CES 2017 Recap - Day 3

Day 3 at CES was just a little more hectic than we were expecting. Less meetings, but more cool things to see. You’d be surprised what kind of things you see when you just decide to walk the floor for a few hours.

Beyerdynamic Xelento Remote

The Beyerdynamic booth was always at the corner of my eye while I was running around, but when I finally got a chance to stop by I questioned why I didn’t do so earlier. They were showing off one of their newer pairs of in-ears dubbed the Xelento Remote’s and they sounded great. These are a high-end pair of ‘buds that are meant to help you get the most out of your mobile devices, complete with 3.5mm jack and a small module with a mic and playback controls. These made the song “Redbone” by Chilidish Gambino come to life for me, without even needing an external DAC or amp so I can imagine how it would sound once you get the whole system hooked up. These were hand-crafted in Germany so you know the build quality is also up to par, but unfortunately that means that they also cost about $1000 which is just a little out of my price range. Still, if you pull the trigger on them you won’t be disappointed.

JBL Pulse 3

JBL showed up at CES with a slew of new products. Chances are they’re all going to be successful, but my personal favorite was the new JBL Pulse 3. It’s been completely redesigned with new LED lights that make it look more like a lava lamp than a speaker. The Pulse 3 has been upgraded in more than just design as well. It’s now IPX7 waterproof so you can submerge it if you really want to. Along with that is an exposed passive radiator to help with the low end which was a design choice borrowed from the Flip, Charge, and Xtreme speakers. The Pulse was the last of the main JBL speakers to be upgraded to have full waterproofing as well as a passive bass radiator. To top it off the Pulse 3 is also rocking a 12 hour battery life. If you want to get the Pulse 3 with all of its upgrades, it’ll cost you $199.

V-Moda Forza Metallo

I haven’t had a chance to check out the new Forza Metallo headphones yet as I’m still waiting for a review unit. So I was really excited to try them when I saw them here at CES. These have two ‘buds attached to a neckpiece and have two modules on each of the wires. Overall, they’re way more comfortable than I thought they’d be and they don’t look bad either. The design is almost classy as is, but you can 3D print custom ear caps if you want to bling them out. The sound was good when I tried them but I have to wait until I can put them through the full review process before I can say too much else about it. Still if I’m going on looks alone and functionality alone, these impressed me.

Make sure to keep it tuned for more CES 2017 coverage.