arleta counterculture: BeeWi's Ghost Bee Bluetooth headphones also stream music to your stereo (hands-on)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

BeeWi's Ghost Bee Bluetooth headphones also stream music to your stereo (hands-on)

BeeWi may not be a well-known name in the audio world, but the company's bringing some innovation to the space with its new Bluetooth headphones. Called Ghost Bee, the cans have capacitive buttons on the right earpiece that serve as music and phone call controls. The Ghost Bee also comes with a base station that connects to the headphones via micro-USB and hooks up to any home stereo's 3.5mm audio-in jack. That base station is what really sets the Ghost Bee apart from other wireless headphones on the market. You see, using the free BeeWi iOS or Android companion app, you can dock the headphones and stream both locally and cloud-sourced tunes from your phone wirelessly to the stereo speakers.

We got a chance to see the thing in action, and it works quite well. Once you've paired the headphones to your phone, it's simply a matter of spooling up some tunes in the app, and you're good to go -- return the Ghost Bee to its cradle and the music starts coming out of the speakers. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, given the cacophony of the show floor, we can't speak to the sonic quality of the headphones, but the system did work well in our brief time with it. Though its functionality is quite clever, we weren't enamored with the Ghost Bee's glossy plastic exterior. Aside from giving it a smudgy look when handled, the plasticky build lends it a cheap appearance -- not good considering the $180 asking price. The Ghost Bee is set to go on sale in the next month or so at retailers nationwide, so you'll be able to see (and hear) it for yourself soon.

Gallery: BeeWi Ghost Bee Bluetooth headphones hands-on