AIAIAI Tracks/ Review

    Price: About $75    Official Site: www.AIAIAI.dk
    Specs: 40-mm driver; 23-Ohm impedance; 3.5-mm jack  Company: AIAIAI

Danish design house AIAIAI is a heavily collaboration-oriented idea incubator. The company’s cool, retro-flavored personal electronics accessories showcase the talents at Danish art and design houses like ThankYouForClapping and HuskMitNavn. The company’s Tracks headphones are a cool, hipster-friendly design by Copenhagen’s Kilo Design, which pays homage to the original Walkman headphones. These cans are perfect for the dude who likes neo-‘70s style and oversize glasses or uses the term “ironic” when referring to his T-shirt collection.

No newfangled earbuds here: the Tracks are a clean-line, on-ear design that echoes the headphones that a lot of us grew up with, but instead of cheap foam and a flimsy headband, the AIAIAI Tracks feature a brushed-steel brace and stylish cans that won’t come apart from use. The Tracks’ design features a couple of really nice touches: the brace eschews the usual sliding size adjustment in favor of a simple slot. It’s one less thing to break, makes for a more solid-feeling headband and looks pretty slick. The slots widen near the top so that you can disassemble the rig and carry it in the included carrying bag, and the kit comes with extra sliders so you can personalize the look.

On the technical side, the headphones boast 40-millimeter drivers with a sensitivity of 112 +/-3 dB and a 23-Ohm impedance. Essentially, this means that the speakers sound good, from the lows to the highs. We’re not talking about speakers that go above and beyond, but this is not a case of form over function; you’ll definitely like the sound.

The AIAIAI Tracks emit a certain Euro cool that is undeniable, even if it’s a little too much for those who don’t do all their shopping at, say Urban Outfitters. For the urban scenester, however, these are a very good buy. The disassembly feature is a nice touch, though it begs the question of why you’d want to take your headphones apart and put them in a bag when you should by strutting down the street with them on your head. Solid construction and good sound quality are like the Holy Grail for something that gets tossed around as much as a pair of headphones. On this point alone, the Tracks are a great choice. If your style leans more toward industrial-chic, spend a bit more on the Nixon Nomadic headphones, which up the metal quotient and wrap the cord in a sweet braided fabric sheath.