Product Reviews

These Harman/Kardon headphones facilitate some of the best focus I’ve ever had in my work life. First, they’re noise-canceling: I throw these puppies on, and annoying Icona Pop garbage playing over the speakers ain’t getting me ear pregnant. What’s more is that the sound of the music I play in these is well balanced, as the tones I hear are clear at all levels, and don’t feature any overbearing bass vibrations that one may feel from low-end-focused headphones or earbuds. (These are headphones for adults.) That’s not to say that the bass doesn’t come through adequately—it flows thoroughly, with light tactile titillation, allowing every element of a P.O.S. track to shine through with impeccable balance. The only drawback of these headphones is that they’re clearly made for stationary use for a couple reasons: 1. The connecting cable—though ingeniously removable from the actual headphones—will wrench free with any snag. 2. The leather-lined borders that enclose the ears, which are quite comfortable, are nonetheless prone to making you sweat. Granted, I received this product as summer hit, and, to be fair, they felt and smelled like I was putting a Lexus on my face … which is sweet, and I look forward to using them for winter walks. Ultimately, I’m über grateful to own these, and I’ll continue to use them to play The Obliterate Plague when I need to concentrate or True Widow when a baby cries on a plane. Check out all of these headphones’ components on Harman/Kardon’s site. –Alexander Ortega

I’m not sure what to say about Hickies’ new innovative rubber shoe lacing system. The packaging was awesome: a super-simplistic design for such an overcomplicated product. Hickies only come in one length, so when I initially installed the elastic lacing system in the bottom eyelets of the shoe, the lace was too long and created the appearance of a loose lace. The top of the shoe was the exact opposite: So tight it created severe pressure and a loss of circulation throughout my foot, like it might fall off soon. I then went to Hickies.com to get some advice on how to solve these issues. The website was super easy to navigate, but showed no one being active in the product, or feet in the shoe. After 20 minutes of research and much trial and error—on how to cross over for a narrower point, and some vertical steps for the wider points—I finally had my first shoe laced to fit. Since I had already taken the time to get the first shoe right, I easily mimicked it for the second. As far as the pressure points, once I got the lacing system properly adjusted they didn’t hurt as much—they probably need to break in some more. All in all, these are probably great for kids’ shoes, but not for me. Shoestring will always be the “in” thing. –Billy Ditzig