Audio System

Here’s what the upcoming Sonos headphones will probably look like

Sonos has long been rumored to be developing a premium set of noise-canceling headphones to join the company’s ecosystem of speakers and multiroom audio products. A new design patent filing at the German Patent and Trademark Office seems to provide a glimpse at a farther-along, more refined product than what we saw from the US… Read more

How to add a turntable to your existing music system

Home Advice Has the resurgence of vinyl got you excited? Perhaps you’re a lapsed lover of the big, groovy discs, with a collection in the loft just begging to have the cobwebs blown away – or maybe a newcomer looking to inject a little analogue into your current, exclusively digital musical diet. But what if… Read more

High-resolution audio: everything you need to know

Home Advice (Image credit: Astell & Kern) After years of niche positioning in the music world, “high-resolution audio” (or “hi-res audio”) finally hit the mainstream, thanks to a huge raft of support in streaming services (such as Tidal and Amazon Music HD) and products (from smartphones to most digital hi-fi components). So why should you… Read more

Ruark R3

Our Verdict While we thought its radio sources need a little tonal attention, the highlights here are playback from CD, from streaming music services and Bluetooth. For Compact music system Endless paths to music CD and streaming Against Edgy sound on radio sources Variable results for ‘3D audio’ Sound+Image mag review (Image credit: Future) This… Read more

Epson EpiqVision EH-LS300B

Our Verdict Epson’s EH-LS300 UST projector is practical for everyday use, with some limitations, as well as for truly immersive bigscreen movie nights. For Powerful bright image Free-to-air TV catch-up services Convenient way to get a really large picture Against No Netflix or Prime support No Ethernet 1080i/50 and 576i/50 issues Sound+Image mag review (Image… Read more

Alienware m17 R4 Gaming Laptop Review: Can’t Get Much Faster

Our Verdict A speed demon that prioritizes raw performance, the Alienware m17 R4 puts plenty of pop into a sleek but bulky chassis. For Unrivaled performance Snappy keyboard Attractive design At present, RTX 3080 is the fastest laptop graphics card around, but not all RTX 3080-powered laptops are created equal. Many vendors use Nvidia’s Max-Q… Read more

DTS Play-Fi: what is it? What speakers and devices support it?

Home Advice (Image credit: DTS) What’s the first thing you think of when someone says the word ‘multi-room’? For most, we imagine it’s a dedicated set-up from a single manufacturer such as Sonos or Bluesound, with its connected ecosystem of speakers, soundbars, soundbases and hi-fi components. Or perhaps you’d think of AirPlay 2, a gateway… Read more

Tesla Model S with 10 TFLOPs Could Double as Gaming Rig

Home News (Image credit: Tesla) Tesla’s all-new Model S not only offers a higher peak power, longer range, and faster acceleration, but in a tweet from Patrick Schur spotted by PC Gamer it is rumored that the Model S also features an infotainment system with a combined compute horsepower of around 10 FP32 TFLOPS, which… Read more

AMD Threadripper Pro Listed at $6,000 for 64 Cores, $3,000 for 32 Cores

Home News (Image credit: AMD) AMD recently announced that it’s Threadripper Pro processors will come to retail outlets, but the company hasn’t listed the official pricing yet. Seeing these chips come to retail outlets is a nice addition after they debuted for the first six months in uber-expensive pre-validated systems, like the Lenovo ThinkStation P620… Read more

Q Acoustics Q Active 200

Our Verdict Q Acoustics bravely enters uncharted waters, but out-of-character sonic shortfalls let down an otherwise decent first effort For Thoughtfully designed Vast hub connectivity Punchy, room-filling sound Against Lacks dynamic and rhythmic expression No dedicated control app Stands are expensive extras It’s a simple fact of life that the more there is to do,… Read more

Focal Arche

Our Verdict The Arche is well-built and beautifully designed in its simplicity, and is a great choice if you’re after a high quality DAC for your headphones, but if you’re using the Arche in your main setup, stick with the XLR outputs, as the RCA alternatives are sporadically noisy. For Beautiful, solid design Exceptional isolation… Read more

heise + | VR headset in the test: HP Reverb G2 with 2160 × 2160 pixels resolution per eye

The announcement of the HP Reverb G2 had sparked a lot of hype in the virtual reality scene: For comparatively cheap 700 Euro it offers PC-VR with a resolution of 2160 × 2160 pixels per eye. Immediately after putting it on, you will notice that the display of the G2 is beyond any doubt. The… Read more

AMD Threadripper Pro Processors and WXR80 Motherboards Coming To Retail

Home News (Image credit: AMD) You simply can’t find more powerful chips for a desktop or workstation than AMD’s Threadripper Pro series, and now they’re coming to retail. With 64 cores, 128 threads, up to 2TB of memory spread out among eight memory channels, not to mention support for 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0, the… Read more

CES 2021: Panasonic and Klipsch team up to support in-car Dolby Atmos Music

Home News (Image credit: Panasonic/Klipsch) Dolby Atmos Music is coming to the car. At CES 2021, Panasonic and Klipsch have joined forces to show off a proof-of-concept in-car system capable of playing Dolby’s immersive audio format. The in-car system is made by Panasonic, in collaboration with Klipsch and Dolby. As it’s just a proof-of-concept for… Read more

LG imagines a bed with a hidden see-thru OLED TV set

LG Display is continuing its trend of reimagining the future of screens at CES 2021 with a new transparent TV. The panel is a 55-inch OLED, but its transparent design lets you see through it even when it’s turned on and displaying an image. The screen achieves 40 percent transparency, LG Display says, which is… Read more