We all know there are times you don’t want to be seen in public as just another clone wearing iconic white earbuds in an effort to keep strangers from talking to you: sometimes you want to make a statement while tuning out the rest of the world. Empire Brands‘ new Wicked Audio lines of headphones might have you covered in that department, without having to pay premium prices for allegedly audiophile-grade earbuds, enabling you to express your personality without straining your bank accounts.
“Our goal at Empire Brands is to deliver the utmost in fashionable and functional headphones,” said Empire Brands sales VP Paul Marshall, in a statement. “Empire Brands’ customers desire ground-breaking headphones with innovative designs. The Wicked Audio Collection merges style and sound quality unlike any other headphone on the market.”
Empire’s four lines include the $12.99 Metallics (available in pink, white, blue, and black finishes) and the $17.99 candy-colored Jaw Breakers, available in white, black, pink, and green. Moving up a bit, the $29.99 Wicked Little Buds offer a semi-gloss finish and a lightweight design (in black, blue, purple, or silver!) intended to feel like they’re “barely there”—at least until you catch the cable on a sleeve or doorknob and nearly yank your ears off. Finally, at the top end are the $34.99 Wicked Empire line with punky themes like a skull, ace, knight symbol, bones, and an eight ball.
All the new headphone lines feature noise-isolating designs to block out background noise (and ensure you can hear your heartbeat and anything you chew very clearly), along with gold-tipped connector a 1.2m cable. All but the Metallics are 16 ohm earbuds with 10mm drivers claiming frequency response from 20 to 20K Hz—the Metallics might be too, but the information isn’t posted to the Web site.