We have had a couple of products from the House of Marley in the lab and in the whole have found them to be excellent offerings for the price that they go for. The Reggae themed headsets combine renewable materials with exceptional tuning and a great sound. So far we have taken a look at the Zion in ear and the Redemption Song on-ear headsets. Today we have another one of the On-ear style headsets in the lab. This time it is the Stir it Up (Harvest). These have the same price point as the Redemption Song $199.99 so let’s see if they have the same quality in terms of build and sound.
Value - Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item. As we said before these are not cheap headphones; you can expect to pay $199.99 for the Stir it Up Headset. Still after checking around and doing some spec for spec comparisons we found that this was not only a comparable price, but in many cases was a better price than other headsets we found. Most of the other sets did not feature volume controls on the cable (for Apple or other) and did not have the same range or driver size that the Stir it Up has. So while $200 is a lot of money you are getting quite a bit with it. Conclusion - We like the products put out by the House of Marley, but then again we have a fondness for good quality audio no matter the source. This is one spot in almost every industry the consumer electronics that is being seriously neglected. While people are working on higher pixel densities the audio is left to “good enough”. This does a disservice to the devices that people are buying. With products like the Stir it Up headset from the House of Marley we are seeing that this trend could be turning around. The improvement of the quality of audio in personal media players, smartphones and even on the PC is a big deal and the company that gets it right (and can market it) will find a nice foothold in the market. Still even with today’s “good enough” audio mentality the House of Marley’s Stir it Up headset rises above the crowd with its full and vibrant audio reproduction, quality of build and of course the use of renewable/recycled materials in their products. If you are in the market for a good (we mean really good) set of headphones for music, gaming or video then you will want to check out the Stir it Up headset, or maybe any one of the House of Marley’s products. At this point we would expect any of them to perform well. For their combination of sound reproduction, build quality and price we are happy to award the House of Markley Stir it Up headset with our Gold Key Award.Discuss this on our Forum
