AirDrives Headphones Review

AirDrives Interactive Stereo HeadphonesThe AirDrives headphones are a new style of innovative headphones that are unlike anything you’ve probably seen before. Typically most people choose to wear earbuds nowadays, which actually go into your ear as everyone knows. Well the AirDrives are different. These unique headphones actually hang by your ear and not inside it, but have the shape and light weight of earbuds.

There are pros and cons to this design though depending on what you are looking for in a pair of headphones. But the good news about this particular design is twofold.

1. Since the headphones don’t actually go INSIDE your ear, they are better for your ears because we all know that blasting loud music directly into your ear canal cannot be the most healthy thing to do for your precious ear drums.

2. This design is supposed to allow you to be able to hear your surroundings better so that you can have music in the background while still being able to hear what’s going on around you.

AirDrives LogoDevice: AirDrives Interactive Stereo Headphones
Manufacturer: Mad Catz Interactive
Price: Regular model – $99.99
AirDrives for Kids – $69.99

To a large extent this unique headphone design does work as advertised. Because the headphones are not directly in the ear, you can hear what’s going on around you better than you could with normal headphones.

But like with lots of things, it will really come down to personal preference as to how much you like the headphones or find them useful. For someone like me, who likes to blast their metal at full volume, the headphones don’t do much for me. In fact, this is where my main criticism lies.

Since the actual speakers are further away from your ear than is typical, that means that if you are someone who likes their music loud or wants to hear the nuances of something (which comes into play with video games as well as movies) then you may find yourself literally having to crank the volume all the way up, whether it’s on the device you are using or on the headphones (which have their own volume slider, always a plus in my opinion) or even on both.

And amazingly, sometimes even then it’s not loud enough! It depends on what you are listening to obviously, but if it’s a video where people are talking it can sometimes be difficult to hear what is being said even at full volume. As a result, I often found myself with hands to my ears pushing the AirDrives closer so I could hear it better, particularly when there were other people talking in the same room when I was trying to watch a video. . . which kind of goes against the purpose of these type of headphones.

So how is the quality of the headphones themselves? I do think they produce good sound, and they have lots of bass from my experience, which may come as expected given the high $100 price tag on the regular model (they also come in a younger “for kids” flavor that is cheaper) although depending on your preference not preferred, since there is no way to turn the bass down on the headphones themselves.

AirDrives Headphones

So all in all, these headphones are really aimed at certain audiences. For parents they may be great if you are concerned about your child’s ears when they are blasting all that loud music directly into them. And that of course can also be a concern of anyone who listens to music using ear bud headphones. So if that is a concern for you, then these headphones may just be a Godsend.

The design truly is a cool one IMO. And naturally, if you are looking for headphones that allow you to listen to music quietly in the background while you work but can still hear other people, then these headphones will definitely satisfy. And unlike noise canceling headphones that can be bulky, these little babies are as light and portable as earbuds and also don’t require batteries (it even comes with it’s own carrying pouch in the box!).

But if you are one to love their loud music then these headphones will not replace a normal set of headphones or earbuds. But maybe the ideal situation would be to have those headphones along with these ones, which you may want to keep around for those times when you may want to listen to music while still being able to hear what’s going on in the environment. However the steep price may keep some of these very people at bay.

OVERALL rating: 8.0
Design: 9.5
Comfort: 8.0
Sound Quality: 8.0
Price: 6.5