Last Thursday, May 26th, I attended an excellent dinner at the Tribeca Grill, hosted by the Miles Davis Family, Sony, J&R Electronics, and Monster, in celebration of Miles Davis’ 85th birthday. During the event, which included a heartfelt remembrance from Miles’ nephew, drummer Vince Wilburn, members of the press were given an introduction to Monster’s Miles Davis Trumpet in-ear headphone. (We were also treated to birthday cake!)

Wilburn offered a simple yet charming sketch of his uncle: “Miles was the type of guy who would change his clothes six times a day just because he got bored. He was never satisfied, always on to the next thing,” he said, with a chuckle and a sigh.

He then talked about the genesis of his family’s relationship with Noel Lee, Monster’s CEO, “The Head Monster”: “Let me tell you something about Noel Lee….” Wilburn explained that the two met a few years earlier, while backstage after a show. They got to talking about music and business, and Lee suggested, “Maybe we should create something together.”

“Alright,” said Wilburn. “Let me talk to the family about it.” Three weeks later, Lee had a prototype.

“Just like Miles,” Wilburn commented, “Noel Lee is a forward thinker. He doesn’t rest.”

Noel Lee then addressed the eager audience, feeding us the most delicious lines: “You’re not getting all the information in the music”; “Our mission is to educate consumers worldwide”; “Music is passion.”

A convincing and powerful speaker with a very attractive message, Lee punctuated each of his statements with appeals for applause. Enthusiastically, eagerly, we clapped on command.

On each table, guests found a few samples of the Miles Davis Trumpet headphone and a gold iPod Nano, stocked with playlists created by Monster—demo tracks, test signals, pop songs. We took turns listening, and we were all impressed. Michael Fremer, sitting to my immediate left, took a turn and plugged the headphones into his own iPhone, listened to a recording of his own voice, and commented positively: “It sounds like me!” David Chesky, sitting to my immediate right, took a turn and plugged the headphones into his own mobile device and commented positively: “I like them better than my Turbines.”

Mikey receives star treatment, expounds.

Scheduled to be available by August, at a retail price of $329, the Monster Miles Davis Trumpet in-ear headphone has a distinct, horn-like shape, is marked with the classic silhouette of Miles Davis in profile, and has volume controls made to resemble the keys of a trumpet. The complete package, housed in a lush carrying case, will include the newly remastered Sketches of Spain, in high-definition surround-sound.

Damn you, Gaga.

I LIKEEEEEEE

I will attest that Monster's Turbine earphones were the best I've sampled but I couldn't afford them nor the first edition of The Miles Davis tribute earphones that were out last year. If I knew how to tweak and fix the sound quality of the songs on my phone and iPod, I'd be tempted to buy those with a few dollars saved up by Christmas but I'm just wishing right now.

......p.s...... the Beats by Dr. Dre are damn good to and I do have a pair of those.

Not a fan of earbuds.

I like the Miles Davis logo and the trumpet mouthpiece on these though.

I'll have to check those out in October during A.E.S. in NYC.
Currently have a set of...

[img:$uid]http://www.americanmusical.com/ProductImages/Large/p46329.jpg[/img:$uid]

...Shure SCL5 earbuds which are pretty damn good.



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Does it make that much difference when listening to music or is all of this ish just collector items?

sosgemini said:

Does it make that much difference when listening to music or is all of this ish just collector items?

I'm sure there's a large degree of marketing going on there.

I will tell you this though. I was not a fan of earbuds until I won that pair by Shure.

Shocked doesn't doesn't do it justice. Especially when I found out they sold for almost $400.

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

I won a free pair of Lady Gaga's Heartbeats earbuds. I was excited to get them cuz of the branding, but I also loved the idea of having expensive, nicely crafted earbuds which retail for 120.

1) The sound was little better than iPhone buds and I even suggest the bass is too low. UNLESS....

2) You are forced to wear the buds in an extremely uncomfortable position to gain additional sonic clarity. They come with 3 sizes of plastic coverings, but none of the sizes fit my ear canal properly and they would fall out or I'd get the weird tingly Spidey Sense when putting them in cuz I felt as if I was putting them down too deep.

3) The shape of the Heartbeats buds used to be a 3 point diamond which was one of the better aspects given #2 (perceived benefit in wearing them in odd positions to gain sonic clarity).

I'll never buy a monster earbud, for sure. Not these, not the 2nd pair of LG branded ones, and not the Miles Davis ones.

I like my Bose ear buds and the noise-cancelling actual haedphones...expensive but needed. Need to check on those Shure's I know they make decent mics...