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Cooler Master MM720 Review: Respawn

Our Verdict

The Cooler Master MM720 is a unique gaming mouse that improves on its predecessor, the Spawn, with a case, sensor and cable that compete with other high-end mice.

For

+ Unique design with ring finger support
+ Pure PTFE feet
+ Very lightweight, flexible cord

Against

– Side buttons can be hard to reach
– Cable already suffers from light kinking

It took nearly a decade, but Cooler Master finally announced a followup to its Spawn gaming mouse at CES 2020. The vendor has followed up its cult classic with the Cooler Master MM720. Available for $40–$50 as of writing, the MM720 is ready for the new millennium with a honeycomb-style chassis, upgraded sensor and a cable with both pros and cons. Ultimately, it’s a winning package that not only competes favorably against modern rivals but also its predecessor, which some consider the best gaming mouse of yesteryear.

Cooler Master MM720 Specs

Sensor Model	PixArt PMW-3389
Sensitivity	Up to 16,000 CPI native or 32,000 via software
Polling Rates	125, 250, 500, or 1,000 Hz
Programmable Buttons	6
LED Zones and Colors	2x RGB
Cable	6 foot (1.8m) USB Type-A
Connectivity	USB Type-A
Measurements (LxWxH)	4.15 x 3.01 x 1.47 inches (105.42 x 76.5 x 37.4mm)
Weight (without cable)	1.72 ounces (49g)
Extra	Replacement PTFE feet

Design and Comfort

Modern gaming mice often seem like they were made from the same mold. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing because manufacturers have mostly settled on shapes that can appeal to a broad audience, and breaking that mold can result in a truly awful mouse. But that didn’t stop Cooler Master from eschewing the staid designs of modern mice in favor of the unique, seemingly hand-molded case that inspired the original Spawn gaming mouse.

The Cooler Master MM720 is short, wide and defined by its curves. It almost seems like the company handed someone a ball of Silly Putty, told them to pretend it was a mouse and then used the resulting shape as inspiration. There is nary a flat surface on the mouse; every point of contact has been contoured in some way to better accommodate the natural shape of most people’s hands. This looks weird, yes, but it feels great during use.

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But all of those things were true of the Spawn when it debuted a decade ago. The Cooler Master MM720 complements that ergonomic design with an ABS plastic honeycomb shell that weighs roughly half as much as its predecessor, a PixArt PMW-3389 optical sensor that’s been moved to a more sensible location under the mouse and a braided cable that should offer a better experience than the rubber cable Cooler Master had to use in the Spawn.

Cooler Master has also welcomed modern design trends with the MM720 in the form of two color options, white and black, with either a glossy or a matte finish. There’s a subdued Cooler Master logo on the palm rest that—along with the scroll wheel—provides the new mouse’s obligatory RGB lighting. And, of course, the honeycomb shell makes the MM720 look much different from the Spawn’s solid plastic construction.

The result is a mouse that is familiar in many ways, thanks to its similarity to mice like the similarly priced Cooler Master MM710 and Glorious Model D, yet still novel because of its shape. The Cooler Master MM720 measures 4.15 inches long, 3.01 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall and weighs 1.72 ounces. For comparison, the MM710 is 4.59 x 2.46 x 1.51 inches and about 1.87 ounces, and the Model D- is 4.72 x 2.40-2.64 x 1.30-1.57 inches and 2.4 ounces.

Unfortunately, the matte black option of the Cooler Master MM720 we tested is also a fingerprint magnet, which gives the already odd-looking mouse an even less appealing aesthetic. This problem might not be as noticeable on other versions of the mouse though, especially the white ones. And it’s merely a cosmetic issue. Cooler Master says the MM720’s case offers IP58 dust and water resistance, thanks to its special coating. The company also claims “you can dunk this bad boy in water to clean it off,” but I wasn’t brave enough to test that claim.

I also noticed some light kinking on the cable after just a little over a week of use. At this point it’s more of a visual distraction than anything else, but it does raise concerns about the cable’s long-term durability.

Gaming Performance

The Cooler Master MM720 is surprisingly comfortable to use for extended periods, and that’s mostly because it offers a place to rest your ring finger while you’re playing. Most gaming mice tend to ignore the existence of our ring fingers entirely—companies typically account for our thumbs, index fingers and middle fingers before calling it quits. But the Cooler Master MM720’s design accounts for one of those neglected appendages (sorry, pinky), and this seemingly inconsequential change makes a noticeable difference over the course of a long play session.

It’s also surprisingly easy to fling the Cooler Master MM720 around a mousepad. Many of the changes Cooler Master made to this mouse contribute to that ease of movement: the 100% pure PTFE feet are smoother than Rob Thomas, and the braided cable offers minimal drag, although it was still somewhat distracting coming off the wireless mice I’ve reviewed lately. I’m firmly in the wireless camp at this point, (see our Best Wireless Mouse page for recommendations), but if you insist on having a cable you could do worse than the Cooler Master MM720 when it comes to actual gameplay. Of course, your final views will depend on how founded or unfounded those concerns about durability prove to be.

The Cooler Master MM720’s light weight, smooth feet and braided cable are complemented by the PMW-3389 optical sensor, specced for up to 16,000 counts per inch (CPI) sensitivity, a max velocity of 400 inches per second (IPS) and max acceleration of 50g. Many other mice, including the excellent Razer Naga Pro, use the same sensor to great effect.

The sensor’s also in a sensible position on the MM720: smack-dab in the middle of the mouse, as opposed to the offset sensor found in the original Spawn. I didn’t have any trouble popping heads in Valorant with the Cooler Master MM720, and the PMW-3389’s reliability is a big contributor to that.

Another contributor: The LK optical micro switches used in the primary mouse buttons. They are certainly responsive, and I only found myself shouting “but I clicked!” because of network problems, not because of a missed input. Cooler Master markets the switches as offering “nearly instant actuation” and reducing debounce time to “practically zero.”

In fact, the only problems I had in-game with the Cooler Master MM720 involved the side buttons. They appear to be well-made, as I didn’t notice any pre or post-travel during everyday use, but their placement just doesn’t work for me. Practically every aspect of the mouse lends itself to a relaxed grip, so I want to rest my thumb in the dedicated groove along the side of the case, but the side buttons are located above that groove. This placement wouldn’t be a problem with my normal fingertip grip, but because of the Cooler Master MM720’s design, I would end up using something closer to a palm grip that forced me to stretch my thumb every time I wanted to press a side button. Cooler Master says the MM720 is fit for palm and claw grippers, but I can’t comfortably use a claw grip and take advantage of the ring finger rest, so it ended up being a matter of which trade-off I was most willing to live with.

Whether or not that’s a problem for you will depend on the grip you use, the size of your hand and how much importance you put on the side buttons. But it did seem a bit strange that this one aspect of the Cooler Master MM720’s design was at odds with the rest of the mouse. Maybe there’s a technical limitation preventing a lower placement for the side buttons or perhaps the grip I settled on wasn’t actually what Cooler Master had in mind. Hopefully others fare better in that regard.

Features and Software

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The Cooler Master MM720 is configured using the comically named Cooler Master MasterPlus+ software. The utility offers information about your system, like the temperature, usage percentage, and voltage of your CPU and GPU by default. You can also use it to manage your other Cooler Master hardware. It checks for any new firmware on first launch, offers to install it and then gets out of the way so you can configure the Cooler Master MM720 using its many distinct settings.

The six programmable buttons can all be configured under the appropriately titled Buttons page. Because of the software’s Mouse Combo feature, there are actually just five programmable buttons—the side buttons, right mouse button and the scroll wheel directional inputs—by default. That setting allows each of the mouse’s buttons to perform a secondary function when the scroll wheel button is held down. Luckily that setting, which is enabled by default, can be disabled right on this page.

The MasterPlus+ software offers a variety of actions. Each button can be disabled, set to behave like another mouse button, keyboard key, or DPI switch, used to control multimedia playback or tasked with executing a macro, switching between profiles or performing a Rapid Fire action that repeats a given input up to 99 times as quickly as possible. There’s also an option to disable the sensor, which could prove useful if you want to stop someone from clicking around your system or if you want to watch a video without the controls popping up because you happened to jostle your desk, and the DPI switch on the bottom of the mouse can be assigned any of these functions as well.

The Cooler Master MM720 also offers a surprising amount of control over its performance. The usual settings are all here: You can enable angle snapping, toggle lift-off distance, or set the polling rate to 125, 250, 500, or 1,000 Hz. There are also sensitivity controls between 200 and 32,000 CPI; just be warned that setting the CPI any higher than 16,000 uses software and also causes problems because of the PMW-3389’s limitations. And by “causing problems” I mean the cursor is nigh impossible to control, skips around the screen, and is essentially unusable. Cooler Master provides seven CPI stages for toggling with the CPI switch that all offer separate values for their horizontal and vertical sensitivity; although, the two are linked by default.

MasterPlus+ also offers sliders for angle tunability, button response time and the operating system’s settings for double-click speed and pointer sensitivity. But the premier feature is Surface Tuning, which is supposed to optimize the sensor for your particular mousepad. I didn’t notice any improvement, but I’m also used to adapting to a variety of sensors in numerous mice, so maybe someone who spends months on end with the same mouse and/or sensor would better appreciate the setting.

The software’s RGB settings are similar to those found in most other utilities. Cooler Master offers seven preset colors, as well as slots for seven custom colors that you can set by using a color wheel or providing RGB values and adjusting the brightness slider. There are four built-in effects—Static, Breathing, Color Cycle and Indicator—that mostly perform as expected. I say mostly because Indicator is a bit of an odd duck. It’s not clear what exactly it’s indicating, and it’s the only built-in effect that uses different colors for the two RGB zones—blue in the palm rest and pink under the scroll wheel— but those colors don’t appear to be customizable and they remain static even if I move the mouse or click around the app.

There’s also the option to create a custom lighting effect, but this seems to be limited to solid colors because the LED speed and LED direction settings are grayed out. Aside from using the Indicator setting, this appears to be the only way to set different colors for the two RGB zones, but the process isn’t particularly intuitive. You have to select a color and then, entirely without prompting, click on the zone you want to assign that color in the preview window.

Macros, meanwhile, are surprisingly limited. All you’re able to do is tell MasterPlus+ to start recording your keyboard or mouse inputs, tell it when to stop recording and then set the input delay for the individual actions you performed. The only other option is to run a macro once, have it loop for as long as the designated execution key is held down or have it loop until that key is pressed again. That isn’t to say the macros can’t prove useful, but they are more limited than they are in other utilities.

Finally, there are profiles. Cooler Master offers five by default, and they can each be reset, renamed, overridden by an imported profile, exported, or viewed as a .exe file in your file system. Otherwise, they simply store the settings managed by the other sections in the app to the mouse’s 512KB of onboard storage. You can change the mouse’s current profile without having to open (or download) the app again by using the profile switch button.

Bottom Line

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I said in my review of the MSI Clutch GM41 Lightweight Wireless that it featured the “prototypical gaming mouse look.” Nobody could say that about the Cooler Master MM720. It’s a unique mouse that breaks the mold with purpose—providing a more comfortable gaming experience—instead of a misguided attempt to simply look different from the other mice on the market. Sure, the groundwork for this design was laid over a decade ago, but it’ll still be novel to most of its potential customers.

The Cooler Master MM720 is also a surprisingly good value, with a honeycomb shell, modern-day sensor, braided cable, large 100% pure PTFE feet and two RGB lighting zones, starting at $40 as of writing. Many companies would either charge more for mice with those components or choose different parts. The HK-Gaming Mira-M (currently $40), for example, relies on a PMW-3360 sensor and smaller feet.

The primary drawbacks to the Cooler Master MM720 are the placement of its side buttons and the questionable durability of its cable. But of far greater concern is the mouse’s shape and if it fits your style. I preferred palm gripping with the MM720, and people who’ve been waiting for a followup to the Spawn or a more ergonomic gaming mouse should be excited by the MM720. If you prefer an ambidextrous mouse or a claw grip, the Glorious Model D- and Mira-M may be better options.

There isn’t necessarily a clear winner between the Mira-M, Model D- and MM720, which all earned our Editor’s Choice Award. But that might actually be a good thing: Having options with quite different shapes but similar pricing, specs and performance is a sign that this ultralight segment is maturing. Now you can opt for the mouse that best suits your hand size, grip and play style.

For gamers seeking a unique, ergonomic-minded option, the Cooler Master MM720 is a solid product. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take Cooler Master another decade to release a followup, eh?

10 of the best Arcam products of all time

(Image credit: Future)

There must be something in the water in Cambridge, England.

Not only did Cambridge Audio emerge from the university city, but so too did another bastion of British hi-fi. Amplification Recording and Cambridge (as it was known originally) was founded back in 1976, the brainchild of John Dawson and Chris Evans, who met while studying at Cambridge University. Over the years, the name was shortened to A&R Cambridge before Arcam was adopted in the 1980s.

Arcam has cast its product net far and wide over the years, always willing to experiment and entertain new product categories as they have emerged. From iPod speaker docks to standalone DACs, DVD players to music streamers, Arcam hasn’t been afraid to push itself, and the sonic envelope, in terms of both design and performance.

And the results speak for themselves. We’ve seen some absolutely classic products emerge over the years, and in celebration of British Hi-Fi Week, we highlight a number of them below. We kick things off where it all started, with a classic stereo amplifier…

Read our British Hi-Fi Week reviews and features

A&R Cambridge A60 (1979)

(Image credit: Future)

Arcam got off to a flier with its first-ever product, the A60. Launched in 1976, it was a well-equipped integrated amplifier, with a solid selection of line-level inputs and a quality moving-magnet phono stage. We were impressed by the A60’s solid build and sound quality from the start. It cost £190 in the early Eighties and was very much the go-to middle-market amplifier of the time.

The A60’s smooth presentation and expressive midrange made it a fun and entertaining listen. It was surefooted rhythmically and provided decent punch too. The power output of 40W per channel wasn’t special, by any means, but it was still enough to work with a wide range of speakers.

That Was Then… A&R Cambridge A60 (1976) vs. Arcam A19 (2013)

A&R Cambridge P77 (1977)

(Image credit: Future)

If you were looking to upgrade your record player in the late 70s, Arcam’s budget P77 cartridge would probably have been somewhere on your shopping list. It was designed using Japanese parts and boasted excellent tracking ability, although you needed to get the right capacitive loading to get the best sound from the moving-magnet design. We were big fans of its wonderfully open and intimate soundstage at the time, as well as its dynamics, and its rhythmic ability.

The cartridge wasn’t completely immune from criticism, however. We questioned its “slightly fat bass quality and a brightness when not correctly loaded”, proof that there’s always room for improvement, even in some top-performing products.

A&R Arcam Two (1985)

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Arcam might be better known for its electronics, but in 1985 it managed to serve up a cracking pair of stereo speakers in the shape of the Arcam Two. For petite budget standmounters, these really stood out from their rivals. This was partly down to the fantastic build quality on offer. The real-wood finish was superb, while each cabinet was heavily braced and damped to keep vibrations to a minimum. A&R even offered optional wooden pedestal stands for you to perch them on.

We highlighted their “marvellous” stereo imaging and the fact they weren’t lacking in top end detail. They also displayed a “midrange resolution which is of benefit with any kind of music”. At the same time, though, this was a pair of speakers that also benefited from careful system matching. We noted the Arcam’s weighty bass had the potential to sound a little thick and unwieldy if the speakers were partnered with unsuitable electronics.

17 of the best British speakers of all time

Arcam Alpha 7 (1996)

(Image credit: Future)

Based on Arcam’s landmark Alpha One CD player, the Alpha 7 left the competition in its wake when it launched back in 1996. The ‘7’ featured a modular design, which offered the possibility of an upgrade path. This meant that with a new DAC board and a badge change you could transform the Alpha 7 into an Alpha 8. Neat.

It had a smooth, mature and relaxing sound, which made for treble that was softer than that from other players. But the sound had a good weight to it, which helped tracks sound big and substantial where necessary. The Alpha 7 took the game to similarly priced Japanese efforts and held its own – and not many affordable British-made players achieved such a feat.

Arcam Alpha 7SE – The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame: 1990s

Arcam DiVA A85 (2001)

(Image credit: Future)

The A85 was different from its forebears. Where previous Arcam efforts veered towards warm and safe, the A85 had the ferocity of a sledgehammer smashing through glass. It worked well with all genres of music, with no trace of boom or bloom, and a clarity that extended throughout the frequency range.

We noted its “immaculately clean” midrange that had a resolution its rivals couldn’t match. The A85 was a sonic leader in its class, a fully featured amp that blew away the competition.

11 of the best British stereo amplifiers of all time

Arcam FMJ AV8 / FMJ P7 (2002)

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If we were to make a list of home cinema highlights from the noughties, then Arcam’s potent processor/power amp combo would be a shoo-in. Granted, at £5500 for the pair, it wasn’t cheap, but the AV8/P7 justified every penny thanks to its breathtaking sonic ability.

The P7 power amp boasted an impressive 170W of power into seven channels, and it deployed it all with a sofa-shaking amount of force. The beauty of this Arcam pairing, though, was also its musicality. It was capable of elevating any movie soundtrack to a level where the listener couldn’t help but be blown away.

For the time, there was also a fair chunk of technology on show too. The AV8 showcased THX Ultra2 certification, and included format support for THX Surround EX and DTS-ES, among others. Remember, this was before the days of HDMI sockets and Dolby Atmos.

Our pick of the best AV receivers you can buy

Arcam Solo (2005)

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For hi-fi fans who couldn’t accommodate a stack of separates, the Arcam Solo was the perfect solution – it provided the convenience of a one-box micro system with sensational sound quality. All you needed to do was add speakers. It was the benchmark product of its kind back in 2005, a premium hi-fi set-up that delivered brilliance across the board.

Playing a wide variety of genres, the Solo just refused to put a foot wrong and produced “consistently listenable results, packed with detail and expressive dynamics”.

The Arcam looked understated, but extremely elegant at the same time – the unit felt solid and was beautifully finished too. It combined CD player, DAB/FM tuner and amplifier to fantastic effect and you even had the option of connecting an iPod and controlling it through the Solo’s remote control. As an all-in-one proposition it was very tough to beat.

Read our Arcam Solo review

Arcam rDAC (DAC) 2010

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Thanks to the increasing amount of music being stored on computer hard drives, DACs (digital to analogue convertors) had exploded into the mainstream by the time the Arcam rDAC arrived on the scene in 2010. It was a talented device and Arcam got the design, the feature set and the sonic performance absolutely spot on. Emphasis was put on the performance from the asynchronous USB input for computer-based music and the company focused heavily on reducing jitter (digital timing errors).

But to be fair, the rDAC performed well across all inputs delivering a “spacious, controlled and big-boned sound”. Low frequencies were controlled yet authoritative, and detail levels and the DAC’s ability to translate textures accurately was second to none at the money. A superb example of its kind.

Read our Arcam rDAC review

Arcam rCube (2011)

(Image credit: Arcam)

With the rCube, Arcam proved it could be flexible enough to shift from traditional separates and embrace new sources of audio – in this case, the Apple iPod. This portable music player’s emergence spawned the arrival of numerous iPod speaker docks which brought added convenience and a new angle to home audio.

There was no lack of rivals on the market at the time, but, to its credit, Arcam rose to the challenge. The rCube not only delivered excellent cohesive sound quality, it also offered portability (via the rechargeable battery) video playback and a wireless option; it even had multi-room potential – you could buy two and stream from one to the other. Its design meant the speaker dock sounded better tucked in the corner of a room, but it also featured an all-important ‘bass’ boost function which gave it a helping hand in open space. A very clever speaker that stood out from the crowd.

MORE:

Read our Arcam rCube review

6 of the best British hi-fi innovations and technologies

12 of the best Cambridge Audio products of all time

The art of upcycling old sneakers into high-fashion corsets

Modern fashion is fraught with wasted product, so some designers are thinking about ways to transform these unwanted goods into artistic pieces meant for the runway. One of those is FRISKMEGOOD™, a futuristic brand that creates upcycled high fashion and editorial pieces out of used or deadstock sneakers and other secondhand finds. Owner and designer Cierra Boyd found success on her Depop shop when her signature designs — corsets and bodysuits made from old or unused shoes — were featured on its Explore page. Now, her brand’s ballooning popularity has enabled Boyd to pursue opportunities beyond her online shop.

Boyd, based in Cleveland, Ohio, now lives and works in her studio apartment after three years of growing her business and creativity from her mom’s house. While she hopes to eventually expand, everything one can find on her shop and website has been handmade by her. Her corsets and bodysuits have gained her followers on social media, been presented in fashion shows, and most notably, worn by American rapper Dream Doll.

The corsets and bodysuits aren’t all that Boyd upcycles, though. I reached out to her to chat about sustainable fashion, how she creates her sneaker designs, and what she has planned for FRISKMEGOOD™.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was the inspiration behind the bodysuits and corsets made out of repurposed sneakers?

It kind of came about all by chance. I was in a design competition in 2018, in Cleveland. It was Fashion Mania 2k19, and I was given three challenges. One goal was to create something without using fabric. I was stumped. I did not know what to do. I had everything done with the other two challenges, but it was getting down to the wire.

Luckily, one night I was watching Vice while I was designing and an episode came on about a guy who made a mask out of sneakers. I was like, wait, what if I made a top out of sneakers? So, I tried to make a top and it didn’t look right. I moved it down a little and I was like, “Oh, well this is kind of cute as a corset.”

I just rolled with that and I put it on Depop. People bought it! I was super surprised but it also gave me confidence. At the time I really didn’t know how to feel about it, but I just put it out there anyway to see how people will respond. The response was overwhelming. So I never stopped making them.

After realizing people liked the sneaker corsets, how did you begin to source your material?

At the beginning, I was using stuff in my attic and stuff that I had around the house. When I started to deplete that inventory, I did go to thrift shops. Recently, for the bodysuits, I found a place here in Cleveland that has deadstock sneakers. They have sneakers that have been in their stores since the early 2000s.

A lot of their inventory is extremely old, the sneakers are falling apart. I’m not gonna lie, one time I found mouse droppings in shoes. It’s really crazy and rough in there. It’s a lot, but they give me the sneakers that are damaged or the average customer wouldn’t buy. I use that to upcycle them into the bodysuits.

How did you even find this place?

It’s funny because it’s right down the street from my house, and never in my life have I gone in that warehouse. I used to go to elementary school around that area. I would pass that place my entire life and never went there. Then one day I was like, let me just see what they got in there. It was like a gold mine.

When you are choosing your shoes or the deadstock, do you choose the shoes with the design in mind?

I work a lot different from other designers. Some designers draw their designs beforehand, but for me, I usually let the materials give me the story instead of vice versa. I let the clothes tell me the story. I have to see it to know what I’m going to do with it. It’s really like a visual thing. When I see it I’d be like, oh, that’d be a cute bodysuit, and then just get five pairs of them if I can find them.

Have you ever run into the issue of not having enough to make something?

Oh yeah, definitely. The warehouse is so unpredictable. I have to bring my mom with me most of the time to help me because it’s a lot to sort through. I’m literally on the floor going through all the shoes on the bottom, searching for a match. It can be stressful, but if there is a match, I always get it. Like I said, I need like five or more [shoes] to do what I really want to do.

Do you have a certain size in mind when you’re looking for them?

Everything is so random. I usually just go with whatever I find, but if I am looking for something that’s more like a plus-size look, I’ll go for size 10 and up. Usually for smalls and mediums, you can even use kids’ shoes. [Size] five is usually the lowest I’ll go — five or four.

When you are thinking about size, are you making pieces so your size range is inclusive or are you making them for a specific client?

What I do … nothing is planned. If I do find that 10 or 12, you know, that’s perfect, but if I don’t, then I don’t. It’s kind of like an “it is what it is” situation.

What other types of clothing or fabrics do you upcycle?

I’ll use anything from bedsheets to other materials, like maybe hoodies and sweatshirts. Another thing that I just started doing is called tufting. Which is kind of like the art of making rugs, but instead of making rugs I put tufted art on the front of it. It’s a fairly new thing and I haven’t even dropped it yet, but basically it’s made out of yarn. And what I’m trying to do with that is give a new vibe and a new feel to an old, blank, unloved sweatshirt, T-shirt, or thrifted item.

Even jeans. I use jeans, denim and socks!

How much time goes into making a piece?

It depends on which piece you’re talking about. I usually do things in bulk, too. So, for a bodysuit, I’ll buy like five different styles. I’ll work on five at once. That whole process can take two to three days. For the tufting, depending on how many I’m doing, what it is, it can take like one to four days to do. It takes up a lot of time.

Do you have a personal favorite from your collection?

It’s so hard. I have so many.

One of my favorites that I’ve done, that I’m proud of, is my Air Force One bodysuit. That’s for plus-size women or anybody who identifies as a woman. My uncle donated those shoes to me. I didn’t have to go out and even buy those. It was just pretty much perfect, so that’s definitely my favorite, for sure.

You sell your clothes on Depop now. Is that where you started?

Yes, that is where I started. Depop is how people found out about me. Before Depop I was on Instagram trying to figure out, how do I get more people to see it? When Depop came along, I ended up getting pictures on the Explore page and the Explore page puts you literally right smack dab in the front. So when people started to find me from that it was a chain reaction, and more people started finding me.

Do you see Depop as the hub for futuristic fashion like yours?

Yes, it definitely reminds me of if you could just go to a worldwide thrift store online.

I joined their Now / Next program, which is an incubator-program-slash-grant that they gave me. I get mentorship and money towards working on my Depop shop. They’ve given me so many chances to be on the forefront of their platform. I’ll be on their Instagram page. It’s just crazy how much support they have given me. They’ve invited me to Depop Live, which is an event that, pre-COVID, you can sell your stuff in person. My stuff sold out. They have been a complete blessing in disguise for me.

Do you have any future plans for FRISKMEGOOD™?

I have a lot of future plans. Everything is in the works right now. We are a global brand right now. We definitely do get a lot of international customers. I hope on growing, expanding, and figuring out how I can take FRISKMEGOOD™ to the next level. You know, how to get my stuff on more celebrities. I have a showroom now that houses my pieces, so that way I can get more celebrity visibility with my brand.

Everything is falling in line, slowly but surely. I hope this year I can find more innovative ways to create fashion, to continue to change the way that people view sustainable fashion. I just want to change the way people think when it comes to sustainability. When you think sustainability, you don’t automatically think luxury at all. I’m really trying to show people that sustainable and old pieces that might never have been loved again, can be loved again. It can be high fashion and it can be luxury.

Technics Ottava F SC-C70 MK2

Our Verdict

It might work for those who need a CD player and streaming in one box, but there are far better alternatives if you can compromise on features

For

Plenty of weight to sound
Good timing
CD player can be useful

Against

Dynamically uninteresting
Bass detail is poor

With vinyl sales having overtaken those of the CD for the first time in 35 years, and cassette tapes enjoying a similar resurgence to the black disc, it is almost novel to be testing an all-in-one system such as the Technics Ottava F SC-C70 MK2 in 2021.

We’re very much in favour of any physical media inclusion in a sector that is increasingly geared towards streaming, of course; it’s just a pleasant surprise when there’s a wireless speaker asking us to dig into our racks of CDs.

This is actually the second generation of Technics’s most premium Ottava wireless speaker, adding features such as Auto Space Tune along with a complete retune for its new drivers. We didn’t get our hands on the first one, but did spend some time with the four-star Ottava S SC-C30 – the baby of the group – so feel justified in having some high expectations.

That said, you shouldn’t really need any prior knowledge of the range to expect something for the money you’ll have to pay. A price tag of £799 ($999, AU$1649) certainly isn’t the weightiest among the wireless speakers we’ve tested, but it does place the SC-C70 MK2 in a premium bracket.

We’ve heard plenty of speakers that can comfortably account for prices doubling that of this Technics, even without bonuses such as the CD player. But to get an idea of how stiff competition is here, we only dished out one 2020 What Hi-Fi? Award to a wireless speaker costing more than £500, and that one is £50 cheaper than the SC-C70 MK2. Essentially, this is a lot of money to spend, and you’re well within your rights to expect something special in return.

Build

(Image credit: Technics)

There are certainly some aspects of the SC-C70 MK2’s construction that resonate with its price. Opening the packaging reveals a thick aluminium top panel – either grey or black, depending on which of the two finishes you’ve chosen – and the speaker’s weight as you lift it from the box is equally reassuring.

It looks pretty good, too. There’s an industrial stylishness to its straight lines and vent-like grille, which stands out just enough while hopefully not dating it too much into the future; a speaker such as this should have some staying power.

The OLED display is small, but functional, while that top plate also houses a few well-engineered push buttons alongside a row of touch controls for playback. You probably won’t be up this close often, though, thanks to the included remote and ability to work the SC-C70 MK2 via its app.

Around the back, there are inputs for aux-in, optical and USB, alongside connections for the included radio antenna, power and wired internet. These are all sandwiched between a pair of reflex ports that complement a quintet of drivers inside.

Most notably, the SC-C70 MK2’s downward-firing subwoofer, which you’ll feel if you stroke the speaker’s undercarriage. It’s a 12cm driver aiming to add some serious depth to the pair of forward-firing 8cm drivers taking care of the speaker’s midrange.

Technics F Ottava SC-C70 MK2 tech specs

(Image credit: Technics)

Power 30W + 30W (40W sub)

Inputs Aux-in, optical digital, USB-A

Headphone out Yes

Finishes x2

Dimensions (hwd) 14.3 x 45 x 28cm

Weight 8kg

In this second-generation SC-C70, these woofers are said to benefit from the reduced weight of their voice coil, enhanced airflow and increased rigidity of their diaphragm, and aren’t the only component to have undergone a major revamp.

The pair of 2cm dome tweeters are much changed, too, with a lighter silk diaphragm and optimised acoustic lens for improved dispersion. And each section has its own JENO Engine full digital amp unit, delivering 30W to the tweeters and midrange drivers and 40W to the sub.

There’s a lot packed in, and it becomes evident that it’s the SC-C70 MK2’s interior, along with the top plate, providing most of the weight. Unfortunately, the rest of the outside is rather plasticky to the touch. That might not be of great importance, given you’ll rarely touch the speaker’s sides, but it’s a feature that extends to the swiveling CD lid. Our initial hope that this might be glass is soon quashed, and a less than smooth finish on the edge only compounds the disappointment.

Features

(Image credit: Technics)

At least we can’t fault the feature list. Built-in Google Chromecast means the SC-C70 MK2 is primed for multi-room use, while Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth also offer wireless playback options. That is, of course, along with the CD drive, DAB+ and FM radio, and analogue and digital inputs.

Less ordinary, though, is Technics’s Space Tune technology, and more importantly this speaker’s new automatic function. The MK1 offered pre-sets of Free, Near the Wall, and Near the Corner; all of those are present again for quick EQing, depending on where your speaker is placed, but the new Auto function can do that more precisely by using test tones and on-board mics for optimal sound.

You can even go further, using the Technics Audio Center app to adjust settings depending on your listening position. iOS devices can also be used to measure room noise and acoustic conditions as well as further calibrating sound characteristics.

Sound

(Image credit: Technics)

Some tuning could be vital, depending on your room, as there’s a lot of power coming from the SC-C70 MK2 that needs to be kept tame. Most notably in the low end, where that subwoofer proves a sound investment early on for those who like a lot of bass.

The key, of course, is finding a good balance; the Auto Space Tune does a good job of that, and the ability to further tweak is welcome. But you won’t be criticising this Technics speaker for not having enough in the way of bass weight.

Detail levels are generally okay as well, giving enough information to keep that full-bodied presentation from becoming soft – in the upper registers at least. Unfortunately, though, the other side of all that bass is that the mix is a bit of a blunt object and rather bereft of detail.

Despite that slightly corpulent low end, timing is still surprisingly good. It is an aspect with which a lot of really bassy-sounding products often struggle, appearing slow or muddled, but the SC-C70 MK2 is actually rather good at keeping time.

However, because that accurate timing is betrayed by a real dearth of dynamic expression, it fails to deliver any great sense of rhythm. This is our main gripe: there is such a lack of expression it quickly becomes a wearing listen.

(Image credit: Technics)

We sit there willing the SC-C70 MK2 to appear a little more interested in the music we’re sharing with it, but it has made up its mind. It’s even more of a shame when you consider all the power it flaunts delivering those bass frequencies; even if just a little more of that was directed at giving some punch, this would be a more entertaining listen.

And as we noted earlier, the SC-C70 MK2 has entered the market among some seriously talented rivals. If we were underwhelmed with its performance at first, the Technics only loses more ground when we compare it with the Award-winning Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation.

There’s no CD player here, of course, but you should ask yourself whether you really need one; the Naim is leagues ahead in terms of detail, rhythmic sense and excitement. And you can always put the money saved towards a CD transport later on if necessary.

You’d even get a better all-round performance by going for a micro system such as the Denon D-M41DAB. Again there are compromises – the stereo speakers are separate, so it isn’t a on-box solution, and your only wireless streaming is via Bluetooth – but if CD is your main concern, then it’s a no-brainer in terms of sonic performance and value.

For anyone considering buying the Technics SC-C70 MK2, our advice would be to go back to the drawing board and think about what you’re willing to compromise. Our choice would always be features or space, rather than compromising on sound.

Verdict

Regardless of whether or not there is a true like-for-like alternative, the Technics Ottava F SC-C70 MK2 is just too expensive to sound this lifeless. A re-tune may be able to solve its issues – the feature set and building blocks of a good performance are here, but at the moment you’d need some fairly specific requirements to consider this a worthy buy.

SCORES

Sound 3
Features 5
Build 4

MORE:

Read our guide to the best all-in-one systems

Read our Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation review

Read our Denon D-M41DAB review

Sony KD-75ZH8

Our Verdict

The ZH8 does a lot of things seriously well, but it makes less sense as a purchase than rival models from Samsung

For

Bright and punchy picture
Superb colours and motion
Impressive sound

Against

Blooming around bright highlights
Plays even less 8K than rivals
Missing some HDMI features

With the dearth of real 8K content likely to continue for a good while yet, manufacturers have an uphill battle to convince consumers that an 8K TV is a sensible purchase in the here and now.

With the ZH8, here reviewed as the 75-inch KD-75ZH8 model, Sony gets a huge amount right. This is one of the punchiest TVs we’ve tested, and one of the best-sounding too. It’s also aggressively priced for an 8K model, significantly undercutting our current Award-winner in the category.

That said, the ZH8 also lags a little behind its main rival in a couple of key areas, not least of which is its lack of support for the tiny amount of 8K footage that is actually already available.

Pricing

The Sony KD-75ZH8 (XBR-75Z8H in the US) was priced at £5999 ($7000) at launch, but you can now pick it up for £4999 ($4998).

Should you have the space and appetite for an even bigger 8K set, the 85in KD-85ZH8 (XBR-85Z8H) is currently available for £8499 ($9000).

Features

(Image credit: Future)

A 75in TV is always going to be a physically daunting proposition, but the Sony KD-75ZH8 is even more imposing than similarly sized rivals thanks to its chunky, industrial design. If you expect a high-end TV to be little more than a super-slim screen, you might be disappointed by the ZH8’s relatively thick bezels and 8.4cm depth – the Samsung QE75Q950TS is just 1.5cm deep. That said, there’s an undeniable stylishness to the Sony, its solidity, straight edges and pointy corners amounting to a seriously premium statement.

Sony KD-75ZH8 tech specs

(Image credit: Future / Greenland, Amazon Prime)

Screen type LCD w/ direct LED backlight

Resolution 8K

Operating system Android TV 9.0

HDR formats HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG

HDMI x4

USB x3

Optical 1

It’s hard to imagine a pedestal stand that wouldn’t buckle under the 48kg weight of the ZH8, so it’s little surprise that Sony has opted for sturdy, low-profile feet instead. These look best when positioned at the bottom corners of the set, but a narrower placement is also an option. With this arrangement, the huge TV will stand on any furniture that’s at least 62cm wide – assuming it’s strong enough to take the 50kg weight with feet attached.

In the box, there are a number of plastic panels that can be attached to the rear of the set, concealing connections and creating an appealing chequerboard pattern. Those connections include four HDMIs, one of which is HDMI 2.1 certified. You might assume that means it has the full suite of advanced HDMI features, but that’s not the case: while the ZH8 supports 8K@60Hz, 4K@120Hz (also known as HFR) and eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) are missing. The absence of those last two features will be disappointing to next-gen gamers: the Xbox Series X makes use of both and the PS5 is due a VRR update in the not too distant future.

As is the norm for all but the most budget-oriented of Sony’s TVs, the ZH8 uses Android TV as its operating system. Android TV gets better with each iteration, and version 9 is no different. As with all Android TVs, the Android portion is installed over a more functional, core operating system, and it makes for a slightly more disjointed user experience than you get from the likes of Samsung and LG. The smart platform feels more like using an external source than it does a core component, for example. That said, Android TV brings bonuses such as Chromecast and Google Assistant (the set is also ‘Works with Alexa’ certified).

Android TV is already pretty well appointed in terms of apps, but Sony has also worked hard to fill any gaps. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, Google Play Movies and Rakuten are all here, in at least HDR10 and most with Dolby Vision (the ZH8 doesn’t support HDR10+, as is the norm for Sony). For the UK, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5, Now TV and BT Sport are all present, too. On the music front, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer are integrated, and while Apple Music and Amazon Music aren’t, you can use Chromecast to cast music to the TV from those apps on your phone.

In terms of core technology, the ZH8 is an LCD set with a direct LED backlight, and it uses the Picture Processor X1 Ultimate chip, which is Sony’s most powerful processor until the 2021 Cognitive Processor XR makes its debut with the company’s 2021 TVs in a few months’ time. The headline features here are Object Based Super Resolution, which is designed to intelligently analyse and enhance the definition of individual objects in an image, and an enhanced version of Object Based HDR Remaster, which applies a similar approach to contrast.

Picture

(Image credit: Future / Greenland, Amazon Prime)

Naturally, you’ll want to watch 8K content on your new 8K TV, but that’s even harder to do on the ZH8 than it is with Samsung’s 8K TVs. The only commercially available 8K content out there is streamed by YouTube in the AV1 format, which the ZH8 doesn’t support. You may only be missing out on aerial footage of lovely landscapes, but the fact that the tiny amount of 8K content out there is unplayable on your expensive 8K TV is hugely irritating. What’s more, it raises questions about the extent to which the ZH8 is future-proofed: it looks increasingly likely that the AV1 format is the one that will be utilised for 8K by other streaming services, including Netflix.

We are able to watch 8K content on the ZH8 for this review by using a Sony-supplied media player containing a handful of demo clips. With these clips, the ZH8 puts in a stunning performance that’s so crisp, dynamic and lifelike that you feel you could step right into each scene. However, that’s not an experience you’re going to be able to recreate at home.

Instead, what really matters is how the ZH8 performs with the content you do have access to right now, with the priority being 4K HDR. We insert Blade Runner 2049, one of our most demanding 4K Blu-rays, into our player, and are immediately impressed with the results. What strikes you first about the ZH8’s performance is how punchy and bright it is, particularly in very high-contrast scenarios. Most TVs shy away from fully illuminating the white text that appears from the black background at the beginning of the film, for example, but the ZH8 has no such reservations – this could well be the brightest rendition of this scene-setting copy we’ve seen.

This extreme contrast capability translates well to the film as a whole. As K travels around LA on foot and by flying car, the neon signs and holographic adverts jump out of the depressing dinginess of the rest of the city.

The effectiveness of that punch is further enhanced by the depth of the blacks. It’s not quite OLED levels of perfect blackness, but the ZH8 gets much closer than most LCD TVs, while also proving a dab hand at digging up dark details: on top of that striking contrast, you get superbly subtle shadows, with next to nothing being lost to the gloom.

However, there’s a problem here, and that’s backlight blooming. There are quite obvious halos of light around very bright objects on very dark backgrounds, and light frequently creeps into the black bars at the top and bottom when you’re watching an ultra-widescreen film. It is enough to be distracting at times, which is the last thing you want when you’re trying to sink right into a movie.

(Image credit: Future / Greenland, Amazon Prime)

The ZH8 is also a little soft and flat in its performance compared with the Samsung QE75Q950TS, which upscales 4K content in such a way that you could almost be fooled into thinking you were watching 8K. The Sony isn’t capable of pulling off the same trick, and the image doesn’t leap from the screen in quite the same way.

That said, there’s a naturalism to the ZH8’s performance that few can match. Its edges aren’t as sharp as those of the Samsung Q950TS, but there’s a smoothness and subtlety to the presentation that’s utterly convincing. It’s significantly better with motion, too, smoothing and sharpening everything without any shimmer or unpleasant artificiality. Its rivals are closing the gap in this regard, but Sony remains out in front.

Arguably the greatest contributor to the ZH8’s naturalism is its colour reproduction. It is capable of stunning vibrancy, but it’s also superbly subtle and nuanced, delivering every character’s unique skin tone, every building’s interior lighting, and every neon sign with unquestionable authenticity. Others might entice the eye a little more effectively, but this Sony (like many of its siblings) delivers on the creator’s intent in a way that few can match.

Dropping down to Looper in 1080p, that overall authenticity remains a strength, and it’s actually sharper and more detailed than the Samsung Q950TS. That said, it’s a fair bit noisier, too, exaggerating the intentional film grain to a degree that some will find distracting. It can be toned down by reducing sharpness and/or increasing noise reduction, but doing so softens the picture too much for our tastes. The perfect balance feels just out of reach, but this is an issue that you’ll encounter only occasionally as few films these days have this level of grain.

Those qualities with Full HD content roughly translate when you switch to standard-definition material. We play our trusty Dirty Harry DVD and the performance is sharp and detailed, which is impressive when you consider the amount of picture information that the TV is creating itself. Again, it’s effortlessly natural and convincing, particularly in terms of colours, although there’s still more picture noise than you’ll get from rival models.

Sound

(Image credit: Future)

Sony has been much more creative than its rivals in recent years in terms of TV sound, most notably by turning the entire panel of its OLED models into a speaker. That feature, called Acoustic Surface Technology, isn’t possible with an LCD model such as the ZH8, but Sony has sought to recreate the effect (which it calls ‘Sound from Picture’) by using a couple of tweeters to vibrate the frame of the TV. These work in conjunction with two forward-facing drivers mounted at the bottom to make it seem as if the sound is coming directly from the screen, while two rear-mounted woofers fill out the presentation.

All that effort has paid off handsomely. The ZH8 is clear and direct in its presentation, with the sound and picture linked in a way that’s supremely engaging. This is no one-trick performance, though – the sound is also detailed and dynamic by the standards of a TV sound system, making for an overall delivery that’s both engaging and exciting.

Dolby Atmos is supported and, in conjunction with the Acoustic Auto Calibration feature, which tailors the audio performance to your room, gives appropriate soundtracks plenty of scope and scale without sacrificing that directness. Few if any TV-integrated sound systems can fill a room quite as effectively, while also clearly projecting dialogue.

You can even use the ZH8 as the centre speaker of a surround sound package, should you wish, using the standard speaker terminals on the rear of the set. We wouldn’t recommend that, though – while the ZH8 sounds mighty impressive for a TV, even the best AV amplifier will struggle to tonally integrate it with a set of traditional speakers.

Verdict

There’s so much that the ZH8 gets right, most notably its supremely authentic picture performance and very impressive sound, but we can’t give it our wholehearted recommendation.

8K TVs are already a hard sell, and the fact that the ZH8 won’t play the tiny amount of 8K content that’s already available is a real issue, not least because it raises doubts about its ability to play other 8K content that might appear in the future. What’s more, it doesn’t make use its extra pixels with 4K content the way that the rival Samsung Q950TS does.

As such, the ZH8 may as well be a 4K TV. Even viewed on those terms it’s almost worth the full five stars, but the high price and backlight blooming hold it back to a four.

SCORES

Picture 4
Sound 5
Features 4

MORE:

Read our guide to the best 8K televisions

Read our Samsung QE75Q950TS review

Ruark R3

Our Verdict

While we thought its radio sources need a little tonal attention, the highlights here are playback from CD, from streaming music services and Bluetooth.

For

Compact music system
Endless paths to music
CD and streaming

Against

Edgy sound on radio sources
Variable results for ‘3D audio’

Sound+Image mag review

(Image credit: Future)

This review originally appeared in Sound+Image magazine, one of What Hi-Fi?’s Australian sister publications. Click here for more information on Sound+Image, including digital editions and details on how you can subscribe.

We don’t recall a product ever ‘coming good’ during a review to the quite same extent as did the Ruark R3 Compact Music System. It positively alarmed us when we first turned it on. But by the end of our time with this streaming tabletop music system we were using it daily for pleasure as much as for assessment. Join us in our journey with this timeless design from a UK company which has made this genre of smart radiogram-like music system something of a specialty.

Build & facilities

The R3 is a table-top audio system (£629, $790, AU$1299) which stands some 42cm across and 17cm high, bringing together CD replay, reception of DAB+, FM and internet radio, streaming via network and Bluetooth (with aptX), Spotify Connect, Tidal and other music services… pretty much everything, in short, that the modern music world has to offer.

You can plug in additional sources – there’s one optical and one analogue input, also a minijack headphone output and a ‘line out’ at full level, so you could run the whole gamut of sources into a hi-fi amp or a recorder.

Ruark’s great skill is in offering this potentially overwhelming profusion of sources in a friendly box – old-style, you might even call it, with its grey cloth grille and walnut casing, though a more modern-looking soft-grey lacquer finish is also available.

On top is the company’s longstanding Rotodial for control, while a small infrared remote is also included, along with app control from a smart device. And if it’s going bedside, you can avail yourself of the useful alarm clocks, snooze and sleep timer functions.

Ruark’s other skill is sound quality. This is a company we can still remember of old as Ruark Acoustics, making fine British loudspeakers with thrusting names like Sabre and Swordsman through the 1980s and 1990s. Then in the 2000s when digital radio was trending, Ruark developed the little R1, which the UK’s Sunday Telegraph hailed as “the Aston Martin of DAB radios”.

Such was the R1’s success that traditional loudspeakers fell by the wayside (though “never say never”, says owner Alan O’Rourke), and the reinvented Ruark Audio now has a range of radio and streaming solutions, from the latest Mk4 version of the R1 ‘deluxe’ up to a large four-legged radiogram of the future, the highly desirable R7 Mk3.

So Ruark has a heritage of hi-fi sound, and we’ve enjoyed many of its players in the past, so were looking forward to this new R3.

(Image credit: Ruark Audio)

Setting up

We had no problems setting up the R3; we gave it Ethernet and attached the antenna required for radio reception; this may confuse newbies by flopping around loosely, but we knew from previous Ruark visits that there’s a special aerial spanner in the packaging for this very purpose!

We began our listening by sampling its skills with radio. We selected digital radio and, being fresh from the box, the R3 scanned Sydney’s airwaves and found some 70 available DAB+ stations all awaiting selection via a shuttle of the R3’s top Rotodial. And all were sounding pretty unpleasant – very spitty in the treble, artificial-sounding, with voices thin in their midrange content, and music lumpy in the bass.

We changed to internet radio – it was no better, indeed slightly worse on low-resolution stations. We were worried by this, to be honest: it was not the sound we expect from Ruark devices, which normally present a warm friendly radio sound.

We hastened to the tone controls through the menus. There are four elements to the tone controls: bass and treble adjustment, a loudness option which was ‘on’ by default, and – ah! – a ‘3D’ option. This 3D option was also on by default. Switching it off went a long way to removing the artificial spittiness from the radio sources.

We further tamed the treble by a few notches, left the loudness on, and kept the bass in its central position. This brought the radio sections back to what we’d expect from Ruark – full and friendly, just a teeny bit fizzy up top but no longer distractingly so.

The remote control has three large preset buttons, which are available separately for each source, so three for FM, three for DAB+, three for internet radio. You store them by simply pressing and holding the button when listening to a station.

But in fact there are 10 presets for each type of radio; you can access the rest by pressing and holding the ‘preset’ button then pressing the left-right buttons to reach presets 4 to 10. Recall them the same way, without the holding. It’s easy, versatile, and very useful.

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App control

For those with less than 20/20 vision who can’t read the small lettering on the front display across the room for source selection (let alone the tinier menu options), there’s a handy free app available for control. This is Undok, the control app from Frontier Silicon, maker of the smart module within the R3.

We’ve long enjoyed Undok, and are pleased to see it back after an unexplained hiatus. Undok controlled the R3 effectively, though not entirely. For example, there’s access to bass, treble and loudness, but not the all-important ‘3D’ option, for which you’ll need to use the remote and/or Rotodial to switch on or off.

App quirk two: we tried to rename the R3, but it refused to change to ‘Ruark R3’… yet when we jokingly tried ‘Simon’, that was OK. Turns out that you can only pick a one-word name, e.g. Ruark.

App quirk three: the bass slider in the app was glitchy, advancing a few notches, then jumping back again, up then back – very odd.

But otherwise the app is very useful for local control, for switching sources, for saving presets. One tip for internet radio: if there’s a station you can’t find (our local community station, for example, was not listed), you can head to Frontier Silicon’s site https://smartradio.frontier-nuvola.net, set up an account, link your R3, ‘manage favourites’, and enter the URL manually. The station then appears under ‘My Favourites’. Nice flexibility!

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(Image credit: Ruark Audio)

Streaming

Ruark R3 specs

(Image credit: Ruark Audio)

Drivers: 2 x 75mm NS+ full-range

Quoted power: 30W Class-AB

Inputs: RCA analogue, optical digital, USB-C, FM, DAB+ radio, Bluetooth (SBC, AAC, aptX), Wi-Fi/Ethernet, internet radio, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, DLNA/UPnP

Outputs: line out, headphone minijack out

Dimensions: 420 x 220 x 167mm

Weight: 5.3kg

Radio listening completed, we switched to music streaming. For Spotify you use the Spotify app and point it at the Ruark for playback – we were pleased to find this works with free Spotify as well as paid (which isn’t the case for many streaming platforms and products).

And it was immediately evident that for all the other inputs – music services, CD, Bluetooth streaming – the R3’s sound balance was completely different. Gone was all the spittiness, gone the bass lumpiness. So we headed back to the tone controls, put the treble and bass back to zero, left the loudness on – and turned the 3D sound on.

And with these sources you should definitely try the 3D sound option. It gives the sound a real lift, a widening, an additional enjoyability, though it still occasionally has deleterious effects on certain tracks. We played Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al from Spotify Free and all was good.

But on the next track, Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, the janglier right-channel guitars became nastily edgy and artificial until we turned ‘3D’ off again. We tried the same track from our own CD-quality collection sent by Bluetooth (which supports both AAC and aptX), and this softened the edginess somewhat, but it still sounded better with 3D off.

The more we played, the more songs reacted badly to the 3D setting, and we ended up keeping it off, with one notch down also on the treble slider to prevent residual fizziness in the treble.

So for best sonic results, adjust the tone options whenever you switch from file-based playback to radio, and vice versa – especially disabling the 3D sound for radio sources. It’s a shame the R3 can’t remember your tone preferences for each source (as it can for input levels, which are trimmable for each analogue and digital input), and we’d go so far as to suggest Ruark should simply disable 3D sound entirely for FM, DAB and internet radio sources, as its effects there are particularly nasty. Better still, a big ‘3D Sound’ button on the remote control would allow easily toggling of this sound mode, as on, say, a soundbar.

But if you’re happy to pop over to the R3 and switch this manually each time, you can enjoy the best which the R3 has to offer, which is considerable. It’s a delightful CD player, for example, those full-quality files filling the room with well-balanced sound. And the louder you play, the happier the R3 seems to be; the bass available from the two 75mm drivers is remarkable as you raise the level; its response begins in the 40s of hertz and rises impressively smoothly.

Soft recordings get a boost from the treble lift of the sonics here; Paul McCartney’s My Valentine has rarely sounded so well-defined. And as with all Ruark units we’ve tested, the R3 is adept with classical music, and we blasted forth the London Musici’s 1991 Conifer/Technics recording of Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ symphony to confirm the R3’s adherence to this track record, pushing up the bass a tad to underpin this dynamic piece.

The R3 proved equally enjoyable from streaming music services. From Apple Music we streamed Neil Finn’s 2010 solo concert at Sydney’s intimate Seymour Centre, and the Ruark did a lovely job of presenting Finn’s voice and the decay of both artificial and venue reverb as he switched from guitar to piano, serving the latter with both percussive attack and pianissimo softness, as required.

There is a ‘Music Player’ option which you can use to play either from USB or from music shares on the network, although unfortunately the R3 couldn’t see our NAS drive of music (only our PVR, from which it bravely offered to play episodes of Home and Away etc., but of course couldn’t). From USB it was able to play MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and FLAC, the last two up to 24-bit/48kHz, so no support for higher-res PCM or DSD.

Note that Ruark has chosen to include not a standard USB-A slot but rather a USB-C 5V charging connection, very up-to-date of it, except that you can’t plug in normal USB sticks and drives. USB-C sticks are widely available, so that’s what we used. Adapters are also available, though when we tried one, the R3 announced that ‘USB hubs are not supported’. Sticks must also be formatted in FAT-32 format.

(Image credit: Ruark Audio)

Verdict

So quite the journey we enjoyed with this versatile music system. While we thought its radio sources need a little tonal attention, its highlights are playback from CD, from streaming music services and Bluetooth, and overall it’s an impressively easy-to-use and attractive table-top unit which accesses pretty much every kind of music under the sun, delivered effectively under local, remote or app control.

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Como Audio is certainly no stranger to the readers of HIFI.NL. We have been in regular contact with Tom DeVesto, and have previously introduced you extensively with the Como Audio Musica. The label â ???? table radioâ ???? was quite an understatement. But the line of products is bigger. Como Audio also has a record player in its range. That of course requires a review.

Como Audio Como is a relatively new brand, but has deep roots in the audio. After all, there is a man with a vision behind it: Â Tom DeVesto . A â ???? completeâ ???? bringing a new brand to the market, mainly dominated by Sonos, requires a set of balls. When we look at the products and their quality, we admire Como Audio. As audio enthusiasts, we know that CD and vinyl are not dead. And Como Audio knows that too. But then with a future proof touch.

Personally, we wanted to get started with the Como Audio Bluetooth Turntable, but in full Como mode. How? With a complete set! The Solo + Ambiente + Turntable. That is a Solo with extra speaker and a turntable: a set that provides the user with many possibilities.

The Solo becomes a real stereo system with the additional Ambiente speaker, with almost everything on board: multiroom audio, streaming audio, Spotify, DAB +, USB, headphone connection, Bluetooth, clock and alarm, 2x stereo input (3.5mm), color screen, wifi, optical input and one 30 Watt class-D amplifier for the control of the 2-way system. The Solo comes in 4 versions, for each an appropriate color for the interior.

Which brings us to the second product in this set. This turntable has no name other than Bluetooth Turntable. so Como could have come up with a peppy name for that. If we can make a suggestion: the Limoncello? The turntable itself is well put together. We see that the arm resembles a model from Pro-Ject, which suggests that parts come from it. Of course Como Audio gives it its own twist. A heavy steel platform, slip mat and a dust cover. We also find an Ortofon OM 10 element. A built-in phonostage and Bluetooth functionality make it reasonably future-proof, and that offers possibilities. The Como Audio Bluetooth Turntable can therefore be connected wirelessly to the Solo.

Start and drive Unpack, drop and set the set has a maximum of 30 minutes to time. Crazy called it took most of the time to set up. This has to do with the buttons on the front of the Solo; these are both rotary and click buttons. The screen is not a touchscreen, although the appearance suggests otherwise!

The Ambiente stereo speaker can be connected with a single RCA cable. This is attached to the speaker. To connect to the WiFi network, we have to turn and click the buttons. It gives a bit of the feel of a text message you make on a Nokia 3310. But once we are connected, it is set. We are greeted with a notification that there is a system update. It is always good to keep internet connected systems up to date. After the update we are only surprised: we can completely reset the Solo! Nothing has been preserved. That is a point to improve. It is easy to immediately download the app, available for Android and iOS.

The buttons on the front have a big advantage: quick, easy operation. If it was a bit more difficult to set up, it is that easy to use the same buttons. This also makes it clear why this was chosen. We have to understand which button does what, but we get the hang of it in no time. This is a strong point for people who don’t feel like messing with an app on the phone. In addition, a remote control is also included. We choose our favorite radio stations, our music server is linked and we connect the record player. It is almost ready for use. It is advisable to check the adjustment. A check to see if the record player is level is also a step in this process. We connect the whole with the supplied cable and adapter. For example, the record player can be connected to the Solo. The transparent RCA cable then goes to a 3.5 mm plug.

Now we already hear you think: “That’s not good, is it?”. And you are absolutely right about that. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and that also applies to audio systems. Preference is given to a cable that already contains the adapter and which consists of one whole. But this is what Como Audio delivered, so this is what we test it with. Fortunately, the head office has announced that it will deliver the product with a different cable from this summer, so that no more adapters are needed. Now all that remains is an espresso and a listening session.

Musical Fun Factor “It’s a Wednesday morning, 07: 00 hours The Solo on button is pressed. Preset button 1 and Q-music can be heard over the speakers. The radio station logo appears on the screen. Meanwhile, the coffee machine is switched on and the living room is enveloped in the scent of fresh espresso. ”

This is how the Como Audio set has made its appearance in recent weeks, in a daily rhythm. The acceptance in such a steady rhythm can be a difficult process. In the case of the Como Audio Solo, Ambiente and the Turntable it was quite organic; within a day it was very natural to just turn on the radio or just turn on a CD from the server. And that is sometimes a different matter with some products. (Just below us; the Solo, Ambiente and Limoncello sound much better, right?). A comparison with Sonos or Bluesound is therefore easily made. But we’ll get to that later.

The step to turn on music for a moment is just the touch of a button. In the days when people work a lot at home, we also notice that we also listen to more music. There was a lot of radio, especially in the morning, and from lunch music was switched on via Spotify or the server. Around dinner the round black discs appeared and several LPs were listened to while enjoying a glass of wine.

The convenience and “Fun Factor” are very high with this set, and that is exactly what makes listening to music so much fun. Something we already encountered with the Crosley . But what exactly do we mean by that? It is often a combination of several factors. Think of the product, the price of the product, the ease of use, the right music and the time or place. The Solo excels in convenience. Press the button and listen. What we often encounter with multiroom or smart speakers is the smartphone. This almost always has to be taken in hand to put on other music. Then we are often tempted to read that email, or to view that post on Instagram or Facebook. There is no such distraction with the Como Audio Solo. It takes you as a user with a modern system back to a period of uncomplicated music experience. Of course there is an app available, but if we have used it five times during the entire period, then it is a lot. Combine that convenience with the sound quality and the circle is complete.

With the rotary knob we scroll through the music on the server, until we come across an album of which we think ‘yes, nice’. A good example is the Buena Vista Social Club, with the eponymous album from 1997. We own the album in Flac, hi-res. The Como just plays that. And the surprise is all the greater when we hear that the display is better than expected. The vocals and instruments are clear and have a clear place in the room. We do hear a slightly exaggerated mid-low / low. This is mainly because the housing has to compensate. So don’t expect audiophile performance. It is more like a delicious warm apple pie from Oma. All flavors have come together in that apple pie and together they form the whole. The audio performance of the Solo and the Ambiente can also be compared. We really hear music. We do not hear the vocals and instruments separately. We also don’t hear different levels, we just hear music, as a whole. Straight forward.

We also find the pleasure when we grab a few LPs. The album 21 by Adele and Forever Dreaming by Myles Sanko , for example. Adele doesn’t need an introduction. Myles Sanko is a British soul and jazz singer. He has been working hard since 2013 and has performed at North Sea Jazz, among others. We put on the song of the same name Forever Dreaming. We are looking for the swing that is in that song. With a good audio system sitting still is difficult and you will be captivated by the melody. We clearly hear the wind section shaping the melody. Here you can indeed hear the swing we are looking for. There is a small but. The music sounds good, better than you would expect. We only miss some body here and there. Just that little bit of strength underneath that creates conviction. When we set up Adele, we like to listen to that powerful swipe. Turning Tables is a very suitable number for this. Also appropriate in terms of name. Adele can convey a lot of emotion with her singing. This is also audible on the Como Audio Solo and Bluetooth Turntable. We feel the emotion and the swipe is more than pure enough. For a 2-way system, the Solo and the Turntable set a good score. Although there is more quality in the Turntable than the Solo can display.

Straightforward Now as a reader you naturally want to know what it costs and whether it is that exorbitant amount is worth. Let’s start with the target audience. For whom is such a set interesting? Are you that person who is harassed for the third time by the neighbor on Saturday because she can’t stop talking about their new Sonos speaker? And that they are now audiophiles too, because they have more than 1000 to spend on audio stuff, but they still have to save for the subwoofer. Making you wonder if you could drink the bottle of red wine in hand in one gulp, as long as you don’t have to listen to your neighbor anymore? Congratulations! You belong to the target group for Como Audio! They have an extensive range for multi-room audio products. Audio products made of wood. Available in 4 different colors, such as walnut. It is made for people who want the audio quality, but not Sonos. And especially its convenience. Just turn on some music. Music for cooking, or for relaxing on the couch with a glass of wine.

The set as a whole is very extensive and prepared for the future. The TV can also be connected to it with an optical cable. The cable was a weak link with the record player. It did not stay in place and the adapter prevented us from using all connections at the back. The Bluetooth connection provided more freedom. We could also place the record player elsewhere, at a slightly greater distance. The downside is that the quality of the connection was not always great. A slight hum could be heard when the turntable was turned on. As soon as the music started we didn’t hear anything anymore. A simple adapter is included with the record player. This could explain the hum. It can often be traced back to electricity or earth. The adapter can be replaced for an Sbooster, for example. This will also be a leap forward in the ge loud quality. The hum was also more present with Bluetooth than with wired listening, but again for the sake of completeness: the cabling of the test set differs from how the product is now delivered, and according to the manufacturer the c connector and ground cause hum in this setup.

Now we mainly used the front controls, but there is also an app. He could use some finishing touches. There will probably be a tip at startup, but that’s in a different language. So we can’t read that.

Which brings us to the prize. For the Como Audio Solo you pay 399 euro, for the Bluetooth Turntable you pay your 499 euro and for the Ambiente again 129 euros. That brings the total price to 1027 euros. Is it worth that price?

As a comparison, you could also buy 2x a Sonos Five or a Bluesound Pulse Mini, but at the same time it cannot be compared. It lacks the look and charisma of the Como Audio. The Fun Factor! The pleasure and that is precisely what makes listening to music so addictive. Another perspective can also be the ministry. This system is also very suitable for people who do not want to switch on or operate their audio with a smartphone. It would be even more attractive if Como Audio turns it into a set or bundle, including a nice set price, then we are completely happy.

Conclusion Como Audio is a great brand, with authentic audio aspects. The combination of the Solo, Ambiente and the Bluetooth Turntable provide a high fun factor. Add to that the fact that the operation is very simple and easy. A smartphone or tablet is not required for use. Are there any drawbacks? Sure, but that doesn’t make the fun and adventure of music on the Como Audio any less.

Como Audio

Combi: â ?? ¬ 1. 027 | Â como-audio.nl Â

Rating: 4/5

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