Headphone News

Looking to leverage their successful in-ear Zen Aurvana headphones, Creative are introducing the new Aurvana DJ Headphones.

Aimed mainly at home DJs though with an eye on the portable music player market, Creative have gone for fairly high-spec components including oxygen-free copper cabling and gold-plated plugs. They also boast Creative’s X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio system which, as these things tend to, promises all sorts of amazing stuff.

The headphones also have a few nice design touches with the single sided-cable and 180 degree rubber-grip swiveling earcups showing their DJ credentials. Looks wise, the Aurvana DJ headphones sport a nice brushed metal look on the earcups with the headband looking thick and capable of handing some rough use.

Available in Singapore only at the moment priced at around $170, expect to see these heading to the rest of the world fairly soon.

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Just in time for Christmas, Creative have added to their headphones range with the release of the Creative SE2300 Wireless Headphones.

The clip-on Bluetooth headphones support both A2DP and AVRCP profiles allowing you full control over any compatible devices (audio players or cellphones) directly from the earpiece. If you don’t already have a Bluetooth-enabled device then the SE2300 come bundled with a Bluetooth adaptor that connects into any standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Offering a not too impressive 8 hours of battery life, these ‘phones can be charged via the supplied AC or USB power adapter.

Available now priced at around $99.

[Found via MobileWhack.com]

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Australian newspaper The Age have a quick round up of four headphones that anyone thinking of getting a set of headphones as a last minute Christmas present should check out.

First up is the Skullcandy Skullcrushers which are awarded a lowly 2 out of 5 due to their overwhelming (and over-vibrating) bass. Slightly better are the Sennheiser MX90VC receiving 3.5 out of 5 but much worse are the Creative SL3100 which only get 1 out of 5.

Finally, and best of all, are the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 recieving 4 out of 5. The Age were impressed by the noise-canceling technology on these ‘phones but feel the comfort let them down.

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There’s an interesting article on the San Francisco Chronicle website listing four headphones you should avoid:

• Sennheiser OMX 52 Street: Bad design wrecks sound quality (3.7 out of 10)
• Creative CB2530: Poor sound, battery life and wireless performance (4.3 out of 10)
• RadioShack 2.4 GHz Wireless Stereo: Lack of features and particularly uncomfortable to wear (4.7 out of 10)
• Saitek A-350 Bluetooth: Uncomfortable, poor battery life and frequent Bluetooth dropouts (5 out of 10)

What really makes these reviews surprising is the brands involved. In particular, it shows even manufacturers with an excellent reputation like Sennheiser can get it really wrong.

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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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