**Razer Suggestion Thread**

Product suggestion:

WORKOUT HEADPHONES/MP3 PLAYER HYBRID

With one of the Nabu's focuses being on fitness, another great product following that theme would be a pair of headphones designed to be used in tandem with outdoor / physical activity.

A few features I'd like to see:

Not -NOT- noise canceling.
Running, biking, or even walking on the streets/sidewalks without being able to hear your surroundings is dangerous. I've seen first hand a biker and a couple runners with headphones, on different occasions, almost get themselves run over. One of the runners was even honked at and he didn't so much as turn his head - completely oblivious to almost getting himself killed. So, as weird as it sounds to request for a set of headphones, try to make it block environmental noise as LITTLE as possible.

Super light-weight.
Should go without saying, but keep it extremely minimalistic in all physical aspects; use light weight materials, light weight battery type. Don't add unnecessary bulk for the sake of 'bling' - no Chroma, no LED's or screen displays, etc.

Put the center of gravity... in the center.
In other words, the thing that connects one ear-bud to the other - the headband -, do NOT make it go behind the user's head. When running, the user and everything the user is wearing will be repeatedly bouncing. If the headband is behind the head, it will be forced downward with every step, putting torque on the ear-buds, which are now basically acting as a hinge - this causes them to fall out.

​

*not a concept for the shape of the device; just illustrating headband orientation.​

Sweat/Water/Rain Proof
Protect the circuitry, ofc, but also avoid absorbent materials like foam or cloth. Sweat will make whatever you're wearing really disgusting, really fast, so anything to minimize that is a plus. Keep in mind post-workout cleaning. It would be outstanding if I could take the thing off and rinse it out in the sink, or even completely immerse it without fear of damaging it.

Cordless
Cords are horrible for work outs. They get caught in weight machines; they tug when you try to turn your head; they bounce when you're trying to run. Cords are bad, m'kay!

Minimalistic External Controls
Play/Pause, Next, Back, Volume Up, Volume Down. That should be plenty of buttons and such to deal with. On/Off can be integrated into the Play/Pause button via long-press; Random/Un-Random can be integrated into the Next or Back via long-press. More advanced options don't need to be messed with during a workout.

Synapse/Smartphone/Nabu Integration
I'm not sure what all the Nabu is capable of, so it might not be a good candidate for this; but the other two would be good options to control the more advanced settings perhaps via micro-USB or Bluetooth. This would be for things like equalizers, bass/treble control, etc.

True Volume Equalization
Not the equalizers we're used to seeing in media players, but for lack of a better term, something that can amplify the quiet parts of a song and muffle the loud parts until they're all in a fairly close decibel range. When everything's perfectly quiet, music with lows and highs in terms of volume can add a lot to the music... when working out, things are very rarely perfectly quiet, and often the quieter parts of a song are so quiet that environmental noise just drowns it out... so you turn up the volume - which is all fine and dandy until the next song plays which happens to be really loud AND IT SOUNDS LIKE A BOMB IS GOING OFF IN YOUR EARS.

Two Models
Bluetooth is great for connecting to a smartphone or Nabu or something - many users would probably prefer to use Bluetooth to play music saved on their phone or something. But some of us don't have a smart phone or any need for Bluetooth; or are simply too broke, as Bluetooth capable devices seem to be a lot more expensive. I'd really like to see a budget-friendly model with perhaps a Micro-SD card slot instead of Bluetooth; music can then be loaded to and played from that. (just please don't cut other functionality or comfortable design in the budget model )

Think that's all I got.

#workoutheadphones

 

I would like to see:
1. This mic actually come out: http://www.reddit.com/tb/2ljt8k
2. A pop filter for said mic
3. Everything FABULOUS (chroma)
4. A wrist rest for the Blackwidow (or just a plush wrist rest in general )
5. Maybe a high-speed flash drive
6. A tenkeyless chroma blackwidow
7. A foot pedal
8. A Trackball mouse, where the mouse moves from your thumb moving a ball
9. adaro in-ears with a mic
10. A free mic EQ to go with razer surround

 

Your posts are ridiculously high quality. You bring a lot of good stuff to this forum. It has not gone unnoticed. Thanks for your contributions, bud.

 

So, a sports headset just like what Sennheiser makes, right?

 

Thank you, sir! My warm-and-fuzzy meter is reading very high because of your post.

I feel very motivated to make my posts as high-quality as possible with the forums in their current state.

For one, Razer has essentially hand-picked people who they feel would make good posters, and they seem to have done a good job! You guys - the Razer community present in the forums right now - are awesome. The quality of community input and discussion has been outstanding, which is incredibly rare on the web.

And two, the Razer staff have been great in interacting the posters and showing that they're reading our posts. It's hard to take the time to put a vision into words (and illustrations) when the devs are invisible... it's like yelling into an abyss... why bother? Here I know my ideas are heard. Without being an actual Razer employee, I have no idea how valuable any one idea would be, but I know they're at least considered, and that's awesome.

And finally, I've got way too much free time ...I'm an on-call contractor's assistant (construction-site go-fer ) and hours tend to be feast or famine. Lately it's been famine, and getting into the winter months, our slow-season, it's only getting worse. So, on paper, I'm employed, but practically speaking, I'm not getting any hours, sooo........ Trying to find another temporary job, but I also recently swore into the US Air Force's Delayed Entry Program, which means I could be sent to boot camp at pretty much any time now... and that is apparently a bit of a turn-off to potential employers. Q_Q I can haz real job? :3

Similar, however all of their models are corded and lack some of the functionality I was hoping for - the big one being that the Razer headphones would function as their own MP3 player, relying only on third party devices (smartphone via bluetooth, or Micro SD card via Micro SD port) for data storage.

Changed the title of my suggestion to "Workout Headphones/MP3 Player Hybrid" to make that more clear.

 

I liked the hybrid idea, linked with Nabu for controls. I am also not sure what Nabu is capable of but if it does what I expect a wearable to do then Nabu will be able to track the calories burned, distance/ footsteps, pulse and other stuffs. With your idea, pairing Nabu and the headset will complete all the things that a sports guy/ runner require to keep him/her running and healthy.

 

Since this is getting good feedback, I'll expand a little bit.

So to more clearly illustrate what I'm envisioning, I'm going to start with a set of in-ear bud headphones I've come to know and love: the Sony MDR-J10. They're cheap, super-good sound quality for the price, and most importantly they're comfortable.

So first let's strip off all the unnecessary crap. First off, they're corded, which needs to go. Second, a good portion of the actual plastic of the headphone serves no functional purpose - it's basically just a flag that says "Sony" (I've taken a pair apart - there's no circuitry in that part).



So, making something like that wireless and its own MP3 player with Bluetooth or a Micro SD port and micro USB port, that's going to require a fair amount of extra circuitry. IMO, the best spot for all that will be at the top of the ear, between the ear and skull, because of the angle ears naturally protrude form the head.



Making the final product look VERY ROUGHLY like this:



Because of the hook shape of the part that goes in and around the ear, it's fairly resistant to force in pretty much any direction (I use my Sony MDR-J10's while working out, and the only time they ever fall out is because the (f$%^#ing) cord gets caught on things - NOT because of the motion of the actual workout. This is a very important feature for workout headphones.

With all the extra bulk from the battery and circuitry, downward force will make more of an impact, which could be a problem with the MDR-J10's as-is; but I think the the over-head headband in the proposed Razer product will more than make up for that by distributing the force across an entire length of your scalp (as opposed to just the hook around your ears).

Only other thing to point out is that in the final image there, you'll notice it only has the rewind, play/pause, and forward buttons. The volume control would be similarly placed on the other side... unless that would require a bunch of extra bulk, but I don't know squat about circuitry - just what would feel the most intuitive to use.

That's it for tonight. Catch you folks tomorrow!

 

This guy did not have hair in your previous post and he was not this dark, this is impossible
Joking aside I liked your idea very much, it is something which is useful and something that is needed but there is one big problem, Gamers don't run(at least that is what I think) so the "For Gamers. By Gamers" has to be changed to "For Fat Blocks. By Gamers"

 

I never said the device *wouldn't* adjust your race or cause hair to sprout!

Gamers are a pretty diverse crowd, which is as true of physical activity as anything else. Some are completely uninterested in physical activity; some (like myself) do it out of necessity (military n' all), and some are masochists! ...err, I mean, 'and some enjoy physical activity!'

Judging by the Nabu, it would seem Razer does not view gamers and folks who work out as two different crowds... or at the very least that there is enough of a venn-diagram-ish overlap to make that a profitable niche; which, from sheer speculation, is something I agree with.

Also regarding the suggested product, physical activity would certainly be the focus, but there's no reason they couldn't be plugged into the comp afterwards for some post-work out headshots! This could be done via bluetooth receiver or with the micro SD (or whatever port they decide is best) charging/mounting port.

The no-sound-canceling has potential in the home environment as well. I prefer to game with headphones, so my wife doesn't have to hear all the pew pew going on, which works great until she says something to me, in which case I hear a bit of a mumble that sounds roughly like her voice, and look up to see she's staring me down waiting for a response to something. The only response she ever gets in that situation being me knocking one of my earbuds back and saying "Huh?" ...little stupid thing, but point is that features designed for one function can serve others as well.

 

I know tons of people don't really care about the chroma series, but I would honestly like to see the Orbweaver with the chroma touch up, and the Tiamat 7.1 Headset with the chroma touch up. On the Tiamat headset they have these little strips of green on the speaker drivers that i would like to see some leds on to just pop the colors a bit more.

 

@Haltus Kain -- While it's the more unpleasant side of gaming, the other overlap is going to be when gamers are so used to being sedentary that they really NEED to workout more, or at the very least get up and move more often. So, the Nabu can also cater to them and help remind them to be more active than they are now.

Though, that's not just gamers. So, perhaps we can get a whole new crowd to love Razer like we do who will then love their Nabu so much they can begin to see the value in purchasing other high-end, high-quality items if they're not gaming ... just because they want quality.

 

Yea, they say sitting is the new smoking.

We sure are a freaking weird species, when things like remaining stationary and having too much food are some of the larger threats to our health.

 

I sit stationary, eat too much food, smoke and only sleep for 5hours a day and I am perfectly healthy(currently). I think the entire energy goes to my overclocked brain

 

*jealous of your DNA*

...although the main issue with all of those is the long term, which you ofc are already aware.

/shrug. Live your life the way that makes you happiest. If that means smoking and never working out, etc, I'm certainly not going to judge. Others will, but f#$%k em: it's not their decision. Either lifestyle comes with a tradeoff - pleasure now vs comfort later - which to pursue is up to the individual.

I still want my workout headphones though.

 

Oh yes, but I want to enjoy my life to the fullest when I live.

lol we all do. I can probably use them for listening to music while travelling so that I wont be killed by some car/truck because I didn't hear it coming(Prius is an exception because you will never hear it coming and even if it hits you nothing will happen because it is not fast enough ), a reason why I never use those In-ear earphones.

 

So what y'all are saying is....Razer Treadmill? Razerobics Workout Videos?


Boom.

 

Razer needs to make gaming monitors with built in green LED lighting and logo.
I'd like to pre-order 6 please.

 

I have...My major issue is that, I destroy things when I only have 1 pocket. My Ful has 7 or 8 different compartments and thanks to that, I don't bang my laptop on my keyboard or headset or mouse.

 

You say that as though there's no potential there.



See? Fitness + gaming FTW!

 

Just a couple of doubts here:
1: What will he do if he wants to lie down and shoot?
2: When he dies in the game will the treadmill make him also fall down?
3: What if he wants to slide to cover?
4: Why does he look like a re*ard with it?