Articles
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Affordable Speakers (and Earbuds) at CES 2009
|As many of you know, I’m not only editor of Playback, but also an occasional contributor to Playback’s famous sister magazine, The Absolute Sound. This year at CES, as has become my custom, I agreed ...read more -
Earbuds: The Seal is the Deal
|I’ve discovered that a fair number of people seem not to take high performance earbuds (or any earbuds, really) very seriously, which I think is unfortunate. There are probably two related factors to blame for ...read more -
Audio-Technica Announces In-Ear Headphones with Active Noise Cancelling
|Many listeners assume that all noise-cancelling headphones have large and comparatively bulky ear cups designed to be worn over the wearer’s ears, but not anymore. According to a company release, Audio-Technica is introducing its QuietPoint ...read more -
Klipsch Custom-3 In-Ear Headphones
|Late in 2007 the venerable speaker manufacturer Klipsch entered the high-performance earbud fray, introducing three Custom-series in-ear headphones (the -1, -2, and -3, in ascending order of performance and price), plus the distinctive, top-of-the line ...read more -
Klipsch Image In-Ear Headphones
|If you are in the “bigger is better” camp, then Klipsch’s Image in-ear headphone will come as quite a surprise. The Images, you see, are not only the firm’s flagship earbuds, but also—by a significant ...read more -
Shure SE-110 In-Ear Headphones
|Although the SE-110 is lowest-priced in-ear headphone in Shure’s SE-series lineup, it also enjoys the distinction of being a product that many big-box retailers treat as the top-shelf offering displayed in their stores. So, from ...read more -
Skullcandy FMJ In-Ear Headphones
|The FMJ has long been Skullcandy’s top-of-the-line in-ear headphone. Once offered in two sizes, the FMJs are now sold only in the larger 11mm size ($70 per pair). The bigger FMJs produce a big, bold ...read more -
Skullcandy Titan In-Ear Headphones
|The Titans ($50 per pair) are Skullcandy’s newest in-ear headphones and are designed to slot into the firm’s lineup above the entry-level Smokin’ Buds and below the more expensive FMJs (or Full Metal Jackets, also ...read more -
Monster Announces “Beats by Dr. Dre Tour” In-Ear Headphones
|Hot on the heels of its widely publicized Beats by Dr. Dre over-the-ear headphones (as reviewed in Playback 14), Monster Cable has announced its new Beats Tour in-ear headphones. According to a company press release, ...read more -
Sennheiser IE 7 In-Ear Headphones
|The German firm Sennheiser has long been known for producing excellent lower-cost earbuds such as the CX300 covered in our first “Killer Earbud” survey, but at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show the firm announced its ...read more -
Denon AH-C551 Earbuds
|The Denon AH-C551 is the little brother of Denon’s sweet-sounding AH-C700 (reviewed in our first “Killer Earbud” survey). Like the AH-C700s (which have now been updated to become the AH-C751s), the AH-C551s feature machined aluminum ...read more -
Shure SE420 In-Ear Headphones
|In just about any product line other than Shure’s, the SE420 in-ear headphones would be a flagship product (and then some). But as things stand, the SE420s are Shure’s next to the top-of-the-line models, slotted ...read more -
Ultimate Ear triple.fi 10 Pro Earbuds
|You could argue the Ultimate Ear’s triple.fi 10 Pro offers the most technically advanced design of any earbud in this (or any) survey, since it is the only three-way in-ear headphones in this group. That’s ...read more