In recent years a number of PC makers have introduced small form-factor (SFF) and ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) computers based on AMD’s latest accelerated processing units (APUs), but none of those systems are as tiny as Intel’s NUCs. Asus is one of a few manufacturers to actually offer its Mini PC PN-series AMD-powered UCFF machines that are just as compact as NUCs and they have just updated them to feature AMD Ryzen 5000 series APUs.
Asus freshly introduced Mini PC PN51 packs AMD’s Ryzen 5000U-series mobile processors with up to eight Zen 3 cores as well as up to Radeon Vega 7 graphics. The APU can be paired with a maximum of 32 GB of DDR4-3200 memory. Storage is via an M.2-2280 SSD with up to 1TB capacity, and a 2.5-inch 1 TB 7200-RPM hard drive. Meanwhile, the system still measures 115×115×49 mm has a 0.62-liter volume.
(Image credit: Asus)
The diminutive size of the Asus Mini PC PN51 does not impact the choice of ports on offer. The desktop computer is equipped with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 module (or a Wi-Fi 5 + BT 4.2), a 2.5 GbE or a GbE connector, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C receptacles (supporting DisplayPort mode), an HDMI output with CEC support, a 3-in-1 card reader, a configurable port (which can be used for Ethernet, DisplayPort, D-Sub or COM ports), and a combo audio jack.
(Image credit: Asus)
Asus seems to position the Mini PC PN51 as a universal PC suitable for both home and office. The configurable I/O port that can add an Ethernet connector or a COM header is obviously aimed at corporate and business users. In addition, the PC has a TPM module on board. Meanwhile, the system also has an IR receiver (something that many modern UCFF and SFF PCs lost following Apple’s Mac Mini) and a Microsoft Cortana-compatible microphone array that will be particularly beneficial for home users that will use the PN51 as an HTPC.
(Image credit: Asus)
As far as power consumption and noise levels are concerned, the PN51 consumes as little as 9W at idle, produces 21.9 dBA of noise at idle, and 34.7 dBA at full load.
(Image credit: Asus)
The Asus Mini PC PN51 will be available shortly. Pricing will depend on configuration as Asus plans to offer numerous models based on the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, and AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processors with various memory and storage configurations.
The 3rd Generation Fire TV Stick is a capable video streamer, but it drops at an awkward price point
For
Strong app offering
Improved UI
Excellent HDR performance
Against
SDR picture could be more subtle
4K model only costs a little more
What’s grey and sticky? The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation), of course. Far from being simply another streaming stick, this third version is the first of Amazon’s media streaming devices to feature the company’s all-new Fire TV Experience user interface, which is intended as a game-changer for streaming service integration.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation) replaces the 2nd generation of the device that was once called the Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote. Back in those simpler days, the first-gen model didn’t have voice control.
Since then, Amazon has added several more branches to the Fire TV Stick family tree. Higher up that tree is the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K (launched in 2018), and below it, there’s now the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite, the only other Fire TV device to come pre-loaded with the new UI.
Pricing
The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation) costs £40 ($40, AU$79) at the time of writing. That’s £10 ($10, AU$20) cheaper than the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K that launched in 2018 and, of course, has the added benefit of 4K content.
It’s also £10 ($10, AU$20) more expensive than the simultaneously released Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite, which lacks TV volume control and can only pass-through Dolby Atmos, rather than decode it.
Somewhat confusingly, you’ll find the Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation) listed as the ‘2020 release’ in the UK, but the ‘2021 release’ in the US and Australia.
Features
(Image credit: Amazon)
From a design perspective, the Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen) is hardly a departure for Amazon. It’s a gunmetal grey rectangular prism with an HDMI plug on the end and a micro-USB power socket halfway up one side. There’s a good chance that the power cable or simply the Stick’s girth will get in the way of your TV’s other HDMI sockets, so, as ever, Amazon has included an HDMI extender to take your stick clear of the rest of the ports.
The Stick itself is a little shorter than the 4K model but houses the same 1.7GHz quad-core chip. Bluetooth 5.0 and BLE are onboard for pairing with Bluetooth speakers, headphones or video game controllers, and there’s the standard 8GB of internal storage for your app collection.
The included remote is as handy and compact as ever. It’s the same second-generation Fire TV remote that comes with the 4K Stick. There are volume buttons that will work for your TV, playback controls and general navigation, plus a button at the top that turns the remote into an Alexa microphone for voice search.
Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen) tech specs
(Image credit: Amazon)
Bluetooth version 5.0
HDR support HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
Max resolution 1080p
Dolby Atmos Yes
Storage 8GB
Finishes x1
Dimensions (hwd) 13 x 30 x 86mm
Weight 32g
Those looking for 4K and Dolby Vision support will have to look elsewhere. The Amazon Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation) maxes out at 1080p HD, but can still process HDR metadata in the shape of HDR10, HLG and even Samsung’s HDR10+. Dolby Vision isn’t supported, though Dolby Atmos is.
The headline addition, though, is the all-new Amazon Fire TV Experience. The reimagined UI design pares everything down to four main screens, Home, Find, Library and Live, for a more holistic approach to your entertainment. The platform pulls in content from other streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+ and iPlayer, and sits those suggestions alongside TV and films available on Prime Video. The end result is less of a shop window for Amazon and a more useful quick hit of recommendations from across the board instead.
It’s pretty well done too. The top row on the Home page is itself a mixture of content from your subscriptions, followed by lines of film and TV suggestions dedicated to what’s on specific services such as Netflix and iPlayer. It’s certainly an improvement on the previous iteration of the Fire TV OS, but still isn’t a match for what Google has done with the Google TV UI on Chromecast.
That first row of content on the new Fire TV experience never seems to be as much of a mix as it could be. It tends to start with too big a burst from a single source, whether that’s a few screens of animated Disney content or a slew of Amazon Originals. It’s also still too Prime Video-heavy as we scroll down the page with the rows dedicated to other services swamped by too much of what’s on Amazon.
The ‘Find’ section of the experience is far better, as it seems to give a more balanced approach, as well as plenty of handy suggestions of genres and sub-genres to drill down into. Fancy comedy horrors, action dramas or trending documentaries? This is the place to look.
If you have the right to watch a piece of content for free, the Fire TV OS will let you know. It also directs you to free versions on apps you might not already own, including those available through free trials. The only thing to watch out for is that the UI still encourages you to buy and rent 4K content, even if the Stick won’t allow you to play it back at UHD resolution.
Like all current Fire TV devices, Alexa is along for the ride and makes an easy way to navigate around the OS. The addition of six user profiles per household – each with its own preferences, apps, permissions, watchlists and settings – is also welcome.
All the major apps are present here, apart from Google Play Movies & TV and Rakuten. There’s HDR available on Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV, but there’s no Dolby Atmos material on Apple and no way of buying new content on Apple TV through the Fire Stick itself. You have to purchase or rent content via your computer or phone, at which point it will be available in the Apple TV library on the Stick.
Picture
(Image credit: Amazon)
Heading straight to the HDR sections of the popular streaming services, we’re delighted to see that this Stick’s performance is excellent. Watching I Care A Lot on Prime Video in HDR, it’s easy to spot how well this device puts that tonal metadata to good use.
The bright scene outside the courthouse in the first episode is full of potential pitfalls. There are textures to render and different blacks to produce all while under the glare of the midday sun that bounces off the pale stone steps and floods the picture with a harsh white light. Despite all this, the Fire TV Stick copes admirably.
Even at the maximum-supported 1080p resolution, we get a decent sense of the stone-washed jeans of a bystander and the layers of clothing material on the black-clad Eiza Gonzalez. The sky is a searing blue and Rosamund Pike’s dress an expensive red, while the nearby trees remain a natural green. It’s an enjoyable picture with an easy-to-watch balance between dynamism and subtlety.
Dropping to SDR content is certainly a different experience, but the picture still pleases. It’s a punchy effort with a lot of brightness and big contrast, which helps to keep that sense of zeal to the on-screen action. Watching the sitcom Flowers on Netflix in Full HD, there’s plenty of impact as Mrs Flowers walks down her ramshackle garden to flirt badly with the tradesmen. What could be quite a flat, overcast sky has a bold, foreboding look and works as a fantastic foil to the dark brown, gnarled trees and the thick, overgrown grass. You can’t fail to get a sense of the way the story is going to play out.
That dynamic approach isn’t without its drawbacks, though. The focus on punch can leave detail fairly scant without the benefits of HDR. The faces of the characters sometimes come off a little too uniform, missing the same wealth of tone that is available from the Fire TV Stick 4K, given the same source material. The push for high contrast can overpower black depth and white detail too, unless you keep a careful eye on your TV settings. Again, that’s something the more expensive Stick has a better handle on.
Sound
(Image credit: Amazon)
The differences in audio between the Fire TV Stick (3rd Generation) and the 4K model are far less marked than the picture performance. Their overall character is undeniably similar.
Listening to This is Me from The Greatest Showman soundtrack on Tidal, there’s a respectable sense of rhythm to the music in the build towards the first full chorus. The drum rolls are tight enough to pick out the individual beats of the sticks, the reverb on the guitar is clear and controlled, and all of the excellent diction on vocals is nicely clipped.
Switching to the cinema, we head to the freeway crash shoot-out at the beginning of Deadpool on Netflix with its wealth of surround sound action. The audio is just as spacious as we’d expect from a budget streaming stick. Ajax’s motorbike zips neatly from one side to another as he weaves his way through the traffic, and both the movement and detail of sound as the pin flies out from the hand grenade shows what an enjoyable experience this stick can deliver.
At the same time, the 4K model is just a touch better all over for sound. Dynamically, the more expensive model has a noticeable edge that is easy enough to pick up both with music and while watching video content. It’s also a little crisper, which gives it a shade more energy.
Playing This is Me via the third-gen Stick, there isn’t quite the same thrill as the chorus reaches its crescendo. The equivalent for Deadpool is a slight loss of dimension to the sound effects. The bullets are a little less impactful than through the 4K Stick, and it’s noticeable in more incidental noises, such as the opening of the electric car door window before the eponymous hero pops his head out to address the bad guys. There isn’t quite that same satisfaction to its clunk as the glass reaches its limits.
Verdict
The third generation of the original Amazon Fire TV Stick offers the kind of solid performance we’ve come to expect from the Stick family. It also features all of the most important apps and comes with an all-new interface that offers owners a genuine solution to the problem of what to watch next at short notice. HDR viewing is excellent and it’s hard to ask for much more sonically.
The trouble is that more is actually available and for only a little extra. For just a few extra pounds or dollars, you can buy the 4K version of the Fire Stick, which is slightly better performing with the same content and offers all of that 4K future-proofing too. And that leaves our third-generation model, although good, in a slightly sticky spot.
Intel’s Bleep announcement starts at the 27:24 mark in its GDC 2021 presentation.
Last month during its virtual GDC presentation Intel announced Bleep, a new AI-powered tool that it hopes will cut down on the amount of toxicity gamers have to experience in voice chat. According to Intel, the app “uses AI to detect and redact audio based on user preferences.” The filter works on incoming audio, acting as an additional user-controlled layer of moderation on top of what a platform or service already offers.
It’s a noble effort, but there’s something bleakly funny about Bleep’s interface, which lists in minute detail all of the different categories of abuse that people might encounter online, paired with sliders to control the quantity of mistreatment users want to hear. Categories range anywhere from “Aggression” to “LGBTQ+ Hate,” “Misogyny,” “Racism and Xenophobia,” and “White nationalism.” There’s even a toggle for the N-word. Bleep’s page notes that it’s yet to enter public beta, so all of this is subject to change.
With the majority of these categories, Bleep appears to give users a choice: would you like none, some, most, or all of this offensive language to be filtered out? Like choosing from a buffet of toxic internet slurry, Intel’s interface gives players the option of sprinkling in a light serving of aggression or name-calling into their online gaming.
Bleep has been in the works for a couple of years now — PCMag notes that Intel talked about this initiative way back at GDC 2019 — and it’s working with AI moderation specialists Spirit AI on the software. But moderating online spaces using artificial intelligence is no easy feat as platforms like Facebook and YouTube have shown. Although automated systems can identify straightforwardly offensive words, they often fail to consider the context and nuance of certain insults and threats. Online toxicity comes in many, constantly evolving forms that can be difficult for even the most advanced AI moderation systems to spot.
“While we recognize that solutions like Bleep don’t erase the problem, we believe it’s a step in the right direction, giving gamers a tool to control their experience,” Intel’s Roger Chandler said during its GDC demonstration. Intel says it hopes to release Bleep later this year, and adds that the technology relies on its hardware accelerated AI speech detection, suggesting that the software may rely on Intel hardware to run.
Twitter’s already building a competitor to the hot social audio app Clubhouse, but apparently, it’s discussed outright acquiring the company, too. Bloomberg reports today that Twitter held discussions with Clubhouse about purchasing the app for around $4 billion.
These conversations have reportedly stalled, and it’s unclear why. It’s also unclear whether Twitter or Clubhouse approached the other first, which could speak to how either platform is feeling about the competition in the social audio space. Bloomberg also reported yesterday that Clubhouse is now looking to raise money at a $4 billion valuation; it’s possible that number came out of these Twitter discussions, or that Clubhouse is shopping that figure around.
Clubhouse launched last year and popularized the idea of hosting live audio conversations. Celebrities, tech CEOs, and regular folks have since tuned in and hosted rooms. More than 10 million people have reportedly downloaded the app, which is currently invite-only and iOS-only.
The app also faces lots of competitors, including Facebook, Twitter, Discord, LinkedIn, and Slack, among others. These other platforms already come with built-in user bases of millions of people, as well as fully built web, iOS, and Android apps. Still, Clubhouse is rapidly trying to innovate. It’s staffed up in recent months and hired an engineer to build its Android app. It also, this week, launched tipping within the app as a way for creators to make money. (It says it won’t be taking a cut of that revenue.)
For its part, Twitter Spaces has already launched on both iOS and Android. The company also plans to launch a web version and to open hosting abilities up to all users this month. Why Twitter would want to acquire Clubhouse doesn’t totally make sense, unless it simply wanted to wipe the competition out and gain its dedicated user base and buzzy name. Either way, Clubhouse and Twitter now will both continue to face each other in the journey to dominate social audio.
Facebook’s experimental app development division, the NPE Team, has released a new Q&A platform that borrows concepts from buzzy, audio-only social network Clubhouse but with dashes of live-streaming thrown in.
The platform is called Hotline, and it featured its first Q&A with investor Nick Huber earlier today, according to a report from TechCrunch. A website for the service is online now and allows sign-ins via Twitter, but it features only a waitlist and a tool for applying to host your own show. TechCrunch says Facebook has created designs for mobile versions of the app, though those do not appear to be live at this moment.
News of Facebook building its own version of Clubhouse first surfaced in February, though Hotline is said to be a different product than the ongoing Clubhouse competitor being built by the team behind the video chat platform Messenger Rooms, TechCrunch reports. Twitter has been openly testing its Spaces alternative, too, putting more pressure on Clubhouse as whispers of a new funding round valuing the company at an eye-popping $4 billion valuation surfaced earlier this week.
Image: Facebook
Hotline works differently than Clubhouse and Spaces. It allows hosts to use video and to schedule more formal presentations with Q&A built in, rather than the more open-ended, audio-only conversations that take place on Clubhouse. Hotline also allows hosts to record their sessions in both audio and video formats, TechCrunch says.
The core Q&A component of Hotline involves the hosts fielding questions from the audience supplied via text, while audience members can then upvote which questions they want answered and then respond to the ongoing conversation with emoji reactions. Hosts can also bring individuals from the audience up onto the virtual stage to ask their question live and potentially engage in a longer conversation. In that way, Hotline events seem designed more like a cross between a radio show and a Twitch stream, where the audience is asked to weigh in here and there but control of the conversation remains firmly with the host.
The project is being led by Erik Hazzard, who joined Facebook when his app tbh, a platform for sending anonymous compliments to your friends, was acquired in 2017. Facebook later shut tbh down, despite Hazzard’s success attracting millions of users to the platform. But it sounds like his expertise in creating these new mobile experiences is now being put to good use at Facebook as part of the NPE Team, which in the past has released music-making apps like Collab and Bars.
Today, you can fire up an Xbox game console and play Halo with a mouse and keyboard. It’s hard to believe I’m writing those words.
Five years ago, I asked a small room of first-party Xbox devs how they felt about supporting mouse and keyboard (now that their boss Phil Spencer had confirmed they were on the way), but they were seriously skeptical. It took two more years for the Xbox One to get even a handful of keyboard and mouse titles in a November 2018 update. Even though games like COD: Warzoneand Fortnite have paved the way for controller parity, the industry is still understandably wary about mixing console and keyboard players.
But now, keyboard and mouse is a native part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection (including Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4) as of a new April 2021 patch, and it’s not alone: every Xbox that can play the game will let you adjust your field of view, crosshairs, and bind controls across multiple inputs, like any good competitive PC-grade shooter should.
Not only does that mean parity with PC, but it might actually make the Xbox version of Halo: MCC preferable for some. As my colleague Tom Warren points out, it’s easier to avoid cheaters in console games:
seeing mouse and keyboard support in Halo on Xbox makes me wish Destiny 2 had this. I’d switch immediately from PC, which is full of hackers, aimbots, and other exploits that ruin the PvP experience
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 7, 2021
The full patch notes also mention new accessibility options, a new “Escalation Slayer” game variant, a new map for Halo 3, and you can easily set your in-game chat and audio devices separately now on PC. And of course, there’s a new season of content dubbed “Raven.” More info on that here.
Me, I’ve played Halo with a mouse and keyboard almost since the beginning. The first copy I owned was the Gearbox port for PC. It’s been a longtime favorite at LAN parties. Ah, do I miss LAN parties.
Cambridge Audio has just unleashed two beautiful beasts into the just-add-speakers streaming system market. The Evo 75 and Evo 150 are the first of their kind from the British brand, and oh boy don’t they look lovely?
Hopefully they sound just as lovely too – not least as they’re positioned in the firing line of the multi-Award-winning Naim Uniti Atom and five-star Arcam SA30.
Cambridge is hoping to continue its good run of form with this new product venture, which is naturally based on the company’s established StreamMagic streaming platform for playback over – deep breath – DLNA, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz, aptX HD Bluetooth and internet radio. The new Evo systems are also Roon Ready.
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The Evo 75 and Evo 150 are powered by Hypex NCore Class D amplifiers (chosen by Cambridge for their, “clear advantages in clarity, resolution and musicality”) and rated at 75 and 150 watts per channel respectively.
The other discrepancy between the two models lies in physical connectivity: both have RCA, optical and coaxial inputs as well as HDMI ARC and 3.5mm headphone sockets, but the Evo 150 expands on that further with an MM phono stage, asynchronous USB and balanced XLR inputs, plus two sets of speaker terminals for running two pairs of speakers. The Evos are determined not to be out-featured.
That walnut wooden panel you see up top is a nod to Cambridge’s first-ever product, the 1968-released P40 amplifier, although owners can choose to dress the black anodised aluminium cabinet with black side panels made from Richlite (an innovative new material made primarily from recycled paper) instead. The side panels can also be switched out according to each customer’s taste.
Completing the look is a dual-concentric rotary dial and 6.8in LCD panel that hark back to the company’s flagship Edge products.
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The Cambridge Audio Evo 75 and Evo 150 will be available from this month, priced £1799 ($2250) and £2249 ($3000) respectively.
A specifically designed Evo CD transport (£799, $950) and a pair of Evo S speakers (£649, $750) will join the Evo range later in the year, with further details on those promised nearer the time.
Whether or not the new Cambridge Evo systems have sonic appeal remains to be heard, but one thing’s for sure: they have plenty of visual appeal.
MORE:
Good news! Tidal Connect comes to Cambridge Audio music streamers
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If portable audio has been shaped by anything other than advancing headphones technology in recent years, it’s the arrival of portable DACs – pocketable ‘middleman’ devices that connect between a phone or laptop and a pair of headphones to improve sound quality. We’ve had laptop-friendly AudioQuest DragonFlys and the more versatile Audiolab M-DAC nano, for example, and now THX (yes, that same firm famously behind cinema audio standards) is entering the consumer electronics market with a similar device.
The all-new THX Onyx ($200, €210) is a dongle designed to enhance the performance between your USB source and your headphones or desktop speakers. You can plug it into any PC, Mac or Android device toting a USB or USB-C port, with iOS devices requiring the slim Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter to be compatible. At the other end, the Onyx has been designed to drive all manner of headphones – those with impedances from 22ohms to 600 – via its 3.5mm jack, through which desktop speakers can also be connected.
It’s the first DAC of its kind to utilise THX’s AAA-78 amplifier technology, which is the highest-powered configuration within the company’s Achromatic Audio Amplifier design and promises the same power output as a desktop THX AAA DAC amp – just in a much smaller package. THX says this technology can “reduce harmonic, intermodulation, and crossover distortion by up to 40dB”, promising a performance with “infinitesimally low levels” of noise and distortion. It also claims this makes the Onyx up to five times more powerful than other similar USB DACs.
Our pick of the best DACs 2021: USB, portable and desktop DACs
(Image credit: THX)
That AAA technology is bolstered by an ESS ES9281PRO DAC chip, as well as a Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) renderer for playing back MQA hard files and (MQA-encoded) Tidal Masters in their native quality.
The Onyx has an all-metal body, with LED lights to signify the quality of file being played through it – blue denotes 44.1kHz or 48kHz PCM files, yellow signifies sample rates above that, while red and pink display DSD and MQA signals respectively. THX has incorporated cable management into the design so that wires from connected headphones are kept neat and tidy, too.
THX Onyx is now available in the United States and Europe for $200 and €210. Needless to say we look forward to taking it for a spin very soon.
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Ring has announced a new floodlight with an integrated camera called the Floodlight Cam Wired Pro. As its name suggests, the Floodlight Cam Wired Pro borrows several features from the recently released Video Doorbell Pro 2, including 3D Motion Detection with radar and a top-down view of someone’s movements in front of the camera, which the company calls Bird’s Eye View. The Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, which I will refer to as the Floodlight Pro from here on out, is available for preorder in either white or black starting today, April 7th, for $249.99, with shipments starting on May 6th, 2021. Ring is also keeping the original Floodlight Cam in the lineup at a new $199.99 price.
Like the first Floodlight Cam, the Floodlight Pro is a motion-activated, 2,000-lumen LED floodlight with a camera mounted between its two articulating lights. It has a 110dB siren, supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, records 1080p HDR video with color night vision, and has improved microphones and a speaker for better two-way audio communication. The new 3D Motion Detection uses a radar sensor to track movement across a certain threshold that you define in Ring’s app, which is then presented as an aerial map in the recorded video clip. The Floodlight Pro is hardwired and can be mounted on a standard round outdoor junction box. Given its name, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ring has a wireless version in the works, but the company isn’t announcing anything on that front right now.
The Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is available in either white or black color optionsImage: Ring
In addition, Ring is announcing the new $199.99 Video Doorbell 4, which is the latest in its mainstream line of video doorbells that can be used in a standard wired installation or run off a battery. The new model upgrades the black and white pre-roll video that debuted on last year’s Video Doorbell 3 to full color, allowing you to see four seconds of motion in color before the doorbell is pressed. It also has a new Quick Replies feature that lets you have the doorbell automatically respond to visitors when you aren’t home or otherwise don’t want to be disturbed. You can use the Doorbell 4 with either 2.4GHz or 5GHz networks.
The Ring Video Doorbell 4.Image: Ring
The Video Doorbell 4 records up to 1080p video, but it lacks the square aspect ratio that I found so useful in my review of the Video Doorbell Pro 2, instead sticking with the traditional wide 16:9 field of view. The 4 also doesn’t have the Pro 2’s more advanced Alexa integration to answer the door — though, based on my testing, I don’t think you’ll miss much there.
Ring says the Video Doorbell 3 and Video Doorbell 3 Plus will remain available, though I’m not sure why you’d buy those when the 4 is out and costs either the same or less. The Video Doorbell 4 is available for preorder starting today and will be shipping starting on April 28th.
Sennheiser is introducing some new mics for creators to use on consumer-level cameras and phones, including an update for its popular camera-mounted MKE 400 shotgun microphone and new phone-friendly lavaliere microphones.
The updated MKE 400 shotgun microphone looks to be an upgrade in many ways from the previous version — it’s got a new design, which incorporates a windscreen (it also comes with a furry wind sock), a built-in headphone port, and, blessedly, can automatically turn on or off with your camera. It also now comes with a free wind blocker for when it gets really breezy. That should help reduce the number of times you finish recording, only to realize that you didn’t actually capture the audio you were hoping for (something I’ve absolutely done before).
The updated MKE 400, with a built-in windscreen.Image: Sennheiser
The previous version of the MKE 400.Image: Sennheiser
It’s also now designed to work with mobile devices like phones or tablets; it comes with both a standard TRS cable meant for DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, as well as a TRRS cable that should work when plugged into a phone’s headphone jack. Or, more likely, a 3.5mm to USB-C or Lightning adapter. With the microphone’s built-in headphone jack, you should even still be able to monitor when shooting with a phone (or with a camera that only has a mic-in and no headphone out).
The TRS and TRRS cables will make it easy to use the microphone with both phones and cameras.Image: Sennheiser
The new features should help make Sennheiser’s microphone a more compelling competitor to Rode’s latest mics — the older version of the MKE 400’s lack of auto on/off and comparatively outdated design made it a tough sell when compared to something like a Rode VideoMic Pro. It’s nice to see Sennheiser catch up with the rest of the market.
All the upgrades to the MKE 400 do come at a bit of a cost in the battery department, though: Sennheiser estimated that the old MKE 400 would last 300 hours off a single AAA battery, while the new version only advertises 100 hours of use off of two AAAs. The mic still retails for the same $199.95.
The USB-C version of the XS Lav.Image: Sennheiser
Meanwhile, Sennheiser’s new XS Lav mics are meant to be worn on a shirt collar or lapel and could be useful for creators looking to get better audio, but who don’t want to use a large shotgun-style microphone. The clip-on mics comes in two versions: one with a 3.5mm TRRS plug, and one with a USB-C plug for dongle-free use with phones or computers. Sennheiser had previously made a lavalier mic for iPhones that plugged in via Lightning, but it seems like to be no longer widely available. (You can find one that mysteriously looks just like it at Apogee.)
The USB-C version should be the most widely-compatible, as it’ll be useful for both Android phones and single-audio-port computers (plugging it into a combination headphone jack on, say, a MacBook would make it difficult to use headphones, but you could use the USB-C port instead). iPhone owners will want to look at the XS Lav with the 3.5mm connector, though an adapter will be required.
The 3.5mm version costs $49.95, and the USB-C version costs $59.95 — both are less expensive than the $79 Rode smartLav Plus.
Both the MKE 400 and XS Lav USB-C can also be purchased as part of a “Mobile Kit,” which adds $30 to the price and includes a tiny tripod and phone clamp mount.
If you’re finding that background noise is disrupting voice or video calls made from your computer, then a new piece of software from Nvidia might help (provided you have the necessary hardware to run it). Released in April 2020, RTX Voice uses the hardware found in Nvidia’s RTX (and more recently, GTX) GPUs to process your incoming and outgoing audio and eliminate almost all background noise.
Below, you’ll find a quick demonstration I recorded to show how it works. This was recorded from a Blue Snowball microphone using the built-in call recording functionality in Zoom. When I don’t have the software enabled, you can hear the loud clacking of my mechanical keyboard in the background of the call. But when I turn on RTX Voice, the sound completely disappears.
As well as processing your microphone’s input so that the people you’re speaking to can’t hear any background noise around you, you can also set the software to eliminate background noise coming in from other people. So you can save yourself from your colleagues’ loud keyboard as well as protecting them from your own. It’s a win-win.
How to use RTX Voice to reduce background noise
RTX Voice is pretty simple to use, but the big caveat is that you need the right hardware. In order to run it, you’ll need an Nvidia GeForce or Quadro RTX or GTX graphics card since the software uses this hardware to process your audio. That means you’re out of luck if you’ve got a Mac, or a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU.
As well as hardware requirements, the other thing to note about RTX Voice is that since the processing is being done by your graphics card, it might take system resources away from any games or other graphically intensive applications you’re running. I ran some quick and dirty benchmarks to try to gauge the performance impact and found that running RTX Voice on my Discord microphone input reduced UniEngine’s Heaven Benchmark by just over 3fps or around 6 percent, rising to over 8fps or 14 percent if I used the software to process incoming audio as well. That more or less tracks with YouTuber EposVox’s report of a 4 to 10 percent reduction when using it on his microphone, rising to 20 percent with both mic and speakers.
I think that makes RTX Voice a much better option for calls where you’re unlikely to be running something graphically intensive at the same time, like a work conference call, rather than while you’re running a game simultaneously. If you’re looking for something more gaming-specific, Discord recently launched its own noise suppression feature, which might be a better alternative.
RTX Voice can be set it up in just a couple of minutes.
First, update the driver software of your graphics card if it’s not already running on version 410.18 or above
Download RTX Voice from Nvidia’s website and install it
Once the software is installed, you can configure it to improve your incoming audio, outgoing audio, or both. Nvidia recommends only turning it on for your input device (read: microphone) to minimize the impact the audio processing will have on the performance of your system. You can also select how much noise suppression you want. I left it at 100 percent, but you might want to play around to find what works best for you.
You can set RTX Voice to work on your microphone input and / or your speaker’s output.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Once installed, “Nvidia RTX Voice” will appear as an audio input and / or output device for your PC. That means you can go into your voice chat app of choice and select it as though you’d plugged an extra microphone or set of speakers into your PC. Check out Nvidia’s site for specific instructions on how to configure the software for individual applications; here’s what the setting looks like in Zoom.
Once enabled, most chat apps will let you manually select RTX Voice as though it’s an input or output device.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Nvidia’s software isn’t unique. In addition to Discord’s feature, Microsoft also plans to add a similar piece of functionality to Teams later this year. The advantage of RTX Voice, however, is that it works across a much broader range of apps. Nvidia’s site lists 12 apps that it’s validated. However, I tested out audio recording app Audacity, which Nvidia doesn’t list as being supported, and found that RTX Voice worked just fine, so there are likely to be other unlisted apps that also work.
Not everyone will have the hardware to take advantage of this latest feature, and for others, the performance hit won’t be worth it. However if, like me, your gaming PC is mainly being used as a work computer these days, then using RTX Voice is a no-brainer.
Correction: This article originally stated that RTX Voice won’t work on a Windows machine with a dedicated GPU when it should have read that it won’t work on a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU. We regret the error.
Update 10:31AM, April 6th: Nvidia has extended RTX Voice support for earlier GTX, Quadro, and Titan-branded graphics card, so we’ve updated this post with relevant info.
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Sony has announced the UK and US pricing of its X90J range of TVs. Pricing is as follows:
50-inch Sony KD-50X90J: £1149, $1300
55-inch Sony KD-55X90J: £1249, $1500
65-inch Sony KD-60X90J: £1499, $1800
75-inch Sony KD-75X90J: £2299, $TBC
The three smaller models will go on sale this month, with the 75-inch variant following “later”.
The X90J LED TVs are part of Sony’s 2021 TV lineup, and replace the midrange (and Award-winning) XH90 from 2020. All models have the Flush Surface Bezel design and higher raised Slim Blade feet with two-position options. There’s already enough height in the design to allow room for a soundbar.
A voice remote comes as standard and, on the performance front, XR Contrast drops down to Contrast Booster 5 (from the XH95’s Contrast Booster 10). There are no X-Wide Angle or anti-reflection benefits either.
Otherwise, Acoustic Multi Audio, Google TV, HDMI 2.1 and IMAX Enhanced certification are present and correct.
The TVs support three formats of HDR (HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG) and on the audio front, they’re also ready for Dolby Atmos and 3D Surround upscaling.
Will the XJ90 be another Award-winner? You wouldn’t bet against it, but we’ll have to get it in and compare it to its 2021 rivals before making a proclamation on that front. Stay tuned.
MORE:
Check the full range: Sony 2021 TV line-up: models, sizes, specs, everything you need to know
Want better audio? Add one of the best soundbars to your TV
Check the competition:Samsung 2021 TV lineup: everything you need to know
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The Sonos Roam is the most focused, calculated product from Sonos yet. It’s a small $169 speaker that’s meant to compete with portable Bluetooth speakers that people so often carry everywhere without a second thought. But it’s also designed to slot into Sonos’ multiroom audio platform and showcase the versatility that comes with it. In fact, excluding the co-branded speakers that Sonos makes with Ikea, the Roam is now the cheapest way into the company’s ecosystem.
The Roam supports hands-free voice commands, has Apple AirPlay 2, includes wireless charging, and features a rugged design that lets you use it practically anywhere. There’s a lot riding on this speaker; Sonos only releases a couple new products per year, so they all have to deliver. So let’s examine how the Roam stacks up against similarly sized speakers and whether it should replace whatever you’ve got now.
At 6.61 inches tall, the Roam actually stands shorter than popular Bluetooth speakers like the UE Boom 3 and JBL Flip 5. And at under a pound, it’s lightweight enough to toss into your backpack or tote. The Boom is bigger all around: you could pretty much fit the Roam right inside it. UE’s Megaboom 3 and the new JBL Charge 5 both increase the size advantage further, and they’re still close to the Roam in price. Going up from there, you get to the real giants like the UE Megablast. For this review, I’ll keep it simple and focus on speakers that resemble the Roam in size.
The Roam retains what’s become the standard Sonos aesthetic, with hundreds of precision-drilled holes in the speaker enclosure. But this is not a cylinder-style speaker that shoots audio in all directions. The Roam has a curved triangle shape that naturally projects sound both forward and up when it’s laid horizontally. It comes in either black or white, and I’ve noticed that when the black one is in bright lighting, you can actually see a hexagon pattern behind the holes. That plate is there for structural reasons, but it’s not really visible on the white speaker.
Battery life tops out at 10 hours.
This is the first Sonos speaker to earn an IP67 dust and water resistance rating. By certification standards, that means it should survive up to 30 minutes in three feet of water. In practical terms, it means you can use the Roam in the bathroom while you shower and near pools without fretting about damage. It’s probably a good idea to keep it on a floaty if you insist on bringing it into a deep pool, though. This speaker doesn’t float. Yes, I checked.
The Roam has the best water resistance of any Sonos speaker.
I’ve also managed to drop my two review units a few times, and they’ve come away with only light blemishes and a couple nicks you really have to hunt for to notice. I chalk that up to clumsiness; there’s no built-in handle like the Move, but in general the curved triangle shape is easy to grip. Both sides of the Roam have silicone end caps to help with ruggedness. From what I’ve seen, it should be able to withstand a tumble off a bicycle and the wear and tear that comes with being a truly portable speaker.
It’s rated IP67 and has silicone at both ends to withstand bumps.
On the top (when vertical) or left (horizontal) is where you find the controls, which are actual clicky buttons beneath the silicone instead of the usual capacitive sensors that Sonos tends to use. Going with real, tactile buttons for this product was absolutely the right decision. They’re easy to feel for and hard to press accidentally. There are four buttons: play / pause, two for track controls, and a microphone button for enabling or muting the built-in microphones that are used for voice assistant commands with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
On the back of the Roam is a USB-C port and power button. Aside from wired charging, you can also juice up the speaker using any Qi-compatible pad that it’ll fit on. My Anker dual-charging station handled the task well. Sonos also sells a wireless charger that attaches to the Roam magnetically, but I didn’t get a chance to test that. The included USB-C-to-USB-A cable is nicely angled on the Roam’s side so that it doesn’t get in the way no matter how it’s oriented. Neither the cable nor the Sonos wireless charger are water resistant, so you’ve got to keep those dry. If you’re in a hurry, definitely go wired; Sonos says it takes “about two hours” for the Roam to go from 0 to 50 percent when charging wirelessly compared to “about an hour” when plugged in. Higher-power chargers can cut down on both of those times.
You can use either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant with the built-in mics.
Now onto the main agenda: sound quality. Sonos has built a favorable reputation with its past speakers, but the question is whether the company can make good on its name with a speaker this small and portable. What I’ll say is that the Roam is one of the clearest, most pleasant portable speakers I’ve used. Others like the UE Boom 3 can come off muddy and lack depth. There’s little about their sound and articulation that stands out.
The Roam seems to make a priority of ensuring that the texture and vibrancy of music comes through with maximum clarity. Vocals sound crisp, and strings in classical music come through lush without getting pitchy. Like other Sonos speakers, the Roam features automatic room optimization called Trueplay, and Sonos says it’s constantly adjusting to optimize sound for whatever environment it’s in. This does actually make a difference in an echoey bathroom, but it’s not some magic cure-all for an acoustically challenged room. (Auto Trueplay works with music both streamed over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.)
Let’s face it: while Sonos claims that the Roam “defies expectations,” it can’t defy physics. This is a relatively small speaker, and perhaps the best-sounding one in its size class, but it has weaknesses. At the top of that list is bass, which can’t quite match that of the Sonos One and is roundly defeated by the much larger, heavier Move. Even the barely larger JBL Flip 5 has more assertive bass that gets noticeably boomier than the Roam. It can go louder, too. Larger Bluetooth speakers like the UE Megaboom and JBL Charge 5 will almost certainly trounce the Roam at bass response, but I don’t consider that surprising.
Sonos’ speaker has some low-end resonance — you’ll feel the vibrations if it’s on a table — but it’s clear that the company has opted for balance over boom factor. The Roam can also only do so much when you’re using it in a wide open space outdoors with no walls for the sound to bounce off of. It’ll crank loud without much distortion but can’t reach the same fullness as the Move. It’s when you really turn up the volume that you’ll be left wanting some added oomph. A party speaker this is not.
Two Roams paired together can produce an excellent stereo soundstage — but only on Wi-Fi.
Using two Roams at the same time as a stereo pair brings out even more detail, and the bass also benefits from two of them playing together. There’s no beating proper stereo separation, and two Roams do a better job blanketing a bedroom or living room in music than one alone. Unfortunately, the process of creating a stereo pair can get tedious. You have to manually do it from the Sonos app every time. This makes sense since you have to select which speaker is on what side. But I’d love it if there were a button shortcut to more quickly form a stereo pair — or at least a prompt when you power on a second Roam that asks if you want to pair them instead of leaving both to their lonesome by default.
To the frustration of some Sonos customers, the Roam doesn’t allow you to use the stereo pair feature when listening over Bluetooth. This is also the case with the Move, but considering how much Sonos is hyping the portability of its new speaker, it feels like a fumble on the company’s part. Maybe this poses engineering challenges, but other Bluetooth speakers like the UE Wonderboom 2 can already link together as a stereo pair without needing an app to get there. Bluetooth stereo might be a compelling reason for some people to own two Roams, but right now the feature isn’t there.
The $169 Sonos Roam beside the much bigger, heavier $399 Sonos Move.
Sonos has at least introduced some new tricks with the Roam when using it around the house. The first is called sound swap, which lets you quickly pass off audio from the Roam to whichever of your other Sonos speakers is closest. You just hold the play button for a few seconds, and the currently playing music hops over. Repeat the process, and audio moves back to the Roam. This has worked well in my experience so far, and Sonos goes about locating the nearest speaker in a clever way. When you activate sound swap, all of your speakers briefly emit a high-frequency tone that your ears can’t hear — but the Roam can. When you venture outside, the Roam does a solid job automatically pairing to your phone once you’re outside Wi-Fi coverage.
The other new feature that debuts with the Roam is the option to play Bluetooth audio over your entire Sonos system. In the Sonos app, you can add your other speakers as a group with the Roam that’s playing the Bluetooth audio source. My turntable doesn’t do Bluetooth, but if yours does, this will be an easy way to play your records in multiple rooms — at the cost of fidelity, of course. There are other ways of integrating vinyl into a Sonos system if you care more about audio quality. I did test this feature using content from a friend’s phone over Bluetooth, and it played just fine across my other Sonos speakers. The Move can’t be updated with this feature because the Roam has a new antenna that can connect to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi simultaneously. The Move only supports one or the other at a time.
But even with these new capabilities, there are still those occasional times where a Sonos system falls out of step. Maybe music playback inexplicably starts seizing up, or maybe the volume controls in the app you’re casting from — like Spotify — stop working. Even after shifting to its new S2 platform, Sonos hasn’t completely ironed out the blips when its mobile app goes on the fritz or seems to momentarily lose control over everything. The bugs are rare, but they happen.
A useful, delicious size reference.
What’s worse in the case of the Roam is how poorly Sonos handles moving between Wi-Fi networks. Everything works just great at home, but if you want to use the Wi-Fi features of Roam at someone else’s place or when traveling, it’s a real headache. The process of adding another “trusted network” in the Sonos app didn’t always work in my experience. I hope this is something Sonos will focus on more now that it’s selling a speaker that’s portable in a way that the Move never was. Music on the Roam sounds best over Wi-Fi, and it’s also needed for features like AirPlay 2. Bluetooth is right there as a fallback, but the Roam really has to get friendlier with guest networks.
The estimated battery life of 10 hours is also on the low side: the UE Boom 3 gets 15 hours and JBL’s Flip 5 hits 12. Wireless charging helps make up for this to an extent. It’s pretty rare among Bluetooth speakers, and you can play music as the Roam sits on the charger replenishing its battery. But I still wish Sonos could’ve eked out some extra playing time. The company says you can reach up to 10 days of standby time, but that strikes me as optimistic. My review units have held their charge for quite a few days, though.
There’s also a battery drain bug if you set up Google Assistant on the Roam that Sonos warned reviewers about, and it’s bad enough that the company is encouraging customers to power the speaker down when it’s not being used to conserve juice. Sonos says it’s working with Google on a fix and that customers using Alexa won’t encounter the same issue. The beamforming microphones generally picked up my voice commands without obvious mistakes the vast majority of the time, and aside from the Google battery bug, both voice assistants worked as expected.
The Roam’s many features make it among the best portable speakers at its size.
It’s best to think of the Sonos Roam as a personal speaker. It’ll do fine on your desk pumping out the soundtrack to your day. It can handle picnic duty for a small group at the park or come for a ride-along on your bike. And yes, it shines in the shower. But if you’re leading a dance class or trying to entertain guests at a barbecue, these are the types of situations where the larger Move easily wins out and proves its worth. Think of it this way: the more people that will be listening, the sooner you’ll turn to a speaker that isn’t the Roam.
But even with that understood, the Roam has a lot going for it. When in the comfort of your home, features like AirPlay and voice assistants do make it feel more capable than other speakers that are equally small and easy to carry. That and convenient wireless charging are where the $170 price gets easier to accept.
The Roam can fill in any nook of your living space — the bathroom, the garage, wherever — that doesn’t have another full-time Sonos speaker in it. On the go with Bluetooth, it’s easy to use and kicks out clear, satisfying sound for its size. Sonos needs to work on keeping the Roam’s smarts together when you’re on different Wi-Fi, and stereo pairing over Bluetooth should’ve been a feature on day one. But neither is enough to sink the overall value of Sonos’ latest speaker. As long as you don’t expect miracles from its compact size, I think you’ll end up happy.
TikTok creators will soon be able to add automatically generated captions to their videos as the app attempts to make itself more accessible. The option to add auto captions will appear in the editing page after a video has been uploaded or recorded. TikTok says the feature will be available in American English and Japanese at first, but it plans to add support for more languages “in the coming months.”
The platform is adding the feature to make TikTok videos easier to watch for deaf and hard of hearing viewers. However, a TikTok dialogue box also says the feature is useful for anyone watching videos “when it’s difficult or inconvenient for them to listen to audio.” Creators can edit their captions after they’ve been automatically generated to fix any mistakes, and viewers can turn captions off via the captions button on the share panel.
As automatic transcription has gotten better over the years, services have increasingly been adding it to their software to make content more accessible. Last month, Google built the feature into Chrome, allowing it to generate captions for audio played through the browser. The company’s Live Caption system is also available as a system-wide feature for select Android devices. Video chat services like Zoom and Google Meet can auto-generate captions during calls, and Instagram also seems to be testing a similar feature for its videos.
TikTok’s auto captions are only its latest accessibility feature. The app also warns creators about videos that might trigger photosensitive epilepsy and provides filters for viewers to avoid these videos. A text-to-speech feature was also added late last year.
The new Apple TV is said to boast support for 120Hz frame rates – a capability you won’t find on any current Apple TV models. Details are thin on the ground, but the development could herald smoother gaming and a more responsive user interface.
According to 9to5Mac, the beta version of Apple’s upcoming tvOS 14.5 software contains multiple references to ‘120HZ’ and ‘supports 120Hz’ – the current Apple TV 4K set-top box is limited to 4K@60Hz resolution.
There have been rumours of a new Apple TV launching as soon as this month for some time. Recent leaks have tipped Apple’s next set-top box for a redesigned Siri remote control, HDMI 2.1, spatial audio, improved Apple Arcade integration and a speedier A14 Bionic chipset.
This latest development adds weight to the rumour that the new Apple TV will double up as a top-tier games console. In fact, some analysts claim Apple’s next set-top box could give the likes of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (both of which offer 4K@120Hz support) a run for their money.
Given that most of the best gaming TVs already support 120Hz and HDMI 2.1, it could be that the forthcoming flagship Apple TV is upping its gaming game, so to speak.
The new Apple TV isn’t the only Cupertino-designed device tipped for a higher refresh rate either. The iPhone 13, which is expected to break cover in September, is said to use a range of LTPO displays with 120Hz support.
MORE:
Everything we know so far about the new Apple TV
Here’s our round-up of the best video streamers
And check out our Apple TV+ review
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