Taking a note from Vivienne Tam and HP's love affair, Roxy partnered with JBL to put out a line of audio gear designed "for women, by women." The neon headphones look sweet and pack solid sound.
On the turboprop plane down to Kite Boarding camp in North Carolina the hot blue and green $70 On Ear headphones blocked out a good deal of the background noise, including Blam's snoring in the seat in front of mine. They aren't advertised as noise canceling, but the smaller than average ear cups fit securely around my ears and were super comfortable (you can adjust them "DJ style" to fit behind your head). Besides being able to sleep comfortably with them on, music sounded crisp when awake. However, they didn't make surf song classics like "Wipe Out" sound any more tolerable.
I also took along a pair of the bright pink and orange $40 In Earphones which have a mic for making calls. The sound quality wasn't anything to write home about and is on par with Apple's standard earbuds. The mic didn't pick up much background noise, even while sitting outside near the water.
The Roxy headphones didn't make me a better surfer or kite boarder, though neither did the $50 Roxy board shorts I bought. But at least with the help of JBL they offer good sound and should get a chiseled surfer dude, like Laird Hamilton to at least look my way. [Roxy]
Summermodo is a chance for Giz to get outside and test our gear where it belongs.