Can TubeSurround Sound headphones make you look angelic?
(Credit: CNET Networks/Corinne Schulze)As some of you may have noticed, I have somewhat of a history with ridiculous wearable gadgets. Who am I to let that legacy die? Enter the TubeSurround Sound Headphones, which are, to say the least, interesting-looking. You wear them halo-style around your head, then adjust the two tube-style earbuds into your ears. There is a point to this not-so-low-profile design: it serves to position six minispeakers in different spots around your head, thus creating a true surround-sound experience. The TubeSurround then uses a combination of bone conduction and traditional audio to create an immersive experience.
Naturally, I got to pop these things on my head and do some preliminary testing with a variety of action and sci-fi films, and the headphones did a decent job at offering the full surround-sound experience. They seemed to do better than headphones that offer "virtual" surround sound. I don't think I'll be sporting these out on the streets anytime soon, despite the fact that you can get the headband covers in a variety of colors. I have no trouble making a fool of myself without the help of said gadget, although the images on the TubeSurround Web site are, surprisingly, even odder than the one of me sporting the headphones above.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
