I’m a big fan of having the right tool for the right job — which is something I’ve definitely said before. If you’re a photographer, it means you probably have more than one lens. If you’re a chef, you have more than one knife or pan. You don’t take a sedan muddin’, as they say in my neck of the woods. And you don’t take a johnboat 100 miles offshore to go fishing.
The same can be true for headphones. There are real reasons to have more than one pair. I wouldn’t work out in full over-the-ears cans. (And can’t understand how the kids these days do.) But nor would I wear AirPods Pro when I’m cycling. That’s when open-ear earbuds, or bone-conduction headphones — something that doesn’t actually go inside your ear and block ambient sound — are required.
But lately I’ve found myself more often grabbing a multitasker. Headphones that — for me, anyway — are able to do the job in more than a single category. I still wouldn’t wear them to the gym, but I have worn them on a bike. I’ll wear them while driving, but won’t actually use them.
The “headphones” in question? The $299 Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses.
Smart glasses with decent-enough speakers mean you might not need proper earbuds with you.
Due to the nature of this job, I have a decent stable of current wireless earbuds and headphones from which to choose. And I’ve been leaving the house more often lately only with the Ray-Bans. Not because they’re the best headphones I have. But having the Ray-Bans on hand means I don’t have to carry sunglasses — a must here in Florida — as well as a separate pair of earbuds. That means one fewer thing in my pockets.
A lot of that decision comes down to the circumstances. My day starts at 4:45 a.m. when I leave for the gym. And I do so with my AirPods Pro in my pocket. It’s dark, so I don’t need sunglasses just yet. (Though now that we’re hitting daylight saving time again, the sun is well up by the time I’m headed home a couple hours later.)
And there’s something just more casual about taking a quick phone call — or surreptitiously listing to music or a podcast — while you’re outside doing other things. If I’m going to have thrash metal bouncing around my brain all day anyway, why not actually listen to something when I can?
Again, sunglasses don’t make for the best earbuds or headphones (or whatever we want to call this category) you can buy. If you want something open-eared, go for the Shokz OpenFit, which sound better than the Ray-Bans and cut through wind noise that much more. And I wouldn’t rely on the Ray-Bans on an airplane for any number of reasons. Battery. Noise cancellation. The possibility of sound being heard by my seatmates. For that, I’ll stick with the Beats Studio Pro, or my older-but-trusty Sonys.
But if I’m going to be somewhere that doesn’t require more specialized hardware? It might well just be me and the Ray-Bans. And I’m not alone in that idea.
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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