[David Aldrich]

  Jude, you forgot to mention whether this need battery or not? Battery life? otherwise it will drain the juice out of phone and DAP?

 
 
Video says rechargeable via microUSB with up to 12hours usage.
 
 
 
Not our friends at Schiit working on that amp design is it?

 

[nick n]

He did mention there is an internal rechargeable battery ~12 hrs if I am not mistaken ( was paying too much attention to the design so I forget exactly ).
Quite the headphone for a first release.
 
ooops I see post overlap oh well.

 

[frank2908]

my bad, I was busy looking at it

 

[Dopaminer]

Very interesting, but I must say that that demonstration you did showing how the pads stay parallel regardless of the width of the band can be done with ANY headphone that has pivoting cups, ie, nearly every full size headphone.  
 
Very unconvincing. 

 

[CatboyMac]

Any word on a barebones version without a built-in amp or media buttons?

 

[fileid]

Battery replaceable? I'd like to listen to these at school/starbucks and the LCD-2s at home.

 

[Mandolin Poet]

Looks like this headphone could be competition for the room feel headphones. Like to see a comparison against the NAD and PSB.

 

[takato14]

Wow. I can't tell if it's hideous or beautiful. 
 
But one thing's for sure, that machine is gonna be on my head as soon as possible.

 

[jude]

  Very interesting, but I must say that that demonstration you did showing how the pads stay parallel regardless of the width of the band can be done with ANY headphone that has pivoting cups, ie, nearly every full size headphone.  
 
Very unconvincing. 

 
Perhaps what would be more convincing is if I pull the earcups apart by not actually touching the earcups, but instead pull from the arms, or even higher on the headband than that. (The angle stays consistent even when doing that.) If I have the time later, I'll shoot a short video clip showing that. I haven't used any other headphone that keeps the pads at such a consistent angle throughout the range of headband stretch. The Abyss AB-1266 and TakeT H2+ both keep pad angles consistent when pulling the earcups apart, but those work by having squared-off headbands with horizontal sliders at the top of the headband.
 
Of course, I don't think this type of link setup is necessary to a comfortable headphone, but I dig the approach. I also like that Blue recognized that the headband mechanism they went with opened up the possibility to provide adjustable headband tension, and implemented that.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Be interesting to see a system like this side step over to amplifying a digital signal. A DAC model would seem like the next logical Blue #2 next year?
Hopefully Apple lightning, optical and or Bluetooth will be future options. The fact that you could change tracks while wearing an iWatch would be nice.

 

[Hapster]

Just watched the video, this thing looks AMAZING. Finally some innovations in the headphone industry. I often thought about amplifiers within the headphone and it sounds like they're right on track. The clamp adjustment, and the way they extend. It's so creative. I can't wait to hear more impressions, because it sounds like an amazing consumer headphone, and with the brand recognition that Blue already has, I'm sure we might be able to see this hitting stores.

 

[jodgey4]

I'm more impressed by the bold styling, tension control, and interesting padding of the headband than the level the pads are held at by the movement, though it's a cool feature and it will be interesting to hear what actual effect it has on comfort, as most cans seem to fit heads fine with proper design and pads.

 

[Drtonyt]

Fantastic Review Jude! These look incredible! They sort of remind me of a Parrot Zik? Before you said the price I was expecting a $500+ price tag, especially with the built in Amp but I was pleasantly surprised at the US$349! If these sound half as good as you make them out to be I will be in for a pair for sure! Any word on the retail release date? I see on their website they have a countdown with 5 hours left? Is this when they will be on sale?
 
Thanks again Jude.

 

[takato14]

  Just watched the video, this thing looks AMAZING. Finally some innovations in the headphone industry. I often thought about amplifiers within the headphone and it sounds like they're right on track. The clamp adjustment, and the way they extend. It's so creative. I can't wait to hear more impressions, because it sounds like an amazing consumer headphone, and with the brand recognition that Blue already has, I'm sure we might be able to see this hitting stores.

Personally, I would never trust that the design of the amp wasn't compromised in some way to make it fit in the headphone, and thus would never use it. It's just another battery to charge that won't make much of a difference in most situations and even has the potential to be worse. No thanks.
 
The headband has me hooked though.

 

[jude]

  Personally, I would never trust that the design of the amp wasn't compromised in some way to make it fit in the headphone, and thus would never use it. It's just another battery to charge that won't make much of a difference in most situations and even has the potential to be worse. No thanks...

 
That's some pretty definitive talk, considering you haven't used it. Give it a try, and if you come to the same conclusion after actually trying it, then okay.
 
The battery charges via USB; but even if you forget to charge it, you've still got the headphone in passive mode. Also, the amp turns off automatically when the Mo-Fi isn't being worn, so that helps prolong battery life per charge.