headphones

Ray Lewis, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, was shown walking into the stadium wearing a pair of Beats Studio headphones – from the popular line, Beats by Dr. Dre. In fact it looked very much like the entire team had these same headphones. In another shot it was very clear that Ray Rice was also wearing the same phones. And not only that, they appeared to all be purple – the Ravens team color. I’m not sure if these were made especially for the Ravens – there was nothing about this on the Beats By Dr. Dre Site.
These seem to be the unofficial official headphones of Super Bowl XLVII. Earlier we put out a post about Colin Kaepernick walking into the stadium with a red pair Beats Studio cans. You can check out all the specs – like active noise-isolation, around-the-ear design, and smart-phone control – on that post here Headphones Colin Kaepernic Wearing At The Super Bowl – Beats Studio.
But regardless of whether they were specially-made for the Ravens or not, you can see by the picture on the left that the Beats Studio already come in purple.
If you want to get a pair of your own, CLICK HERE.

Colin Kaepernick was wearing a pair of red Beats Studio headphones from the Beats By Dr. Dre line of earphones/headphones when he walked into the Super Dome on Sunday, Feb 3rd, for Super Bowl XLVII. See the picture on the left.
These around-the-ear, closed back phones are perfect for noise isolation, when you just want to block out all the external noise around you. Then added to that is something called active noise-isolation technology. What that does is sort of record the frequencies of common travel noise, like plane or train engines, and then actively block it by creating a negative version of it, literally cancelling that noise out. Surely you remember your wave mechanics from physics in college, right? OK, you don’t…or you don’t care how it works, only THAT it works. When you’re quarterbacking at the Super Bowl, it’s important to be able to block out as much noise as possible so you can focus. And these headphones allow you to do just that.
Technically the name of these phones is: Beats Studio High-Definition Isolation Headphones. I mention that because even though they are awesome at blocking out noise, they also sound incredibly awesome when playing music.
And added to all that, you also get the inline mic & remote control for use with an iPhone (or other smartphones). This is compatible with the Monster ControlTalk standard. And the cables are detachable, so you can switch them out with the other of two cables that come with these cans. One is for the phone with the remote, etc. the other is just a standard cable that you can use with a portable music player or computer. Of course you could also just wear them with no cable if all you want to do is get some quiet time.
Get your own pair of Beats Studio by CLICKING HERE.

We were watching a commercial (kinda rare these days with the DVR and all) last night, the new Windows Phone ad, and saw a guy at a train station wearing some really slick looking yellow headphones with square ear cups. So off to the web went my wife (research girl) to find out what they were so I could post about them. It turns out that they are the Nokia Purity HD Headset by Monster headphones.

Features

The Purity phones are high-definition on-ear headphones with on-cable control for hands-free phone conversations. This includes an in-line mic and also controls for your music – play, rewind, pause, etc.
As is expected, the on-cable controls are fully compatible with the Windows Phone. With other devices, hands-free calling is compatible across the board, but music control is not.

The Pro Version of The Purity

You’ll notice in the commercial that the headphones the guy is wearing are yellow, and that the regular Purity phones are only black, blue and pink. This is because it appears the specific pair the guy in the commercial is wearing are the Purity Pro version, which are not for sale anywhere yet.  That is supposed to happen in December of 2012 – I’ll let you know as soon as I find that out!  They are now available! CLICK HERE to get more detail info or to order a pair. The main difference between the regular version and the Pro version is that the Pros are “over-the-ear,” meaning that they are circumaural, meaning that your ear fits fully inside the cup, and they have active noise-cancellation. Also, the Pros have a wired AND wireless mode (very cool). And guess what? The Pros come in yellow. But it is much more useful to you to see a video describing the new Purity Pro headphones. So see that below:

So if you were curious about the cool square headphones in the Windows Phone commercial, now you know. To get your very own pair of the original Nokia Purity Headphones, click here. To get you own pair of the Purity Pros, CLICK HERE.

Since I’ve done it several times now (Headphones Michael Phelps Wore At 2012 Olympics, Headphones Emily Chang Wears In Ruffles Commercial, etc.), I guess it’s my thing – identifying the headphones, or other audio- related thingy that appears on a popular TV show. This time it’s about the pair of headphones that the character of Auggie Anderson, in  USA’s TV series Covert Affairs, was wearing during the plane ride back from Amsterdam in the season finale. They were the Grado PS500 professional series headphones.
The PS500s are part of Grado’s Professional Series of high-end headphones (the PS500 and the PS1000). They are of the open-back variety, which means there is enough air for the audio to move and typically provide more pleasing and accurate music reproduction. These are also circumaural headphones, which means the fit over the ear rather than on top of them, so the ear sits inside the cups – much more comfortable.
The review on the Grado website – http://www.gradolabs.com/ states that even though these are high-end headphones, they sound awesome with miniature sound devices like iPods and iPhones.
The PS500 phones are the little brother to the PS1000, which are widely acknowledged to be the best audiophile headphones out there, and for $1,695, I would hope so:).
Both of the Professional Series Grado headphones use a proprietary wood and metal hybrid housing to ensure that the earphone has no ringing that might color or otherwise interfere with the pure quality sound.
If you want to be just like Auggie, you can grab your own by clicking here – $595

There’s a new ad out for Ruffles Ultimate that features actress Emily Chang wearing headphones that are blinged-out with rhinestones. In our continuing effort to point out all things audio in pop culture, we immediately did the research to find out what headphones these were. They are a pair of Technics RP-DJ1200 headphones that were then blingified by a company called Bling Affair (blingaffair.com).
The commercial, if you have not seen it, shows Emily Chang (playing a quiet girlfriend character named Katie) being allowed to play poker with the boys. She eats a Ruffles chip and suddenly she has sunglasses and the headphones on. After the next bite, she has a leather jacket. Basically she gets cooler with each chip and impresses all the dudes. She finishes by smoothly exclaiming “Baaa-zing” as she wins the poker hand.
Actually, you can see the ad below. Ain’t YouTube great?

If you are interested in a pair of these headphones, click here to find out more and/or to buy them. Then if you want to have them decked out with custom bling like Emily Chang in the commercial, or well-known DJs like David Guetta and hundreds of others (you can get more details on the Bling Affair site), just head on over to http://www.blingaffair.com/blingaffairdjheadphones/Home.html. And just so you know, Bling Affair can do up pretty much any headphones. They don’t need to be the Technics.