Gear Patrol

Noise canceling headphones bring sanity to an otherwise cacophonous world, but often at the price of cranial bulk. Phiaton’s PS 20 NC ($129) earphones erase that downside with a “half in-ear” design and proprietary “Noise Blocker” technology that removes 95% of ambient noise. Spec-wise, audio nuts will appreciate a frequency response of 15- 22,000-Hz which…

High-end audio manufacturer Velodyne, known for making some of the best subwoofers on the market over the past few decades, is now bringing the bass even closer to your ears with the vPulse In-Ear Headphones ($90). As you’d expect, the vPulse’s provide incredible sound quality for the price thanks to 10 mm drivers encased in…

Typically, buying a set of custom molded earbuds from brands like Ultimate Ears (now a subsidiary of Logitech) or Etymotic can take months. That’s because consumers must first visit the Audiologist to have inner-ear molds made, which are then shipped to the headphone company for production. Sonomax’s Sculpture Eers Custom Molded Headphones ($199+) ship with…

Dutch designer Michiel Cornelissen has devised a clever product to tame Apple’s ubiquitous ear buds. The CableGuy ($13) features four slots for holding the ear buds and 3.5mm plug in place, leaving room in the middle to wrap up the pesky cord in a nice ‘n tidy fashion. There’s also a built-in clip for attaching…

Claiming any pair of headphones is tangle-free takes some cojones. Wires are wires after all, and the universe tends towards entropy (seriously: that’s the second law of thermodynamics people). Still, the Swedes are particularly talented at leveraging design, and in the case of the a-Jay Four ($75) ear buds, a unique a 5mm flat cable…

There are plenty of great headphone companies out there hoping you’ll choose their ear buds when you finally develop the will power to give those old Gameboy headphones a merciful death. Many however aren’t phone friendly due to the lack of an integrated mic. Atomic Floyd’s MiniDarts Heaphones ($240) certainly aren’t cheap, but for the…

Sure About The Shure SE102′s Having procured an Apple 3G iPhone not long ago, I realized that 1: the earphones were outrageously miserable and 2:, I needed earphones that had a built-in mic to make calls and listen to music. Time for a solution. Taking a recommendation, I looked into a set of Shure headphones….

[click on image to enlarge] Tempted as you may be to associate the Klipsch Image headphones with the tattered original headphones currently strangling to your ipod; one listen to these copper beauties and you’ll know these are a class apart. Touted as the smallest and lightest headphones in production, we put these miniscule tubes through…