Beats and Monster Cable have ended their partnership together on headphones, the two sides revealed this week. The two are now focusing independently on their own headphones. A pair of sources for Bloomberg added that Monster purportedly wanted more credit for the designs than Beats was willing to give.
Nokia World's focus included a branching out for more general-purpose audio through a team-up with Monster Cable. Both the Purity in-ears and Purity HD over-ears are intended to pair up with the Lumia Windows Phone line and gives them uncommon support for remote control and calls. The Purity HD headphones also bundle a second fully-capable remote for "other devices."
Just hours after promising a "major" news event, HTC chief Peter Chou talked down expectations by revealing the plans ahead of time. The phone maker is investing $300 million into Beats Electronics' audio processing and will build it into future phones and tablets. One HTC device shipping this year would carry Beats audio, Chou said in an AllThingsD interview, without saying what.
Monster today announced the ClarityHD Model One High Definition Multi-Media Speaker Monitor. The Model One integrates an iPod dock and amplifier onto one of the bookshelf-sized speakers that come as a paired system. The speakers carry both 6.5-inch bass drivers and soft-dome tweeters.
Most of the Beats by Dr. Dre line is high end but always targeted at the mainstream: it's the upgrade to your iPod's stock earbuds or the basic headphones you bought for your notebook. The Beats Pro, however, is billed as a professional headphone set for anyone from high-end home listeners to DJs and even audio engineers. With a price tag larger than many computers, we have high hopes for these reportedly audiophile quality earpieces; read on to our Beats Pro review for our take.
Monster Cable on Thursday sued Fanny Wang for allegedly copying its headphone design. The newcomer's Wang's headphones are said to both violate the patented design of its Dr. Dre-tuned Beats headphone as well as the trade dress, or company image, by exploiting Monster's standing for its own ends. The Fanny Wang sets are "nearly identical," Monster claimed.
Monster Cable has teamed up with Disney Consumer Products and Medicom Toy to create a number of Tron: Legacy-themed audio gear and toys. Part of the series are the Daft Punk Edition Tron headphones, meant for gaming, home cinema use and music listening. The over-the-ear headphones have lights to mimic those from the movie characters' costumes. A surround-sound mix of Daft Punk's soundtrack for the movie is included in the box.
Monster Cable showed the first universal 3D glasses on Wednesday with the Monster Vision Max 3D. The shutter-system glasses will purportedly work with any brand of 3D TV and use 2.4GHz RF communication as opposed to the IR common to other 3D glasses. They have interference rejection software and sync correction, and can instantly react electro-chromatically.
Monster Cable, Dr. Dre, Major League Baseball and the Boston Red Sox organization teamed up to release the first Major League Baseball licensed Beats headphones with the Beats by Dr. Dre Red Sox Edition headphones. Other than the Red Sox logo and a unique color scheme, the new headphones are technically identical to the existing Beats headphones from Monster Cable, the Beats, which can be had in black or white. This includes powered ambient noise-isolation, Monster's iSoniTalk microphone adapter for the iPhone and other music-capable handsets with a 3.5mm headset jack.
On the Beats by Dre Solo box, Monster is keen to drum in a quote by Dr. Dre saying that "people aren’t hearing all the music" -- that typical headphones are giving up details, and Dre feels it his mission to get those details back. That he largely achieved that goal with the high end models is generally accepted, but how does the Beats line fare with a middle of the road offering? Are listeners really missing details in their music with other headphones? Our Beats Solo review finds out.
Monster chose the weekend to launch another in its line of artist-influenced Beats headphones, this time unveiling the Diddybeats. As suggested by the name, they take their cue from Sean Combs and are a more masculine counterpart to Lady Gaga's Heartbeats: the in-ears are housed in aluminum and wrapped in leather that gives them a relatively upscale design. They also draw on the signature flat cables that cut down on tangles or breaks.
Monster Cable today catered to audiophiles with a special earphone and music combo. The Miles Davis Tribute set includes both a set of Monster's current in-ear headphones branded with the jazz musician's signature as well as a deluxe copy of Kind of Blue that brings two music CDs, a DVD and extended liner notes. The audio gear continues to center on the company's signature eartips claimed to provide better isolation than usual silicone pieces.
Monster Cable late this afternoon provided greater details of its Lady Gaga-influenced Heartbeats in-ear headphones. The fashion-oriented audio will come in three models for the US and will sell only through Best Buy. They start with a model that goes without an in-line mic/remote combo. It should ship in black, all-chrome and rose/silver colors and will officially sell for $120 on October 18th, though Best Buy already lists them for $100.
Monster Cable today upgraded its non-Beats in-ear headphones with the addition of the Turbine Pro. The new pair purportedly has "reference" level audio, although specifications aren't given, and have a new custom-designed ear tip design that should provide better insulation from the outside world than Monster's previous design. A set of the older ear tips remains in the box.
Monster Cable today pledged new versions of its headphones that would support the third-generation iPod shuffle. The company's existing Beats and Turbine headphones, as well as unspecified new models, will all get an in-line control to navigate tracks as well as to trigger VoiceOver. An adapter is also planned to let any headphone from any company share the same features.
While Monster Cable hasn't yet officially announced the in-ear version of its Beats by Dr. Dre, the rapper-influenced headphones have appeared at the Apple Store. The design makes use of a unique, nearly 4-foot long flat cable that features a Duraflex jacket claimed to be tangle- and knot-free. The headphones deliver sound with a low-mass, wide bandwidth driver and also include three pairs of eartips as well as two pairs of triple-layer flanged tips, dubbed Airlocks, for more customizable sound insulation.
According to a Thursday report, the previously promised Flywire system from Belkin that would deliver HD signals wirelessly in home theater set-ups has been delayed. The news follows similar announcements from Monster Cable and other interconnects manufacturers, with the companies citing bugs as reasons. Belkin, which promised to beat Monster Cable to market with a CES debut this winter, said the perfected system will be released by the spring of 2009 instead.
Monster Cable today revealed the newest addition to its Outlets To Go range of portable power strips with the Outlets To Go 3 USB. As the name implies, the power strip allows up to three devices to be plugged into a single outlet via AC power outlets, just like the company's Outlets To Go Power Strip 3, but adds a USB port for USB-powered accessories.
Monster Cable announced today it will offer a wireless transmitter for HDTV signals that will connect a home theater's TV set with a digital signal box or DVD player. The wireless system is comprised of a receiver that plugs into the HDTV's HDMI port along with a transmitter unit that will hook up with the signal source. Called Monster Digital Express HD, the set-up will also upscale non-HD signals to HD resolution.
