Phonophonics II

We’re probably all too young to remember Nipper, the charming little terrier and spokesdog for the RCA Corporation’s phonographs and Victrolas. You can see from his posture that he’s absolutely fascinated by the disembodied noise coming from the bell of the machine. Weren’t we all?

Before 1877 when Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, sound was not recorded. You had to go to the symphony to hear music. From his father (my grandfather, not Thomas Edison’s father), my dad inherited an old Victor Victrola that you had to crank by hand to make spin. It must have been a marvel at the time…and now you just have to click your iPod off “hold.” There are no more grooves, needles or tubes — just electricity. We’ve come a long way. We’re not Nippers anymore because we’re so used to being able to hear what we want when we want to. But for all of the convenience, it’s easy to forget that sound has to come from somewhere.

That’s a long preamble to explain why I like the Phonophonics II from Science & Sons so much (props to Core 77). You connect your ipod"”or any other headphone device"”to the Phonophonics II and, using nothing but genius acoustic design (no electricity, no “speakers,” no cables), it transforms the whispering buzz of the headphones to a full sound. The Phonophonics II is limited edition, it looks fantastic, and it might just reintroduce you to the physical nature of music. Here’s hoping, anyhow.

–Dan Steckenberg