Basslet Is The Wearable Subwoofer Watch You've Been Looking For - Sort Of

Have you ever come home from a night of dancing, gone to bed, and then tried to relive last night's sonic glory on your own personal audio system only to discover it lacked the body-abusing 'thump' of the club's subwoofers? Of course you have – but now there's a solution that fits right over your wrist. It's called Basslet.

Basslet is a small bracelet that connects wirelessly to your mobile – or non-mobile – audio system. Once the low frequency sound from whatever recording you are listening to kicks in, Basslet then begins to vibrate against your body in a bid to replicate the chest-crushing bass of a megawatt sound system.

I tried Basslet at this year's Pepcom the night before CES, and I was surprised by the sensation pulsing against my pulse while listening to a selection of electronic dance music. As someone who has spent innumerable hours DJing, I am all too familiar with the overpowering sensation of a well-tuned venue's audio system, but this wasn't that. Instead, the lightweight, square-shaped bracelet offered a direct connection with the tunes I was listening to that complemented the listening experience rather than blasted it. Indeed, before I put it on I asked if the device would use my bone structure to transmit low-frequency sound, but was assured it was a more mild and localized sensation – which was absolutely correct.

The CEO and founder of Basslet is a former employee at Ableton, the famed European music software giant, and he labels the device a 'wearable subwoofer.' I'm not sure I agree completely – I wouldn't imagine the device would provide the same atmospheric effect as an actual sub when playing a video game or watching a movie, for example – and it's a little weird to have the device pumping against only one wrist and not the other. Still, it's a rare example of a wearable piece of music technology that doesn't fit into or over your ears, and it's one that has captured the imagination of Kickstarter supporters which have funded the project to the point where it launches next month.