Craziest Gadgets » Audio and MP3 Gadgets

A Record Player that Plays Tree Rings

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:29:09 +0000

If trees could talk, what would they say? Well they don’t actually talk, they play music. Sort of. Bartholomäus Traubeck, a modern day Lorax, has created this specially designed record player called “Years” that visually scans a slice of wood and maps out the color and texture of the tree’s rings into a piece of music. Listen to the silent trees in the video below:

The knot makes it pretty interesting sounding. Ambient and minimalist. The camera is a hacked Playstation Eye Camera. Since every tree’s rings are different, Years plays each record sized slice of tree trunk in a unique way. (via next web)

A Record Player that Plays Tree Rings

Earbud Knitting Kit

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:02:57 +0000

If you think that I’m going to knit my own earbud wraps I have two words for you: Knitter Please. But apparently a lot of people are into this whole “do it yourself” thing (probably the same people who are anti-robots, drive manual transmission cars powered by leftover oil, and wash dishes by hand in their mud and straw house they built using a pulley attached to a bicycle for power while bowing down to their red-headed noodling guitar hero Trey Anastasio) and would love the Earbud Knitting Kit.

The kit comes with everything you need to knit your own tangle preventing earbud cozy and accompanying pouch- which is basically some yarn and needles and instructions from my perspective. Comes in “eggplant” or “sage”, just like you plan on naming your first two kids. $25 at Uncommon Goods.

Earbud Knitting Kit

MiniSkull Speaker

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:45:43 +0000

The MiniSkull Speaker from French duo Kuntzel+Deygas has to be one of the more handsome and unique speakers we’ve ever seen. Handcrafted from walnut to look like a skull, these speakers not only look great, they are serious audio pieces. Inside is a pair of Fostex Fe-83 speakers with a banana leaf pulp membrane (which forms the eyes of the skull). There’s also a custom made Mosfet amplifier inside to boost sound levels. These 50 watt beauties measure about 10 inches tall, run about $2000 each and you can array 5 of them to create the coolest looking surround system ever. They take 4-8 weeks to produce and ship, so don’t count on getting them in time for Christmas- this year.

MiniSkull Speaker

Tembo Trunks Silicone iPod Earphone Amplifiers

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 03:54:28 +0000

Here’s something a little different- Tembo Trunks look like some sort of silicone kitchen tool but they are actually iPhone earphone amplifiers. These stackable, collapsible, speakers work with your standard issue white Apple earbuds (other earbuds might fit too). You slip your earphones in the back and it can raise the volume of music to 80db (about a 30db increase). Check out the video here to see and hear them in action, you can see how they collapse when not in use too:

They use a simple acoustical horn shape to raise the sound levels up. The cool thing about Tembo Trunks is that they don’t require any batteries or power, no cables or wires, are waterproof, dustproof, stackable and fail proof. They come in 5 color choices for $39.

Tembo Trunks Silicone iPod Earphone Amplifiers

Behringer 10,000 Watt iNuke Boom is the World’s Loudest iPod Dock

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:45:49 +0000

Behringer will be introducing the iNuke Boom at this year’s CES show, claiming it is the world’s loudest iPod dock. If you’re at the show just listen for the 10,000 watts of sound or look for the 8 foot wide, 4 foot tall, 700 pound monster speaker. See that little tiny speck on top of the speaker in the picture above? That’s an iPod lol. You can actually pony up the $29,999.99 MSRP for this if you want, although I’d hate to ask what the shipping on a 700 pound speaker would be. Put one in every room of your house.

Behringer 10,000 Watt iNuke Boom is the World’s Loudest iPod Dock

The Insane Looking Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus Speakers

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:04:52 +0000

Look at these wild looking speakers from Bowers and Wilkins. The Nautilus is a four way speaker optimized for soundstage type performance. And they look a bit like something the Maxell guy would have in his house. They have all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a high end speaker:

Mathematically precise, tapering wave-guiding tubes house each unit’s 1″ and 2″ tweeters and 4″ mid-range driver. Rear-traveling sound waves are channeled, absorbed, and dampened, resulting in pure sound coming from the front and none from the back-the pattern of vibration is verified to within 1/3000th of a millimeter using laser-doppler velocimetry. Each has a powerful 12″ bass driver housed in a curved, spiral-shaped tube that allows sound waves to travel its length without reflection. The speakers’ active crossover network frees each driver to operate purely in its own frequency band (unlike typical passive crossover designs) for sound that is crisper, clearer, and more vibrant.

Couldn’t have said it better myself (mostly because I have no idea what any of that means). You will need four separate amplifiers for each speaker to power them. The insane looking enclosures weigh almost 100 pounds each and are handmade of fiberglass reinforced ABS with high end automobile style lacquer on them. Your choice of blue, black, or silver. You might want to check your credit limit first because these speakers are available here from Hammacher for $60,000. Not a typo- that’s sixty thousand dollars.

The Insane Looking Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus Speakers

Peter Max Designed iPod Dock and Radio for NPR

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:34:58 +0000

Did you know that NPR is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary? To honor this milestone legendary pop artist Peter Max has designed a pair of audio devices by Tivoli. The radio “Songbook” shown above which is ideal for use as an iPod speaker or a travel alarm clock and just hanging out listening to NPR on the radio.

The iSongBook goes one step further and adds a flip down docking/charging station for your iPod. You can detach the speakers for true stereo separation. Both have a rubberized weatherproof cabinet covered in the expressive colorful art of Peter Max. Since these are limited edition art speakers you can expect to pay a premium for them- $199 for the radio and $399 for the iPod dock. Available directly from NPR where your purchase helps to support free NPR radio programming.

Peter Max Designed iPod Dock and Radio for NPR

Space Invaders Earphone Holder

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:20:51 +0000

These Space Invaders Earphone Holders are definitely the coolest way to wrap up your headphone cords and stash your earbuds when not in use. They come in a rainbow of color choices as you see above. The coolest part is how the earpieces themselves become the eyes when your cord is all wrapped up:

Nice design. Just $5.49 to keep your wires untangled around a little Space Invader.

Space Invaders Earphone Holder

Angry Birds Speakers and Helmet Pig iPod Dock

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:08:32 +0000

Yes! Official Angry Birds Speakers are here. Unlike the cheap unlicensed Angry Birds speakers on eBay, these are the real deal from official licensee Gear4 (and much larger). These 2.1 stereo speakers put out 30 watts of angry bird power:

Note the themed stand for your device- the black bomb bird’s is an iPod/iPhone/iPad dock but the red one’s is actually just a stand and not a dock, so you can stand up any phone that fits (and use pretty much any device that has a headphone jack even without the stand). Here’s the best one- the helmet pig iPod/iPhone docking speaker:

How cool is that? The pig and black bird come with remote controls, all 3 have volume and bass control. They even come packaged in a faux wooden crate:

These speakers run $79 for the red bird, $99 for the black bird and $99 for the pig. Available directly from Gear4 soon. (use coupon code CHIRRP10 for 10% off, btw)

Angry Birds Speakers and Helmet Pig iPod Dock

Review: V-Moda Vibrato in-ear Headphones

Craziest Gadgets Jeff — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:59:39 +0000

V-Moda sent us over a pair of their V-Moda Vibrato headphones to review. The first thing we notices was the impressive diamond-like shaped packaging. The package tells the world that I just spent $129.99 on a pair of in-ear headphones. So you’re probably thinking what we were thinking when we hear that number- how good can earphones that pricey really be? The answer: really good.

The sound quality was SIGNIFICANTLY better than the standard white Apple earbuds that I (and many people) use frequently. The clarity of the highs and rumble of the bass was on-par with what you can expect to hear from full size can-style headphones but in a much smaller and portable package. The sound was much fuller and richer.

Everything on these headphones is premium quality; the cord is kevlar reinforced fabric style that won’t get tangled up too badly or break. The earbuds are made of a tough zinc metal with a unique diamond-like shape (that was mimicked in the packaging). They are lightweight but feel like they are very solidly constructed. The earbuds came with 8 silicone ear fittings and detachable ear hooks (and a pouch to store everything). I found them to be quite comfortable once I found the right size fitting and used the ear hooks to keep them tightly in place.

Along the cord was a three button microphone and volume control. I felt like it was placed a little too high on the cord for comfortable volume control usage but since it’s also a microphone it does have to placed near the mouth, so there’s little they can do about that. According to the people I talked to on the phone using the mic, my voice was very clear.

V-Moda has a done a great job with the Vibrato- packing a lot of sound and style into a small package. Clearly these are not for everyone but if you want quality full sized headphone sound in an in-ear sized headphone, the Vibrato is ideal.

The big question- are they worth $129? Well I don’t know your budget but if you were considering anywhere near that much for a pair of regular headphones and earbud style headphones are better for your logistically (whether you travel or commute or whatever) then yes they are 100% worth looking into.

Review: V-Moda Vibrato in-ear Headphones