Coloud Colors headphones are ready to rock

Most of us would be happy with a standard pair of headphones, but then again an out-of-the-box standard issue pair might not be up to par with what discerning ears are willing to settle for. Nice to know that there are after market headphones out there which are capable of filling in the gap, and the Coloud Colors headphones are more than willing to step in and do the job. Of course, this has nothing to do with Care Bears (anyone remembers that cute little cartoon with plenty of love going around?) despite boasting series of 7 uniformly colored headphones, but rather, it is a tribute to the rainbow of sorts, but you shouldn’t expect traditional rainbow colors as it comes in red, white, black, green, blue, purple and pink.

All Coloud Colors headphones will also ship with a microphone cum remote that will play nice with a range of smartphones including the almighty iPhone, HTC devices as well as BlackBerrys among other handsets that rely on a 3.5mm standard plug. Of course, while this is nothing near Harman Kardon levels of audio quality nor will it bring your listening experience to a totally elevated level, at least it should sound better than what you get with your handset purchase, which probably costs a couple of bucks to manufacture anyways. The Coloud Colors headphones won’t put a dent in your pocket either with a suggested retail price of $35.

Also known as the C22M model, it allows you answer incoming calls thanks to the aforementioned microphone/remote function, pausing whatever music that is being played at that moment. Just like Apple’s iPhone which was designed in California but manufactured in China, so the Coloud headphones are developed in Sweden and produced in China. Hopefully there won’t be any sort of performance related issues due to the country of manufacturing, and we hope that stringent quality controls are in place to boot.

Grado Labs releases GR10 in-ear phones

Over the last fifty years or so, a family-owned company in New York has built up quite a reputation for creating hand-crafted, audiophile-pleasing equipment. The latest addition to the Grado Labs family has just been announced, a new flagship in-ear headphone that's said to set a new benchmark in sonic performance.

Grado Labs says that it has incorporated a higher level of engineering precision and new materials to extend the frequency response at both ends of the audio range and offer users a more natural soundstage with greater clarity and deeper bass. The GR10 in-ear phones feature the company's wide bandwidth, proprietary single moving armature driver and unique buds manufactured from two different kinds of silicon rubber material.

The new flagship earphones have a frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz, 116 dB/1mW sensitivity, 32 ohms impedance and a maximum output rated at 20 mW. The audio signal is fed to the drivers via a 3.5 mm jack and oxygen-free copper wire cable. The outer shell of the left earphone sports a slight bump on the surface for ease of use - even in the dark.

It's this kind of attention to detail that has seen Grado Labs scoop numerous awards and accolades over the years and led to the company's founder, Joseph Grado, being inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame in 1982.

The GR10 is available from authorized dealers for a suggested retail of US$399.

Maverick Lifestyle announces Nica Sunrise Bluetooth headset

Looking for a new Bluetooth headset in the market? Maverick Lifestyle might have just the thing for you – the Nica Sunrise Bluetooth headset which can be purchased from Amazon.com and select Apple Stores and Best Buy Mobile Specialty Stores. It will rely on Nica’s original trendsetting technology as the base, where this revolutionary hands-free solution will introduce a new era of comfort, style and convenience to cell phone owners. Nice to know a Bluetooth headset isn’t a wheel, which is why it has been reinvented to feature a light-weight, open-air and clean circular design which can be worn comfortably for extended periods of time. This level of advanced comfort will certainly make this as one of the most user friendly headset design on the market.

Hopefully the Nica Sunrise will bring a new dawn (pun not intended) to the world of Bluetooth headsets that have long been labeled as geeky-looking and uncomfortable, no thanks to ear inserts as well as overall poor design. In fact, research has shown that less than 1 in 20 cell phone users use a Bluetooth headset, and the introduction of the Nica Sunriseaims to change that – considering it doesn’t look and feel like a conventional Bluetooth headset, you are able to wear it for long periods of time without suffering from Bluetooth fatigue while feeling confident about how you look to the general public.

With the Nica Sunrise, it boasts open-air acoustics that enables the headset to be worn comfortably for longer periods since there is no ear insert pressing on the ear canal. The open-air approach will also see a larger speaker than those found on all other headsets, which means you get to enjoy full audio on-the-go. Ergonomically designed separate left and right flexible ear clips and a soft flexible molded rubber pad will further enhance your comfort level, and with its thin design, you can cause the headset to lie flat in a pocket or fit into a small purse in a jiffy.

The Nica Sunrise can be purchased from Amazon for less than the MSRP of $79.95, depending on the color of your choice. Go ahead, take your pick without worrying about the fashion police chasing you down.

Justbeats by Dr. Dre is a Best Buy exclusive

Teen sensation Justin Bieber has yet another channel of income – it is pretty insane to see young pups these days raking in the dough like nobody’s business, when back in our day, we had to break our backs just to earn a quarter of a dollar an hour. Well, as mentioned earlier, Justin Bieber will have a very Merry Christmas as he has yet another source of dough to rely on, although we’re pretty sure that profits from this will not be as lucrative as that of his recording contracts.

The golden goose we’re talking about? Well, Justin Bieber has rolled out a new line of headphones, known as Justbeats by Dr. Dre. To make it all the more exclusive, you can only get it from Best Buy stores in the US and on BestBuy.com. It does seem to make sense though, as Justin Bieber is all about the music, and he sees this as an opportunity to team with Beats by Dr. Dre and Monster, where the latter is a global leader in high performance headphones and AV accessories.

Just how well does it perform? Well, it seems that each pair was specially engineered to help you feel the emotion that Justin wants each song to evoke. The headphones are also capable of expressing Justin’s signature style by offering both on-ear and in-ear versions in Justin’s favorite color – purple. The Justbeats by Dr. Dre Solo Headphone is going for $199.95 a pop, while iBeats by Dr. Dre Justbeats Edition is a whole lot cheaper at $119.95, where that will come with high tech features such as ControlTalk for you to pick up a phone call even when you’re enjoying his present and past hits.

Somehow, saying past hits for someone so young does seem pretty strange to roll off the tongue, as that normally applies to musical greats who have been around for decades. Well, if you’re a Justin Bieber fan, we are pretty sure that you will be able to drop off enough hints for your parents or elder siblings so that they can scurry to the nearest Best Buy outlet and pick up one of these puppies for you come Christmas day. What do you think? It is safe to say that this might just be the catalyst to kick start your love of expensive headphones, eh?

Midland SubZero Headphones

Some of you out there simply cannot live without your music, which is why having a pair of headphones is of the utmost importance. Well, since it is winter for those living in the northern hemisphere, it makes perfect sense to wear a pair of headphones if you’re going to go all out with portable music, and why not do it in style wit the Midland SubZero Headphones? Available in black, camouflage and white shades for £34.99 a pop, it not only doubles up as a pair of headphones, it also works as stylish earmuffs to keep your two hearing organs nice and warm (at least on the outside). The Midland SubZero Headphones even comes with a clever cable-mounted remote/mic which allows you to take calls wherever you are, keeping your hands free to do whatever else they were tasked to do at that point in time. Suitable for everyone except for folks living in the tropics, and for obvious reasons.

180s Ear warmers with headphones – Why didn’t I think of that?

The weather is turning cold quickly, and in another 2 minutes I’m not going to relish putting little cold plastic earbuds in my frozen ears. But that’s not to say I won’t want to listen to my music. So now what?

Well sometimes, though I’ll admit it’s not very often, a product comes along that just makes perfect sense. Simple as they are, such is the case with 180s earmuffs, these soft shell, Thermolite® Active insulation muffs are warm and stylish and offer superb wind resistance. The best part is, some of these muffs actually have stereo headphones built right in.

These comfy earmuffs feature a patented behind the head design and are fully adjustable for all head types.Your 180’s are also collapsable and the cord is detachable so they will fit easily in your pocket when you are not listening, or warming you ears.

The 180s are compatible with all MP3 players and can easily be worn with helmets, hats or glasses. Very nice and they can be yours for around $35.00 from www.amazon.com

Source: www.180s.com

Headbanger Chat Headset for Call of Duty: Black Ops

You know that a video game is super popular when it has its own unique accessories. PDP has made several of them, like their Nunchuk for Epic Mickey plus all their Tron Legacy peripherals, put out even before the game or the movie has been released.

PDP has also made the Headbanger Chat Headset, which is specifically designed for Call of Duty: Black Ops. I had a chance to check out the game over the weekend, and the game certainly lives up to all the franchise hype.

This Headbanger is designed for the Wii version of the Call of Duty: Black Ops game and is also compatible with Conduit 2. It has a “Noise-canceling microphone provides crystal-clear sound and high-quality voice input”.

It is not wireless, but it does have a 10 foot long cord. So for those who want to do their Black Ops with a group of friends, you got a peripheral for it. Just pretend its a Bluetooth headset with a wire.

You should be able to get the Headbanger Chat Headset at the PDP site for about $24.99 in either black or white. Good luck fighting zombies in the Pentagon with John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro. I actually believe that is one of the campaigns.

Elecom's new headphones built to hold iPod Shuffle

Here's a clever set of headphones from Japanese manufacturer Elecom that are specifically built to hold the latest iPod Shuffle. The company has created a very simple neckstrap/headphone unit that slips over your ears, and then your iPod shuffle docks right into the ear-piece. The obvious benefit here being that there is no longer any long headphone cord to get in your way.

Personally I was ecstatic to see Apple revert back from the third generation "chewing gum" shuffle to the clip style found in the second-generation . My old shuffle has gone through washing cycles and it still performs like a trooper. Like many iPod users, however, I'm not such a fan of iPod headphones, and I've replaced more than a couple of sets over the past few years.

Sadly if I want to use these fancy new headphones, I'll need to upgrade to the latest shuffle. Elecom's website states that the headphones won't support any Shuffles made before 2009, which regrettably includes the second generation model.

Available in two colors, pink and grey, the headset is priced at 4200 yen (US$50). And while that's not exactly cheap, it might be worth the investment for someone who likes a little durability. The ear pads are interchangeable, so if a pair does take some abuse they can easily be replaced.

The headphones alone weigh 46 grams (or 1.6 oz) and are being marketed for sports use. Thus Elecom has given it the unusual moniker "Actrail" – a hybrid of the words "trail" and "access". The ear piece is shaped to wrap over your ear with the strap curving around the back of your neck, which is intended to keep it securely in place while running. In the interests of safety, the wearer's ears are not completely enclosed, so joggers will still be able to hear some environmental noises.

The only potential drawbacks that I can foresee here is that the shuffle's controls might not be so easy to press while they are attached to this headset. Also if you're more concerned about appearance than function, then this might not be for you as having a big square iPod attached to a nice rounded ear-piece might draw a stare or two.

The Actrail will be available in Japan in late November. No word just yet on whether or not we'll see this one make its way to the rest of the world.

Via Elecom