Zeitgeist Germany, a brand based in Germany, kicked off its journey this past summer with the launch of its first products, the Whisky and Artisan in-ear headphones. They’ve already teased their third line, named Trees, which features four models crafted from various responsibly sourced woods. Each pair comes with a five-year warranty when registered and includes a 1.2-meter cable made with silver-plated copper conductors.
Thomas Halbgewachs, the founder of Zeitgeist Germany, shares, “We bring new musical life to trees that have reached their natural end. These trees have seen centuries, even millennia of history: our artisans honor them and make sure their beauty continues. No two pairs of Trees earphones are identical, as each showcases its unique growth patterns and grain.” The collection includes four models, each made from wood sourced from different parts of the globe.
The California Sequoia is made from wood from the giant sequoia trees that grace the coasts of California and Oregon. This wood gives a warm, red hue and a straight grain pattern.
The African Zebrano uses zebrano wood, which is native to central Africa. With dark brown and black stripes that resemble the stripes of a zebra, the wavy grain of the wood would be difficult to cut and plane, meaning extra care and effort must be put into the creation of each individual enclosure.
The third model is the Mediterranean Olive made of wood from olive trees in the Mediterranean. The earplugs have a beautiful shiny gold color and a wavy grain.
Finally, the Yucatan Redheart is made from wood of the Redheart tree, which grows in Central and South America. The wood has a deep red hue.
All earplugs are handmade and purely artisanal in the Zeitgeist workshop near Heidelberg, Germany. No two earplugs will ever be identical due to the different textures, grains and color variations in the wood used.
The company claims to have studied thousands of ear impressions in order to find the perfect fit for most people, which is why the earbuds come in both Regular and Small sizes. Technical information on the drivers is a bit sparse. The manufacturer describes them as a proprietary Sonion tuned two-way balanced armature system with an impedance of 17 ohms and a frequency response of 15 Hz to 35 kHz.
Each headphone comes with a five-year warranty upon registration and a 1.2-meter silver-plated copper cable with either 3.5mm or 4.4mm plugs can be selected at the time of purchase. Five Final Type E fits from XS to XL are also included and everything comes in a nice storage case.
Price: $950