Sunday, April 10, 2016

Atalanta® 3.5mm Audio Stereo Y Splitter Cable



Audio splitters are amazingly useful if you are traveling with another person and watching video or listening to audio. You might think you can get by with a simple pair of earbuds shared between two people, but an audio splitter gives you both the ability to immerse yourself in the movie or song with both ear.

I plan on using it in my classroom when my students work in stations and listen to audio activities or watch a short online video.

Not only does it look sharp, it works perfectly. 


I rate this device 5 stars out of 5.

As of the time of this review, this splitter was being sold on Amazon.com for $6.99. Click here for current pricing: Atalanta Splitter Cable.

Note: I received a discounted sample in order to write an honest review.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

iSens beevo IS1 Tangle Free In-ear Wired Earphone Earbud Stereo Bass with Inline Microphone by iSens



Long-Term Review. Result? Fantastic!

I teach high school and all day long I see students wad up their ear buds and shove them in their pocket. Later, they reach into their pocket and fish out some part of the earbuds and then yank them out. They also let the ear buds bounce along the ground behind them while they are walking around staring at their text messages (Yes, those $75+ Beats by Dre earbuds you bought your kid last month just might be bouncing down the stairs at school!). Knowing that this is fairly typical behavior and not good for the long-term well-being of a set of ear buds, the iSens beevo 1S1 is an affordable alternative to most name brand sets.



Most importantly, these ear buds produce quality music. No matter how affordable, I would have to count down if the performance was not there. This is not a case of "These headphones produce good music considering how affordable they are." No, they produce good music. Period.

I have been using them for the last three months to listen to a variety of sound such as music, streaming video, and audiobooks. They have a rich sound. The bass is very strong, but not overwhelming. The highs are strong, but the music does not sound tinny. They can easily get loud enough to completely drown out the outside world if you choose to do so. Entry level personal headsets have gotten so much better in the last few years and this set demonstrates 
that well. I have tested a lot of headphones in the last couple of years and this is one of my favorite sets. 

These are extremely light weight and very comfortable.

The cord is a tangle free and when I say that I don't just mean that it is designed to be tangle free, I mean that unless you set out to make a mess of this cord it is tangle free.

The phone feature is excellent as well. I have used this to talk on the phone as a "hands free device" while driving - I just plug in one of the earbuds and I am good to go. I have not used the headset's phone features (the buttons on the little box on the wire). When I use a set of headphones to talk on my phone I always use the phone itself rather than the headset features to interact (meaning I answer using the phone and hang up using the phone, etc.) because I just find it easier than blindly pushing buttons on a device hanging around my neck.

The package comes with one plug and play set of ear buds and three different sizes of ear tips and a set of instructions. I used the small box it came in as a storage container in my briefcase rather than sticking it in my pocket (go back to the first paragraph to see why).

Note: I received a free set of these ear buds in order to make a fair and honest review after testing them out. In this case I used them for three months until I reluctantly gave the set one of my own children to use after she damaged a set of ear buds - hopefully not with the behaviors I described above in the first paragraph.


At the time of this review this set of headphones cost $12.99 on Amazon.com. Click here for current pricing.