Marshall Mode II – true wireless in-ear buds from Marshall

Marshall headphones has released its first true wireless, Bluetooth in-ear earphones, the Mode II. Built with the signature looks that Marshall fans will know and love, the buds feature custom-tuned dynamic 6mm drivers that create a rich audio experience with growling bass, natural-sounding mids and crisp treble.

The buds deliver 5 hours of wireless playtime on a single charge whilst the charging case offers another 4 charges equalling 25 hours of music playback. Once the case is out of battery, it can either be charged wirelessly or via USB-C.

Realistically, people who buy Marshall products love the design theme that runs throughout their product line-up and the Mode II are no different. The rugged design and embossed Marshall script mean that the charging case works hard while looking iconic. The earbuds display the Marshall “M” for a subtle but noticeable nod to the legacy of rock ’n’ roll.

Mode II offers a truly wireless experience with Bluetooth 5.1 technology. Easily control your music and phone calls, and activate Transparency mode and native voice assistant with just a touch of your finger.

The buds are IPX4 water-resistant and will be available online from 18 March at a price of £159.99 here in the UK.

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Melomania Touch – new wireless earbuds by Cambridge Audio

Cambridge Audio, a British brand well known for its high-end audio equipment, has released its latest version of wireless earbuds – the Melomania Touch building upon its first version the Melomania 1.

These new wireless earbuds have custom 7mm drivers further enhanced with graphene to help provide the dynamism and response needed for the sound quality of deep controlled bass, realistic voices and clearer highs. Built with Bluetooth 5.0 and the latest AAC and aptX codes allowing for high-quality audio streaming.

The engineers have included two microphones and Qualcomm’s Clear Voice Capture noise cancelling technology to ensure that phone calls remain focused on the voice rather than the surroundings. Perfect for all those Zoom/Teams meetings.

All-day wear isn’t a problem, with each earbud tipping the scales at just under 6 grams and three power modes will allow up to 9 hours of use on a single charge. And if your day goes longer, the supplied charging case will offer up to a further 41 hours of listening.

As with most new headphones and earbuds, the Melomania Touch earbuds offer Transparency mode which feeds in ambient noise so you can be aware of the surroundings whilst still enjoying the high-fidelity music. The Melomania app allows you to customise the sound just the way you like it, through EQ settings and tailoring music playback to your individual style as well as locating the buds if you ever misplace them and check each bud’s battery life.

Melomania Touch is readily available priced at £129.95 and is offered in either black or white.

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JBL launches Tour headphones for business professionals

JBL is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and has been releasing a foray of products including a new range of headphones targeted at business professionals.

The market for noise-cancelling headphones is pretty crowded as it is, with the Sony XM4s wearing the crown, Bose’s 700s, Microsoft and Sennheiser among a number of others so these JBLs will need to stand out to leave their mark.

The Tour series have already been awarded the CES 2021 Innovation Awards “Best of Innovation” honors. The series includes two headphone models, the JBL Tour ONE over-ear noise cancelling headphones and JBL Tour Pro+ true wireless in-ear headphones.

The Tour One (over ear) offers True Adaptive Noise Cancellation technology, which monitors environmental sound and adapts to the perfect level of noise cancellation for the user’s environment, eliminating distractions in real time. JLB’s ‘SilentNow’ feature also gives users the ability to simply touch the dedicated button to activate noise cancellation mode without activating Bluetooth. Along with ‘SilentNow’, the headphones also have ‘Smart Audio Mode’ which allows the user to optimize the Bluetooth connection for “normal listening”, increase fidelity in “music mode” or watch videos with the low latency “video mode”.

The headphones have 50 hours of battery life, that is reduced to 25 when using ANC and Bluetooth but can be boosted with a quick charge where 10 mins of charging will offer two hours of music playback.

If in-ear headphones are more your thing, the JBL Tour Pro+ is the set for you. Offering the same technology as the over ear headphones, the Active Noise Cancelling shuts out all outside noises or lets in background audio if users need to stay aware of their surroundings. Both sets of headphones have fast pairing with Android devices and the in-ear buds allow use with either one, allowing users to take calls and listen to music in whichever ear they prefer. These offer 30 hours of music playback and have wireless charging compatibility.

Both sets of headphones will be available from May 2021 with the over ear Tour One coming in at €299 and the Tour Pro+ coming in at €199.

Apple AirPods Max – £549 over ear headphones

Whenever Apple enters a space, it isn’t necessarily the first, but when it does enter it changes it for the better. Think iPod, iPhone, iPad, AirPods – all items that we didn’t know we couldn’t live without until they were presented to us.

Now, Apple has joined the over ear headphone space. Much like it had done with the Airpods and the AirPods Pro, it looked at the current market and wanted to see how it could be done better. The AirPods Max “brings the magic of AirPods to an over-ear design with high-fidelity sound.” It does have some hard hitters to compete with though, the Sony WH-1000XM4s and the Bose 700 series, both of which are cheaper by some margin.

As with all Apple products, these over ear headphones are brilliantly executed – with fantastic textures like the telescopic metal headband arms that effortlessly glide to size. The tem has used the digital crown from the Apple Watch to be used as a volume knob with the functionality to play, pause or skip songs as well as answer calls and activate Siri. There is just one button on the entire device which is used for the noise cancelling allowing a wearer to pick between active noise cancelling and Transparency mode. The latter allows you to listen to the environment around you whilst simultaneously listening to music.

Each earcup has a 40mm Apple-designed dynamic driver providing strong base, treble and mids whilst the dual neodymium ring magnet motor allows the AirPods Max to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than 1 percent across the entire audible range. Fitted with Apple’s proprietary H1 chip using computational audio to deliver the highest quality listening experience.

Now, the features on the AirPods Max aren’t anything groundbreaking, other brands have had most if not all the features for a few years but what Apple does have is spatial audio – with dynamic head tracking to place sounds virtually anywhere in a space — delivering an immersive, theatre-like experience for content recorded in 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos.

The AirPods Max have a battery life of 20 hours with noise cancellation enabled and will go into an extreme low-power saving mode when placed in its smart case. The question remains, that if the case is lost, do the headphones just sap battery?

The AirPods Max are available in five colours – Space Grey, Silver, Sky Blue, Green and Pink at the cost of £549.

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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds: MUST HAVE

Bose headphones have been pretty much the go to headphone for years, more recently battling it out with Sony’s WH-1000XM4s for the crown of over-ear noise cancelling headphones.

In the in-ear space though, Bose has recently released its new QuietComfort Earbuds, said to be the most effective in-ear noise cancelling earbuds ever. Quite a bold claim. The buds debut proprietary advancements in hardware and software to continue the two decade legacy of QuietComfort headphones by introducing new StayHear Max tips that create a soft-yet-tight seal.

The buds use multiple microphones to sense, measure, and send any remaining noise to a chip loaded with a Bose exclusive new algorithm. Paired with tiny transducers, the system creates an opposite signal in less than a fraction of a millisecond. And depending on the environment or personal taste, the Bose QC Earbuds have 11 levels of noise cancellation from “transparency” that keeps you aware of your surroundings, to full noise cancellation that lets you tune out completely or hear every detail from your content and conversations.

Each bud measures just over 2cm long and weighs 13 grams combined, the pair can give 18 hours of total listening time — 6 hours fully charged and an additional 12 using the charging case. The Bose QC Earbuds will be available from October 5th for £249.95 and can be pre-ordered below.

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Sony WH-1000XM4 – MUST HAVE

That headline might look like a typo, but I guarantee that these are the new gold standard for wireless headphones. The 4th generation of over-ear Sony wireless noise-cancelling headphones is finally here.

Carrying on from the third generation, the XM4s are more intelligent, able to adjust ambient sound automatically based on your preferences and location. As we know, the XM3s have been the ones to beat for comfort, noise cancelling, sound quality and clarity when using the microphone.

One thing that will be noticeable is the ability to connect to two devices at once, meaning when a call comes in, the headphones know which device is ringing and connect to the right one automatically. You can also switch your headphones to either of the two devices at a single tap.

Battery life is up to 30 hours of use with noise cancellation or 38 hours without and you can fast charge them to give five hours of use with only 10 minutes of charge.

Some other interesting features – ‘Speak to Chat’ allows the headphones to recognise your voice and pauses the music whilst letting in ambient sound so that you can order your coffee or have a short conversation without taking your headphones off. But if you do choose to remove them for whatever reason, the XM4s will know that they have been taken off the head and will automatically stop the music and resume playing when you put them on again.

The headphones are already available to order, priced at £350 in the UK and available in either black or silver.

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EarHoox – the future of earbuds

Being on holiday makes you realise why people spend hundreds of euros on a good pair of headphones. Sitting on a train, for hours a day, trying to enjoy your music that you may or may not have bought, but all you can concentrate on is the pain in your ears from your ear buds.

Earhoox are the answer to the pain and suffering from earphones. The ingenious yet simple invention helps keeps earphones in place and takes away a large amount of pressure from the ear canal. It is a silicone attachment that you put on your ear buds but does not affect the sound on the ear buds. earhoox™ have two main features: the tire and the shark fin tip. Made of durable silicone, the tire stretches around any circular ear bud to create a snug fit that keeps earhoox™ in place at all times. The shark fin tip comes in two sizes, Large & Small, which provides a flexible shape to apply outward pressure and traction to key points of the ear. Together, the tire and shark fin tip transform your ordinary ear buds and elevate your listening experience.

They have started with a variety of colours ranging from black and white to Hot pink, sky blue and classic green, a colour for everyone.

Earhoox are a start-up company and need your backing to get up and running….. if you any of you would love a pair and want to see these products in shops give a little donation here . not long left till so get backing and they will be eternally grateful.

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