S. Samuel
With rap star 50 Cent's new SMS Audio Street By 50 in-ear headphones now available, SOHH reached out to company president Brian Nohe to find out what stalled the product's release.
Although SMS Audio launched a few months ago, Nohe said their decision to release the new in-ear headphones this week was to give consumers more time to familiarize themselves with the products.
“50 Cent is a hip-hop artist but he’s not just putting his name on a product,” Nohe told SOHH. “50 owns the company and so he is intimately involved in every aspect of the product in terms of design development, look and feel of the products as well. … As far as the new in-ear headphones now being available, you always want to make sure the products are quality-ready but in this case, what we were trying to do is establish the two brands that fall under SMS Audio. One being Sync By 50 and the other being Street By 50. Sync By 50 is the over-the-head, wireless technology while the Street products are always going to be wired.” (SOHH)
Nohe also hinted at a few more Street By 50 products currently on the horizon.
“So we came up with the Street By 50 over-the-ear headphones and that nicely established the brand name,” Nohe added. “Now it’s much easier as we go out with other products which will fall from that. Now you’re seeing the Streety By 50 in-ear headphones and we will have Street By 50 noise-canceling products too. You might see other products coming attached to that Street By 50 line. The Street By 50 deejay model will also be out soon. So we really wanted to just start off with Sync and Street By 50 to establish the brand names. You didn’t really want to put them all out at once. While we were fine-tuning the in-ear headphones, it gave us the luxury of having the brand name out there.” (SOHH)
Fif released a statement this week detailing his excitement over the new in-ear headphones.
“My fans have been waiting for earbuds to be added to the collection, and I’m confident that the STREET by 50™ in-ear wired headphones deliver on both sound quality and style,” said 50 Cent, CEO of SMS Audio. “I want to create products that fit and enhance all different lifestyles, and the in-ear headphones are just the beginning.” (Statement)
Specifics on the headphones’ design and features have also been revealed this week.
Ergonomically designed to give users a perfect fit, the STREET by 50™ in-ear wired headphones utilize professionally-tuned drivers and gold-plated connectors to deliver the highest quality of studio sound on the go. For added durability and ease of use, the cord is reinforced and features a flat design to eliminate twisting, tangling and knotting. Also featuring an Apple© control microphone with volume control, the STREET by 50™ in-ear wired headphones allow listeners to control the volume of any device, or take advantage of the full controls – volume, fast-forward, rewind, track skip – if using with an Apple© iPhone, iPad or iPod device. (Press Release)
Check out 50 Cent speaking on SMS Audio below:
