Radius' radHeadphones LIVE headphones were designed with the ambitious goal of reproducing sound as if was recorded live. Technically how did Radius do this? Inside the brushed aluminum casings of the RadHeadphone LIVE earbuds are a pair of premium quality titanium drivers. Because titanium has the highest strength/weight ration of any metal, the Radius LIVE drivers move incredibly fast without losing their form. This means that the music they make is detailed, natural and free of distortion. In addition to the titanium drivers, Radius also gave the radHeadphones LIVE headphones a frequency response of 20Hz-20,000Hz, a sound pressure sensitivity of 106dB/mW, an impedance of 18Ω, and features a 10mm driver unit.

On paper it all sounds pretty impressive but how do they sound? Let's check it out.

Requirements:

• Any iPod, iPhone or headphone compatible audio/video device
• ears

Packaging

Like most products I test, I like to review the instructions on the packaging. I was surprised to see that all the product information written on the box was in Japanese! Now I agree one should not need directions for a pair of headphones, but I would have loved to know what all the text was about!

Comfort and Fit

Once I tried the headphones on I was a bit curious on how they were to be worn correctly. There were no left-right ear markings on them so I went with what felt comfortable. I am not sure if that was included in the Japanese instructions. The ear caps turn in so there is some logic to how they should be worn and I did figure it out. There seems to be 3 different comfort positions, you should try the different positions and see which one best fits you. Also be sure to try all the tip sizes as well, you are bound to find that perfect balance.

They fit very comfortably inside the ear. Now it was time to pretend I was the iPod character and dance around doing a little Jimi Hendrix air guitar impression. Unfortunately with heavy movement activity like this (along with running and biking which I tried as well ) the phones did not stay tightly in place. They moved out of the ideal "snug" position. When used inside of a ski or bike helmet (even a winter skull cap) where they were held in place, they worked great!

Ahhhh but wait, the small extra package inside the box that I thought was just an extra ear cap is actually 2 different sized soft silicone ear caps, very cool! All together there are 3 cap sizes: small, medium and large. Wow, I found one that now fits perfect and stays in place when I do my free dancing moves and works even better if you move the cable so it goes over the ear.

Isolation Effect and Overall Sound Quality

The next step was to test the headphones external noise reduction/isolation abilities and sound quality. The test bed for the sound isolation testing was the inside my Ford Explorer. I opened all the windows including the sunroof and cranked the noisy heater. I then hit the freeway at 65 plus miles per hour, plugged in my Radius RadHeadphone LIVE earbuds and cranked up my iPod Nano's volume. They were awesome! I could hear nothing but the sound of crisp, clear hard driving rock music without any external noise, not a peep. Just the right balance of bass and treble. I find that with a lot of these phones there is too much bass, not the case here.

I started to slowly lower the volume and the noise reduction function still worked very well, silencing out all external noise until there was only about a quarter of the volume range still playing. I then asked my girlfriend to put them on and choose something hard rocking (as recommended on what little English there is on the packaging). I then put on some loud AC/DC on the Explorer's Blaupunk and she upped the ante with some pounding Pete Townsend rifts. O.K. so yes were old retro rockers based on those selections, but we are very particular about our sound quality. I tuned the truck system to max volume and she went about three quarters up on the iPod volume, I then mouthed "name that tune" and she could not hear it or any defining sound other then The Who's "Magic Bus." This exercise once again proved their noise reduction properties are excellent.

Style

The radHeadphones LIVE earbuds come in 3 different styles: Howling-Silver, Savage-Red and Crazy-Blue.

Final Thoughts

They would work great on a plane or train, or in my case on the subway if you want to isolate external noise. They are much less cumbersome then the BOSE or SONY "big" headsets that have become so popular on airline flights. I would warn against using them under a helmet only because they work so well and you don't hear any outside sound if your at half volume or higher. They could cause you to have a serious accident if your not paying attention. One other design flaw I encountered was the length of the u style cable jack. If you want to keep your personal music player in your pants or lower coat pocket it is way too short for both of us doing this review. My partner being around 5"'8" and I 6 Ft. The longer end of the U shaped cable is on the right side and is not comfortable for me as a lefty who prefers my iPod on the left side of my body. The hardware on the cable also adds a bit of unnecessary weight. I do however like the adjustable feature that allows you to tighten and loosen the cable split.