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December 14, 2011
Review: SuperBeam Phones
I've been checking out a pair of SuperBeam Phones from Andrea Electronics Corp, and I like them! For music playback, I found they have incredible bass response. I was listening to some old music and it was like hearing the bass track for the first time, pretty impressive for such small headphones. Besides listening, one can also use the Superbeams for recording, in applications like gaming, Skype, Facetime, or dictation software. But what's really interesting about these is that instead of a pesky microphone boom sticking out in front of your face, the SuperBeams use two microphones, one on the side of each earcup. So just put 'em on and play, there's no adjusting or fighting that annoying stick in front of your face.
Two mics you say? Well that is interesting, especially to a binaural recording geek such as myself. Much like how a stereo camera records three-dimensional pictures, these headphones can record a true stereo sound. When you are wearing them, each microphone records the sound it hears from its relative location on your head. Now because you have a head, sound waves have to move around it to get to each ear, so a sound on your left side will reach your left ear first, then must travel around your head to reach your right ear. This is affectionally know as a "head shadow", and everyone's is a little bit different. The micro delay and subtle shift in sound characteristics caused by your head shadow is all interpreted by your brain to create the three dimensional sound you normally hear as a two-eared geek. When recorded by binaural microphones like those on the SuperBeams, then replayed through headphones, your brain re-assembles this soundscape just as if you were hearing it live again. The effect is powerful, and so life-like it's often quite freaky. Binaural recordings can accurately reproduce all the subtle nuances you normally hear with your ears but are lost in most recordings... the location of sound behind, ahead, above, and to the sides of you.
The unit comes with a great hardish-shell case for protecting the phones during transport, or for just keeping your geekosphere tidy. They are fairly light, and fold flat, and also have a volume adjuster and mute button build into the cord. Andrea Electronics also provides downloadable software for EQ and their patented beam forming and digital noise reduction, if you really want to geek out (available for Mac and PC). There's also an optional mobile phone adapter cable that's compatible with all version of iPhone, smart phones, and most non-smart phones, as well as Macbooks and notebooks using a single analog jacks, so you can record and listen on these devices without having to unplug and replug. It would be nice if they included this with the package, but I suppose that's one way to keep the price down (the headphones will still work as headphones without the adapter).
So there you have it, the convenience of no boom, plus the added power of binaural recording. Recording podcasts, live entertainment, music, lectures, environmental sounds, or you just walking around in the mall has never been so much fun. Available in two models, SuperBeam Buds (earbuds) and SuperBeam Phones (on-ear headphones) both come in black or white and retail for around $99.95 and $119 respectively, or over at Amazon.
Posted by Snaggy at December 14, 2011 08:55 AM