Minimalist-Design Headphones from Bluetribe

Japanese company Sigma-Apo has announced its latest in Bluetooth headphones, in the body of a 2.1 Bluetooth headset with an exquisite and almost uncanny look. In perfect sync with the company's slogan “minimal, simple, compact,” these contraptions sport a very sober and almost Spartan design, straightforward and with no compromises. Since they haven't been made available at large yet, impressions on the functionality of the design are still a matter of the future. Yet, one could easily suppose that some will hate these products, while others will simply adore them.

The Bluetribe headphones have been designed to work in both outdoor and in indoor environments, with Bluetooth-enabled music sources, no matter whether we're thinking about iPods or computers, media servers or other similar devices.

Even more, the built-in microphone and the two-way connection make these headphones the perfect and most stylish gadget for conversations when paired with compatible gear, letting you interact with the world and use the Bluetribe headset for more than music. On the audio side, they come with 30 mm drivers, but there is no word on the frequency range. Still, the 95 dB signal-to-noise ratio should make listening to these headphones a fairly pleasant experience.

The left ear piece contains the rechargeable battery, while the right one features the on/off button, play, pause, stop, track up or down keys, as well as the volume adjustment controls. One full recharge of the battery is supposed to give you up to 11 hours of listening or making phone calls, all within a 33 feet radius (approx 11meters).

The ear pads have generous dimensions and come in rather uncanny shapes, at least for 2009: either hexagonal or square, with no details given as to whether they are interchangeable or not. Moreover, Sigma-Apo offers a version with a docking iPod/iPhone adapter. A possible drawback could be the fact that these nifty headphones have been announced only for Japan, thus chances to see them in other countries are slim to none. At the same time, no price has been named.

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