Urbanears Plattan Plus

Part of living in New York means of taking lots of public transportation, and one of my favorite things to see on the subway is 2 friends listening to music out of a single MP3 player. Unfortunately that also means they have to clumsily share a single set of ear buds, and while it's pretty funny to watch them struggle to keep still, it's also a sacrifice in audio quality since they're only getting sound in one ear. So if this sounds like you, this pair of headphones has a simple solution that lets 2 friends listen to music at the same time using separate headphones. Hi. I'm Justin Yu, headphone editor for CNET.com. This is your first look at the Urbanears Plattan Plus Headphones. They're an exact replica to the original model that came out in 2009, but this Apple Store exclusive update adds a remote control on the wire for your iOS music player and you also get an extra plug on the bottom of the right ear cup that lets a friend attach another pair of headphones and join the listening party. As usual, Urbanears appeals to the younger market with 4 bright colors that adorn the textured cloth headband, the ear cups, the braided wire, and even the plastic connection hardware. Now, if you're not a fan of purple, mint green, pink or dark gray, you may also consider the original Plattan Headphones that come in 14 more color ways. Now, it's obvious that Urbanears paid plenty of attention to the design of these headphones. They have a simple single-wire cage that connects the 2.5 inch ear cups to the headband, and they also fold up for neat storage. So, one thing to note about the ear cups themselves is that this synthetic leather material can heat up your ears over a long listening period. So, you'll need to take a break every hour or so to cool down if you plan to use these over a full workday. The most unique feature of the Plattan Plus is what Urbanears calls the Zound Plug, which is basically just an external audio out plug built into the bottom of the right ear cup here, that lets a friend daisy chain another set of headphones to this one. Now, it'll probably be tricky not to tangle the wires together but it's definitely a useful feature for students and commuting partners that wanna share music and listen together. The Plattan Plus Headphones will run you about 60 bucks at the Apple Store so we weren't expecting a lot in terms of fidelity quality but we're really not complaining either. The headphones add an impressive boost of bass to your music, and while treble tones aren't nearly as crisp as we'd like, they'll certainly appeal to the city dweller that wants to express his or her individual style and they'll definitely sound better than those shoddy white ear buds that came with your iPod and iPhone. You can read all of the details in the Full Review on CNET.com, but that's gonna do it for me. I'm Justin Yu. These are the Urbanears Plattan Plus Headphones and that sounds good to me.