Walk around with home theater sound
High-end audio manufacturer Velodyne, known for making some of the best subwoofers on the market over the past few decades, is now bringing the bass even closer to your ears with the vPulse In-Ear Headphones ($90). As you’d expect, the vPulse’s provide incredible sound quality for the price thanks to 10 mm drivers encased in [...]
One amp to rule them all
It seems even the roadie has been made nearly obsolete in the wake of digital technology. The Line6 POD has been a mainstay in studios and professional live rigs for years, but this latest version, the POD HD, may now convince even the stuffiest of tube-amp worshippers into packing away their giant and costly amplifiers [...]
Time to fire your stenographer
Meet the great-great-grandson of the dictaphone — the SpeechMike Air ($500). Specifically designed to meet the enormous demands of document-intensive professionals, the Phillips dictation device is now cordless and packed with some amazing features. The slick design and comfortable ergonomics complement the crystal clear recording quality and intuitive controls. While a typist isn’t included [...]
See right hear
Some of the best sounding speakers could use a pleasing aesthetic touch. A basic black box is nice and simple, but also a tad boring in the realm of desktop audio. If you have a desire for high fidelity and high-end looks, look no further than Well-Rounded Sound. Using full range drivers with 100 Hz [...]
Docking Statement
There are docking stations and then there are docking statements. In a world wrought with crappy auxiliary plug-ins masquerading as “made for iPod” accessories, this would be the latter. No judgment here if you mistook the Jarre AeroPad Two Dock (~$920) for something out of Gattaca, but we think you’ll find that this device has [...]
Long live the clock radio
The radio alarm clock business has never been a particularly sexy one, not counting, of course, the occasional technological breakthroughs in snooze technology (we set ours at 9 min). But Geneva is waking up the sleepy clock radio industry with the Geneva Sound System Model XS ($250), a slick ultra-compact bluetooth audio system and the [...]
Turning it up to 11 starts with 3
An all-tube, hand-wired P3 Guitar Amplifier ($650+) isn’t just a nostalgic replica designed to look liked a bad-ass amp from the golden age of rock. It’s built like one too, which means blasting out loud, clear tones, no matter how hard they’re driven or clumsily treated by a half-cocked roadie. Unlike frailer mass-produced amplifiers of [...]
Whipping your studio cans into shape
We covered Schiit’s audiophile grade products before, and now rejoice at the release of the extremely powerful LYR Headphone Amplifier. The LYR is a robust, tube-based amplifier with an incredible 6 watts of power, designed to satisfy the gluttonous needs of high impedance studio cans to unlock their full dynamic range. Just in case you [...]
Meze-merizing
We’re not designers by trade, but we’re pretty sure there’s a rule that says the addition of wood only makes products more beautiful. The Meze Classics headphones are a perfect example, and lend credence to our lumber-loving design ethos. The Meze headphone line is the creation of award-winning industrial designer, Antonio Meze. Available in three [...]
Loud and Studious
Ask any studio engineer worth his ponytail about Adam speakers, and they will tell you their monitors have populated some of the best recording facilities in the world for years. The reason for this is a passion for forward thinking design and revolutionary use of materials, such as carbon fiber diaphragms and ribbon transducers. While [...]
Dare to Stream
Logitech has a new dog in the iOS speaker fight. Teaming up with Ultimate Ears — best known for the ubiquitous in-ear monitors you see worn by everyone from Bono to Bieber — the Logitech UE Air Speaker ($400) is a single-unit sound system whose engineers are out to prove that it has equal parts [...]
Sound Choice
Pioneer’s 2011 VSX 1021-K was the first receiver to integrate AirPlay. The company’s latest crop of 2012 receivers continues to chase the cutting edge, bringing AirPlay to all but the lowest end of the lineup. While all of the four midrange models have their own appeal, the sweet spot in our opinion is the VSX-822-K [...]
Keep the Hi-fi, ditch the high price
Anyone on a budget looking to wade into the world of portable headphone hi-fi should take a good Pei Mei stare at Fiio. In the audio community, the upstart brand is known for providing unbeatable value, and their latest E17 Alpen USB DAC Headphone Amplifier ($140) is no exception. Boasting inputs for mini USB, AUX, [...]
Audio on another level
Audio manufacturers started using the term “high fidelity” in the 1950s as a marketing technique to help grow consumer interest in home stereos. Thanks to the new buzz word and a concerted industry push, the consumer home audio world soon entered “The Golden Age of Hi-Fi” in the 1960s. It was during this boom when [...]
Size doesn't matter
After six years diligently serving the needs of upper-crust home theater fans everywhere, Bowers & Wilkins has finally decided to retool their Mini Theater System. The new M-1 loudspeaker features all new drivers including a tweeter designed in-house, and the same Anti-Resonance Plug found in the brand’s higher-end PM1 bookshelf monitor. The speaker wire connections [...]
