Sustainable smartphone manufacturer Fairphone has gotten Google’s certification for its Android 9 update for the Fairphone 2. Getting certification for a nearly three-year-old version of Android doesn’t sound that impressive until you realize that it’s running on a phone originally released five years ago when it ran Android 5. The roll-out of the software starts today, and will continue until April 18th, Fairphone says.
It’s a length of support that’s basically unheard of among Android phone manufacturers. Although Fairphone 2 owners aren’t going to be able to enjoy the latest Android 11 features, the more important thing is that they’re running a version of Android that’s still officially supported. Google’s latest Android security bulletin from this month includes multiple fixes for security issues in Android 9.
The Fairphone 2’s Android 9 update has been in the works for a while and was released in beta way back in June 2020. At the time, Fairphone outlined the challenges it had in trying to support such an old phone, including the fact that Qualcomm no longer provides support for the processor inside the device, a Snapdragon 801, which originally announced back in 2014.
“To get Google certification for Android 9 for Fairphone 2 just as we hit five years of support for the smartphone is a huge achievement for Fairphone,” says CEO of Fairphone Eva Gouwens. “In order to get certification, we had to pass approximately 477,000 Google tests.”
“We want to show the industry that this kind of thing is possible, that a smartphone doesn’t have to be discarded after 2-3 years, we can prolong it’s lifespan,” the CEO added.
The only other smartphone manufacturer that offers a similar length of support for its devices is Apple, which last year released iOS 14, its latest phone OS, for its 2015 iPhone 6S. Android manufacturers, while behind Apple, are improving. Samsung now offers four years of security updates for its recent Galaxy devices, while Google offers three years of updates for its Pixel phones, and OnePlus says it plans to release Android 11 for its 2018 OnePlus 6 and 6T.
The Fairphone 2’s update to Android 9 this long after release bodes well for the company’s long-term support of its more recent Fairphone 3 and 3 Plus phones. The company says the phones should be updated to Android 11 in the second half of this year, with “one more major Android upgrade” coming thereafter. Software support and spare parts availability is set to continue until 2024.
We’re still waiting on a release date for the Playdate, a tiny handheld with a crank made by Untitled Goose Game publisher Panic, but Panic just showed off a new feature for the device on the official Playdate Twitter account: you’ll be able to plug the Playdate in to your computer and mirror its screen.
As Playdate says in its tweet, there are a lot of potential use-cases for this, including better accessibility and making it easier to stream your Playdate gameplay. And pressing the virtual buttons in the Playdate app will pass them back to your Playdate device, giving you another way to play your games. (It doesn’t look like there’s a virtual crank, but maybe that’s something Panic hasn’t shown off yet.)
Here’s a short video of the computer connection in action:
Here’s a fun little new thing we made. Plug in your Playdate, launch this app, and it will mirror your Playdate screen to your PC/Mac/Linux in real-time. Perfect for streamers, YouTubers, and better accessibility. Input from the PC can pass through to the Playdate also! pic.twitter.com/OE8q1X0txC
— Playdate (@playdate) March 24, 2021
While the Playdate computer app may look a little small in this video, you’ll be able to make it bigger, Panic said in a reply on Twitter. And if you listen closely to the video, you can also hear some extremely charming Playdate menu sound effects, which Panic says are new.
The Playdate was first revealed in 2019, with games in development from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, Good SudokudeveloperZach Gage, and more. At the time, Panic expected to ship the Playdate in early 2020, but said in October that it expects to kick off orders in “early 2021.”
Panic has also set up a Twitter account, @playdateAlerts, that will only tweet when there is “important” news about the Playdate. If you want to know exactly when you can order the device, @playdateAlerts seems like it a good account to follow.
Amazon is coming out with a third generation of its Alexa Voice Remote, and it includes some unwelcome new buttons that will take you to the Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu apps. If you’re one of the people who subscribes to and regularly uses all of those exact streaming services, this remote could be a nice upgrade. But for everyone else, the buttons will only add friction and annoyance to the Fire TV control experience.
We here at The Verge have talked about why we don’t like these buttons before. They turn your remote into a canvas for permanent advertising for services you may not even use, and they take up space that could be used for buttons that take you to services you do use. If you, say, don’t subscribe to Disney Plus or Hulu, then the buttons are, at best, useless to you and, at worst, waiting to be accidentally pressed, leaving you to back out of an app that’s begging you to subscribe.
The obvious alternative is to make the buttons mappable to the services you use and not put permanent branding on them. If the remote instead came with four buttons you could use to open your preferred streaming services, this would be a very different story. Alas, it is not. But hey, now the voice control button is an Alexa button for even more branding! (I will concede that this isn’t that bad, given that it was already called the Alexa Voice remote.)
The previous generation of the remote (which is still for sale), minus the branded buttons. Image: Amazon
I don’t want to make it sound like a few annoying buttons (that could actually be useful to some people) are the end of the world or that this new remote has no redeeming qualities. There’s actually one more new button that takes you to a “guide” showing you a cable-esque timeline of all the content available from the live providers you have, such as Sling, Hulu, or YouTube TV.
Unlike the branded ones, it’s small and not brightly colored, so it’s easy to ignore if you don’t need it (and it won’t be as prone to accidental presses). I just wish remote manufacturers would let us choose the functions we want on our remotes, especially since the streaming service landscape is ever-changing, and people have taken to subscribing to one service for a few months then switching to another.
(Pocket-lint) – The DS 3 Crossback E-Tense name might be something of a mouthful, but hidden behind the nomenclature is a nice compact hatchback, boosted to give it crossover appeal, while retaining the charms of the regular DS 3.
The E-Tense is the first fully electric car from DS Automobiles, arriving in full DS style, with options for lavish design and something that’s just a bit different to everything else on the road. But it’s a bit expensive considering, so does it offer true appeal?
A unique design
Being different is often enough to make you stand out when you’re a car. If it wasn’t for the super Honda e – which is even more different – the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense might be the most distinctive EV on the road, from the interior at least.
From the outside there are some quirks – such as that shark fin behind the B pillar – but you can feel the DS 3 heritage getting inflated, riding a little higher, slightly more accentuated. Otherwise the general positioning of the car as a practical hatchback remains the same.
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But this is a unique DS model. While it sits on the same platform as some rivals – the Peugeot e-2008, Vauxhall Corsa e, Citroën eC4 – nothing carries these looks. There’s no old Citroën model that looks the same, and no petrol version that’s just been converted – so there is something special about this model.
There’s a huge grille on the front, while areas that look like they might have been somewhere to put other vents on a combustion car sport the same look, resulting in a car that isn’t a hugely electric-looking EV.
But that does lend some sporty charm to things, while the recessed doorhandles – which pop out as you approach the car – bring a premium sense of occasion.
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The stance on the road is pretty good, but some of those styling points do start to get in the way. The fins on the side reduce the window space for the rear passengers, while the rear window looks smaller from the inside than it needs to be – a chunk of the rearview is eaten up by plastic bodywork across the bottom of the window, which we don’t really think needs to be there.
A distinctively designed interior
Since the separation of DS Automobiles from Citroën, DS has pursued a design line based around offering something inspired by French fashion. It wants to be unique and it wants to give you a higher quality experience. That’s seen heavily in the interior design, with the use of textures you might associate more with prestige watchmaking than in a car.
Up at the top level, on the Prestige Ultra model (as reviewed), that results in a sumptuous finish. It’s not just leather, it’s hand stitched in places, using special pearl stitching and – importantly – uniquely different to the premium German marques that DS Automobiles wants to compete with.
At the same time, that commitment to design can see impracticalities. We know why DS chose to put the dash buttons into diamond shapes, but they are larger than they need to be – and the couple of blank spaces are what you notice the most.
But there are choices to be made, with the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense available in five different trims, affecting the wheel size, paint colours and interior options.
To give the E-Tense its due, though, it is comfortable. We like the finish on the seats and it’s nice to be in a cabin that isn’t just the same as a whole family of cars elsewhere. Front passenger and driver get plenty of room, but the rear is a little short on knee space, just like many other hatchbacks.
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The boot offers 350 litres of space, which is typical for this size of car, meaning you can stuff in a large family shop or enough baggage for a weekend away.
Interior tech
When it comes to the interior tech offering, the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense again suffers from that heavy design ethic. We’ve commented on this before – especially on the DS 7 Crossback – that some of that styling in the graphical interface isn’t especially helpful.
The DS 3 is clearer, however, with a smaller digital driver display having the benefit of not giving the software designers too much space to fiddle around. There are several views you can scroll through to customise the information – and on our review model, a heads-up display (HUD) to provide pertinent information while on the road.
In the centre of the car is a larger display, 7-inches on lower trims and a 10.3-inch on higher trims. The expansion to the larger models seems to result in empty space at the edges, or once you’ve made your selection, permanently visible cabin temperature, so it’s not a huge gain.
The infotainment system is easy enough to use, offering touchscreen interaction, working with those big buttons on the dash to work through the mainstays of music, climate control, navigation, car settings, and phone.
We found the navigation and mapping to be pretty good, although you can’t zoom and manipulate the maps to the same sort of extent that you can a smartphone, so it does have some limitations – likely to be addressed in the new system being introduced in the DS 4.
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Perhaps the thing that’s the most irksome is having to dig to find charging stations through the points of interest options. Again, as this is an EV, that sort of option should be front and centre.
Where things get a bit questionable are diving into the details of power consumption. As this is an electric car, efficiency and performance is ever more important, and getting access to that information is useful for a driver. There’s a dedicated button which is good, but the information you get could be better.
The E-Tense will present stats for your journey, giving you a sensible miles per kWh which is useful, but it also presents a graph. The Y axis on this graph has a scale that runs up to 120miles per kWh, which is utterly useless, seeing as the average is going to be around 4 – so it’s literally wasted space, unless you’re just rolling down hills.
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On the Prestige Ultra there’s a Qi charging pad for your phone, but it also supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, so you can use a phone-based system if you want.
We found the sound quality to be good from the speakers within the car, although it’s always a pleasure listening to music in an electric car when you’re not fighting with any engine noise.
Equipped with cameras, there’s fancy parking assistance, able to view the car’s surroundings on the screen, making it really easy to put yourself into a tight parking space – especially useful for reversing into awkward EV charging locations.
Driving, battery size and range
The DS 3 Crossback E-Tense is a nice car to drive. It rides pretty high, so there’s a sense of road domination which is great from a smaller car. The ride is pretty quiet, too, so you don’t hear too much noise coming into the cabin – extending the feeling that this is just a little better than average.
The suspension is perhaps a little on the hard side – while we didn’t have a problem with it on broken suburban roads, it could just be a little softer. The steering is a little light, probably designed to suit the urban driver that’s likely to buy this car, rather than the B-road racer who might want something a little heavier.
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One of the advantages of electric cars is that they offer instant torque for a spritely drive and the E-Tense is no different in that regard. There’s a D and B position on the gear selector, with the B (battery) option giving you a stronger regeneration when lifting off the pedal. This goes some way to offering one-pedal driving, although the car won’t come to a complete standstill in this mode, it will just slow down and then creep along the road.
The best electric cars 2021: Top battery-powered vehicles available on UK roads
By Chris Hall
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There are also driving modes which have a bigger impact on the setup of the car – eco, normal, sport – with the names very much revealing what they do. Eco cuts the throttle response so you don’t expend so much energy in acceleration. It works well, we just wish you could have the car startup in these modes, rather than having to select it every time.
Turning to the important range, and the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense is equipped with a 50kWh battery and a 100kW motor. That gives you a larger battery than the Mini Electric, a smaller battery than the Kia e-Niro – and that’s generally reflected in the resulting range.
Pocket-lint
The range, on paper, is 191-206 miles. In our driving we found we could, with a little effort (aircon off, eco mode, infotainment off), get averages of around 4.7 miles per kWh around town, which would bring it in at 235 miles. Casually nipping to the supermarket sat closer to 3.2 m/kWh, which would give you 160 miles. We couldn’t find long-term averages for the car during our review.
It also supports up to 100kW charging, which will take it to 80 per cent in 30 minutes. Home charging on a 7.2kW will take about seven-and-a-half hours to completely charge it.
That sits the E-Tense in a reasonable position, although the Kia e-Niro gives you more range for your money in a similar size car, while the Peugeot e-2008 is a healthy chunk cheaper for much the same setup. There is a premium to pay for all that prestige, it seems.
Verdict
There are some elements of the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense that we really like. It’s a nice car to drive and the performance is pretty good, making it a practical electric car, sizeable enough to seat a small family, so great for everyday use.
The range sits in the middle of the pack and you can get a little more range for around the same price elsewhere – it’s hard to ignore the offerings from Peugeot which are also more affordable.
Ultimately, the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense again delivers something a little different. Stylistically that interior is like nothing else on the road. That could make the E-Tense stand apart – but at the same time, there are things that could be done to make it a more attractive buy too.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Kia e-Niro
It’s one of the top rated electric cars and that comes down to value for money, efficiency of the drive, and the option for a pretty big battery.
Read our review
Pocket-lint
Nissan Leaf
Nissan has been in this game a long time and that shows in the Leaf. There’s efficiency and the option for bigger batteries to provide a useful range.
The brains and brawn behind your hi-fi. Underestimate the stereo amplifier’s importance in how your system sounds at your peril.
This list of the best stereo amplifiers from the pages of What Hi-Fi? showcases the power providers that have helped to get the most out of our set-ups over the years.
Big or small, budget or high-end, functional or stylish, these amplifiers have left an indelible impression.
Welcome to What Hi-Fi?‘s British Hi-Fi Week!
A&R Cambridge A60 (1979)
Arcam got off to a flier with its first product, the A60. It was a well-equipped amp, with a decent array of line-level inputs and a capable moving-magnet phono stage, and we were very much taken by its sound quality back in 1979. To this day, it’s still able to showcase the smooth presentation and expressive midrange that made it such a fun and entertaining listen. And that wood finish was, indeed still is, rather lovely.
MORE: That Was Then… A&R Cambridge A60 (1976) vs. Arcam A19 (2013)
Audiolab 8000A (1983)
Audiolab’s 8000A caused a stir thanks to its “superb finish and styling”, although today it looks like a grey tinged box with lots of dials. Still, distinctive looks aside, it offered excellent sound and features including bass and treble controls, a stereo balance control and a separate record selector, so you could “listen to one source while taping another”. The sound was smooth with “plenty of presence and detail”. Add its fine build and features and the 8000A was great value for money.
MORE: Audiolab 8300A review
Mission Cyrus One (1984)
The Mission Cyrus One – back when Cyrus was a part of Mission – was very much a product for audiophiles, despite its budget price. It had no tone or balance controls and carried plenty of inputs for sources. The One communicated a precise soundstage, but it was also capable of handling low-level details that other amplifiers “repressed or simply rendered messy”. Combine that sound with a superb build quality, and you had an amp whose performance could rival pricier options.
MORE: Cyrus One review
Naim 32/Snaps/250 power amp (1984)
This Naim came in three parts, with the 32 pre-amp, its accompanying power supply and the now legendary 250 stereo power amplifier. It was a popular combination that made up many hi-fi users’ systems in the 80s, and was capable of delivering drive, dynamic punch and powers of organisation that few could match. It was an impressive combination and the 250 has proved to be so popular that it’s received several makeovers since, getting better with each iteration.
MORE: Naim NAP 250 review
Arcam DiVA A85 (2001)
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.
MORE: Arcam FMJ A39 review
Roksan Caspian M2 (2010)
The Caspian amp had been around the block a few times, as Roksan improved the design and performance. The fruit of that labour was the Caspian M2. With a revised circuit layout and upgraded components, it had a bigger, more powerful presentation than before. It had a sense of authority, along with a dynamic sound that was full of detail, finesse and a rich tonality, making for an immensely capable effort. The build and finish were excellent, it was easy to partner with and, while its distinctive look caused some consternation, there was no doubting its status as an exceptional performer.
MORE: Roksan Caspian M2 review
Naim Supernait 2 (2014)
We weren’t fully convinced by the original Supernait, which sounded less dynamic than we liked. This issue was not a problem for its successor, a “supremely stable, confident-sounding” amplifier that boasted excellent bass performance and surefooted rhythms. Throw in the potential for upgrades and a terrific build, and the Supernait 2 was a superb amplifier that delivered Naim’s “addictive sound” for a reasonable price.
MORE: Naim Supernait 3 review
Rega Elex-R (2014)
(Image credit: Future)
The Rega Elex-R spent five years as our favourite stereo amplifier costing less than a grand – that’s longer than the time spent in office by certain US Presidents. Its last What Hi-Fi? Award was collected in 2018, but even since then it has remained a reference component here thanks to its articulate and inherently musical performance. The Elex-R is sure to be an amp searched for by hi-fi enthusiasts for decades to come.
MORE: Rega Elex-R review
Leema Tucana II Anniversary Edition (2017)
Established in 1998 by two ex-BBC engineers, Leema Acoustics quickly established itself as one of our favourite specialist hi-fi brands. This anniversary model of the amplifier that helped launch Leema encapsulated everything we love about the company’s products. It looks superb and feels built to last – and the individual passport signed by the engineer who approved the product is a lovely touch. Leema keeps it analogue on the inside, preferring to suggest you add external digital components should you need them, helping no doubt to deliver that clean, punchy, powerful sound. Rich and smooth without lacking attack, the performance is precisely as impressive as you’d expect from a £5000 amplifier.
MORE:Leema Tucana II Anniversary Edition
Cambridge Audio CXA81 (2018)
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
If you’ve heard the mighty Rega Elex-R (above), you’ll understand just how big a feat it was for another sub-grand integrated to knock it off its perch. The Cambridge Audio CXA81 didn’t just do so in 2018, it left more feathers strewn than after a Sandringham pheasant hunt. It proved sharper and more detailed, and stamps its authority with that supremely confident Cambridge presentation.
MORE: Cambridge Audio CXA81
PMC Cor (2018)
We all know PMC’s excellent speakers, but don’t be thinking the Cor, the company’s first dedicated consumer amplifier, is entirely new territory for the company. Since 1991 PMC has been making the amps for active speakers such as the BB5s, the reference monitors found in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios. And that experience shows. Like so many engineer side projects, this one’s a doozy, so we hope PMC sticks with it. Transparency is the name of the game here, the Cor delivering a faithful, balanced, neutral sound. The Cor comes “highly recommended”.
MORE: PMC Cor review
Got one of these but don’t know what to pair it with? Check out the best British speakers of all time
Record collectors rejoice! Vinyl revenues in the UK are expected to overtake those of CDs in 2021, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI)’s response to a new Official Charts report.
Working from this Official Charts Company data, the BPI has revealed that UK music industry revenues rose 3.8 per cent in 2020, reaching nearly £1.12 billion – the highest total in 14 years.
The UK trend echoes the RIAA’s year-end report on the state of the US music industry – which showed that US revenue from vinyl sales have 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.
Back to Blighty then – it is British Hi-Fi Week after all – and despite (or perhaps owing to) the nationwide UK lockdown resulting in the nixing of all live gigs, vinyl revenues increased 30.5 per cent year-on-year to £86.5 million (the highest total since 1989) which helped the music industry offset an 18.5 per cent decline in CD sales – although said sales still amounted to an imposing £115 million.
And the headline grabber now is that BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor predicts industry income from vinyl will outperform CD for the whole of 2021 in the UK.
“Vinyl’s exceptional performance despite retail lockdowns confirms its role as a long-term complement to music streaming. 2021 is likely to be the year in which revenues from LPs overtake those from CDs for the first time in well over three decades – since 1987,” he said, adding, “In addition to the immediacy and convenience of streaming, fans want to get closer to the artists they love by owning a tangible creation”.
UK sales of vinyl jumped by 11.5 per cent year-on-year to 4.8 million in 2020, marking the 13th consecutive year of growth – all of this despite physical retail store closures across the country in line with coronavirus restrictions. And it’s the fifth consecutive year of growth for the British recorded music industry – the healthiest number since £1.166 billion was generated in 2006.
Want to start collecting vinyl? Congratulations, there’s never been a better time wherever you are. Have a gander at our feature entitled where to buy vinyl: affordable ways to start a record collection, our advice on how to build the perfect sound system and most of all, enjoy the process.
MORE:
In a nostalgic mood? See 10 of the best British record players of all time
Read to buy a turntable? Consult best record players 2021: best turntables for every budget
See also best turntable speakers 2021: top speakers for your record player
With cinemas closed, many of us are looking for ways to create a big-screen cinema experience at home. Step forward the Hisense L5F Laser Cinema, a new ultra-short throw projector that can throw a 120-inch 4K image when placed just 14-inches from a vertical surface.
The H5F – the latest addition to the Chinese tech firm’s L5 series of 4K projectors – launched in the US this week and carries an MSRP of $5000 (around £3700, AU$6600). Built-in Android TV brings support for a plethora of popular streaming apps such as Netflix and Hulu, and there’s a voice remote for using Google Assistant.
The DLP projector uses a single X-Fusion blue laser light source and phosphor colour filter for a claimed brightness of almost 2700 lumens and more than a billion colours. Indeed, Hisense claims the the L5F “delivers up to 83% of the DCI-P3 color gamut” – not bad for a projector that can be stowed away neatly between uses.
According to Hisense, the L5F delivers “true-to-life picture quality” with HDR support coming in the form of HDR10 and HLG. The company’s MEMC smooth motion technology should help deliver on the promise of crisp images during fast-moving scenes.
The projector has two 15-watt built-in speakers, so it’s technically an all-in-one entertainment solution. That said, you’d do well to upgrade to a separate soundbar or surround sound speakers if you want an audio experience worthy of the silver screen.
Those with a next-gen gaming console (here’s where to buy a PS5 and Xbox Series X, if you’re struggling to find one) will be pleased to note that you can connect a gaming system via the L5F’s four HDMI ports.
There’s no word on when the L5F will be available in the UK, but last year’s 100-inch L5F launched at AO.com for £5000 (it’s now dropped to £3000).
Looking for a more affordable way to get a big picture without a huge TV cluttering up your living room? Take a spin around our guide to the best projectors.
MORE:
Our pick of the best projectors: Full HD, 4K, portable, short throw
Hisense launches new TriChroma laser TVs at CES 2021
Expert advice: How to set up your projector and get the best picture
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1More has absolutely flooded the true wireless earbud market, and it’s confident enough in its new ComfoBuds Pro noise-canceling earbuds to proclaim them as superior to the AirPods Pro — for a fraction of the price. They slot in between the company’s flagship True Wireless ANC earbuds ($200) and less expensive options like the $50 PistonsBuds and the standard ComfoBuds, the latter of which has an open-style design. 1More says with the Pro model, it’s “sure to bring the fight to Apple and give their loyal fanbase a serious dilemma in choosing what pair of earbuds are right for them.”
I don’t think forcing such a direct comparison was the right move because, despite 1More claiming that it offers “so much more” than Apple’s flagship buds, the ComfoBuds Pro can’t match up with the AirPods Pro in all areas — as is expected with such a price discrepancy — but they’re still an excellent product in their own right. The sound is fantastic for the money, they have several useful noise cancellation modes to switch between, and the fit certainly delivers on the “comfort” part of their name.
The ComfoBuds come in either gunmetal gray or white, and they lay flat in their elongated, capsule-shaped carrying case. This makes for a compact, pocketable design, but the trade-off is that removing them from the case isn’t so simple: you’ve got to press down on the stem, which pushes up the main earbud portion, and then pluck that out of the case. Once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll have it down.
Removing the ComfoBuds Pro from the case takes a bit more effort than some other earbuds.
LEDs hidden at the bottom of the teardrop stem indicate pairing and charge status, and there’s also a light on the case’s exterior so you know when they’re fully topped off. Battery life is rated at 6 hours with ANC enabled, which outlasts the 4.5-hour AirPods Pro. The case has enough extra juice for you to reach 20 hours of total listening time. It charges over USB-C but doesn’t offer wireless charging.
1More also beats out Apple on the scale, with each ComfoBud Pro weighing 5.2 grams compared to the 5.4-gram AirPods Pro. In your ears, they feel similarly light and barely there. This results in comfort that lasts over extended stretches, which can’t always be said of heavier options like the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (8.5 grams) and Jabra Elite 85t (7 grams). Four sets of silicone tips come in the box, with an extra small size thrown in alongside the standard small, medium, and large. I’d have appreciated an XL option, as even the largest size took some adjustment for a snug seal.
Instead of any actual buttons, the ComfoBuds Pro have a touch-sensitive area on the outer stem. It works well enough, even if it’s not obvious exactly where you should be tapping. The most confounding thing about 1More’s controls is there’s no single-tap action. You can choose what happens with a double tap, long press, or triple tap, but the single-press option — commonly used by other manufacturers to play / pause — just doesn’t exist here. So although 1More lets you customize the controls that are here, you’re a bit limited.
By default, two taps is pause, three activates a voice assistant, and a long press toggles between the noise-canceling modes. I ended up switching the three-tap gesture to track controls, but that meant settling for no direct volume access. Each earbud has an IR sensor on the outside for auto-pause if you remove them. They reliably resumed the music whenever I put them back in my ears.
1More has a good reputation for delivering on sound quality, and I think the ComfoBuds Pro might set a new bar for what to expect if you’re on a $100 budget. They’ve got excellent clarity without the bass bloat that’s common in this price bracket. Everything gets its ample space in the mix; the many layered vocal tracks by Taylor Swift and Justin Vernon on “Exile” are all distinct and come through with clarity. The funky groove of Lake Street Dive’s “Hypotheticals” is a good demo for the punchy bass these earbuds are capable of. Usually, there’s one genre or even a style of music production that will expose the weaknesses of a particular set of earbuds, but I struggled to find that with the ComfoBuds Pro. They can adapt to pretty much anything without coming off as harsh or thin. 1More doesn’t include any options for EQ customization, so what you get is what you get. Either earbud can be used standalone.
You control the ComfoBuds Pro with tap gestures on the stem.
But do they sound better than the AirPods Pro? You could make the case they do, yeah. I think some people will prefer the deeper low tones and how much wider 1More’s earbuds can feel; vocals stay planted in the center, but you’ll hear a ton of detail out of the left and right channels. Still, there’s something to be said for the no-nonsense, straightforward audio reproduction of the AirPods Pro that so many people find pleasing across all sorts of different audio. 1More’s pricier True Wireless ANC also sound a bit fuller and more precise since they have a dual-driver design compared to the single 13.4-millimeter driver in the ComfoBuds Pro.
These earbuds offer a few different levels of noise cancellation intensity. There’s the default “strong” option, which goes the furthest in quieting outside noise. But 1More also includes a less powerful mode it says is suitable for “chatty” environments like cafes and offices, plus another that’s meant to avoid wind noise, which is common with noise-canceling earbuds since they constantly use the exterior microphones to sample ambient sound. If you’re outside on a windy day, that could be a good trick to lean on. (These latter two modes require the 1More mobile app to activate.) Finally, there’s a full-on transparency mode for getting a clear sense of everything happening around you. 1More’s active noise cancellation worked pretty well when I was sitting outside at a Brooklyn coffee shop, but this is one area where the AirPods Pro pull ahead. They don’t have the same variety of modes, but Apple’s premium earbuds do a better overall job of bringing down the volume of the outside world, which is what’s most important.
The case is compact but lacks wireless charging.
Even so, all of these things make the ComfoBuds Pro a great value. But the AirPods Pro still rank above in several respects. First, the ComfoBuds Pro case doesn’t support wireless charging. Second, Apple’s transparency mode still sounds more natural and airy than 1More’s. And 1More can’t match the software flexes (automatic switching, spatial audio, seamless pairing, audio sharing, etc.) that exist between AirPods and other Apple devices. That’s a huge part of what makes them so popular. Again, we’re talking about quality-of-life conveniences that you’d rightfully expect from a $250 product. And these cost nowhere near that. But if 1More is going to make the comparison, the differences are worth pointing out. Despite putting a huge focus on voice mic performance, 1More also winds up behind the AirPods Pro there — as does everyone else. It’s a draw on sweat resistance, with both sets of earbuds rated IPX4.
1More has put together a fantastic pair of budget earbuds with the ComfoBuds Pro. I wish the company had focused on the sheer value you get in exchange for your $99 instead of trying to take down the AirPods Pro, which just isn’t realistic. Despite matching them on comfort and edging them out in other areas like battery life, there are still valid reasons why many iPhone owners will go right for Apple’s buds. It’s hard to put a price on those exclusive Apple ecosystem features and the superior noise cancellation. But if you’ve only got around $100 to put toward earbuds, the ComfoBuds Pro are a standout pair that won’t leave you missing much else. Only thing is, the AirPods are far from the only competition they’ll need to stand out from.
(Pocket-lint) – It’s safe to say OnePlus has been on something of a journey over the past few years. It lifted itself out of that initial ‘plucky upstart’ role and started to become a real smartphone company.
It’s gone from being a company that launched one or two new phones a year to launching six phones in 2020, with varying specs and at different price tiers. In 2021 that output glut looks set to continue – and it starts with the OnePlus 9.
Design
Dimensions: 160 x 74.2 x 8.7mm / Weight: 192 grams
Finish options: Winter Mist, Arctic Sky, Astral Black
3D Corning Gorilla Glass back
Dual stereo speakers
Look at the camera housing and you’ll see an evolution of design when you compare the OnePlus 9 to its most recent predecessors: the OnePlus 8T and OnePlus 8. The 9’s two main cameras have very deliberate metallic ring around them, while the camera housing has been designed to colour-match the rest of the phone’s rear panel.
It’s a classy and minimalist look, now with the addition of a Hasselblad logo. Because, yep, OnePlus is all about a camera partnership with this new series.
It’s in the rest of the build where we’ve seen OnePlus move backwards compared to its previous models though. The 9’s frame is made from a similar shiny plastic to what we first saw on the OnePlus Nord. Or, as OnePlus calls it: “fibreglass infused polymer”. Thankfully, the back is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass for protection.
It’s not the slimmest or lightest phone around either, certainly feeling thicker than previous models, but that’s almost certainly down to the move towards a flat screen. Rather than have those curved edges on both sides of the phone, it only has them on one side, so you lose that more sleek effect. Still, the OnePlus 9 feels noticeably chunkier than the 8T – another flat-screened model – which was thicker than the OnePlus 8 before it.
Of course, there are real benefits to having a flatter screen. There’s very little chance you’ll suffer from accidental touches, because it doesn’t curve around the edges, so that makes the phone a bit easier to use.
Our own review unit is the Winter Mist model, which has a light purple colour, with the rear featuring a gradient refraction effect. That means the bottom part of the phone is really glossy and reflective, but the top is more frosted and gradients between these two finishes. We think some people will like it, but we prefer the softer fully frosted look of some of the blue Arctic Sky model. It’s also a bit of a fingerprint magnet, which diminishes the overall finish effect.
There are all the usual OnePlus buttons and ports though. That means the volume rocker is within easy reach on the left side, with the alert slider switch on the right near the power/sleep button. The dual nano SIM tray is on the bottom edge near the USB-C port and the bottom-firing loudspeaker – which joins with a speaker near the earpiece to form stereo sound that’s boosted by Dolby Atmos tech.
Display
6.55-inch AMOLED panel
Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels; 402ppi)
120Hz refresh rate
OnePlus has focused on having lightweight and fast software for years. Its latest iteration of Oxygen OS is no different, and the display is primed and ready to take full advantage of that fluidity too.
Pocket-lint
The AMOLED screen on the front of the OnePlus 9 isn’t quite as sharp as that of the 9 Pro, but with a pixel density over 400 pixels-per-inch it should be sharp enough for most content you’d want to watch.
What’s more, with a refresh rate peak of 120Hz, it can keep up with any fast frame-rate gaming. OnePlus says it has improved the colour accuracy and the automatic brightness adjustment too – the result of adding in two ambient light sensors, while the brightness has more than 8000 different levels to enable smoother adjustment.
Like Apple’s True Tone, there’s a Comfort Tone feature that adjusts the colour temperature of the display to match your environment, which should be handy when reading ebooks on a white screen, making it seem a bit more like a paper surface.
Brightness itself shouldn’t be a problem either. With a peak of up to 1100nits and HDR10+ certification you should find a very attractive, vivid and bright panel. Of course, we need a bit more time to test it thoroughly, but all early indicators are good.
Hardware and performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform
128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
4,500mAh battery capacity
Warp Charge 65W charging
15W Qi wireless charging
With a top OnePlus flagship you know one thing for certain: you’ll always get the latest, most powerful mobile processor. That means the Snapdragon 888 platform for the 9 series, along with suitably quick LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.
What that means in daily use is that, not only will your apps and games load quickly, but any downloads and installs will be fast too. That’s helped further by 5G support, presuming you’re in an area with 5G coverage, for speedy and low-latency connectivity.
All this power needs cooling for efficiency. For the OnePlus 9 there’s something called the OnePlus Cool Play system. Essentially, the manufacturer has made the vapour chambers larger and added more layers of graphite and copper to dissipate heat when you’re powering your most demanding games.
We’ve not yet experienced a OnePlus phone that under-delivers on speed and performance, so we don’t expect the OnePlus 9 will be any different. Our first few days of use have been pretty much plain sailing.
Regarding the battery and it’s really the charging that sells this phone. You may remember OnePlus saying in the past that it didn’t want to use wireless charging until it was as fast and convenient as its fast wired system. Well, for the non-Pro model in the OnePlus 9 family, it turns out it’s forgotten all about that.
The regular OnePlus 9 does have wireless charging, but it’s not blindingly fast. Instead, it uses a fairly standard 15W Qi-compatible wireless charging. That means it’s nowhere near as quick as the new Warp Charge 65T wired charging capability which can keep those 65W speeds pumping for longer and give you a full charge in under 30 minutes.
Cameras
Triple camera system with Hasselblad tuning:
Main: 48-megapixel, f/1.8 aperture, Sony IMX689 sensor
Ultra-wide: 50MP, f/2.2, SonyIMX766 sensor
Mono: 2MP
Front-facing camera: 16-megapixel
Video: 8K30p / 4K120p
OnePlus has listened to its critics over the past few years and says it’s finally delivering a flagship level camera experience. That’s thanks in part to its new collaboration with Hasselblad, to help tune the image processing to strict standards, ensuring your pictures should come out looking great.
It’s not just that tuning that’s changed though. The regular OnePlus 9 features the same main camera sensor found in the OnePlus 8 Pro from 2020, and has the same sensor in the ultra-wide as found in the excellent (and more expensive) Oppo Find X3 Pro.
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Those two are joined by a low-res monochrome sensor for extra light detail, but that’s it. No macro lens or gimmicky chroma filter camera in sight this time.
What’s more, the video recording capability can reach the heights of 8K resolution at 30fps or – perhaps more impressively – can capture 4K up to 120fps, which should enable some fantastically sharp slow-motion video.
Hasselblad’s partnership has led to some other more inconsequential features, like the orange colour of the shutter button, and a leaf shutter sound when you press it. However, where you’ll see the biggest influence is in the ‘Pro’ camera mode.
Pocket-lint
The user interface has been designed to look like one developed by Hasselblad for some of its cameras. This includes a focus peaking feature that will highlight in-focus areas in orange when you’re using the manual focus.
First Impressions
The OnePlus 9 design may not have wowed us that much, but this company knows its users are all about getting the best performance out of every area of its phones.
So if cutting corners and adding in a plastic frame means being able to stick two flagship cameras on the back, add wireless charging, a capacious battery, and market-leading speed, then we think that’s a compromise worth making.
We can’t quite get out of our heads that the OnePlus 9 is similar to the much cheaper Nord in some respects, and that might still be worth considering, but on the whole – from the spec conscious – this latest OnePlus looks like it will deliver an experience much closer to its Pro-labelled sibling this year.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
OnePlus Nord
squirrel_widget_305633
If you’re all about price then the last-gen affordable OnePlus model is a sensible option.
When Noctua came out with the NF-A12x25 fan almost three years ago, it quickly went on its way to becoming arguably the world’s best PC fan. It performed great as an airflow fan, CPU cooler fan, and radiator fan. But bathed in the company’s iconic brown and beige, the one place it lost out to the competition was looks.
At least, that’s what the general consensus seems to be. And while I personally absolutely dig the Noctua’s colors as a classy option (especially with a few plants in the room), the vast majority of PC builders would rather see a more neutral color scheme. But what if you want the best PC fan along and great looks?
In comes the Thermaltake ToughFan 12. Dressed in a suit of black and grey, It’s the best alternative lookalike option to the brown and beige NF-A12x25, at least until Noctua finally comes out with the black variant, which is supposed to happen near the end of Q2 2021.
The Thermaltake ToughFan 12 came out near the end of last year, and at first sight, it appears to be a blatant copy of Noctua’s award-winning fan design. Both have nine forward-swept fan blades, a partially-exposed hub, similar noise performance ratings, an identical RPM range with PWM control, and included low-noise cables for reducing the fan’s maximum speed. But whereas the Noctua spinner is priced at $30 each, the ToughFan 12 comes in at $25 per fan or $40 for a two-pack, which is where things start to get interesting. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Inspection of Physical Differences
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
At first sight, these two fans look very similar–aside form the color scheme–with nearly identical designs. However, there are more differences than initially meet the eye, so lets go through them.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Starting off with the blades, you’ll spot that both appear to be made of a similar material. Noctua’s blades are made from Sterrox, a liquid-crystal polymer material that ensures it stays as rigid as possible. Apparently, fan blades can expand over time, and because Noctua wants the blades as close as possible to the frame, the material needs to be strong enough to withstand this expansion.
Thermaltake’s blades appear to be manufactured from a similar type of material, but I was unable to find a clear answer whether it’s the same.
The blades on Noctua’s NF-A12x25’s also have flow acceleration channels that help speed up airflow and reduce side flow, which increases performance and reduces noise. The blades on the Thermaltake Toughfan 12’s are smooth.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Having a look at the blade gap, you’ll spot that the blades from both fans are really close to the frame. Noctua has a slight advantage here, and the frame seems to be more consistently round, ensuring an equal blade-to-frame gap across the fan.
Also notice that Noctua’s frame has a ribbed guide for air inlet, whereas Thermaltake’s frame offers a simpler design.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In fact, there’s more to Noctua’s frame than might be clear at first sight. If you look very closely at the inside of the frame, there are small dimples. These are Noctua’s “inner surface microstructures,” which help air ‘roll’ along the edge, reducing blade passing noise.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Looking at the fan hub of both spinners, they again seem to have similar designs at first. However, where Noctua’s blades transition into a large cover for the hub, Thermaltake uses a sticker to cover up the majority of the fan hub.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Turning to the back of the fans, there are clearer design differences in the frame. Noctua’s frame uses four legs to hold the fan motor, and the frame expands outward. There is also a rubber seal around the entirety of the frame.
The fan doesn’t come with this rubber seal installed from the factory, but instead with four rubber feet at the corners. However, the seal does come in the box.
When it comes to the cables, Noctua’s fan only has a short cable of just 20 cm long. Thermaltake’s fan has a very long cable: 90 cm. For anything other than very large builds, that’s inconveniently long.
Thermaltake’s fan uses six smaller legs to hold the fan motor and does not come with a radiator seal.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Drop both fans onto a radiator, and you can see why this radiator seal is a thing. Noctua’s spinner makes a clear seal around the radiator, which will ensure, together with the tight fan blade tolerance within the frame, that very little air leaks and a high static pressure can be generated to push more air through the radiator.
If you look at Thermaltake’s assembly, you can see the radiator’s fins with the fan sat in place. Air can leak through here, which theoretically reduces performance and can increase noise levels. When the fan is at work, you can also feel a light breeze escape through this gap.
Overall, it’s clear that a lot more R&D has gone into the design of Noctua’s NF-A12x25, especially when it comes to the frame. Both fans might have nine forward-swept fan blades with similar shapes, along with partly-exposed motors, but that’s about where the similarities end.
Spec Sheet Differences
To compare the fans, I have also made a spec sheet with both fans on it as follows, with the information provided by each of the manufacturers:
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
TT Toughfan 12
Size
120 x 120 x 25 mm
120 x 120 x 25 mm
Power & Control
4-pin PWM
4-pin PWM
Bearing Type
SSO2 Bearing
Hydraulic Bearing Gen2
Maximum RPM
2000 RPM
2000 RPM
Maximum RPM with LNA
1700 RPM
1500 RPM
Minimum RPM
450 RPM
500 RPM
Maximum Airflow
60.09 CFM
58.35 CFM
Static Pressure
2.34 mm H₂O
2.41 mm H₂O
Noise Level
22.6 dBA
22.3 dBa
Noise Level with LNA
18.8 dBA
19.2 dBa
Power Consumption
1.68 W
1.44 W
Expected Lifetime
> 150,000 hrs
40,000 hrs at 25 °C
Warranty
6 Years
2 Years
Looking at the specs, the two fans battle closely. There’s not much depth here though, and considering both sheets weren’t made under identical testing conditions, these specs are suitable for casual comparison at best. The biggest thing that stands out is the difference in expected lifetime and the warranty. Whereas the Toughfan is only rated to last 40,000 hours, Noctua’s spinner is rated to almost a four-fold of that, and it comes with an impressive six-year warranty. It’s clearly a fan that’s intended to last a few builds.
And with that, it’s time to get into our own testing of the two fans.
Do All These Details Matter?
To start off, we’ll be testing the fans for their noise levels across the RPM range. We installed three of each fan to an AIO radiator in an open bench equipped with an Intel Core i9-9900K, placed the dB meter at 30 cm distance, and started testing.
No GPU was included in this test, as the Founder’s Edition RTX 2070 Super I have on-site produces so much noise at idle due to the lack of a Zero-RPM mode that it threw off the results. I also set the AIO’s pump to the absolute minimum speed it was still happy to keep the CPU cooled at to ensure pump noise doesn’t pollute the results either. (Don’t worry, I’ve raised it for the thermal tests later).
Of course, we’re aware that testing in an open bench isn’t a real-life scenario, but with these two fans performing as closely together as they do, this open bench is the most brutal test that will best bring out any difference in acoustic performance. Data was recorded at the minimum speed, 500 RPM, 750 RPM, 1000 RPM, 1250 RPM, 1500 RPM, 1750 RPM, 1930 RPM (Thermaltake’s maximum speed), and at 2090 RPM, the NF-A12x25’s maximum speed. Both the Noctua NF-A12x25 and Thermaltake ToughFan are able to spin much slower than the spec sheet indicates, with minimum speeds of 250 RPM and 270 RPM, respectively, giving the Noctua fan a greater usable range.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
There are a couple things that stand out about the result, but of course the most notable is that the Noctua fan is (drumroll please) a little bit quieter at identical RPMs. At the bottom end of the RPM range, the difference is minimal at just 0.2 dB, though at the top end Noctua gets the advantage with up to a 0.7 dB lower noise level. Subjectively though, I do feel like the difference is big enough to observe, and the Noctua’s sound profile is ever so slightly smoother, especially at higher speeds.
However, what’s clear from the chart is that both these fans are best operated at speeds of up to about 1000 RPM, after which diminishing returns quickly take hold of the results. The trick, therefore, will be to ensure adequate radiator surface so that you don’t need to run them above 1000 RPM. Do that, and your system will be practically inaudible, especially if it isn’t in an open chassis like ours.
But what about airflow performance? Because we don’t have airflow testing equipment on-site, the best alternative I can provide are tests of CPU thermals at different RPM ranges.
Because we have the luxury of a 360 mm radiator for this test, I set the Core i9-9900K to run at a steady 4.7 GHz at 1.25 V on all cores, which pegged power consumption at a constant 260 watts (give or take 5W). I then gave the loop some time to reach thermal equilibrium and recorded the results, constantly monitoring the ambient temperature to ensure the data is consistent. Data was recorded at 1000 RPM, 1250 RPM, 1500 RPM, 1750 RPM, and 1930 RPM.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
What’s interesting to note here is that both fans seem to witness performance benefits, but only up to a certain point. With my IR heatgun, I measured the inlets and outlets of the AIO when this happened, and it was clear that past a certain RPM, the AIO’s fluid was so close to ambient, pushing more air through the AIO wasn’t going to net us any more performance, just deliver much more noise.
For more data, I also ran both setups through a 10-minute Prime95 run at as close as I could get to thermally-identical levels. For the Noctua, this meant running 1000 RPM, whereas the Thermaltake fan had to run at 1200 RPM for about the same thermal performance – I’ll let you be the judge of how close I got from the graph below. As you can imagine, it took a few runs before I narrowed in on 1200 RPM being the closest matching result.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Of course, the catch with raising the fan speeds like this is that you enter that territory of diminishing returns, where you get a significant increase in noise levels for thermals that marginally improve. In the second graph above, you’ll see that Thermaltake’s fan has give or take a 400 RPM range where you get a 5 °C improvement in CPU temperatures. And personally, I don’t think the noise levels are worth it. You’re better off keeping the fan speed lower and accepting that the temperature is a little higher than you would have gotten, had you purchased the Noctua instead.
What Does Noctua Have to Say?
Of course, we couldn’t write up this head-to-head test without consulting Noctua and Thermaltake to ask what they had to say about these similar fans.
Noctua told us the following about the similarities between its spinners and Thermatake’s: “We’re investigating legal options, but generally, we prefer to spend funds in further R&D rather than wasting them in international legal battles that often end fruitless. Thankfully, our tests show that the fan measurably lags behind in performance and this has also been confirmed in third party tests. There’s more to building excellent fans than doing 3D scans!”
We have also reached out to Thermaltake, but the company has yet to respond. Will update this section if and when we hear back.
So Which Should You Buy?
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Round
Noctua NF-A12x25
Thermaltake Toughfan 12
Technical Design
✗
Color Scheme
✗
Acoustic Performance
✗
Thermal Performance
✗
RPM Range
✗
Cable Length
✗
Included Accessories
✗
Warranty & Lifespan
✗
Price
✗
Total
6
3
When it comes to performance, Noctua is the clear winner between the two fans. As the original fan with this design, it includes a handful of design details that help it maintain the upper hand, ranging from acceleration channels on the fan blades to a much more advanced frame design that helps reduce noise and air leakage. From a technical perspective, it’s clear that the Noctua fan has more detail in its engineering and execution.
That’s not the case for Thermaltake’s fan. To be fair, Thermaltake likely did that on purpose – copying every detail of the fan would both cost more and make it easier to lose a battle in court were Noctua to pursue them, but it does put the fan at a disadvantage.
Nevertheless, the Thermaltake Toughfan 12 also turned in an admirable showing in our performance tests that’s not too far off from Noctua’s NF-A12x25. And at its intended price point, I can see why the ToughFan 12 is a compelling option: it offers most of the performance, isn’t brown, and costs about a third less if you’re buying in two-packs. But these two-packs aren’t in stock anywhere at the time of writing, and at the single-fan price of $25 for the ToughFan 12, it becomes a very tough sell against the NF-A12x25 at $30, as that added $5 is more than worth it if you don’t mind the NF-A12x25’s color scheme.
The catch with coming as close in performance, though, is that you shouldn’t want to target the same thermals. If you want the same thermals from Thermaltake’s fan, you’ll have to run it at higher RPMs than Noctua NF-A12x25, at which point you enter the diminishing returns territory where you get greater noise levels for not a lot more cooling. You’re better off sacrificing a few degrees and enjoying the blissful silence.
If you’re the kind of buyer who wants the very best, money is no object and you don’t mind the (brown) looks, and value rewarding the original creator, Noctua’s NF-A12x25 is a brilliant fan that should last through multiple builds. But at the same time, Thermaltake’s fan comes so close in performance that it’s still excellent in most respects. Chances are your AIO’s pump or coil whine will bother you sooner than the noise profile from either of these fans, provided you keep them under about 1250 RPM.
The wraps are finally off the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 smartphones and the features are very much what we would expect of a pair of 5G flagship Android handsets seeking to impress on the audio and video front.
The more premium OnePlus 9 Pro looks to be the one to choose for movies on the move with its 6.7in QHD+ (1440x3216px) gently curved, 1300nit, AMOLED display, including LTPO power saving technology. It is capable of 10-bit colour depth and a dynamic refresh rate up to 120Hz, but that can be controlled automatically to bring the speed down to something kinder on battery life when not gaming.
The 6.55in OnePlus 9 is a little lower-specified, but it still offers a healthy-sounding 2400x1080px, 1100nit, flat display with a pixel density of 402ppi (compared with 525ppi). There’s no LTPO with the AMOLED screen this time, and although there is the 120Hz refresh rate, there’s no dynamic switching.
Both units support HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos sound which should add some AV appeal. They support playback of MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265 (HEVC), AVI and other video formats, with both Apple lossless and FLAC enabled on the audio side.
Both phones will allow 8K video capture at 30fps, 4K video at 120fps (60fps with the OnePlus 9) and Super Slow Motion at 720p as well for those looking to make movies of their own.
OnePlus, like most manufacturers, continues its stance against the 3.5mm headphones socket. Instead, wired listening is done through the USB-C port, as is wired charging, via the OnePlus Warp Charge 65T power adaptor that’s included in the box. It allows a complete recharge of the 4500mAh battery in the OnePlus 9Pro and OnePlus 9 in just a claimed 29 minutes. The Warp Charge 50 Wireless charger (£70) is available to buy for both and should do the job in 43 minutes.
For wireless audio, there’s Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX and aptX HD included as well as LDAC technology which allows hi-res audio streaming over Bluetooth at up 24-bit/96 kHz.
Running the show for both mobiles is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip and either 8GB or 12GB of RAM depending on whether you opt for the 128 or 256GB storage version respectively.
(Image credit: OnePlus)
Expect that space to disappear pretty quickly too if the Hasselblad cameras on these phones are as good as OnePlus is hoping. The OnePlus 9 range is the first of a three-year partnership between the two companies.
The 9 Pro features a four-camera array with the 48MP Sony IMX789 behind the main lens, a 50MP ultra-wide shooter, an 8MP telephoto with 3.3x optical zoom and a monochrome lens specially tweaked by Hasselblad to capture even more black and white information. The Swedish optical company has calibrated all of the cameras to provide what it feels are the best and most natural colours possible. Both phones get a 16MP front facing camera too but the OnePlus 9 doesn’t get the telephoto lens.
(Image credit: OnePlus)
The camera bumps on these devices have been designed to be more streamlined and in tune with the bodies of the phones than on previous OnePlus models. The 197g chassis on the 9 Pro is made of an aluminium frame and measures 163 x 74 x 9mm. It’s also IP68-rated for water and dust resistance. The OnePlus 9 is a 182g fibre glass infused polymer build of 160 x 74 x 9mm.
Both phones run Android 11 with the OnePlus Oxygen OS interface on top. They’re available to buy now in Astral Black, Arctic Sky or Winter Mist (OnePlus 9) and Stellar Black, Morning Mist or Pine Green (OnePlus 9 Pro). The Morning Mist and Astral Black 9 Pros come with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage and cost £829/$969/€899. The souped-up Pine Green is the 12GB/256GB version and comes in at £929/$1069/€999.
As for the OnePlus 9, the Winter Mist colour (£729/$829/€799) indicates the better-specified phone, with 12GB RAM and 258GB of storage. The other two finishes are 8GB/128GB phones and cost £629/$729/€699.
The phones are available to pre-order from 3.30pm GMT today at OnePlus.com, Amazon, John Lewis and Three, with open sales from 31st March (OnePlus 9 Pro) and 26th April (OnePlus 9).
MORE:
Take a look at the best Android phones 2021: Google-powered smarties for budgets big and small.
And how about a pair of the very best headphones to go with them?
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There are a lot of topics, both serious and fun, that are out there to be covered by The Verge, and it falls on our news writers to cover them: from coronavirus and space exploration to YouTube and Super Nintendo World. Mitchell Clark is one of those writers; among other articles, he wrote one of the best explanations you can find of what exactly NFTs are. We took a look (remotely via photos) of Mitchell’s desk and asked him some questions about his stuff.
Tell me a little about yourself. What is your background, and what do you do at The Verge?
Like Jay, I’m a news writer, tasked with keeping The Verge’s readers up to date with news about pretty much anything you could think of. Lately, it’s been a lot of NFTs, but it’s really just a grab bag every day I come into work, which keeps it exciting.
I also literally just got here — I started in December. I previously did a little of everything, from slinging fast-food chicken fingers, professionally fixing people’s phone problems, and doing training, testing, and coding for software the government uses. Basically, pretty much anything not related to my degree in video production.
Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge
How did you decide where and how to set up your workspace?
I live in a relatively small and cheap city, so I’m luxuriating in a two-bedroom apartment. I’ve worked at home ever since we moved here in 2017, so as soon as we got all the moving boxes out of the second room, I claimed it as my office. As for where the desk is: it used to be up against the window, but the sun kept getting in my eyes, so I moved it against the wall instead.
Tell me a little about the desk itself.
It’s called the iMovR Energize, and it’s a motorized standing desk. And yes, I do actually work standing up a lot. I don’t often work sitting at it, though — the cat is banned from the office, but if I’m in here he’ll sit outside the door and scream. So if I’m going to work sitting down, I do it on the couch so he doesn’t guilt-trip me.
Half of the reason why I chose the Energize was because it’s ostensibly made in the US, and the other half is that there are almost no reviews of it, and I wanted to do one and have it stand out. As far as I can tell, I’m still the only person who’s done a video review of it on YouTube, the TL;DR of which is that it’s a good desk. If it lasts for 10 years, it may actually be worth the almost $1,000 price tag.
I think that’s the simplest desk chair I’ve seen so far.
Yeahhhh, it’s an Ikea Trollberget. I went with it over an office chair in the optimistic hope that it would help me not slouch so much. The seat part of it tilts back and forth, so it really requires some core strength to sit up straight, which is great when I actually do that, but honestly I usually just put my elbows on the desk and curve my body into some horrible “S” shape. If I lived somewhere I could find a used Herman Miller, I’d probably give one of those a try.
Tell us a bit about your audio setup. It looks like you’ve put considerable thought into it.
Yes, I have. It’s a Shure Beta 87A microphone, mounted on a Heil PL2T arm and connected to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface. The headphones are the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohms, which aren’t super fun for music (hence the fifth-gen iPod with KZ ES4 earbuds) but are great for accurately reproducing vocals.
The whole setup is optimized for one thing: making sure that my voice is as clear and echo-free as possible. I was tired of having to go into a cave of blankets to record voiceovers, so I got a microphone with a very narrow (supercardioid) pickup pattern, and it works great. I also sometimes use it as an improvised video mic, for which it’s only okay. Usually, it just makes me sound really great on Zoom calls (and lets me pretend I’m going to make more episodes of a podcast I made three episodes of and then gave up on).
Okay, now it’s time to talk about your other tech: your computer, display setup, and other tech stuff.
Alright! My computer is a 13-inch M1 Macbook Pro — I went with the Pro over the Air mainly for the brighter screen. When I’m working from my desk and not the couch, I plonk that on a Twelve South Curve stand, and plug it in to a… *checks B&H order history* Dell U2415 24-inch monitor.
It’s 16:10, which is nice, but unfortunately it’s got a 1920 x 1200 resolution. I seem to be especially sensitive to low resolutions (I can immediately tell the difference between YouTube at 1080p and 720p on my iPhone Mini), so my next big upgrade may be to LG’s 24-inch UltraFine 4K (if I can find one used).
I switch between a Magic Trackpad and Logitech G502 Hero for my mousing needs. Changing which device and hand I use helps stave off wrist pain, and I’ve discovered that any mouse without Logitech’s ratcheting / free-spinning scroll wheel is almost unusable for me. For my keyboard, I use the peculiarly named Ducky One 2 with Cherry MX Browns. The main theme is wired: I’ve always run into weird, annoying issues with Bluetooth keyboards and mice.
The final Big Thing on my desk is an OWC ThunderBay 4. Being into video production and photography (Fujifilm X-T3 for digital, Nikon F3HP for film, by the way), I accumulate a lot of absolutelymassive files: I’ve currently got 11TB of data spread out across 17TB of drives.
You mentioned that you had a bit of a cable issue.
Yeah, I just up (down? side-to-side?)-graded from an iMac Pro, which had just enough ports to plug in my five bajillion peripherals. Now my computer has two ports, so I have an absolute nightmare of a situation.
Here’s my current setup: I connect my laptop with Thunderbolt to the ThunderBay 4. Somehow that provides enough power to trickle-charge the laptop, and provides a Thunderbolt pass-through, which I currently have a USB-C Satechi Clamp Hub Pro plugged into. Plugged into that are my mouse and keyboard, and my monitor’s built-in USB hub, which has even more devices plugged into it (notably the scanner and Scarlett). Then I use my laptop’s second Thunderbolt port to plug in the monitor (good thing the ThunderBay can charge the computer, I’m out of ports).
I’ve got an OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock on preorder to save me from this triple-hub chain nightmare, but until then, I’ve just got a mess of wires and am hoping nothing breaks.
I see your keyboard is right near your desk. Do you ever take a break to make some music?
I can’t actually play piano to be honest, even though I’ve literally had this keyboard since I was seven years old. I do have it hooked up to my computer through the Scarlett’s MIDI interface, so sometimes if I find a really cool-sounding synth in Logic, I’ll mash at the keyboard until I get something that sounds good. Its main job, though, is to sit there, guilting me until I actually learn even a drop of music theory.
Looks like a great setup for storing your bikes, but I’d be nervous about crashing into them if I push my chair back too hard…
I’d never even thought about that, but thankfully my chair doesn’t have wheels so I’d really have to try for it. The biggest risk with the bikes is that I’ll look out my window, see the paved trail that runs right outside it (and keeps going for 100 miles into a different state), and not be able to resist the temptation to take a ride!
For any other apartment-dwellers, the bike stand is probably a great option: it’s made by a company called Delta Design. I bought mine at Costco, but as always when I find something I like there, it’s no longer available. Amazon still sells it, and REI has a nicer-looking version, too.
Tell us a bit about your decorations: the great collection you’ve got on your bulletin board, the sculptures on your windowsill, etc.
I always want to have things that, as Marie Kondo would put it, spark joy around me while I’m working. So, I try to decorate with things made by creators or friends, or with art that is associated with some sort of memory. Some of the pins are from webcomics or podcasts that I enjoy, some are from Etsy, and the vintage and Michigan-related ones I got from my grandma, who apparently collected them. I’m on the record as absolutely loving Kentucky Route Zero, so I figured I’d get a poster of it, too.
The coolest story, though, goes with the metal bonsai trees. I did karate for about 10 years (and have missed doing it for six), and my sensei had a friend who would make the trees by hand. He’d give them out every year as awards for people who exemplified certain qualities of the Shotokan dojo kun. I don’t remember which I got them for, but they’re good reminders of some pretty good rules.
What’s on the shelving beneath the bulletin board?
A little bit of everything! There’s an Epson Perfection V550 scanner, which I use for everything from the mundane (scanning documents and birthday / holiday cards) to the exciting only to me (scanning all the film negatives I’ve developed). I also keep all my camera gear there, with one of the drawers having a mishmash of GoPro accessories, a Rode VideoMic Go, Zoom H5, and other video gear. The other drawer has “ancient media” like VHS tapes, cassette tapes, and vinyl records.
Oh, and there’s a label maker, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t have any tape left.
Finally — do you often hide under your desk?
Only in the summer, when it’s hot and I need to get out of the sunlight! But I do work from the floor a lot, either just sitting on it or laying down. I’ve been told it’s weird (usually by my wife, who comes home and finds me laying on the floor, with the cat having sprawled himself across my legs), but it works for me.
Cambridge’s top-of-the-line DAC is a well-armed, high-performing all-rounder
For
Smooth, clean, insightful sound
Generous connectivity
Native MQA support
Against
No remote control
Tough competition
Cambridge Audio’s flagship DacMagic 200M is the DAC equivalent of an all-inclusive holiday that not only offers flights, meals and accommodation but also throws in room upgrades, free excursions and unlimited ice-cream for the kids. And while we may have forgotten what holidays feel like right now, the fact that this digital-to-analogue converter is a generous soul should please anyone in the market for a well-equipped DAC for their hi-fi or desktop system.
Features
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The DacMagic 200M wants to accommodate every music source and file you already own, or might conceivably think of owning. There are pairs of coaxial and optical inputs for covering CD players, games consoles and Blu-ray players, as well as a USB-type B socket (with a ground/lift switch) that welcomes laptops and PCs with open arms. For those who value easy and convenient wireless playback from a phone or tablet, aptX Bluetooth is also onboard.
Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M tech specs
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
Bluetooth version aptX
Hi-res 32-bit/768kHz PCM, DSD512, MQA
Inputs USB-type B, optical (2), coaxial (2)
Outputs RCA, XLR
Dimension (hwd) 52 x 215 x 191mm
Weight 1.2kg
RCA and balanced XLR outputs on the rear panel allow the DacMagic 200M to be a middleman in a hi-fi system, while a front-panel 6.3mm output caters for listening via headphones. That’s driven by Class A/B amplification that, thanks to a reduction in impedance output, promises more power and less distortion than the one found in the previous DacMagic design.
High-resolution file support goes beyond what most people will need: the USB-type B goes up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512, above the bitrate of most commercially available music files, while the opticals and coaxials top out at 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz respectively. As off-the-shelf DAC chips become more sophisticated, hi-fi DACs increasingly sport such highbrow file compatibility.
But what makes the Cambridge stand out is its native support of MQA technology, meaning it can decode and play downloaded MQA hard files, in addition to hi-res Tidal Masters (which are MQA-encoded). That’s great news in particular for Tidal HiFi subscribers who have access to the increasing number of ‘Masters’ streams (many of which are 24-bit/96kHz) that populate the catalogue.
Build
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The whole right-hand side of the Cambridge’s facade is dedicated to displaying the sampling rate of the audio signal being fed into it. Several LEDs each labelled with a sampling rate – ‘44.1kHz’, ‘48kHz’, ‘96kHz’ and ‘192kHz’, for example – light up to signify it. So if you’re playing a CD-quality file, the ‘44.1kHz’ LED will illuminate. Likewise, LEDs for MQA and DSD light up when those types of files or streams are detected.
It makes for a busy aesthetic, not least as they’re also joined by LED, buttons and text labels for DAC filters and source selection, as well as the usual power button, volume dial, headphone jack and company logos. Still, it’s smartly presented and gives the DAC a rather tactile element – great if you plan to have it near you on a desktop and manually make adjustments, though not so relevant if it’s placed far away (those text labels are small) or tucked away in a system rack, as the compact aluminium chassis lends itself to. There’s no remote control either.
The DAC architecture itself uses dual ESS Sabre DACs in a mono configuration. That means one DAC chip handles the right audio channel while the other handles the left, theoretically resulting in better channel separation.
Sound
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The DacMagic 200M’s performance continues the momentum of the company’s recent hi-fi components, including the CX and Edge ranges. It’s recognisably ‘Cambridge’, characterised by a full, smooth tonality that’s complemented by an open, expressive and authoritative manner.
We hook the Cambridge up to a Macbook Pro via USB type-B, feed it Arab Strap’s Fable Of The Urban Fox (16-bit/44.1kHz) and are instantly impressed by the articulacy of Aidan Moffat’s trademark poetic storytelling through the 200M. It not only communicates his unmistakable Scottish accent but also the masterful cadence of his delivery.
The insightful midrange, also exemplified by the textured acoustic melody, is bookended by a rich, punchy low-end – the introductory bass thump is full and lush – and pleasingly present highs that round off a nicely proportioned, equally talented frequency range. As the instrumentation busies the soundstage, the Cambridge has enough breadth and control to keep things coherent.
That smoothness clings to the violins leading Ólafur Arnalds’ Spiral (Sunrise Session) (24-bit/96kHz) in a way that makes it enjoyable without clouding the textural finesse or dynamic undulation of the strings that communicate the piece’s beautiful fragility. The Cambridge rides the dynamic ebbs and flows nicely, showing its grace in the quieter moments and its authority in the louder ones.
Dynamic shrewdness is backed by rhythmic coordination and punch, amounting to a musical presentation. There’s much to appreciate in a hi-fi component that lets you sit back and enjoy your music no matter the genre, whether it’s Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 5 Op73 “Emperor” Adagio (MQA, 24-bit/96kHz) or Drake’s What’s Next (24-bit/88.2kHz) – and the DacMagic 200M is one of those.
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
There’s enough transparency to make the most of the higher-res tracks in which it supports, too. A DSD64 of Stevie Wonder’s Too High sparkles with the amount of detail revealed.
At the other end of the scale, music transmitted over Bluetooth often equals notably muddier, more confined results compared to a wired source. But while there’s some degradation here in terms of clarity and subtlety, Bluetooth playback is exemplary when paired with a Samsung Galaxy S21 during testing. The presentation is clean, open and ultimately well upheld, which is about all you can ask for from a product of this nature.
The Cambridge’s three digital filters – Fast, Slow and Short Delay – offer fairly subtle differences, albeit some level of sonic customisation. We find ourselves settling for Short Delay – it seems the more punctual of the three in relation to timing – but it’s worth experimenting with them.
The similarly priced Chord Mojo sets a rather lofty benchmark at this price, despite lacking many of the Cambridge’s features due to its portable (and battery-powered) nature. The Chord edges ahead in performance, delivering even greater subtlety and rhythmic precision, but it can’t match the DacMagic 200M’s impressive feature versatility.
Verdict
Cambridge Audio’s latest top-of-the-line DacMagic continues the legacy of the long-standing DacMagic model, the original of which earned Cambridge its first What Hi-Fi? Award in 1996. The 200M is 25 years and several evolutionary steps along the DacMagic line in terms of features and performance, but it hasn’t lost sight of its vision to sit among the very best at its level. The DacMagic 200M is a talented all-rounder: a safe buy indeed.
A startup called Spatial is unveiling its first suite of products today, focused on creating audio experiences that are immersive, interactive, and automatically generated. The products themselves are a little complicated to explain, but the result is simple: ambient and interactive audio for public spaces that’s easy to create and more dynamic than the usual tracks.
Although Spatial has a consumer offering, the most likely customers are going to be businesses. Think hotels that want a different audio experience in their lobby, theme parks that want to develop audio for their spaces faster, brand activations, or AR experiences (National Geographic is an investor). Think about how corny the canned audio at the zoo often is; Spatial wants to fix that.
In one demo a couple of weeks ago, I sat in a room and heard the sounds of a forest all around me, with birds chirping in one spot and then moving to another — until a dragon flew overhead and scared them all away for a little while.
That’s frankly nothing special: audio positioned in space is simple. What’s complex is the engine that created all of that audio. Spatial’s goal is to make designing custom sound for a space easy and also to make that sound happen generatively instead of on a loop or a track. There are three main pieces to it.
First, there’s Spatial Studio, a Mac app that’s a sort of unholy melding of Logic and Unreal Engine. It defines a 3D space where users can place audio objects – either sounds they’ve created themselves or pulled from Spatial’s library. Users can even pipe in live audio as an object – say, if they want to bring the sound of the nearby ocean up into the lobby or just run a Sonos stream.
What’s special about Spatial is that those audio objects have behaviors. A bird might move along a predetermined track (with some randomness so it doesn’t get boring) or an ocean tide might appear at certain times of day, for example. Those audio objects might also react — either to each other or to something that happens in the real space.
The second part of Spatial’s system is turning all those dynamic audio objects into actual sound that you can hear in a space. For that, it uses Mac minis (or, for corporate customers, Linux) to run a real-time audio engine called Spatial Reality. It will take inputs from various sensors if need be, or simply let the little audio world run its course — and since the things in that little audio world have different behaviors, it will sound different all of the time. Spatial has also created an iPhone app for more direct interaction.
You’d think the third part is the speakers, but that’s actually Spatial’s third trick: it can work with any speaker setup. Spatial’s engine serves as an abstraction layer that is aware of the speakers’ position in the room and automatically adjusts the sound to ensure correct 3D positioning of the audio. Instead of a strict set of placement rules, Spatial can work with what you’ve got.
Michael Plitkins, one of the cofounders, tells me that fundamentally he believes that laying down audio on a static track is backwards. It’s better, he says, to let the computers figure it out in real time based on what they know about the speaker system. As the product stands right now, Spatial isn’t bothering with any real-time tuning to the audio in the room. It will work with any speaker setup, but users will need to program in what they have in the Spatial Studio app.
At the start, Spatial’s main competition is some combination of Muzak for public spaces and whatever custom tools Disney Imagineers use for the audio in their theme parks. It may appeal to some hobbyists too — part of the inspiration for the company was Plitkins’ desire to create a soundscape in his own back yard. I had a demo of that space too, complete with cave sounds under the deck so authentic it was eerie.
Whomever the customers end up being, it probably won’t be an easy sell. (And launching a product meant mainly for public spaces while a pandemic is still on is another challenge.) Dynamically created rain and birdsong doesn’t sound any different from a static audio track if you only listen for a couple minutes.
But during a long interview in a conference room where the team explained the ins and outs of their product, they turned off the cabin in the woods-themed audio that had been gently playing the whole time. The silence was weirdly stressful, the way conference rooms usually are.
We’re celebrating all things British hi-fi this week on What Hi-Fi?, so we had to include our newly updated round-up of our favourite sets of speakers to have emerged from these isles.
This list includes some big, some small, some heavenly high-end, some much more affordable – but all straight from the top draw when it comes to performance-per-pound value.
Our verdict? The hi-fi industry has been, and continues to be, spoilt with British engineering talent, as you can see for yourself from the following list of superlative hi-fi speakers…
See all our British Hi-Fi Week 2021 reviews and features
Wharfedale Diamond I (1982)
The original Wharfedale Diamonds were the seeds for what has become one of the most successful speaker ranges of all time.
While speakers these days come in more shapes and sizes than ever before, these pint-sized efforts, standing at just 24cm high, were designed for those who needed a speaker to fit into a tight space.
They had a particularly praiseworthy midrange and bass considering their budget price, though they were slightly fussy in terms of partnering kit, working better with more upmarket amplification.
That Was Then… Wharfedale Diamond review
Heybrook HB1 (1983)
Heybrook was a British hi-fi manufacturer that started life in 1978 and was named after Devon’s Heybrook Bay, which was near the site of the company’s original factory.
Heybrook got off to a flying start after its inception, with the Peter Comeau-designed, entry-level HB1s proving a highlight of What Hi-Fi?‘s early years. It was the first product to win three What Hi-Fi? Awards in a row, no less.
With a sealed box design, they worked well close to a wall, but aside from that, thanks to a high-quality finish and dynamic sound, the HB1 were another example of a speaker that could hold its own against much more expensive efforts.
Acoustic Energy AE1 (1988)
Acoustic Energy’s AE1 were also smaller speakers whose performance belied their size. They were capable of impressive punch and dynamic reach – in part thanks to their metal drivers, which were rare at that time.
They also weren’t limited to one decade, evolving over several years and several variations to inspire what is today one of our favourite active speakers, the suitably-named AE1 Active.
Epos ES11 (1991)
We enter the ’90s with Epos’ ES11, which were similar in sonic character to the legendary ES14 but available for a fraction of the price. A win-win, then.
As was usual for the brand, the crossover was minimal – it employed a single capacitor for the tweeter – helping them produce surprisingly sturdy bass and excellent resolution, in addition to superb rhythmic drive and dynamic expression.
A modest-looking but really musical pair of speakers, they could deliver just the right amount of aggression, delicacy and restraint as a song demanded.
Monitor Audio Studio 20 (1992)
The Studio 20 were, back in 1992, one of the most detailed-sounding speakers we’d encountered.
They needed some fine-tuning and a fair bit of running-in thanks to those metal drivers but, these issues aside, they were incredibly well finished and sounded terrific.
It was no surprise that their successors, the new-and-improved Studio 20 SE, arrived a few years later and occupied our test rooms as our reference model for many years.
13 of the best Monitor Audio products of all time
Mission 753 (1992)
The 753 were an important speaker in Mission’s history, ushering in a new slim floorstander design no wider than an, erm, ice skate (see above).
Both looking and sounding the business, they had a smörgåsboard of drive units with four 13cm drivers – two mid/bass drivers, two low bass units – and a single 25cm dome tweeter, through which a fast and punchy sound ensured whatever they were playing was enjoyably involving.
Tannoy Mercury M2 (1997)
The Mercury M2 made an immediate impression when they burst onto the scene in the late ’90s. Back then, we said they were the closest anyone had come to creating the perfect mass-market standmounter.
Quite frankly, our ears hadn’t heard a more satisfyingly musical all-rounder at their price (£150), so it’s hardly surprising that we called them “an extremely safe bet [that] will suit a wide variety of systems”.
Wilson Benesch A.C.T. One (1999)
Five years after launching its first product, the Wilson Benesch Turntable, the British company launched a second: the A.C.T. One speaker.
Unveiled at the 1994 Frankfurt High End show, the floorstanders, were made mostly out of carbon fibre (like many Wilson Benesch speakers after them), introducing the world’s first curved carbon fibre composite panel in a speaker design.
These superbly-engineered and elegant-looking towers were the most analytical and musical speakers we’d heard before the turn of the century.
Read the full Wilson Benesch A.C.T One review
Quad ELS 2805 (2008)
This side of the millennium we have the Quad ELS 2805. After all, it would be sacrilege to not include one of the British company’s legendary electrostatic speakers in this list. So here it is.
“Fifty years after its electrostatic speakers first wowed the hi-fi world, Quad breaks new ground,” we said of the 2805 in 2008.
These one-way speakers (meaning there was no crossover in the signal path) fired equal amounts of sound backwards and forwards, so care was needed setting up. Any bother was well worth it, though. The lack of punch and slightly lumpy bass were drawbacks, but in every other way they were truly exceptional performers.
Read the fullQuad ESL-2805 review
B&W 800 Diamond (2012)
Continuing the high-end trend, these £18,500 speakers represented the pinnacle of B&W’s cutting-edge technology back in 2012. “The ultimate expression of all the company’s trademark technologies.” This has since manifested itself in the latest Diamond range.
From tweeter domes made out of diamond, to cleverly braced and shaped cabinets, to cones made out of Kevlar, they were innovative speakers that at the time showcased unrivalled clarity, dynamic reach and volume. The bass was stunning, as was detail, and all of this sound was delivered with speed and punch.
Read the full B&W 800 Diamond review
KEF LS50 (2012)
The KEF LS50 were, and remain, blindingly good speakers. They’ve won multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards over the years and have recently formed the basis of active versions in the shape of the LS50 Wireless II and LSX, as well as the passive LS50 Meta – all three What Hi-Fi? Award winners themselves.
Of course, a hat tip deserves to be directed to KEF’s trademark Uni-Q array (an aluminium dome tweeter in the centre of a magnesium/aluminium–coned mid/bass), which was largely behind the LS50’s insightful and musical, bassy yet balanced sound.
Read the full KEF LS50 review
Neat Iota (2012)
He who dares wins, right? With a sideways orientation that makes them look more like an AV centre channel speaker than a pair of stereo speakers, the 13cm-tall Neat Iotas were certainly different, but brilliantly so.
The Teesside-based speaker company’s unusual design allowed us to experiment using them with the tweeters placed on the inside or outside, the latter of which we preferred. The Iotas sounded remarkable – big and bold, with plenty of detail, weight and scale on offer. And their tiny-boxed design only added to their appeal.
Read the full Neat Iota review
Q Acoustics Concept 20 (2013)
The strength of the competition at this price is always fierce, but it speaks to the talents of Q Acoustics’ Concept 20 that they remain firm favourites.
They utilise what is still some of the company’s top-tier technologies, such as the complex cabinet design that sees two layers of MDF separated by a lossy Gelcore material in an effort to dampen resonances. And due to such innovative engineering, they produce a multi-talented, all-round sound that delivers everything from punch and attack, to subtlety and precision.
The fact they’re available at nearly half their original price these days is staggering.
Read the full Q Acoustic Concept 20 review
PMC Twenty 26 (2014)
Speakers from PMC’s Twenty range have not only been winning awards in recent years but also occupying our test rooms.
Few rival floorstanders are as musical or as balanced as the Twenty 26, whose strong dynamics, impressive detail, even tonality and seamless integration is hard to find fault with. These may not be the latest models in the Twenty range, but they are among our favourites.
Read the full PMC Twenty 26 review
Spendor SP2/3R2 (2016)
It’d be easy to dismiss Spendor’s SP2/3R2 as a retro throwback, but that would be to miss out on a stellar speaker that very much deserves the attention of anyone with this budget. “Despite a design ancestry that dates back to the 1970s, there’s much this dinosaur could teach its modern competition,” we noted in our 2016 review.
Sonically, they’re huge, with a scale and authority that’s made for epic blockbuster soundtracks. But there’s absolutely no shortage of dynamics or detail either, and while they don’t deliver the last word in punch or drive, rhythms are delightfully measured.
Read the full Spendor SP2/3R2 review
ATC SCM 50 (2019)
(Image credit: ATC)
We’ve been using ATC’s SCM50 as our reference speakers for well over a decade, and in that time they’ve been connected to just about every piece of electronics that has passed through our test rooms. And guess what? They’ve never let us down.
Every so often we come across rival speakers – usually of higher cost – that better these ATCs in some respect, whether it’s outright resolution, openness, stereo imaging or rhythmic precision.
Yet we haven’t managed to find something that’s as satisfying an all-rounder or as practical to use as a day-to-day review tool. Considering the SCM50 was originally introduced in the mid-80s, that’s quite some achievement. It seems great engineering doesn’t date.
Read the full ATC SCM 50 review
ProAc Response D2R (2019)
(Image credit: ProAc)
Don’t let the lack of curved cabinets or fancy cone materials fool you. The ProAc Response D2R are among the finest speakers we’ve ever heard and are more than worth of their spot on this list.
You’ll need suitable stands, suitable electronics and to spend a decent amount of time tinkering with positioning, but once sorted, these exceptional standmounters deliver an intoxicating mix of detail and entertainment that is tough to beat at this price.
Read the full ProAc Response D2R review
MORE:
Best British speakers 2021
12 of the best British CD players of all time
10 of the best British turntables of all time
See all our British Hi-Fi Week 2021 reviews and features
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