headphones

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Analyst: Instagram will be big moneymaker for Facebook.

- NY Senator drafts bill to make ticket scalping at benefit concerts illegal.

- The most expensive, useless, awesome 3D-printed object ever.

- Home invasion plot foiled by Xbox 360.… Read more

Lucky me -- I get to play with lots of headphones, but I sometimes wonder if they're all made in the same factory, and their mostly plastic construction, similar features, and designs feel interchangeable. So when CNET's David Carnoy put the Meze 88 Classics in my hands I was intrigued. The beautifully finished, hand-carved ebony wood ear cups gave a high-end sheen to the design, and a quick audition proved the 88 Classics' beauty was more than skin deep.

Build quality is a step up from what you get with Beats by Dr. Dre 'phones, and I liked … Read more

An apparent shell company has filed a $3 million patent infringement lawsuit against Apple for including headphones with its iPhones.

A company called Intelligent Smart Phones Concepts sued Apple last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Apple infringed on U.S. Patent No. 7,373,182. The abstract for "Wireless Mobile Phone Including a Headset" describes an interface that allows a removable headset "to receive at least telephony audio signals from the phone, and to provide audio signals to the phone."

Art included with the patent application and … Read more

Amazon's Gold Box feature is a catch-all page for the retailer's daily deals, and Cyber Monday gives music lovers the opportunity to grab a pair of the site's best-selling headphones at a seriously generous discount:

The Klipsh Image X10 are an older model, but still well worth the $84.99 price tag (76% off retail). CNET reviewed this one as well as its updated sibling that includes an in-line remote and microphone for calls, but their exceptionally clear and balanced audio response with passive sound isolation and superslim earpieces make a great sidekick to your music player. … Read more

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Ideally, they'd have built-in earbuds. And now they do, thanks to Sanpei Optics.

Sanpei uses fancy lingo like "audio-adaptable glasses" and "hinged temple bar design eyewear" to describe its new product, but it's really pretty simple. The glasses look like regular shades, but you can slide the included earbuds into a dock at the end of each arm, pop the securely fixed 'buds into your ears, and connect to your smartphone or other mobile device right from your glasses.

Getting the glasses to fit just so depends on adjusting the aforementioned patented hinged temple bar (tilt it down for a tighter fit, up for a looser feel). That took some fumbling when I first got my hands on a pair of these, but once I'd angled the arms right, the polarized glasses felt lightweight and comfortable. The earbuds rested at a slightly strange angle when attached to the shades, but I'm still not sure if I need to further fiddle with the dock and three sizes of included silicone earbud tips -- or if, like my former CNET colleague Jasmine France, I'm just weird-eared. … Read more

Frankly, I was a little disappointed when I first unboxed the new ALO Pan Am tube headphone amp. It looked so cute and tiny; how could it possibly deliver the goods? The dainty 4.6-inch-by-3.8-inch footprint makes it easy to place anywhere. The amp's rear end houses three inputs: stereo RCA and 3.5mm analog inputs and a USB connection. The built-in digital-to-analog converter accommodates up to 24-bit/96-kHz audio. The amp is available in anodized silver or black finishes.

I started listening with my trusty Grado RS-1 headphones and loved the clarity. The Pan Am has the … Read more

With most speakers or headphones, you're stuck with the designer's sound, but with the Logitech UE Personal Reference Monitors (PRM) you get to play headphone designer and dial in exactly the sound you want.

Each pair is totally unique; they're built with the individually designed equalization curves you selected. My PRMs sound absolutely amazing, but I'm a little biased, I designed them to please my ears! Every PRM buyer will do the same, and if they totally screw up and hate the result, Ultimate Ears will give them another try. Each PRM set is handmade in UE's facilities in California.

The price for this level of customization doesn't come cheap, though; the Personal Reference Monitors sell for $1,999. That's extreme, but so are $285,000 luxury cars. I cover the full gamut of audio, from affordable to the craziest expensive gear. … Read more

Apple has cooked up a design for headphones that can also serve as external loudspeakers.

A patent filed today with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describes a "dual-mode headphone" that could deliver sound whether you wear them around your ears or place them on a surface, according to Patently Apple.

The headphones would include circuitry to detect their position. They'd sense when they're around or near your ears so that you're not blown away by the sound.

A built-in amplifier would pipe up the audio to deliver higher output when the headphones are … Read more

I'm a lucky guy, I've heard most of the world's very best headphones: Sennheiser's HD 800 and their legendary Orpheus, the Audeze LCD 2 and 3, the Stax SR-007 ($2,600), SR-009 ($5,200), and now I'm spending quality time with Hifiman's flagship HE-6 planar magnetic headphones. I've long admired Hifiman's designs, starting with their very first model, the HE-5 back in 2009. The HE-6 looks nearly identical to Hifiman's current HE-4, HE-400, HE-5LE, and HE-500 headphones, but the HE-6 is heavier (502 grams), and it feels like it's built … Read more