Wireless Earbuds

[Forbiddenwar]

I'm tired of getting tangled in wires while listening to music. So I joined this kickstarter for cordless, wireless universal headphones.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/freewire/freewire-wireless-earbuds

Problem is that they need 50,000 in 30 days. So I'm reaching out here.

Some facts:


FreeWire is still in the production stages, but we're looking at putting together our first prototype, and with your pledges we can make all our wanted features come true. So here's a little about them:

* Each pair has a button on the right earbud so that when someone starts talking to you the music mutes, when you want it to play again you click the button again. This eliminates having to remove the bud each time you need to hear.
* Compatible with all 3.5 MM devices, we have designed a very small adapter that plugs into your audio jack so that any device can be connected.
* Outer ring of light turns red when battery is low. Battery charge is 12 hours continuous use.
* Charging is done by plugging in device to small charging port, will include Apple plug in to steal power from your Apple devices.
* Includes Mic so that you can receive calls or give voice commands

[Mystic Muse]

* Each pair has a button on the right earbud so that when someone starts talking to you the music mutes, when you want it to play again you click the button again. This eliminates having to remove the bud each time you need to hear.

This seems like it'd be really irritating.

[Fan]

Looks like bluetooth.

[Radar]

This seems like it'd be really irritating.
I guess, they ment, that you can mute the music by pushing the button - fitting voice-detection into the device would be an overkill.

[Asheram]

I'd rather not have any radio-connected device Inside my head.

[Mystic Muse]

I guess, they ment, that you can mute the music by pushing the button - fitting voice-detection into the device would be an overkill.

Ah. Misread then. I thought they were saying that it would detect voices and turn off as a result, which just would have been obnoxious.

[The Extinguisher]

Ewww, wireless sound. Sound quality is too important for me to get rid of wires.

It just makes me feel dirty inside whenever I have to sell wireless sound systems.

[Gensh]

Looks like bluetooth.

Aye. If you don't mind a more traditional style of headphone, there are a few models out there already. After ruining two good pairs of headphones and countless cheaper ones, I made the switch last year and haven't looked back since. My Sharper Image pair cost me $50 American, and has buttons on the right piece for Pause, Skip Back, Skip Forward, Volume Down, Volume Up.

[Radar]

Ewww, wireless sound. Sound quality is too important for me to get rid of wires.

It just makes me feel dirty inside whenever I have to sell wireless sound systems.
I don't quite get that. If the sound is sent to the headphones in a digital format (which would be the most sensible choice here), then there should be no difference in quality. :smallconfused:

[The Extinguisher]

I don't quite get that. If the sound is sent to the headphones in a digital format (which would be the most sensible choice here), then there should be no difference in quality. :smallconfused:

Have you ever played a video game online through Wi-Fi only to have it lag and cut out, when it wouldn't happen through a LAN line.

It's the same concept here. To much interference means a loss of signal quality. If it was just a simple matter of getting the signal there, we wouldn't have $100 HDMI cords.

[Creed]

As a proud owner of cats since childhood, I WANT THESE NOW!
Right now I have only one kitten, but in high school I lived with three of 'em. I love the cats to death, but they are death to countless pairs of headphones and one Xbox headset I bought junior year.
On audio quality: I'd much rather buy a pair of these and suffer poor audio quality when I'm on the bus to work rather than have to buy new ones every couple weeks. Plus, since I'm a big podcast listener, most of my audio quality isn't that great anyway.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm going the replace my Turtle Beach for when I'm gaming (the cord in thick enough that the cat really has to work at it to get any progress, and the one pair he ruined was covered by the warranty) but for my iPod this sounds like a pretty cool item.

[Radar]

Have you ever played a video game online through Wi-Fi only to have it lag and cut out, when it wouldn't happen through a LAN line.

It's the same concept here. To much interference means a loss of signal quality. If it was just a simple matter of getting the signal there, we wouldn't have $100 HDMI cords.
Well... properly set wireless network is just as stable, considering that my whole neighbourhood is hooked up to the Internet with a radio transmitter and we have stable ping (easily below 100) and no packet loss. Outside interferences and signal reflection are a problem to solve, but the thing with digital data transfer is, above a certain threshold you gain nothing. If even a cheap Wi-Fi router gives transfers of dozens of Mb per second through reinforced concrate wall, then it's entirely doable, to make a reliable wireless sound system. Even better: think about cellphone networks - they work despite all the interference from hundreds of phones in the same area.

As for the $100 HDMI cord, there are many weird things people buy for no good reason (unless this cable is exceptionally long, which would indeed require higher quality): special ceramic supports for audio cords, even more special wooden knobs for the amplifier, power cords costing few hundred bucks per 1m - the list goes on. Even for analog transmission comparative blind tests show, that there is no audible difference between reasonably priced products and audiophile stuff.

[mikerowland]

I use a dual stream Bluetooth adapter (http://how-to-fix-earbuds.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-connect-two-bluetooth-headphones.html) that you can connect 2 Bluetooth headphones simultaneously or speakers to one device. It plugs into the 3.5 audio port.

[Jimorian]

Have you ever played a video game online through Wi-Fi only to have it lag and cut out, when it wouldn't happen through a LAN line.

It's the same concept here. To much interference means a loss of signal quality. If it was just a simple matter of getting the signal there, we wouldn't have $100 HDMI cords.

This depends on the headroom in the signal. If the data rate during interference is still above the data rate needed to reconstruct 100% of the audio signal, then you won't ever notice the difference.

A bigger issue for me is battery life of the receivers. Even given the much smaller diaphragms inside earbuds, moving air to create sound is fairly power intensive.

[Vaynor]

The Red Towel: Thread necromancy.