We have recently had delivery of a whole load of new Skullcandy products. Both new and exciting colours of existing products like the Skullcandy Smokin Buds and completely new product lines such as the Skullcandy Chop
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Sennheiser MX W1 Review
Well after much anticipation, many querying e mails and lots of false release dates the Sennheiser MX W1 wireless headphones are FINALLY here and we were the first in Europe to get them!!!!
But is it any good? Has Etymotic’s ETY8 crown of the high-end wireless in-ear headphone club been snatched as quickly as it was presented? Have we now seen the beginning of the future of wireless technology? To beat around the bush no longer, yes on all counts.
There will always be style and driver differences between headphones but the most important distinction here is between the Bluetooth and Kleer technologies which allow portable headphones to be wireless. The MX W1’s transmit audio to each earpiece digitally and without compression, using the 2.4GHz frequency band, meaning those audio files on your MP3 player won’t be tarnished as a result of limited Bluetooth bandwidth.
The technology behind this audio transmission was engineered by a company called Kleer who are a relative newcomer to the market, having been founded just six years ago. RCA was the first to use Kleer in its S2501 Jet Stream MP3 player last year, but it was a poorly conceived product with very poor earbuds that meant there was no way to tell whether the technology behind it was any good. The MX W1’s Kleer technology “clearly” needed Sennheiser’s proven ability to impress with audio performance.
Sennheiser has always set great store on having the best acoustics. Newly developed transducers — manufactured in Sennheiser’s competence centre in Ireland — reproduce detailed sound and a well-defined bass resulting in digitally transmitted CD quality sound delivered to your ears in a stylish and ergonomic vessels. The sound is fantastic! In fact, I’m convinced that true audiophiles won’t be able to tell the difference between these and wired earphones!
How they work is like this. A small transmitter fastens on to your MP3 via a stretchy band and plugs into any 3.5mm audio socket via a short cable. However, this detour will soon no longer be necessary because Kleer products are fully compatible with one another. For example, an MP3 player with Kleer technology can transmit straight to these headphones. The headphones themselves have internal batteries and can be fully recharged when docked into their battery-equipped carry case (they can be recharged 3 times from the carry case before this will need replenishing). You simply ‘twist’ the earphones into your ear canal, giving a snug fit without any hookage required and i have found they stay firmly in place in my ears.
The plug and play transmitter makes conventional audio equipment instantly compatible with the MX W1 headphones and you can also have the transmitter send the same audio to two pairs of MX W1’s. The ability to charge the headphones from the battery-equipped carry case really does make these headphones ideal for long journeys or travelling and I certainly have not been using anything else since i was lucky enough to get my hands on a set.
The only downside i can see so far is that like with all quality market leading products you have to put your hand in your pocket. Just as with the i pod, then the i phone this technology does not come cheap and the price for this crystal clear wireless audio experience is £299. Despite this our first delivery shot off the shelves and sold out immediately which shows our thirst for innovative quality products and reinforces how music seems entwined in our everyday lives.