The Ears Have It!
Confession time- there are some of us on staff here at Truly Obscure who are suckers for a decent play on words. It goes without saying that we also love music and gadgets, so when those worlds collide some of us are slightly gleeful. Today we’re going to look at three different ways to improve your environment with sound.
First up are the iFrogz Timbre. Earbuds, made with wood, that improve the timbre of whatever it is you’re listening to. We’ve previously seen some iFrogz before they have quite a line of customizable audio accessories, so this is a bit of an extension for them. Do they work? We’re happy to report that they absolutely do. We compared these earbuds, comfortable to wear thanks to the normal silicone piece that fits in your ear, to several different types of headphones that ranged from standard iPod/iPhone all the way up to high-end earphones.
For the price (around $50) the Timbres performed admirably, holding their own in sound quality against expensive ear buds. They are definitely more comfortable than the earbuds that come standard with an iPhone; we were able to wear ours on lengthy flights with no complaint. The sound isolation is good, not perfect of course, but nothing worth complaining about either, and the built-in mic is similarly decent. We were able to listen to a variety of different music, both instrumental and vocal in loud places (BART rides, long flight) with no problem. You can get the Timbres in dark or light colored wood; ours were the lighter style and quite attractive, though they didn’t come with quite the variety of tips/buds as some other models, and the build quality wasn’t quite as high either. Available from many online retailers, as well as directly from their website, they come either with mic for those who need one (smartphone users), or without the mic, for $50 and $40 respectively.
Next up is the Cy-Fi Wireless Sports Speaker, which looks a little like something you might see on the Starship Enterprise. While it might work in outer space, we only got to test it out here on Earth, and with pleasing results. This is a mobile speaker designed to work with iPods and iPhones (except the iPod Shuffle) wirelessly, using a custom wireless dongle and signal from Kleer. It is also shock and water resistant, making it ideal for outdoor use, and includes a couple of neat mounting brackets aimed at installation on a bike frame or handlebars, or on your scooter. We liked that it was light-weight and truly portable at about four ounces, and offered basic playback controls (though we couldn’t get them to work with all devices tested).
There is a slightly-cheaper Bluetooth version as well, though we did not test that one. Sound quality was only passable though, with minimal bass but surprising volume and little distortion. The range was not bad (about 30 feet), as long as you keep your music player close (or with a clear line of sight) to the speaker you can expect to have consistent playback. Battery life is sufficient for a nice afternoon bike ride; they claim up to 6 hours of constant use and we got at least 4 of occasional use. We wish that it had a mic to offer two-way audio; some versions allow you to hear your phone calls through the speakers, others simply interrupt the music when a call is received. The clamp to attach the speaker to the vehicle of your choosing is pretty solid, we didn’t have any worries about losing our speaker, even over rough terrain. Overall, an interesting product that fits a niche- bikers should definitely give it a try, as it is much safer than using headphones. The Cy-Fi Wireless Speaker retails for $159 and can be purchased directly from Cy-Fi or sites such as Amazon.
Finally, our only product in this review that doesn’t have a cute play on words, but an interesting name nonetheless. Novero’s TheFirstOne Bluetooth is a very straightforward Bluetooth headset. We had no complaints with the sound quality, and found that the headset stayed snugly in place without the need for an ear hook. This device comes with a bunch of accessories, including an AC charger, a car charger, a desk stand and a necklace. Yes, a necklace. If you are so inclined, you have the option of wearing your Bluetooth earpiece as a necklace. We got four hours or so of good battery life, and about four days or so of standby time. There are two microphones built-in, which help with environmental noise-canceling- it worked for the most part, though didn’t surpass some others that we’ve tried. This seems to be a well-made product, but priced a bit high at $150, as they don’t really have any features that put it well above other headsets on the market. TheFirstOne isn’t the smallest, the lightest, it doesn’t have the best battery life or noise canceling. But it is pretty (in white and silver), it works well, and it comes with more than the average set accessories- and it’s packaged impressively as well. You can find TheFirstOne at Novero’s website, as well as multiple online retailers.
