The most common reaction I've received to the $400 PFR-V1 Personal Field Speaker is, "What the hell is that? Orthodontic headgear?" Hardly! It's pair of earphones and a set of very small speakers, rolled together and perched on a headband that places them about an inch away from your ears. The idea, Sony claims, is to create a deeper and more spacious listening field than the one provided by ordinary headphones, which, because of their close proximity to your ears, can't offer the same sense of space that speakers do. Sure, the odd-looking PFR-V1 is extremely expensive, not very practical, and distorts easily at low frequencies, but I admit I have a soft spot for bizarre audio toys.