New Beats headphones

SOLO PROJECT: Beats officially becomes part of Apple in September (assuming no regulatory speed bumps), but news of the acquisition hasn’t prevented the company from rolling out more shiny products. The latest is the Solo2, a streamlined set of headphones promising a wider dynamic range (presumably countering the complaint in some corners about Beats’ boomy, hip-hop-focused sound) and available now for pre-order at $199.95; they go wide on 6/1. “Designed for Sound, Tuned for Emotion,” is the slogan, and given that the original Solo cans sold like hotcakes, we expect these to be ubiquitous in short order. Beats prexy Luke Wood promised "new frontiers in audio performance to bring the emotion back to music," and to prove it wept tears of joy on his bespoke suit made of Apple stock certificates. Beats is also unleashing its $299 Studio headphones in new colors and teasing the $600 Snarkitecture X Beats, a white objet d’art/musique (with its own marble pillow) designed by art-and-architecture geeks. If you want to buy one for us, we will use it to listen to Kraftwerk. (5/29a)