What are two the best things about headphones. First and foremost, when you're hungover, or just don't feel like talking to people you can put them on, and no one will bug you. You don't even have to plug them into anything, just put them on, and put the end of the plug in you're pocket. I do it all the time on airplanes, it takes a pretty annoying person to keep trying to talk to someone with headphones on, I just put them on and keep them on, and most of the time I'm not listening to anything. Plus, if you do want to listen to something you can , it's a win-win situation.

What's the second best thing about headphones. Well, it's a wide-open area in our industry right now, with several companies battling it out for market share, which is good for you the consumer. I read in an interview in a recent trade magazine with Mike Carter, one of the original founders of Electric Visual, who recently made the jump over to Skullcandy. He said the audio industry right now reminds him of the early days of the sunglasses industry when it was just Oakley and Ray Ban that were established, and countless smaller brands trying to get a foothold. Everything changed with the birth of Arnette.

That brings us to one of the most recent brands who have decided to make the jump into the audio world, Matix. They made the announced a few months ago, and held a rad release party that I attended in LA, thanks guys. Anyway, what makes this wide-open market good for you, the consumer, is these bands are going to be battling to bring you the best product, with the likes of: Skullcandy, Nixon and Aerial 7 all in the mix; you know Matix's ear pleasing technologies are going to be on point. They have two models the Hangover (see Matix knows), an in-ear model, and the Domepiece, one those big DJ looking sets (better for when you have a hangover, more obvious, thus less people will bother you) for you to choose from. Check out all the color options below:


The Domepiece.


The Hangover.

Matix has celebrated their tenth year of existence with "This Is Progress," a book looking back at what has made them. They'll be celebrating it's release with a book signing in Hollywood, which should definitely be worth checking out. Show up and support a company that supports you.

Matix put together a cool video tribute for Van. For information on how to donate money to the Van Wastell Memorial Fund click here.