id America Spark In-ear Headphones Preview

Inspiration comes in the strangest place. For me, it can be a song, a product name, or even a dream. If we are to take the word of writers and movies like Shakespeare in Love; it can come from the member of the opposite sex. And these inspirational events or things can bring about great things. Works of beauty and romance; creations that will forever remain etched in the collective consciousness of the human race.

This probably isn't one of those.

Now, you might look at the name of the ear-buds, Spark, and think id America (not the video game company, that's id Software formed by the guys that did Doom way back in the day) is playing on the idea of inspiration. The spark of an idea if you will. But, no. They got the inspiration for their new in-ear headphones from cars. And Spark comes not from some idea of speed or light, but from spark plugs.

We have no problem with this. Really, it isn't about the inspiration for us; it is about performance. Our curiosity really stems from why they are choosing to lead, in their press materials, with this information. We can't think of too many woman who will perk up when you say that a set of ear-buds were based on spark plugs. Honestly, it put a pretty funny picture in our minds too.

When you take a close look at the stylings of the Spark headphones; you can see the spark plug influence. But it isn't so obvious that you'd immediately (or ever for that matter) make the connection on your own. Even with color schemes like "gray type-R" and "rally blue", you might not make the association. So, we suppose if they wanted to make sure you know what inspired them, they had to say something.

The Spark headphones feature an aluminum inner case and a matte finished aluminum back casing. For most of the models this back casing is black though some feature different colors. Two, the rally blue and rose pink, switch the colors of the two headphones for each ear. Colors include gray type-R, camel gray, aluminum silver, cherry green, rally blue, jet black, champagne gold, royal purple, rose pink. Each set is housed in a premium leather case with three additional pairs of earbuds to ensure a good fit with all ear sizes (or just give you extras). 

As a bunch of guys, though, we have to say that we like the look of the Spark headphones. But, again, it isn't what they look like, it is how they sound. The Spark ear-buds feature an 8mm dynamic driver with a "a high definition acoustic filter". There are no specifics on this filter other than it will "resultin [sic] in full, explosive bass, intense mid-range and clear treble frequency response that will put a smile on your face everytime [sic] the music plays."

iDevice users will be pleased to know that the Spark headphones have a in-line microphone and control that should work with your device. The single button control will allow you to (depending on the situation and number of presses); answer, play, pause, skip forward, or skip back. At this time, id America does not have a list of compatible smartphones other than the iDevices. The 1.2 meter cable terminates with a 3.5mm plug so, if nothing else, you'll be able to use them to listen to your music. The Spark headphones are rated from 20Hz to 20kHz but there isn't any sort of performance parameters mentioned (like the traditional +/-3dB accuracy range) so you can take that with a grain of salt.

Conclusion

For all we know, the new Spark in-ear headphones from id America may be the best in-ear headphones that ever hit the market. But we can't tell from the information on their site or their press release. At $60 MSRP (sure to be less retail), the Spark has hit a good price point but we're not sure that will be enough. Instead we know a lot about the design inspiration (a spark plug) and some nebulous things (like the aluminum casing, "dynamic" driver, and high definition acoustic filter) that are supposed to ensure fantastic sound. Without specifics (like how flat the frequency response is, what the filter is or what it does, and which smartphones, other than the iPhone, it will work with), it's hard to say much about it. Except that it looks like a spark plug. Sorta. Not really. But it comes in pink so you girlfriend will still want one. But not really. 'Cause, you know, the spark plug thing really just turned her off to the whole idea.

For more information, please visit www.idamericany.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.