Fans of Star Trek keen to feel like their communicating with the Xyrillians when they’re hoverbooting walking down the street may be interested in Sony’s new EX90SL in-ear headphones.
Looking like a slimmed down version of the shiny chunk of metal that resided in Lieutenant Uhura’s lughole, the ‘bud’ style phones have encapsulated, inner-ear-speakers attached to a space-age shiny metal casing.
To ensure that the sound gets right down yer earhole, the EX90 sports an articulated design that swivels to get in deep and dirty amongst the ear wax.
The high quality ‘phones sport a pair of large, 16 Ohm, 13.5mm (CCAW) speakers serving up 106dB/mW on a wide 5 to 25kHz frequency response (not that any human is likely to hear the extremes of that quoted range. Unless you’re an owl or something). Output is rated at 200mW (IEC).
Aimed at the mobile MP3 listening market, the Sony’s look to offer a real improvement on the standard cheapo headphones that get bundled with players, but we strongly recommend users give this style of headphones a try out first before whipping out their wedge.
When we reviewed the MDR-EX71SL Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones we found that the air-tight seal made us go over a bit funny – although we were wowed by the sound quality. And if you’re listening to music and eating at the same time, the sensation can be distinctly odd!
The EX90SL’s appear to be only available in Japan at the moment, retailing for around 10,000 Yen (£48). We’ve no idea when they’ll be beaming units into the UK.