We bumped into neophyte Australian headphones-maker Audiofly in January, during a press-only event at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, and gave two models in the four-model lineup a whirl. Their mid-level AF45 set sounded great for $50; but the next one I tried — the top-of-the-line AF78 ($200) — left me slack-jawed with disbelief; its sound knocked my socks off, even amid the cacophony of noisy journalists.

What makes the AF78 unusual is its speaker arrangement.

Many mid-to-high-end canalphones are powered by tiny armature speakers, while moving coil drivers are found pretty much everywhere except the very high end. Armatures are generally better at producing clean highs and mids, but can lack deep bass; moving coils, on the other hand, are generally not as good at reproducing the clarity of an armature. But the AF78 is part of an elite group of models  — like the Scosche IEM856m I reviewed last year — that employ both a moving coil speaker and a balanced armature in each ear, in an attempt to give the listener the best of both worlds. And it works spectacularly.

I know what you’re thinking, and we’re thinking it too: “why?” Why is Sony even bothering with an Android Walkman when just about every Android smartphone has more than enough storage and the same functionality? My first answer was “because not all parents want to buy their kids a smartphone.” Then I realized you can pick up a used Android smartphone on Ebay or Swappa for dirt cheap and basically use it as an MP3 player (my daughter is using my old OG DROID in the same manner). So why, why bother with this Sony? We can’t answer that, but what we can do, is tell you what Sony has planned for its Ice Cream Sandwich powered F800 model Walkman.

We all want to be healthy and fit, don’t we? And being the geeks that we are, if we’re going to be forced outside to exercise, we want to at least be able to take some form of high tech contraption with us. That’s where the MOTOACTV by Motorola comes in.

A long time ago, before this site was born, we reviewed the Altec Lansing BackBeat 906 Bluetooth headphones, and liked ’em. Plantronics had their own identical version of the 906, as they had owned Plantronics since 2005 (the two companies parted ways about the time the 906 was released).

The Plantronics BackBeat Go ($100) is an evolution of the 906. Same principle — wireless (meaning there’s no wire conecting the player with the headset) music and calls in a compact form via the magic of Bluetooth — but in an even smaller and more svelte form factor. Should be even more fantstic, right? Let’s take a look.

While other manufacturers might tart up their headphones with loud colors, obnoxious logos and frills, the Klipsch Image One ($150) drops all extraneous nonsense in favor of making you happy through its three impressive strengths: perfomance, comfort and portability — a triple threat that makes these headphones a contender for best traveling companion.