When reviewing headphones, earphones and speakers, there is always one constant throughout: A music source. Whether it’s vinyl, CD, iTunes, music burned in Apple Lossless, FLAC, Spotify/Pandora or even FM radio, the music has to come from somewhere. Then there’s the music player: iPhone/Android smartphone, various iPods, digital audio players, computer, home stereo. As you […]
Tidal Hi-Fi Music Streaming service review Read More
I’ll admit up front: this review will be short. After all, it’s a USB hub. How exciting can that be? Well … the Satechi Aluminum Premium 4-Port USB Clamp Hub is at least interesting. Satechi—known for making almost any geek accessory imaginable—was bothered by the hard-to-find USB ports Apple hides at the rear of their
Satechi Aluminum Premium 4-Port USB Clamp Hub review Read More
While unboxing the Blue Mo-Fi headphones, I was reminded of the door hinges on my wife’s 1997 Lexus SC300 sports coupe. See, the Lexus hinges are not your everyday hinge—they’re over-engineered so the large doors open and slide a bit forward which helps in tight parking spaces. Lexus reportedly spent over a million bucks developing
Blue Mo-Fi Headphones review Read More
To say that we are in the golden age of headphones is an understatement. There’s never been a better time to find excellent sounding headphones in almost every price range, especially the higher-priced headphones. When you include the countless names entering the market, you have a recipe for awesomeness. Adding to this aural soup-de-jour is
Master & Dynamic MH40 headphone review Read More
Let me state right up-front that I am not an eco-warrior or anything close. I own 3 chainsaws and don’t hesitate to use them on my 2 acres. That said, I do appreciate companies who use recycled materials where possible. Thinksound is such a company—and then some. They go out of their way to be
Thinksound On1 headphone monitor review Read More
Geneva Labs has been making many different high-end speakers for a while now. Even though they make many models, S, M, L, XL and XXL, they’ve all been box-shaped and visual clones of each other—only in different sizes. That’s about to change in a dramatic way. Geneva has introduced the the AeroSphère series, an audio
Geneva Sound Systems steps out of the box … literally Read More
Bang & Olufsen has always been about style as well as sound. Nothing else looks like a B&O product—nothing. You can spot them a mile away. As we transition into a world of personal listening, nothing has changed the B&O philosophy—to evoke senses (their words). The B&O H6 and H8 headphones certainly do that. They are simply
Bang & Olufsen work their design magic on headphones Read More
Picture this: You’re cruising down the street plugged into your smartphone but the power is beginning to run low. You want to keep listening, but you’re afraid of draining the battery completely if you do. Now, picture this: You just keep listening anyway because the headphone is charging your smartphone. You read that right. In
Headphones enter a new Phāz Read More
Lately, I’ve been considering upgrading my Onkyo stereo receiver. It’s about 8 years old and doesn’t have wifi, Bluetooth, USB or even HDMI. But it does have a nice sub output for my (even older) Pioneer subwoofer—but that’s another story. There have been countless times that I’ve wished I could easily stream my iPhone to
Audioengine B1 Bluetooth Music Receiver review Read More
One of the trends coming out of the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show is turning portable Bluetooth speakers into bigger portable Bluetooth speakers. It’s not a new trend, but it is increasing. Ultimate Ears has joined the fray with its new UE Megaboom speaker. Like the original Boom, the Megaboom blasts audio in 360°. The big
Ultimate Ears adds Mega to the Boom Read More
There’s an old saying: “You can never be too thin or too rich.” In today’s tech-driven world, I would like to add to that: “You can never have enough backup power.” It’s grammatically clumsy to be sure, but it’s also true. We are more dependent than ever on places to plug in and recharge our
iBattz Mojo BattStation Optimus 20400 review Read More
Fugoo speakers were—and still are—one of my favorite audio products of 2014. I can’t say enough about how a small Bluetooth speaker has captured my attention the way the Fugoo speakers have. If there is one criticism I have with these indestructible mini-audio blasters is that they are just that … mini. As good as
Fugoo pumps up the volume… and everything else, too Read More
I’ve taken my shots at Bluetooth over the years, but even I have to admit, it’s getting better all the time. As Bluetooth matures and improves, so do the speakers and headphones that incorporate it. Pendulumic (say that fast five times) makes wireless Bluetooth headphones exclusively. And since they do only that, Pendulumic claims that
Pendulumic headphones: This is Bluetooth? Read More
When does a Bluetooth speaker cease to be a Bluetooth speaker? Actually, it never does cease to be Bluetooth, but maybe it can cease to sound like Bluetooth. Anyway, that’s the idea behind RIVA’s Turbo X Bluetooth speaker. The Turbo X is a mobile Bluetooth speaker for inside the home, outdoors by the pool or
RIVA turbo-charges Bluetooth audio with the Turbo X Read More
To paraphrase Yogi Berra, Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2 headphones are deja-vu all over again. In my review of the original P5 headphones, I said that they could handle anything I had been able to throw at them. That was four-years ago and now B&W wants even more thrown at their new P5 Series 2
Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series 2 headphone review Read More
Just because you may be north of the equator, that doesn’t mean you’re more knowledgeable or have better taste in the world of audio. Case in point: Audiofly. These chaps from down under (that would be Australia) have been cranking out reasonable priced, yet highly regarded earphones for a few years. Now Audiofly is reaching
Audiofly reaches for the stratosphere with their Performance earphones Read More
Of all the new gadgets introduced over the last few years, the Cicret Bracelet has to be one of the most unique tech thingies I’ve seen. One look at Cicret’s kickstarter-like campaign video made me think they are onto something here. The bracelet connects wirelessly to a smartphone and projects a live image of your
The future is now only skin deep Read More
Aiaiai is an unusual headphone company in a world full of unusual headphone companies. Design plays a huge part in this Danish company’s approach and it shows in the details. Their minimalist TMA-1 DJ headphones were praised for their sound and ability to take a beating in the sweat and beer soaked world of DJ nightclubbing. Flash
Aiaiai TMA-1 Studio, Young Guru Studio and Stones Throw DJ headphones review Read More
Even though the current headphone market is saturated with product—both innovative and me-too stuff—cable maker AudioQuest has decided they can do even better with their first headphone, the NightHawk. The NightHawk was designed by Skylar Gray and takes advantage of AudioQuest’s experience as a maker of audio/video cables and the wonderful DragonFly DAC (digital-to-analog converter).
AudioQuest NightHawk headphones are as cool as their name Read More
When an audio company has a verified headphone hit on their hands, what can they do to improve it—fix something that isn’t really broken? If you’re Focal, you look forward—not back. So they decided to make their popular Spirit One headphone better by improving components and further tweaking the sound. Then they thought long and hard
Focal Spirit One S headphones review Read More