Picture this: You finally get home from a long day of work, and you remove the Bluetooth headphones you were using to zone out to The Clash on the ride home. With most headphones, that’s when the music dies, or at least goes on break. But BeeWi has another idea in mind. Rather than toss your ‘phones aside, BeeWi thinks you should dock them so they can recharge and blast your wireless tunes through your home’s Hi-Fi stereo system. That way they begin recharging for tomorrow morning’s train ride, and The Clash are back, blazing through your home audio system.
To achieve this kind of seamless transition from private to public listening, BeeWi, a French purveyor of wireless audio and toys (primarily Bluetooth-controlled helicopters, cars and robots), has come up with the BBH300 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones and Hi-Fi Docking Station. BeeWi describes this as a unique 3-in-1 concept, and while we’re not sure it’s a completely original idea, the BBH300 are the first product we’ve seen that pulls off such a slick transition in this way.
For one, the headphones can run in “wireless mode,” allowing them to connect to any Bluetooth device and remain truly wireless — on the back of one of the over-ear speakers sits an advanced touch-sensitive interface with music and phone settings, so you don’t need to continuously take your smartphone out to change tracks or answer the phone. Secondly, there’s “wired mode,” in which the ‘phones can connect to any non-Bluetooth-enabled devices — an audio adapter and cable with microphone are included. Finally, there’s the “Hi-Fi docking station.” BeeWi included the station as a way to simultaneously charge and listen to your music, and still via Bluetooth. Once you’ve wired the station to your stereo system (with included cables), any smartphone, tablet or Bluetooth-enabled device will be able to wirelessly stream to the system upon docking the headphones. The ‘phones can run for 18 hours before needing a recharge, which takes just two and a half hours.
You can see the ‘phones – which look pretty sly – in action in this video, and if you want to give them a spin, pick ‘em up for about $150 at Amazon.
