Gizmodo: dre

Dr. Dre and Monster Put $150 In Your Ear With Beats Tour Headphones

Jason Chen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:40:00 EST

Dr. Dre and Monster just dropped the in-ear version of their Beats headphones, which cost $150 and are tangle free. Now they're waiting for you to pick it up.

The most notable feature in its checklist of features is the tangle free cable design, which looks to us like a sort of flat-cable. Other cool details are the gold contacts, the heavier low-end (same as its larger brother) and a "sound-isolating eartip". The spec page doesn't list anything about an on-board Microphone, like the earlier version, so we're not sure if you can take calls on this. We'd guess not. [Apple Store via Crunchgear]

Lightning Review: Dr. Dre and Monster Headphones vs. a Jackhammer

Jason Chen — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The Gadget: Dr. Dre and Monster's Beats headphones, which combines noise cancellation/isolation with an in-line microphone for cellphones. Plus, you have Dre's expertise in knowing what sounds good, which makes for a good pair of cans.

The Price: $350

The Verdict: Strong. The sound quality is pretty great, with good bass reproduction without being too heavy handed, and decent mediums and highs. Not the best all-around headset compared to Sennheisers, but pretty darn good. The Beats also ship with two headphone cables, one of which has an on-board microphone/toggle switch for taking and making calls. It performs this job quite admirably as well.

On the other hand, it might be because my head is too big or my ears stick out too much, but the Beats just barely fit on my head and grip my ears at its most extended. People with heads larger than me—there shouldn't be many of you out there—might want to try this on first before buying. The ear cups aren't extraordinarily comfortable, but they're wearable. Remember Dre's appearance at the VMA's last year? His head was pretty tiny on his buff body. Maybe that's why these are small.

But the most interesting feature is the noise cancellation. You have to have a pair of AAA batteries loaded in at all times, but the resulting isolation is more than enough to drown out an insanely annoying jackhammer that's been going at it outside my house for the past two weeks.

The Beats may not be the best at noise cancellation, the best at sound reproduction, or the best at making and taking calls, but it does all of the above well, and should be good enough for most people. [Beats]

Dr. Dre and Monster Cable's Beats Headphones Available At Apple and Best Buy July 25

Jason Chen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:59:00 EDT

We know you've been DYING to get your own Dr. Dre headphones ever since you saw them back at CES, so you'll be happy to know that Apple and Best Buy are willing and able to take your $349.95 this Friday. The headphones are supposedly imbued with "extreme clarity, deep bass and full power, which had been lacking in conventional headphones." Yeah, we've been asking ourselves for years why conventional headphones had only come with half power, but now we know that it's because Dr. Dre mandated it. Gangsta. [Business Wire]

Universal ECG is World's Smallest, Sedates Your Curiosity Anywhere

Haroon Malik — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:31:00 EDT

DRE, the Louisville medical tech company, has just unleashed the world's smallest ECG system. The compact device consists of the obligatory 12 leads and a small attachment that carries the necessary software for ECG interpretation. The Universal ECG hooks directly up to desktop PCs, laptops or Pocket PCs running Windows XP or 2000.

Unlike old school devices that use a clunky great machine, the Universal ECG can save electrocardiogram data directly to the physician's computer for analysis and sharing, which should save cash on printing out millions of the readouts each day. Though the device probably won't be as accurate as said clunky machine, its portability will surely make it a must for all those hypercondriacs among us. Feeling a little coronary ischemia coming on? (House rules.) [Medgadget]