Shure reveals a new consumer line-up of Portable Folding On-Ears

The increasing popularity of headphones finally melted the studio-hardened hearts of Shure and they are pretty soon releasing *gasp* consumer on-ear headphones! The current shipping estimate at Amazon.com is 2-5 weeks. The new consumer line-up starts at $40 with the Semi-Open SRH-144 (folding, non-detachable cables on each side, replaceable ear cushions, 34 ohm impedance, 36mm drivers). Interesting choice to go with semi-open here, given how many consumers at this price-range are not necessarily familiar with the trade-offs of semi-open vs closed (vs open).

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New Headphones at IFA 2014: Sony, Sennheiser, Roam, Pioneer, Philips, and more

IFA 2014, as expected, brought up lots of new technology, and among them we had new headphones and new headphone related products! The big headlines so far: Sennheiser’s more direct attempt to grab a share of the Beats/Celebrity/Fashion headphones market while the Momentums go in-ear… Sony makes a concentrated High Definition Audio move with the MDR-Z7 headphone and XBA-Z5 earphone and a new high-definition (up to 24/192) Walkman. Sony also refreshes the MDR-1* line with a normal headphone and one with a built-in DAC… The Beats Fallout continues, Steven Lamar launches new $300 Roam Ropes… Pioneer adds another DJ headphone… Philips went on the attack new van Buuren on-ear DJ headphones and two M-series on-ears and one noise-canceller… More Philips, they revealed the world’s first headphone with a Lightning connector, the M2L…

Latest Update: Fri 9/11/14: added Philips M2L Lightning Cable headphones…

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New Headphones at CES 2014 include Sennheiser, AT SonicFuel, Star Wars by 50c, Hifiman, Streamz, Razer, etc

CES 2014 came and went and with it we got even more headphones of all kinds. We had some traditional headphones, some headphones with the now almost-obligatory mic and inline remote control but as also got some different and unusual entries, including an Android-powered headphone, touch-sensitive controls, a headphone with a built-in amp (from AT none-the-less), experimental designs from Intel, and more!

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New Headphones at IFA 2013: AKG K545, K845BT, Sony MDR-R10s, Klipsch Stylus, Philips L2 and M1BT, Urban Ears, and more

The big annual IFA 2013 technology trade show is ending in Berlin, and with it we got a handful of new headphones from some of the well-known manufacturers. The trends continue as before, more Bluetooth, more fashionable headphones, more noise-cancellation, and more mics and in-line buttons!

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Top 50 best rated headphones at Amazon (by customer reviews)

We start this new blog with the wisdom of the crowds. We take a look at the top 50 best rated headphones at Amazon.com based on customer reviews. The ranking is provided by Amazon using their proprietary algorithms that balance the number of reviews with the review rating. For example, a headphone with three 5-star reviews will not be ahead of a headphone with 1200 reviews and a 4.7 rating. Historically 1200 reviews are more credible than 3 reviews, so it can filter out review shenanigans and over-ear fanboys/fangirls!

The different colors and options of an individual product typically have their own individual Amazon product pages. Most of the time they often share the same pool of reviews. So the reviews of the red, green, or blue color of a headphone will go to the same review pool. However, in some other cases, each option may have its own review pool. This is how the listings are set up by Amazon, and it is beyond my control.

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