones are made out of a few wires, a piece of foam and, best of all, the tops off of two bottles.

Why bother spending $500 on a pair of Sennheiser HD600’s when you can make your own from a few bits of junk? I’m sure they sound just as good…

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As if it wasn’t enough vibrating to a passing-by boy racer’s sound systems, now you an vibrate along to your own music.

The RWC iTan ITN-VR10 headphones have a switch that allows you to turn a vibration function on which will cause the headphones to vibrate along with the bass in your music. Great.

They’ll work with any normal 3.5” headphone jack and the battery will give you 15 full hours of vibrating fun (ooh err, missus).

[found via Gadget Spy]

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Here’s something I’ve never seen before, a set of recordable MP3 headphones. The Aiwa UZ-PS128 operate as both headphones and an MP3 player/recorder.

You can get music on the ‘phones using USB and the analog input which allows MP3/WMA/etc. encoding from any external audio source. No more tangled wires either…

Judging by the images they actually look quite nice, though probably a bit “chunky”. Depending on how heavy they turn out to be, they could also provide good neck exercise!

Surely a must have for any gadget-freak.

[Found via Gizmodo]

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As one of the first posts on Headphone News, I thought it might be useful to go into detail of what I think of when I describe the different types of headphones.

There are a number of ways to categorize headphones, but when most people talk about the different types, they generally mean the different ways of wearing ‘phones.

Full size headphones: To me, these are the classic “cans”. Generally big and comfy, they go around the ears giving great sound quality. You don’t see them in the home as often anymore, although some audiophiles swear by them. These ‘phones remain an essential part of any recording studio and seem to be popular among those who want to listen to their iPods while looking like an extra from That 70’s Show.

In-ear headphones: This type of headphone is gaining popularity due to their excellent sound quality and ability to block out external noise. They sit directly in the listener’s ear canal forming a “seal” giving great sound isolation. Like anything, they do have a downside. Some users find them uncomfortable, especially after prolonged use, plus their excellent sound isolation does lead to a detachment from the sounds we are used to, particularly traffic!

Ear pad headphones: Ear pad headphones are quite similar to full sized headphones but are smaller and sit on the ear rather than over it. They tend to have a slightly poorer sound quality than full sized ‘phones but are a lot more portable due to their size. This style of headphones was very popular in the 80’s but lost ground as earphones became more popular. They’re now going through a renaissance, particularly due to the popularity of behind the head or earclip versions.

Earphones: Earphones or earbuds are similar to in-ear headphones except they sit outside the ear canal rather than in it. They’re generally the cheapest type of headphones but often give relatively poor sound quality. They are particularly popular at the moment with the white cabled iPod versions (and their copies) dominating the high street.

Earclip/behind the head headphones: Earclip and behind the head headphones are a bit of an oddity in this list. To be honest, these headphones could be any of the above types but either secured behind the ear or joined at the back of the head. So, for example, ear pad headphones that clip over the ear are now becoming much more popular than traditional over-the-head band headphones. Their popularity is quite recent and they gain a lot of use in the “sport headphones” market.

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Welcome to Headphone News. At the moment it’s a bit empty around here but over the coming days and weeks we’ll be adding all the latest news on headphones and earphones.

Keep on rocking!

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