Master & Dynamic’s MH40 headphones sound as good as they look

When it comes to headphone design, the popular brands don’t venture too far from the prescribed formula. Circular earcups, leather-like padding and a folding frame have become de rigueur for on-ear and over-ear models. Then there’s Master & Dynamic. You may not have heard of the company — I hadn’t until a few weeks ago — but if you’re looking for headphones with some serious style, this is an eye-catching option. For me, looks can only go so far; the cans need to sound great, too. I put the company’s $399 MH40 over-ear headphones through their paces for a couple of weeks to find out if the beauty was more than skin-deep.

What first struck me about the MH40s was how authentic the materials looked. As it turns out, that’s because they are. The headband is wrapped in heavy-grain leather with a lambskin underside to keep the top of your head comfy. What’s more, the entire headband is wrapped in that same material — not just the top section. Some visible stitching adds a nice touch too. The components that allow for sizing adjustments at the base of the headband are made out of stainless steel. This not only looks nicer than having a metal band peek out (think: Beats), but also the rod-like construction there is another nice touch. There are even guidelines to help you more precisely adjust both sides without having to guess.

Moving down to the earcups, lambskin makes another appearance inside on the pads. Master & Dynamic says it used that material on the memory foam cushions for breathability and comfort. I tend to wear headphones for hours at a time while working, and I typically start to get a bit hot around the earcups after a half hour or so. That wasn’t the case here. The pads are also removable (yay, magnets!), so you can give them a wipe down should the need arise. On the outside, the earcups are framed in aluminum. It’s not the plastic stuff that’s meant to look like metal, either. It’s the real thing, and it looks nice. The shape of the earcups themselves is elliptical instead of circular. Going with that shape over the more popular design is a nice change of pace, and keeps the set compact.

On the outside of the right earcup is a handy mute button. It’s the only onboard control, but I found it to be quite useful, especially when my keyboard was just out of reach or I was using my phone to control the music. I found the outside of the earcups to be interesting for another reason, too: Where the headband attaches is another rod-like mechanism that allows the earcups to flex for a better fit. There’s also a grille that reminds me of both a speaker and a microphone. It’s yet another unique design choice, and it adds a bit of flair beyond the normal flat design I typically encounter in that spot.

All of that talk of premium materials led me to think that the MH40s would be fairly heavy. Nope. Despite the design choices Master & Dynamic made on these headphones, it managed to keep the weight down. Sure, the MH40s are heavier than my go-to B&O H6s, but most cans are. However, even with a bit of added heft, these over-ears never felt bulky or overbearing, and I found that I adjusted to the extra weight rather quickly. After a day or so, I barely noticed it.

I’ve spent enough time gushing over the design, so let’s discuss the other important factor: sound quality. After a couple weeks of listening to the MH40s, I can confidently say the audio matches the dapper design. They sound great. Are they the best I’ve heard? I won’t go that far, but they’re pretty darn close. I really like the range of volume on these headphones, as they can get much louder than the H6s I normally use. The sound is clear, although perhaps not the clearest I’ve heard. Snare hits on Florence and The Machine’s “What Kind of Man” are a bit crisper on the H6 (and wireless H8), but the low end is better represented on these Master & Dynamic cans. That said, the MH40s offer more depth in the sound than most of the headphones I’ve listened to recently and they handle a range of genres well. The combination of depth and volume earns high marks from me.

Master & Dynamic has a few accessories for the MH40s, too. There’s a unidirectional boom mic that handles calls and video chats. The $129 mic plugs into the 3.5mm jack on the earcup opposite the regular cable. It keeps your voice clear from any in-office noise that could make it difficult for someone on the other end to hear you well. Oh yeah, it’s made out of aluminum, too. You’ll want to proudly display this gear on your desk when you’re not using it, so the company also offers a $59 metal stand. It’s simple and straightforward, but I preferred it to placing the headphones on my desk or hanging them on the edge of my monitor.

At $399, Master & Dynamic’s MH40 headphones are priced to compete with premium audio accessories. While the lack of wireless connectivity may be a turnoff for some at this price, the stellar design and great audio quality make them worth the cost of admission. As is typically the case when it comes to audio gear, it comes down to how you listen to music and your personal preferences. If you’re happy with $10 earbuds and don’t have a desire to experience something that sounds a lot better, I can understand why you’d want to keep your money in your pocket. However, if you do prefer excellent sound over the most affordable option and don’t mind splurging a bit to get it, the MH40s are worth a look. In fact, I’m not too eager to get back to my B&O H6s, and it’s been a long time since another set of cans has convinced me to leave those on the shelf.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

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Drones hindered firefighting efforts in California

The aerial firefighters deployed to put out a large wildfire in San Bernardino County on Friday were forced to jettison their loads and ultimately land their planes and helicopters. Why? Because a handful of drone owners thought it would be a great idea to fly their machines over the affected areas at the same time. We wish we were talking about how a horde of fire-extinguishing UAVs saved the day, but nope — the five contraptions the responders spotted were nothing but hobby drones. They found those five flying above the burning vehicles on the Interstate 15 freeway at around 3PM, leaving them no choice but to circle the area for around 20 minutes to wait for them to leave. As you can guess, the drones never did, and two even chased the units while they were en route to the county’s airport to land earlier than expected.

The air units had to retreat, because smaller UAVs are considered a hazard: if one hits a plane or a chopper, it could endanger not just the pilot, but also the people on the ground.

As US Forest Service’s John Miller told NBC Los Angeles:

It can kill our firefighters in the air… They can strike one of these things and one of our aircraft could go down, killing the firefighters in the air. This is serious to us. It is a serious, not only life threat, not only to our firefighters in the air, but when we look at the vehicles that were overrun by fire, it was definitely a life-safety threat to the motorists on Interstate 15.

There are no confirmed injuries among the affected motorists — they managed to run out of their vehicles before they went up in flames — and we hope everybody really did get out on time. If someone did get injured or killed due to the delay, though, the drone owners would be in even bigger trouble. California Fire Captain Richard Cordova told The Hollywood Reporter that those owners would be held liable, as their machines prevented the firefighters from helping those who needed it.

This isn’t the first time drones have hampered firefighting efforts, by the way: some UAVs were also spotted at another California wildfire in June. This incident dubbed the “North Fire” devoured 3,500 acres of land, around five houses and 20 of the 75 or so abandoned vehicles within four hours. Authorities are now looking for the people behind those five drones. While they likely didn’t cause death or injury, Chief Marc Peebles of the county’s fire department said the delay they created is definitely one of the reasons why the fire ended up spreading on the freeway.

#NorthFire (Update) Firefighting aircraft has been grounded due to drone activity in the area pic.twitter.com/aVkx5Ud2JU

– SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) July 17, 2015

[Image credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Filed under: Misc

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Source: SB County Fire (Twitter), Hollywood Reporter, KTLA, NBC Los Angeles

Drum sensor helps you play digital beats on analog skins

You can certainly use drum machines and electronic drums if you want to add a digital kick to your music, but you typically lose the intuitiveness and subtlety of playing old-school skins in the process. Why can’t you have the best of both worlds? Sunhouse thinks you can. It’s crowdfunding Sensory Percussion, a sensor that translates your acoustic drum sounds into electronic beats. You can map different samples to different parts of your drums, and the add-on will even recognize various playing styles. The effect is a bit surreal, as you’ll hear in the video below — you can produce beats that you’d rarely hear in the studio, let alone at a live concert.

Be prepared to pay up if you’re aiming to become the tech world’s Neil Peart. It’ll take a $595 or larger pledge to get one Sensory Percussion unit, and you’re realistically looking at $1,330 to put sensors on a full drum kit. The hardware isn’t expected to ship until January, either, so it won’t come in time to liven up those late summer music festivals. All the same, it’s easy to get excited by the potential. Drummers may soon add a dash of electronic music to their band’s sound, or even switch genres outright, without having to abandon their finely-honed skills.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/127149874/introducing-sensory-percussion/widget/video.html

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals

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Via: The Verge

Source: Kickstarter

Tiny brain implant delivers drugs with a remote control

An implant, the size of a human hair, can deliver drugs to the brain with the click of a button. A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois have demonstrated the wireless technology in mice. While a previous iteration of the device delivered LED to neurons that respond to light, the latest experiment successfully introduced pharmacological agents directly to the brain. A drug was first sent to one side of the brain that made a mouse move around in a circle. Next, shining a light onto cells that cue the release of dopamine rewarded the mice with happy feelings. When the rodents came around for more, the researchers used a remote control to interject with a drug that put a halt on the dopamine effect.

Previous experiments required that drugs or other compounds be delivered while the animals were tethered to tubes. But the mice in this particular demonstration roamed free (in a maze) while the drugs were carried wirelessly to the brain. “We’ve designed it to exploit infrared technology, similar to that used in a TV remote,” Jordan McCall, a graduate student at the lab said in a statement. “If we want to influence an animal’s behavior with light or with a particular drug, we can simply point the remote at the animal and press a button.”

This remote-controlled technology, for now restricted to lab animals, has a specific purpose. Over time it might be used to treat depression or epilepsy by directly targeting specific parts of the human brain with therapies. The soft implant is designed to fit in with the rest of the brain tissue so it can stay lodged for a long time without causing inflammation or damage.

[Image credit: Lyn Alweis via Getty Images]

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Source: Business Insider

Plastic roads may put asphalt to shame

The days of putting up with crumbling asphalt streets might just come to an end. Construction company VolkerWessels has revealed plans for recycled plastic roads that are both more sustainable and more practical than old-fashioned blacktop. Besides reusing material, they’d last about three times longer and survive greater temperature ranges (between -40F and 176F) — despite their fragile look, they’re less likely to crack under the strain of vehicles or the weather. You can pre-assemble them to lay them down faster, too, and their hollow structure is handy for cabling and pipes.

This is just a concept at the moment, but VolkerWessels fully intends to test it and make sure that it holds up in the real world. That’s not idle talk, either. The Dutch city of Rotterdam is interested in trying out these plastic surfaces in its “street lab,” and the company hopes to have an honest-to-goodness route in operation within three years. If the idea still sounds outlandish, look at it this way: it’s likely the closest you’ll ever get to driving a Hot Wheels track in real life.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Via: The Guardian, IEEE Spectrum, Slashdot

Source: VolkerWessels

Massachusetts grills Uber and Lyft over disability access

Ridesharing outfits make some effort to accommodate disabled passengers, but Massachusetts isn’t sure that they go far enough. Reuters has learned that the state’s Attorney General is grilling Uber and Lyft over the levels of disability access they provide. There aren’t any official actions under way, but this is the first time that any US attorney general’s office has given accessibility a look. That’s bound to make the two companies nervous when both of them are facing lawsuits over their support for guide dogs and wheelchairs.

For its part, Uber says it both talks to lawmakers about accessibility and has a team “dedicated” to improving access. If Massachusetts presses for changes, there’s a real chance that it’ll get at least some concessions rather than face a legal battle. With that said, ridesharing companies have historically resisted measures that potentially hike their costs — we wouldn’t rule out some pushback if they believe the state is taking things too far.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu]

Filed under: Transportation, Internet

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Source: Reuters