The over-ear P2s are cool-looking, with their carbon fiber frame and bright-orange ear cups, but looks aren't what makes these headphones special. The P2s are the first headphones that double as--get this--a portable battery pack for your smartphone. That's right, these headphones pack a 1,200 mAh battery, so you don't have to give up music for power.
While this may sound revolutionary, the tech is actually pretty simple: Think of a pair of headphones and a portable battery pack...and then think of strapping that portable battery pack to the pair of headphones. That's basically what the P2s are, just sleeker.
The P2s don't do anything extra-fancy, like charge your phone through the audio port. Instead, the headphones simply have a USB port under one of the ear cups. If you want to listen to music and charge your phone at the same time, you'll need two cables (an audio cable and a USB cable).
The P2s also have a built-in amplifier that powers the phones' 40mm drivers for better sound quality, as well as a 15dB bass booster. The amp and bass booster use approximately 10 percent of the headphones' built-in battery, so you can get about 10 hours of amplified, bass-boosted playback while you're charging your phone. The phones work passively without the amplifier or the bass booster (unlike some noise-cancelling headphones), so when the battery runs out you'll still have plenty of playtime left.
Another neat feature on the P2s is the sharing port. This audio-out port under one of the ear cups lets you plug in a second pair of headphones and "share" your music with a friend.
The P2s are a little gimmicky, with the battery pack, amp, bass booster, and sharing port, but they're also pretty good-looking and lightweight (they definitely feel like they'll be comfortable for long wear). I tried the headphones briefly and the audio is pretty good, especially with the bass booster, but it didn't seem completely on a par with other similarly-priced products. The P2s are available for pre-order now for $249.99, and will start shipping in April 2015.