heads

Pay less for world's best headphone?

I've recently reviewed most of the contenders for the world's best headphones: the Audio Technica ATH-W5000, Denon AH-D7000, Sennheiser HD 800, Grado PS-1000, Ultrasone Edition 8, and the best headphones I've heard so far, the Stax electrostatic SR-007Mk2. I listened to the Stax with the Woo Audio WES headphone amplifier. If you want and can afford the best, go for the Stax-Woo combination.

But now I have yet another headphone to check out, and this one is a very different-sounding design. Oh, and it's less than half the price of the least expensive of those models!

It's called the Hifiman HE-5, and it uses planar-magnetic drivers to create sound. A planar magnetic driver is a large, flat Mylar diaphragm, coated with superthin aluminum, suspended between rows of slender bar magnets. The HE-5's diaphragm is therefore driven over its entire area, which dramatically reduces distortion; conventional dynamic headphone drivers are "driven" by a voice coil on the outer edge of the diaphragm, so the inner portion is more likely to distort.

The HE-5's driver is similar to the Stax electrostatic 'phones in that way, but the HE-5 doesn't use the bias charging scheme that all electrostatic headphones use, which also means the HE-5 can be used with standard headphone amplifiers. The Stax cannot.

The HE-5 is incredibly detailed sounding, but at the same time it's very smooth and laid back. Swapping between the HE-5 and the Sennheiser HD 800--considered by many to be the world's best dynamic headphone--the two headphones are opposites. The HD 800 is brighter, crisper, with more apparent treble detail; the HE-5 is softer, warmer, and more natural-sounding. … Read more

Tele Scouter sends translations right to your retina

If Japan-based NEC has its way, people who act as language translators could one day be replaced with head-mounted displays that project translations onto a retinal display. Come again?

The Tele Scouter system is composed of an eyepiece with a front-mounted camera and a mic that picks up conversations and sends the data to a small computer worn on the user's waist.

The computer then transmits information to a remote server, which does the heavy processing work converting the foreign speech to text, translating it, and wirelessly sending it back to the tiny eye display for viewing. That seems … Read more

Wikiphonia: A headphone wiki

Headphone lovers of the world unite! We now have our own wiki, Wikiphonia.

Headphones are hugely popular now, but they were around long before "i" and "Pod" ever got together. The history is long and deep, and Wikiphonia is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to know more about headphone technology and related information.

Headphone geeks are a breed apart from audiophiles as I know them, but they're an even more intense bunch. One of the great things about headphonia is you can get in pretty deep without a big investment. Hard-core types like to build their own headphone amplifiers.

Wikiphonia has an entry that covers 1970s era USSR copies of Western headphone technologies and designs, "The copying was done out in the open, probably and correctly, they figured no one would start a conflict with a superpower over a few headphone patents."

For me, it all started with Sennheiser's HD 414. Its bright yellow earpads were super cool, and the sound was awesome. Back in the early 1970s it was a really big deal, a giant leap better than anything I'd ever heard. You can read all about it on Wikiphonia.… Read more

NHL video game faceoff: NHL 2K10 vs. NHL 10

Before 2007, the 2K series of hockey video games was tough to match. It seemed 2K had a perfect sense of gameplay, physics, and true-to-life NHL action. When EA Sports revamped its franchise in NHL 07 by introducing the Skill Stick and a new game engine, the tide immediately turned.

With the 2009-2010 NHL season fast approaching, both hockey games look to improve on their respective formulas. While each game tries to create an accurate hockey simulation experience, only one title is able to deliver a winning combination.… Read more

Palm Pre & Touch Pro Face Off

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day, had fun, and were safe. Before going to the fireworks I had the thought of battery life between my HTC Touch Pro And My Palm Pre. (Thanks again to Sprint, CNET, and Palm) Being a user that needs a battery to last under harsh conditions this is a very important factor on what device will be active on my account. Being a Windows Mobile fanatic I must admit it's weird being a noob again. The operating system just keeps getting better as I find new features throughout the device. Per examples, the g-sensor is very accurate and smooth unlike my Touch Pro which can be choppy at points if multiple processes are running in the background. The light sensor just amazes me, when my phone falls asleep i can just hold my hand over the ear piece than move to turn the device on. The sensor is also great since when you put the phone to your face it automatically turns the screen off so the user doesn't get buttons pressed. (when removed from your face the light turns back on.) Without further ado here are the results from my little test, and remember that these results are with both phones at 1 bar of service and calling eachother from a full 100%charge.… Read more

Eastpak: Optical discs are totally the new MP3s

Believe it or not, party photographs are good for something: the guys over at Coolcats spotted this Eastpak CD case in the wild, and it appears to be part of the company's product collaboration with Ed Banger Records, the French label behind recently popular acts Justice, Busy P., and SebastiAn.

The entire collection will drop this fall, but High Snobiety already gave us a look at some of the first pieces in the official collabo--a backpack and a few smaller luggage items that bear bright, colorful Ed Banger allover-print themes.

The CD case is a little strange to me, … Read more

DARPA wants to see through concrete

Hiding and fighting from within civilian structures gives insurgents an edge. The U.S. military wants to negate this home field advantage with technology that would allow soldiers to look through concrete walls and give them a detailed picture of a building's interior--right down to the fixtures.

DARPA has asked companies to propose a suite of multiple sensing technologies that could, upon development, deliver "complete situational awareness" above and below ground that would "reverse the adversaries' advantage of urban familiarity."

The Comprehensive Interior Reconnaissance program sponsored by DARPA describes a scenario in which an area … Read more

The chroniclers of narcissism: Daily Mugshot vs. Daily Booth

If you're a Twitter user, you've probably seen tweets directing you to a person's "Mugshow." This is yet another Web gimmick that makes you scratch your head when you first learn about it, but over time it begins to make a modicum of sense. Think of it as the essence of Twitter, in pictures. Kinda.

Both Daily Mugshot and Daily Booth ask that you come back to the site once per day, take a snapshot of yourself, and publish it in your timeline of pictures. You can add comments to your pictures, share them with others, and view other users' pictures. That's it. Twitpic they ain't, but they are fun.

Maybe you find the concept ridiculous. But if you don't, which one should you use -- Daily Mugshot or Daily Booth?

It's time to find out.… Read more

Inside CNET Labs 35: 'When they talk, their head kinda jumpin' up and down'

We have the power this episode! I feel it. Dong feels it. And soon you will feel it...Can you feel it yet? No? Well start downloading.

Dr. Orgy returns this week with some very sound relationship advice for Dong. Dr. Orgy has been divorced once thought, so seriously, how helpful can this be?

Dong and I give our impressions of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 update that turns into a discussion of Apple culture that probably goes on too long. I would have edited it down some, but, we've gotten some complaints lately about us not censoring ourselves. … Read more