Swedish audio-buffs JAYS announce v-JAYS on-ear headphones

jays_vjays_black_pers_high.jpg

Swedish audiophiles JAYS have been knocking out affordable high-performance headphones for a while now. Their amazing j-JAYS In-Ear Noise Cancelling headphones were a constant companion of mine for well over a year, until that fateful day. No, don’t. I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve moved on.

So I was excited to see that JAYS are to release an open, on-ear headphone next month. JAYS promise that the new v-JAYS, will “deliver finer bass without overwhelming the finer audio nuances that some other headphones often miss”. Which is nice.

JAYS new foldable 59g badboys will be available from the start of June for £59.99 – look out for a full review in the coming days.

Sony shows off wireless Bluetooth headphones

sony-bt100-cx.jpg

Sony’s made itself a bit of a name around here for steadfastly producing headphone models that don’t really excite but still sell well. Today it’s announced some mostly unexciting Bluetooth headphones.

Both models use Bluetooth 2.1 to communicate with your phone or MP3 player. The DR-BT100CX are in-ear and have a little dongle to control volume and skip tracks as well as answering or rejecting phone calls. They feature eight hours of playback time and are recharged via USB.

The BT101s have a headband design and pack 30mm neodymium drivers. There’s twelve hours of playback in the onboard battery and again it recharges via USB. Both models support A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP Bluetooth profiles and are available to order right now from Sony Style.

Press Release

Etymotic shows off its ear-moulded headphones for the iPhone and iPod

etymotics-headphones.jpg

Uber-high-end headphone manufacturer Etymotic is releasing a set of its personalised earphones for the iPhone and iPod. The hf2 Custom Fit headset integrates a microphone and ‘answer call’ button into the cord, so that you can use your iPhone without getting it out of your pocket.

A partnership with ACS (Advanced Communications Solutions) means that the headphones are custom-moulded to your ear. They stick a load of goo in your ear, which sets, and then produce a set of headphones the exact same shape as your inner ear.

That custom moulding ensures that a perfect fit is achieved, so the headphones are completely isolating. As a result, you can listen to music much more quietly and still get fantastic detail in the sound without damaging your hearing. They also stay put in your ear – they won’t fall out if you’re exercising.

I’ve tried the earphones myself, and they’re incredible – I’ve spent the last couple of days obsessively listening to all the songs I love, because everything sounds so much better. It’s amazing how much detail there is in songs that you’re often unaware of, even if you’re using a respectable pair of headphones already.

The custom-moulded headphones don’t come cheap. The kit is £90, plus another £90 for the fitting session. But if you’re an audiophile then that’s cheap for what you’re getting – almost perfect sound reproduction. Though, of course, you’ll need to re-encode everything into Apple’s lossless format to get the most out of it.

The hf2’s will be available from April 28th.

Etymotic

Shure debuts the colourful SE115 earphones

SE115-colours.png

Headphone manufacturer Shure has just dropped us word of a couple of new products that they’re bringing to market.

The SE115s are the latest addition to Shure’s noise-isolating range. They come in blue, pink, black and red, and – well – there’s not a whole lot more detail than that being offered, except that they have ‘enhanced bass’. They cost £100, which seems a tad steep, I must admit. As they’re from Shure, though. you can bet they’ll sound good.

PG27-and-PG42.jpg

Also announced are a pair of USB condenser microphones – the PG27USB and PG42USB. They come with plug and play connectivity, along with zero-latency headphone monitoring, and monitor mix control.

These are most likely targeted at pro audio professionals and podcasters that spend a lot of time travelling – they’ve got a rugged, portable design. The PG27 and PG42 will cost £220 and £270 respectively, and be available from 20th June.

Shure

Sennheiser shows off five pairs of sports headphones

sennheiser-mx-85.jpg

Sennheiser, a company with a long heritage in headphone design, has just unveiled five new pairs of headphones that come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices. Only one pair – the high-end CX 380 Sport II’s – are noise-isolating, presumably because you often need to hear the outside world, too, when you’re indulging in exercise.

Starting with the low-end, let’s begin at the MX 80s. These are fairly standard earbuds, with a little bit of extra bass and a waterproof and ‘sweatproof’ (eww) design. They’re also pretty tough, and should be able to take a bit of knocking about. £25.

Then there’s the MX 85s which are very similar to the MX 80s but have a ‘twist-to-fit’ system that should keep the buds in your ear a little more effectively if you’re waving your head about wildly, as one is wont to do while ‘sporting’. They cost £35. A tenner for a fit mechanism?

Moving up the range further, there’s the OMX 80s, which are again pretty much the same phones, but with earhooks on them, providing a slightly different way of keeping them on your head. They come with a ‘reflective rear stripe’ too, so you don’t get run over in the dark. Also £35.

Refusing to quit with the different ways of keeping headphones attached to your head, Sennheiser’s also got the PMX 80s, which have an ergonomic neckband to hold things in place, and ensure that just as that power chorus comes in, you won’t get your buds rudely yanked out. They also have the aforementioned reflective strip, and cost £35.

Then lastly, at the top of the range, are the CX 380s. These are more like it – silicon sleeves provide a tight fit for the in-ear design, they’re washable, and have a rather more high-performance driver than the cheaper models. They cost more, though – £50.

My thoughts are that the extra price on these compared to standard models might not really be worth the outlay. It’s only a bit of plastic, after all. That said, I don’t do an awful lot of sport, so if you do, then put me right on Twitter at @techdigest.

Sennheiser

Ultrasone offers up precision German-engineered HFI headphone range

Ultrasone HFI headphones

German company Ultrasone has announced its new six-strong range of HFI headphones. Not only do they look pretty luxurious but they incorporate S-Logic which pushes sound around the ear by positioning the drivers off-centre. This gives the impression that you’re listening to speakers several metres away.

The headphones are produce around a quarter of the low-frequency magnetic field compared to some traditional ones, as well as MU Metal that shields and reduces magnetic radiation by up to 98%…

Sony shoves bass in your face, well, ears, with its XB series

Sony-XB300.jpg

Let’s talk about bass. You don’t hear proper bass – you feel it. In your stomach, your gut. That feeling is generated by massive subwoofers bigger than your head vibrating the air. That’s why I’m more than a little skeptical of Sony’s new XB series of headphones.

They claim to recreate “club ambiance”, which presumably includes meat-headed bouncers, two-hour queues for the cloakroom and many, many, identical men in white shirts. There’s five models in the range – three closed-cup, over-the-head designs (the MDR-XB700/500/300s) and two in-ear models (MDR-XB40EX/20EX).

The over-the-heads have 50mm drivers, and the in-ears have “an innovative ‘direct vibe’ acoustic design”, apparently. They’ll all be available in March, but there’s no pricing info available yet. For all kinds of scientific diagrams, click to Sony’s Extra Bass page on their website.

Sony Extra Bass

More on Sony: Super-thin Sony Bravia ZX1 ready for sale – Bravia EX1 & 200Hz Z4500 on shelf too | Sony XEL-1 OLED TV available in UK but cheaper to fly to America to get it

Sennheiser CX 300-II in-ear headphones – a "killer upgrade"

senn-cx-300-II.jpg

If you were about to go out and buy a pair of Sennheiser CX-300s, then STOP! Because Sennheiser has just dropped us an email informing us that there’s an upgrade coming this quarter that’ll significantly improve its mid-range earbuds.

The CX 300-IIs feature a completely new drive unit and capsule that goes much louder, with better bass, clarity and dynamics. The cable’s softer, with improved ‘strain relief’ (sounds painful), and it now comes with a carrying pouch. Basically it’s all-round better.

The price has gone up – from £20, which you can now get the 300s for – to £40. It comes with the aforementioned pouch, 1.2m of soft cable action, and three ear adapter sizes. Available in black, white, silver, red (pictured) and pink. Oh, and for a fiver more, you can get a lanyard version, which lets you hang a mobile phone or MP3 player around your neck.

Sennheiser CX 300-II Precision (Black)

Related posts: Bargain of the Week: Decent discounts off Sennheiser headphones | Sennheiser announces “world’s best headphones”- the HD800s

Bargain of the Week: Decent discounts off Sennheiser headphones

sennheiser-20-percent-off.jpg

Welcome to Bargain of the Week, where I’ll take a look around the web for the best tech/gadget bargain I can find, and report back to you.

This week, you can grab a 20% discount on any pair of Sennheiser headphones when you buy an MP3 player from Advanced MP3 Players.

Simply enter the code listenlive at the checkout (and buy both items together in the same transaction) for the saving…