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The Hippest Headphones From CES 2010

01 /10
Lending your cred to a pair of athletic shoes or a golf shirt is so Old School. If the gadgets coming out of CES are any indication, today's hipsters want to slap their names on something with a little more cachet. And what could broadcast cool better than a slick pair of headphones endorsed by Diddy, Beyonce, or the noted philanthropic duo, Bono and Lady Gaga? Here's a sampling of the latest ear candy for listening to the tracks on your latest hit, to running the 100 meters to tunes from the Black Eyed Peas.
02 /10 | diddybeats by Dr. Dre for Monster Designed by Ammunition Group's Robert Brunner, these buds have a leather-wrapped housing and an enamel end cap. They'll be available in black, white, and a fetching pink, a color Diddy endorsed by wearing his black and pink Kanye West Air Yeezy’s to the opening night at “The Rock N Roll Of Hip Hop” and then again to his Circoc 2009 BET Awards Party.
03 /10 | (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition Beats Solo Headphone Championed by Lady Gaga herself. Five bucks from the sale of each product will go directly to the Global Fund to support AIDS programs in Africa . Later this year, Beats will introduce a special Heartbeats headphone for (RED) . The Special Edition Beats headphones feature something called "ControlTalk," that lets you control your listening and phone calls via a cable equipped with an integrated high grade microphone and answer button. No more fishing in your pocket or handbag to answer the phone or turn up the volume!
04 /10 | Vizio's LCD Bluetooth Headphones These headphones answer the age-old question: "If a headphone plays your seriously awesome playlist only in your ear, will anybody realize how really cool you are?" These headphones, designed by SKD, allow users to project album art, or other personal images on their screen while you're listening. Just be careful there's no Barry Manilow on that list.
05 /10 | Tyson Gay's high performance sports headphones from Sennheiser and adidas U.S. sprinter Gay, the world's second fastest man (he 's the reigning World Champion Silver Medalist in 100 meters with a time of 9.69 seconds), was at CES to endorse a new set of headphones designed specifically to hold up during demanding work-outs. Gay says he gets pumped listening to the Black Eyed Peas's "Let's Get It Started" on his PMx680 headphones, with a neckband that helps them stay in place as he's breaking the sound barrier.
06 /10 | Rumble KW Waterproof Headphones from Pineapple Electronics Michael Phelps? Are you listening? These headphones deliver music to your brain not through sound waves, but through bone conduction, by vibrating bones in your skull, creating sound in your inner ear. Weird? Sure. But now you can listen to music in the shower, or as you're taking pictures with Kodak's new underwater camera, while snorkeling. Talk about a great leap forward for innovation!
07 /10 | Bamboo headphones, keyboard and mouse from Impecca
There's nothing inherently green about a product, just because it's dressed up in bamboo, but if it makes you think twice about trashing them when the Jonas Brothers release their own line of headphones, then they will have done their planet-friendly little job.

via Treehugger.com
08 /10 | Ultracompact BlueBuds headphones from JayBird Just an inch long, these stereo Bluetooth headphones manage to fit a variety of controls--volume knob, playback button, call functions--right onto the right earpiece. A flexible band, designed to be worn at the base of the neck, connects them. JayBird promises they'll also feature a new wireless audio technology that faithfully delivers bass-heavy music.
09 /10 | Beats by Dr. Dre Professional Headphones Want the advanced sonic power that DJs require? Wish you had a super durable headphone that would hold up to long, wasted nights in the recording studio, when you occasionally fall on your head? Beats feels your pain. With the Professional line, also designed by Robert Brunner at Ammunition, Dr. Dre eloquently noted: "Our first headphones delivered what we wanted: to hear the music the right way, the way I do. Now we're introducing headphones that let you use them the way I do. We created headphones that are specifically designed for the people on the frontlines: engineers, producers, djs...I basically wake up with headphones on....trust me, these are the shit." Showing off his custom white Beats on P.Twitty TV, Diddy was proud to announce he had reached one million devoted followers.
10 /10 | Vizio's Europa Blue Wireless Headphones
Another design from SKD, these headband-style headphones come in a variety of fashion finishes, including hand-stitched leather and the always-popular blue stingray hide.
digg_url = 'http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/hippest-headphones-ces-2010'; digg_skin = 'compact';

Linda Tischler 01.14.10 5:31 PM

Lending your cred to a pair of athletic shoes or a golf shirt is so Old School. If the gadgets coming out of CES are any indication, today's hipsters want to slap their names on something with a little more cachet. And what could broadcast cool better than a slick pair of headphones endorsed by Diddy, Beyonce, or the noted philanthropic duo of Bono and Lady Gaga? Here's a sampling of the latest ear candy for listening to the tracks on your latest hit, singing in the shower, or running the 100 meters to tunes from the Black Eyed Peas.

Slideshow Credits: 02 / Photo credit: Monster; 03 / Photo credit: Monster; 04 / Photo credit: Vizio; 05 / Photo credit: Sennheiser; 06 / Photo credit: Pineapple Electronics; 07 / Photo credit: Treehugger; 08 / Photo credit: JayBird; 09 / Photo credit: Monster; 10 / Photo credit: Vizio;