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pfr-v1

Ears-on with Sony's weird PFR-V1 headphones

Japan is rightly feted for its wonderfully peculiar innovations, but we've got hold of the most unusual in the mainstream audio market since Rolly. Sony's new PFR-V1s aren't headphones if Sony has its way--they're "Personal Field Speakers." Whatever you call them, they look bloody weird, but they sound hella sexy.

Kudos to the bloke who designed these, because he thought a little outside the box and attacked the headphone market at an unusual angle. True, the result makes you look like you forgot to take that morning's brain medicine, but audio connoisseurs will … Read more

Sony's $500 headphones to hit U.S.

We spend a lot of time on Crave complaining about all the cool gear that gets released in Japan but never makes it to the U.S. Sometimes, however, we see things from Japan that are so out there, we suspect the Japanese kept quiet out of sheer mercy, preventing our fat American heads from exploding. The Sony PFR-V1 personal field speakers (ie. headphones) are just such an item, and they're coming to America.

Available in April for around $500, the Sony PFR-V1 are a bizarre-looking solution to an age-old audiophile headphone dilemma: How do you recreate the superior sound stage characteristics of listening to full-size speakers, in a portable product that fits on your head? The problem with typical headphones is that they unnaturally point sound towards the center of your skull and don't take advantage of the sound-collecting properties of your outer ear. Most people can live with the sonic compromise offered by headphones, but if you're not one of them, then Sony has a new solution.… Read more