- Hybrid 10mm rosewood and pulp drivers
- Self-healing paint can remove small scratches
- Around $270 / £205 / AU$410, Japan only for now
JVC Kenwood has launched its new Victor WOOD Master wireless earbuds in Japan, and they’re a little different from the average earbud: 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, famous for “his master’s voice.”
The WOOD Masters feature hybrid drivers with diaphragms made from a blend of wood pulp and rosewood, and according to the brand, they deliver clear vocals and precise sound in Victor’s best-performing headphones yet.
Wooden, would it be nice to have these headphones?
So what’s the problem with the dog? Victor takes its name from the Victor Talking Machine Company, founded in 1901 and creator of the His Master’s Voice dog slogan and logo.
Victor was an early manufacturer of record players and amplifiers, and in the late 1920s he expanded into Japan. This operation would become JVC, and after splitting from RCA Victor in the 1940s it retained the Victor and His Master’s Voice brands – but only in Japan, which is why for UK-based people like me, Nipper the dog is synonymous with the HMV record store chain rather than the Japanese hardware company.
This is all very interesting, you might ask, but what about these wooden headphones? The drivers measure 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 audio, 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 multipoint connectivity and a low latency mode for video and gaming.
The WOOD Master are apparently the first true wireless earbuds to be treated with a self-healing paint that makes small scratches disappear over time. They are IP55 rated for dust and water and weigh 6.5g per earbud.
The WOOD Master headphones will go on sale in Japan at the end of November 2025 for ¥41,800. That’s around $270 / £205 / AU$410. As of now, there is no indication that these particular headphones will be launched in other markets. I hope: for my part, I like to try them.
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