The Martlet

It’s been about half a year since rapper 50 Cent announced he would be introducing a new wireless headphone to compete with Dr. Dre’s popular, overpriced Beats By Dre audio line. The product was a partnership between the music icon and the company Sleek Audio. Soon after the announcement, news broke that the two parties were parting ways, leaving the product’s future in question. On Saturday, headphone-aficionados rejoiced as 50 announced that the project was still in fruition, under the new name SYNC by 50.

The headphones’ rejuvenation comes with 50’s purchase of KonoAudio, a boutique manufacturer focusing on designing, developing and launching fashion headphones. He and the company have been working closely to develop a new, innovative audio experience.

The exciting thing about this new product is its wireless functionality. While the technology is far from new, 50 and friends are coming up with a potentially impressive product. KonoAudio have been reported saying the technology is being built to allow five simultaneous wireless connections, basically creating a 50-foot radius to broadcast your favourite songs among friends. Although wireless audio may concern true audiophiles, the company has promised a professionally tuned EQ experience with 16-bit lossless digital sound. This opens up the product’s uses — from wirelessly listening to your iTunes with your whole family in different parts of your house to discretely listening to the hockey game off your laptop with friends in the library. If the prospect of this doesn’t sound tempting to you, I don’t know what does.

With the announcement, the company released photos of their upcoming product. The pictures show their premier headphone model, decked out in black and silver trim, along with what looks like a small receiving adapter to plug into your iPod’s audio jack. It also shows the on-ear audio controls for volume and track seeking.

According to the product’s spec-sheet, it will come with a wired microphone cable (much like what the iPhone headphones uses), Micro-USB-to -USB charging cable, and a hard-shell carrying case.

We don’t yet know how much they’ll cost or when they’ll be available to the public, but for now, I’m just counting down to the inevitable Ford copyright lawsuit.