Best Bluetooth Record Players Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best Bluetooth turntables you can buy in 2021.
While the mechanics of vinyl playback haven’t changed all that much since the medium’s inception, turntable technology hasn’t stood entirely still.
One major evolution that has brought a growing number of record players spinning into the 21st century – and with a growing number of great-sounding decks, more to the point – is the adoption of Bluetooth.
No longer is vinyl solely the preserve of those with a traditional hi-fi set-up. Crate diggers can now enjoy their finds free from wires, with systems consisting only of their deck and a competent pair of wireless Bluetooth speakers or headphones.
In this list there are talented turntables ranging from entry level to premium, and there’s even an Award-winning just-add-speakers system fully loaded with on-board amplification that you can send tracks to via Bluetooth rather than connecting wireless speakers or headphones the other end.
The landscape of vinyl is changing with the times, and with our pick of the best Bluetooth record players, you can come along for the ride too.
10 of the best-sounding vinyl records
1. Sony PS-LX310BT
A fully automatic deck with oodles of character.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 11 x 43 x 37cm (HxWxD) | Motor: Belt drive | Cartridge: MM | Phono preamp: Yes | USB: No | Bluetooth: Yes | Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45 | Finish: Black
Reasons to Buy
Entertaining sound
Easy to use
Plug-and-play
Reasons to Avoid
Purist alternatives sound better
Not only does this Sony leave you with little to do during set-up – just attach the belt to the platter – it does pretty much everything but shaking the vinyl from its sleeve, too.
What’s more, it sounds ridiculously fun. More traditional decks, such as the Award-winning Rega Planar 1 (£250), can be more mature in their performance, but when you consider this fully-automatic deck’s list of features, it’s hard to believe it can sound this good with such a price tag.
Read the full review: Sony PS-LX310BT
2. Pro-Ject Juke Box E
An Award-winning turntable system.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 11.8 x 41.5 x 33.5cm (HxWxD) | Motor: Belt drive | Cartridge: MM | Phono preamp: Yes | USB: No | Bluetooth: Yes | Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45 | Finish: Red, white, black
Reasons to Buy
True just-add-speakers convenience
Capable, even-handed sound
Good range of features
Reasons to Avoid
Some will hanker after more power
Baffling remote control
The Pro-Ject Juke Box E is based on Pro-Ject’s well-regarded Primary turntable and is tricked out with an Ortofon OM 5E cartridge, amplification (25W per channel into 8 ohms) and Bluetooth receiver, meaning you can stream music to its amp as well.
It’s an all-in-one system that demands very few compromises, given its price. It’s also an all-in-one system that we can’t easily argue against in favour of separates. The Juke Box E delivers convenience and backs it up with Award-winning sound quality. You can’t really ask for more than that.
Read the full review: Pro-Ject Juke Box E
3. Cambridge Audio Alva TT
An interesting spin on premium turntable design.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 13.9 x 43.5 x 36.8cm (HxWxD) | Motor: Direct drive | Cartridge: MM | Phono preamp: Yes | USB: No | Bluetooth: Yes | Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45 | Finish: Grey
Reasons to Buy
Solid build
Clear, detailed presentation
Impressive midrange
Reasons to Avoid
Sound lacks a little dynamics and drive
This is no ordinary £1500 turntable. Cambridge Audio has added a twist or two of its own by fitting it with a built-in phono stage, direct drive motor and Bluetooth connectivity. The fact it’s aptX HD Bluetooth means the Alva TT can stream your vinyl wirelessly to compatible Bluetooth headphones or a wireless speaker in hi-res 24-bit/48kHz.
Sound quality is pleasing, with vinyl given an open and airy soundstage and vocals a particular highlight. If you want a simple home hi-fi system with a premium turntable as your source, the Alva TT could be just the ticket.
Read the full review: Cambridge Audio Alva TT
4. Elipson Omega 100 RIAA BT
A pleasant-sounding deck with plenty of features.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 12 x 45 x 38cm (HxWxD) | Motor: Belt drive | Cartridge: MM | Phono preamp: Yes | USB: Yes | Bluetooth: Yes | Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45 | Finish: Black, white, red
Reasons to Buy
Defined, insightful and musical
Impressive bass
Simple to use
As well as giving you the ability to archive all your records on your computer via the USB port, a built-in phono stage means you can plug the Omega straight into your amplifier. The Bluetooth connectivity means whether you have wireless or powered speakers, you needn’t have any physical connections whatsoever.
That said, Elipson has still directed its main focus towards designing a turntable that sounds good, ensuring this deck is much more than just an impressive list of features.
(Image credit: German Patent and Trademark Office)
Sonos is developing a pair of wireless, potentially noise-cancelling, over-ear headphones. The company hasn’t confirmed as much, but filed patents and subsequent rumours and reports all point in the same direction.
They could be officially unveiled as soon as next month – Sonos is hosting a product launch on 16th March for, as suggested by the event’s invite, a ‘portable’ product, although behind the curtain could just as likely be a smaller version of the Move Bluetooth speaker (also heavily rumoured). Alternatively, the Sonos headphones could arrive later in the year as the company’s second new product promised for 2021. Wherever they appear on our timeline, Sonos wireless headphones are almost certainly coming. The question is, does the world want them?
In short, we expect it does. The prospect of this inevitable Sonos expansion excites us, anyway. But in a wireless headphones market awash with excellent pairs, Sonos needs a unique selling point or two, not to mention competitive sound quality. Apple recently managed to separate its AirPods Max from Sony, Bose and Sennheiser rivals with Apple-centric features and a significantly higher price tag (which we found to be justified thanks to their superior sound quality).
Does Sonos have what it takes to carve out its own corner of the headphones market and garner mass appeal? Again, we believe so. And here’s how it could do it.
Sonos wireless headphones: release date, rumours, and all of the news
Sonos headphones ‘swap’
Sonos hasn’t become one of the world’s best and most popular audio brands by following the herd. It more or less spawned the multi-room speaker market nearly 20 years ago, and it continues to dominate, despite a wealth of competition. It’s maintained favour through consistent operational seamlessness, unique features and exemplar sound, and it is these strengths of the Sonos ecosystem that will need to translate into the Sonos headphones experience.
Sonos products are all about working together, so it’s impossible to imagine a beatnik Sonos outsider that sits on the edge rather than properly inside the ecosystem. Sonos users will undoubtedly want a Sonos-savvy pair of headphones – otherwise, what’s the point? – and Sonos appears to be on the same wavelength. At least in one aspect, anyway.
In the approved patent is mention of a ‘swap’ feature, which would let owners simply and easily pass the music playing on their Sonos headphones to one (or more) of their Sonos speakers. The patent reads: “For example, if a particular piece of content play is currently playing on the wireless headphone, a swap changes the playback to play that piece of content on one or more other playback devices on the local network.”
It sounds similar to how iPhones can ‘hand-off’ music to a HomePod or HomePod mini (and vice versa) by simply putting the devices close to one another, but this would mark the first implementation of this kind of feature in a pair of headphones. We imagine a similar process would work between a pair of Sonos headphones and Sonos speaker, but perhaps the headphones could even sport a button or touch gesture to initiate this.
Maybe the user could set the headphones to automatically send music to a particular Sonos ‘zone’ when they detect your home network when you step in the door. It would be a neat asset (albeit, alone, not a huge selling point) that would no doubt appeal to existing Sonos users.
Sonos: everything you need to know
Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
Sonos zones and app control
This Sonos system integration brings up the matter of a wi-fi network, which is how the Sonos system connects together. Now, Sonos is hardly going to launch a pair of wireless headphones without Bluetooth connectivity. This is almost essential to connect to your phone, tablet or portable music player while you’re out and about, but including wi-fi connectivity as well could open the gateway to further Sonos-centric functionality.
For one, it’d open up the possibility of including the headphones in a ‘zone’ in your Sonos system. They could be part of your ‘TV’ zone, for example, alongside your Sonos Beam or Arc, to be used simultaneously or as an alternative. Would they have support for surround sound decoding (including Dolby Atmos, as supported by the Arc) or perhaps a proprietary pseudo-surround sound feature comparable to Apple’s spatial audio?
The Sonos S2 app – the puppet-master of the Sonos system – could also step in as a useful means of headphones control. Many headphones come with dedicated apps that allow the owner to personalise their pair, alter EQ and see battery life, but the Sonos app could, if compatible with the headphones, offer wearers access to a slew of streaming services and sources – all aggregated in one place, rather than from a range of apps on their phone – offering a nifty means of control within the home environment.
Sonos S2 update: the lowdown on Sonos’ latest platform
Bluetooth *and* wi-fi: better sound quality?
There’s also the potential of wi-fi offering better sound quality, too. Bluetooth has come a long way to conveniently deliver high-quality, wireless audio, currently peaking with the aptX HD standard (which supports up to 24-bit/48kHz), but if owners could connect their headphones directly to a wi-fi home network, rather than only to a phone over Bluetooth, it could potentially mean longer range a more stable connection and high-resolution audio support.
While we’re only too aware of Sonos’ neglect of the latter to date, the increase in audio bandwidth that comes with Sonos S2 app has left us hopeful for future support of hi-res FLAC and maybe even MQA music.
Again, such network reliance would surely make this feature a home-only experience, but it would perhaps make the Sonos wireless headphones the most convincing best-of-both-worlds solution out there.
Sonos Trueplay for headphones
Sonos Trueplay is an auto-calibration technology that tunes Sonos speakers for the room they live in to deliver the best sound possible. The question here is could Trueplay be adapted to customise your Sonos headphones experience?
Instead of working to ensure a speaker sounds great tucked away in a corner or sandwiched between a stack of books, could Trueplay for headphones automatically adapt their sound to your surroundings in real-time, as ‘adaptive noise-cancellation’ does? Trueplay for headphones could also go down the route of helping create a customised sound profile to match the headphones’ sonics specifically to someone’s hearing system, as headphones like nuraphones do.
Generally, with Sonos speakers, Trueplay works by using the microphones in your iPhone. The exception to this is the Sonos Move, which uses internal mics of its own. As wireless headphones tend to have mics, we think the implementation of such a feature could be a real possibility.
Why I will never own a pair of noise-cancelling headphones
Nailing everything else – including price
Naturally, while the Sonos wireless headphones have plenty of potential to stand out from the crowd, they’ll also want to stand in line with their rivals when it comes to popular features and competitive specs. That includes active noise-cancellation, a 20-to-30-hour battery life with USB-C charging (including fast-charging), and increasingly common functions like auto-pause and ‘transparent hearing’ mode.
And then there’s the price. The Sonos wireless headphones have been tipped by Bloomberg sources to launch at about £220 ($300, AU$400), which would keep them well clear of the Apple AirPods Max; undercut Sony’s range-topping class-leaders, the WH-1000XM4, plus the current crop from Bose and Sennheiser; and put them more or less in the firing line of still-popular, last-generation models like the Sony WH-1000XM3.
Really, Sonos’ experience with driver hardware and audio processing, its near-faultless history of aesthetic and usability design, and of course its nailed-on mass appeal puts it in a great position to not only enter but usefully expand the headphones world. Let’s hope Sonos makes the most of it.
MORE:
Check out the best wireless headphones 2021 you can buy
AirPods Max teardown shows the inner workings of Apple’s headphones
Sonos is working on a compact, portable Bluetooth speaker
Whichever connectivity hub you choose, the Oberon 1 C package promises sonic satisfaction in spades
For
Detailed, musical sound
Superb midrange clarity
Two Sound Hub options
Against
Not the last word in authority
Slight lack of bass depth
The shared pursuit of love and happiness aside, not everyone is after the same thing – as Dali acknowledges in the design of its latest stereo speaker system, the Oberon 1 C. Audio systems, whether they are modest all-in-one micros or more ambitious active speaker types, often adopt a one-size-fits-all model – it’s part of their convenient, fuss-free selling point, after all. However, the Oberon 1 C have been designed to appeal to more than one kind of buyer and set-up.
Features
(Image credit: Dali)
This standmounter package belongs to a three-strong active speaker system series, which also incorporates the 7 C floorstanders and On-Wall C wall-mounted speaker and is based on the Danish company’s Oberon passive speaker range. As Dali’s most affordable active range, they sit beneath the Rubicon C and Callisto C series, which are themselves based on passive speaker ranges.
However, the Oberon C models are a slightly different proposition to their active system siblings, largely due to their more accessible nature. While the brains of the Rubicon C and Callisto C speakers lie in a separate wireless network preamplifier called the Sound Hub, the Oberon C package introduces a smaller, modified version of this box, the Sound Hub Compact.
Dali Oberon 1 C tech specs
(Image credit: Dali)
Bluetooth aptX HD
Power 4x 50W Class D amps
Finishes x4
Dimensions (hwd) 27 x 16 x 23cm
Weight 4.4kg
This box is packaged with the Oberon 1 C, but you can choose to have the original Sound Hub instead for a £250 premium. Going down the hub route, rather than packing all the connectivity inside the speaker cabinets, allows Dali to offer upgradeable boxes in the future. From an aesthetic point of view, it also gives owners the option to keep cables from connected sources away from speakers. But why two hubs? Dali feels that this price point makes the Oberon 1 C (and 7 C) an alternative to a soundbar, for those after a higher-performing TV-based system with a more convincing stereo soundstage than offered by a single bar.
The Sound Hub Compact’s connectivity certainly reflects those ambitions. There’s an HDMI ARC socket providing one means of connecting to a TV, allowing the TV remote to control the Oberon 1 C’s volume adjustments and, as the hub also supports auto input switching, largely negating the need for the system’s provided remote.
Optical inputs provide another, with one geared towards TV connectivity so that the Sound Hub can automatically power up when the TV is turned on. There’s also aptX HD Bluetooth – handy for wirelessly playing music from a phone or other Bluetooth-toting audio source – plus a pair of RCA inputs, a subwoofer output and a USB service port.
What is missing, compared with the full Sound Hub, is the BluOS streaming module, which offers DLNA playback, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and built-in access to other streaming services, such as Amazon Music, Qobuz and Deezer. The Sound Hub Compact’s lack of BluOS support and general network access means that both multi-room functionality with other BluOS devices and MQA file support aren’t available – and for some this will be an issue. The Sound Hub also features a coaxial input and preamp output, which the compact version doesn’t.
But for those who wish to keep their set-up simple, or who don’t rely upon music streaming services, the Sound Hub Compact may be all they need. Those after an active stereo system but have a bigger budget or more ambitious performance requirements should be aware that the Sound Hub Compact is also compatible with Dali’s Rubicon C and Callisto C active speakers, too.
Build
(Image credit: Dali)
Dali has reduced the size of the hub, mostly in terms of its height, so that it can more easily be tucked away on a rack. Whereas the Sound Hub’s size is comparable to a set-top box, the Sound Hub Compact is more akin to a wi-fi router, with a simple half-circle arrangement of LED lights that denote input selection.
We test both hubs with the Oberon 1 C, but whichever you choose, one of their design’s biggest blessings is their wireless transmission to speakers. The hub sends music to the Oberon 1 C over a proprietary 30-bit wireless protocol, with transmission latency from input to speaker claimed to be less than 15mS.
Upon receipt of the signal from the hub, the wireless receiver modules in the speakers detect which channel data (left or right) to play, depending on the channel assigned to each speaker during set-up. The correct channel data is passed at 24-bit/96kHz resolution to the DSP-based equalisation and crossover filter electronics. During our testing, we don’t experience any connection or latency issues and the experience is solid.
The speakers are largely unchanged from the passive Oberon 1, which in our review we said were “solid and nicely made” and “compact enough to fit unobtrusively into most rooms”. There are still four finish options – black ash, matte white, dark walnut and light oak – but, as with the Oberon 1, the biggest aesthetic statement here is provided by the mahogany coloured 13cm wood fibre mid/bass cone, which is used in conjunction with Dali’s Soft Magnet Compound (SMC) technology and sits below the 29mm soft dome tweeter in the familiar Dali arrangement. Each unit, this time though, is fed by a dedicated 50W Class D amplifier.
The Oberon 1 C’s compact dimensions mean they should be easy to house, whether flanking a TV on a rack or pair of stands (such as Dali’s own Connect Stand E-600) or alternatively wall-mounted via the speakers’ rear-panel keyhole slots. The Dalis sound pretty balanced up against a wall, despite the use of a rear reflex port, but we find they perform best when placed around 20cm to 30cm away from one, facing straight ahead. This way, the Oberon 1 C display familiar sonic behaviour – clear, articulate, fast and notably superb with vocals.
Sound
(Image credit: Dali)
We connect the Oberon 1 C to the full Sound Hub – a pairing costing £1449 – and stream Tom Odell’s Heal over Tidal Connect. The vocal-led track comes through the speakers with tangible clarity and the kind of levels of insight you can feel. Odell’s delivery is full of tenderness and the Dali is sympathetic to that, while also keeping a firm hand on the accompanying keys. This midrange insight was one of the passive Oberon 1’s highlights, and something the addition of wireless active operation hasn’t changed.
There is depth and obvious layering to what is generally an open and precise soundstage – and that still rings true with denser compositions. We play The Theory Of Everything by Jóhann Jóhannsson and the Dalis display a tight organisation in their presentation of the piano, string and percussion instrumental, while also proving astute in capturing the dynamic surges of the string ensemble.
We move to the Love Theme From The Godfather by Nino Rota and the Dalis not only have plenty of insight – the mandolin is unmistakable, the accordion textured – but they also communicate the dense and crude nature of the production. It grasps what scale there is to the strings and keeps things tidy as the piece reaches its climax.
This organisation, combined with dynamic aptitude and agility, makes for a rhythmically engaging listen. The Oberon 1 C work musically, capturing the experimentalism at the core of Oneohtrix Point Never’s Long Road Home; all the musical strands are held together well, without ever sounding messy.
(Image credit: Dali)
The Dalis have a good go at rip-roaring through pg.lost’s Suffering – there’s more than a hint of drive and weight behind the crashing electric guitars and walloping drums. However, as with the Oberon 1, you don’t get the authority or bass volume and depth you would from a physically larger pair of speakers – something that those who need to fill a big room should be aware of.
We replace the Sound Hub with the Compact version and, connecting it to the Naim ND 555/555 PS DR music streamer via RCA, are presented with the same admirable strengths and more, which is hardly surprising considering the Naim’s high-end calibre and the wired connection.
Streaming from our Samsung Galaxy S21 phone to the Sound Hub Compact over Bluetooth (in aptX form) offers less clarity, openness and refinement than that delivered by the Sound Hub’s BluOS streaming – and certainly by the Sound Hub Compact and Naim streamer pairing, as is to be expected. But, though comparatively cruder, the Dali’s detailed, organised and musical presentation is still prevalent.
Verdict
Active streaming systems are becoming increasingly common in this convenience-craving world, and the Dali Oberon 1 C are among the best examples we’ve seen at this level.
Whether you stick with the bundled TV-friendly Sound Hub Compact or upgrade to the full streaming-savvy Sound Hub, this package will make the most of the features on offer with an easy-to-use operation and a musical, clear sound. As affordable stereo speaker systems go, this one’s satisfyingly complete.
Provided they fit, Panasonic’s most premium true wireless earbuds prove classy options
For
Expansive detailed presentation
Excellent noise cancelling
Superb touch controls
Against
Fit could be an issue
Panasonic is a name more readily associated with quality TVs and Blu-ray players, but the firm has finally moved into the highly competitive true wireless earbuds market with two pairs. The more expensive of those, the Panasonic RZ-S500W, feature noise-cancelling technology (unlike the other, more affordable RZ-S300W) and are the model we have on test here.
As you might expect from a product by a major consumer electronics brand like Panasonic, the RZ-S500W’s spec sheet is pretty comprehensive. It includes Dual Hybrid Noise Cancelling Technology achieved through use of feedback coupled to analog and digital processing; an Ambient Mode to amplify surrounding noise when the time is right; twin beamforming microphones to increase the clarity of voices and reduce noise during calls; and a total of 19.5 hours of playtime with noise-cancelling activated (6.5 hours from the buds, 13 from the charging case).
The RZ-S500W initially launched at £169 ($199), but already that asking price has been reduced so it now hovers around the £100 ($150) mark. Should the competition be worried? We’re about to find out.
Comfort
(Image credit: Panasonic)
The smooth, matte plastic earpieces and their case resist smudges from our fingerprints well. The case is pocketable and features a premium-feel set of three white LEDs for battery life. The magnets to keep the lid shut are perhaps a little weaker than we’d like, but provided you keep it in your bag or your pocket the earbuds should be fine.
Inside each earpiece is an 8mm Neodymium driver, and the housings feature metallic accents around the circular top surface of each unit. Part of this visual flourish is a blue LED light, which flashes periodically when the headphones are paired and red when the buds are charging. At 21mm across and 31mm long, the housings are on the larger side, protruding a little from the ears when worn. The neck of each is angled ergonomically, but it is also fairly long – a consideration for those who aren’t used to more intrusive in-ears.
Five sizes of good-quality ear tips are supplied and easy to switch. However, even after downsizing from the standard size, the RZ-S500W aren’t the most secure pair of in-ears we’ve come across – even a brusque walk can be enough to knock one of the earpieces loose. Obviously, not getting a good seal will affect the sound presentation for dynamics, bass and detail, too, so it’s worth spending the time to get the fit right.
Build
(Image credit: Panasonic)
We download the Panasonic Audio Connect app, which offers initial prompts to help pair the headphones for the first time. Although the app doesn’t look particularly slick or new, it functions well and never crashes during testing.
On the app’s homepage, you can view your headphones and the battery life remaining in each earpiece. Below this are two tabs labelled ‘Ambient Sound Control’ and ‘Sound Enhancement’. Click on the former and you get two sliding controls to select the noise cancelling and ambient sound levels, plus a toggle to turn them off entirely. The latter pulls up four options: ‘Bass Enhancer’ and ‘Clear Voice’ sound profile presets, an ‘Equaliser’ tab with five sliders to tweak the sound, and an ‘Off’ toggle to listen at neutral.
Along the bottom of the screen, you can see the current listening volume, which is a useful touch, and in the top right is an Alexa icon. Tap it and, provided you’ve downloaded the Alexa app, you can add the RZ-S500W as accessories. Doing this means that long-touching the left bud now offers a direct line to Alexa, rather than the Siri default on our iPhone.
Other neat features include a USB-C quick-charge so that a 15-minute re-juice can deliver 70 minutes of playback, even with noise cancelling deployed. An IPX4 rating means that the earpieces should be able to handle a rainy day, too.
The twin beamforming mics ensure clear calls throughout our tests. The Bluetooth 5.0 connection is solid, though it’s worth noting that the superior aptX and aptX HD Bluetooth codecs aren’t supported.
(Image credit: Panasonic)
Touch capacitive panels on each bud are possibly the most responsive and intuitive we’ve tested within an in-ear design. They never fail to respond to our touch, but they also seem to realise when we’re simply adjusting them in our ears rather than pressing for a response.
Play, pause and volume control are done with the left earpiece; track skipping with the right. Touching the right earpiece for two seconds scrolls between the three main noise cancelling profiles (ambient sound, noise cancelling and off), but these can be further customised in the app depending on the amount of noise-cancelling or background noise you’d prefer. It’s refreshing to find on-device controls as reliable and user-friendly as these.
The noise cancelling is exceptionally good, too – so good in fact that with the noise cancelling slider set to max, we actually feel a little disorientated when standing outside near a busy road. This isn’t a criticism of the RZ-S500W – some people experience low-level balance issues when using noise-cancelling headphones – but it’s a sure sign that consistent external sounds are being largely eliminated, especially at lower frequencies.
We find the ambient sound profile just as effective, and because the touch capacitive controls are so good it is quick to deploy them without reaching for your phone. There’s no auto-off wearer detection, but at this level and with these notable talents, the RZ-S500W look impressive value for money.
Sound
(Image credit: Panasonic)
Setting all sound enhancements to neutral, we stream Eric Clapton’s Cocaine on Tidal. Slowhand’s bassy guitar riffs have ample space to shine within the spacious and cohesive mix. This particular track always makes us think that Clapton didn’t want his vocal to take centre stage, and the RZ-S500W oblige, paying his lyrics just enough attention to resonate without any hint of muddying the guitar. Before You Accuse Me is a greater test of the Panasonics’ treble frequencies and it’s a clear, agile and sparkling performance.
Switching to DJ Snake’s Taki Taki (a Tidal Master), we find agility through the low end and textured vocals across the frequencies. In direct comparison, even the Award-winning Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 suffer marginally for detail. The reggaeton track starts off quietly, almost as if played in a tunnel, and the Panasonics easily match the Cambridge Audios for the nuanced build through the intro.
Our playlist continues to Daddy Yankee and Snow’s Con Calma and the Panasonics continue to time well, with a sensible dollop of energy through the rise and fall of each beat. The sound is refined, clear, agile and never harsh. If we’re really nitpicking, it might err on the side of subtlety over fun – but it never underplays our music’s meatiness and excitement.
We stream Lascia Ch’io Pianga from Handel’s opera Rinaldo, and the piano feels nicely three dimensional beside a clear bass with plenty of depth. When the emotive build of the keys comes in – the kind of musical passage that heightens our emotions – we hear that marginal cautiousness in terms of dynamic build. Again, at this price, it almost feels churlish to mention it.
As we move on to Fractals (Truth 4) by Jessica Moss, the snaking, skulking build of the strings is as impactful through the RZ-S500W as it can be at this level. We sample the same track through the more affordable, also Award-winning Earfun Air, and there is plenty of difference in terms of nuance and detail. The Earfuns present a zealous sound with plenty of snap, but the Panasonics offer an extra ounce of detail and transparency. At this level, spending just a little more can often pay dividends, and that’s certainly the case here.
Verdict
At their original asking price, these Panasonic true wireless earbuds faced plenty of tough competition in the true wireless market. However, with the price having dropped considerably, their noise-cancelling, performance, touch-capacitive controls, in-app features and general build quality are nothing short of superb for the money.
The Panasonic RZ-S500W feel like a far more expensive product, because it is. The bottom line is that the sound here is as detailed, accurate and transparent as this money can currently buy in a true wireless design. Just make sure they suit your ears.
Moon’s 680D network streamer couples refined sound quality and fine build with a generous features set
For
Refined, well-imaged presentation
Articulate and fluid midrange
Fine build and finish
Against
Needs more sonic punch
Bluetooth not aptX HD
If you’re the kind of person who judges hi-fi by its specifications, high-end network streamers present quite a problem. On paper, there’s usually little to separate them from those available at a fraction of their price. The mass-produced budget offerings often lead the way in cutting edge technology, thanks to economies of scale and the sheer buying power of the larger companies that invariably make them.
In order for smaller brands such as Moon to compete successfully, they have to look upmarket to price points where obsessive attention to engineering detail is valued and sound quality takes absolute priority.
Don’t take that to mean that this Moon 680D streamer is in any way a stripped-out purist affair. Music streamers from the likes of Linn and Naim have shown that it’s possible to have an extensive features set and still deliver great sound, and this Moon simply reinforces that.
Features
(Image credit: Moon)
You’ll find no shortage of connectivity here. There’s an impressive array of digital inputs taking in USB, AES/EBU, optical, and coax in both RCA and BNC forms. There are nine inputs in total, though number eight is reserved for the built-in streaming module and input nine is for aptX Bluetooth (though we would have hoped for aptX HD in a newly released product at this level).
Moon 680D tech specs
(Image credit: Moon)
AirPlay 2 Yes
Roon ready Yes
Inputs USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF, optical, ethernet, wi-fi, aptX Bluetooth
Frequency response 2Hz – 100kHz
Dimensions (hwd) 10 x 48 x 43cm
Weight 18kg
While Bluetooth invariably falls short of the hard-wired inputs in terms of performance, we’re still happy that Moon has chosen to include it. Such an input makes the 680D a more inclusive device, allowing a quick listen from a friend’s phone or to provide better sound reproduction from a YouTube video.
You can connect the 680D to your home network wirelessly, but we would recommend taking the wired ethernet route – not that there’s anything innately wrong with Moon’s wireless implementation, more that the cable approach is always the most stable way to go.
The analogue outputs are the usual sets of single-ended RCAs and balanced XLRs. In our set-up, which includes a Burmester 088/911 Mk3 amplifier, paired either to the ATC SCM50 or Wilson Benesch Precision P2.0 speakers, the Moon’s balanced outputs sound bolder and more dynamic. We use the Naim ND555/555PS DR music streamer as our digital source with an Apple MacBook Pro (loaded with Audirvana music-playing software and plenty of hi-res music) providing the USB signal and general back up.
Build
(Image credit: Moon)
Look inside the 680D and it’s hard not to be pleased by the build quality on offer. We’re impressed with the care taken over the circuit layout and power supply arrangement. The 680D uses Moon’s MHP (Moon Hybrid Power) power supply module, as used in the company’s even pricier, reference products.
The MHP module mixes both traditional linear and switch mode technologies to deliver a stable, low-noise and power-efficient energy feed to the signal circuitry. The digital and analogue sections are powered by separate outputs from the supply to avoid unwanted interactions and optimise performance.
Those wishing to boost performance further can add an outboard power supply unit in the form of Moon’s 820S, which at £7200 ($8000, AU$14,000) is a pricey upgrade and would almost double your outlay. We don’t have one on hand for our review, but we can’t help thinking that most potential buyers will think that a jump too far. That said, our experiences with Naim, Nagra and others have shown that such power supply upgrades invariably improve sound quality dramatically.
Each of the nine digital inputs feed into an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that identifies the file type – whether that’s PCM, DSD or MQA – and re-clocks the signal accordingly. We have no complaints regarding the Moon’s file compatibility, which is up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 files and should, therefore, cover pretty much everyone’s music file collection.
The digital heart of the 680D is based around ESS Sabre’s ES9028PRO DAC chipset. The chip packs no fewer than eight DAC chips, configured so that four combine to create the signal for each channel. The output of each chip is carefully calibrated so that none of them are set to work at the same level. Doing this is claimed to reduce the effect of any distortion that may be common at any specific output level.
Great care has been taken with the digital clocking system, too. It is carefully positioned to minimise jitter effects and has a dedicated precision voltage regulator to ensure a stable power feed. Once the digital music stream is converted to analogue, it passes through a fully balanced output stage that, as expected, is packed with high-grade components.
Sound
(Image credit: Moon)
The Moon 680D sounds pretty good from cold but improves considerably over a few weeks of use. Given time, it becomes clearer and more transparent, gaining an appreciable amount of openness in the process.
We start with the digital inputs, which prove remarkably consistent. In our experience, many high-end companies struggle to make their USB inputs sound as good as the others. We suspect that has something to do with the fact that the USB receiver module tends to be a ready-made unit bought from third-party suppliers that may not match up to the standards of the rest of the DAC circuitry. We’re pleased to report that Moon avoids any such issues.
Regardless of the input chosen, the sonic signature is familiar enough. The company’s products have always been smooth and refined performers and this one is no different. It’s a friendly and accommodating balance – one that isn’t easily provoked by bright or aggressive recordings.
That doesn’t mean the 680D isn’t revealing – this is a wonderfully detailed-sounding product – but rather that its easy-going nature means it doesn’t tend to get ruffled easily. We play Hans Zimmer’s The Dark Knight Rises OST (24-bit/192kHz) and the Moon delivers a large-scale and sumptuous sound.
There’s also a trace of extra warmth to the sound compared with hard-line neutral alternatives, such as the pricier dCS Bartók. That warmth isn’t overdone; it simply adds an attractive bloom to the sound, making it less demanding to listen to over longer listening sessions.
Instrumental textures come through convincingly and it’s easy enough to follow subtle musical strands in the dense production. We’re pleased with the Moon’s composure when pushed hard, as well as its ability to organise all that information into a cohesive and musical whole.
It’s rare to hear a network streamer render such an expansive and layered soundstage while populating it with such tightly focused instruments. Everything stays stable even when the music becomes busy – which, as you’ll know if you’ve heard this recording, is saying something, as Zimmer doesn’t hold back on his trademark bombast.
(Image credit: Moon)
But here, the Moon starts to split opinion. While loving its civilised approach to music making, we can’t help but wish for more muscularity when it comes to expressing dynamic contrasts and punching out crescendos. It’s not that the Moon can’t do these things, more that it sounds a little restrained while doing them.
Restraint is something that shouldn’t suit Kanye West’s Yeezus, yet the Moon’s agility and articulation make listening to this album a pleasure. Sure, a little more directness and rhythmic drive would be nice, but there’s no denying that the Moon can entertain. It conveys the attitude of the music well and there’s never any doubt as to what West wants the listener to feel.
We switch to the onboard streaming module and find it to be a slick performer. There’s a dedicated app, and it works well. Moon has been making streaming products for a number of years now and that experience tells in the consistency and stability of operation.
Over our test period, everything operates as it should, without issue. Alongside the ability to stream music files from a NAS drive on your network, the app also provides access to Tidal Masters, Qobuz Sublime+ and Deezer Hi-Fi. The 680D is AirPlay 2 and Roon-ready too. There really is little to complain about on the features front here.
Sonically, the balance matches what we hear through the digital inputs. There’s the same grace under duress and the kind of sophisticated and cultured delivery that works well across a range of recordings and genres. It’s an engaging listen, though given the expectations of the price point we still have questions over its dynamic punch and ability to communicate the momentum in a piece of music. These shortcomings are more obvious here than when using other digital sources (bar through Bluetooth, of course).
Verdict
The streaming module is essentially the same as that used in the company’s Mind 2 network streamer, which is available for £1950 ($1950, AU$3199) and looks like a good performer for the money. Whether it’s a good enough source to make the most of such an ambitious DAC design is open to question.
Regardless, there’s no denying that the 680D remains a strong performer overall. It’s slick in use, nicely made and built with care. We have no complaints about file compatibility, and we’re huge fans of its refined and articulate sonic nature. At the very least it deserves a place on the shortlist.
Famous Danish manufacturer Copland has released a top-of-the-range integrated amplifier in its latest CSA series. The new CSA 150 is a hybrid design, using a double triode gain stage (6922) with MOS-FET buffering.
The solid-state bipolar output stage is rated with an output power of 150-watts per channel into 8Ω and 230-watts per channel into 4Ω.
Best stereo amplifiers 2021
(Image credit: Copland)
According to Aleksandar Maksimovic of Audio Magic, which distributes Copland in Australia the new amplifier will deliver higher power when reproducing music. “Under dynamic conditions the CSA 150’s current feedback power plant will deliver several times its rated power, more than enough to drive almost any loudspeaker,” he said.
The Copland CSA 150 has a built-in DAC that uses an ES9018 Reference 32-bit DAC to provide multiple S/PDIF inputs (one coaxial, two optical) plus a USB input and has both PCM and DSD capabilities. An optional aptX HD Bluetooth module can be fitted if wireless capability is required.
(Image credit: Copland)
For analogue use, the Copland CSA 150 has three unbalanced line inputs, two balanced line inputs and a phono input (MM). It also has a dedicated headphone output stage and balanced and unbalanced line-level outputs.
Copland rates the CSA 150 with a frequency response of 10Hz to 150kHz (–3dB) and a signal-to-noise ratio of ‘better than’ 90dB (IHF-A).
The Copland CSA 150 is available now, listed at AU$8400 in Australia. Pricing in other regions is yet to be confirmed, but this works out at roughly £4690 / $6530.
Bowers & Wilkins has launched a new Music App that lets you control music across the B&W Formation range of products. The B&W Music App works with Qobuz (including hi-res, 24-bit 96kHz files), Tidal, TuneIn, Dash Radio (in certain markets), NTS Radio and SoundCloud. More services will be added “in the coming months”, according to B&W.
Previously, the B&W Formation range recommended use Roon to control your music (or AirPlay 2 or Spotify Connect), with the B&W Home App only offering set-up functionality. Now, much like multi-room systems from Bluesound, Audio Pro and Sonos, there is a fully functioning control app.
The B&W Music App aggregates content from each streaming platform into one “easily browsed and elegant interface”. It brings you tracks, albums, playlists and radio stations, which B&W adds to with personalised recommendation features and a selection of curated Bowers & Wilkins playlists.
Music App is available now on iOS and Android. Initially, it will work alongside the existing Bowers & Wilkins Home App, which guides you on how to set up your Formation device. But soon the Music App will do the job of both, and the Home App will be retired.
Following a management shake-up at B&W, the company is keen to stress that “the Formation platform is wholly owned by Bowers & Wilkins”. B&W has also been on a hiring spree in an effort to expand its development resources and engineering team, which sounds like good news to us.
The Formation family is B&W’s take on a multi-room system. And it’s very good indeed. The Formation Wedge and Formation Duo both picked up a perfect five stars from our reviews, while the Flex earned a still very respectable four. They all offer AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth aptX HD for offline streaming from mobile devices, as well as integrated support for Spotify Connect and Roon. They can all be controlled with your voice using the Amazon Alexa personal assistant, too.
And now there’s an all-new Music App, which sounds like it could make Formation an even more enticing proposition.
MORE:
These are the best multi-room systems around
Get the lowdown: Multi-room audio – everything you need to know
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 care about hi-res audio? If you want the best digital music experience possible or at least better sound quality than you’re currently used to (and why wouldn’t you?), hi-res audio is definitely worth investigating.
It can be a daunting prospect. After all, what exactly constitutes hi-res audio, what do all the different file formats and numbers mean, where can you download or stream these high quality files, and what devices do you need to play it?
Indeed, where do you even begin?
That’s where we come in. Our handy guide will take you through the ins and outs of hi-res audio. By the end, we hope you’ll know everything you need to know (and then some) and will be well on your way to enjoying your new and improved sonic lifestyle.
50 of the best hi-fi albums for audiophiles
What is high-resolution audio?
Unlike high-definition video, there’s no single universal standard for hi-res audio. In 2014, the Digital Entertainment Group, Consumer Electronics Association and The Recording Academy, together with record labels, formally defined high-resolution audio as “lossless audio that is capable of reproducing the full range of sound from recordings that have been mastered from better than CD quality music sources”.
In its simplest terms, hi-res audio tends to refer to music files that have a higher sampling frequency and/or bit depth than CD, which is specified at 16-bit/44.1kHz.
Sampling frequency (or sample rate) refers to the number of times samples of the signal are taken per second during the analogue-to-digital conversion process. The more bits there are, the more accurately the signal can be measured in the first instance, so going 16bit to 24bit can deliver a noticeable leap in quality. Hi-res audio files usually use a sampling frequency of 96kHz or 192kHz at 24bit. You can also have 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz files too.
Hi-res audio does come with a downside though: file size. A hi-res file can typically be tens of megabytes in size, and a few tracks can quickly eat up the storage on your device or be cumbersome to stream over your wi-fi or mobile network. Thankfully, storage is much cheaper than it used to be, so it’s easier to get higher-capacity devices. And technologies such as MQA (see below) have arrived to help tackle that.
That’s not all: there are also several different hi-res audio file formats to choose from, all of which have their own compatibility requirements.
They include the popular FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) formats, both of which are compressed but in a way which means that, in theory, no information is lost. Other formats include the uncompressed WAV and AIFF formats, DSD (the format used for Super Audio CDs) and the more recent MQA (Master Quality Authenticated).
The relative merits of each of the formats can be argued, but the most crucial issue will be the file’s compatibility with your chosen products and software.
Here’s a breakdown of all the main file formats:
MP3 (not hi-res): Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size, but far from the best sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods, but doesn’t support hi-res.
AAC (not hi-res): An alternative to MP3s, it’s lossy and compressed but sounds better. Used for iTunes downloads, Apple Music streaming (at 256kbps) and YouTube streaming.
WAV (hi-res): The standard format all CDs are encoded in. Great sound quality but it’s uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information).
AIFF (hi-res): Apple’s alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes), but not massively popular.
FLAC (hi-res): This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata. It’s royalty-free and widely supported (though not by Apple) and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums.
ALAC (hi-res): Apple’s own lossless compression format also does hi-res, stores metadata and takes up half the space of WAV. An iTunes- and iOS-friendly alternative to FLAC.
DSD(hi-res): The single-bit format used for Super Audio CDs. It comes in 2.8MHz, 5.6mHz and 11.2mHz varieties, but isn’t widely supported.
MQA(hi-res): A lossless compression format that efficiently packages hi-res files with more emphasis on the time domain. Used for Tidal Masters hi-res streaming, and product support is picking up pace.
MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: all the audio file formats explained
What’s so good about hi-res audio?
The main claimed benefit of high-resolution audio files is superior sound quality over compressed audio formats such as MP3 and AAC.
Downloads from sites such as Amazon and iTunes, and streaming services such as Spotify, use compressed file formats with relatively low bitrates – such as 256kbps AAC files on Apple Music and 320kbps Ogg Vorbis streams on Spotify.
The use of lossy compression means data is lost in the encoding process, which in turn means resolution is sacrificed for the sake of convenience and smaller file sizes. This has an effect upon the sound quality – those formats aren’t telling the full story of our favourite songs.
This might be fine when you’re listening to Spotify playlists on your smartphone on the bus on the morning commute, but serious audiophiles and music fans should want better. This is where high-resolution audio comes in.
To illustrate why it should sound better than MP3, for example, let’s compare the relative bitrates. The highest quality MP3 has a bitrate of 320kbps, whereas a 24-bit/192kHz file has a data rate of 9216kbps. Music CDs are 1411kbps.
The hi-res 24-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz files should, therefore, more closely replicate the sound quality the musicians and engineers were working with in the studio. And they could be that very same recorded file, too. These files are labelled as “Studio Masters” in some cases.
With more information on the file to play with, hi-res audio tends to boast greater detail and texture, bringing listeners closer to the original performance – provided your system is transparent enough.
What do I need to play hi-res audio?
There’s a huge variety of products that can playback hi-res audio. It all depends on how big or small you want your system to be, how much your budget is, and what method you’ll mostly be using to listen to your tunes. But it’s never been easier to get involved, now that plenty of the digital and streaming ecosystem supports hi-res, and especially as popular streaming platforms such as Google Chromecast (although not AirPlay 2) do.
These days, even, you don’t have to completely abandon your vinyl collection to go hi-res, either; turntables such as the Sony PS-HX500 let you digitise your vinyl collection by ripping your record tracks into hi-res audio files.
Smartphones If you’re going portable, smartphones are increasingly supporting hi-res playback. This is restricted to higher-end Android models, though – Apple iPhones so far don’t support hi-res audio out of the box (though there are ways around this by using the right app, and then either plugging in a DAC or using Lightning headphones with the iPhones’ Lightning connector).
Phones that have USB-C sockets instead of 3.5mm headphones jacks for music playback – as is becoming the norm – can boost their USB-C output with adapters such as Zorloo’s Ztella USB-C DAC.
Hi-res audio is increasingly easy to stream wirelessly thanks to new advancements in Bluetooth. Phones with aptX HD Bluetooth support (which many these days have, although Apple’s iPhones are an exception) can wirelessly transmit hi-res audio to aptX HD-supporting headphones (such as the Sony WH-1000XM4 and WH-1000XM3 and Bowers & Wilkins PX7 noise-cancelling headphones).
aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it?
Portable music players Alternatively, there are plenty of dedicated portable hi-res music players such as various Sony Walkmans and Award-winning Astell & Kerns and Cowons that offer more storage space and far better sound quality than a multi-tasking smartphone. More digital players than not support hi-res audio, although again an Apple product is the exception, this time the iPod Touch.
Desktop For a desktop solution, your laptop (Windows, Mac, Linux) is a prime source for storing and playing hi-res music (after all, this is where you’ll be downloading the tunes from hi-res download sites anyway), but make sure the software you use to play music also supports hi-res playback. Apple iTunes, for instance, doesn’t support it, even if your MacBook does, so you’ll need to buy and download separate music playing software. The likes of Channel D’s Pure Music and Amarra are worth considering for a Mac. On a PC? Try JRiver Media Center.
DACs We wouldn’t just rely on your computer or phone’s internal DAC to do hi-res audio justice, either. A USB or desktop DAC (such as the Cyrus soundKey, Chord Mojo or Audiolab M-DAC nano) is a good way to get great sound quality out of hi-res files stored on your computer or smartphone (whose audio circuits don’t tend to be optimised for sound quality). Simply plug a decent digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) in between your source and headphones for an instant sonic boost.
Best DACs: USB, portable and desktop DAC
Music streamers
If you’re after a proper hi-fi set-up, you’ll need to look into music streamers that support hi-res, and highly recommendable contenders include the Audiolab 6000N Play, Cambridge CXN V2 and NAD C 658. This is especially if you’ll be storing your growing hi-res library on a NAS (Network Attached Storage, essentially a hard-drive with processing built in), which we would recommend.
Systems
There are plenty of other products that also support hi-res playback, including hybrid DAC-amp-streamer systems (Moon Neo Ace), speaker systems with everything built into them (KEF LS50 Wireless II), just-add-speaker systems (Marantz PM7000N) and current AV receivers (Sony STR-DN1080).
The ever-popular Sonos multi-room system still has no plans to support hi-res audio, and neither does Apple. But that has led rival companies such as Bluesound to offer hi-res playback across their range of connected products (for a higher price, of course).
Wireless speakers At the higher end of the wireless speaker market you’ll find hi-res support the norm. The likes of the Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation, Linn Series 3 and Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge are all able to handle hi-res file playback over wi-fi.
Best wireless speakers 2021
Where can I buy and download hi-res music?
Now that you’re armed with all this information on hi-res music, your next question should be: where can I get all these glorious hi-res music tracks?
There are currently a handful of UK download sites that let you buy and download single tracks and full albums in various hi-res formats. There are also plenty of US and European sites, though not all of them let you purchase from the UK.
Major music labels such as Sony, Warner and Universal have made their extensive music catalogues available to these hi-res download services – which is a real shot in the arm for fans of high-resolution audio. With all sites, make sure it’s clear what file format and bitrate you are buying. Ultimately, you may end up with a favourite go-to site, but even then, it’s worth checking across the different sites for the same album or track, too, as some stores can offer better prices than others.
Here are the top UK hi-res download sites:
7Digital With a strong catalogue offering hi-res music from all genres and a website that makes buying music easy, 7digital is an excellent all-rounder. There’s an accurate search function and the website is simple to navigate. You can easily spot hi-res recordings thanks to a ’24bit FLAC’ badge on an album or song’s thumbnail, and there’s also a dedicated hi-res section. The sole drawback is that it only offers downloads in the FLAC format. Prices are affordable, though, and you can buy individual tracks as well as full albums.
Qobuz Sublime
Music discovery and front-end intuitiveness get full marks on French download store Qobuz. Both the website and dedicated app are easy to navigate, and you can search by genre or new releases, which can be sorted by sample rate. There is a strong Francophile focus, although the catalogue is growing more varied every day. Pricing is competitive, but if you opt for the hybrid download-and-streaming Sublime+ service you do get discounts when buying hi-res albums.
HDtracks
HDtracks may be one of the most established hi-res download stores, but it’s in need of a refresh in looks and catalogue. It can feel aimed at an older audience (there’s strong focus on jazz, classical and dad rock), which can be off-putting for wider audiences, especially fans of more current, popular music. On the other hand, whereas other download sites offer FLAC as default, HDtracks lets you choose between FLAC, ALAC, WAV and AIFF (and the sampling rate for each) before downloading. There’s a selection of DSD tunes, too, which is great for audiophiles.
How to build the perfect hi-fi system
Where can I stream hi-res music?
Not ready to download hi-res files, or simply prefer streaming? Tidal and Qobuz streaming services have offered hi-res and CD-quality streams for years, putting them ahead of rivals Spotify and Apple Music. And now that Amazon has joined the party with its HD service, hi-res streaming is now firmly in the mainstream domain.
Tidal Masters Tidal and MQA’s partnership has brought us one step closer to mainstream hi-res music streaming. You’ll need to subscribe to Tidal’s HiFi tier (which offers CD quality streaming) to unlock the Masters section, and then you can stream hi-res MQA files through the desktop app and Android/iOS mobile apps.
Tidal claims a 30,000-strong catalogue of MQA files, with about 400 clearly labelled. The MQA files have a resolution of up to 24-bit/96kHz (any 192kHz files will be unpackaged to 96kHz by MQA’s core decoding). With the right kit, the streamed tunes sound great, too. It’s a solid foundation from which the hi-res streaming experience can only evolve.
Qobuz Sublime+ Qobuz strikes again here and says its hybrid download-and-streaming tier is ‘”the best music subscription in the world.” This top-tier package offers hi-res streaming up to 24bit/192kHz files (as well as CD quality tracks) on its desktop and mobile apps, with its 50-million-track catalogue including more than 240,000 hi-res albums.
The big downside is the price – you have to pay an upfront £250 annual fee to use Sublime+ and all its perks (which does include good discounts when buying hi-res albums). And in comparison, we found Tidal offers more drive and dynamism when it comes to sound quality. Qobuz’s hi-res streaming tier is a great venture, but only if you’re fully committed to hi-res streaming.
Amazon Music HD The most recent entrant into the hi-res streaming service world is Amazon – and its arrival at the end of 2019 largely marked hi-res streaming going mainstream. The cheapest hi-res service of the three, the value-packed streaming service is up there with the best thanks to its Intuitive desktop and mobile apps, good CD-quality and hi-res library and excellent value.
What’s next for hi-res audio?
With more support than ever before, hi-res audio is a viable choice for anyone interested in audio quality, whether part of your home audio system or when on the move.
Whether the biggest players – Apple, Sonos and Spotify – will ever natively support hi-res remains to be seen, but there are plenty of other, increasingly affordable ways that you can start delving into the hi-res audio world. (Interestingly, 360-degree or surround sound formats such as Sony 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos Music respectively are also making headway in offering higher quality, if not necessarily ‘hi-res’, music experiences, so they’re other options for melomaniacs to explore.)
With this wider availability, more people are able to learn and understand exactly what high-resolution audio is, and the benefits it can bring to music. There’s plenty of content out there, and there’s plenty of hardware to go with it.
So if you want the ultimate sonic solution, you know what to do.
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(Pocket-lint) – Cambridge Audio has been around for donkey’s years and has built something of a tradition in the world of home audio equipment. But in the world of headphones, it doesn’t quite draw the attention as much as the likes of Sony, Bose or Sennheiser. So when it launched a pair of true wireless earbuds, the Melomania 1, that was something of a surprise.
Even more of a surprise, perhaps, was that the Melomania 1 was both great-sounding and very affordable. So the follow-up pair had a high bar to meet. Can Cambridge Audio blow us away with great, affordable buds for a second time? Here’s how the Melomania Touch fares…
Design
Touch controls
IPX4 water resistance
Faux leather coated case
Available in black or white
3x ear fin and 3x ear tip sizes for fit
Cambridge Audio launched its first pair of true wireless earbuds in 2018, and stood out from the market for a couple reasons. One of those was the design, which reminded us of little foam-tipped bullets. Of course, this shape wasn’t necessarily the most ergonomic or practical for in-ear fit, but the lightweight and easy-to-wear finish helped counter that.
Pocket-lint
The Melomania Touch looks nothing like the first-gen model and doesn’t feel the same in the ears either. It’s a huge change in direction, and one that has its benefits and its drawbacks.
The new warped teardrop-shape design of the Melomania Touch means these ‘buds are designed to fit and almost fill the inner part of your year, holding onto the middle ridge with an in-ear fin. That means, by their very nature, the individual ‘buds are a much more secure fit than the looser-fitting predecessors.
Because of the various sizes of fin and ear tips, we did find it took a couple of tries to get the right fit for us. Trying out a couple of different combinations we eventually settled on one that was comfortable but with a decent seal and with minimal pressure. Essentially just stepping down a size from the default fit. As we talk about in the sound section later on, getting this right fit is essential for good audio.
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Even with a better fit for this generation you can still tell those tips are in your ear. As the tips are the standard shape and size for earbuds, you can always feel them in there and don’t quite get to that almost undetectable level you’ll find with wider cone-shaped tips. The Touch’s feel isn’t uncomfortable though, so you’ll be fine for a couple of hours at a time – too much longer and you will start to feel some sensitivity.
As we’re sure you gathered from the name ‘Touch’, these in-ears outer surface is touch-sensitive but of course, so you can use it to control various features, such as playing and pausing music or skipping tracks. Like most earbuds that feature this, it’s useful when you’re needing to use it on purpose. Most of the time we interacted with the Touch, however, it was accidentally.
The problem with such a large area being touch-sensitive is that if you try to adjust the fit, reach to remove the buds, or frankly do anything that involves touching them, it’s quite finicky trying to avoid that touch-sensitive area and inadvertently playing or pausing music.
Pocket-lint
The charging case is a nice upgrade for this second-gen model. Rather than looking like a small pack of dental floss made from the beige plastic cast-off from a 1990s desktop PC, this cases is pill-shaped and coated in a soft faux leather. It’s a lovely looking and lovely feeling case, although we found the docks for each earbud could do with having stronger feeling magnet, to ensure that each ‘bud was absolutely in the right position to charge.
Performance, features and voice calls
Bluetooth 5.0 and AAC
Qualcomm aptX, TrueWireless Stereo Plus
7 hours music playback (33 hrs in case)
50 hours total maximum battery life (in low power mode)
Cambridge Audio has equipped the Melomania Touch with a lot of the modern tech you’d hope to find in true wireless earbuds. There’s aptX for lag-free connection with most Android phones. In addition there’s Qualcomm’s other tech: TrueWireless Stereo Plus. This connects each earbud to the Android phone independently and to each other, rather than use one ‘bud as the primary and have the other feed from it.
There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 and AAC support, so Apple iPhone users are catered for. The Touch even uses Qualcomm’s tech for enhancing the clarity of voice calls, so while Cambridge Audio is something of a traditional British audiophile company, it’s had the sense to try and utilise expertise from available tech to make these ‘buds convenient for the day-to-day user who will want to use them for calls.
Pocket-lint
However, we did struggle at times with the wireless connectivity. It started with the initial setup, where we struggled with pairing and for the ‘buds to be discoverable – to the point where we went through the factory reset guide. Even then we could only get one ‘buds to pair – something that a firmware fix attempt couldn’t sort.
Given that all controls, including the reset process, are activated using that shiny touch-sensitive surface no physical feedback, it’s not exactly easy to perform such tasks. We’d much rather the Touch adopted a similar approach to the companies that have a single physical pairing button on the case itself, rather than trying to press-and-hold a touch-sensitive area on two earbuds simultaneously that’s curved and naturally slippery and may or may not respond as it’s supposed to. It’s finicky to say the least.
So we ended up seeking a replacement pair of the Melomania Touch just to make sure everything checked out. Which, generally speaking, has been the case. Once paired with replacement ‘buds, our connection has been reliable during our testing. With music playing, we’ve had no issues with the audio cutting out once it’s got going.
But connectivity didn’t seem to be quite as on the ball in all areas: upon initial connection, having removed the ‘buds from the case, the music would start in one ear before the other by a second or so. That wait isn’t the norm these days.
Pocket-lint
Battery life is strong, even in its normal usage mode. Up to seven hours out of the case at a time is more than enough for anyone, even if you’re taking a long journey. Cambridge Audio says you can get up to 50 hours total battery time if you’re happy switching to low power mode, but the process on how to do that isn’t exactly obvious or easy within the app, and really we’re just not sure it’s worth the hassle.
Getting up to 33 hours of total battery – including the charges in the case – is more than the average from most true wireless buds, so that’ll do just fine in our. Plus, you don’t have to put up with the lower quality sound you get from low power mode, which is actually this pair of ‘buds biggest plus point.
Sound quality
7mm drivers
Melomania app for EQ
As we’ve mentioned, the sound is highly dependent on the fit. For instance, if you have too snug a fit the bass will get a little too ‘boomy’ – particularly in songs where there’s some significant bass or bass drum powering the rhythm. As examples, the bass in Hoping by X Ambassadors or the kick drum in Dopeness by Black Eyed Peas. Some people might really like that high impact bass though. In a lot of songs it is highly enjoyable, but in others it just gets a tiny bit too much for our taste.
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Thankfully, there’s a manual equaliser (EQ) to adjust the sound to your own preference. This is found within the app, where you can also enable and adjust the transparency mode to let in external audio, so that you’re not completely blocked off from the world.
Use a fit that’s less pressured and the sound changes a little to become a lot more natural and less bass heavy. Bass is still quite prominent, but it doesn’t detract from the rest of the frequencies. In fact, the 7mm drivers in these ‘buds are some of the most detailed you’ll hear at this price point.
So with the right fit you get loud and prominent bass, but also all of the subtleties elsewhere in the mix Jangly piano is still bright and clear, as is subtle guitar string plucking, while vocals are delivered with clarity. Nothing is ever drowned out by those punchy bass notes. So all in all, it’s a dynamic sound that’s impressive at this end of the earbud market. And that’s what really matters.
Verdict
After loving the sound that came from the original Cambridge Audio Melomania 1, we had high hopes for the follow-up pair. And there’s no denying, the audio from the Melomania Touch is super – vibrant, punchy and hugely enjoyable.
But the earbuds suffer from connection issues and a design that’s just not hugely practical. Whether it’s the frustrating pairing process, or the fact that – at times – the connection to one of the ‘buds failed or was delayed, the experience lacked the polish we’d come to expect given the success of the first outing.
Still, once you have the Melomania Touch in our ears and are listening to music – and not touching them, because that touch-sensitive panel is easy to hit by accident – the music is so good.
In this price range you’re unlikely to find anything that sounds as dynamic and clear as these. We’re just wary given the connectivity ups and downs.
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As reliable a pair of true wireless ‘buds as you’ll find. These in-ears are small, comfortable to wear and deliver a sound solid.
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These sporty in-ears offer a lot of Sony’s smart ambient sound control and the noise-cancellation tech is the real star. Battery life is only average though, which is surprising given the (massive) size of the case. Overall these ‘buds sound great and offer plenty of customisation.
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 review originally appeared in Sound+Image magazine, one of What Hi-Fi?’s Australian sister publications. Click here for more information on Sound+Image, including digital editions and details on how you can subscribe.
We don’t recall a product ever ‘coming good’ during a review to the quite same extent as did the Ruark R3 Compact Music System. It positively alarmed us when we first turned it on. But by the end of our time with this streaming tabletop music system we were using it daily for pleasure as much as for assessment. Join us in our journey with this timeless design from a UK company which has made this genre of smart radiogram-like music system something of a specialty.
Build & facilities
The R3 is a table-top audio system (£629, $790, AU$1299) which stands some 42cm across and 17cm high, bringing together CD replay, reception of DAB+, FM and internet radio, streaming via network and Bluetooth (with aptX), Spotify Connect, Tidal and other music services… pretty much everything, in short, that the modern music world has to offer.
You can plug in additional sources – there’s one optical and one analogue input, also a minijack headphone output and a ‘line out’ at full level, so you could run the whole gamut of sources into a hi-fi amp or a recorder.
Ruark’s great skill is in offering this potentially overwhelming profusion of sources in a friendly box – old-style, you might even call it, with its grey cloth grille and walnut casing, though a more modern-looking soft-grey lacquer finish is also available.
On top is the company’s longstanding Rotodial for control, while a small infrared remote is also included, along with app control from a smart device. And if it’s going bedside, you can avail yourself of the useful alarm clocks, snooze and sleep timer functions.
Ruark’s other skill is sound quality. This is a company we can still remember of old as Ruark Acoustics, making fine British loudspeakers with thrusting names like Sabre and Swordsman through the 1980s and 1990s. Then in the 2000s when digital radio was trending, Ruark developed the little R1, which the UK’s Sunday Telegraph hailed as “the Aston Martin of DAB radios”.
Such was the R1’s success that traditional loudspeakers fell by the wayside (though “never say never”, says owner Alan O’Rourke), and the reinvented Ruark Audio now has a range of radio and streaming solutions, from the latest Mk4 version of the R1 ‘deluxe’ up to a large four-legged radiogram of the future, the highly desirable R7 Mk3.
So Ruark has a heritage of hi-fi sound, and we’ve enjoyed many of its players in the past, so were looking forward to this new R3.
(Image credit: Ruark Audio)
Setting up
We had no problems setting up the R3; we gave it Ethernet and attached the antenna required for radio reception; this may confuse newbies by flopping around loosely, but we knew from previous Ruark visits that there’s a special aerial spanner in the packaging for this very purpose!
We began our listening by sampling its skills with radio. We selected digital radio and, being fresh from the box, the R3 scanned Sydney’s airwaves and found some 70 available DAB+ stations all awaiting selection via a shuttle of the R3’s top Rotodial. And all were sounding pretty unpleasant – very spitty in the treble, artificial-sounding, with voices thin in their midrange content, and music lumpy in the bass.
We changed to internet radio – it was no better, indeed slightly worse on low-resolution stations. We were worried by this, to be honest: it was not the sound we expect from Ruark devices, which normally present a warm friendly radio sound.
We hastened to the tone controls through the menus. There are four elements to the tone controls: bass and treble adjustment, a loudness option which was ‘on’ by default, and – ah! – a ‘3D’ option. This 3D option was also on by default. Switching it off went a long way to removing the artificial spittiness from the radio sources.
We further tamed the treble by a few notches, left the loudness on, and kept the bass in its central position. This brought the radio sections back to what we’d expect from Ruark – full and friendly, just a teeny bit fizzy up top but no longer distractingly so.
The remote control has three large preset buttons, which are available separately for each source, so three for FM, three for DAB+, three for internet radio. You store them by simply pressing and holding the button when listening to a station.
But in fact there are 10 presets for each type of radio; you can access the rest by pressing and holding the ‘preset’ button then pressing the left-right buttons to reach presets 4 to 10. Recall them the same way, without the holding. It’s easy, versatile, and very useful.
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App control
For those with less than 20/20 vision who can’t read the small lettering on the front display across the room for source selection (let alone the tinier menu options), there’s a handy free app available for control. This is Undok, the control app from Frontier Silicon, maker of the smart module within the R3.
We’ve long enjoyed Undok, and are pleased to see it back after an unexplained hiatus. Undok controlled the R3 effectively, though not entirely. For example, there’s access to bass, treble and loudness, but not the all-important ‘3D’ option, for which you’ll need to use the remote and/or Rotodial to switch on or off.
App quirk two: we tried to rename the R3, but it refused to change to ‘Ruark R3’… yet when we jokingly tried ‘Simon’, that was OK. Turns out that you can only pick a one-word name, e.g. Ruark.
App quirk three: the bass slider in the app was glitchy, advancing a few notches, then jumping back again, up then back – very odd.
But otherwise the app is very useful for local control, for switching sources, for saving presets. One tip for internet radio: if there’s a station you can’t find (our local community station, for example, was not listed), you can head to Frontier Silicon’s site https://smartradio.frontier-nuvola.net, set up an account, link your R3, ‘manage favourites’, and enter the URL manually. The station then appears under ‘My Favourites’. Nice flexibility!
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Radio listening completed, we switched to music streaming. For Spotify you use the Spotify app and point it at the Ruark for playback – we were pleased to find this works with free Spotify as well as paid (which isn’t the case for many streaming platforms and products).
And it was immediately evident that for all the other inputs – music services, CD, Bluetooth streaming – the R3’s sound balance was completely different. Gone was all the spittiness, gone the bass lumpiness. So we headed back to the tone controls, put the treble and bass back to zero, left the loudness on – and turned the 3D sound on.
And with these sources you should definitely try the 3D sound option. It gives the sound a real lift, a widening, an additional enjoyability, though it still occasionally has deleterious effects on certain tracks. We played Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al from Spotify Free and all was good.
But on the next track, Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, the janglier right-channel guitars became nastily edgy and artificial until we turned ‘3D’ off again. We tried the same track from our own CD-quality collection sent by Bluetooth (which supports both AAC and aptX), and this softened the edginess somewhat, but it still sounded better with 3D off.
The more we played, the more songs reacted badly to the 3D setting, and we ended up keeping it off, with one notch down also on the treble slider to prevent residual fizziness in the treble.
So for best sonic results, adjust the tone options whenever you switch from file-based playback to radio, and vice versa – especially disabling the 3D sound for radio sources. It’s a shame the R3 can’t remember your tone preferences for each source (as it can for input levels, which are trimmable for each analogue and digital input), and we’d go so far as to suggest Ruark should simply disable 3D sound entirely for FM, DAB and internet radio sources, as its effects there are particularly nasty. Better still, a big ‘3D Sound’ button on the remote control would allow easily toggling of this sound mode, as on, say, a soundbar.
But if you’re happy to pop over to the R3 and switch this manually each time, you can enjoy the best which the R3 has to offer, which is considerable. It’s a delightful CD player, for example, those full-quality files filling the room with well-balanced sound. And the louder you play, the happier the R3 seems to be; the bass available from the two 75mm drivers is remarkable as you raise the level; its response begins in the 40s of hertz and rises impressively smoothly.
Soft recordings get a boost from the treble lift of the sonics here; Paul McCartney’s My Valentine has rarely sounded so well-defined. And as with all Ruark units we’ve tested, the R3 is adept with classical music, and we blasted forth the London Musici’s 1991 Conifer/Technics recording of Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ symphony to confirm the R3’s adherence to this track record, pushing up the bass a tad to underpin this dynamic piece.
The R3 proved equally enjoyable from streaming music services. From Apple Music we streamed Neil Finn’s 2010 solo concert at Sydney’s intimate Seymour Centre, and the Ruark did a lovely job of presenting Finn’s voice and the decay of both artificial and venue reverb as he switched from guitar to piano, serving the latter with both percussive attack and pianissimo softness, as required.
There is a ‘Music Player’ option which you can use to play either from USB or from music shares on the network, although unfortunately the R3 couldn’t see our NAS drive of music (only our PVR, from which it bravely offered to play episodes of Home and Away etc., but of course couldn’t). From USB it was able to play MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and FLAC, the last two up to 24-bit/48kHz, so no support for higher-res PCM or DSD.
Note that Ruark has chosen to include not a standard USB-A slot but rather a USB-C 5V charging connection, very up-to-date of it, except that you can’t plug in normal USB sticks and drives. USB-C sticks are widely available, so that’s what we used. Adapters are also available, though when we tried one, the R3 announced that ‘USB hubs are not supported’. Sticks must also be formatted in FAT-32 format.
(Image credit: Ruark Audio)
Verdict
So quite the journey we enjoyed with this versatile music system. While we thought its radio sources need a little tonal attention, its highlights are playback from CD, from streaming music services and Bluetooth, and overall it’s an impressively easy-to-use and attractive table-top unit which accesses pretty much every kind of music under the sun, delivered effectively under local, remote or app control.
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If you’re looking for a versatile DAC and headphone amplifier to handle your assorted hi-res music library, Cambridge Audio may have just what you need. The British audio brand has just launched its latest flagship model, the DacMagic 200M.
Successor to the previous generation DacMagic Plus, the DacMagic 200M is the first product from the company to natively support MQA technology, meaning it can decode and play downloaded MQA files, in addition to Tidal Masters (which are based on the tech). That’s alongside native support for 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512 files too.
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
Twin coaxial (up to 24-bit/192kHz) and optical (up to 24-bit/96kHz) inputs allow you to feed a number of digital sources through the DacMagic 200M, including CD players, games consoles and Blu-ray players. There’s also a USB type-B socket (32-bit/768kHz, DSD512) for hooking up a laptop, plus balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA analogue connections.
Last but not least for those who’d like to easily and conveniently stream files from their device over wireless means, the DacMagic 200M now has built-in aptX Bluetooth.
As for its DAC architecture, the new top-of-the-line DacMagic utilises dual ESS Sabre DACs in a mono configuration, meaning one chip handles the right channel while the other handles the left. Three pre-set filters (Fast, Slow and Short Delay) offer a level of sonic personalisation and help to reduce noise generated by the digital-to- analogue conversion process, too.
As you can see below, filter and source selection as well as file type and size are indicated by the series of LEDs on the front panel.
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The headphone Class A/B amplification, meanwhile, drives a front-panel 6.3mm socket that, thanks to a reduction in impedance output, promises more power and less distortion than the one in the previous design.
The versatile Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M is available now, priced £449 ($499).
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Acer launched a trio of true wireless headsets in India. The premium model sells under the Gateway brand, the other two carry the Acer brand. They are on sale now at Amazon and Flipkart.
What the three models have in common (beyond wire-free operation) is that their charging cases allow for up to 28 hours of total listening time. Outside of the case, the buds can last up to 4 hours in one go, adds another 24 hours. Recharging the cases takes an hour and a half.
The Gateway TWS (GAHR012) are the premium offering with a price of INR 3,500. They feature 9 mm drivers and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. These are charged through their USB-C port.
Gateway TWS (GAHR012) with Bluetooth 5.0, 9 mm drivers and a USB-C port
The two Acer-branded TWS models cost INR 2,500 and have very similar design. Where they differ is how they are charged. The GAHR011 model has a USB-C and a USB-A cables built-in, so it can be plugged into a Type-C or Type-A port to charge. Interestingly, the bottom part is a kind of dock and can be removed to take up less room in your pocket.
Acer TWS (GAHR11) with Bluetooth 5.1, 8 mm drivers, USB-C and USB-A cables
The GAHR010 splits the difference and has a USB-A cable on board, plus a USB-C port. This means you can use the USB-C cable you charge your phone with. On the other hand, the 011 model can be plugged into a power bank (or even your phone) to charge without needing a cable.
Acer TWS (GAHR10) with Bluetooth 5.1, 8 mm drivers, USB-C port and a USB-A cable
Both the 010 and 011 have 8mm drivers and the newer Bluetooth 5.1 standard support. That doesn’t amount to much as none of the headsets have aptX or LDAC support, no multipoint either (that is you can connect to only one device at a time).
All three weigh a total of 50g with their cases, though the buds on the 010 and 011 are bulkier than the AirPod-like Gateways. Also, the three models share an IPX4 rating (i.e. sweat resistance).
Here are the prices again with links to Amazon and Flipkart:
Old is gold – Qualcomm and TSMC figured out how to squeeze a bit extra performance out of the 7 nm node and created the Snapdragon 865++. Or as the company prefers to call it, the Snapdragon 870 (SM8250-AC).
Its CPU reaches the highest clock speed in the mobile world – the prime core now runs at 3.2 GHz, up from 3.1 GHz on the 865+ and 2.94 GHz on the vanilla 865. Those two were surpassed by the Kirin 9000 and its 3.13 GHz prime core, but now Qualcomm has reclaimed the clock speed crown.
The Snapdragon 870 still uses Kryo 585 cores, which are based on ARM’s Cortex-A77 with some in-house tweaks. The Snapdragon 888 CPU is based on the newer Cortex-X1 and A78 instead, so while it runs at lower frequencies (2.84 GHz for the X1), there’s more to the performance story. We’ll have to wait for the first benchmarks to see how all these chips compare, though.
The Adreno 650 GPU makes a comeback, but it’s not clear if it received a clock boost of its own and, if not, whether it’s running at the 865 frequency (587 MHz) or 865+ (670 MHz). The Hexagon 698 and the Tensor Accelerator deliver the same 15 TOPS as the two 865 chips so that definitely did not get a boost.
The display driver can run 1440p class panels at up to 144Hz (or 4K at 60 Hz) and supports HDR10+ (Rec. 2020 color gamut). The Spectra 480 ISP is unchanged as well, with support for sensors up to 200 MP, 8K video capture at 30 fps (and 4K at 120 fps), high dynamic range videos using the HDR10+ and Dolby Vision standards.
Similarly, the FastConnect 6800 system appears to be the same. It supports Wi-Fi 6 (up to 1.77 Gbps) and Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Voice and Adaptive. Note that the 865+ used the slightly upgraded FastConnect 69000, which offered Wi-Fi 6E.
There’s no onboard 5G modem, instead the chipset will be paired with an external Snapdragon X55 with sub-6 and mmWave support (up to 7.5 Gbps downlink speeds).
The Snapdragon 870 will be used in phones by Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi and iQOO. Motorola says it will launch its phone “soon”, but there are no exact dates for any of the upcoming devices. The companies did give a few hints what kind of phones they are working on, though.
All of them will highlight 5G, of course, but Xiaomi specifically mentioned cameras, while iQOO is making a gaming phone.
Page 1: Antlion ModMic Wireless – external microphone with very good recording quality
There are tons of “gaming” headsets on the market for every budget, but many users who have high demands on good sound quality often use normal headphones from the hi-fi range. An obvious disadvantage of these headphones is a missing microphone and this is exactly where the Antlion Audio ModMic Wireless comes into play, which we examine in more detail in our test.
A user has various options to record his voice on the PC and the hardware selection is very extensive. Antlion is a well-known manufacturer of external microphones in this area and has been offering a popular product, the ModMic, for many years, so that normal hi-fi headphones can also be used as a headset on the PC. Exactly this ModMic, which was previously only available in a wired version, is only available as a wireless version.
Everyone knows the problem with the cables and then it is you are also happy when you can use a component without a cable. Unfortunately, it is usually the case that voice transmissions in the wireless sector do not always shine with very good results. But if you only look at the technical properties of the ModMic Wireless at first, you can hope that we can expect a decent quality. If you compare this with, for example, the Audio Technica ATH-G1WL, which showed a very good voice recording, the expectations are correspondingly high.
Technical Data – Antlion Audio Modmic Wireless
Microphone
Bit Depth:
16 bit
Codec:
aptX Low Latency
Latency:
34 ms
Frequency:
50 to 20. 000 Hz (omnidirectional) / 100 Hz to 10 khz (unidirectional)
General
Connection:
Wireless with USB receiver
Range:
Line of sight (without walls or obstacles) – about 10 m
Weight:
126 grams
Price:
approx. 130 Euro
< > Antlion ModMic Wireless – External microphone with very good recording quality Scope of delivery / detailed analysis / assembly
Dominic Moass 59 mins ago Featured Tech News, Headphones, Speakers, Tech News
Over the years Edifier has earned a well deserved reputation for high-quality speakers and audio gear. At CES 2021, the company unveiled three new products – the D12 Bluetooth speakers, as well as two pairs of TWS earphones.
Starting with the D12 speakers, these utilise Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity with a wood grain finish housing. Each unit features 2x 20W bass speakers and 2x 15W treble speakers, which offer ‘beautifully balanced sound with high-low frequency separation and deeper tones not previously found in traditional desktop speakers’ according to Edifier. These speakers are set to retail for just $99, launching on February 20.
In terms of the company’s new earphones, well start with the TWS NB2 Pro. These sport a rather futuristic design, and Edifier says they offer ‘over-ear noise-canceling headphone technology in a stylish low-profile true wireless earphone package’. Thanks to a Qualcomm chipset and lithium battery, Edifier claims 7 hours of usage with ANC on, or up to 9 hours with ANC turned off. The included charge case can also provide an extra 23 hours of play time, while fast charging means a 15-minute charge should be enough for two hours of listening.
These earphones also sport Bluetooth 5.0 and IP54 certification for dust and splash resistance. TWS NB2 Pro is set to launch in March, also for $99.
Lastly, Edifier also introduced the GM5 gaming earphones. These utilise Qualcomm AptX low-latency technology, so ‘level after level can be completed without any lagging or low battery notifications for gamers, streamers, or mobile show bingers’ according to Edifier. The company also says ‘countless trials and tests’ were conducted to make sure these earphones make the grade for gamers.
There’s also a rated 8-hour playback time and an extra 32 hours from the charging case. GM5 doesn’t support ANC, but there is ENC, while Edifier also provides two different audio profiles. GM5 also supports the quick pausing of music by removing an earbud from your ear. Just like the TWS NB2 Pro, we can expect availability in March, with pricing set at $79.
KitGuru says: I quite like the look of the TWS NB2 Pro. Do you currently use TWS earphones?
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