Headphones, one of the most accessible and easy to use electronic audio devices ever created, have just entered a whole new dimension. The Dash, a brand new set of headphones that is hands-free and Bluetooth enabled, is changing the way headphones are utilized.
The most annoying thing about headphones nowadays seems to be the tangling of cables, and the lack of fit that all headphones have to different kinds of ears. The Dash has eliminated all of that, along with including many more new and innovative features.
For starters, The Dash has no cables, and is connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth technology, or can work on its own with a storage space of 4GB, allowing someone to store about 1000 songs. This reason alone gives many people a reason to love and want to buy The Dash, because runners, active individuals, and fitness types don’t like dealing with the problem of cables getting worked around their arms, or headphones falling out, etc, while they work out.
Additionally, The Dash not only provides your specific music into your ear, it also blocks out all background interference, taking a feature from Beats by Dre and other new styles of headphones through a built in ear bone microphone. The ear bone microphone tracks vibrations in your ear, and can control exactly what comes in and goes out of your ear at any given time. You have the option of having no background interference, hearing ambient sounds, or having no noise cancellation while you’re wearing The Dash, all you have to do is simply swipe the touch-screen surface on the device, and you will have the proper setting that is right for you.
Going beyond just music and noise reduction, The Dash also is a fully functioning activity tracker, communicating information such as your heart rate, oxygen levels, and energy levels, to your smartphone directly as you work out. It also provides audio feedback upon request to your ear, so you know where your heart rate and other levels are at during your activity and exercise, allowing you to self-monitor yourself without checking your phone in your pocket.
These features appeal to athletes and fitness people because tracking yourself as you workout and play sports is one of the most important things about training. Making sure you are always at your optimal levels and exerting the right amount of energy for each exercise or activity you perform is key so you don’t wear yourself out or overwork to the point of possible injury.
Another important feature that everyone, especially the fitness people and athletes, will like is that The Dash is a secure fit for all shapes of ears. There are three different types of sleeves that come with the product to make it fit any ear shape, keeping the headphones safe and secure in your ear at all times. With no cables to worry about, there’s no chance that this product will fall out of your ear, ever. Additionally, it’s incredibly light, so there’s no tugging on your ear while you are working out.
The headphones are divided into two different sets of features: the left bud controls the activity monitoring, allowing you to receive audio responses on how your training is going, with the ability to set different motions in your body to activate different types of feedback, and the right bud takes care of what music you are listening to and the audio cancellation software, and all regular phone functions, such as answering phone calls.
The Dash can track almost any feature of your activity levels when you are training or working out. Some of these features include: distance, speed, pace, time, g-force, altitude, time, drop rate, rotation, heart rate, body temperature, calories burned, and air time, with many others available as well. With all of these features available for tracking, any athlete or fitness person can use this technology to fit his or her specific sport.
Furthermore, The Dash is also shock resistant and water resistant for up to one meter. If you have the IOS or Android apps for The Dash (which are still in production), you can control even more features with your smart phone, such as GPS mobile tracking of where you are, and it even includes a lost device tracker if you ever lose your pair of The Dash headphones.
The Dash is compatible with the latest versions of the iPhone and Android, with limited compatibility for Windows and Blackberry phones. The most important component of The Dash is Bluetooth functionality, which is why it is only compatible with certain devices.
The Dash, which is set for release in October 2014, had an original Kick Starter campaign that started in January 2014 with a goal of reaching $260,000. As of early March there is over $2,500,000 of pledged funding, and over 12,000 backers, with 27 days left to go in the funding cycle.
The makers of The Dash, Nikolaj Hviid and his team, have offered different rewards to those who pledge certain amounts. Receiving a product requires a minimum pledge of $200, with more features or types of the product being available to you based on how much more you pledge to the campaign.
The creators see The Dash as growing to something so much more than an activity-tracking set of headphones with noise cancellation and audio storage. The creators want to turn it into a very broad type of product, with the ability for different developers to innovate and rejuvenate the product, as we know it, possibly turning it into an emergency communication system or a translator for foreigners. As for now though, The Dash, even in its initial stages, is still a revolutionary new product.
Overall, The Dash is a device that everyone can find useful, especially the athletes. With no cables, activity and health level tracking software, and secure fit design, it provides the perfect technology for anyone who wants to train and not have to worry about the hassle of keeping track of your headphones as you work out, or knocking them out of your ear as you run. The Dash has set a whole new precedent for the headphone technology market, and has definitely paved the way for a new initiative in the hands-free tech world.