keyword: Audio

review:-cyrus-audio-i9-xr

Review: Cyrus Audio i9 XR

As Cyrus Audio for à © à One thing, it is a British hi-fi sound in a small, living room-friendly format. The brand is now launching the new XR family: more high-end and powerful but still very compact. The i9-XR that we are testing here is the top model and overwhelms with enormous connectivity and a new DAC section.

There are music lovers who dream of a hi-fi sound and all the possibilities, but who do not want a large music system that dominates the living room. Based on this observation, Cyrus Audio has been working on compact all-rounders that still perform at a high level for almost forty years now. Now there are more brands that occasionally market a device with modest dimensions, but the British of Cyrus are convinced believers in the so-called ‘half width form factor’; everything they build is about half the width and height of a traditional hi-fi device. The depth of this new Cyrus does not differ from large stereo amplifiers, but that is not so bad in itself. And perhaps also inevitable; you can reduce a lot, but in the end you have to give the electronics and power supply the place.

It The end result is in any case a device that is spectacularly small. Something that can easily get an inconspicuous place on or in a TV cabinet. Is all innovation then aimed at miniaturization? No, says the manufacturer. Despite its small size, the i9-XR is truly meant to be a premium device, thanks to underlying technology worked on over the past decade.

Cyrus Audio i9-XR The Cyrus i9-XR positions itself with a suggested retail price of 3. 399 euro so as a challenger for established (and bigger) rivals to brands such as Hegel, NAD and many others. One thing you have to admit: it competes with a set of unique assets.

The i9-XR is the first all-in-one amplifier in the all-new premium XR family, along with the i7-XR of 2. 500 euros. There are other XR devices, including the Pre-XR preamplifier, two CD players (with and without their own DAC) and the PSU-XR. And Cyrus hints that more may follow. The PSU-XR has a special place in this family story. It is an external power supply that you can optionally combine with the i9-XR. It is an option that the manufacturer also offered in the past for Classic devices, intended to remove a potential source of interference from the housing and thus improve the display. Unusually, the PSU-XR is not just a replacement power supply for this one amplifier. It is compatible with four current XR devices (only the i7-XR not) and will also power future XR products.

With its modest size, multitude of connections, extra attention to the headphone output and With an idiosyncratic design, we find the i9-XR a striking appearance in the extensive hi-fi landscape. Compared to the devices from the two other Cyrus series, the more expensive XR family really has its own look and design. The Classic line is full-blooded Cyrus with a similar size and the distinctive green display, while the One devices combine a sleek no-nonsense design with the latest features, such as Chromecast streaming and an HDMI port. Cyrus himself describes his three lines in the Apples way: One is â ???? goodâ ????, Classic is â ???? betterâ ???? and XR is “best”. Even in the hi-fi world, you cannot escape the influences from Cupertino.

With the i9-XR, Cyrus has tackled various parts to lift the devices to a premium level. You have to, because at this price point there are simply worthy rivals. The first target was to combat noise, nutrition was also improved. The company always had its own implementation of ESS-DACs, called QXR, paying extra attention to the filters and analog buffers that followed the DA converters. The latter part has been completely redesigned in the second generation QXR in this new Cyrus. It can therefore handle the highest resolutions via the USB port. New is that you can switch between five filters, so you can tweak the sound in a modest way to your taste.

Maximize Minimalism It is almost a natural law of the hi-fi: if the device is compact, then a manufacturer has fewer opportunities to tempt the hi-fi enthusiast. With flashy design elements such as large VU meters â ???? whether or not it emits blue light â ???? or with massive volume buttons that just fit an adult hand, that is quite easy. A mastodon of 40 kilos of shiny steel is more noticeable than a small box of a few kilograms. So that’s a disadvantage if your name is Cyrus and net bet on compact devices. But just like say TEAC with its Reference 750 series, the British know how to make much of little.

In concrete terms: the i9-XR comes in a relatively heavy housing with a very solid and yet refined appearance. This also has to do with the material used (die-cast metal) and its shape. No, it is not just any rectangular box. Corners have been flattened, a minor change that makes the device more modern and intriguing to look at. An eye-catcher is undoubtedly also the front: in the bottom half the panel shows a bend forward and the corners are even more chamfered. That immediately gives the device a little more character and it is also a functional plus. The operating buttons are better presented to the user by the tilted front panel. By the way, they are keys that almost look like touch-sensitive touch buttons. A light touch is enough to operate them.

At the front, the focus is also on the screen, flanked on the right by a volume knob that also doubles as a selection knob when you dive into the menus. The display is not black on green as with classic Cyrus devices, but black on white. Do you like white letters on a dark background better? Through the settings you can swap the colors, a small but nice option. The brightness is also adjustable or you can turn off the screen completely. Handy, because the LCD screen can be quite bright. The high contrast means you can read it from further away than you would expect, but it still remains small print.

Thanks to all these things, the i9-XR has a more valuable look than previous Cyrus- devices. The bling-bling content is limited, but you can see that this is a premium product.

Greater impact than you might expect You must be prepared you can put your prejudices about small devices away when you listen to the i9-XR. This class AB amplifier promises 2x 399 Watt (6 Ohm) of power, which is certainly not too little. We connect a set of KEF R3â € ™ s, great upright speakers that also matched the One Cast well. Why not a large floorstander? We quietly suspect that music lovers who opt for a small hi-fi device will not suddenly opt for man-sized speakers. Although that contrast between small and large also has something, of course.

The One Cast from a year ago was a class D amplifier and Cyrus himself says that the XR series is also more neutral. tuned. Nevertheless, we find that the i9-XR still conveys much of its British character when we listen to music via Roon (partly Qobuz, partly own collection), supplied via the USB port. A cozy warm glow hangs over â ???? Stay Tunedâ ???? by Canadian jazz singers Dominique Fils-Aimà ©, very pleasant to dream away with while it’s pouring outside. With the much less slow remix of ‘Free Dom’ ???? the little Cyrus shifts effortlessly to a higher gear, without being bothered by the merciless beats. Even if we chase the volume to neighbor-unfriendly levels, the i9-XR continues to drive those R3’s very well. When we pass by the exciting â ???? Zu Asche, Zu Staubâ ???? from the German TV series Babylon Berlin, with a great drum solo before the whole orchestra starts, it continues to enjoy an impactful, yet slightly warmer presentation in which the finer detail is not missing. Apart from some demonstrations at shows, we don’t know the previous QXR generation that much. But the renewed DAC certainly does not disappoint when we move towards classical music, and the Craig Armstrong â ???? Cecilia Weston theme belonging to â ???? Far from the Madding Crowdâ ???? to listen. The violin line is sometimes very playful and spry, like a stormy wind blowing through a forest, but you still get very layered, scraping violin sounds served. Also in the dynamic performance by the LSO Chamber Ensemble of Stravinksky’s â ???? The Soldier’s Taleâ ???? really enjoy natural, engaging live reproduction of this classic, complemented here by a range of English dialect voices. It is not as bombastic as say the Decca version by Lâ ???? Orchester de la Suisse Romande, but it is much more fun to listen to. Regardless, it remains remarkable that Cyrus has provided a sufficiently large power supply in the small housing so that the amplifier can really handle those difficult dynamic jumps. Of course you want that from a product of a higher class.

Packed with connectors Turn the i9-XR over , then you will discover a small disadvantage of the modest size. Since Cyrus is committed to maximum connectivity, many inputs have been crammed into a small area. It’s actually unbelievable what you can discover here: four analog cinch pairs one one phono connection, four digital inputs (2 x optical, 2 x coaxial) and a USB class B. Cyrus sees the i9-XR also plays a role as a preamplifier, as two pre-outs are provided (with fixed and variable output level).

With only a few square centimeters of empty space left, Cyrus has provided M-Bus connectors (so you can operate multiple Cyrus products together) and a separate connection that is somewhat reminiscent of a VGA port of antique computers but it is for the optional PSU-XR power supply. In short, also in terms of connectivity, the small i9-XR is not inferior to big rivals.

If you like the majority of people connect everything and then never touch those cables again, it is huge range of connections on a small surface, no huge problem. If you are plugging in and pulling out plugs more often, you will have to do that with more attention. Okay, in most cases you plug in an amplifier and don’t look at those connections anymore. Then you will not really be bothered by the busy back panel.

The only exception is if you want to listen with headphones from time to time. That connection is also placed at the back and is a little less convenient to reach. That seems very unfortunate at first, because Cyrus has paid extra attention to the headphone amplification with this device. But then our eye falls on the “Phones” button on the front. If you dive into the settings, you can set the headphone output to turn on (and turn off the speakers) when you tap this button. For example, you can leave a small adapter / extension cable connected, so that you can quickly connect your headphones. By the way, Cyrus chose to place the headphone output at the rear because it makes the front more aesthetically pleasing.

We notice that the main output is of good quality when we connect the Focal Stellia. With an integrated amplifier you can never be guaranteed that the headphone output will sound the same, but that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case in this case.

Also for TV Unlike the Cyrus One Cast that we tested in March, the i9-XR does not have an HDMI-ARC input. When we peek at the busy back panel, we wonder where you might lose it anyway. In terms of integration with your television, you have fewer options, but it is not very difficult. You can simply bring the television sound to the Cyrus amplifier via an optical cable.

That may sound cumbersome to some, but that is not too bad. We wrote it before this year: the result you get can be very good. This is also the case with the i9-XR. Even with the Sony KD – 65 AF9 that hangs in our test room, you get a nice sound upgrade. That TV comes with Acoustic Surface speakers and a separate subwoofer, and yet it is much nicer to see Bruce Springsteen’s â € œLetter to Youâ € – documentary that you can find on Apple TV + via the Cyrus and the KEF R3- speakers.

In this documentary you can see how Springsteen and the E Street Band are working on their new album, a process in which there is a lot of chattering and of course some music. It is mainly a documentary with a lot of atmosphere, and you get a much larger portion of it through those separate speakers. Not only when songs from Letter to You are played, but also during the playful chatter between recording sessions. Dialogues are also easier to understand in a stereo setup like this one, if you make sure that the speakers are well placed in relation to your screen. In the case of the R3’s, that meant they were also screwed in a bit.

Conclusion Cyrus wants to prove with the i9-XR that you can also expect high-end performance from something that is a fraction of the size of a typical hi-fi device. A mission in which the British largely succeed, because small clearly does not stand for muscleless here. The small size has some consequences for user comfort, such as a smaller screen (which is very contrasting) and a busy back panel. However, these do not detract from the core values ​​of the Cyrus i9-XR: play your music in high quality and in a warm, intimate way, also on Goliath speakers many times larger than this little David.

Cyrus Audio i9-XR

3. 399 euro | Â www.cyrusaudio.com

Rating 4.5 / 5

review:-astell-and-kern-kann-alpha-tackles-any-headphones-without-fear

Review: Astell and Kern KANN Alpha Tackles any headphones without fear

The Astell & Kann family You can safely call Kern the outsiders among music players. In a positive way, that is. They emphasize a high-quality display, like all players of the brand. More unique is the very powerful headphone amplifier. This allows them to handle even very demanding headphones. And that is really special.

The days that everyone had an iPod in their pocket are far behind us. For most, the smartphone fulfills the role of a music player on the go â ???? and that’s fine. But that does not apply to everyone. A smartphone remains a compromise device that certainly does not put audio quality first. With a bit of luck it will be somewhere in place twenty, much lower than things like battery life and beautifully rounded edges on the screen. That’s why high-quality music players like A&K are still a thing.

Anyone who wants the best quality on the go will turn to a separate music player. No more WhatsApp messages, Facebook notifications and updates that install themselves inappropriately. This total focus on music reproduction is also why music players are increasingly used in private homes. If at home you do not only want to listen to a source / DAC / headphone amplifier via your headphones, then a music player or DAP is a very interesting alternative. You can even use real high-end units as sources for your hi-fi music system. You experience hi-fi quality in the garden, living room and bedroom. Who could be against that?

For all headphones

The Kann Alpha that we are looking at here is a special device. While there is a whole boom of high-end DAPs, Astell & Kern’s Kann family still occupies a distinct position. Thanks to a more powerful amplifier hatch, these luxurious devices can also handle particularly demanding headphones, also balanced. Difficult guys like the Sennheiser HD 650 or the Beyerdynamic T1, this Astell has & Kern family not to be alarmed. The Onyx black Kann Alpha stands out from the Kann Cube and the smaller â ???? regularâ ???? Can by combining properties of both. The Alpha is more compact than the large Cube, but is just as powerful. Â

Target audience for this player include demanding headfi enthusiasts. They will find everything they need to drive their headphones, including a balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn output. For Astell & Kern this is a first; this connection is still on the rise, especially among Asian brands. But Sennheisers HD 820 also comes with such a cable. Â

The Kann Alpha offers you further classic 3.5 mm output, in addition to a 2.5 mm balanced output. Get a few adapters from the store for exotic edge cases (for example from XLR4 to Pentaconn) and you can connect absolutely anything with this player. Why choose balanced? In addition to other advantages, you can count on double the power, so that those demanding headphones are optimally controlled. It is also possible to use this player as a source within a hi-fi music system with speakers, both analog and via an optical connection.

The Kann Alpha thus positions itself as a media player that can handle anything. That is also true when it comes to where your music comes from. Wide support of music formats, including hi-res PCM and DSD, is complemented by Bluetooth 5.0 (including LDAC and aptX HD, for headphones) and WiFi. And yes, you can of course also just play music files from the built-in storage (or a memory card). Plenty of choices.

Desire the corners

Many music players are designed for a life on the road and are therefore very light and transportable. The Kann Alpha remains a mobile device for its part, but at the same time it is very different from an average player. When we take the device out of its box, we are immediately struck by how fierce and massive the Kann Alpha is in the hand. Astell & Kern likes a more angular design language anyway and you really notice that with this device. It is an aesthetically pleasing object, yes, with a shape that invites you to grasp it.

If you look along the bottom or top, you will see a hexagon. The top is largely occupied by a 4.1-inch touchscreen and is connected to the much smaller brushed metal bottom via the angled, two-piece sides. By the way, the housing is not made of a single piece of metal. But it seems so.

Where most mobile devices opt for rounded corners and smooth surfaces, this is something special, which makes for a distinctive appearance. If we asked us in advance whether a low weight is crucial for a device on the road, we would perhaps wholeheartedly â ???? yesâ ???? answers. Now it becomes rather â ???? usuallyâ ????.

When we take the Kann Alpha in hand, we experience a premium feeling through that design and the build quality that we nowadays miss with even the most expensive flagship smartphones. We wouldn’t like to drop the Astell & Kern player on a glass coffee table, though. There is no doubt about which of the two breaks.

A striking design element â ???? and typically Astell & Kern â ???? is the crown with which you adjust the volume. Thanks to the relief on the rotary knob and many steps you can really fine tune the volume level. A lot more fun than devices that serve you music at a hellish volume after a careless turn of a knob. The halo around the crown is very subtle. During playback it changes color according to the hi-res quality, when you change the volume it becomes redder the louder you go.

Interface The Android-based interface of the Kann Alpha is well put together. When listening you are not exposed to endless settings and options. Via a menu that becomes visible when you swipe down on the touch screen, you get shortcuts to the most important things, such as WiFi and equalizers. If you still find it too busy, you can easily remove the unnecessary icons. For example, the Car Mode option is one that not everyone needs. If you tap on ‘Settings’, deeper options such as the gain level or DAC filters will appear that you will not adjust often.

That the software created is by people who understand headfi, we notice when listening via a MrSpeakers Ether the gain mode to â ???? highâ ???? change while music is playing. It could suddenly play a lot louder, but we get a message that the volume level is being lowered for security reasons. No unpleasant surprises.

As with any new device, the interface takes some getting used to. But the fact that the Kann Alpha is a mono-functional music player keeps the learning curve flat. It really helps that Astell & Kern separates the advanced settings from the things you want to use regularly. With daily use, you only see the essentials and only the more complex options on request. The equalizer is a striking example of this. You will not get a long list of filters already set, but only the equalizer that you have created yourself. You can create that via a multi-band equalizer with sliders, but if you really want to work fine-grained, you can use an advanced mode on 20 frequencies intervene with its own gain and Q setting (the latter indicates how wide in the frequency range the change intervenes: very limited around the chosen frequency or just very wide).

You don’t always have to be on that screen while listening. Astell & Kern provided the necessary hardware buttons so that you can jump to a next / previous track or pause the music without looking at it. And that volume knob inspired by the crown of a watch? Very nice to use. The accompanying on-screen animation consists of ever-expanding geometric triangles that appear to have escaped from a 1980s 3D arcade game.

Dual DAC Open the hood of the Kann Alpha to discover a dual-DAC setup based on two ESS ES 9068 AS with a femto clock. The choice for a double DAC has to do with offering balanced outputs and the aim to get the quietest possible, crosstalk-free output. The manufacturer did not stop there. Astell & Kern states that they uniquely separate their two balanced outputs, via separate analog switches.

The choice of that ESS ES 9068 AS chips give the Alpha broad support for hi-res. With a limit that is at 32 – bit / 384 kHz PCM streams and DSD 256 there is actually no limit on what you can listen to. Also in terms of formats, because in addition to FLAC, WAV and ALAC you can play exotics such as AIFF, APE and OGG.

Astell & Kern doesn’t reveal that much about the hardware, only that the Kann Alpha is powered by a quad-core processor. In use, the player responds smoothly and immediately, that’s the most important. Â

Where does the music come from? For a compact device, the Kann Alpha offers you many options when it comes to playing music. That you can play music files from the internal storage of 100 GB or from a microSD card (the player merges everything in one library if you use both, handy) is obvious. Music services are also possible. By default, the range seems sparse: Deezer and Tidal. But if you just roll up your sleeves, you can add the installation packages (APKs) of other services yourself. You simply copy these APK files to the player via USB. We did that in less than a minute with Qobuz and Apple Music. Spotify and Tune-In internet radio are also available.

Another option is to enable AK Connect. The Kann then becomes a DLNA player that you can control via a suitable app on your smartphone or tablet. Astell & Kern itself offers an app, but you can just as well opt for familiar names such as BubbleUPnP (Android) or mconnect Player. Whatever you like most. Yet another way? In AK Connect mode you can directly browse DLNA shares (e.g. on a NAS) and select music on the Kann Alpha.

USB-DAC mode  The big plus of a DAP is the focus on one usage scenario: listen to music in high quality, wherever you are. We will promptly undermine that statement by also taking a look at the other special talents of the Kann Alpha. This player can do other things, such as playing and ripping CDs. You may not have expected that â ???? and neither do we. Starting from the philosophy that a player like this can really be your complete music system, it is correct. Plug in an Astell & Kern external CD drive and you can play discs. Music can be ripped to FLAC or WAV.

Given that the Kann Alpha has an excellent double DAC section, it is nice that you can also use it as a USB DAC. This means that you connect the Astell & Kern via a USB cable to a laptop, PC or mobile device, after which you can stream music from your computer. That is not an everyday scenario. For Roon enthusiasts, it does provide a quick way to play your music collection via the Kann Alpha when you are at the computer. Other music programs also work, such as iTunes or Audirvana. Â

Insightful and Driven  Of course we wanted to try out a musicplayer like the Kann Alpha with as many headphones as possible. Like the MrSpeakers Ether CX, a nice closed to Estel with magnetic planar drivers that we connect in a balanced way to the 2.5 mm output. With an impedance of 23 Ohm have we’re not talking about very challenging headphones here, but it did give us the chance to discover that that background was indeed pitch black. The match is immediately good, but those lightly laidback MrSpeakers (now Dan Clark Audio) are rarely difficult. brown leather Focal Stellia listening to the new Hjevik album. Norwegian doom metal is not on everyone’s menu, but the Kann Alpha controls the Stellia very well in this work. It is always in the interplay of source DAC amplifier headphones, but we certainly do not get the impression that this player delivers anything less than top notch hi-fi quality. With every track on this Viking album, from â ???? Father Warâ ???? to â ???? The Power Ballad of Freyrâ ????, the guitar bursts are very well defined, the double bass drum tight and perfectly defined.

We stay in the far north with â ???? Der Klang Der Offenbarung des Götlichenâ ????, a German title but an Icelandic composer and ex-Sigur Ros member, Kjartan Sveinsson, who in our opinion one of the most beautiful neoclassical wrote works of recent years. The first track, â € Teil 1â ????, starts very slowly and builds up to a huge crescendo â ???? watch out for the ears â ???? whereby we cannot catch the Kann Alpha with unnatural sounds, but we can hear how the low, threatening foundation is sufficiently present in this work. A sign that the Stellia is well controlled, because those bass tones do require something. Towards the end of this work, the strings seek out the very highest notes, which in headphones can sometimes be a bit too much of a good thing. However, the DAC in the A&K ensures that those peaks do not derail and remain clear, free of distortion.

Time to make it more difficult: we get the HD 650 out of his cage. This classic is tougher, partly because of its high 150 – Oh, but still one of the most relevant headphones out there. We have to change the volume level immediately to position 100 – 110 (the Alpha goes up to 150), which was not needed until now. And yes, there is a high gain mode to remedy that, but then the battery is very heavily taxed. And after all that northern gloom, we were ready for something else. Some happy, dub- and soul-inspired songs from Mungo’s Hi-Fi for example. The Kann Alpha presents those deep dub tones nice and fat, exactly as it should be, what a DAP in combination with the HD 650 is handsome. Also at â ???? Atomosâ ???? of A Winged Victory for the Sullen, the A&K player puts in a nice performance. Powerful, with an exquisite, long sustain of piano notes, and a clear, open reproduction (by the standards of the dark warm HD 650, or).

Conclusion â ???? How is this possibleâ ?? Can one compact device take so many roles without getting into trouble? â € It’s a question we regularly asked ourselves during testing. The Kann Alpha is a versatile tool in every sense of the word. In addition to the many ways to play music, the dual DAC and the powerful amplifier section deliver high-fidelity playback on all headphones. Also the tricky ones.

Astell & Kern Kann Alpha

â ?? ¬ 1. 199 | Â www.dendaudio.nl

Rating 4.5 out of 5

salesforce-is-interested-in-slack

Salesforce is interested in Slack

Salesforce apparently wants to expand its product portfolio to include audio and video conferencing services: As the Wallstreet Journal reports, the provider of countless corporate cloud services is negotiating with the 14 Billion euro company Slack Technologies on its takeover.

Slack, operator of the groupware service of the same name with currently 130. 000 paying corporate customers, sees itself pushed to the wall by Microsoft, because this is the competing product teams meanwhile standard component of its Microsoft office platform 365 and thus, in the opinion of Slack, hinders competition.

Communication platform By incorporating it into the much larger Salesforce, the Slack developers could continue their original concept of adding interfaces with services from other providers, such as those for web storage like Dropbo x, Google Drive or GitHub. This is in contrast to the Microsoft philosophy of realizing all imaginable functions exclusively with its own products.

Since the company was founded, Salesforce has not only positioned itself as a software developer for corporate web services, but also as a platform for marketing Applications that their customers have developed and made available to other customers. The company has its own groupware products at the start with Chatter and Quip, but these have so far been entirely geared towards allowing users to communicate with each other via text messages and documents.

Expansion of the portfolio Slack, on the other hand, also enables audio and video calls and has just announced that it will soon have a push-to-talk mode and more to support so-called stories. These are video clips that can be used to pre-produce and possibly replace a brief appearance in a video conference. With Slack, Salesforce could close a gap in its service offering and strengthen its position vis-à-vis competitor Microsoft today Thursday a jump of almost 30 percent upwards.

(hps)

review:-edifier-s3000-pro

Review: Edifier S3000 Pro

REVIEW

RESUME The Edifier S 3000 Pro misled us with its appearance. The stereo image with music is to die for, the connection options are very many and the set can be used cross-media. It is a real all-rounder for a very affordable price, and recommended if the design matches the rest of your interior.

PLUS POINTS True All-Rounder Wide stereo image Many possibilities in terms of connection Included cables MINUSES Old-fashioned design

There are those brands that are known to us, but ar often just out of sight. That is certainly not always right, but there is also so much choice. Fortunately, the Edifier S 3000 Pro active bookshelf speaker turned up on our test bench. Thanks to the necessary technological advancements, the brand has done quite a bit of good work.

To pick up on the introduction, the Edifier brand is of course not completely unknown, not even at HIFI.NL. The Beijing company has been operating in the audio industry for a quarter of a century, and especially in the last ten years, the manufacturer has had the clear motto “a passion for sound”. a big step in terms of brand awareness. Edifier dared not to go the regular way, but to come up with daring designs, affordable quality and award-winning sound systems. The brand is now in more than 80 countries, with audio products such as headphones, speakers and full music systems, for both the consumer and the audio pro.

Just plug in The first thing we notice when we see the S 3000 Pro received is the sheer weight of these Edifiers. We had expected some kind of active PC speakers, but once again learned that we should keep assumptions to ourselves. With a total weight of 21 kilos, they are just serious speakers. So a good ten kilos each. That is also allowed, because they are active speakers. Amplification included.

When opening the box , we are once again pleasantly surprised. Many brands are reducing the price by no longer supplying cables. Edifier has a different approach. We only find enough cabling in the box; an optical cable, usb, 3.5 mm to RCA, and RCA to RCA. And then two power cables.

In the set up of the Edifier S 20191114160511 Pro, a speaker is the master, and a speaker is the slave. The connection between the two is wireless. At the back of the master speaker a world of connections meets us. We find a USB, optical, unbalanced and balanced input. We certainly did not expect the latter. And Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD decoding. We also notice three beautiful rotary knobs. Two of these are for the bass and treble. The top one is for input or volume. But volume or input is also possible with the supplied remote control. Can we already say that the remote control is very nice? Yes that is allowed. Although it feels a bit cheap due to the plastic, the design looks modern and feels good in the hand .

Lost in thought, we hear an old telephone ringing in the distance. Amazed by the sound, which we haven’t heard for years. It’s a phone with a dial on the front. We decide to answer. Hello? we ask in a surprised voice. On the other hand, a slightly smoky voice will hear answers; Yes hello, with 80. Years 80. I heard you have the Edifier S 20191114160511 pro. I would like the design back. There’s a Delorean coming up with a kid in it, Marty McFly. Give the speakers to him! Â ???? and the line is disconnected.

Well, we do have to talk about that. That Design! Place these Edifiers next to, say, a Bowers & Wilkins from the 600 series and it gets a little more illustrative. The gold-colored base, the dark walnut color, the crazy gradient on the side and the black middle part. Just really out of this time. Sure, tastes differ, but this makes us slightly melancholic. Also compare it with DALI, where a beautiful light wood color is possible. We might exaggerate a bit, but the design is really something to look at in advance.

Music à la Edifier The ease of connecting is fortunately something very contemporary. Plug in the power cables, switch on and you’re done. That is it. The speakers automatically connect with each other. Do you want to connect something to it, plug the cable and you’re done.

We chose the Bluesound Node to stream music. We hooked it up with an AudioQuest Cinnamon. The Edifier S 3000 Pro has a 6.5 inch driver for the mid and low tones. This is provided with an aluminum cone. The tweeters are flat ribbon tweeters, which provide those fast high tones. To test that, we will of course switch to the HIFI.NL playlist. We start with some Michael Kiwanuka â ???? Cold Little Heart. And then something special happens. Where we just stumbled upon the design , we are now enchanted by a stereo image that is unprecedentedly good. The percussions that get into the room via the left channel are ridiculously clear. It sounds clean and clear, while we are treated to a tightly cast layer from the other side. We continue to listen in amazement. As soon as the singing starts, the party is complete. And only then do we realize that we are listening to a set of less than 700 euro.

If we make the comparison again with the B&W 600 series, which is next to it, gives the Edifier S 3000 Pro a complete fun package. The amplifier is built into the speakers, as is the DAC. It includes a remote control, bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD, and the set is ready for high-res music.

We’re still listening some other numbers from the list, but are also curious how the Edifier S 3000 Pro performs in multimedia field. We test the speaker next to the PC for a game of gaming, and next to the TV for a series and film. On the PC we play Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption. In both cases, the Edifier delivers an excellent performance. With the remote control we can choose between 4 EQ modes. With music, preference was given to monitor or classic. Now when gaming, the preference is for dynamic. This is the best way to describe the sound during gaming. Especially the tight layer provides a lot of intensity. It’s almost to cut the tension.

At the TV we put the speakers about four meters apart and we swing Netflix on. We are in the middle of The Punisher and Deadly Class. Here, too, the dynamics provide a true spectacle. The low pops wonderfully. The sound effects such as shots and bullets flying around the ears are carried by the flat tweeters. Due to the wide placement we also create a wide sound. It is a great setup for people who both want to enjoy music and watch movies. The Edifier S 3000 Pro profiles itself with this as a true all-rounder, and that for a very affordable price.

Final Verdict The Edifier S 3000 Pro disguises its true identity. A sleeper. Only when music is listened to, the true identity emerges. We really expected a different sound. Maybe more in the corner of pumped-up PC speakers. In terms of stereo image, the Edifiers play the stars of the sky, especially for that money.

Yet there are also some small things that stood out. Such as pause and play on the remote. This only works if a Bluetooth device is connected. The treble and midrange crossover may work differently with the EQ presets. On the other hand, if you want to reach this level with separate speakers and amplifier, that can be quite a challenge. Especially for that amount. For Allround use the Edifier S 20191114160511 Pro more than capable.

Conclusion Anyone looking for an all-in one, one-stop-shop audio product will not immediately end up with an active set of Edifier. The Edifier S 3000 Pro has us however deceived with its appearance. The stereo image with music is to die for, the connection options are very many and the set can be used cross-media. It is a real all-rounder for a very affordable price, and recommended if the design matches the rest of your interior.

Edifier S 3000 Pro

â ?? ¬ 699 | Â edifier.nl

Rating: 4/5

youtube-in-8k-also-arrives-on-android-tvs

YouTube in 8K also arrives on Android TVs

Update 2. 12. 08 brings other interesting features in addition to the ability to view 8K video in native format, such as support for Cast Connect functionality launched by Google in August

by Roberto Colombo published , at 11: 31 in the Audio Video channel

8K Google YouTube Sony TCL Philips

Not always having a TV with an operating system Android TV means to be the first to receive the news from Google. The latest case in chronological order is 8K support for YouTube videos . Already in May 2020, in fact, users of 8K TVs from Samsung and LG had received updates that enabled viewing in full format of 8K videos from YouTube, while viewing was forbidden to owners of televisions with the operating system of the Mountain View giant.

YouTube in 8K lands on Android TV

With the update of the YouTube app for Android TV to version 2. 12. 08, however, things change. However, there are some aspects to consider: the new version of the app requires Android 10 for which it is necessary that the manufacturer has released a version of the TV firmware based on it: 8K TVs with Android TV 9 are therefore excluded from viewing YouTube content in 8K. Another requirement is compatibility with the AV1 codec .

Update 2. 12. 08 brings other interesting features, such as support for Cast Connec t feature launched by Google in August, which improves the possibilities of controlling the contents shared with the TV, which are controllable and browsable not only from the smartphone app, but also directly with the remote control.