Griffin has announced availability for the company’s first over-the-ear headphone product called WoodTones, which uses hand-tooled wood for the ear cups as part of its unique design.
The wood is polished for a smooth finish and is made from Beech, Sapele and Walnut trees. Those are all woods used to make real instruments, like drums, and were chosen for their tendency to enhance frequencies in the vocal and bass ranges. The WoodTones have large, 50mm moving coil neodymium driver that promise to deliver solid sound quality. Bass is said to benefit by sounding richer without distortion, and vocals are meant to benefit from the wood construction as well. The company also believes the wood helps with volume, so that you don’t have to raise it as much to get the same level of sound.
As for comfort, Griffin is confident these will be among the best, with the added benefit of being lightweight and offering noise isolation. The detachable 3.5mm cable has a built-in mic for hands-free calls and interacting with Apple’s Siri, along with playback controls. The ear cups fold flat for easier storage, but it doesn’t look like they come with a case to protect them further.
The headphones are available now at Griffin’s website for $100, and retailers are expected to be carrying them, too.
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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