I don’t usually work with any music — it often distracts me — but recently, when I’ve needed a little music on in the background, I’ve become obsessed with lo-fi remixes of video game music on YouTube.
I’ve already gone on record that I sometimes listen to video game music while working because a) I’m a huge nerd, and b) a lot of video game music is already designed to be pleasant background noise that can loop endlessly without becoming annoying. It wouldn’t be all that much fun spending hours upon hours in the worlds of Pokémon if the music was always in-your-face and distracting, after all. (I will give Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire’s hilariously prominent horns a pass here.)
It makes sense, then, that the infinitely listenable quality of video game music, much of which has become seared to my brain after days spent in virtual worlds, combines really well with the soft electronic sounds of lo-fi chillhop beats, which I can also listen to for hours on end. Now, I’m hooked.
Here are a few remixes I recommend.
If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy VII’s amazing soundtrack, I think you’ll dig this set of remixes from Rifti Beats. I think I go back to this video more than any other. (And there’s a part two!)
“Zelda & Chill 2” from GameChops puts a fantastic spin on some classic Zelda tunes. (The “Midna’s Lament” remix is so, so good.) If you like what you hear, you might want to listen to the original “Zelda & Chill.”
I recently beat Nier: Automata, and I couldn’t get the game’s incredible music out of my head. I’ve recently turned to this remix of two of the game’s best songs — the city ruins theme and the amusement park theme — from Alex Moukala (a name you might recognize as the originator of the funky remixes of the Wii’s Mii Channel).
If you’re familiar with the Persona series’s very good music, you might want to give this set of remixes from Courtar a listen.
And if you don’t want to sort through the many mixes available on YouTube, just turn on GameChops’ Video Game Study Lounge live stream. (In a spooky coincidence, I opened it to grab the link, and it was playing that “Midna’s Lament” remix I mentioned earlier. The song is just that good!)
Happy listening. And tweet at me with any recommendations you have!
(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is expected to announce a new portable speaker on 9 March, which recently leaked as the Sonos Roam.
The speaker will be the second Bluetooth speaker in the company’s portfolio if the rumours are accurate, sitting alongside the Sonos Move, but how will the two compare?
If you’re considering a Sonos speaker and like it to be portable and offer Bluetooth, you’re in the right place. Here is how the Sonos Roam is expected to compare to the Sonos Move.
Price
Move: £399/$399
Roam: $169
First things first, the Sonos Roam and the Sonos Move might be about to share similarities in terms of Bluetooth and portability, but based on the leaks, they won’t be anywhere near each other in terms of price.
The Sonos Move costs £399 in the UK and $399 in the US. The Sonos Roam is said be coming to market in April for $169, which is about £120 when directly converted though could be £169 in reality, so they target quite different budgets.
Design
Move: 240 x 160 x 126mm, 3kg, IP56, integrated handle
Roam: 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm, 0.45kg, waterproof
The Sonos Move and Sonos Roam are very different in terms of design too, based on the rumours. While they appear to share similar characteristics – like the rest of the Sonos portfolio – they are different sizes, different shapes, different weights and they will have different uses too.
The Sonos Move measures 240 x 160 x 126mm (9.44 x 6.29 x 4.96-inches) and weighs 3kg (6.61lb). It’s oval in shape, very rugged and features an integrated handle. It’s also IP56 rated for protection from dust particles and liquid splashes.
The Sonos Roam meanwhile is rumoured to be a triangular prism shape, measure 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm (6.2 x 2.5 x 2.5-inches) and weigh 0.45kgs (1lb), making it significantly smaller and more portable than Move. Based on the leaked images, it doesn’t have any sort of integrated handle as you wouldn’t need it to carry around, but it is rumoured to be fully waterproof so we expect it to be just as tough as Move, if not more so.
The Sonos Move has capacitive touch controls on top, including play/pause, skip, rewind and a microphone button, along with a Wi-Fi to Bluetooth button on the rear and a pairing button. It also has connection points at the bottom to connect to the wireless charging base.
The Sonos Roam is also expected to have capacitive controls on top based on the leaked images, with what we suspect will be the same control options as Move. There also appears to be a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth toggle switch on the side and a USB Type-C port for charging. The Roam doesn’t appear to have any connection points but it does offer small circular feet for when positoned horizontally.
Sonos Move comes in Shadow Black and Lunar White colour options and the Sonos Roam is claimed to be coming in white and black too.
Though different in design and price, the Sonos Roam is likely to offer many of the same features as Move, and probably a couple of extras, as is typically the case with new devices.
The Sonos Move is a traditional Bluetooth speaker when in Bluetooth mode, but it is a traditional Sonos speaker when in Wi-Fi mode and connected to a Sonos system, which we fully expect the Roam to be too.
When used as a traditional Sonos speaker, Roam will likely offer all the same features other Sonos speakers do, including support for over 100 music services, multi-room audio, Sonos Radio and alarms, like Move.
We’d also expect it to offer Apple AirPlay 2 support and Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built-in. Leaks haven’t confirmed if the assistants will be on board Roam, as they are on Move, but we’d be surprised if they weren’t. We’d also expect the Move’s Auto TruePlay tuning feature on the Roam, which automatically adjusts the sound output when the speaker is moved.
Other Sonos speakers have TruePlay tuning on board, but you have to perform the tuning manually and then again anytime you move the speaker’s position.
Audio and hardware
Move: Two class-D amplifiers, mid-woofer, tweeter, far-field mics, 11 hours battery, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth
Roam: 10 hours battery, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth
Audio specifications haven’t leaked for the Sonos Roam yet, but based on its size, it won’t deliver the same audio capabilities as the Sonos Move.
The Move has two class-D amplifiers, one mid-woofer integrated into the cabinet and one down-firing tweeter and it delivers excellent sound. It also has a far-field microphone array and a chime to let you know Sonos Move has heard you and is working on a response.
As mentioned, the Move has a wireless charging base but it offers an 11-hour battery life when not on its base. The Sonos Roam has a USB Type-C port for charging based on the leaks, but it is also said to have an optional wireless charging base that can be bought separately.
The Roam’s battery life is said to be 10 hours. We’d expect the Roam to also have a chime and far-field microphone array. Sonos Move supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth. Sonos Roam is claimed to support Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth so it should offer better Wi-Fi capabilites if true.
Conclusion
The Sonos Roam looks like it will be a smaller, lighter, more portable Sonos Bluetooth speaker than the Sonos Move. We expect it will offer everything Move does in terms of features, along with some extra ones, and we expect it to be as smart too, but in a more compact format.
We wouldn’t expect the same audio capabilities from Roam as Move delivers given it looks like it will be half the price and size, but as it’s a Sonos speaker, we still expect Roam to deliver on the sound front.
For now, it looks like Sonos Roam will be an excellent addition to any Sonos system, as well as a great starting place for those new to Sonos. It also looks like it will be a lot more portable than Move so perfect for travelling and chucking in a bag.
Meanwhile Move delivers big on sound, but it is big on price too, making it more of an investment. It’s great for those who want an additional Sonos speaker to fill a decent-sized room with sound, but one they can also bring into the garden or the pool. It seemingly isn’t however, the better option out of these two for popping in a bag and bringing to the park as it’s just a little too big.
You can read all about the rumours surrounding the Sonos Roam in our separate feature, but we will update this as soon as the official details are in.
Once a project idea gets in your head, you just have to play it out. No one knows that better than maker Philip Gisslow who used a Raspberry Pi Pico module to turn his electric guitar into a working Midi controller.
Midi controllers are used to create real-time music digitally, often with the help of a synthesizer. The controller determines when and what note you hear while the synth turns the information into sound using a pre-programmed instrument library. That means you can shred on your guitar to whip out an original drum solo, blaze through a saxophone serenade or even lay down some sick techno melodies
The main application behind this project is called MiGic. It’s used to convert electric guitar output into Midi input. The system works like this: the user plays a guitar connected to an amplifier. The amp boosts the guitar signal up to 3.3V which is read by the Pico. The MiGic application receives the input from the Pico over USB on a PC.
(Image credit: Philip Gisslow)
This enables Gisslow to play any instrument using an electric guitar. If you want to see more about how this project works, visit the official GitHub page shared by Gisslow. Be sure to explore our list of best Raspberry Pi projects for more cool creations from the Pi community.
There are many ways for streaming audio to go wrong, especially if there is a wireless headset at the end of the chain. Qualcomm is aiming to address all of these issues with the new Snapdragon Sound platform.
On the phone end, the company has lined up the Snapdragon 800-series chips with the FastConnect 6900 connectivity system. For headsets and earbuds there are the QCC514x, QCC515x and QCC3056 series Bluetooth Audio SoCs.
Between them they support aptX Adaptive, which is capable of delivering high-quality 24-bit 96 kHz audio with very low latency – as low as 89 ms (45% lower than “a leading competitor”, says Qualcomm). For voice calls and teleconferencing there’s the aptX Voice codec. There is an Active Noise Cancellation system available as well.
The system has been designed to be resistant to interference from other Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signals, so that it can provide glitch-free audio even in busy environments. Qualcomm also designed things to make pairing easy after you take your new headset out of its box.
Standard Bluetooth audio vs. Snapdragon Sound vs. Wired headset • Super wideband voice
Xiaomi is the first smartphone maker to jump on the Snapdragon Sound train, headphone maker Audio-Technica is on board as well. A partnership with Amazon ensures that there will be no shortage of high quality content to listen to with the “genre-spanning” Snapdragon Sound playlist on Amazon Music HD.
If you don’t have an account for Amazon Music, you can check out this comparison on SoundCloud instead:
“Xiaomi is excited to be the first mobile manufacturer to bring Snapdragon Sound to devices. Snapdragon Sound will bring new high quality, seamless, low-latency audio experiences to our customers everywhere and provide better sound while engaging in voice calls, video conferencing, gaming and/or music listening.” said Lei Zhang, vice president of Mi Smartphone and general manager of Hardware R&D, Xiaomi.
“We believe that with Snapdragon Sound we get closer to our mutual vision of providing wired quality sound, wirelessly and are excited to be one of the first manufacturers to get our products to consumers,” said, Kotaro Narihara, director, general manager of marketing headquarters, Audio-Technica.
Earlier this month, we reported about a new feature that was discovered in a Beta version of iOS 14.5 that seemingly allowed users to set a third-party music or podcasting app as the default for Siri voice commands. It wasn’t clear how it worked, and it didn’t always ask the user which app they wished to open the audio with. There also was no menu that let you manually select an app to do this with.
To clarify the function and its purpose, Apple reached out to TechCrunch to explain what this feature was and that its purpose was not to set a default audio app for Siri. Apple confirmed that there is no specific setting in iOS where users can set a default music service like they can with email or browsing apps.
Apple explains that this prompt to select a music app is for Siri to learn which apps you use to listen to which kind of content. Maybe you like to use YouTube Music for tunes, but you might like to use Google Podcasts for listening to weekly shows. The same may go for genres of music – perhaps you listen to tech house mixes on YouTube, but you listen to Beyonce on Apple Music.
This will let Siri understand the user’s preferences based on how you listen to content. This would also help Siri to become more useful in selecting the right app for the right situation. According to TechCrunch, this processing is all performed on-device.
Not allowing the user to select a ‘default’ music app is a smart move to improve the experience on iOS – and without having to specify the app every time you ask Siri. The average user doesn’t want to dig through menus for something to just work, so letting Siri do the legwork is very on-brand for Apple.
The Yamaha SR-B20A isn’t perfect, but it does offer an impressive spread of sound for minimal outlay
For
Clean and detailed
Good spread of effects
Decent bass
Against
Could be more expressive
Timing not expert
Yamaha describes both of its latest ‘entry-level’ soundbars, of which the SR-B20A is the larger, as upgrades for your TV sound. That’s something very much required these days when flat TV screens generally mean weedy built-in TV sound.
Unlike many rivals at this price, there is mercifully little pretence from Yamaha that the bars will deliver ‘surround’ sound, other than options labelled ‘3D Surround’ and some rather optimistic claims for the inclusion of DTS Virtual:X. These marketing extravagances aside, what’s promised is simply solid sound with which to enjoy your shiny new flatscreen.
What we particularly like about the SR-B20A on review here is that it aims to perform without the usual wireless subwoofer. This not only keeps the price down, it makes the whole package far more convenient to use.
The question is whether a long flat bar of a speaker like this can create solid enough sound without that subwoofer in support. And thankfully the answer here is a fairly resounding yes.
Build
(Image credit: Yamaha)
Despite the entry-level price, the Yamaha SR-B20A feels solidly built, and looks stylish too, with black fabric wrap and curving ends. It stretches to 91cm wide, which makes it a good match for 55-inch TVs but won’t prevent its use with either smaller or larger TVs.
Yamaha SR-B20A tech specs
(Image credit: Yamaha)
Power 120W
Outputs HDMI out (TV ARC)
Inputs 2x digital optical
4K passthrough No
Surround tech DTS Virtual:X
Dimensions (hwd) 5 x 91 x 13cm
Weight 3.2kg
Among the literature in the box is a mounting template that shows the soundbar can be stuck flat to the wall with the supplied foam spacers and a couple of sturdily fixed screws.
If you hang it on the wall, the controls, the indicator lights and most of the drivers usefully face the listener. You can always bench it in front of your TV instead, in which case the controls and lights are less usefully hidden.
The SR-B20A is a stereo soundbar, with six drivers in all. Four of these fire upwards if the unit is benched (forward if on the wall) – according to the specs these are 55mm mid-range units near each end and 75mm bass drivers halfway from each end to the centre, augmented with side-firing ports in the curves of the bar.
The quoted power ratings also suggest that the woofers are running in a dual-mono configuration rather than stereo, which Yamaha confirms. Finally, there are two 25mm tweeters on the front edge (benched) or firing down (wall-mounted); no amount of torchlight could reveal their location through the grille fabric.
Features
(Image credit: Yamaha)
The bar can get sound from your TV in two (or potentially three) ways. The best option is an HDMI cable from the bar to an ARC-equipped HDMI socket on your TV, assuming it has one. If it doesn’t, or if you don’t wish to give up one of the HDMI sockets on your TV, the next best option is an optical digital connection, for which a cable comes in the box; there is no HDMI cable included.
There is no analogue mini-jack fall-back input here, though one does feature on the smaller SR-C20A (£229, $180, AU$299), and there’s no networking of any kind. There is Bluetooth with support for both SBC and AAC codecs, primarily intended for music streaming from a smart device, although TVs that can output audio via Bluetooth could also send their audio to the bar in this way (at the peril of potential transmission delay, depending on the system).
There are a couple of other connections, besides the mains cable – a second optical input for any suitable device, and a coaxial digital output.
Given that adding a separate subwoofer of quality will more than double the price, you’d do better to buy one in a package if you’re after that bottom octave of movie-style bass: Yamaha has a number of such combos, but the SR-B20A does a good job without additional support.
Sound
(Image credit: Yamaha)
Despite its slim dimensions, the SR-B20A carries that welcoming full Yamaha tone. It’s close to its smaller sibling in terms of character, only the scale here is predictably greater.
The balance is good, too; it is easy for manufacturers to roll off a lot of top-end at this entry-level price point, to avoid anything too harsh, but the SR-B20A is happy to go high into the high frequencies with confidence.
Those built-in bass units get through a fair bit of work as well. You can dial in as much or as little as you like – you might want to tweak a bit if your TV rack is less than robust, to avoid any flabbiness – but with good solid support this is a weighty performance not short of presence. It doesn’t quite rumble like a dedicated subwoofer, but that rarely equates to great sound in an all-in-one soundbar anyway.
More impressive, though, is how the SR-B20A is able to spread effects. This is a long soundbar, and it makes good use of size. While you aren’t going to get anything like 3D sound in reality, this Yamaha is skilled enough to place sounds either side of the listening position in a manner you certainly wouldn’t regularly associate with this kind of price tag.
However, you lose a bit of focus with the soundbar firing upwards at the TV screen, which leads us to consider whether the SR-B20A is actually more suited to wall mounting.
That slight lack of precision is present in the SR-B20A’s dynamic and rhythmic performance, too. Large-scale dynamic shifts are presented well, but we end up wishing there was a little more in the way of expression on offer. Music playback also reveals this Yamaha isn’t quite the last word on timing, but again we’re far off calling it a poor performance.
Verdict
It’s difficult to know what to expect when approaching an entry-level product such as the Yamaha SR-B20A, but it’s safe to say on this occasion any expectations have been met.
This is a big-sounding soundbar that makes full use of its size. It might be best suited to wall mounting, but it’s pretty difficult to make it sound bad.
Razer is tonight formally announcing its Anzu “smart” glasses, which follow Bose, Amazon, and other companies by integrating audio speakers directly into the glasses temples. The $199.99 Anzu glasses will be available in both rectangular and round frames, and each will come in two sizes: small and large. You can place an order beginning today.
Two sets of lenses come in the retail package: a regular, clear pair that offers 35 percent blocking against blue light, and Razer also throws in sunglass lenses with 99 percent UV protection.
Image: Razer
But Razer has deviated from competitors with its approach to audio glasses: the company has used a true wireless design that completely splits the left and right speakers. Razer says this allows for improved comfort since the frames allow for more give and flexibility. On the other hand, it could lead to some strange charging situations: you have to charge both temples at the same time — there are pogo pins on each one — and could theoretically encounter the occasional true wireless frustrations like audio dropouts on one side.
If you need prescription lenses, Razer has partnered with Lensabl for a 15 percent discount that’s available to Anzu buyers. That’ll obviously end up well above the standard cost, but what are us glasses wearers to do?
Image: Razer
Razer has outfitted each side with a 16mm driver, and there are also touch-responsive tap gestures controls on either temple that will let you change tracks, answer calls, or activate a voice assistant. The Anzu glasses are rated IPX4 for water resistance, so you’ll want to avoid serious rain — but they should handle light splashes okay. Razer says it has cut Bluetooth latency down to 60ms.
The Anzu glasses automatically power down when folded shut — achieving up to two weeks of standby time — and then pair to the last device once opened back up. Battery life is rated at “up to five hours.” That’s about on par with Bose, which estimates 5.5 hours for its Tenor audio sunglasses. As for sound bleed, which is always a side effect with these audio glasses, Razer told me that people within arm’s distance will probably pick up on your music.
The included leatherette case has a magnetic latch and flap for storing the charging cable or extra lenses. The Anzu glasses are exclusively available from Razer.com and physical RazerStore locations. In North America, you can get them from Best Buy US and Best Buy Canada.
iOS 14.5 is in beta right now, and the first beta appeared to have a long-awaited feature: it seemed you would be able to set Spotify and other music services as the default for Siri requests. But Apple has clarified with TechCrunchthat the feature doesn’t actually work that way. Instead, selecting a music service for Siri requests is apparently intended to improve Siri’s smarts so that it can better know your audio-listening preferences.
In our testing of the first iOS 14.5 beta, when you would ask Siri to play a song, it would show a list of music services to play a song from. After you made your choice, Siri song requests would then play from the service you selected without requiring you to pick again. But you’re not actually picking a default service, TechCrunch reports.
“The feature is an attempt to help Siri to learn the listening apps you want to use for different types of audio content — not just music,” according to TechCrunch. “Perhaps you want to use Spotify to listen to music, but prefer to keep up with your podcasts in Apple Podcasts or some other third-party podcasts app. And you may want to listen to audiobooks in yet another app.” Apple’s assistant may even ask your preference again in future.
Apple also noted to TechCrunch that there’s no setting in iOS where you can set your music service default, unlike the options available for setting a default email service or browser. (We also observed this when we tested the feature with the first beta of iOS 14.5.) However, you can still ask that a song play from a specific service as part of your Siri request.
Apple still seems to be tweaking the feature, as it was dropped from the second beta before being reintroduced this week with the third. And because it is still in beta, there’s always the chance the feature could change ahead of the final release, though we’ve asked Apple if it can confirm that it will appear in the public version of iOS 14.5.
Qualcomm has introduced a new system-on-chip platform that supports 24-bit/96kHz audio over Bluetooth.
Currently, Qualcomm’s aptX HD and flagship aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs can transmit music up to 24-bit/48kHz, but the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound takes that to 96kHz – the sampling rate studio music is often recorded and, as digital hi-res files, distributed at. (That said, as Snapdragon Sound utilises aptX Adaptive codec technology, transmission is still slightly compressed – the bitrate scales dynamically from 279kbps up to 860kbps.)
Depending on manufacturer take-up, this means we could see 24-bit/96kHz Bluetooth passthrough between a variety of headphones and smartphones very soon.
This higher data transmission support is only one element of Snapdragon Sound, which is a package of audio-related technologies that promise to deliver high-quality wireless sound end-to-end across the chain, from source (a phone) to receiver (headphones).
Qualcomm’s goal here is to offer manufacturers of headphones, phones, tablets and other consumer electronics components a hardware and software solution that provides their products with best-in-class audio quality, latency and connectivity robustness.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
In addition to expanding aptX Adaptive to support 96kHz with 89-millisecond latency (“45% lower than a leading competitor”, says Qualcomm), Snapdragon Sound also incorporates the company’s Active Noise Cancelling and aptX Voice wide-band technologies to offer its optimal noise cancellation and voice calling experience.
Away from wireless device use cases and geared towards wired listening with a phone, is Snapdragon Sound’s incorporation of the Qualcomm Aqstic DAC, which supports native playback of PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, as well as DSD.
Qualcomm says we should see the first products with Snapdragon Sound in the second half of this year, with phones and headphones to initially appear before PCs, watches and XR glasses. Presumably, they will be higher-end devices in their fields and, as confirmed by their launch partnership, Xiaomi phone(s) and Audio-Technica headphones will be in that first batch.
“We believe that with Snapdragon Sound we get closer to our mutual vision of providing wired quality sound wirelessly, and are excited to be one of the first manufacturers to get our products to consumers,” said Kotaro Narihara, Audio-Technica’s director and general manager of marketing headquarters.
Snapdragon Sound – available to OEMs from today – will be offered within Qualcomm’s latest QCC514x, QCC515x and QCC3056 series of Bluetooth audio SoCs, which have been geared to enhance the true wireless headphones experience.
With 24-bit/96khz music increasingly prevalent thanks to the hi-res support from streaming services such as Tidal, Qobuz and Amazon Music HD, Qualcomm hopes to encourage and improve the hi-res audio listening experience. It has also partnered with Amazon to launch a collaborative (and celebratory) ‘Snapdragon Sound’ playlist of hi-res streams on the Amazon Music HD service, available today.
MORE:
High-resolution audio: everything you need to know
aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it?
Qualcomm today announced Snapdragon Sound, which is what the company describes as “a chain of audio innovations and software” that work together to significantly improve audio quality when listening to music through wireless headphones, earbuds, and other devices. The goal is to deliver “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly,” according to James Chapman, Qualcomm’s VP of voice, music, and wearables.
Snapdragon Sound takes advantage of the company’s latest processors, Bluetooth audio SoCs, and codecs like aptX Adaptive to achieve playback of hi-fi music up to 24-bit 96kHz.
The concept of high-quality wireless audio isn’t new to Android; Sony has been largely pushing that mission forward with its own LDAC technology, which can transmit up to three times the amount of data that the standard SBC Bluetooth codec is capable of.
But Qualcomm’s components are found in headphones and earbuds from many companies — Bose, Jabra, 1More, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Anker, and more — and the Snapdragon Sound badge will appear on the boxes of both audio products and smartphones that support this HD audio chain. Existing devices won’t be updated to support it; the first Snapdragon Sound products are expected in the next few months. Xiaomi and Audio-Technica have been announced as the first two Snapdragon Sound partners.
Aside from making it easier to enjoy hi-res music, Qualcomm says Snapdragon Sound focuses on improved, clearer voice call quality and lower latency when playing games — down to 89 milliseconds. Connection stability is also a priority, with the company promising minimal dropouts and glitches even in the busiest wireless signal environments. Qualcomm claims “Snapdragon Sound optimized devices will be tested for interoperability in Qualcomm Technologies’ dedicated test facility on measures of performance including audio quality, latency, and robust connectivity.”
One thing that Snapdragon Sound doesn’t particularly focus on is multipoint pairing for two simultaneous Bluetooth connections. The feature has become fairly common for wireless headphones, but Jabra is pretty much the lone earbud maker to offer it. We’ll have to see if that changes with this next wave of products.
Today’s announcement of Snapdragon Sound follows Spotify’s recent news that it will offer a lossless streaming tier later this year as an add-on for Premium subscribers. Amazon Music already offers an HD streaming option, as do Tidal, Qobuz, and other music services. Good audio is always heavily dependent on the source, so you’ll need one of those services to get the most from Snapdragon Sound when it begins reaching products.
In somewhat unexpected news, Tidal has a new owner. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, and founder and CEO of Square, has announced that Square has acquired a majority stake in Tidal.
Announcing the news on Twitter, where else, Dorsey said, “It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers.”
An image shared with the post announcing the news shows Jay-Z, Tidal’s existing owner, and Dorsey plotting around a chart that has “Artists” overtly circled in the centre. Hopefully the good intentions will translate into good news for all of us who want to see musicians and bands rewarded fully by streaming music services.
While promising Tidal would remain “the best home for music, musicians, and culture”, Dorsey said the partnership would see Square deliver more advanced tools for artists, including “new listening experiences to bring fans closer together, simple integrations for merch sales, modern collaboration tools, and new complementary revenue streams”.
Square will pay $297 million in a mix of cash and stock to become Tidal’s “significant majority” owner, though Jay-Z and Tidal’s other existing artist-shareholders will retain some ownership in the company. Tidal will operate independently within Square and Jay-Z will join Square’s board of directors.
Jay-Z acquired Tidal for $56 million in 2015 and announced plans to turn it into the first artist-owned streaming service, following a star-studded launch featuring Madonna, Daft Punk, Kanye West and more.
Tidal offers hi-res audio streams from MQA, alongside lossless and standard audio tiers, putting it one step ahead of Apple Music and Spotify in sound quality terms, even since the news of the impending Spotify HiFi launch.
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Ikea’s new $9.99 / €7.99 / £6 Trådfri Shortcut Buttons and existing $14.99 / €12.95 / £12 Trådfri Motion Sensors recently gained HomeKit support to the delight of many Apple device owners. Importantly, the addition is cumulative for the most part, allowing the Ikea devices to function with the best features of Ikea Home Smart while layering on the best of Apple.
I’ve been testing both Ikea Home Smart devices for the past few days and while setup is predictably buggy, when they’re up and running it’s glorious, especially for the price.
Motion sensors designed to work with HomeKit aren’t cheap. They range in price from $21 to $57 according to this roundup from iMore. The popular Motion sensor from Philips Hue, for example, is more capable but costs $40, or almost three times as much as Ikea’s sensor, and both require hub devices to communicate with HomeKit. The Hue Bridge costs $59.99 while the Ikea Gateway costs $29.99, although these are often discounted in bundles with compatible lights and switches. An Apple home hub is also required, which can be a HomePod, Apple TV, or iPad.
There isn’t another product quite like Ikea’s Shortcut Buttons in the HomeKit world, so it’s hard to compare pricing. Some people will repurpose the four buttons on a $24.99 Hue dimmer switch to perform HomeKit automations, but it’s not really the same, and Aqara buttons are hard to find. Ikea designed its Shortcut Buttons to operate a single scene and that’s all.
Ikea Shortcut Button
The Ikea Shortcut Buttons are meant to be scattered around the home as dedicated controllers for individual or groups of devices. Place one next to the bed to shut off all the lights, for example, without having to yell at a smart assistant or launch an app. Place another in the kitchen to play your favorite Spotify playlist on the Sonos speaker.
The magnetic buttons include a metal mounting bracket that can be screwed into a wall or attached with the double-sided tape found in the box for a less permanent option. They also ship with six stickers: three printed with icons representing nighttime, lights, and morning, and three blanks for you to illustrate yourself.
Ikea demonstrating a Shortcut Button starting a scene to The Verge in 2019.Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
The Shortcut Button can be assigned operations in both the Ikea Home Smart and Apple Home apps with cumulative results. It’s a bit confusing (and potentially conflicting), but combining the Ikea and Apple worlds makes the Shortcut Buttons much more powerful.
I defined a “Good Night” Shortcut Button in the Apple Home app that I placed on a shelf above my bed. A regular press turns off seven smart lights (a mix of Ikea and Hue) and four Sonos speakers. A long press turns on a decorative filament night light in the bedroom at 10 percent brightness. To achieve these results, I had to assign a “scene” to the Shortcut Button in the Ikea Home Smart app and also assign “actions” in the Apple Home app.
When using the Shortcut Buttons only with Ikea’s Home Smart app, you are limited to a single scene assigned to a single button press. But Ikea’s deeper Sonos integration exposes all of my Sonos speakers to the Shortcut Button, not just the newer AirPlay 2 speakers recognized by HomeKit. HomeKit improves upon Ikea Home Smart by detecting both a short press and a long press of the Shortcut Buttons. Apple also gives you the option of writing if / then / else shortcuts (confusing, I know) that can be assigned to the short and long presses instead, giving you four possible control options from a single Shortcut Button. (Here’s a useful thread explaining the steps started by u/armadawars on the HomeKit subreddit.)
So far, I’ve kept things simple. I have a scene called “Top music off” in the Home Smart app that I’ve assigned to the aforementioned “Good Night” Shortcut Button. This allows me to shut off any Sonos speakers that might be playing in, or around, my bedroom. In Apple’s Home app, I also assigned a mix of seven Philips Hue and Ikea lights to turn off with a single press of the “Good Night” Shortcut Button. I then assigned a long press to turn on the Ikea filament bulb.
I have a second Shortcut Button in my living room currently set up to control my TV and mood lighting in the Apple Home app. A short press turns on my 2020 LG OLED TV and two lights to a predefined color and brightness. A long press turns everything back off. And just because I can, I also assigned a scene to the button in the Ikea Home Smart app that starts playing a Christmas playlist on the kitchen Sonos anytime it’s pressed. It’s dumb, and my family hates it, but it makes me so damn happy.
Ikea Motion Sensor
I would have driven myself mad setting up the Ikea Trådfri Motion Sensor in HomeKit had I not first read this tip on Reddit.
Despite my Trådfri Gateway being upgraded to firmware 1.13.21 and seeing both of my existing motion sensors in the Apple Home app and the sensors tripping Ikea lights when motion was detected, neither was detecting motion according to HomeKit. To solve that, first I had to remove the motion sensor from the Gateway (four clicks on the pairing button), delete the old rooms hosting the sensors from the Ikea Home Smart app, and then re-add the sensor (two clicks holding it next to the Gateway) where it was assigned a new default room. Only then did I see motion activity detected in Apple’s Home app, allowing me to control HomeKit devices with the sensor.
As with the Shortcut Buttons, automations linked to the Ikea Motion Sensor in both the Ikea and Apple Home apps are cumulative. In my walk-in pantry, I paired an Ikea lightbulb directly to an Ikea Motion Sensor (press the link button on the Motion Sensor while holding it next to the Ikea bulb for about 10 seconds) and then set up an automation in the Apple Home app to turn on a strip of Hue lights above my kitchen cabinet, but only at night. The Ikea pantry light shuts off automatically after three minutes.
That three-minute reset built into the Ikea Motion sensor can cause conflicts with HomeKit automations. The Apple Home app lets you to assign automations to both motion and the lack of motion. It can also take a secondary action after a set period of time. For example, in the Apple Home app, I can tell the Ikea Motion Sensor to light a Hue bulb in the pantry instead, and then shut it off after one minute. However, it can’t be tripped again for another two minutes due to the three-minute sleep time, leaving me to rummage around the pantry in the dark.
Other motion sensors have much shorter reset periods, even as low as 20 seconds, which makes them much better suited for controlling lighting. Others also include temperature sensors, opening the door for even more creative automations. The Ikea Motion Sensor is basic by comparison with a price to match.
Ikea’s Motion Sensors and Shortcut Buttons are so inexpensive and useful that they’re easy to recommend, especially for homes with a mix of Ikea and Apple products already. While the Motion Sensors are available just about everywhere, the new Shortcut Buttons have only started rolling out and still can’t be found in the US. Both HomeKit devices make the smart home accessible to everyone without apps or voice commands, limited only by the smart devices you own, your ability to write HomeKit shortcuts, and your patience with fiddly smart home tech.
There’s nothing like an explosion of blockchain news to leave you thinking, “Um… what’s going on here?” That’s the feeling I’ve experienced while reading about Grimes getting millions of dollars for NFTs or about Nyan Cat being sold as one.
You might be wondering: what is an NFT, anyhow?
After literal hours of reading, I think I know. I also think I’m going to cry.
Okay, let’s start with the basics. What is an NFT? What does NFT stand for?
Non-fungible token.
That doesn’t make it any clearer.
Right, sorry. “Non-fungible” more or less means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different. You gave up a Squirtle, and got a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner, which StadiumTalk calls “the Mona Lisa of baseball cards.” (I’ll take their word for it.)
How do NFTs work?
At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. It is worth noting that other blockchains can implement their own versions of NFTs. (Some already have.)
What’s worth picking up at the NFT supermarket?
NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art.
You mean, like, people buying my good tweets?
I don’t think anyone can stop you, but that’s not really what I meant. A lot of the conversation is about NFTs as an evolution of fine art collecting, only with digital art.
Do people really think this will become like art collecting?
I’m sure some people really hope so — like whoever paid almost $390,000 for a 50-second video by Grimes or the person who paid $6.6 million for a video by Beeple. Actually, one of Beeple’s pieces is being auctioned at Christie’s, the famou—
Yoink!Image: Beeple
Sorry, I was busy right-clicking on that Beeple video and downloading the same file the person paid millions of dollars for.
Wow, rude. But yeah, that’s where it gets a bit awkward. You can copy a digital file as many times as you want, including the art that’s included with an NFT.
But NFTs are designed to give you something that can’t be copied: ownership of the work (though the artist can still retain the copyright and reproduction rights, just like with physical artwork). To put it in terms of physical art collecting: anyone can buy a Monet print. But only one person can own the original.
No shade on Beeple, but the video isn’t really a Monet.
What do you think of the $3,600 Gucci Ghost?
This last sold for $3,600, but the current owner is asking for $16,300.GIF by Trevor Andrew
Also, if I got a Monet, I could appreciate it as a physical object. With digital art, a copy is literally as good as the original.
But the flex of owning an original Beeple…
What’s the point?
That really depends on whether you’re an artist or a buyer.
I’m an artist.
First off: I’m proud of you. Way to go. You might be interested in NFTs because it gives you a way to sell work that there otherwise might not be much of a market for. If you come up with a really cool digital sticker idea, what are you going to do? Sell it on the iMessage App Store? No way.
Also, NFTs have a feature that you can enable that will pay you a percentage every time the NFT is sold or changes hands, making sure that if your work gets super popular and balloons in value, you’ll see some of that benefit.
I’m a buyer.
One of the obvious benefits of buying art is it lets you financially support artists you like, and that’s true with NFTs (which are way trendier than, like, Telegram stickers). Buying an NFT also usually gets you some basic usage rights, like being able to post the image online or set it as your profile picture. Plus, of course, there are bragging rights that you own the art, with a blockchain entry to back it up.
No, I meant I’m a collector.
Ah, okay, yes. NFTs can work like any other speculative asset, where you buy it and hope that the value of it goes up one day, so you can sell it for a profit. I feel kind of dirty for talking about that, though.
So every NFT is unique?
In the boring, technical sense that every NFT is a unique token on the blockchain. But while it could be like a van Gogh, where there’s only one definitive actual version, it could also be like a trading card, where there’s 50 or hundreds of numbered copies of the same artwork.
Who would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for what basically amounts to a trading card?
Well, that’s part of what makes NFTs so messy. Some people treat them like they’re the future of fine art collecting (read: as a playground for the mega-rich), and some people treat them like Pokémon cards (where they’re accessible to normal people but also a playground for the mega-rich). Speaking of Pokémon cards, Logan Paul just sold some NFTs relating to a million-dollar box of the—
Please stop. I hate where this is going.
You’ve activated my trap card (which sold for $17,000).Image by Logan Paul
Yeah, he sold NFT video clips, which are just clips from a video you can watch on YouTube anytime you want, for up to $20,000. He also sold NFTs of a Logan Paul Pokémon card.
Who paid $20,000 for a video clip of Logan Paul?!
A fool and their money are soon parted, I guess?
It would be hilarious if Logan Paul decided to sell 50 more NFTs of the exact same video.
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda (who also sold some NFTs that included a song) actually talked about that. It’s totally a thing someone could do if they were, in his words, “an opportunist crooked jerk.” I’m not saying that Logan Paul is that, just that you should be careful who you buy from.
Can I buy this article as an NFT?
No, but technically anything digital could be sold as an NFT. deadmau5 has sold digital animated stickers. William Shatner has sold Shatner-themed trading cards (one of which was apparently an X-ray of his teeth).
This one I like. Maybe not for $700, but…Image by deadmau5 and Mad Dog Jones
Gross. Actually, could I buy someone’s teeth as an NFT?
There have been some attempts at connecting NFTs to real-world objects, often as a sort of verification method. Nike has patented a method to verify sneakers’ authenticity using an NFT system, which it calls CryptoKicks. But so far, I haven’t found any teeth, no. I’m scared to look.
Look? Where?
There are several marketplaces that have popped up around NFTs, which allow people to buy and sell. These include OpenSea, Rarible, and Grimes’ choice, Nifty Gateway, but there are plenty of others.
I’ve heard there were kittens involved. Tell me about the kittens.
NFTs really became technically possible when the Ethereum blockchain added support for them as part of a new standard. Of course, one of the first uses was a game called CryptoKitties that allowed users to trade and sell virtual kittens. Thank you, internet.
I love kittens.
Not as much as the person who paid over $170,000 for one.
My face when I’m worth $170K.Image: Cryptokitties.co
Arrrrrggggg!
Same. But in my opinion, the kittens show that one of the most interesting aspects of NFTs (for those of us not looking to create a digital dragon’s lair of art) is how they can be used in games. There are already games that let you have NFTs as items. One even sells virtual plots of land as NFTs. There could be opportunities for players to buy a unique in-game gun or helmet or whatever as an NFT, which would be a flex that most people could actually appreciate.
Could I pull off a museum heist to steal NFTs?
This image is not an NFT. Yet.Image: Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers
That depends. Part of the allure of blockchain is that it stores a record of each time a transaction takes place, making it harder to steal and flip than, say, a painting hanging in a museum. That said, cryptocurrencies have been stolen before, so it really would depend on how the NFT is being stored and how much work a potential victim would be willing to put in to get their stuff back.
Note: Please don’t steal.
Should I be worried about digital art being around in 500 years?
Probably. Bit rot is a real thing: image quality deteriorates, file formats can’t be opened anymore, websites go down, people forget the password to their wallets. But physical art in museums is also shockingly fragile.
I want to maximize my blockchain use. Can I buy NFTs with cryptocurrencies?
Yes. Probably. A lot of the marketplaces accept Ethereum. But technically, anyone can sell an NFT, and they could ask for whatever currency they want.
Will trading my Logan Paul NFTs contribute to global warming and melt Greenland?
It’s definitely something to look out for. Since NFTs use the same blockchain technology as cryptocurrencies, they could also end up using a lot of electricity per transaction. There are people working on mitigations for this issue, which is great because I don’t want to set the world on fire for CryptoKitties, much less Logan Paul.
Can I build an underground art cave / bunker to store my NFTs?
Well, like cryptocurrencies, NFTs are stored in digital wallets (though it is worth noting that the wallet does specifically have to be NFT-compatible). You could always put the wallet on a computer in an underground bunker, though.
Samsung’s first Neo QLED is a force to be reckoned with, and the greatest threat yet to the dominance of OLED
For
Superbly bright, punchy and sharp
Exhaustive feature set
Lovely design
Against
Artificial boost to dark detail
Reticence with extreme contrast
Still no Dolby Vision
This year looks very much like the year of Mini LED. The technology, which sees the traditional LEDs of a TV backlight miniaturised in order to increase contrast, is a feature of the 2021 line-ups of most major TV brands, including LG and Philips.
For those brands, Mini LED TVs sit below their OLED models, but for Samsung, Mini LED is its flagship technology (assuming you discount its eye-wateringly expensive new Micro LED sets). The company has developed its own Mini LEDs, which it says are even smaller and more efficient than those of its rivals, and combined them with its existing Quantum Dot tech to create a range of premium TVs that it calls Neo QLEDs.
The QE65QN95A is the first Neo QLED we’ve tested. It’s the top 4K model in Samsung’s 2021 range, and it purports to offer a huge upgrade on last year’s equivalent without any increase in price.
This is the model that Samsung is pitching against LG’s incredibly popular C-class OLED, the 2021 version of which (the C1) we have yet to review. When it does appear, the C1 is going to have its work cut out because the Samsung QN95A is the best QLED there’s ever been, and that makes it a serious challenger to even the best OLEDs.
Pricing
The Samsung QE65QN95A is priced at £2999 – exactly the same price its predecessor, the QE65Q95T, launched at, despite this new model representing what appears to be a serious technological upgrade.
The QN95A is exclusive to Europe. US buyers instead get the QN90A, which does without the QN95A’s One Connect box and has just one HDMI 2.1 socket (the QN95A has four). Confusingly, the US QN90A is different to the European QN90A, which is more heavily downgraded. Apparently, Europe will in fact get an as-yet-unannounced model called the QN94A, which will be the same as the US’s QN90A.
If you’ve completely lost track, it’s no surprise. It feels as though Samsung has gone out of its way to make its model structure even less coherent than it was in 2020. Sony, meanwhile, is putting a concerted effort into unifying its model numbers across all regions, and LG has been doing that for years, at least in terms of its OLEDs.
Build
(Image credit: Future)
Besides the benefits in terms of contrast, a Mini LED backlight is much slimmer than one consisting of standard LEDs. Samsung has also worked hard to reduce the distance between the backlight and the Quantum Dot panel, making the whole display section slimmer.
Samsung QE65QN95A tech specs
(Image credit: Future / Escape From Pretoria, Amazon Prime)
Screen type QLED
Backlight Mini LED
Resolution 4K
Operating system Samsung Tizen
HDR formats HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
HDMI x4
USB x3
Optical x1
Of course, a TV also needs to pack in processing hardware and speakers, but Samsung has still managed to reduce the thickness of the QN95A to just 2.6cm, down from the 3.5cm of last year’s Q95T.
That doesn’t make the QN95A as thin as an OLED is at its thinnest point (the LG CX is under 4mm thick here) but its uniform depth measurement means it is much thinner than most OLEDs are at their thickest points (the CX is 4.7cm here) and arguably makes for a more stylish, picture frame-like proposition when wall mounted.
The QN95A also gets the new, redesigned version of Samsung’s One Connect box. The concept is the same – all connections, including power, go into a separate unit that’s connected to the TV via a single cable – but the chunky brick design has been replaced by one reminiscent of a stack of five or six placemats. While this One Connect can be mounted to the rear of the stand of Samsung’s 2021 8K models, it can’t be mounted to the QN95A at all.
Also slightly disappointing is that the cable that runs between the One Connect box and display is significantly thicker and less flexible than that of previous versions. Samsung says the cable has changed in the name of “performance stability and durability”, but we weren’t aware of any issues with the previous design.
While the move to a thicker wire is a bit of a shame, having just one cable running to the display rather than multiple HDMIs and power is still undeniably neater. And, if your set-up means that the One Connect box will be visible in your TV rack, this new version is significantly easier on the eye than its predecessor.
Features
(Image credit: Future / Escape From Pretoria, Amazon Prime)
The One Connect box also gives the QN95A a more advanced set of connections than other 2021 Samsung models such as the QN90A. It’s all down to the HDMIs: all four of the QN95A’s HDMI sockets are 2.1-spec, while its siblings get just one HDMI 2.1 socket. That probably won’t make a huge difference right now, but anyone planning to buy both the PS5 and Xbox Series X will need more than one HDMI 2.1 socket to take full advantage of both consoles, and there will only be more HDMI 2.1 sources in the future.
Of course, simply having HDMI 2.1 sockets isn’t enough to guarantee support for all of those fancy next-gen HDMI features, but the QN95A offers support for eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), 4K@120Hz (aka High Frame Rate) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate). VRR is supported in all three of the formats currently available: standard HDMI VRR, Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync (this is the first TV to be FreeSync Premium Pro-certified, in fact).
As is probably already clear, Samsung is even more committed to courting gamers than before, going as far as creating the ‘Game Bar’ – a pop-up menu that gives you quick access to various game-related features and delivers live information on the signal being received, including the VRR format and frame rate. Input lag, meanwhile, has been reduced to under 10ms, which is entirely imperceptible. If you don’t mind sacrificing a little of that speed, you can enable some gaming-specific motion smoothing, although we don’t find that necessary during testing.
Finally, on the gaming front, the HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) setting that was added to Samsung’s 2020 QLEDs via a software update late last year is also present on the QN95A. This is well worth using in conjunction with your console’s HDR calibration settings as it results in a more accurate picture with deeper blacks and more detailed highlights.
Samsung has also long been the market leader when it comes to integrated streaming apps, and the QN95A is just as well-appointed as its predecessors in that regard. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, Google Play Movies & TV and Rakuten are all present in 4K and HDR; BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My5 complete the set of catch-up apps; Now TV and BT Sport are also here; and Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, BBC Sounds and TuneIn mean every major music and radio app is on board, too. In short, there’s no app of significance that’s missing here, and there are loads of niche apps in there too.
There is, though, an HDR format of significance that’s missing – Dolby Vision. While Samsung’s rival HDR10+ has made undeniable in-roads in recent years, Dolby Vision is clearly the more dominant format and it’s very hard indeed to see the power balance shifting. Even if Samsung truly believes HDR10+ is better, it should by now be offering Dolby Vision support as well.
(Image credit: Future)
The operating system is more or less unchanged from last year, which is no bad thing. It’s still the best in the business, slickly getting you to the content you’re after quicker than any rival. One new feature that has the potential to be great is Multi View, which allows you to split the screen in two and watch an HDMI source in one window while you access an app via the other. We could see this could be useful for watching two football games at once, for example, one via your Sky Q box and the other the BT Sport app, but currently the only apps supported in Multi View are YouTube and a wellness app called Calm, rendering it almost useless.
The QN95A’s new remote has a useful new feature, though: on the bottom is a light panel that allows it to be charged via sunlight and even house lights. It works really well – during testing, the remote’s battery level doesn’t drop below about 95 per cent as it constantly tops itself up. That said, the remote does also have a USB-C socket that can be used as a backup charging method.
Under the TV’s skin is a new version of Samsung Quantum Processor, called the Neo Quantum Processor 4K. The big new feature here is referred to as Ultra Precision Light Driving, which involves more precise dimming and a local power distribution feature that sends power to the brightest areas of the picture and away from the darker parts. It also works in conjunction with a sensor integrated into the TV’s frame to adjust brightness and contrast in response to ambient lighting conditions. There’s a new level of ‘deep learning’ applied to contrast enhancement, too.
Of course, the biggest new feature of the QN95A is its Mini LED backlight. Samsung explains that the majority of a typical LED’s size is made up of its protective packaging and light-guiding lens, both of which it has done away with for its so-called ‘New LEDs’. Not only that, but it has also miniaturised the LEDs themselves, to astonishing effect: the new LEDs, packaging and all, are a fortieth the size of their traditional counterparts and look like little more than sparkly grains of sand.
Instead of a lens, this New LED backlight works with a new ‘micro layer’ that guides the light through the quantum dots (which provide the set’s colours). The result is apparently no light leakage or blooming.
Crucially, because the New LEDs are so much smaller, significantly more of them can be packed in, creating more individual dimming zones in the process. While Samsung doesn’t quote official figures for these dimming zones, we understand that the QN95A has just under 800 of them. Last year’s Q95T and Q90T are thought to have had around 120 dimming zones each so, on paper at least, this appears to be a massive upgrade that should have a startling impact on contrast.
Picture
(Image credit: Future / Escape From Pretoria, Amazon Prime)
Kicking off with the 4K Blu-ray of John Wick: Chapter 3, it quickly becomes clear that this is a massive upgrade in real terms, too. Not only does the QN95A go vastly brighter than the OLED competition, in most conditions it combines bright and dark picture elements unlike any commercially available TV before it. As John cuts through the chandelier shop near the start of the film, the warm, piercing light contrasts brilliantly with the rain-soaked streets in the background, with the bulbs and the glass sections of the chandeliers sparkling to a degree that makes the Award-winning Philips 65OLED805 look decidedly dull.
Crucially, this brightness doesn’t come at the expense of black depth, which is close to OLED-quality. If you look closely at a still image, you can see that the top black bar loses a bit of purity as one of the shining bulbs lingers at its edge, but in action, this isn’t noticeable. What’s more, there’s no obvious haloing around bright objects on dark backgrounds, or any other real hint that this is a backlit telly. It’s not totally perfect, but it could be argued that it’s close enough to not matter.
That said, the QN95A is, like its predecessor, a little cautious when confronted by small bright objects in otherwise overwhelmingly black images. During the opening scene of It, Pennywise’s eyes should glow menacingly bright out of the gloom of the basement, but they’re barely noticeable here. As the camera heads through the tunnel towards daylight for the start of the film, it’s clear that the TV is holding back, presumably for fear of introducing blooming, and it makes the image less exciting than it should be.
The same trait is clear in the company logos and intro text at the start of Blade Runner 2049. It could be that Samsung is playing things just a little too safe here, but crucially, these ultra-high contrast images are relatively uncommon, and in isolation, the Samsung’s delivery rarely looks wrong. It’s only in a side-by-side comparison with one of the punchier 2020 OLEDs that this reticence becomes clear.
The only other slight flaw in the QN95A’s delivery is regarding the balance of dark detail and black depth. Not that the TV isn’t capable of both, but we struggle to find the perfect balance. There’s a dedicated Shadow Detail setting that does exactly that but it also somewhat washes out the image. Switching the Contrast Enhancer to High, meanwhile, reveals so much dark detail that it feels as though artificial light is being added to some dark scenes.
We’ve always appreciated Samsung’s bold and straightforward picture settings, but for this TV, a Contrast Enhancer setting between Low and High might have proved perfect. As it is, you have to trade just a bit of dark detail to get inky blacks, or have slightly artificially boosted shadow detail.
Ultimately, though, the QN95A is a stunning performer overall. It’s so dynamic and vibrant that it makes its rivals look flat and boring. Whites, in particular, are incredibly pure and punchy, from John Wick’s shirt to the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling of the first-floor armoury above the chandelier shop.
(Image credit: Future / Escape From Pretoria, Amazon Prime)
Colours are incredibly lush, too, but also natural and controlled – as long as you tone down the Colour setting just a bit. It’s the perfect foil for the comic book-style exaggeration of John Wick 3, pumping up the pink of the shirts of the call centre staff and bringing the Marrakesh market to life with its varied and vibrant hues.
Switch to 1917 and the vibrancy is tempered by a slightly unexpected degree of naturalism. Some TVs we’ve reviewed have, in their quest for vibrancy, pushed the green fields at the film’s start from verdant to lurid, but the QN95A doesn’t fall into this trap and the film is delivered with both punch and poise.
The same effortless balance is applied in regards to detail and sharpness, too. Where some TVs, including previous Samsung models, can over-sharpen edges and details, giving everything an artificially etched look, the QN95A ensures that everything is crisp and clearly defined without any of that exaggeration. The detail is all there, but it isn’t rammed down your throat, and that’s the way it should be.
In 2020, Samsung took a big step forward in terms of motion processing, and it’s good to see that that balance of smoothness and naturalism continues into 2021. Again, you need to select the right setting: the default Auto setting is forced and unpleasant, but switching to Custom and setting Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction to 10 and 3 respectively keeps motion controlled without adding fizz around fast movement or any of the dreaded soap opera effect.
Switching from 4K to 1080p with the Looper Blu-ray, it becomes clear that this Samsung takes a surprisingly subtle approach to SDR content. While many TVs attempt to give SDR content an HDR sheen, the QN95A opts instead for subtlety. Compared with the Philips OLED805, the Samsung’s image is less dynamic and instantly exciting, but also more nuanced in its shading and a fair bit more detailed. Both approaches have their merits, but Samsung’s feels more authentic.
The same relative characteristics are present as we switch to our trusty Dirty Harry DVD. While the Samsung is once again less punchy in its delivery, it’s subtler and cleaner, too.
Sound
(Image credit: Future)
Considering the QN95A’s sound system is essentially invisible, it packs in a large number of drivers – eight of them, in fact – in a 4.2.2 arrangement that Samsung refers to as OTS+ and is rated to 70W. ‘OTS’ stands for ‘Object Tracking Sound’ and refers to the fact that the system is designed to create a sense of three-dimensionality akin to Dolby Atmos. All of which makes it slightly baffling that the QN95A can’t natively play Dolby Atmos soundtracks, although it can pass them out to a connected speaker system (even a Samsung soundbar).
Regardless of the tech involved (or not), the QN95A puts in a solid audio performance that’s clear, direct and punchy but with good weight and openness. It delivers a strong sense of space and atmosphere while ensuring that dialogue and effects are presented clearly. Detail levels are high by the standards of an integrated sound system, too.
That said, the QN95A’s speakers struggle with the super-deep bass at the start of chapter 2 of Blade Runner 2049, with its woofers flapping uncomfortably. This is far from the only TV to have problems here – LG’s CX OLEDs suffer at least as badly – but it’s a shame all the same. Still, we would always recommend partnering a TV as impressive as this with a dedicated sound system, and this flaw only reinforces that message.
If you are determined to stick with the Samsung’s integrated speakers, Adaptive Volume is best switched off as it tends to sound quite forced and hard, but Adaptive Sound+ is worth using as it adds spaciousness and a slight sense of cinematic envelopment. Amplify is worth trying, too: it sacrifices a bit of low-level dynamic subtlety for bigger overall dynamics and more punch, making it useful for action films. Standard is probably better if you want to use one setting for all content, though.
Verdict
While Mini LED might not quite be the revolution that Samsung is pitching it as, it’s still a substantial upgrade to an already excellent range of TVs. The overall contrast offered is staggering, and the QN95A combines near-OLED black levels with awesomely crisp white highlights and fabulously vibrant colours, all while retaining an effortless sense of naturalism.
Throw in the best, most app-packed operating system in the business, a delightfully slim design and a full set of next-gen HDMI sockets and this is (a lack of Dolby Vision support aside) as complete a package as can be imagined.
It’s early days for 2021 TVs, but Samsung has thrown down the gauntlet in emphatic style and it will be fascinating to see how its rivals respond.
The RIAA’s year-end report on the state of the US music industry shows that revenue from vinyl sales has overtaken that of CDs for the first time in 35 years.
Sales of the classic record format in the US have increased consistently since 2006, but last year it saw its biggest single week since electronic sales tracking began (in 1991), with 1.841 million vinyl albums sold in the week ending 24th December, according to the MRC data.
Overall, vinyl sales in 2020 grew by 28.7 per cent to $626 million, while CD sales continued their long term decline, falling by 23 per cent to $483 million.
The last time vinyl triumphed over CDs was in 1986. That year, though, the cassette was king, making up 54 per cent of all albums sold, and the biggest releases included Janet Jackson’s Control, Madonna’s True Blue and Lionel Richie’s Dancing on the Ceiling – each sold three million physical copies – not forgetting the soundtrack to Miami Vice which sold four million.
By contrast, this year’s top vinyl albums were Harry Styles’ Fine Line with 232,000 sales and Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? with 196,000 sales.
Despite the challenges to traditional retail from COVID-19 restrictions, total income from physical products managed to stay virtually flat at $1.1 billion (down 0.5 per cent) – impressive considering that just over 12 months ago, Amazon took a hiatus from restocking CDs while it prioritised essential goods in the US and UK.
Total music revenues grew 9.2 per cent in 2020 to $12.2 billion – the fifth consecutive year of steady growth for the industry – driven primarily by streaming services, which accounted for 83 per cent of total earnings, with numbers of paid subscriptions reaching a record high of 75.5 million.
Meanwhile, sales of digital downloads, the format formerly known as the death knell of CDs, dropped by 13 per cent to $320 million, accounting for only 6 per cent of total recorded music revenues.
MORE
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50 of the best hi-fi albums for audiophiles
50 great British albums to test your hi-fi system
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