Gadgets: Headphones you can customize

Sol Republic, maker of headphones with interchangeable parts, recently expanded its offerings with the release of its Master Tracks line, which incorporates over-ear headphones for the first time.

Like the company's on-ear headphones, the Master Tracks components can be swapped. You can swap out the headband or cables, for example, for parts that are different colors, for a custom look. Master Tracks are also compatible with Sol Republic's on-ear headphone lines.

Sol Republic updated all the components for Master Tracks. The headband has extra cushioning, and volume controls were added to the in-line microphone, which is in the yoke of the cable. According to Sol Republic, the X3 Sound Engines in the headphones are intended to mimic the experience of being in a nightclub. But the pumped-up bass tends to overshadow the subtleties of quieter music.

At $200, the Master Tracks headphones are a little expensive, but Sol Republic offers a durable product that is intended to last for years.

Any tablet owner knows that the sound from the tiny rear-facing speakers is abysmal. Definitive Technology has produced a clip-on improvement, the Sound Cylinder.

It has a rubber clamp to attach it to a 7- or 10-inch tablet, and a pullout kickstand so it can sit on a tabletop with the tablet in place. A button on one end turns the Cylinder on and syncs it to Bluetooth. That end also has a volume control. That is it for the features.

It produces respectable volume without much distortion, certainly enough for a couch full of friends to watch some YouTube.

There are some design quirks. On smaller tablets, like the iPad Mini, the clamp covers part of the screen if attached horizontally. That made it impossible to get to the iTunes controls. On the larger iPad, the clamp blocked the magnetic cover from turning off the screen.