Brainwavz knows a thing or two when it comes to in-ear headphones. We found ourselves impressed with the company’s quad-driver B400 in-ears, while the B200 were a more affordable option that used the same 3D printing tech. Those options are priced squarely in the midrange, but the company also offers the Blu line, which are not only wireless, but also more affordable, and its new Blu 300 earbuds add serious water resistance to the package.
Following up on the well-received Blu 100 and Blu 200, Brainwavz says the Blu 300 were designed with sports and active lifestyles in mind. The ear tips are angled to help keep them from falling out, while the IPX7 water resistance means that the headphones will not only stand up to sweat, but a run in the rain as well. The earbuds don’t offer active noise canceling, but the design offers good noise isolation, keeping you immersed in your music.
Like the Blu 100 and Blu 200, the Blu 300 in-ears use a behind-the-neck design, and as a result offer better battery life than true wireless earbuds. This model offers up to eight hours of playback on a single charge, and can be fully charged in two hours. Brainwavz says the headphones offer 250 standby time, so you don’t need to worry about taking them out of your bag only to find they lost their charge.
The Blu 300 earbuds use Bluetooth 4.1, which isn’t the latest version, but they still offer a range of up to ten meters, meaning your phone can stay safely in your bag while you’re at the gym. To this end, the headphones feature onboard controls to control volume, pause, resume, or skip songs, and even answer and end calls, all without needing to even look at your phone.
The Brainwavz Blu 300 wireless earbuds sell for $40 and are available now via the Brainwavz website. We haven’t had the chance to test them, so we’re not sure how they hold up to the Shure SE112 Wireless, our current budget pick in our list of the best wireless headphones, but at that price, it could be worth just checking them out to find out yourself.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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