Posts Tagged 'Headphones'
Grado Mahogany Headphones!
Grado Labs has been producing high-quality phonograph styluses since the 1950s, but today I just learned that Grado also makes these gorgeous mahogany headphones. Since they come from Grado, I expect them to conform to their usual high standards of audio quality, even if I'm not so sure that a ring of hardwood provides much difference in sound from a three-inch transducer. I suspect they reduce weight, which would be nice. I speak of this in the theoretical, because I'm going to have to work my ass off to ever afford a pair. Maybe someday, kids.
Via.
The Whole Beats Story!
I became vaguely aware of Beats Audio when Jimmy Iovine showed up on American Idol with the Beats logo plastered all over everything he owned, and then Dr Dre showed up pimping Hewlett-Packard laptops with Beats inside. I didn't know much of it beyond a branding gimmick, but I learned a lot from this article. Beats were started by Monster? That explains a lot. My old 1980s Koss cans are still working nicely, but all you can find in stores these days are fashion headphones like Beats and Skullcandy for 2x the price of an entry-level set of audiophile headphones that sound twice as good. It's no wonder Monster wanted a part of that market - it's their bread and butter.
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SkullCandy Double Agent Headphones
If it's one thing that I hate about portable media, it's the crappy headphones. Ear buds suck so bad, no matter how much you pay for them. Here we've got the best of both worlds: nice ear-cup headphones, with a built-in media player. The SkullCandy Double Agent looks so good. It's got an internal rechargeable battery, a USB cord to behave like portable storage, and if you still have analog electronics, a cord for plugging in to old-school audio equipment. These look more compact and simpler than SkullCandy's other MP3-player-headset, and the Double Agent takes SD cards. Studica shows them available, but the king, Amazon, says they're still not in yet, and SkullCandy's own website doesn't even have them. The article above says they're available June 1st -- but that's come and gone, kids. Still, SkullCandy's headphones (even the buds) are always high on people's lists of quality equipment, so being patient will probably be worth it. 
