There's always been an inherent irony in referring to wireless earbuds as "wireless" when there's invariably a bit cord connecting the two of them. Swedish startup Earin went for broke, launching a successful Kickstarter campaign and actually managing the too rare feat of actually bringing the product to market.
In fact, as, as of the writing of this, you can actually purchase a pair of the company's product at a Best Buy for a cool $299. You used to be able to buy the things online, but apparently the company just couldn't keep up with demand.
I finally had the chance to take a pair for a spin at CES this week and was pretty impressed, over all. For starters, there's some really smart design at play here. Take the charging case which simultaneously solves the issue of making sure the individual buds are charged - and, more importantly, that you don't lose them.
The case is a cylindrical metal tube that closes up, allowing you to keep the buds safe while charging them up.
There's a process for actually inserting the buds into the ear, as well. They're not exactly form fitting, so it takes a bit of twisting to make sure they're in comfortably. Granted, I tried them out on the crowded show room floor, but I was decently impressed with the sound quality of such a tiny pair of standalone buds.
I did experience some connectivity issues, however, with one of the buds losing its connection independently of the other. For now, I'm willing to chalk the issue up to the huge volume of wireless devices in the room, which seemed to be wreaking havoc on a number of products on display in the room.
Thankfully, we should be getting a review unit in the not too distant future...
