Posts Tagged headphones
Kidz Gear Headphones for Young Children
I sure wish I knew about these Kidz Gear headphones when my children were preschoolers. At ages 7 and 9, they’ve now mastered the art of using earbuds. But back when they were little, and we brought a portable DVD player and cassette-tape player on every road, plane and train trip, this kid-sized gadget would have been the perfect fit!
What I like most about these headphones is the soft, padded ear cups that are covered in a leather-like material. The kiddie headphones my toddler kids had for their backseat car use were made of foam, and they picked at those, tearing them easily. The adjustable Kidz Gear version actually looks like “grown up” headphones — with the black and chrome-colored plastic — but they are sized for little heads. The very comfortable headphones (I tried them on myself!) are made for children as young as two to use, and they fold up for easy transport and storage.
The quality is quite good — I tested them with iTunes and my laptop, and compared them with my iFrogz earbuds. The sound coming from the earbuds is crisper and louder, but the headphones absolutely do the job well (especially for children). There is built-in independent volume control, so kids can adjust the sound as they like. But parents should monitor as needed, since the volume can get quite loud if the dial is turned up all the way.
Kidz Gear headphones have a universal plug-in for use in portable DVD players, mp3 players and hand-held video games. You can buy Kidz Gear Headphones from Amazon.com; they retail for $16.99. There’s also a wireless version for $29.99 that are compatible with DVD players installed in most cars, from Acura to Mercedes Benz.
Posted by Kara in Kids and Family on January 15th, 2010
Dear Santa: Can I Have a Faze Headset, Please?
Just in time for holiday shopping, V-Moda has rolled out a new, reasonably-priced headset and microphone combination for the iPhone, iPod and smartphones.
The V-Moda Faze shares many of the best features of its cousin, V-Moda’s Vibe II which we reviewed earlier on Practical Travel Gear. But since St. Nick may be on a tighter budget this Christmas, the $49.99 price tag makes this an even better deal.
Why buy headphones instead of just using the ones that come in the box with iPods and other MP3 players? Because earbuds like the Faze sound better. Period. And if you’re going to invest in a player or fancy phone, at least make sure to get headphones that will do justice to your music collection and calls.
The Faze headphones deliver a full, crisp sound. The bass is very rich, similar to the sound of the Vibe II. Some listeners thought the Vibe II was a bit heavy on bass, but that’s a matter of preference. The mids and highs are clear and sharp on the Faze.
Three different sizes of silicone sleeves are included to fit all sizes of ears. The earbud design does a good job of blocking outside noises—a plus for travelers, especially when listening to your favorite tunes on airplanes or in cars.
But the Faze does more than make music sound good. It includes a built-in microphone for making calls or voice notes. There’s also a call and music control button to switch between talking on the phone and listening to music.
The button can pause music playback, or skip forward and backward through tracks. You can even use the microphone and an iPod Touch to make phone calls with a wi-fi connection and Skype. It’s almost like turning the Touch into an iPhone.
The earbuds are made to last, constructed of aluminum alloy with Kevlar-reinforced cables. Besides the iPhone and iPod Touch, they can be used with the Palm Pre, Blackberry and other smart phones, other brands of portable music players and computers for music listening and phone calling. An adapter is included to fit the Blackberry’s non-standard audio plug. The headphones also worked well with my HTC Fuze phone.
The Faze is available exclusively at Best Buy. V-Moda guarantees satisfaction by offering a 30-day, no-risk audition period and backs its products with a one-year warranty.
The earbuds are black (Nero) with silver trim, slightly less bling than the Vibe II. But they still offer premium sound and a full set of features.
For the price, smart Santas will find them hard to beat.
Get the V-Moda Faze at Amazon
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on November 23rd, 2009
Ear Pollution Plugz with Mic Earbuds from iFrogz
I am the first to admit I’m hardly a headphones snob. I’ve been known to use those free or $1 earbuds you can get on airplanes in my iPod. Headphones for music listening are just not something I’m going to spend money on.
That said, I was happy to sample a pair of $19.99 Ear Pollution Plugz with Mic earbuds from iFrogz on my flight this morning. And I’m happy to report that they block out ambient noise — such as chatty passengers next to me — quite well — and better than the $9.99 pair I compared them to (which I’d bought at Wal-mart a couple months ago).
Indeed, the differently sized ear pads do help you figure out what best fits most comfortably in your ear canal (mine are apparently medium sized). I did find that I had to turn the volume up a bit on my iPod when I had the Plugz in — more so than when I had my cheaper ear buds in there.
Regarding the included mic, I tried it with my Blackberry and it seemed to work well during a conversation with my husband on his cell phone. I might also use it for hands-free phone interviews or Skype calls with my family while I’m on the road and they’re back at home. But I certainly would not advocate using the iFrogz ear buds with a cell phone while driving; those suckers block out ambient noise so well, it’s just not safe.
If you’d like to try Ear Polluton Plugz with Mic earbuds yourself, head on over to my blog The Vacation Gals, where we’re giving away a pair. Hurry, though – you’ve got until midnight Tuesday, November 10, to enter.
Posted by Kara in Travel Light on November 9th, 2009
Keeping in Touch: Sony Ericsson Walkman Phone and Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
After owning the portable music market for years with Walkman cassette and CD players, along came the Apple iPod to topple Sony’s domination. Now, Sony Ericsson tries to regain some of its mojo with a media-friendly cell phone and wireless stereo headphones.
The Sony Ericsson W760i is billed as a Walkman phone, positioned somewhere between barebones cellular sets and feature-packed smartphones. If you don’t need all the capabilities of a Blackberry or iPhone or HTC device to stay in touch while you’re on the road, this phone offers features that deserve a serious look.
The W760i handles the basics extremely well. In my hands-on testing, call quality was excellent. The slim, lightweight slider design hides the keypad when not in use. Battery life is respectable, easily lasting two or three days of normal use.
Diving into the features, built-in applications let travelers track appointments and keep up with contacts. Mobile e-mail setup is easy for accounts such as Yahoo!, AOL, Windows Live and major Internet service providers. Some models of the phone allow instant (push) e-mail from Exchange servers. But curiously, the Exchange application is left out of AT&T’s version of mobile e-mail.
You can play your favorite MP3 tunes from an optional memory card (up to 4 GB is supported) and the phone also has a built-in FM radio. For an added cost, more music is available from subscription services such as Napster and eMusic. And MusicID will help identify the title and artist of tunes you don’t know.
With high-speed 3G data, the built-in web browser handles mobile sites and cellular video surprisingly well. The browser even does a credible job on websites not optimized for mobile devices. The screen is not a touch screen, but I found it easy to navigate through the menus with the keys, even when clicking on links and filling in forms.
A built-in camera will record video and 3.2-megapixel still images for sending back those vacation pictures. The unlocked version of the phone will operate with GSM carriers worldwide, which should also be of interest to travelers.
This phone was one of the first to include a shake control, letting you shake or tilt it to advance to the next music track or control some games. The screen auto rotates when the phone is turned sideways. Travelers will also appreciate the flight mode, so applications can be used on airplanes with the phone radio turned off.
There’s also a built-in GPS. But if you want to use it for guided navigation, you’ll pay a monthly fee. My preference is for other GPS apps that are free or involve a one-time cost, such as Garmin Mobile XT which I recently reviewed.
That brings up one of the limitations of this Walkman phone. The operating system means doing without the wide range of applications available for other phones running Windows Mobile, Apple or Android.
A useful companion to the Walkman phone is Sony Ericsson’s HBH-IS800 Wireless Stereo Headphones. Since they are stereo, the two earbuds help block out the roar in crowded airports and other noisy locations. Conversations were understandable on both ends. Several people I called heard a faint static noise in the background.
For listening to music, the bluetooth headphones were not as crisp and clear as wired earbud and microphone combinations such as the V-Moda Vibe II. But the bluetooth headset would be convenient for music listening if you’re moving around a room or taking a jog.
The list price for the wireless stereo headphones is $179.99. The street price for the unlocked phone (if you don’t want to be tied to a specific carrier or contract) is around $250. Currently, AT&T is almost giving it away with a rebate and two-year contract.
Some of the more-demanding, hardcore business travelers—or music lovers who need more than 4 GB of storage—will want more than what this phone has to offer. But overall, the Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman phone has a lot of built-in features that should meet the needs of many road warriors.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on October 5th, 2009
Sound with Style: V-MODA Vibe II with Microphone
One of the first things you should do when buying a new iPod is take the cheap earbuds Apple put in the box and throw them away. Seriously.
Then, replace them with something that will do justice to the music in your collection. Something like the V-MODA Vibe II earbuds which include an added bonus—a built-in microphone.
When I’m traveling, my iPod touch 2g always goes along. It’s something familiar—a few thousand of my favorite songs I can carry into sometimes-unfamiliar surroundings.
The Vibe II has a clean sound for listening to music. It’s not muddy or tinny—common problems with lower-end headphones.
The mids and highs are clear and transparent. The Vibe II is heavier on the bass end than most earbuds. Some will like the sound. Or, if it’s not to your taste, the equalization controls on the iPod can trim the bass response.
I usually avoid equalization, but that’s a matter of personal taste. The encoding quality of your music tracks also makes a difference in deciding whether to tweak the sound with the iPod equalizer.
The Vibe II comes with four sizes of silicone fittings, in both black and white, that should match any ears. Also included are sport earhooks that will help keep the earbuds in place when you’re working out.
A good seal in the ear is important, especially for bass response and reducing noise. These earbuds do a good job of noise isolation that will overcome engine roar on airplanes, as well as crying babies and passengers who want to tell their life stories to anyone within earshot.
The sound is not quite as crisp compared to my Shure SE530s. But that might not be a fair comparison, given the Shures cost almost four times as much. For the price, the Vibe IIs are solid performers and hold their own against more-expensive headsets. They really sound better than I expected.
The Vibe II not only makes the music sound good, but can almost turn the touch into an iPhone with the built-in microphone. With a free download of Skype from the apps store, you’ll be able to call other Skype users at no charge—or landlines or cell phones for a small fee—using a wi-fi connection on the iPod.
The voice quality is good on Skype. And the microphone sounds very clear recording voice memos on the iPod.
Of course, the Vibe II can also be used with an iPhone and some other phones, including several Blackberry models, that have 3.5 mm jacks. It’s also compatible with the new Apple MacBooks.
The Vibe II works well on my HTC Fuze/Touch Pro. As I write this, I’m listening to a streaming signal from a radio station 1,500 miles away.
The Vibe II also includes an inline switch that could have been made just for me. With a phone, it can be used to answer, hang up, or send a call to voicemail. But it also lets you pause and resume music playback, skip a track or go back to a previous song.
I’ll have to confess, I’m a chronic track-skipper. Now, all it takes to advance to the next song is two presses on the button–instead of waking up the iPod and pushing the advance button or shaking it to reshuffle the track list. (The shake control is part of the latest software update.)
If you’re looking for bling, the Vibe II comes in black or chrome with jewel accents in the center of the earbuds. The company is promising more designs in the future. The cord is covered with black fabric.
The retail price for the Vibe II is $128. It is available from the Apple store, V-MODA’s website and other online retailers.
One minor note—the Vibe II packaging is attractive, but I had to wrestle with it to get to the earbuds and accessories.
While some will be drawn by the design, what I’m really interested in is the performance. And the V-MODA Vibe II with Microphone doesn’t disappoint.
At airports and on planes, I see a lot of iPod owners still using the stock earbuds. They really don’t know what they are missing.
Get the V-MODA Vibe II at Amazon.
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Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on July 6th, 2009
