There are things that we need to have with us everywhere we go, depending of course on your personality. In fact, there’s a term for that – EDC or everyday carry. These are things like watches, pens, lighters, notebooks, utility knives, etc. But the past few years, they’re really more of our digital tools – smartphones, tablets, laptops, earphones. There are also those that have to carry fidget toys around with them to help relieve anxiety or boredom. What if you get a combination of a device that can also become a fidget toy for your restless fingers?

Designer: Eric Cheng

This concept for an earbuds case may be that combination you’re looking for. The EDC 1.0 Lucky Push is a concept case for the D-Mooster truly wireless earbuds that uses “card pushing” mechanism to open and close it. The motion of the sliding up and down and snapping is supposedly addictive enough that you would want to do it repetitively, even if you’re not using your earbuds at the moment. Hence, it becomes a fidget toy as well if you need to keep your hands busy.

There are three designs for the EDC 1.0 Lucky Push: Big Monster, Become Wealthy, and Become Happy. For the superstitious, doing the repetitive motion will let you accumulate luck and wealth, or at least that’s what the designer thinks it will bring you. I understand with the last two designs as we all want to be wealthier and happier, but I wonder what the Big Monster concept will bring you, other than a cute fidget toy with monsters engraved on it.

Earbuds cases are usually really more functional as you use it to store your earbuds or charge them once they run out of juice. So this is an interesting idea to make the case itself a bigger part of your EDC pack as it becomes a fidget toy as well. If the designs are also interchangeable, it will make it even more interesting.

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Headphones, earphones, and earbuds have become a common sight wherever you go. It helps us be more immersed in our music and podcasts even when outdoors, while also respecting others around us who might not share the same preferences as us. At the same time, however, these devices are designed not only to isolate sound but also to isolate us from people, preventing us from actually sharing our favorite tunes with like-minded people. Sure, we can just turn on the loudspeaker, but that also means blasting the sound for everyone to hear, whether they like it or not, turning it into an all-or-nothing kind of deal. It shouldn’t have to be that way, though, especially not with our current technologies, and this concept tries to offer a more social earbud design that can easily share the music we love with a select number of people only.

Designer: Kusi Boateng-Arthur

Earbuds are intentionally designed to keep sound in so that you can enjoy your tunes without worrying about outside noise coming in or your music “leaking out” to others. Nowadays, there are features that do let some ambient sounds through for safety or communication reasons, but it doesn’t work the other way around. Unless you have a poor fit or extremely loud volumes, no one around you will hear what you’re playing, no matter how much you want to share your new favorite album.

“more. than a bud” is a design concept that tries to remedy this unsociable situation by providing a way for earbuds to share music with each other without having to broadcast it over a loudspeaker. We already have the technology available for this, as demonstrated by wireless speakers that support multiroom modes. The idea is the same but on a smaller and more personal scale.

Inspired by the Aslatua Ghanian percussion instrument, these earbuds simply tap each other to establish a connection. Smartphone users might be familiar with a similar gesture that existed a while back to initiate a file transfer between two phones. That’s pretty much all that’s needed to share your music with another person, letting you develop a closer relationship that goes beyond being a bud.

Aside from that special feature, the “more. than a bud” buds also have a distinctive design which is basically just two halves of a sphere. The actual speaker, however, is angled at 30 degrees in order to maximize the path that sound travels in your ear. The concept also claims that the in-ear design offers a secure fit, but some might have reservations because of its small, stemless shape. While the two halves join together to form a sphere when not in use, charging the buds requires them to attach to opposite sides of a small puck, turning the shape into a capsule. It’s definitely an interesting design, though it will probably be more noted for its ability to turn listening to music back to its original form: a social experience.

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When venturing out to buy wireless headphones or earbuds, the primary consideration is their battery backup. This one feature holds high merit for those who travel a lot. A pair of cans or buds that can be free from this constraint, or at best, have limitless battery power at their disposal is the way to go and solar-powered function makes this possible.

Urbanista hooked on to this idea with their impressive Los Angeles headphones and the Phoenix TWS earbuds. Then adidas followed suit with their solar-powered RPT-02 SOL headphones. For audio lovers who want to stay away from the hassle of charging their headphones or earbuds time and again, these products make complete sense.

Designer: Urbanista

Riding on the success of the over-ear headphones and the Phoenix earbuds, the Stockholm-based company has announced the second generation of both these audio products. Just for the record, both of them are currently in development and expected to launch sometime in mid-2024. The good news is, they are going to cost slightly less than the first-generation versions. Los Angeles headphones will carry a price tag of $179 (vs $199 for the original version) and $129 for the Phoenix earbuds compared to the $149 of the earlier version. For those who are eager to have a first look, the audio accessories by Urbanista will be demonstrated at CES 2024.

Similar to the predecessors (the current versions on sale), they employ the latest version of Powerfoyle solar charging material to charge the batteries. They absorb natural sunlight as well as light from artificial sources indoors to charge the battery. The amount of charge will depend on the intensity and duration of exposure to light but it will be impressive, offering at least a week of non-stop listening to infinite music if you live in places that have a good share of sunlight all year round. In case they run out of juice, the conventional method of charging them via the USB-C ports is also there.

The Los Angeles headphones typically will give ample juice for four hours of listening daily on a 10-hour low-light charge with 50 days before another charge is needed. The second-generation Phoenix on the other hand will offer around 16 days of playtime with similar parameters.

They come with better-designed components for improved efficiency, so we can expect them to stay charged for longer. The design of both is more streamlined and the Active Noise Cancellation is now adaptive meaning it applies the ANC depending on the amount of noise in the ambient environment.

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