Headphone News

Now that Shure have released their E500PTH Noise Isolating earphones the reviews have started to come in and they’re overwhelmingly positive.

Eric Benderoff of the Chicago Tribune loves the ‘phones and has no doubt that they’re worth the costly $500 recommended price. In common with the other reviews, the sound quality of the E500PTH really blew Eric away as well as the excellent noise-isolating capabilities and comfort. Eric’s only problem is with the bundled Push-To-Hear accessory, a clunky in-line attachment that allows you to mute your music and listen to external sounds with-out removing the earbuds. According to Benderoff “It’s a silly idea and poorly executed”.

PC World have compared the E500PTH to two other “iPod replacement” earphones, the Sennheiser MX 55 VC Street and the Creative’s Zen Aurvana. Unsurprisingly, the Shure earphones are the pick of the bunch (I should hope so, they’re five times the price of the Creative and more than twelve times the price of the Sennheiser’s!) with their sound again particularly impressing.

Finally, iLounge are again hugely impressed by the sound quality of the Shure E500PTH, going so far as to say that “Shure has delivered the ultimate in-canal earphone at a better price than its competitors - a very highly recommended offering that is too expensive for many iPod users to afford, but deserves to be worthy of their lust in the meanwhile”.

Their only real complaint about the headphones is the styling and I can understand their point. It’s a pity Shure didn’t put as much effort into choosing a color (brown, in this case) as they clearly have in creating a great sound.

Related Link: Shure headphones iHeadphones are the leading Shure headphones dealer in the UK, with the best possible pricing and service available

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Anyone who is concerned about not being able to hear the traffic while cycling and listening to music can forget their worries with the Slipstreamz cycling earphones.

These earphones place the buds on the outside of the ear so that you can hear that truck about to slam into you while relaxing to your favorite classical music.

They attach to the straps of your cycle helmet and even work as ear warmers and wind deflectors on those cold days.

The Slipstreamz are available in the UK priced only £7.50 at iWorld. For that price, I wouldn’t expect great sound quality, but you’re hardly going to need it with all that traffic noise…

[Found via Gear Live]

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iLounge have a first look at Logitech’s new noise canceling headphones, the snappily named Logitech Noise Canceling Headphones. I hope someone in marketing got a promotion for thinking up that name…

These noise canceling headphones use a similar technique to the Bose QuietComfort 3 phones to attempt to cancel out ambient noise although the effectiveness of this technique is debatable.

The Logitech cans come with all of the features you expect for a decent set of headphones including an adjustable headband, airplane adaptor and a pretty snazzy case.

These headphones will be available soon priced $150.

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Shiny Shiny have a review of the Plantronics Pulsar Bluetooth headphones and they seem very happy with them.

The Plantronics Pulsar are designed to operate with both your mobile phone and portable music player allow you to seamlessly make and receive calls while listening to music. For example, if someone calls you while you’re rocking out to a bit of Metalica, the Pulsar will inform you via a tone and allow you to accept, mute, change the volume and end the call all from the controls on the earphone. Even better, once you end the call, the Pulsar will turn the music back on. Brilliant!

According to Shiny Shiny, this all works really well although they did have some difficulties pairing the headphones with certain mobile phones, probably due to incompatibilities in the Bluetooth connections.

Interestingly, the headphones also seemed to send the iPod volume display crazy when you use a cell phone to make calls.

Despite these issues, Shiny Shiny still seem impressed by the headphones and at only £75, I can’t say I blame them.

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Sony have announced a new mobile phone headset, the Sony DR-BT10CX.

This headset will pair with any Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to allow you to listen to your music and make phone calls wirelessly. Well, sort of, there’s still wires between the headphones and the Bluetooth receiver but no direct link to the phone.

As is usual with wireless headsets, the DR-BT10CX requires a separate power source and includes a Lithium-Ion battery which Sony claim will provide 11 hours of communication time or around 100 hours on stand-by. The headset will also ship with a handy charging dock.

There are no details on the price or release date yet but there’s some more info (including the user manual) on the FCC site.

[Found via MobileWhack]

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Grado have broken from their tradition of high-end audiophile headphones by aiming their latest headphones, the unfortunately (but somewhat predictably) named iGrado, squarely at the iPod market.

Grado are describing these ‘phones as “the high-end sound in the low-end market” and by using the same driver as the respected SR60 they should offer excellent sound quality for the price.

As usual, Grado have come up with an unique design that some will undoubtedly hate although they should appeal to fans of retro gear.

The iGrado will be released in America at the beginning of September priced at $49.

[found via Hi-Fi Blog]

Related Link: Grado Headphones iHeadphones are the leading supplier of Grado headphones in the UK as well as stocking a huge range of other qulaity brands

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For those that want a look a little bit different than the standard “iPod white” earphones, Sega have introduced the Mu-Bot earphones. These extremely quirky ‘phones are shaped like an earphone version of Marvin the Paranoid Android from the new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie and will certainly get you noticed.

The Mu-Bot’s arms are actually standard earphones with the cable retracting back into the Musical Robot’s (geddit?) body and the whole thing can either be worn around your neck or clipped to your belt.

At the moment they appear to be only available in Japan but if they’re a success I’m sure they’ll be available in the rest of the world soon enough.

[found via Infinite Loop]

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Here’s another option for people who want to listen to music on the go but don’t want to wear headphones, the Gro Boom Bag.

The Boom Bag is a bag, but with a built in full range speaker and rechargeable battery that allows you to connect your iPod and listen to music on the go.

The bag is fully waterproof, so will protect your iPod (and anything else you choose to carry) in even the heaviest downpour.

At the moment it’s only a prototype but Gro are looking for a partner to fully develop the idea.

[found via Gizmodo]

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A New Zealand consumer group are the latest to warn about the dangers of headphone use.

As usual they warn that playing loud music for prolonged periods of time can damage the listeners hearing and they even go so far as to declare it “future epidemic”. They also warn that that it can be a slow process:

“The biggest problem with noise exposure is it is slow and insidious - it doesn’t happen suddenly.”

If you’re worried about hearing damage, one possibility is to convert to noise-isolating earphones. These fit directly into your ear-canal and block out a large percentage of external noise making it possible to hear music clearer at lower volumes. Examples of noise-isolating earphones include the budget Fatman Fatfones and the slightly more expensive Jays d-Jays.

Look after your ears, you only get one pair!

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TrustedReviews have reviewed the Creative Zen Aurvana noise isolating headphones and they’ve given them a lowly 4 out of 10.

They’re disappointed in a few parts of the Aurvana including the cable length and earbud fit but the poor sound quality is the biggest issue.

“I’ve heard better bass from single driver headphones – let alone dual. And although the bass was there, it didn’t have the accuracy that the Shure e4c’s have… But the most disappointing problem was a distinct lack of mid-range and over emphasis of the upper end. It was actually painful to listen to Alison Goldfrapp of Goldfrapp, as every sibilant sound pierced through my head like a needle. Cymbals and snare drums were also especially difficult to listen to.”

Basically, it appears these phones are decent but not worth the £70 Creative are asking for them.

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