SMS by 50 Cent
The latest rapper to join the scene is Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. After a deal with Sleek (a pretty good headphone maker in Florida) fell through early in 2011, Jackson decided to go it alone and started his own company: SMS Audio. He acquired fashion headphone manufacturer KonoAudio in August, and set to work developing his cans. In only four months he has produced his first two products ... very speedy indeed.
These headphone have just arrived at my lab, and I've had time only to measure them and do some comparative listening against some of the other headphones in this report. My preliminary listening leads me to think that they should have taken more time developing these headphones.
Sync by 50 ($399)
 The prominently touted feature of these headphones is the KLEER wireless system that transmits lossless CD quality audio. I've used a number of other products that use this chipset and find them to work marvelously. To my ears the performance of the Sync is as good wireless as it is when used with a wire. Which is to say: lousy. Not the fault of the KLEER connection, I'm sure.
Overwhelming and bloated bass, withdrawn and uneven mids, and inarticulate highs made themselves apparent in moments. These headphones are a murky muddy mess, made only worse by turning on the bass boost when operated wirelessly. To my ears, the fail of these cans is only exceeded by the Beats Solo. Not only are they a miserable listen, but the earpieces hardly swivel at all making them a clumsy and somewhat uncomfortable fit. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course, but I found the look of the Sync unimaginative and fugly.
There aren't many headphones that I wouldn't recommend before these.
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Street by 50 ($299)
 My measurements of these headphones leads me to believe that the Sync and Street by 50 are virtually identical apart from the electronics. Driver phase and impedance plots are nearly identical, as are frequency, impulse, and square wave response. The differences could certainly be accounted for by the extra space needed by the battery and electronic circuits housed in the earpieces changing the acoustics slightly. The sound was very similar to the Sync, which is again to say: lousy.
The look and feel of these cans is similarly poor as the Sync above, but the assault on the senses of the Smurf blue version of these headphones is truly exquisite.
Wow. Really, $299? Here's where I make the point that ten years ago you could have bought what was at the time a near world-class headphone for that kind of dough.
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Time for the House of Marley ...
