Other than comfort, sound quality, aesthetic value, and a few nifty features here and there, it’s safe to say headphone technology hasn’t seen many changes during the past few decades. So when Glow, LLC, a San Francisco-based tech company, launched a Kickstarter page for their unique set of earphones, they literally unleashed a bright new feature that turned quite a number of heads online.
Glow headphones, which according to the company are the “first smart headphones with laser light,” are earphones with wires that illuminate and pulse along with your music or the beat of your heart. They make use of “Fibrance,” a thin, light-diffusing fibre made by Corning, which is primarily used for decorative lighting designed to fit in small tight spaces.
The company surpassed their $100,000 goal (receiving over half a million dollars), meaning those who pledged $127 or more to fund the project can get their lighted headphones as early as July of this year, assuming the company successfully manufactures all the units in time. Aside from the unique lighting feature, Glow headphones also boast superior sound quality as they feature dual premium balanced armature drivers that are specially tuned so listeners get to enjoy the crisp highs and lows of their music. The headphones also come with a useful five-way remote with a mic, which you can use to control music tracks, answer phone calls, access voice controls, and more.
The Glow’s integrated heart rate sensor, though not yet a final feature (the Kickstarter project needed to hit the $1 million mark to make it a reality), makes use of a pulse oximeter to estimate the user’s heart rate. Though this might not accurately sync with heartbeats, this is a unique feature nonetheless, especially for those who like exercising while listening to music, as looking at pulsing lights is much more appealing than numbers and symbols of a heart rate monitor.
Many people might see Glow’s features as a gimmick. Nevertheless, it’s a unique, new feature that seems to excite a lot of music lovers, with a few of them even pledging a whopping $4,000 for the full VIP package.
You can check out their website for more information.
The headphones do seem like they will be great quality but $127 seems like quite a high price to pay. I’m also not certain that I would like to walk round covered with flashing wires either. Pricing aside, they do seem very innovative and would be popular with joggers, power walkers and cyclists.
I had the same thought, $127 for a pair of headphones that are constantly flashing… I’m not sure there will be a lot people ready to part with that much cash for a pair of those, but I’m sure there will be some people who will. Other than that… I doubt these will be popular, but who knows, maybe if a celebrity wears them they might become very popular.
To be quite honest I’m not that impressed with this. Yes it seems cool and novel, but that’s all it is. A novelty item. I mean, what are you going to need the lights for? I can maybe see this at raves and music festivals, but that’s about it. If anything, the company might have a licensing deal with other companies, but I doubt this would do very well on its own
I absolutely agree. Plus, they’re pretty expensive. I’m not sure 127 dollars is worth it for headphones which have some LEDs on them. Especially when they’re pretty limited in terms of use, as you mentioned. Perhaps they’ll be cool at a rave or when running outside at night (so cars can see you) but besides that they’re going to see a lot of time on the buyer’s desk and not on their ears.
In my humble opinion $127 sounds like a lot for a pair of headphones, but I don’t doubt there will be people out there willing to pay for those headphones. After all the look fancy and offer something unique other headphones just can’t offer! Not sure a lot pairs will get sold though. Only time can tell.
Nifty and stylish. I hope the final product works just as advertised though. You never know what you get with these kickstarter products. Some kickstarters totally screw over their patrons and just put out sub par products intead of the ones they advertised. I hope this isn’t the case with this one.
Ummm… No. I think I would feel like an idiot if I was jogging/biking around with flashing lights around my head. The only value I see is that they could act as a safety feature and perhaps ward off a possible accident of getting hit by a car. They could also be part of an alien Halloween costume I suppose. 🙂 I would have to be very wealthy before I would spend so much on earphones. Pass.
That’s possibly the most sensible use for these earphones – as a personal safety aid. The only problem is, the price tag indicates that someone who owns a pair of these has money to spare. This, in turn, means that they might be carrying other expensive equipement. So you can see how this could single someone out to a mugger…
Well, it depends, it might be a good thing for those who have heart issues, with that feature they would know where to stop without having to measure their pulse every certain time, so I guess that’s what they meant, I guess, but the same as you, I don’t see the point of having this feature if you don’t have those types of issues, but as you’ve said, it would be a safety measure when it comes to not getting hit by a car, since when we are listening to music is hard to pay attention to other sensorial stimuls.
This here sounds pretty cool as there hasn’t been much advancement with head phones in years. The beat of the music is in sync with the lights, I bet that looks cool. The website looks very professional as well but I don’t think I’d spend $150.00 for head phones; maybe get them when the price drops.
$127 seems a little bit high for a bunch of glowing lights on a pair of headphones, but it’s a really cool concept nonetheless. I can really only see these being useful at raves or EDM festivals and things like that. I might consider getting them if they figured out a way to bring the price of their product down.
That’s exactly what I was thinking when I first saw them, EDM festivals. About the price, well, it might look expensive, but remember, this thing has pulse oximeters integrated in an ear phone! Apart from that, it’s a Kickstarted project, it’s kind of obvious that at first this will cost a little bit more than expected.
I think it’s rather highly priced for a regular headphone that is put on one’s iPod or walkman. I have probably never seen any one of the regular headphones, regardless of what additional features they offer, priced as high as the glowing earphones. For the ear-speaker types or the ones with over-ear types I have seen higher prices, which I would think was due to the additional padding and over the head design. Compared to those types of headphones, $127 is mid-range price.
I want those right now! I don’t think they are overpriced if they also deliver a better than average sound quality.
Technology has really come a long way and I’m really happy that kickstarters like this are able to hit their deadline and bring something new and exciting to the table.
I agree with those above that the price tag is a little high. While the technology sounds really cool, I would not spend over $100 on earbuds with the highlight of glowing to your music. Though if a niche market exists and people would be willing to shell out the cash, this could become a success. I have seen many ideas on Kickstarter that seem outrageous but end up doing well.
I thought we use earphones to just listen to music, but this kickstarter is adding a bunch of extra unnecessary functions. I’m not sure how it would help in alot of situations except that the earphones look fashionable and really cool. Since it costs $127, I sure hope the sound quality to be in par of probably those Logitech in-ears atleast. However, I highly doubt it will keep a good quality of sound due to it’s extra laser glow and music beat functions that has been implemented.
Ooh, those look nice. I wouldn’t put that much money in earbuds though. I prefer quality headphones. I rarely even use earbuds and that’s at the gym mostly, so earbuds tend to break easily. Also, I bet the fiber optic light requires it to be really dark for it to be visible.
They look cool, for sure, but at that price point I’d hope they provide above-average sound along with the visual effects and extra features. They do appeal to a certain demographic, though. I could also see the wires being useful as a safety feature in certain situations, as others have said. But I’m personally not a big fan of earbuds in any case, so I may be somewhat biased.
Haha, it made me smile. It’s a bit funny because I never thought it could reach that. Glowing earphones, I’m not sure what to think of it. but it does seem quite expensive and unaffordable by me, haha.
I’m totally fine with the price as the idea of these headphones truly are amazing. I checked out their website and turns out you can pre-order them! Seems like these super cool headphones are becoming a reality. Can’t wait ’till to see them release them.
Actually a few hours ago I was talking with my mom about the fact that you can’t really feel or concentrate on your heartbeats while you’re doing exercises and listening to music, this can be an important feature for those who like exercising and have some kind of heart issues. But as long as for me, it doesn’t seem to be that exciting, I mean, it’s a new feature and design, but in my opinion, they are kind of expensive for just a pair of earphones.