Exclusive – Blackbox intros iPhone-powered noise-cancelling headphones to UK

Blackbox might not be the biggest brand in headphones now, but that could change soon. The company has brought out its innovative i10 earphones that are phantom powered through your iPod or iPhone.

The buds use active noise rejection to kill ambient noise, but unlike other plugs that use similar tech, they don’t rely on a charged battery. Instead, they suck power via the Apple 30-pin dock connector.

A remote on the cord has a bypass switch to kill the tunes and hear people speak and a volume slider (the iPod and iPhone’s volume control only affects output on the 3.5mm jack socket).

If you’re already struggling to get a day’s worth out of your batteries, or don’t have an iThing, Blackbox has also outed its C18s, a more trad noise-cancelling affair.

The i10s are available for £80, while the C18s come in for £70.

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home