- 10mm rosewood and pulp hybrid drivers
- Self-healing paint can remove small scratches
- About $270 / £205 / AU$410, Japan only for now
JVC Kenwood has launched its new Victor WOOD Master wireless earphones in Japan, and they’re a little different from your average earphones: their drivers are made from African rosewood, and they’re finished with self-healing paint. And you might recognize an old friend printed on the outside of each bud: it’s Nipper the dog, known for “his master’s voice”.
The WOOD Master features hybrid drivers with diaphragms made from a mixture of pulp and rosewood, and according to the brand, they deliver clear vocals and precise sound in the best-sounding Victor earphones yet.
Wood is it good to have these headphones?
So what’s up with the dog? Victor takes its name from the Victor Talking Machine Company, founded in 1901 and creator of the His Master’s Voice slogan and doggy logo.
Victor was an early manufacturer of record players and amplifiers, and in the late 1920s it established an operation in Japan. That operation would become JVC, and after it was split from RCA Victor in the 1940s it retained the Victor and His Master’s Voice trademarks – but only in Japan, which is why Nipper the dog is synonymous with the HMV chain of record stores rather than the Japanese hardware company for British people like me.
That’s all very interesting, I hear you say, but what about these wooden earphones? The drivers are 10mm and the earphones support SBC, AAC and LDAC, with Victor’s “Personalized Sound” to measure the shape of your ears and adjust them accordingly. There’s also spatial sound, and battery life is up to 10.5 hours for the earbuds and 31.5 hours via the charging case. Bluetooth is 6.0 with multi-point connection and a low-latency mode for video and gaming.
The WOOD Master is apparently the first truly wireless earphones to be treated with self-healing paint that causes small scratches to disappear over time. They are rated IP55 for dust and water and weigh 6.5 g per earphone.
The WOOD Master earphones will go on sale in Japan in late November 2025 with a price tag of ¥41,800. That’s around $270 / £205 / AU$410. There is no indication yet that these particular earphones will be launched in other markets. Here’s hoping: I for one like to try them.
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