In addition to duping non-detail-oriented lady-friends into long-term relationships, it seems Zirconia is also useful for constructing headphone drivers — or something. I’m not an acoustical engineer, so I’ll have to defer to the guys at Panasonic on the topic of how the crystal prevents sound distortion.

Now, sound quality is a subjective thing, but I think we can all agree that the detachable wires are pretty awesome. I’m concerned that the extra connector may introduce noise that will increase with wear and tear, but if they’re made right that plug should last for thousands of connects and disconnects.