Exceed

As athletes ourselves, we were dissatisfied with key aspects of earphone designs. We were frustrated by earphones constantly falling out. We wanted to listen to music over extended periods of time without ear pain or discomfort. And we had a desire for great audio while also allowing ambient sounds to be heard.

New thinking.

To solve these issues, we had to invent a whole new way to hold earphones in place. Since all ears are unique, fitting them properly turned out to be a bit tricky.

The Xfit System.

We had to rethink every aspect of earphone design while we developed the Xfit System. We meticulously studied ear ergonomics - then prototyped, tested and re-engineered. This process was repeated over and over again throughout a couple of years. Eventually, we were able to get the earphone shape, LOBE geometry and ECO (EarCanal Opening) rings to work together in a unified manner, achieving a super comfortable fit. The super-soft LOBES rest on the cushy parts of ears called the tragus and the anti-tragus - which turn out to be excellent areas for securing earphones. ECO rings work to optimize the fit of our earphones to individual ear shapes. Sometimes the best fit even involves using different size ECO rings for respective left and right ears. XFit enables our earphones to be held comfortably in ears for long periods of time even while running, biking, lifting or boarding.

Why we chose in-the-ear style vs. in-ear style.

In most circumstances, it is useful to hear important ambient sounds around you during exercise, training, or working out. Our goal was to deliver high-quality audio while also permitting users to hear car horns, warning shouts or merely friendly banter from training partners.

The Xfit System holds speakers directly at the openings of ear canals without totally blocking all external sounds like in-ear styles. Our earphones strive to introduce music into the ear as naturally as possible.

Personalization.

We thought that users would really like to have the option of swapping out a simple part in seconds to change the exterior look of their earphones. Every person can now express their personal style, support a favorite sports team, show college affiliation or tout a particular fashion. We had to make sure that the digitally-printed Personalizers would stand-up reasonably to every day wear-and-tear from active lifestyles. We chose special UV-resistant inks and a rugged protective coating that resists both scratches and moisture.

Sleek In-line control.

Our finger touch slide control permits easy Volume adjustment. A textured Function button enables Music and Video control (Advance track, Restart track, and Go back one track), Pause and Answer/End call for the iPhone 4/3GS/3G and other iPods as applicable. An integrated Microphone can be used for hands-free calls and Voice control when connected to iPhone 4/3GS/3G and many other mobile phones. The control is slim and lightweight.

Details.

We sweated the details literally. During prototype testing, we ran, biked, lifted in gyms and walked in a wide variety of conditions. We evaluated dozens of cord designs and materials before selecting an ergonomic length and a super soft material. Our human studies indicated that L-shaped plugs worked better, so we used that design.

We hand-selected the ultra-soft mesh material for the carrying case and made sure that all iPods and even iPhone 4/3GS/3G phones will all slip comfortably into the case along with Exceed earphones and accessories.

Exceed earphones with stylized Personalizers and Small-sized ECO rings

One (1) luxury carrying case, ultra-soft mesh fiber

Three (3) additional sets of ECO rings: Small-Conical, Medium, and Large