Articles tagged Headphones
Latest Andru Edwards Videos
Apple’s Camera AirPods Were Supposed to Debut Today. Now They’re a 2027 Product.
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Rumors,
Somewhere in a version of today's Apple event that no longer exists, there are earbuds with cameras in them. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple planned to show off high-end AirPods with built-in cameras at the 10am Pacific keynote, and then took them off the schedule. They are now aimed at 2027.
This is Gurman's reporting, not an Apple announcement. Apple does not comment on products it has not shipped, and it has not commented on these. Gurman has been tracking the earbuds all year, though, and the story has held its shape even as the date kept sliding.
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Sonos Bets on the Beam Ultra, Ace Ultra, and Sonos27 App Update It Can’t Afford to Botch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio / Video, Artificial Intelligence,
Sonos showed up at IFA today with a $699 soundbar, a pair of $449 headphones, and a new version of the app that did the company real damage two years ago. The app is the one that will decide how this year goes.
The hardware is easy to like. The Beam Ultra is a mid-size soundbar with nine drivers, and for the first time in a Beam, two of them fire upward. That is the difference between Dolby Atmos your soundbar fakes with processing and Atmos with sound actually bouncing off your ceiling. Sonos is calling the result true 7.1.2. Pre-orders open today, and it ships September 29.
Bose’s New QuietComfort Headphones Borrow the Ultra’s Best Trick for $359
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Portable Audio / Video,
If you wear glasses and you've ever noticed noise cancellation working worse than the review scores promised, you weren't imagining it. The arm of your frames breaks the seal on the earcup, and ANC that depends on a sealed cavity starts leaking. Bose says it finally built around that.
The new QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) arrive today at $359, the first real hardware update to the line since 2023. Preorders open August 8 and shipping starts August 13.
Click to continue reading Bose’s New QuietComfort Headphones Borrow the Ultra’s Best Trick for $359
AirPods Max 2 Review: Apple Fixed Everything (Except This!) (Video)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews, Videos,
Six years. That's how long we waited for a real AirPods Max update, and the AirPods Max 2 are basically the AirPods Pro 3 dressed up in a much nicer coat. Same H2 chip, same transparency mode, but now with 40mm drivers that finally have the headroom to breathe.
The short version: this is the best-sounding, most feature-rich pair of headphones Apple has ever made, and depending on what you were hoping for, it's either going to excite you or annoy you. At $549, I think you deserve to know which one you're going to be before you buy.
Click to continue reading AirPods Max 2 Review: Apple Fixed Everything (Except This!) (Video)
Geared Up: AirPods Pro & The Mystery of the 16” MacBook Pro w/ Special Guest Rene Ritchie
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Wearables, Features, PC / Laptop,
iMore's Rene Ritchie joins the show! Apple dropped AirPods Pro last week, a higher-end version of the best-selling headphones in the world. We tell you all about what's new, along with our thoughts on if Apple has another hit on its hands. We also talk about the heavily-rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro that many expected to be released in October, the expectation of privacy when using products and services, the best Apple Keynote moments, and more.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW
- AirPods Pro: Top 5 Features
- Hands-on with AirPods Pro
- Rene Ritchie on YouTube
- Geared Up on YouTube
- Jon Rettinger on YouTube
- Andru Edwards on YouTube
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Listen to the episode in the player above or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:
Amazon Fire TV Cube hands-on review, new AirPods 2 coming soon - Geared Up!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Wearables, Features, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews,
Amazon is trying to get its Alexa voice assistant into as many homes as possible. Its latest offering: The Fire TV Cube, which essentially turns any TV into a smart TV with Alexa voice control. We try it out live on this episode. The integration with certain apps, like Netflix and Hulu, is pretty cool. Simply saying "Alexa, play Stranger Things," opened the Netflix app and started playing right where we left off. Using voice control to fast forward, switch TV inputs and open apps also works well. But for other apps that aren't integrated, like Sling TV, the experience isn't quite so smooth. The box also doesn't work with over-the-air cable TV, as some reports said it would. In other news, Oculus announced a new virtual reality TV app this week, and some people are unimpressed. We also dive into a report that points to a new line of AirPods coming before the end of the year, including higher-end over-the-ear headphones.
Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:
Tidal Force Wave 5 headphones review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews,
Tidal Force has jumped into the headphone arena with a pair of planar magnetic headphones, aimed at providing better sound than typical driver-based models which follow the loudspeaker model of projecting sound.
If you’re unfamiliar, planar magnetic headphones use a very thin, light diaphragm in order to reproduce sound - this is instead of the traditional driver. The diaphragm is “driven” by a neodymium magnetic system consisting of a matrix double pole which ends up moving its surface evenly back and forth. The Tidal Force Wave 5 features a 56mm diaphragm, which in turn is able to produce notes between 16Hz and 50kHz. Are they worth your attention though? Let’s find out.
Click to continue reading Tidal Force Wave 5 headphones review
Bleeding Edge TV 603: Lightning vs. 3.5mm Headphones Challenge
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Wearables, Features, Podcasts, Portable Audio / Video, Videocasts, Videos,
Are Lightning headphones better than the tried and true 3.5mm jack headphone style? In this challenge, I put Lightning Headphones vs the 3.5mm headphone port to see which one sounds better. The challenge took place at YouTube Space LA as part of the YouTube NextUp event that I got to be a part of. What you see in the background is the haunted hotel stage. YouTube NextUp was an amazing experience, and I'll have a video showcasing it shortly. Back to the headphones though, Audeze currently makes the best Lightning headphones that I have found for the iPhone, but you can be sure that more will be coming from a bunch of different manufacturers.
Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel--also, we are giving away awesome perks for our Patreon backers - thanks for your support!
Click to continue reading Bleeding Edge TV 603: Lightning vs. 3.5mm Headphones Challenge
Bleeding Edge TV 602: Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Wearables, Features, Podcasts, Portable Audio / Video, Videocasts, Videos,
The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones are impressive. They come in at a relatively inexpensive price when compared to other headphones in this category, and sound fantastic. The new models are foldable, with nice stainless steel accents, and a closed-back over-ear design that does a great job at noise isolation. When ordering, be sure to select between the Android and iOS versions so you get the right ones. I think that these are the best $200 headphones you can buy right now - I explain why in my Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphone review. Great job Sennheiser!
My testing playlist:
You can pick up the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 now.
Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel--also, we are giving away awesome perks for our Patreon backers - thanks for your support!
Click to continue reading Bleeding Edge TV 602: Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones review
Bleeding Edge TV 596: Audeze EL-8 Titanium headphones review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Podcasts, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews, Videocasts, Videos,
With the removal of the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, Lightning headphones are gonna be big. The Audeze EL-8 Titanium Lightning headphones are an early contender. They are planar magnetic headphones, and include the ability to easily swap between the 3.5mm headphone jack (which the iPhone 7 lacks,) and Lightning. You plug the Audeze EL-8 Titanium headphones into the Lightning port on an iOS device, and you get amazing sound thanks to the built in 24-bit DAC and Amp. You can even save two sound profiles directly to the headphones themselves, so that when you switch devices, you get the same sound that you expect.
They do cost $799 though, and that's gonna be pricey for a lot of people, but if you're an audiophile, then the Audeze EL-8 Titanium Lightning headphones may be exactly what you're looking for!
You can pick up the Audeze EL-8 Titanium headphones now.
Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel--also, we are giving away awesome perks for our Patreon backers - thanks for your support!
Click to continue reading Bleeding Edge TV 596: Audeze EL-8 Titanium headphones review