Recent ID graduate Matthew Lim took it up on himself to develop a project for Sennheiser, having in mind a younger consumer. Even though the brand has been around for over 60 years, only a small percentage of 20-35 year olds actually know the brand. As part of his Ecovinyl project he presents a turntable and matching headphones.

Keeping both sustainability and design in mind, the designer produced the two pieces using cork and aluminum.

“Lim developed the concept at the Art Center College of Design. “I took note that Sennheiser has made moves to make their company more sustainable by introducing fully recyclable packaging,” he tells Co.Design. “The next step is to make the product itself more environment-friendly.” He chose high-density fiberboard, which is often used for audio-system closure boxes because of its ability to carry sound reverb; cork for the turntable and earphone headband; and aluminum, which he CNC’d to produce a durable body. Lim capped the target price at $350.

One could certainly buy a used turntable on eBay for less and earn even more green cred, but, as Lim points out, you might still have to purchase extra hardware (an amplifier, EQ adjustment, etc.) to get it up to speed. The Eco-Vinyl, on the other hand, comes in a ready-to-go set. Plus, Lim argues, its carbon footprint is minimal, with 45% fiberboard (which is recyclable and biodegradable) and a metal body that can be easily removed with an Allen wrench and recycled.”

For now, Sennheiser has not reacted to the project or decided to actually produce it. We certainly like the look and principles applied here.

We’ve teamed up with Levi’s to give away a bunch of goods, one of which is the turntable pictured above. The contest is in support of the Levi’s Pioneer Sessions, which includes the Nas “Hey Young World” track that we posted a few weeks ago.

The prizes available are: 1 jean jacket, 1 t-shirt, 1 set of vinyl (4 pieces), and 1 turntable.

To enter and follow Highsnobiety on Twitter and tweet the following message:

Follow @highsnobiety and RT this message by June 30 for a chance to win a Levi’s Pioneer Sessions prize http://bit.ly/aWJS03

*Winner must be a US resident. Contest ends June 30, 2010.

Have a closer look at the prizes after the click.

We just announced the upcoming release of the Carhartt x Vestax Handy Trax USB Turntable earlier this week. Here follows now a detailed look at the machine. A tough plastic casing and the capability to operate at angles of up to 90 degrees make the Handy Trax player fit for universal use. On top of this, a stereo line-out makes hooking it up to your hi-fi system at home easy and a mini line-in jack also allows you to connect external devices such as MP3 players. If you prefer to listen to your music digitally but own a large analogue collection, you can easily transform your vinyl into binary code via the newly integrated USB port.

The Carhartt x Vestax Handy Trax USB Turntable will be released mid December.

More detailed images follow after the jump.

Carhartt has collaborated with Vestax on their Handy Trax USB Turntable. The handy piece of hardware lets you use again that old record collection along with your new equipment and is designed in a way, that makes it super easy to take and bring along. SlamJam will be releasing it in mid December.

An interesting new product is coming from Vestax – the Handy Trax USB Turntable Recorder. It plays vinyl and converts vinyl to WAV or AIFF up to 24bit/48kHz (CD quality is 16bit/44.1kHz) thanks to its USB interface. The handy trax USB comes with a built-in 4W speaker and offers volume controller fader as well. You can find line-in, line-out and, headphone out jacks. It was three play speeds, 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm. Also it can run off of batteries, making it a fun product to take on trips. It might not be something the pros out there, at the same time if you need something handy that you can use in any situation, maybe you should look into this.

You can expect a release later this year!

More images follow after the jump.

This week we came across an interesting new product by Numark – the TTi. The turntable can be connected to the computer via USB and it has a direct iPod dock. You can record vinyl directly onto your iPod and of course also onto your computer.
This is certainly not serious DJ equipment, but for someone that wants to enjoy his vinyl on the go, its definitely pretty cool!