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iPodNN: Empire Brands on Wednesday revealed three new earphone collections for its Wicked Audio brand. The Chill, Reverb and Tour all feature graffiti-inspired designs. They are made of plastic and sport comfortable ear cushions. The cords are nearly four feet long and the 3.5mm plugs are gold-plated for superior sound signal transfer and to prevent corrosion.

The Chill earbuds can be had in gold, white or black, priced at $15. The Reverbs, styled after city streets, have better bass performance, and cost $30. The Tour line can be had in one of three two-tone designs. They cost $20. All are now shipping and available at electronics shops.

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Trendhunter: Urban Outfitters are known for their hip clothing and awesome gadgets, but the iPhone DJ Mixer has to be one of the coolest players to be sold yet.

The iPhone DJ Mixer lets you combine music from two iPhones and tests your ability as a DJ. It has a spin option, reverb, flange and filter, as well as a recording button.

Not only is this gadget a turntable, but it can also charge your iPhone as you are trying your best to mix.

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Cube me: The brief was to design a new packaging for the Stereo Earphones RP-HJE 130 that clearly communicates the product benefit: the unique sound quality. The packaging design has to appeal to a target group that usually owns well-designed high-class mp3 players.

By specially arranging the earphones inside a special box they appear to look like two eighth notes. So the earphones show at first sight for whom they are made: for passionate music lovers.

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T3: Can B&W’s first headphones live up to the awesome Zeppelin iPod dock range?

Bowers & Wilkins have been rolling out the red carpet for our MP3s for quite some time. The B&W Zeppelin is a sex symbol of modern tech design, pumping out some of the best sound we’ve ever heard from an iPod dock.

The newer B&W Zeppelin Mini follows suit, snipping £100 off the price tag and putting itself in the running for Music Gadget of the Year in the forthcoming 2010 T3 Gadget Awards.

But can B&W transfer that success to the mobile music market with the high-end audio specialist’s first ever pair of headphones? In a word; yes.

The P5’s bring not only the trademark audio quality associated with the brand, but also a beautiful design. With an SRP of £250, they certainly come at a B&W-like price too.

B&W P5 headphones: Performance

But it’s easy to see where that extra few quid goes. These headphones allow us to discover parts of our favourite tunes that we’d never heard before. Testing the cans to Weezer’s Blue Album opened our ears to subtle guitar parts we didn’t even know existed. It was a similar story with Guns ‘N Roses Appetite for Destruction, an album the world has listened to a million times over. These cans allow us to appreciate these tunes in a new light.

Audio quality is very warm, with excellent clarity and a great middle range. Heavy bass audio isn’t as good as we’d hoped and can sound a little distorted, while Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones’ cleaner guitar parts sound great. The B&W P5′s can’t do wonders with poor quality MP3s though, and often highlight imperfections rather than hiding them

B&W P5 headphones: Noise isolation

The P5 headphones don’t boast noise cancelling-tech in the truest sense of the word, rather noise isolation. There’s no battery powered system to keep out the external racket, but with these cans nestled closely to the ears there’s very little room for outside interference to interrupt your listening pleasure. However, you won’t be disorientated by complete isolation from your surroundings.

B&W itself says the attractive closed-back design and secured ear-pads – which are magnetically attached to the speakers – are responsible for this excellently functioning system. Like Bose’s QC range, these sit on the ears rather than engulfing them, so it’s a real achievement to cut out external noise without the noise cancelling tech that define the Bose cans.

They may be an expert at keeping noise in, but had a few annoyed glances when hammering out some tunes at half volume using our iPod Touch on a packed tube.

B&W P5 headphones: Comfort

The hinge which swings the speakers towards the ear gives the P5′s a very unique feel. However, they are a little heavy at times, and on a warm summer ride into work, prove a bit much for us to handle. There’s also the slight problem of them slipping off the back of your head ever so slightly when you move around; it’s only very minor, but they don’t feel quite as secure as you’d lilke. They can be a little too restrictive when worn around the neck, although the pads rotate inwards to sit flatly, which helps rectify that.

Audiophiles can further enhance the quality by unhooking the double-ended 3.5mm jack to replace it with one of their choosing. This is certainly preferable for home listening rather than on the move. The original cable is perfect for on-the-move Apple owners though, with stop and start and volume controls, as well as a microphone for iPhone voice calls. The B&W P5 headphones are pricey, but sound quality is excellent,  noise isolation excellent and design wise, well,  these are unquestionably the iPhone 4 of headphones.
 

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Übergizmo: Can’t afford Bowers & Wilkins’ Zeppelin speaker, but want to have its cool design? If that’s the case, you could always go for the Teac SR-100i, which looks very much like the real deal, and is only going for half the price – $299. For your money, you got a speaker that packs a slot-in CD player, FM radio and iPod/iPhone connectivity. Would you be willing to shell out $299 for this design?

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GDGT: The new Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic are engineered for superior acoustic accuracy, balance and clarity. So you hear details you’ve been missing with other, lesser headphones.

Two is better than one.
Unlike many small headphones, each earpiece of the Apple In-Ear Headphones contains two separate high-performance drivers — a woofer to handle bass and mid-range sounds and a tweeter for high-frequency audio. These dedicated drivers help ensure accurate, detailed sound across the entire sonic spectrum. The result: You’re immersed in the music and hear details you never knew existed. Even when listening to an old favourite, you may feel like you’re hearing it for the first time.

Hear, hear.
The Apple In-Ear Headphones deliver a truly immersive sound experience by drastically reducing unwanted outside noises. The soft, silicone ear tips fit snugly and comfortably in your ear, creating a seal that isolates your music from your surroundings. Three different sizes of ear tips are included so you can find a perfect fit for each ear. Also included are a convenient carrying case for the ear tips and a cable-control case for the headphones themselves.

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Gizmodo: Hoodies have strings around the neck, right? Have you EVER used those strings? Why you’d want to tighten a noose around your neck, I’ll never know. The HoodieBuddie cleverly replaces the strings with earbuds; the pocket contains a 3.5mm jack.

All you need to do is whack your iPod into that 3.5mm jack, hiding in the front-right pocket, and you can listen to music without your wires getting tangled. Really, I’m surprised this type of innovation costs $44.

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iPodNN: Monster Cable showed the first universal 3D glasses on Wednesday with the Monster Vision Max 3D. The shutter-system glasses will purportedly work with any brand of 3D TV and use 2.4GHz RF communication as opposed to the IR common to other 3D glasses. They have interference rejection software and sync correction, and can instantly react electro-chromatically.

At the same time, Monster Cable introduced the Clarity HD Modular in-ear headphones. With solid-metal construction, they will include the company’s signature ear hooks for a solid connection with a wearer’s ear, making them a better pick for runners. To properly block out noise, Monster includes 10 pairs of SuperTip composite foam eartips. An inline remote with a microphone gives iPhone and iPod touch users voice support.

The 3D glasses and a transmitter as a kit is due out in September, priced at $250. An additional set of eyeglasses will cost $170. The headphones are also coming in September in black-and-red and chrome-and-red version, with a $200 price tag.
 

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Gizmodo: Not quite a headphone, which sits on top of your ear, and not quite an earbud which burrows into your canal, these Medis ‘phones clip onto your ear in a way you would never guess:

They say they’re still as comfortable as normal earbuds, however I’d love to try a pair out as having something clipped onto the cartilage sounds slightly painful. Nonetheless, UrbanEars includes four differently-sized interchangeable pads, so at least you can work out what’s most comfortable through trial and error.

If you thought they were just fancy earbuds that are the result of UrbanEars’ “thinking outside the box,” then you’ll be pleased to know they also have a mic and mini-remote on the cord, making them compatible with phones.

On sale next month for around $50, they come in 12 different colors—including the “army” green which is pretty thrilling.

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Gizmodo: It’s not the first Zune dock (I believe Altec Lansing has the honor there), but this ZN90B one from iHome features an all-important alarm function and fits both Zune and Zune HD models.

The ZN90B dock is available for pre-order now, for $100, and has AM/FM presets, EQ controls and iHome’s “Reson8″ speaker chambers for what they’re calling “astounding clarity, depth and power.” It takes a pair of AA batteries when you’re on the move, otherwise is charged via the AC charger. Available sometime this month, it’d make a nice buy for anyone who wants to charge their Zune while playing music—otherwise, you’re probably better off just plugging the Zune into your existing audio set-up via the 3.5mm jack

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Philips has launched the awesome new Fidelio series of docks. There are a total of five such docks for the iPhone that bring about an aesthetic feel to the way you listen to your music. Among the more elaborate versions is the DS9000 speaker dock that provides with good clarity of playback, a couch-like design to cradle your iPhone and a very rich build. The DS8500 is made to look good with or without an iPhone attached to it, this it achieves with the help of a chic design and sleekness. The SBD7500 is bolder and takes on a more macho look. It maintains the richness and brings about a ‘truly-portable’ design. The DS3000 and the DS1100 complete the line.

The DS9000 ($500), DS8500 ($200), SBD7500 ($100), DS3000 ($80) and the DS1100 ($70) will all be available in the App Store.

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The Guardian: Orbitsound, the British audio company created by sound engineer and one-time session musician Ted Fletcher, will today unveil a new range of gadgets using its innovative spatial stereo technology that are likely to have audiophiles drooling.

Orbitsound’s T4 Radiopod Alongside the T12 – a new version of its “soundbar”, which sold out within a few months of being made available in John Lewis last year, amid widespread critical acclaim – Orbitsound is releasing a new gadget: a Wi-Fi-enabled digital radio and iPod dock, called the T4 Radiopod.

Both gadgets make use of the company’s airSOUND system, Fletcher’s patented technology that produces clarity and depth of sound wherever the gadget is positioned.

With a traditional stereo system there is a “sweet spot” a certain distance from the speakers in which the listener will experience perfect sound. Orbitsound maintains that its products produce fantastic stereo “spatial” sound with depth and clarity wherever the system is positioned, creating a so-called “infinite sweet spot”. The technology was developed by Fletcher in 2004, but the first devices were not unveiled until the Consumer Electronics Show in 2008.

Fletcher’s experience of the audio industry stretches back to the early 1960s, when he worked with music producer Joe Meek – whose most famous hit was Telstar by The Tornados – first as a session artist and then as a sound technician. He went on to set up his own sound mixer manufacturing company in 1969, called Alice, and his kit was soon in demand by the likes of Jethro Tull, the Eagles and the Who. He went on to sell Alice and set up an audio compression business, whose most popular line of stereo compression equipment Fletcher named after Meek. It was snapped up by PMI Audio Group seven years ago.

The original backing for Orbitsound came from John Cameron and Harvinder Hungin, two City financiers who were behind the 2004 multi-billion pound buyout of property group Chelsfield. They are both executive directors of Orbitsound. The company, meanwhile, recently finalised a fresh investment round and an overdraft with a major international bank, in order to fund its expansion.

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