For many people, Star Wars is only 6 movies that came out in the cinema between 1977 and 2005. Actually, you should not forget that Star Wars it’s also an expanded universe, probably one of the biggest fictional universe ever invented by human being: there are books, comics, video games, TV series etc… Well it’s an almost limitless universe that goes far beyond the 6 famous movies. Generally there is no time for rest in the movies as the action is everywhere! But have you already wondered what the Jedi and Sith are doing once you turned off your DVD player? They do sport, they play parlour games, they organize droid fights, they chat on facebook, but they also sometimes get bored between two missions, just like you and me. Then it’s time to get out their lightsaber to listen to music. Indeed, what isn’t written in any encyclopedia is that Jedi and Sith generally have foresight and include a small mp3 player in the lightsaber when they design and make it.
A website is selling lightsaber mp3 players. At first that looked quite dubious since every lightsaber is supposed to be unique and built by its owner but finally I found their speech reassuring enough: “Generic MP3 players from fly-by-night operations in China cost about $2.70 each in bulk. Add an FM radio function and you might bump the price up by about $0.45 each. We don’t want those. We want Taito’s officially licensed Star Wars Light Saber Kei MP3 Player which isn’t generic. It’s specialized and looks like a light saber handle with nifty and ornate detailing. Won’t find that in a no-frills generic player.” Once you have read that, you’ll agree with me it’s impossible to resist buying one! Of course I got the one of Darth Vader. No that the lighsaber of Luke Skywalker (Darth Vader’s son for people living in another world) is ugly but the dark side of the Force is more attractive, isn’t it?
Digizoid – or, digiZoid, as they write it – is a relatively young company from Arizona that specializes in sound enhancing techniques. Their patent-pending technology called Smartvector promises to improve several aspects of an audio signal originating from any source – be it from a portable MP3 player, be it in a recording studio used during mixing/mastering, be it while watching a movie on a home cinema setup, be it in a live DJ setup.
Radius Co. Ltd. are from Japan, but unlike fellow countrymen such as Audio Technica or Denon, Radius mostly relies on rebranding Chinese OEM in-ear phones rather than creating original designs. Most of their products are found in the lower price segment, usually competing with fashion brands such as Skullcandy or JBuds.
Forum member JxK generously loaned me his fresh pair of Ecci PR401 in-ear phones. There’s a bit of hubbub surrounding these phones at the moment – seemingly they’re quite the bang for the buck. Of course there are more than a few other good phones in that price range, so it’s always interesting to see how such underdogs rank in the grand scheme of things.
Kitsound, a division of British mobile accessories distributor Kondor, mainly seem to rebrand inexpensive Chinese OEM/ODM audio products for portable and home use. They offer portable speakers, iPod speaker docks, USB chargers, and of course headphones.
