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Motorhead Motorheadphones rock hard, feel soft in hands-on

We've tested Motorhead's gnarly-lookin' Motorheadphones ahead of their UK launch. Read on for photos and first impressions.

Luke Westaway
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
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Thanks to Dr Dre and the Beats brigade, musician-endorsed headphones are no longer a novelty, but I still didn't expect to see grimy hard rockers Motorhead slapping their snarling logo onto a set of cans. That's exactly what's happening however, and I've gone hands (and ears) on with Lemmy and pals' upcoming headphones, ahead of a UK launch in October.

Three sets of on-ear headphones and two in-ear headphones will be adorning the bonces of greasy rockers, all of which sit under the now-obvious 'Motorheadphones' branding.

I tested out the 'Iron Fist' over-ear headphones, which are set to cost about €110-120 (about £87-95), and found that despite the amp-inspired, gnarly appearance, they were surprisingly soft once positioned on my lugs.

The buzzing throng of the IFA tech trade show is hardly the ideal place to test headphones, but my first impressions were pretty positive. I pumped out a little rock music and found the sound to be pretty brash, with what sounded like some extra focus on the bits of the sound spectrum where you'd normally find trashy guitar sounds.

The headphones are light, but that's because they're built mostly of plastic, rather than surely-more-appropriate metal. They felt quite sturdy despite this, though.

The Bomber, set to cost about €99 (£78) is a smaller on-ear set, while at the top of the range there's the more expensive Motorizer, which will set you back roughly €149 (£118). Unfortunately the high-end option wasn't available to try out, though I can tell you they look very similar to the Iron Fist set pictured above.

Meanwhile slightly-more-subtle in-ear options can be had for about €40 (roughly £32) -- dubbed the 'Trigger' and 'Overkill', both sets are styled to look like bullets and come in three colours. The only significant difference between the two is that the Overkill set comes with a built-in microphone, while the Trigger doesn't.

While they're certainly not cheap, I'm pleased that these headphones aren't as expensive as some other endorsed headphones out there. They've been built by Swedish-based Krusell, a company best known for making phone cases.

Let's wait and see how they sound in a more controlled environment -- in the meantime ogle these ostentatious ear-ornaments in the photos above, and let me know what you think in the comments or on our Facebook wall.

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Meet the Iron Fist headphones. Iron Fist headphones, meet the CNET UK readers.
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As you can see, they're pretty massive.
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This is a smaller set, called the 'Bomber'.
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Another pic of the Bombers. There's a top-of-the-range set called the Motorizer too, if you're feeling flush.
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Ace of Spades is now playing in your head.
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In-ear options are also available.
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The in-ear headphones come in three colours, and there are sets with and without built-in microphones.

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