Recent Headphone Reviews

I've always been interested in reference quality music being delivered directly to my ears. Perhaps this is a leftover desire from watching The Matrix - I mean, there should be a way to get that sound to your brain uninterrupted, right? I desire the kind of music that would take me away from where I was and plant me squarely in front of the orchestra, concert, or action of a feature film. The ER-4 MicroPro earphones promised to offer transparent, reference quality music reproduction in a system designed (in particular) for audiophiles, musicians, and those who just want the most clear unblemished sound you can possibly get.

Overall, the Audio-Technica M50s headphones represent a very good value for what they offer - an accurate, if lively, presentation of music. Uncompromising in their musical reproduction, don't expect that basement recorded podcast to sound good on them but your uncompressed music will come through with all the clarity and impact of the original masters. While the price might be outside the realm of the casual buyer, the $200 price point is probably considered by the hardcore as an entry level purchase.

Altec Lansing has been known as a manufacturer of both pro audio and consumer audio loudspeakers and equipment for many years. Purchased by Plantronics in 2005, Altec Lansing's pro line develops such products as powered speakers, ceiling speakers and full-range speakers. Their consumer line, under which fall their Backbeat line of earphones, includes comprehensive line of headphones, computer speakers and home audio products. We were interested to see that they extended their Backbeat line of earphones to include a new “Pro” line that promises musician-quality earphones that will satisfy professionals and consumers alike. I know a lot of musicians – many of whom aren't even deaf yet – so I set out at once to see if these earphones were a marked improvement and worth their $99 asking price.

The other gadget we're into is the Psyko 5.1 gaming headphones, which 'won' the best design and engineering award for headphones. The headsets come with a 5.1 surround sound and promise to have zero latency, since they come without the crap digital processing that usually gets in the way of easy listening.According to the manufacturer, these also come with precision directional audio that realistically positions a player within the audio space of a game. This means it could allow a player to react faster to a nearby blown shell in a shooting game and hear it a moment before another player.

Want custom fitted earphones? Sleek Audio offered more than products this year at CES. Guests and members of the media had the opportunity to fill their ears with silicone as impressions were made for custom, wireless compatible earphones. Sleek Audio specialists demonstrated their SA6 acoustically customizable earphone at the show as well as took ear impressions for those interested in seeing what the combination of hearing aid science and loudspeaker technology sounds like with the Sleek Customs.

The Beats by Dr. Dre headphones from Monster claim to be designed for today's digital music. And you know that product with Grammy Award- winning artist and producer Dr. Dre should handle Hip Hop and R&B with aplomb. These headphones make a statement with their styling, features, and Monster price tag. Are they worth it?

The Denon AH-NC732 noise canceling headphones join a crowded category of products that frequent flyers are finding they cannot live without. It seems that only a few years ago your only choice for active noise canceling headphones was from the four-letter marketing machine, and you were paying top dollar for a mediocre product and lots of advertising. Denon took it's time entering the fray, but they have delivered some strong competition with the introduction of the AH-NC732 headphones.

The Denon AH-C551K represents the middle of the pack of Denon's recently introduced line of in-ear headphones. Denon brings their reputation for high fidelity to the table with these in-ears that feature an 11 mm Nedodymium magnet driver that provides fantastic bass response. While they sound great, the fit will depend on how well you tolerate earbud-type headphones.

The Creative Aurvana Live! headphones are designed for people who are looking for a comfortable and full ranged headphone that is priced right. They are lightweight and are equally suited for your two-channel rig at home or your iPod, as long as you don't mind a big set of traditional cans on your ears.

The Klipsch Image earphones are proported to be the "world's smallest high performance earphones," and there is no doubt that they are unlike anything I have seen. I remember seeing them at CEDIA last year and thinking that they would probably be yet another overpriced, mediocre sounding earbud for the iPod. Recently Klipsch sent me a pair and I have been using the Image earphones for a couple of months now, and I am pleased to tell you that I had it all wrong.

Creative recently sent me their Aurvana X-Fi noise-canceling headphones to evaluate, and after a few flights and some time to listen to them, I can tell you that they worthy contenders if you are considering taking the plunge. The Aurvana X-Fi is a great product that accomplishes it's intended purpose. The noise-canceling technology works well, and the X-Fi processing improves most recordings. The Creative Aurvana X-Fi headphones are a huge sonic improvement over earbuds, even without the noise-canceling or X-Fi effects. But, you pay a price. These are heavy, full-sized headphones.

The Jays line of earphones consists of the j-JAYS, an entry level model at $49.99 MSRP, the d-JAYS in the middle of the line, and the q-JAYS at $179 MSRP. The Jays line-up also offers the BlueStreamer stereo Bluetooth adapter and the m-Jays, which is designed to allow for use of aftermarket headphones with mp3-capable cell phone devices. Packaging is nice but not ostentatious. Fit-and-finish seems top rate.

In this column, on a more-or-less monthly basis, I’ll focus my attention on headphones, portable player accessories, and most importantly content. Each column will feature an in-depth, subjective review of a piece of gear, a “teaser” for the following month’s hardware, and an exploration of the various music, songs, words, pictures and podcasts available so readily (and often for free) from the great experiment known as the Internet. In this monthly dose of my tales from the Road, I review the Shure E4c earbuds, the Airhead headphone amplifier and Gigabag all courtesy of our friends at www.Headphone.com.

Nothing is worse than having an “epiphany” type moment with a particular song/album just to have your significant other ask you to turn it down. It is times like these that you simply MUST have a good set of cans. Denon is trying to break into this very competitive market with a new group of cans that range in price from $150 to $700. The AH-D1000’s are an “on ear” (supra-aural) model that is priced right for someone that wants quality but doesn’t have unlimited funds. At $150, they definitely are above the impulse buy price range and elevate the purchase to one of “bang for buck”.