Perhaps one of the perks of being in this biz is the opportunity to check out products and shows and music before they hit the general public. We review and then offer our opinions and that’s that. But one item was offered to us that leaped to the top of the Christmas list. OK, it’s pink, but that’s part of the charm.
When AblePlanet Linx Audio sent our senior editor Tammye Nash a sample of their Extreme gaming foldable active noise-canceling headphones (with Linx Audio), we were both oohing and ahhing over the whimsical pink color and Burberry-ish plaid accents. Initially, they looked like the stuff kids plastic toys are made of and the pink paint chipped off upon opening. Bummer.
And then we tried them out.
We don’t spend time gaming at the office, but tunes are crucial to get us through the day. Especially on Thursdays which is when we put the paper out. So she handed them to me to check out. Pink or not, when they say noise-canceling, there is absolutely no lie there. I had put them on with regular volume and heard nothing anyone said to me. Even with the music off, people sounded muffled as if I was under water (but in a good way).
At first, I thought everything sounded veiled. The bass was good but the quality was somewhat muffled. And then I embarrassingly saw that the switch was turned off. These don’t just plug in to your computer, game unit or mp3 player, they have to be switched on for full aural pleasure.
Linx Audio not only filters out undesirable sound, it reduces distortion and turns the sound into crisp clarity. I tried a variety of genres to test the sound quality, and different songs succeeded where others just sounded above average. Either option is an upgrade, but hip-hop and dance music plays with the lushest of bass tones and dance beats but gives equal time to vocals and other components of the music. Folk and country music fared a little less so. Twang doesn’t necessarily shine, but the quality of the phones still produced a sharp output. If any music suffered, it would have been classical where the natural bass of some instruments started overpowering the entire piece.
But for music, these are a must. The phones also fold into a nice, soft carrying pouch and come with a triple-A battery, dual pin airline and computer adapter and blackberry and gaming handset adapter.
In other words, as a whole, these phones kicked ass. And we want! So if you think we’ve been good boys and girls for Christmas (minus David Taffet — he’s Jewish), feel free to order any of us a set by going here. Awww, you’re so sweet to think of us at Christmas time.
And if you’re feeling really generous, we saw this outside our window the other day. It would match so nicely.
