Monster's blingy totally wireless headphones finally about to ship
Monster will soon start shipping its AirLinks Elements and AirLinks iSport, its two new totally wireless headphones.
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The AirLink Elements are now scheduled to ship in February after a year delay.
Last year at CES, Monster announced its AirLinks Elements, saying its truly wireless earphones fashion accessory was "inspired by the natural perfection, clarity and brilliance of diamonds, Earth's most precious gemstone." They were supposed to ship last April. They didn't. Now Monster says they'll be hitting stores in February with the lower price of $250, with no word yet on international pricing.
That wasn't the only AirLinks news at CES this year. Monster also showed the new sweat- and water-resistant AirLinks iSport ($200). Those earphones are scheduled to ship around March.
Battery life for both models is rated at 4 hours with the included charging case providing two additional charges.
Also, Monster says it's offering a special insurance policy with both models -- if you lose one of your earbuds, the company will replace it. When you buy the earphones, Monster says you can register them and then pay $20 for a replacement within one year. It's unclear what happens after the year passes.
Both new AirLinks have MonsterTalk, a voice control function powered by Speak Music's AI music assistant, Melody. Monster says you can tell your headphones what music to play, ask for a particular song, artist, genre or playlist and more, with quick access to iHeartRadio, Spotify Premium, Tidal (including support for Tidal HiFi, Tidal's lossless CD quality service), NPR news briefs, as well as iTunes local music. Double-tapping the right-side earbud opens Siri or your phone's internal voice control platform.
I'll let you know how the new earphones sound -- and fit -- as soon as I get my hands on samples.
The Monster AirLinks iSport ($200).
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