The bass is "highly addictive" and its "resolution of fine detail is extraordinary," with isolation so solid it'll block screeching NYC subway cars (that's amazing, if you've ever heard the 6 train pull into Union Square, which sounds like a dying elephant shoved into a blender with a cat and the Phoenix). Of course, any headphones this high end require custom molds from an audiologist, which adds another $150 to the price. Steve says they're worth $1100, not just because they're hand-built and designed Jerry Harvey, who founded Ultimate Ears, but because you'll get 10 years of use out of them—which, looked at from that angle, isn't so bad. Check out the full review here: [Cnet]

We're gonna be talking in-ear earbuds—canalphones, really, or in-ear monitors, if you're snooty—since all the good stuff goes deep into your precious earholes. We aren't talking about headphones because great headphones aren't the most discreet things around—can't defeat physics, children. Unless you derive some sick pleasure from jogging with a pair of giant cans bolted to your head, earbuds are the way to go.

It's All About the Drivers—No, Not Those Kind

Whether you're talking about headphones or earbuds, they work a lot like loudspeakers, just miniaturized. The key element in both are drivers, though earphone drivers are a lot smaller, and do a lot less work to make the same music.

There are two main types of drivers: The a dynamic driver works just like a traditional one in big ol' speaker. The benefit of the dynamic driver is that it produces a nice bass response, though it can be hard to miniaturize.

A balanced armature driver is pretty common in serious in-ear monitors, since it's easy to shrink down. Originally found in hearing aids, it houses a magnetic armature that moves when an electric current runs through the coil, putting pressure on the diaphragm, creating sound. It can be, and often is, paired with a dynamic driver.

Most earbuds just have the one driver, though more and more have multiple drivers. That costs more 'cause it's harder to cram more than one into a tiny casing meant to rest gravity-free in your ear. With multiple drivers also comes a "crossover network," circuitry meant to divide music into different frequencies and route them to the appropriate drivers, an additional payload to stuff into that tight space. Once all that is crammed in, however, multi-driver earbuds typically sound better than single-driver ones, because the woofer, tweeter and mid-range horn are more innately equipped to handle their own domains of sound—from boomy bass to sizzly treble.

Among the least expensive multiple-driver earbuds are Apple's fancier $80 in-ear earbuds, which use two drivers, a tweeter for highs, and another for everything else. It gets more expensive as you creep up. Shure's three-driver SE530 lists for $500 (but can be found for much less). Ultimate Ears' UE-11 Pro, which will run you a ridiculous $1150, come with a correspondingly ridiculous four drivers. That's one for mid-range and one for highs and two for bass.

Some companies opt for a single driver because they think it's better, since there aren't complications with crossover networks, trying to get all the drivers to work together to produce seamless sound. On the other hand, with a single driver, you're asking one driver to do everything: highs, lows and mid-range, says Stereophile senior contributing editor Michael Fremer Fremer. (Yes, that Michael Fremer.) That's why , FutureSonics, for instance, makers of pro monitoring gear, charges so much for their single-driver earbuds. "A really good single-driver can sound really good," says Fremer.

What It's Made Of, How It's Made

Besides more drivers, what you get in pricier earbuds is (surprise, surprise) better materials, finer build quality and a more focused design. Michael Johns, headphones manager for Shure—known for earbuds with MSRP ranging from $100 to $500 but rarely double digits—told me that most of the really cheap ($20) headphones on the market are basically rebranded crap from no-name factories, and that when you buy those with suggested retail pricing between $50 and $100, you're mostly paying for style, not sound. The top-tier brands, of which there are many, tend to design and engineer their own headphones. The expense of that is, unfortunately, passed on to you.

The cost of raw ingredients is also passed to you—the cable material, the magnet behind the diaphragm, the diaphragm material itself, the overall quality of the driver, and the enclosure. (Again, all of the stuff that jacks up the price of higher quality loudspeakers too.) None of that stuff, when it's well made, is cheap. Fremer says, for instance, that better headphones actually use stronger magnets than cheaper headphones. As you might guess, the more powerful the magnet, the higher the cost.

The Fit

With legit in-ear buds, fit matters a lot, because the seal is critical. Not only does a good seal mean less ambient noise infiltrates your ears—allowing you to keep your volume low while still catching the full dynamic range—but an airtight seal is how you get decent bass response. And you want something shoved deep down inside your ear to be comfortable, as well as fit, so there's a lot of different kinds of tips earbud makers have come up with. Besides the standard rubber bulb, there's squishy foam, and the Christmas tree-lookin' triple-flange sleeves. What works best often comes down to your own ears and personal preference, which is why better earbuds come with a ton of tips.

What Do I Buy?

So, uh, what's the sweet spot price for great headphones? If Shure and Fremer had their way, everybody would spend upwards of $200 on their earbuds, but if you twist their arm, they'll agree that $100 is where buds start getting decent. The real trick, according to Fremer, is just getting people to "spend that first hundred bucks."

The law of diminishing returns tends to kick in above that point: The difference between $300 set of buds and a $400 pair is nowhere near the jump from $20 to $100. Even smaller is the difference in models between generations. The best value on the market might be a previous-gen version of Shure's 500 series buds at a cut rate ($290), but if you can find $100 earbuds for 70 bucks, it's even better.

Interestingly, Fremer says what you're looking for in great earbuds is "a relatively flat frequency response so no frequency is accentuated above another," so "the product that sounds the best is usually the one that impresses you the least at first." Buds that tout big bass, for instance, don't actually have better bass, just more of it. (You can always adjust the EQ if you want more bass.)

Whatever you do, for Christ's sake—and yours—ditch the iPod earbuds.

Still something you wanna know? Send questions about buds, tips or hot waitresses who deserve big tips to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

• Grado is now shipping their in-ear headphones, the GR8. I'm assuming Grado really wants you to read that model number phonetically, so I'm going to try to help them out. The company is known for their gr8 sounding over-the-ear, open-air headphones like the SR60, so the GR8 is a bit of a departure for the company. As far as specs go, the earphones cover the full 20Hz - 20KHz audible spectrum and are powered by a moving armature driver. Looks gr8 on paper, but with so many other in-ear headphone options available, it's probably best to wait until more reviews start trickling in before you pick these up. At $300, you want to be absolutely certain the GR8 are the omg gr8est b4 u buy k? Now shipping. [Product Page via Engadget]

There've been cheaper HD-branded models for years, and they've generally been pretty great. The $100 price point, though, marks sort of a golden zone for headphones and earbuds—it's the most a lot of people are willing to spend, and where the hardware starts to really shine. The HD 428, 438 (pictured above) and 448 sit in this $30 sweet spot, and fall somewhere between portable headphones and giant home stereo alien ear bulbs in terms of size.

The main differences between the headphones are sound signature—the cheaper 428 is bassier, while the 428 and 448 go for a more natural mix—and style—the 428 has a subdued cross pattern, the 448 a subtle brushed aluminum look, and the 438 has, er, hubcaps "reminiscent of the alloy wheels on luxury sports cars," by which Sennheiser presumably means 1984 Honda CRXes. Which is fine! [Sennheiser]

Anyone who's had much exposure to Bose's bulky QuietComfort 2s or smaller QuietComfort 3s knows the story: they cancel noise pretty well, and they sound pretty good, though in the last few years—QuietComforts have been around in their current incarnations for a surprisingly long time—other companies have stepped in with products that do pretty much the same thing, cheaper. So! Bose has two options: Go low, or, you know, improve the product. With the QuietComfort 15, which will replace the old old old QC2 starting tomorrow, they've gone with the latter.

From a design standpoint, this is a very familiar product—it's hard to find any external hardware changes aside from a new LED indicator and a slightly changed curvature on the headband. Likewise on the sound, which is perfectly adequate, but won't blow audiophiles away.

The noise canceling, on the other hand, is a different story: it strips out low frequencies way, way better than the QC2 or QC3, to the point that typical airline noise (simulated in my test, but definitely loud) becomes almost imperceptible. Wearing these things sounds almost like wearing two of the old models, stacked, if that makes any sense. Pending fuller tests, I'd say it feels like this is a healthy upgrade for the QuietComfort's target customers: guys in suits with belt-strapped iPod Classics, and airlines.

That said, they're still fairly bulbous, and probably deserved a redesign, since this shell's been around for nearly a decade. That, and the price: The QuietComfort 15 is going to inherit the $300 pricepoint, and since its improvements are fairly subtle, it'll be hard not to feel a little ripped-off at the register. [Bose]

The Price: As you saw above, these babies are brand new, and list for $230.

The Verdict: $230 is an awful lot to spend on earphones, but as we learned last week, sound matters, and the quality in the $200 range really is twice as good as it is in the $100 range. In fact, in sound testing, the UE700 gave Shure's $300 SE310 earphones a run for their money.

I'm not spoiled, earphone-wise, but I'm not slumming it either—I usually carry Shure SE110s. When the SE115s came out, I had to check them out, and sure enough, what Adrian mentioned about fuller bass is totally true. It's not overpowering, and for the price, they're brilliant, but like all headphones in that $100 range, I still feel like there's something missing, a kind of three dimensionality.

Last night I carefully listened to my favorite songs, spanning many genres—"Bullet and a Target" by Citizen Cope, "California" by Joni Mitchell, "Ms. Jackson" by OutKast, "All This Time" by Sting among others—constantly swapping headphones from UE700 to Shure SE115 to Shure SE310 to listen for the minutest changes in experience. The jump from the SE115 to both more expensive ones was clear, literally. Instruments were more defined, such as the bari sax in the Decemberists' "16 Military Wives," and you could hear more real life behind the recording, such as the buzzing and rustling in "Please Do Not Go" by Violent Femmes.

For a while, though, it was a deadlock between the $230 Ultimate Ears and the $300 Shures, especially since Amazon lists them for under $180 (!). The real breakthrough came when I put on Prince's "7." It has so many layers of percussion and Eastern instrumentation, not to mention vocal harmonies, that it truly benefits from the three dimensionality that only higher-grade audio can manage, and lo, the most 3D experience came from the UE700s. I checked again and again, back and forth, with more songs still, and it was true. I was floored.

There are some downsides to this pair, particularly compared to the Shures. Fit matters when it comes to making the most of good earphones. Because of the way the speakers are arrayed inside the UE700s, they're wider at the opening than the Shures, meaning they may not fit everyone. In addition, they only come with one size of memory-foam cushion (my favorite) and three different sizes of the rubber sealing kind. Shure SE310 comes with like a jillion different "sleeves," and even the SE115s come with six options.

(They do come with a carrying case and an attenuator—pictured below—which limits high-volume bursts, so you can use it on an airplane's sound system without fear of going deaf every time you change the channel or hear the captain come on.)

The other issue that some might care about is cable noise. That's not a buzz or anything, it's the sound you hear when you run your finger along the cable. I didn't notice cable noise while listening to the UE700s, not even when I took a walk with them, but since they do make some noise when you intentionally rub your finger on them, they may be annoying for people who are using them while jogging or aerobically working out. Just a thought, really, but worth noting.

I didn't pit these against every earphone known to man, and I'm interested in seeing how they stack up against our $150 Headphone Battlemodo winner, the Etymotics hf5. But if the performance against Shure's SE310s are any indication, it would handily beat them too. My final judgment is that these are sweet—and worthy of their elevated valuation—but you should wait until they start coming down in price, as all headphones do in time, before plunking down your hard-earned cash for them. [Product Page]

The YI Sound earbuds wrap left and right cables in opposing sides of a zipper, letting wearers easily adjust the point at which they split. The stated purpose of the concept is to reduce cable tangle, but it's not clear how this zipper design actually helps that; if anything, the earphones' ability to pull apart into two full-length wires would exacerbate the problem. That said, the added heft, rigidity and roll-ability of such a design would make it less tangly by nature, so it might be a wash.

But it's not the convenience of an adjustable "Y" or the purported tangle resistance that makes this concept attractive, it's that it actually is attractive. Sure, it's gimmicky, and that integrated volume control doesn't look like it could even work, but this would be the coolest thing to happen to headphone cables since they straightened out. [Yanko]

We're resurrecting this piece in honor of Listening Test, and although we did our testing in November of last year (and a lot has happened since then), the results have held up well. That is, except for one huge exception: The SE115, heir to the legacy of the SE110, has acceded the throne, replacing the SE110 as prince of the sub-$150 earphones and overall king, and inviting a lazy, inconsistent royalty metaphor from one Gizmodo writer.

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

For those wondering why you would play £59 ($86) for a pair of these earphones when you could customize the equalizer on your own for free, the point to these earbuds are to give you an internally-built equalizer for its specific genre, without having to mess around with the equalizer—essentially, a plug and play:

So for Rock you get a big, warm but tightly controlled bass, with all the high end detail still present, with Jazz you get rhythm and pace, with a perfectly defined soundstage, our classical earphones faithfully reproduce every nuance of the performance, and with the pop earphones you'll get a more dynamic, sharp listening experience with strong vocals and a great beat.

So if classical earphones "faithfully reproduce every nuance of the performance," why don't they just make all earphones like that? Also, I'm not exactly sure I want a pair of earphones that could control the rhythm, pace and beats of a song—it's a little too magical for my liking.

Although these buds are custom tuned to only one genre, Radiopaq claims the earphones are simply optimized for that sound but also work with any other genres of music, just like how although an SUV was built for off-roading, you could still drive it around town. However, because the earbuds come with its genre written on its exterior, my ego's going with the Rock pair no matter how much I secretly love Britney Spears. [Radiopaq via Engadget]

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

The iPod Plug

While it in some ways seems like an example of a proprietary technology done right (it's solid, supports lots of connection types and has become basically ubiquitous), Old 30-Pin has quite a bit to feel bad about. Consider this: It single-handedly obliterated the non-iPod accessory market. Almost every MP3 player dock, FM transmitter or interfacing device supports this port exclusively—or with some feeble aux plug (cable not included) in the rear. And why shouldn't they? There are more 30-pin-jack iPods out there than there are all other MP3 players combined.

But it means Apple is stuck. An abrupt switch would be a disaster for third parties and customers alike (consider the outcry when the iPhone 3G wasn't compatible with some older 30-pin accessories) and it's not clear what they could switch to. Micro-USB probably doesn't have enough pins for all the various functions the port should serve, and switching to a solution that would, say, force users to connect both a power plug and and audio cable to a dock would seem like a step backwards. But hey, just because it's currently practical and ubiquitous doesn't mean it isn't evil. It's because of you, iPod jack, that my Sansa has about as many docking prospects as the average Giz writer.

Sprint and Verizon's Secret Shame: CDMA

To the end user, CDMA and GSM don't seem very different—Sprint, a CDMA carrier, offers the same services as AT&T, a GSM carrier—except when it comes to how they handle phones.

GSM phones are identified by the SIM card that they carry, which can be moved between phones at the user's will. Not so with America's other wireless standard. Effectively, a CDMA phone is like a GSM phone with the SIM card welded to its socket. Your CDMA phone is permanently locked to your carrier, and your mobile connection is permanently bound to your handset—unless your carrier is kind enough to authorize a transfer to another phone.

The presumably intentional effect is that there's no market for 3rd party hardware in CDMA, which is fine for carriers, shitty for customers. Worst of all, there's no good reason for this. CDMA SIM cards exist. They're called R-UIM cards, but US carriers are in no rush to implement them.

The Battle of the Redundant Audio Formats

There was a time when it wasn't clear which stupid format would reign supreme, Microsoft's WMA or Apple's AAC. [Note: Yes, Apple didn't invent AAC. However, they are the only reason any of us have heard of it.] While each technically brought improved sound quality, they were both bastards born of the same greedy combination: the desire for DRM and the unwillingness to pay MP3 encoder/decoder royalties. Your AACs wouldn't play on your Zen; your WMAs wouldn't work on your iPod; your ATRAC3s wouldn't work on anything. These formats only grew popular because people accidentally used them to rip their music, and later, because they were an unavoidable part of the digital music purchasing process.

With wider format support in new players, the slow death of the all-you-can-download rental WMA stores and Apple's new "our bad!" attitude towards audio DRM, it seems like we're taking a healthy step back to good ole' em-pee-threes. And while iPods will never play WMA, iTunes does convert 'em. And it's nice to see more Microsoft products supporting AAC, which Apple still won't shake off.

A Unique Phone Charger for Every Phone

Even—or rather, especially—when phone plugs were only for electricity, every goddamn manufacturer had their own exclusive, silly connector for dumping current into batteries. Today, little has changed, and as virtually anyone who owns a cellphone knows, this sucks. A lost charger means your phone is out of commission, and because of carrier subsidies, a new charger sometimes costs more than the phone itself did.

And that's how we arrive at the reason for this stupid situation: Unique chargers=$$$ for cellphones makers. This would explain why the first substantive call for standardization came so recently, and why Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Apple and pretty much everyone else still, in 2008, enforce phone-charger monogamy. And if you think phones are a pain, try finding a replacement charger for your Bluetooth headset. Good luck.

A Raw File By Any Other Name...

R-A-W. If you care about digital photography, these three letters form the most beautiful sound in the English language. Raw images, supported by almost every new DSLR and an increasing number of point-and-shoots, are made up of the 'raw' image data, pulled directly from your camera's sensor, letting you change all kinds of parameters—white balance, exposure and noise reduction, to name a few—instead of letting the camera pick them automatically during the shooting. And you can make infinite changes and tweaks long after the photo has been taken.

It would seem that by now importing raw files should be as easy as transferring JPEGs. Well, it's not. The problem is that almost every camera maker has insisted on using their own slightly different version, meaning that you either have to use your camera's supplied raw conversion software (almost always a steaming pile) or invest in a wide-support program like Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom—and make sure it has the right compatibility. Come on guys, Adobe gave you a perfectly fine, royalty-free raw format back in 2004. Use it.

So Many Memory Cards

For years, everyone had their own memory card format: Sony products used Memory Sticks, Olympus used xD, Fujifilm used SmartMedia and so on... they all thought they had the heir to the 35mm/CD/Zip Drive throne. It was adorable! Now, it's not. While we were all busy stockpiling one soon-to-be-obsolete memory cards and multi-compatible (bit never totally compatible) readers, most of the electronics industry was aligning itself with a winner.

Two, actually—or maybe three. SD cards (backed by Panasonic) are cheap, compact and capacious and only getting better, with MicroSD as its tiny phone version. Meanwhile, beefier, more durable Compact Flash cards suit the serious photogs. The rest of you: You all do the exact same thing! Please die.

For Our Earphones Only: Non-Standard Headset Jacks

When a little metal trim kept the original iPhone from accepting regular old 3.5mm headphones, a lot of people almost blew a gasket, and rightfully so. It seemed hopeless: Even a phone that was more iPod than handset couldn't resist the allure of proprietary earphones.

Phones have always been terrible for this. The same varied, awkward orifices that charged your old phone probably served as its headset connector too, leaving you stuck with the flimsy, tinny OEM earbuds or an easy-to-lose adapter to deal with. For a while though, it seemed like companies were starting to catch the drift, as standard 3.5mm headphone/mic jacks became more and commonplace in music phones. But a Nokia or two is little comfort; HTC's newest Android phone, a multimedia powerhouse, only has a USB port. Apple's new Shuffle—a friggin' iPod-only works with the supplied earphones or special replacements. Grief ensues.

Sony's Entire Oeuvre

The story of Sony is like an exaggerated summary of the history of proprietary goofs. Sony entering a new market=Sony introducing a new, frustratingly exclusive format, plug, codec or device standard. With audio, it was MiniDiscs and ATRAC; on the PSP, you got UMD; for cameras and other portable devices, the Memory Stick. In video, there was Betamax, Laserdisc, HDV, and now Blu-ray. Yeah, this last one is sorta successful, but only because Sony decided to fight like there was no tomorrow to beat its rival format. [Blam: I'm not apologizing for the past, but Sony's promised to better about open formats going forward.] It worked this time, but God only knows what Sony labs have in store for us, and our shrinking wallets, next.

Did we leave out any nasty ones, like Nintendo's many accessories, or an Apple USB port that doesn't take all USB products? If you have a good one, throw it into a comment below.

The phones range from $50-$100 and will be available come springtime. No pricing or availability yet on the adapter, picture here:

Scosche Industries Announces Earphones With Increased Dynamic Range Designed For New iPod shuffle

Oxnard, CA., – March 12, 2009 – Scosche Industries (www.scosche.com), an award-winning innovator of mobile electronics and iPod accessories, today announced that it is developing breakthrough earphones with integrated controls for the new third generation iPod shuffle with Apple's new VoiceOver feature. The new IDR (Increased Dynamic Range) noise isolating earphones will give users the ability to play, pause, adjust volume, skip tracks, navigate playlists and hear the name of the song and artist with the press of a button.

"We are delighted to support the exciting new VoiceOver technology in the 4GB iPod shuffle," said Kas Alves, executive vice president of Scosche Industries. "Scosche's focus on innovation means we're ideally placed to develop new and exciting products like the IDR earphones."

Scosche is currently developing three earphone models- IDR350M, IDR450M and IDR650M noise isolating earphones that feature an integrated control surface. Users can control play, pause, adjust volume, skip tracks, navigate playlists and hear the name of the song and artist with the third generation iPod shuffle. A miniature microphone built into the back of the control surface allows users to record voice memos on the latest iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod classic 120GB. The IDR (Increased Dynamic Range) series earphones are designed to give users an enhanced listening experience with brilliant highs, silky smooth mids and powerful bass. The headphones are expected to be available this Spring and range in price from $49.99 to $99.99.

Scosche is also developing an inline control adapter kit that allows consumers to use any standard set of headphones and enjoy all of the advanced features of the third generation iPod shuffle. The inline control also allows users to plug their shuffle into any vehicles auxiliary input and maintain full control of the iPod.

The new third generation iPod shuffle with the VoiceOver feature can speak song titles, artists and playlist names. When you want to know the name of the song or artist playing, simply press a button on the conveniently located headphone controls and iPod shuffle tells you the song and artist name. iPod shuffle can even announce status information, such as battery life.

Pretty good. I used The Cars and Beastie Boys for test tracks, and I got solid, rich bass with clear mids and highs, that in my brief listening time, seemed comparable in clarity to my Shure E2cs, but you know, with more bass (which many people think Shures run a bit weak on). So, even though I didn't have a pair of SE210 buds with me, I'd say it's plausible the EX500 set is competitive soundwise, though I'd obviously want to hear them side by side before making any definitive calls about how much alike (or not) they sound.

Either way, that measurement would've made more sense before the SE210s dropped to a street price of $100, since the EX500s aren't undercutting them anymore, but are more expensive, at $130.

Construction wise, I like the metal, since it makes them feel robust, though I didn't really feel the weight in my ears. I think Sony's vertical body style for these is a bit easier to wear right off the bat than some Shures—which take a bit of getting used to—but I wonder how comfort levels would stack up long term (which, if I'm wondering, probably ain't the best sign).

Still, these seem about right for the $100 range of headphones, not too shabby.

SONY INTRODUCES HIGH-END "EX" EARBUD HEADPHONES

LAS VEGAS, March 2, 2009 – Sony has refreshed its line of high-end EX-series earbud headphones with four new models that offer first-class sound, style and comfort.

This unique line of earbuds features removable hybrid silicone rubber tips in three sizes that fit snugly inside the ear canal to provide high quality audio. Basically, it is a hybrid of soft external silicone for a gentle fit and rigid internal silicone for minimizing sound leakage.

The top-of-the-line MDR-EX300LP and MDR-EX500LP units feature a "vertical in the ear" design, which has a larger driver for higher quality audio.

The MDR-EX33LP and MDR-EX35LP are the lowest price EX-series headphones Sony has offered, while still providing enriched sound.

"We are constantly expanding our lineup of premium headphones," said Andy Bubala, director of marketing for audio accessory products at Sony Electronics. "Earbud headphones continue to grow in popularity, as our customers are demanding better fashion and style, in addition to audio quality."

A New Look

Sony's flagship EX-series of earbud headphones have a new design and a new look. The MDR-EX300 model, available in both black and white, features high quality sound via newly developed 13.5mm driver units. The MDR-EX500LP headphones were constructed with metal to minimize vibration and feature a multiple layer diaphragm for reproducing audio with balance and clarity. It also houses a 13.5mm driver unit for reproducing high resolution sound and was tuned by hand for the best audio. Both lines include carrying cases and are great for those seeking outstanding audio quality without sacrificing comfort and style.

Two additional models in the EX line have updated designs with new color options. The MDR-EX33LP earbud headphones are available in light metallic shades of blue, green, pink, silver, white and gold. The MDR-EX35LP model is available in two-toned color combinations - violet/blue, blue/red, red/green and green/violet. Both of these lines provide deep bass sound and come in slim tube-style packaging.

The new EX-series additions are available now for about $20 (MDR-EX33LP and MDR-EX35LP models), $80 (MDR-EX300), and $130 (MDR-EX500LP). All styles can be purchased direct at www.sonystyle.com and at Sony Style® retail stores. Subsets of the EX-series will also be offered at authorized dealers nationwide.

[Sony]

Expect 1-4GB USB drives modeled after your favorite Hershey treats along with digital cameras, earphones and speakers shaped like everything from Kisses to Jolly Ranchers. Prices are expected to range from $15 to $30—but there is no word yet on a release date. Needless to say, if you lack willpower, avoid these products at all costs. [Jazwares Gearlog

According to a recent study by India's Manipal University, users who shared earbuds were found to house harmful bacteria in their ears in 93% of test swabs. Meanwhile, those (prudes) who didn't share earbuds were found to house harmful bacteria in their ears just 8% of the time.

Of course, there could be some other correlations going on that artificially skew the data. Like those who shared earphones were also more likely to share their ears with tongues, piercings and romantic earwax candles. Wait...maybe this sharing earbuds lifestyle isn't so bad after all. [Daily Express]

Koss is a pretty reliable manufacturer of low-cost eargear, so it's a little surprising to see them challenging the big boys with earbuds that clock in at $150, but perfectly adjustable fit is a great idea. Let's hope the sound quality warrants the price. The Koss CC_01 will be available this March. [DVICE]

The SE110 uses something called a balanced armiture driver, easy to shrink down so customers don't stretch your ear canal just because they like their damn music. Trouble was, some people didn't think there was enough bass there. When the guys went to build the SE115, the technology was finally available to shrink down the more traditional—and bass happy—dynamic driver. This is what the old E2 model had, but those were big and for some reason couldn't use the same foam ear padding; the new dynamic driver, using neodymium magnets, a fancy new voice-coil winding system and a new diaphragm material, could be fit inside earbuds that look just like the SE110, and be given the same comfortable padding.

Audiophiles will still want to go up the ladder. Shure says that the armiture-equipped SE210 will still have a more balanced "flat" frequency response, while the SE115 will be admittedly more "fun." Perhaps to emphasize this, in addition to austere black, the buds will come in red, blue and pink. (You know, nothing says "I like to party" like hot pink sound-isolating earphones.)

As a fan of the SE110, I'm surprised to hear that something I thought was nearly perfect is only getting better. I have yet to try them, of course, but I look forward to it, and so should many of you. Shure says the SE115 will go for around $100 on the nose, without a lot of discounting at first. But for people who don't care a whole lot about the extra low-end boost, the SE110 sells for $90 or so now, but will stay on the market for the time being, and could very well start selling for even less. [Shure]

Shure Blends Brilliant Sound and Color with New SE115 Sound Isolating Earphones

LAS VEGAS, NV; SAN FRANCISCO, CA; and NILES, IL, January 6, 2009 – At the Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld Conference and Expo, Shure Incorporated today unveiled the SE115, the newest, most affordable, and most colorful member of the Company’s acclaimed family of Sound Isolating™ Earphones. The SE115 arrives in four vivid hues – Blue, Pink, Black, and Red – and at a $99 price point. Already a likely icon for its aesthetics and affordability, this newest earphone, like the Company’s other SE models (SE210, SE310, SE420, and SE530), is most remarkable for how it reproduces sound.

During the past five years, Shure has delivered a personal listening experience unlike any other, making the brand synonymous with exceptional sound quality. While many have tried, none have been able to achieve the same combination of reliability, comfort, portability, style, and audio performance without compromising one requisite for another. Now, with the SE115, creative Shure engineers have achieved a new breakthrough and fit a dynamic driver capable of delivering incredibly rich bass into the sleek, compact form factor once only attainable with a smaller driver.

“There’s no doubt about it – for decades, Shure has set the standard for superior audio and unparalleled design,” said Mark Karnes, Executive Director, Global Marketing, Shure. “Now, as MP3 players, smartphones, portable gaming systems, and laptops break new ground in functionality and style, our engineers have blasted even bigger sound into a smaller and more beautiful package than ever before.”

Additional SE115 features include:

• Superior Sound Quality: The Second Generation Dynamic MicroSpeaker delivers detailed, warm sound with enhanced bass.
• Color and Style: Blue, Pink, Black, and Red create a personal fashion statement for any user.
• Isolation from Background Noise: Unique Sound Isolating technology prevents outside noise from interfering with the user’s listening experience.
• Superior Comfort and Flexibility: The included Shure fit kit provides interchangeable earphone fit and cable options that deliver unmatched personal customization.

Pricing and Availability

At a $99.99 retail [$119.99 MSRP], the SE115 Sound Isolating Earphones will be available to consumers in spring 2009 and will carry a two-year limited warranty. The SE115 and all Shure Sound Isolating Earphones and inline accessories can be purchased online at www.shure.com, as well as at select retail partners. Check www.shure.com for a complete list of Authorized Dealers.

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]

The Financiapocalypse can't stop Christmas, but it can sure as hell suck some of the joy out of it. At the very least, it's probably making you reconsider just how much you wanna spend on toys for yourself and others this holiday season. You're probably looking to cut corners here and there, on dollar-store Christmas lights, iPod knockoffs and the like. That's all fine and dandy, but we've made a list of things you can't afford to cheap out on, because doing so will bite you in the ass later. Still, since we like you, we're also sharing how to save a bit of money in the process, so the whole not-cheaping-out thing doesn't hurt as much.

Graphics Cards

When you're configuring a laptop online, you get a ton of options unless it's a Mac (ooooo burn). Anyway, the popular wisdom is that juicing the processor is always the best way to allocate your dollars to boost performance, since more megahertz is more betterer, right? Wrong. Take this Dell Studio configuration here. Spending $75 on the discrete ATI Mobility Radeon is a way better buy than $50 200MHz upgrade to the processor.

The performance difference those couple hundred megahertz buys you is negligible, while a discrete graphics card from ATI or Nvidia will deliver serious performance benefits over Intel's integrated graphics crap. This is especially true if you do even light 3D gaming, HD video playback or anything else mildly graphically intensive like running Vista's Aero interface (oooo another burn). Also, if you plan to keep a laptop for more than two years, buying the graphics card makes it more future-proof, since Windows 7—and many resource-intensive apps—will grab hold of graphics cards for extra computing muscle, too.

Memory

Memory (aka RAM) is another place to sock your computing dollars instead of blindly bumping up the megahertz. Adding RAM almost always gives your computer a more noticeable performance boost for the same price (especially if you're going from like 1GB to 3GB), allowing you to multitask more and run crazier programs without dragging your computer down. And really, you shouldn't even try to run Windows Vista on anything less than 2GB. (If you can get 4GB and run Vista 64-bit, that's really magical.)

There is a trick to this, however. You don't buy the extra RAM as part of the computer configuration process, since your computer maker of choice will charge you by the arse-hairs for it. Instead, if you're comfortable doing an at-home installation, buy a laptop with the lowest amount of RAM, then buy it separately from Newegg, who even has a helpful tool to pick the right RAM that won't blow up your computer. Crunch the numbers first, of course, but chances are, in big RAM jumps, you will save money.

Another memory tip for those taking the not-as-hard-as-it-sounds cost-cutting step of building their own desktop PC: DDR2 memory is significantly cheaper than DDR3 memory ($60 vs. $120), and at equivalent speeds, the performance difference isn't very noticeable. Your best bet—following our not-skimping guidelines—is to get twice as much DDR2 memory for the same price.

Camera Lenses

The secret about DSLRs that Nikon and Canon don't wanna tell you in the middle of their arms race is that what really matters is the glass—the lens. A Canon 20D—or hell, an XT—with an awesome lens will take better pictures than a 40D with a crummy lens every single time. Besides, if you really want to maximize your DSLR's potential, you're going to need to expand beyond the kit lens that came in the box. It's literally like getting new glasses after a decade of avoiding the eye doctor. Unfortunately, like glasses, camera lenses are one of those things where price really does tend to be commensurate with quality. Don't expect fire sales.

Don't go crappy, instead go used. A used or refurbished lens is always cheaper than a brand new one. Of course, you should always buy from a reputable retailer with a good warranty and return policy, in case there's something wonky with it. (That applies for new lenses too, really.) Here's a list of places to buy used Canon glass. With older lenses, there might be a few caveats like the lack of autofocus, but as Charlie at Gadget Lab notes in his account of using some more "antique" Nikon glass, the experience with those limitations can actually be rewarding, and help you learn about more photography in the process. (And isn't learning why you got a DSLR in the first place?)

If the used route frightens you, another approach is to go with a cheaper camera, and spend the extra money on quality glass. And guess what? Just because a new camera model pops out every six to nine months, it doesn't magically make the older models take less excellent pictures.

Portable GPS Navigation Devices

What? The GPS navigation in your phone isn't enough? Okay, it probably isn't if you actually get behind a wheel to go places. There are lots of GPS navigation devices, and some of them look pretty good for pretty cheap. We're gonna get real specific with our advice here: Get a Garmin Nuvi. Every. Time.

We've road-tested pretty much every navigation device out there, from the smartest cellular connected machines to the dumbest WinCE systems falling off the truck from China, and time and again, we come back to the Nuvi. That's not to say you have to spend $200 more on a navigator. Maybe you could track down last year's top models that are now on sale. The maps wouldn't have changed that much in 12 months. Regardless, even if the Garmin is $25 or $50 more than the TomTom or Magellan on the shelf next to it, get the Garmin. The product will last longer and be more simple to use, resulting in your happiness and the happiness of the people stuck in the car with you. It's worth the extra scratch.

Headphones

Like liquor, strippers and accountants, when it comes to headphones, you get what you pay for. In this dimension there's no such thing as good $2 headphones. You might tolerate them because you know don't any better (or you are simply a knowing masochist) but I guarantee you, they sound like the Tin Man's rusty ass.

You may recall that our amazing, extensive no-BS headphones battlemodo breaks down the best and the worst in every price category worth considering, and is a great place to start. The trend of the piece, you might notice, is that you can't go wrong with Shures, which don't cost as much as some audiophile earphones, but generally have list prices starting at $100. Good news, my favorites for the money, Shure's E2c sound-isolating headphones, now can be had for $60 easy, or as low as $40 on sale. Some people prefer those to their current replacement the SE110 (the E2c's are slightly bassier), that list for $100 but sell for $75 at Amazon at the moment. I know that a few editors at Gizmodo prefer the SE110s, but either way, the "hundred dollar" headphones stomp the cheap-skate models.

That's the real point: The extra $40 for a good pair of headphones delivers such a fantastical world of difference—especially to those commuters and workout buffs who spend a decent amount of time wearing them—that it is very much worth the extra cash. The only "catch" is that you will finally hear how bad your MP3s sound if you ripped them at a super-low bitrate. MP3s under 192Kbps might need to be re-ripped, since you will hear actually, at long last, hear the compression.

Your Turn

Alright, that's five from us. Surely you guys have got advice on other gear and accessories you should never skimp on. If so, though, you better be prepared to share ways to buy them cheaper than list price. Retail is for suckers! Come on, let's hear from you in the comments.

More Advice for the Black Friday Fray:
• The aforementioned Ultimate Survival Guide.
• 5 Gadgets You Can't Skimp On (And How to Save Money Buying Them)
• Best of Black Friday Deals Complete Roundup">All the best deals in one place
• Plus these late breaking ones from Cupertino: Apple Black Friday Deals Include Some Decent Third-Party Discounts
• Warnings: 7 Crappy Black Friday "Deals" That Aren't Really
• How To Choose an HDTV on Black Friday (or Any Day)
• How to set up that new HDTV you just got.

Photochop Contest:
• Brutally Honest Black Friday Ads Showcase Retailers on the Brink

Why You Might Want to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday, altogether:
• 10 Reasons We're Doomed: Black Friday Edition
• WalMart Worker Trampled to Death by Deal-Crazed Black Friday Shoppers

[Complete Black Friday Gadget Coverage at Giz]