Product review – Future Sonics Atrio noise isolating headphones

This product review is going to introduce you to the Future Sonics Atrio headphones, but let me open with a warning – if the idea of $200 headphones freaks you out, stop reading.

However, if you cherish silence on your flight, combined with amazing sound quality, these headphones may be just what the doctor ordered.

The Future Sonics Atrio headphones are passive noise canceling, which means they block noise by physically keeping it out of your ears. The dual flanged silicone earpieces make for a snug fit, but once you get them inserted correctly, they feel great.

Reviewing the sound quality is tricky, mainly because I am far from a audiophile, and I always considered MP3’s to sound “great”. That said – the Future Sonics really did blow my mind. Audio is unbelievably clear and crisp, and for the first time, I was able to detect the weaknesses in the quality of my music files.

The headphones come with more parts than you are probably used to. Included in the padded hard case are of course the headphones themselves, as well as several different earpieces in foam and silicone.

Included is also a cleaning tool, which is used to clean out the stuff your ears leave behind in the poor headphones. It may sound disgusting, but by keeping things clean, your audio won’t suffer from ear wax buildup.

In-ear noise isolating headphones are brilliant – you don’t need to worry about batteries, you can sleep with them on, and you don’t look funny walking down the aisle with red lights on the side of your head. On top of that, I actually find that the audio does not suffer as much, as there are no electronics trying to play tricks with your music.

The noise isolation on the Atrio headphones is rated at 26dB, which doesn’t mean that much to me – all I know is that they manage to block out almost everything that annoys me, including crying babies.

As far as the sound quality goes – don’t just take my word for it. The Future Sonics Atrio headphones are used by artists like Miley Cyrus and Steve Miller, who probably have much higher standards than what my ears are used to.

All in all, a fantastic pair of headphones, that have actually made me rethink the way I “acquire” my music – I’ve started getting rid of MP3 files I had collected that were stored in a low quality, and am even dabbling in lossless audio formats.

The Atrio headphones are available directly from Future Sonics in 4 different colors and cost $199.

Daily deal – Philips noise canceling headphones for $7

Forget those $300 noise canceling headphones – adding a little peace and quiet does not come any cheaper than these $7 Philips noise canceling headphones.

They are currently on sale at Amazon.com through a third party seller, and can be yours for $6.99 plus $5.99 shipping.

The inventory is very low, and at the moment only 3 are left in stock, with more on the way, so you may have to wait a little to actually get your hands on them, but at a price this low, I don’t think you’ll be complaining. If they do sell out, other Amazon retailers can help you out, but you’ll pay about $4 more.

Reviews on them are generally good, plus the package comes with an airline audio adapter, which you may need on some older airlines.

Update: The $7 version did indeed sell out, the current seller is offering them for $10.68 with $6 shipping, still very cheap!

Daily deal – Shure I2C-MP noise isolating headset for $39.69

My daily deal for today is for the Shure I2C-MP stereo noise isolating headphones. These headphones combine passive noise isolating headphones with a microphone. The combination means you can use them on your regular MP3 player as well as a compatible mobile phone or smartphone.

They have been tested with the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry Curve, but should work on any phone with a 3.5mm stereo headset jack. If you plan to use these headphones on the “old” iPhone, you’ll need to order a headphone adapter, thanks to the silly recessed headphone jack design.

These headphones normally retail for a little over $100, but Amazon.com has them on clearance for just $39.96. Of course, at this low price there is a slight trade-off; they do not feature a call pickup/hangup button. This means you’ll have to reach for your phone to control the call.

Despite that minor detail, under $40 for a pair of Shure noise isolating headphones is quite a bargain. The advantage of noise isolating headphones is that they are very light, and they don’t require batteries to operate.

The headphones include a personal fit-kit consisting of several different earpieces and a nice Shure carrying case.

Remember, Amazon ships their own items for free (when over $25), and Amazon Prime members can get these headphones sent with 2-day shipping for free.

Daily deal – big headphone clearance at Amazon.com

Welcome to the Gadling daily deal for Saturday. In this deal, you’ll find an assortment of noise isolating and noise canceling headphones in the Amazon headphone clearance sale.

There are some real gems to be found, including these JVC noise canceling headphones, on sale for $37.97 (were $99.95).

Almost all the headphones have a pretty decent rating of 4 stars. As always with Amazon, orders of $25 or more will ship for free and members with an Amazon Prime account can get them shipped with 2-day for free.

Personally I’m an in-ear noise isolating headphone fan, as you saw with my recent review of the Etymotic Research hf2 headphones. But as I said; there is something for everyone in the clearance aisle.

Product review – Etymotic Research hf2 noise isolating headset

In this product review, I’m going to give you a closer look at a pair of noise canceling headphones for your mobile phone.

The Etymotic Research hf2 headphones combine excellent noise canceling features with a microphone and call control button. What you end up with is an absolutely fantastic pair of headphones that work on your iPhone or other compatible mobile phone.

I’ve been a huge Etymotic Research fan for years. The headphones made by Etymotic Research are passive noise canceling, which means they cancel out noise by isolating your ears from the noise instead of using electronics to cancel it out. The level of noise reduction with these headphones is astounding, provided you get a good solid fit.

Included in the box of the hf2’s are of course the headphones themselves, as well as 2 different ear pieces; one set of foam fittings and one of smaller silicone rubber fittings. Also included is an ear filter replacement kit, since the headphone are “in-ear”, they’ll eventually pick up some of the wax left in your ear, so this filter kit allows you to clean things out a little. It sounds quite gross, but it’s a lot better than just leaving stuff in the headphones. Etymotic Research also includes a nice carrying pouch with room for the headphones and all the accessories.
Getting the headphones to fit takes a little getting used to, in my case, I prefer the standard triple flanged earpieces. Once you insert the headphones, you need to wiggle them around a little to get a perfect fit. As soon as they are “installed” correctly, you’ll instantly notice it, because almost all the ambient noise is gone. Another big benefit of blocking outside noise, is that you can keep the volume of your music down to a minimum.

The audio from the hf2’s is outstanding. I’m not an audiophile, so I won’t bore you with extensive descriptions of the highs and lows, but playback off an iPhone and Blackberry Curve was just great. Plenty of bass, and combined with the noise isolation means you get really rich sounding audio. I’ve tried the hf2’s on a 2 hour flight, and at no point did they become too uncomfortable. I did have the urge to remove them every half hour or so for a minute to give my ears a bit of a break.

Call quality was also great, the built in microphone did its job just fine, and on my Blackberry I had no problem picking up and disconnecting phone calls using the call button housed in the microphone unit. People on the other end of my calls never complained, and the sound is most certainly better than most Bluetooth headsets.If you plan to use your mobile phone to listen to music on a plane, you will need to enable “flight mode” (unless of course you are on a flight with wireless Internet access).

Good quality audio comes at a price, and the Etymotic Research hf2’s are no different; the MSRP is $179, but when you compare this with other brands of premium noise canceling headphones you’ll actually see that they are quite affordable. I have tested other in-ear headsets in the past, but the Etymotic Research hf2’s are miles ahead of anything I have ever listened to. You can purchase the hf2’s directly from the Etymotic Research site.

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