Headphone Reviews

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Seems like every other day a new celebrity headphone comes out. And they're not cheap! Three hundred dollars used to buy you near-world class headphones. How come there's so much bling in headphones these days? How come they're so expensive? How the heck did we get here?

And more importantly, do these headphones sound any good?

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

With about 27% of the population over age 50, and roughly 30% of all headphone purchases influenced by celebrity endorsement, I can understand why Koss turned away from the heavy competition for the younger generation's wallet and focussed their attention on the baby boomers with the introduction of their Tony Bennett headphones. Personally I prefer Tony Bennett to Dr. Dre, Ludacris, and 50 Cent, but I'm not sure the geriatric headphone buyers are really part of the 30% of purchasers who are influenced by celebrity endorsement.

Let's see how they sound.

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Call me out of touch with pop-culture, but I had no idea what the "True Blood" referred to on V-MODA's V-80 True Blood headphone. A quick Google and I know we have a new kind of celebrity headphone, one endorsed by a T.V. show about vampires. Fine with me because ...

... these headphones are AWESOME!

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

I've got an open invitation to visit Skullcandy's headphone R&D labs in Park City Utah ... and I'll be taking them up on it sometime soon. Why? Because I want to see what they're doing that let them build a few darn good sounding headphones lately.

The Mix Master is one of them.

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Quincy Jones has it going on, and I liked their higher-end Quincy Jones Q701 when I reviewed it a while ago. But now we come to a very small, sealed portable headphone, the Quincy Jones Q460.

Let's see how it does.

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

At the bottom end of the Soul by Ludacris headphone line is the SL100. I was impressed by the more expensive SL150, and hopeful for another good showing here.

Um ... didn't quite work out.

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

After spending time with the Beats by Dre Solo HD (high definition or heavily distorted, I'm not sure) it was a real pleasure to acquaint myself with the Soul by Ludacris SL150.

Surprisingly satisfying!