Gadgetwise: Candy-Colored Headphones From Monster

With its Beats by Dr. Dre line, Monster helped lead the charge that made headphones fashionable for millions of young listeners. And when Beats and Monster parted ways in 2012, Monster wasted no time signing a partnership with NCredible Entertainment, a multimedia management brand founded by the entertainer Nick Cannon.

The latest offering in Monster’s NCredible line, which is aimed at young people, is an assortment of brightly hued, durable on-ear headphones called the NTune Candy Collection. They come in five vibrant colors — blue, green, purple, red and tangerine — and have a $170 sticker price, but you can find them cheaper at many retailers and even at Monster’s e-commerce site.

The headphones deliver Monster’s signature sound, which emphasizes heavy bass, making them great for rap, pop and rock music. I found the audio quality fairly good, even at high volumes, although the throbbing bass tended to overwhelm the vocals.

Monster says that the headphones are noise-isolating. Typically, I don’t pay much heed to claims like that, but the headphones’ swivel ear cups provided a good fit and blocked a lot of the outside noise. And they are light enough that I was able to wear them comfortably for a couple of hours.

I was impressed by the durability of the NTune headphones. They can be turned and twisted without cracking or breaking. It appears Monster designed them to last.

The tangle-free cord includes a universal in-line remote that can play and pause music as well as take phone calls. However, the remote does not include volume controls.

With its candy colors and booming bass, the NTune headphones are clearly intended for a younger crowd. Whether they are right for you depends on how badly you want to fit into that crowd.

Gadgetwise Blog: A Tiny Amp for Power-Hungry Headphones

Nuforce, a maker of audio electronics, has come up with a mini-headphone amplifier, the MMP, which stands for Mobile Music Pump. Using it to increase the power of your music player may improve the sound quality.

Of course, this is a phenomenon known to every stereo sales representative. If you want a customer to buy a particular component, play it slightly louder than those it’s being compared with. For some reason the louder one is almost always perceived as sounding better.

There are certainly cases when more power is better; more power can increase how precisely an amp can move a speaker, which makes the bass tighter and overall fidelity higher. There isn’t enough information in the specifications to know if that applies to the MMP.

In a test, the MMP certainly increased volume. The difference in sound quality, when noticeable at all, seemed a very subtle improvement over music played directly from an iPod. The MMP does not include the digital-to-analog processing that other Nuforce products use to make digital music sound more natural.

Where this mini-amp can help is in running a big set of over-the-ear pro headphones from something like an iPod. Some of those headphones require more power than the average digital player puts out. “If you have some headphones that are harder to drive, an amp could definitely help,” said Jason Stoddard, a co-founder of Schiit Audio, which makes professional-level headphone amplifiers.

How do you know if you need more power? Check your headphone spec sheet for “sensitivity.” If the sensitivity is around 90 db at one milliwatt, or a lower number, Mr. Stoddard said, you might benefit.

Of course, it’s also a matter of taste. If your headphones aren’t loud enough, the MMP will change that. Keep in mind, though, that loud headphones can damage your hearing.

The $60 MMP is about the size of two large matchbooks, has settings for 3X and 5X amplification, and has two 3.5-millimeter output jacks, so you can share the gift of hearing loss with a friend.

Gadgetwise Blog: With Upgrade, Headphones Have New Sound, and New Parts

The Master Tracks over-ear headphones from Sol Republic.

Sol Republic, maker of headphones with swappable parts, recently expanded its offerings with the release of its Master Tracks line, which incorporates over-ear headphones for the first time.

Like the company’s on-ear headphones, the Master Tracks components are interchangeable. You can swap out the headband or cables for parts of different colors, allowing you to customize the look, and the Master Tracks are compatible with Sol Republic’s on-ear headphone lines.

Sol Republic updated all the components for Master Tracks. The headband has extra cushion, and volume controls were added to the inline mic, which is in the yoke of the cable. The ear cushions fit comfortably and are articulated for better positioning. But the biggest upgrade was to the speakers in the ear cups, which accentuate the bass.

According to Sol Republic, the X3 Sound Engines in the headphones are intended to recreate the experience of being in a nightclub. The Master Tracks are indeed impressive for the heavy thump of rock and club music, and they deliver midrange vocals clearly. But the pumped-up bass tends to overshadow the subtleties of quieter music. Classical music, like Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” for instance, sounds as if it was recorded in a cavernous, empty concert hall.

The headphones come in three premium finishes – gray, blue and white – with additional headband colors in green, purple and red. Accessories include a water-resistant carrying case and a quarter-inch adapter for the 3.5-millimeter jack.

At $200, the Master Tracks headphones are a little expensive, but unlike some competitors, Sol Republic offers a durable product that is designed to last years. You can twist the headband and tug the cable, but you would have a hard time breaking either of them.

Gadgetwise Blog: Elegant Headphones, Crammed With Features

The Parrot Zik headphones, designed by Philippe Starck.

The French technology company Parrot is known primarily for its hands-free systems for cars, but it has added to its lineup a pair of wireless headphones that blend design and comfort with some very clever features.

Designed by Philippe Starck, the $400 Parrot Zik is a luxurious combination of sleek chrome and soft, synthetic leather. But the design is not only visually appealing, it’s also smart.

For starters, the right ear cup has an integrated capacitive panel. So instead of fiddling with hard-to-reach buttons, you just touch the outside of the cup. A vertical finger swipe will increase or decrease the volume, and a horizontal swipe changes the track. A motion sensor detects when you’re wearing the headphones. Remove them, and the music pauses; slide them back on, and the music resumes. (These features can be a little quirky if you are simply adjusting the headphones for a better fit.)

The headphones integrate Bluetooth and NFC technologies, but also include a port for wired connectivity via a 35mm jack and a USB port for charging. The Zik also enables hands-free phone calls, thanks to microphones and jawbone sensors in the cups that focus on enhancing your voice while blocking other sounds.

But the best feature is the free EQ app for iOS and Android devices to accompany the Zik. The sound from the headphones is good, with an emphasis on the bass, but it can be tweaked with the app’s settings to provide better performance. The customizable equalizer includes seven settings like vocal, pop and club that open up a new world of listening. Adele takes heartbreak to new sonic heights with the vocal preset, whereas rock bands like Garbage sound punchier with the club setting, and the crystal preset was made for synth-heavy bands like Devo.

In addition to equalizer settings, the app has a spatializer feature called Parrot Concert Hall that mimics the acoustics in areas like a living room, jazz club or concert hall. The app also provides active noise cancellation for the headphones, a nice feature, but one that would be better if it were controlled by a tap to the headphones instead.

You can find better-sounding headphones at a cheaper price, but if you like to fine-tune your music, the Parrot Zik is hard to beat.

Gadgetwise Blog: Choosing the Right Headphones

Headphones are the least expensive and most effective way to improve your sound system. They take room acoustics out of the equation, give you perfect stereo separation, and need not be expensive to be good. (They can be expensive, though; some headphones cost thousands.)

The best values in headphones I’ve tested this year hit a sweet spot at around $100. And you can get quite a lot for that price.

First, there are several varieties of headphones. There are earbuds, which hang in the ears but don’t plug the ear canals; in-ear headphones, which fit snugly in the ear canals and block outside sound; on-ear headphones, which sit on your ears but do not create a seal; and over-ear headphones, which encompass the ear and seal out environmental sound. Some over-ear headsets also have sound-canceling technology, to further isolate the listener from outside sound.

The RHA MA450i earphones.

Earbuds do not offer very good sound quality, and over-ear sound-canceling headphones are pricey. There is also a misconception about sound-canceling sets; they reduce only the droning sound of jet engines and wind rush, not the noisy seatmates chatting on a phone.

If you want to shut down extraneous noise, the best way to do it inexpensively is with an in-ear headset. Most have flexible rubber or foam tips that seal out sound. Of those I’ve tried recently, the RHA MA450i, at $50, is the value winner. The sound was detailed and easy to listen to without fatigue, making the MA450i suitable for subway commuting or a cross-country flight. As a plus, it is iPhone friendly and has a microphone and control buttons built into the cable.

The best value in headphones I’ve heard this year — maybe ever — came from the Grado SR 80i, which provides detailed and balanced sound at a bargain basement $100. These headphones fit over the ear but have an open-air design, meaning they will not seal out environmental sound; they act more like an on-ear headset. That also means that if you crank them up, you may overshare your tunes with neighbors.

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