You know the graphics card market is in a bad place when vendors resort to rereleasing five-year old graphics cards. Kuroutoshikou, a Japanese vendor, has announced that its GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (GF-GTX1050Ti-E4GB/SF/P2) will hit the domestic market in mid-March.
In reality, the GF-GTX1050Ti-E4GB/SF/P2 is a rebranded version of Palit’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti StormX. Based on the GP107 (Pascal) silicon, the graphics card is equipped with 768 CUDA cores with a 1,392 MHz boost clock and 4GB of 7 Gbps GDDR5 memory. The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is rated for 75W so it doesn’t require any external PCIe power connectors, making it a good plug-n-play option for entry-level gamers, even though it is no longer among the best graphics cards.
The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti’s revival isn’t a coincidence though. It was Nvidia itself who decided to replenish its partners with Pascal GPUs in the middle of the ongoing graphics card crysis. Nvidia’s actions also paved the way for other vendors to get rid of their old Pascal stock, including Palit who might launch new specialized GeForce GTX 1060 models for cryptocurrency mining.
We’ve already started seeing more GeForce GTX 1050 Ti availability here in the U.S. Sadly, the pricing leaves much to be desired. While Kuroutoshikou’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti will arrive in Japan with a price tag of ¥20,727 (~$190.97), custom models in the U.S. market currently retail between $330 and $600. That’s pretty insane since the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti has five years under its belt now and had launched for $139.
With how ridiculous pricing is right now and the graphics card shortage, picking up a pre-built PC, especially one of the best gaming PCs, suddenly doesn’t sound like a bad idea anymore.
HTC has announced a new set of trackers for its Vive virtual reality headsets, including one that captures facial expressions and mouth movements. The $129.99 Vive Facial Tracker attaches to the Vive Pro headset. It uses two cameras and an infrared illuminator to record lip, cheek, and jaw movements and then translates that into virtual facial expressions. HTC says the product is “coming soon.”
HTC unveiled an experimental VR facial tracker in 2019, and it teased the product earlier this week on Twitter. A few developers, like the creators of social space Neos VR, have worked with the tool. Until today, though, HTC hadn’t confirmed a wide commercial release. The Facial Tracker supports 38 distinct facial movements, and users can also pair it with the Vive Pro Eye, a Vive Pro variant with built-in eye tracking. That could effectively translate most of a user’s face onto an avatar or into a motion capture system.
There’s also a new, third-generation version of HTC’s general purpose VR tracker. The palm-sized tracking pucks are 33 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the last generation, and HTC promises a 75 percent increase in battery life. They will also be released “soon” for $129.99. Depending on the exact date, they could end up competing with the upcoming Tundra Tracker — a smaller, SteamVR-based alternative that is expected to ship this summer.
These HTC modules offer precise, accurate tracking for body parts that standard VR headset sensors don’t capture. Several VR social experiences, for instance, already estimate people’s lip motion based on the sound of their voice. But the new facial tracker can directly capture how their faces move, reflecting expressions like smiles and frowns. Similarly, the VR trackers can be fixed to custom controllers or attached with straps to people’s legs or feet — which are often given rudimentary animation or not displayed at all in VR.
Unfortunately, the facial tracker apparently has limited compatibility. It’s listed as working with the professional-level Vive Pro line, but not the newer, consumer-focused Vive Cosmos. As VR developer Olivier JT notes on Twitter, it also doesn’t appear to support Valve’s Index, a high-end headset whose hardware setup overlaps with the Vive Pro’s.
Despite this, face tracking could become an increasingly important part of current-generation VR. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this week that Facebook’s VR division, Oculus, will prioritize capturing eye movement and facial expressions in future hardware as well as releasing more realistic virtual avatars.
(Pocket-lint) – The ROG Phone 3 was revealed in July 2020 and it was October 2020 before that device spread its wings across the globe and landed in the US. It never reached some regions like the UK.
The ROG Phone 5 arrives pretty soon after, promising more versions, wider availability and a whole host of updates.
So what’s changed and if you’ve recently nabbed the ROG Phone 3, are you really missing out?
Release date and price
ROG Phone 5:
8/128: €799
12/256: €899
16/256: €999
ROG Phone 5 Pro: €1199
ROG Phone 5 Ultimate: €1299
ROG Phone 3:
8/128GB ‘Strix Edition’: €799
12/256GB: €999
16/512GB: €1,099
As we said, the ROG Phone 3 was available in China and India in July 2020 and eventually made its way to the US in October 2020, but international availability has never been great.
Although the ROG Phone 3 started at the same price as the ROG Phone 5, the step-up versions of the ROG Phone 5 are cheaper than they were for the ROG Phone 3. The 12/256 ROG Phone 5 is likely to be the most popular, and it’s €100 cheaper than the ROG Phone 3 was at launch.
However, the ROG Phone 5 adds the Pro and Ultimate versions providing those top prices, so it’s more expensive overall for those more advanced models, although the Ultimate comes with a complete box of extras.
The ROG Phone 5 is expected to be available in March, the Pro in April and the Ultimate in May 2021.
Design
ROG Phone 5: 173 x 77 x 9.9mm, 239g
ROG Phone 3: 171 x 78 x 9.9mm, 240g
The design of the ROG Phone 3 and the 5 is broadly similar. As the measurements reveal, these phones are closely matched in terms of size and weight – even through the ROG Phone 5 has a slightly larger display.
The shape and positioning of the cameras is similar, although the ROG Phone 5 is slightly more angular, while there’s an interesting change on the rear of the phone.
The ROG Phone 3 offered an RGB logo on the rear. There’s a similar RGB logo on the rear of the ROG Phone 5, but it’s now a dot display, to give it some retro charm, while also having two RGB zones for colour combinations – so it’s more dynamic.
The ROG Phone 5 goes further with the Pro and Ultimate versions, offering the ROG Vision display on the rear which can display animations and custom graphics, so it has a lot more to offer in terms of customisation.
While the standard ROG Phone 5 comes in black – like the ROG Phone 3 – the Ultimate edition comes in white.
All these phones have Air Triggers on the top, but the ROG Phone 5 Pro and Ultimate offers two more touch zones on the rear you can customise as game controls. The ROG Phone 5 also supports programmable gestures to further aid your gaming, as well as packing in a 3.5mm headphone socket!
Overall, while looking similar, the ROG Phone 5 has a lot more to offer on the design alone, but it’s a refinement – you can still see that these phones are related.
Display
ROG Phone 5: 6.78-inch AMOLED, 2448 x 1080 resolution, 144Hz
ROG Phone 3: 6.59-inch AMOLED, 2340 x 1080 resolution, 144Hz
The display on the ROG Phone 3 is very similar to the ROG Phone 5, supporting that 144Hz refresh rate and with a similar size and resolution.
But you’ll notice that the ROG Phone 5 gives you a little more display space in a phone that’s pretty much the same size as it was before, which is a win in our books.
When it comes to the hardware, there’s been a fairly big switch up to the internals. Both phones sit on the top Qualcomm Snapdragon hardware for the year that they were launched. That gives the ROG Phone 5 and inherent advantage because it’s going to be more powerful.
But there’s a big design change on the interior too. While the overall battery capacity is the same on both phones – 6,000mAh – on the ROG Phone 5 this is split into two cells which means Asus can be more flexible with the design and also support 65W charging – a big jump over the 30W charging of the ROG Phone 3.
Splitting the battery means that the SoC – system on chip, the brains of the phone – can now sit in the centre of the ROG Phone 5, rather than off to the side where it was previously. Sound familiar? Yes, that’s exactly what the Legion Phone Duel offered too.
That is better for cooling, as the clip-on fan accessory can sit right over the part producing most of the heat. The slight downside might be that you feel the warmth with your fingertips, rather than just with one hand. Still, it’s likely to be an improvement for the better for the ROG Phone 5.
Both phones offer a range of RAM options, partly tied to the storage and in both cases this is used to leverage price. There’s actually not a huge difference here – both go up to 512GB storage – but to get that version on the ROG Phone 5, you’re looking at the Ultimate which also has 18GB of RAM.
Yep, we’re struggling to see that as anything other than a numbers game and we suspect most will be happy with the 12/256GB version – which is the model that’s actually €100 cheaper in the ROG Phone 5 and the ROG Phone 3 launch prices.
There’s also a small change on the side of the phone, switching the accessory port to a pogo pin system rather than a USB C, so now it’s clearer what you have to plug your charging cable into on the ROG Phone 5.
There’s actually no change here. According to Asus there’s no difference in the cameras so you can expect the same performance.
Conclusions
It’s easy after a quick look through what’s on offer that the ROG Phone 5 has things stacked in its favour, which is to be expected being the newer device.
But there are some important fundamentals here: the display on both is similar, both have top quality Qualcomm hardware and options for big RAM, as well as custom gaming features, so the day-to-day experience between the two is probably not going to be that big.
But given that you seem to be getting a lot more for your money on the ROG Phone 5, with more options to choose from an wider availability, it seems like the one to choose.
On TV, ice skating often looks like a sport stuck in time. Cameras aren’t hanging from wires above the action or placed close to the ice for a dynamic look at skaters zipping by. Instead, a few stationary cameras planted around a rink flip from one view to the next when a better angle is available. It can be dull to watch.
But far more exciting and intimate ways to shoot ice skating have been emerging on social media, and one person in particular has made a name synonymous with turning the sport into something spectacular to watch: Jordan Cowan, under the name On Ice Perspectives.
Plenty of others try to make videos similar to those Cowan uploads to his channels. What gives his content the edge is that he was a professional skater who represented Team USA at international competitions, competing six times at the US Figure Skating Championships.
Other professional skaters trust him on the ice because he’s one of them. Cowan’s ability to skate lets him stay in-step with skaters and keep them in his camera’s frame while speeding around a rink. Instead of following behind skaters, he’s usually along their path of flight, getting the best shot. In his videos, it’s easy to see a skater’s technique and exactly how they shift their weight with every move and transition. It’s pure fan service.
Cowan visits rinks around the world to shoot with up-and-coming skaters, and present and former Olympic-level skaters alike. He’s uploaded more than 900 videos since the channel launched in 2018, and altogether, they’ve gathered over 25 million views across all platforms. Notably, former first lady Michelle Obama recently tweeted a video he made that shows Starr Andrews, a Team USA senior medalist, dancing to “Black Like Me” by Mickey Guyton. Recently, he’s been tapped to help shoot CBC’s Battle of the Blades and ITV’s Dancing on Ice programs.
Cowan answered some questions over email to explain his technique, his tech, and his goals for On Ice Perspectives.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
What made you want to start On Ice Perspectives?
Looking at skating content on social media, I felt there was a gap between what I was seeing, and the truly inspiring content being captured in, say, the dance or gymnastics world. I wondered if someone with insider access, but also film and social media knowledge, could do for skating what several great dance videographers have done for the quality of dance content that we’re accustomed to seeing on TV and social media.
What tech do you use and what’s your workflow like? Do you use any custom gear that you’ve constructed yourself? And what’s on the horizon in terms of what tech you could use?
The camera I use for the majority of the work you see on On Ice Perspectives is the Sony mirrorless A7III, on a DJI Ronin SC gimbal, with a Rode shotgun mic for sound. For editing I use Final Cut Pro X on a MacBook Pro.
I am constantly tinkering with and improving the equipment that makes up my workflow. I like to think that I’m the only person using some of the configurations I have evolved, but realistically, everything I use is standard and accessible by all.
When I film for network shows, I generally use a rig made for cinema cameras with large cinema lenses. At this point I can’t own a rig of that caliber, and since it is my goal to bring a cinematic edge to the videos I share, it is my eventual goal to own my own rig that I can use to produce that level of quality.
You’ve shared the tech that does work well for your rig, but what hasn’t worked as well as you’ve hoped? I’m sure in your early days there was some trial and error.
I think creativity is born out of necessity, and necessity comes from limitations. My first gimbals were very basic, so when skating around a curve, for example, the horizon would start to roll, and I had to monitor that and manually compensate as I was plotting my next move. My newer gimbals are more powerful and precise, but I’d be lying if I don’t miss that charm of a gimbal that’s constantly rolling into a Dutch angle.
From the viewer’s perspective, it seems like you really can have a connection with the skaters that you record. The footage feels almost eerily in-sync with their movements at times. Can you explain how you do this?
I am lucky that I was a Team USA ice dancer, and as such, I have the built-in sixth sense that all skaters develop when training daily on the ice with world and Olympic champions. I often can’t answer why I know, at the moment, where to go to get a good angle of a subject, but I know it’s thanks to my training, and I am grateful for that.
I think the camera work during televised ice skating competitions leaves a lot to be desired. It’s very flat, and it can feel tough to be connected with the skaters during their dances. Is this something you’re trying to change with your shooting style?
Absolutely. When you are on the ice with elite skaters, you can feel the speed they create. The shapes their bodies make only fully make sense when seen against the perspective of where on the ice they have traveled. It’s just not possible to portray this with the traditional filming from the boards audiences are used to seeing in the media. I hope to give viewers a window to the feeling that being on the ice or at a live show gives you, and that has entirely informed how I choose to shoot.
What sorts of trends have emerged from your content? Are you seeing fans clinging to certain kinds of content more so than others?
It tends to be a routine made to music that breaks the traditional expectation of skating, like an ice dance team skating to Metallica or burlesque. It proved that skating as an art and dance form is linked to popular music, like most trends on the internet. The fact that it’s a sport as well makes it exceptional.
At what point did you decide to build your channel into a business via Patreon?
I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want to charge skaters in order to be able to focus on building On Ice Perspectives. What I love about Patreon is that it gives viewers the chance to support not only the very significant costs associated with running the channel, but also to have a stake in the mission of creating unique skating content. Unlike a traditional sponsor, my patrons can donate just a few dollars and access the extra content shared there, all while making a very real impact on my ability to continue sharing skating content with the world. In a sense, Patreon allows patrons a greater connection to what I do with On Ice Perspectives, but also with the sport itself.
What are your goals for On Ice Perspectives?
Honestly, I have so many. For the longest time I was focused on wanting to film the gala which follows the figure skating events at the Olympics, in a new and unique way. While I would still, of course, love to do this, my focus has shifted to wanting to produce livestreams and I hope, one day, a made-for-camera complete ice show.
The Sonos Move is receiving a firmware update to enhance its Auto TruePlay calibration feature, bringing it in-line with the improved version that has been introduced by the just-announced Sonos Roam portable speaker.
Sonos’ Auto TruePlay calibration technology, which debuted in the Move, uses the speaker’s microphones to automatically measure the frequency response of its surroundings and optimise sound quality accordingly, whenever the speaker is placed in a new location. This feature has required a wi-fi network, meaning it can only self-calibrate outdoors when within range of your home network, but now, courtesy of this new update, this process can work over a Bluetooth connection too – as it also can with the Roam.
Given the portability of both the Move and Roam – the fact they’re likely to be placed on different surfaces and in different environments, rather than just stationary in one place – Auto TruePlay is a worthwhile feature. We were impressed with the results during our testing of the Move: “We move from our soundproofed test room to a noisy office environment and outdoors. The speaker’s real-world transformation is audible, the Move never sounding out of place once it reconfigures itself. When outside, there’s a definite sense of the Move’s sonic presentation opening up while retaining the clarity and balance of its indoor performance, which is typically Sonos.”
The fact it can now work over Bluetooth gives owners an optimised audio experience in places they may not have been able to before, such as the bottom of their garden or out in the park – providing it works just as effectively as it does over wi-fi.
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Sonos has just announced a new Bluetooth portable speaker. The Roam is only the firm’s second-ever, following the 2019-launched Sonos Move and marking another break away from its traditional at-home Sonos system. It’s smaller and consequently more portable than Move – cheaper, too. And it’s shaping up to be a real challenger to the best Bluetooth speakers around.
But what does it bring to the already crowded Bluetooth speaker market? And how does it compare to its larger, pricier sibling?
Sonos Roam is official – and the cheapest, smartest Sonos speaker yet
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: price
The Sonos Roam is essentially a smaller, more portable Move and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it’s more affordable. The Roam costs £159 ($169, AU$279, €179), making it the cheapest Sonos speaker ever (apart from those made in collaboration with IKEA), sitting below the slightly pricier Sonos One SL. That’s also in the ballpark of many of the best Bluetooth speakers around, although for its size (albeit not feature set) there are plenty around asking half that price.
The six-times-the-size Move costs more than twice that at £399 ($399, AU$649), so yes, there’s quite a difference in cost. This might rule the Move out for people’s some budgets, but it’s still worth knowing what you’re getting (or not getting) if you choose either one.
Sonos: everything you need to know
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: design
As soon as you clap eyes on it, you’ll see the Roam is a very different beast to the Move. It’s triangular, for a start, like a Toblerone. And it’s a lot smaller – six times smaller in fact, measuring just 16.8 x 6.2 x 6cm. That’s smaller than a water bottle. Naturally, it’s lighter, too, tipping the scales at 430g.
The comparative specs for the Move are dimensions of 24 x 16 x 12.6cm and a weight of 3kg.
One of the biggest criticisms of the Move is that its bulk and heft pushes the definitions of portability. Whereas the majority of Bluetooth speakers are designed to be tossed in a bag and taken to the park, picnic, pool or beach (just as the Roam is), the Move is more of a home speaker that can be moved from room to room or into the garden.
In light of its ultra-portable, outdoor-friendly design, the Roam also more resistant to the elements than the Move. It’s IP67-rated, meaning it can be completely submerged in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. It’s completely impervious to dust, too. The Move is only IP56-rated, which means it’s only protected from ‘harmful dust’ and ‘strong water jets from all directions’.
The names of both devices are quite apt, then: the Move is intended to be moved from room to room, and the Roam to be taken with you on your wider travels.
Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: features
While the Roam is a very different proposition to the Move, it does share some of the same traits. For example, it also has both Bluetooth and wi-fi connectivity, so you can stream tunes to it offline from a phone or tablet, or over the internet using a service like Spotify or Tidal, like the rest of the Sonos speaker range. Wi-fi also means it can work as part of a Sonos multi-room system (as the Move can too); it’s as much a member of the family as every other speaker, also controlled by the Sonos S2 app.
Like the Move, the Roam has a rechargeable battery, and despite its much smaller size, it manages to match the Move’s 10-hour run time. In that context it’s impressive, although note that (not-so-fruitfully-featured) Bluetooth speakers do often offer longer battery lives.
To juice it up, the Roam comes with a USB-C cable (but not a power adaptor). Sonos has also launched a $49 dedicated wireless charging base that the Roam clips onto using magnets, although Roam is compatible with any Qi wireless charger.
The Move also has a USB-C cable, with a charging base that comes in the box. Its battery is also swappable, should you need to replace it (it will be a lot cheaper than buying a whole new speaker). Sonos hasn’t yet mentioned such functionality with the Roam, but as the consumer tech world is moving towards more sustainability, we wouldn’t be surprised if it was an option for Roam – if its design even allows for it.
Also like the Move, the Roam has voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, as well as Apple’s AirPlay 2. Neither the Move nor Roam can work as a home cinema surround with the Sonos Arc, Playbar, Playbase, Beam or Sub – that remains the job of the One SL and IKEA speakers.
Right, so that’s enough similarities; let us tell you how the two devices differ.
The first new feature the Roam offers is the automatic switching between wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity and connected devices. That means when you leave the house it can connect to a Bluetooth device without you having to initiate pairing. You don’t have to do anything, in fact. Just grab it and go.
‘Sonos Swap’ is also new and exclusive to the Roam. This lets you ‘hand off’ whatever music the Roam is playing to another Sonos speaker (the nearest to it) by long-pressing its play/pause button. So if you come home from a long afternoon’s picnicking you can seamlessly swap what’s playing to your home system. Neat. (It’s also a feature we’re expecting to work with the highly anticipated Sonos wireless headphones, due later this year.)
Auto TruePlay is on board, too – and introduces improvements over the version that launched with the Move. For the uninitiated, this is automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings and adjust sound accordingly, whenever it detects being placed in a new location. Move the speaker from a bookshelf to a coffee table, say, and it’ll recalibrate its sound to its new surroundings to give you the best audio possible. This tech was first seen in the Move, but the Roam moves it along by letting it work in a Bluetooth domain as well as a network one. This feature is coming to the Move via a firmware update.
Ultimately, while there’s plenty familiar about the Roam, there’s plenty new too. And it could be the smartest Bluetooth speaker of its size ever made.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: sound
Of course, for all the bells and whistles, a speaker sinks or swims by its sound quality. The Sonos Move managed to impress us in this area, with a sonic profile similar to the excellent Sonos One: think weighty, full-bodied audio, with a tonality that’s nicely even-handed and not bereft of solid, deep bass.
The Move’s ample size gives it plenty of scale and space – put it at the centre of your garden party, and you won’t be disappointed. But volume never comes at the expense of quality – the audio stays composed even when pushed to the limit of what’s socially acceptable. You can expect similar sonic satisfaction from Bluetooth playback too.
But while we’ve pored over the features and design of the Sonos Roam, we haven’t given it a through going over in our test rooms yet – watch. this. space – so we can’t comment on its sound quality. Sonos speakers are renowned for their sonic competitiveness – the company’s reputation is not only built on seamless integration and user experience but also performance – so we’re expecting big things, even from a relatively small package.
While we don’t expect the Roam to match the much bigger Move’s scale of sound, our expectations regarding pound-per-performance value are high. If we get the same Sonos sonic character but just smaller in scale and lighter on bass, the Roam shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Not that the Roam will have an easy time of it; competition is fierce where the Roam is positioned. To make its mark, it’ll have to compare to the likes of the JBL Flip 5 (currently number one in our list of best Bluetooth speakers), Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (2nd Gen), Audio Pro Addon C3, and UE Megablast. No mean feat, although the Roam’s extra and Sonos-centric features will have to be accounted for.
All of these best-in-class portable Bluetooth speakers are superb options from established players in the market, and each of these manufacturers has a lot of experience of making such devices. Sonos is a big name in multi-room audio, but portable products are a different kettle of fish.
We’ll have a full review for you as soon as we can.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: early verdict
On paper, the Roam looks like a great device, addressing the criticisms of the Move by being more portable and cheaper. It shouldn’t exactly undermine the Move, though, as the two are quite different propositions: the Roam is a proper portable for taking out with you and by design will have its sonic limitations, while the Move is a Sonos speaker you can take to the garden or another room and get a decent scale of excellent sound from.
The great thing about the Sonos ecosystem is that consumers, and especially Sonos loyals, may well have valid reason to choose both.
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Sonos has just unveiled its cheapest and most portable speaker yet. The new Sonos Roam, which you might already have been acquainted with courtesy of several pre-launch leaks, is the company’s answer to the likes of the JBL Flip 5 and Ultimate Ears Boom 3 portable Bluetooth speakers. But while it shares the same goal in offering an easily transportable, durable way to play music on the go, it naturally boasts some unique, Sonos-centric features that make it stand out from the crowd.
You can predominantly think of the Sonos Roam as a miniature, more affordable Sonos Move, which arrived in late 2019 as the company’s first ‘portable’ speaker. (Here’s how the two Sonos Bluetooth speakers compare.) Like its hybrid sibling, the new Roam has both Bluetooth and wi-fi connectivity, allowing owners to simply pair it with a phone or tablet over the former, or tap into the wide world of music streaming and/or use it within a wider Sonos system.
Its portability is mostly defined by two things: a form that is smaller than a water bottle (16.8 x 6.2 x 6cm), weighs less than a pound (or 430g if you’re more metric-oriented), is IP67-rated for complete water and dust resistance (it can be immersed in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes), and has a built-in rechargeable battery that offers 10 hours of music playback (or can last 10 days in an automatic sleep mode).
On that note, the Sonos Roam comes with a USB-C charging cable (although not a power adapter) and is compatible with standard Qi wireless chargers. Sonos is also launching its own charging base ($49, £tbc), to which the Roam snaps magnetically.
Sonos Roam vs Sonos Move: how Sonos’ Bluetooth speakers compare
The Roam supports Bluetooth 5.0 for connection to a phone, tablet or any other Bluetooth-toting music player, but while that’s often the limit of a Bluetooth speaker’s connectivity, aside from perhaps a 3.5mm input, the Roam can also connect to a home network, opening up at-home accessibility to streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon Music and Tidal, as well as voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. AirPlay 2 is available when connected to wi-fi, too, as is control via the Sonos S2 app.
To that end, the Roam has a few Sonos-centric tricks up its sleeve. Firstly, the Roam can automatically switch between wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity and connected devices, so when you leave the house it can connect to a Bluetooth device without the owner having to initiate pairing, and vice versa. You “just grab it and go,” as a Sonos representative said in the media briefing.
Then there’s the all-new Sonos Swap feature, which lets owners hand off whatever music the Roam is playing to the nearest Sonos speaker by long-pressing the play/pause button. Neat. (It’s something we thought might debut in the highly anticipated Sonos wireless headphones, expected later this year.)
Auto TruePlay – the automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings and adjust sound accordingly, whenever it detects being placed in a new location – is on board following its debut in the Move, too. This time, however, it can work in a Bluetooth domain as well as a network one – functionality that’s also now available for the Move via a new software update.
Sonos has confirmed that the Roam can’t be used as a surround speaker with the company’s Beam or Arc soundbars, though, leaving that job to the Sonos One SL and Sonos IKEA speakers.
Of course, while the Roam enters the market as perhaps the smartest and best connected Bluetooth speaker of its size and price, it will need to sound good to seal a favourable fate. Handling the sonic duties is a custom-designed racetrack woofer and tweeter pairing, driven by two Class H amplifiers and with an adjustable EQ output.
And that’s all, folks. The Sonos Roam is priced £159 ($169, AU$279, €179), making it the most affordable Sonos speaker yet (if you discount the Sonos IKEA collaborative models), undercutting the One SL by the price of a round of drinks.
The Roam is available to pre-order now, with shipping beginning on 20th April.
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T-Mobile will soon put a new privacy policy into effect that will allow it to share certain kinds of customer information with third-party advertisers. Starting on April 26th, 2021, all customers will be automatically opted in to the new program, as spotted by The Wall Street Journal. Customers who don’t want to participate will need to manually opt out using their accounts’ privacy tools.
T-Mobile’s new policy is no different than AT&T or Verizon’s. This is an about-face for former Sprint customers, however. T-Mobile acknowledges in its announcement of the policy change that Sprint offered a similar opt-in service rather than an opt-out one.
The new policy includes the same kind of provisions as AT&T and Verizon for sharing user data with third-party marketers in the name of providing more relevant advertising. The companies say that data they share doesn’t reveal individual customers’ identities and that they don’t share information that’s associated with a child’s device or service.
As harmless as the carriers make this practice sound, it’s something people are growing increasingly wary of. As a response, companies like Google are working to make their data-gathering and sharing practices less intrusive.
If you’re not wild about your carrier sharing data about you with advertisers, it’s easy enough to opt out of these services. AT&T customers can opt out of third-party data sharing by accessing their account’s privacy controls. Similarly, Verizon customers can log in to My Verizon to opt out of what it calls “Relevant Mobile Advertising.”
When I tested Asus ROG’s Zephyrus G14 a year ago, I was blown away. Not only was it just over 3.5 pounds — a weight unheard of for a system with both a powerful processor and a discrete GPU — but it ran even the most demanding games at much better frame rates than any gaming laptop we’d ever seen at that size. And then everything else about it — the keyboard, the touchpad, the audio, the battery life — was also great. The G14 wasn’t just better than other gaming laptops in those areas: it was better than most other laptops at its price point, period.
Given the G14’s resounding success, it was only a matter of time before Asus put it in a 15-inch chassis. The formula wasn’t broken, and Asus didn’t fix it — Asus just made it bigger. While I had some questions when I heard the G15 was on the way (could it deliver the same combination of portability, battery life, and performance as a 14-inch product? Could it do that without costing over $2,000?), what’s become clear throughout my testing period is that the device isn’t just as good as its 14-inch counterpart; it’s somehow even better. Asus and AMD have done it again.
The G15’s secret weapon is its processor. All models have AMD’s monstrous eight-core Ryzen 9 5900HS. My test model, priced at $1,799.99, pairs that chip with Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 3070 (an 80W version, with dynamic boost up to 100W), as well as 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. This configuration is a step above the base model, which includes an RTX 3060 and 512GB of storage. There are also two RTX 3080 models — pair it with 16GB of RAM for $1,999.99 or 32GB of RAM for $2,499.99. (I think my test model hits a sweet spot: 512GB of storage isn’t a lot for a gaming laptop, and it seems like the RTX 3080 models are fairly low-clocked and don’t perform hugely better than the lower-tier options.)
Another highlight, consistent across all models, is the G15’s 165Hz QHD display. We’re finally starting to see 15-inch laptops with QHD screens en masse this year, indicating that this is the first year that manufacturers think mobile hardware is powerful enough to take advantage of them. Traditionally, mobile gamers have had the option of a 1080p display or a 4K display. (Not only is the latter quite expensive, but very few laptops can run demanding games at playable frame rates in 4K.)
So, the big question: Can the Zephyrus G15 run games at QHD resolution? The answer is an emphatic yes.
Some raw numbers to start. The G15 averaged 178fps on CS:GO at maximum settings — dust particles, fires, and other graphically intensive effects looked just fine. Red Dead Redemption II, also at maximum settings, averaged 58fps. (Come on, that’s basically 60). Ray tracing was no problem for this machine: the system averaged 61fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider with ray tracing on ultra, and a whopping 81fps with ray tracing off. Remember, the G15 is running these at QHD resolution, which is already a bigger haul than traditional 1080p.
Those frame rates mean you should be able to run whatever game you want in QHD without bumping down any settings. They put the G15 about on par with MSI’s GS66 Stealth with an Intel Core i7-10870H and a GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q — the two laptops tied on Red Dead and were just one frame apart on Tomb Raider. MSI told us that the QHD GS66 model costs $2,599 — so the G15 with an RTX 3070 is getting the same frame rates for literally $800 less. The G15 also did better than the QHD / RTX 3070 Intel configuration of the Razer Blade 15 Base (53fps on Red Dead, 46fps on Tomb Raider), which costs $400 more. Those differentials should speak for themselves. Yes, the GS66 has a 240Hz screen, but that’s going to be excessive for most people at QHD resolution. If I didn’t already know where the G14 was priced last year, I would be emailing Asus to check if $1,799.99 was a typo. It’s an unbelievable value.
The games all looked great on this screen, which covers 100 percent of the sRGB gamut and 89 percent of AdobeRGB, and maxes out at 334 nits of brightness. It isn’t the highest refresh-rate screen you can get at 165Hz — Razer’s Blade 15 Advanced has a 240Hz QHD model, as does MSI’s GS66 Stealth — but it’s still a significant step above the Zephyrus G14’s 120Hz display. While the G15 doesn’t deliver the best picture I’ve ever seen, it still looks great and certainly improves upon the G14’s 1080p panel. Movement was all smooth, without a stutter in sight, and colors looked great. I saw a small amount of glare when using the device outdoors, but it was still quite usable at maximum brightness.
Cooling, while sometimes iffy on the G14, is stellar on this device. The G15’s “intelligent cooling” system includes two 84-blade fans and six heat pipes. It had no problem with any of the games I threw at it, spending the vast majority of its time between the mid-60s and mid-70s (Celsius) and never jumping above 80 degrees. That’s some of the best cooling performance I’ve ever seen from a gaming laptop, especially considering that this one was running heavy AAA titles, maxed out, at QHD resolution.
More impressively, the fans managed to do this without being deafeningly loud. I could certainly hear them while the machine was under load, but it was standard gaming-laptop noise, and I had no problem hearing game audio. You can also swap to the “Silent” profile in Asus’ Armoury Crate software. That toggle lived up to its name and completely silenced the fans, without causing any heat or performance problems that I observed.
Speaking of audio, the G15’s speakers also sound great. That’s to be expected — there are literally six of them, including two front-facing tweeters and force-canceling woofers under the palm rests. They deliver clear audio with very strong bass and powerful percussion. I don’t often get to say that about laptop audio, especially on gaming laptops. The G15 comes preloaded with Dolby Access, which you can use to jump between equalizer presets for gaming, movies, and music, and it makes a huge difference.
There are three microphones, which had no trouble picking up my voice. They also have presets for game streaming, music recording, and conference calls. Those are handy, but they’re not enough to make the G15 a good choice for remote work because it doesn’t include a webcam. The G14 also didn’t have a camera — Asus seems to have decided that webcams aren’t necessary on Zephyrus products. It’s the one significant knock against a device that is basically perfect otherwise. It’s also very odd to have such an advanced microphone setup and not have a webcam to go with it.
There are a couple other things to note about the G15’s chassis. Like many other Asus laptops, the G15 has an ErgoLift hinge, which folds under the deck when the laptop is open and lifts the keyboard above the ground. This is supposed to create a more ergonomic typing position, though I can’t say I ever noticed the difference. It does dig into your legs a bit if you’re using the laptop on your lap, though. The G15’s hinge isn’t as sharp as some other hinges, but as a frequent couch user, it’s still not my favorite feeling.
The keyboard and touchpad are both great as well. The G14 had one of my favorite keyboards of 2020, and the G15’s is quite similar. The click is comfortable, with 1.7mm of travel, and the dedicated volume keys (a Zephyrus staple) are quite convenient. There’s a fingerprint sensor built into the power button, which is on the top right of the keyboard deck.
The touchpad is massive, at 5.1 x 3.4 inches — 20 percent larger than that of the prior G15 generation. It’s so big that large portions of both my hands were resting on it when they weren’t typing, rather than on the palm rests. This was a bit annoying, but to the G15’s credit, it didn’t cause any palm-rejection issues. It’s also a bit loud and not the easiest or deepest click, but those are nitpicks — it’s a fine touchpad.
But what impressed me the most about the G15 is its battery life. This thing never dies. Using it as my daily driver with an office workload on Asus’ Silent profile around 200 nits of brightness, I averaged eight hours and 32 minutes. That’s just under what I got from the G14, and the G15 has a larger and higher-resolution screen to fuel. The result puts the G15 right up there with its smaller sibling as one of the longest-lasting gaming laptops we’ve ever seen. It has a large 90Wh battery inside, but plenty of gaming rigs with comparable bricks can only make it a few hours on a charge.
Gaming significantly shortens the G15’s life span, of course. I got an hour and 21 minutes of Red Dead out of one charge. Impressively, though, the game was quite playable for much of that time, avoiding stutters and performance issues. The game didn’t drop below playable rates until the G15 was down to 10 percent with six minutes remaining. The 200-watt charger also juices the G15 decently fast — during very light Chrome use, it got the device up to 60 percent in 37 minutes. If you don’t want to carry that heavy brick around and aren’t doing GPU-intensive tasks, the G15 also supports 100W Type-C charging.
At the end of the day, there are things I can nitpick about this device. In particular, the lack of a webcam is egregious. And there are reasons it won’t be for everyone. Folks who are looking for a higher refresh-rate screen may prefer to spend more on a Blade 15 Advanced or a GS66. Those who want a jazzier design may find Asus’ Strix Scar 15 a better fit. And while $1,799 is a great value for these specs, anyone on a tighter budget has options like Lenovo’s Legion 5 on the table.
But almost everything about this laptop is fantastic. And not only is it fantastic, but it’s fantastic for several hundreds of dollars less than its QHD competitors. If you are willing to use an external webcam and you don’t need a 240Hz screen, there’s really no reason you should be buying any other QHD laptop in the thin 15-inch class. The G15 is superior on battery life, superior on power, superior on weight, and superior on price. It’s just the best.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a bold shift for Sega’s long-running series, doing away with beloved protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and shifting to turn-based RPG-style combat. In Kiryu’s place is the wild-haired Ichiban Kasuga, who finds himself homeless in Yokohama after doing 18 years’ hard time for a murder he didn’t commit.
The PlayStation 5 version of Like a Dragon was just released last week, a few months after the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and next-gen Xbox versions. Since then, I’ve played several dozens of hours of Like a Dragon on the Xbox Series X, and it’s become one of my favorite games in the series.
I took the opportunity to ask Masayoshi Yokoyama, Sega’s chief producer and writer on the game, some questions about how the team approached Kasuga as a character and his story from beginning to end.
Warning — there are some pretty heavy spoilers toward the end of this interview.
First, I’d like to ask about Kasuga himself. How involved were you with the character creation process? What were the principles for the character you kept in mind when writing for him?
Basically, I have been in charge of the character settings (such as personalities, speech mannerisms, and the backbone of their action principles) for the main characters that appear in the main story since the first game.
The character, Ichiban Kasuga, was originally born during the development of Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, which is a mobile app title being serviced in Japan.
At the time, we just finished the development of Yakuza 6 and were ideating on a new protagonist to take Kiryu’s place. That’s when we decided on taking apart the indestructible hero image and creating a more “real-world hero.”
Kazuma Kiryu’s personality is representative of characters that appear in “Ninkyo” films, which is a genre of Japanese mafia films that have been around from back in the day. He is generally reserved, stoic, and self-sacrificing, but stronger than anybody and prefers to act alone. In a way, his character embodies qualities that Japanese boys and men would look up to.
Kasuga, on the other hand, was created with the intention of being more “relatable” rather than “admired.” I wanted to create a character whose words and actions would emotionally move us, and someone that you’d want to cheer for and fight alongside.
Since the aforementioned Ryu Ga Gotoku Online was a card battle game in which players form decks with their friends to fight against enemies, I wanted to depict the strength of a “leader” rather than the strength of an “individual,” which became the origin of my idea.
After that, I compiled all of Ichiban Kasuga’s origin and life story into a document and presented to executive director [Toshihiro] Nagoshi and my team members. This led to talks of potentially using this character for the next console game and then eventually became official for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Was there a conscious effort to make him different to Kiryu? What do you think the two characters have in common?
For those that have played both Yakuza and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you may have noticed that Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga lead a similar path.
Both had a difficult childhood without the love of their immediate family, then felt extreme gratitude and admiration for the ones that took care of them. Unable to suppress these emotions, both set out on the path of yakuza. Right when they’re about to become full-fledged yakuza, they both go to prison for a crime neither committed. What awaited them after their long sentence was an unimaginably cruel reality… This general flow is exactly the same for both of them.
However, just because the two characters’ personalities differ so much, the same general plotline gives off a totally different feel for both. Upon release from prison, Kiryu goes straight to find his mentor Kazama. While Kasuga also tries to find his mentor, Arakawa, before he sets out to do so, he decides to clean himself a bit first and stops by the hair salon to get a botched perm. Both characters follow the same path, but vastly differ in their portrayal.
I actually haven’t had too much difficulty depicting each of the characters. For Yakuza: Like a Dragon, I set out to write the story after fleshing out Ichiban Kasuga as a human being, so while writing, I even surprised myself at times how different these characters acted within very similar circumstances.
Which came first: the idea to make Kasuga an RPG obsessive, or the decision to shift Like a Dragon to RPG-style turn-based combat?
The decision to shift to RPG came first. The character setting that Kasuga loves RPGs came after.
As previously mentioned above, the concept was “to create a new relatable hero,” so we chose the most optimal game system (a party system) that would make Ichiban Kasuga’s story interesting. We wouldn’t have made the same decision for Kiryu, who fights with only his own power.
One of my beliefs in creating games is to “value the core of play.” This involves deciding what the game is supposed to entertain, and then assigning the various components to the right places accordingly.
The story is the core element of the Yakuza series. This game was made to enjoy the story, and the other elements such as the city used as the setting, music, mini-games, and battle action are all there to elevate the story experience.
For Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the most optimal way for players to experience the story and show the battles of Ichiban Kasuga and his friends that gathered around him was the RPG style. So, upon deciding the RPG genre, there were then a few questions that we had to address, such as: How will we make Kasuga relate to the “hero” job class? What is the logic behind the exchanges during these battles within Kasuga’s mind? One way we addressed these was to make Kasuga an RPG enthusiast.
The character’s personalities are often expressed in their combat moves — was there discussion between the writing and gameplay teams on specific abilities that would be funny or appropriate?
Here at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, there isn’t much of a clear distinction between the writing and game design teams. I started out in what we call in Japan as a “planning position” (game designer), and I’m now kind of like the boss of the whole planning team [laughs]. All the other writers on the team are selected from among the current planning staff based on their writing skills and put on different projects.
Basically, the game designing and narrative writing are not compartmentalized, so our planning crew meetings always have the mini-game designers, battle action staff, and writers in attendance. Even the voice recording is supervised by the person in charge of each part of the game.
That’s the overall gist of things, so even for anything minor, we discuss and make decisions as a whole team. Ideas are always flowing, but since we value the energy and momentum over the precision of an idea, so we do end up axing a lot of them [laughs].
I don’t know if this is the same for everyone, but Like a Dragon took me a lot longer to finish than other games in the series. This is probably because of the slower-paced combat, but did the longer running time affect your approach to story writing and pacing?
The volume and length of the story is actually not that different from the past games in the series. So, it didn’t affect the story writing and pacing all that much. We look to the general volume of a 10-episode Japanese drama series when creating the Yakuza series.
For this game, I think the reason for the longer playtime was because of the shift to RPG, requiring more time to level up.
The accelerating the battle tempo was something we worked on until the very end of development. We also continued to make adjustments to the time it takes to level up, but the game is designed so it will become difficult to beat the stronger bosses unless you change jobs and collect materials for better weapons.
For those players that are playing this game in the same way you played through the past ones, it might feel a bit longer, but we went with this kind of balancing because we wanted players to discover the fun sights of the city while leveling up their party, instead of simply grinding to level up.
The Yakuza series has a really unique blend of serious and light-hearted subject matter. How do you balance those aspects when writing and make sure everything feels appropriate for the series?
As touched upon earlier, I think the greatest strength of our team is that the narrative, game design, character design, animation, and sound creation staff all have a deep understanding of what the “core” is.
The reason for this isn’t simply how long we’ve known each other or how well we get along. I think that each and every staff member loves Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) and I think that’s the biggest reason. I personally am in charge of story writing and also am the chief producer and have a hand in ideating and executing on some marketing and PR initiatives, but every decision I make is based on how to reflect the content of the game in any kind of promotion or campaign, and how to make the game itself more interesting.
All staff members that are involved with the game, including those working within the game and outside of the game, such as the sales team, advertising team, and marketing team, are working hard to increase the produce value of the game, so everyone’s accumulated effort is maybe what creates this great balance.
In a past game, someone on the advertising team even wrote and implemented an original story scenario for a real company that appeared in Kamurocho that he was the point person for [laughs], so as you can kind of see what kind of team Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is.
This is the first Yakuza game where you’re accompanied by a party of characters for almost the entire running time, and they all have their own motivations. Was that a challenge compared to previous Yakuza games, where the focus tends to be on the current protagonist?
In the past, when creating games like Yakuza 0, which depicted the past of Yakuza, and other remake titles, I would dig deeper into the characters other than the protagonist, so this wasn’t so much of a challenge for me.
I think Arakawa is probably the most pivotal character in the game. The intro does a good job of making him a sympathetic character before setting him up as the villain, and then he’s revealed to have been on the Tojo Clan’s side all along, before meeting a tragic end. How early on in the writing process was his role decided, and was he always intended to have an arc that spanned most of the game’s story?
This was something that was decided at the start of writing the first chapter. When creating the intro scene of the game, my determination was that “I’m going to depict the life of this man, Masumi Arakawa,” so the game started out on that scene.
The Han Joon-gi twist was particularly unexpected for me given how he died in Yakuza 6. What was the thought behind (sort of) bringing him back as Kim Yeonsu?
This was actually something that was decided around the time I started thinking of Ichiban Kasuga’s story. There wasn’t too much deliberation behind this decision, but my personal thought was that if the Jingweon Mafia were to make an appearance, then Han Joon-gi has to be there, too. In addition, I feel like the Jingweon Mafia would do something like that. Sorry for surprising you [laughs].
Of course, the biggest reveal of the game is the return of Kiryu, although his role is quite minor. Were you planning from the beginning to include him in Like a Dragon, considering how Yakuza 6 seemingly drew a line under his storyline?
This wasn’t decided in the early stages of planning the story. When the main themes of the game were decided to be about the dualities of the front and back — the hypocrisy and justice, the superficiality and the truth of Japanese society — I thought it was impossible not to have him appear in the episode of the underworld, so we decided that he would make an appearance.
I have the same question for Goro Majima, who seems to appear in every Yakuza game to varying degrees now. In Like a Dragon, he’s a difficult boss fight but doesn’t otherwise have a big role in the story — how did you approach his inclusion?
The reason why we decided that he’d make an appearance is the same as for Kazuma Kiryu. However, the big difference is that we cut all ties to the past. This game is unwaveringly seen from Ichiban Kasuga’s perspective, so we got rid of any information or connections that Kasuga has no need of knowing.
This is the beginning of the tale of Ichiban Kasuga, and not a continuation of the Kazuma Kiryu story.
We wanted those players that started the series with Like a Dragon to have the same amount of knowledge and emotions as Kasuga when interacting with Majima and other characters from the past series, so we didn’t include any unnecessarily deep interactions.
I’m sure you can’t say anything specific about potential future games, but I thought it was interesting how Like A Dragon finished on an open-ended note, with Kasuga deciding his friends are what’s most important to him. Is there a direction you’d like to take the character in the future?
I think that Yakuza: Like a Dragon is only the first chapter of Ichiba Kasuga’s life. Since he was in prison for 18 years, he has only just begun his life as an adult man. I’m sure there’s probably many trials and tribulations that await him.
Even Kazuma Kiryu, who was said to be the strongest, had his life turned upside down with his encounter with a little girl. As Kasuga starts out his new life, he will surely encounter challenges that he cannot solve through violence or brute force.
I develop each game with the intention of creating a life of a single person. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to write Ichiban Kasuga’s life or not, but I can totally imagine him in deep trouble somewhere on the face of this Earth [laughs].
Twitter’s social audio feature Spaces continues to expand its test group, but currently if you miss a live session, you miss the conversation for good. That, however, might change soon. In an interview with The Verge’s Nilay Patel on his Decoder podcast, Kayvon Beykpour, head of consumer product at Twitter, says the company plans to build a way to natively record conversations.
“I think it should be a choice,” he says. “If you think that the conversation was worth playing back, you ought to be able to do that. I personally am a little bit more bullish on two things. One, obviously the host should be able to save it and do whatever they want. Maybe you host a Space, you save it, then want to go edit it. You should be able to do that.”
He goes on to say that the idea of recording and sharing clips gets trickier when participants want to share audio without the host’s explicit consent.
“I also think that the notion of letting the audience pick sound bites and share them as clips could be really, really powerful,” he says. “Now, the challenge with that is you have a sort of a really challenging consent issue because you have the host’s intent in mind of, does the host want this conversation to be preserved or shared? [Then] there’s the speakers, who are a different actor than the host. Their consent is really important.”
Currently, Twitter does record conversations and retains them for 30 days, but only for moderation purposes. The hosts can download that data for as long as Twitter has it, as well as a copy of the transcription (so long as the host had them turned on during the session). Its competitor Clubhouse, on the other hand, only keeps conversation recordings when a room is live, in case a rule violation comes up, but then deletes the data once the room ends.
The idea that Twitter might let users natively record sets Spaces up to be a direct funnel to podcasting. It also changes the energy of a Space from an off-the-cuff conversation to one that might sound more professional. The functionality might be similar to the forthcoming audio app from Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi called Fireside, which will also allow people to record their conversations. The app, which The Verge checked out last week, even builds music into the live shows so that the recordings sound more like a podcast. Fireside itself will eventually allow people to distribute their recordings natively through RSS feeds.
Twitter doesn’t seem to want to align Spaces that closely with the podcasting ecosystem, but the team does appear to recognize that people want their conversations to be preserved and distributed outside of Twitter itself.
You can hear the full Decoder conversation below in which Beykpour discusses more of Twitter’s new features, including Super Follows.
RHA’s latest premium true wireless buds are well-built and comfortable but ultimately play it too safe sonically
For
Pleasantly full-bodied
Well-built, comfortable design
Decent noise-cancelling
Against
Lacks punch and rhythmic talent
Treble not refined
Charging case is fiddly
RHA is one of many headphone manufacturers offering a focused true wireless earbuds proposition that consists of one premium pair with active noise-cancelling and a more affordable pair without it.
The company’s naming choices leave visitors to its website in no doubt as to which is which in its arsenal. The RHA TrueControl ANC we have on test here sit above the RHA TrueConnect 2, justifying their flagship status with not only noise-cancellation but also Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX connectivity, dedicated app support and an IPX4-rated level of water and sweat resistance that means they should survive water splashes.
Build
The TrueControl ANC’s battery life of 20 hours – five hours from the buds, plus 15 hours from the charging case – isn’t superior to its sibling, though. That isn’t perhaps wholly surprising considering noise cancellation is rather battery-draining, but it is still somewhat disappointing in light of the competition. Noise-cancelling rivals, such as the Apple AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM3 and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2, all claim 24 hours or more.
We’re pleased to see fast charging support (14 minutes provides an hour of playback) as well as broad wireless charging compatibility on the menu. As is typical, a wireless charger isn’t provided, but out of the box the earbuds’ charging case can be replenished via the supplied USB-C cable.
The charging case reminds us of our time with the original RHA TrueConnect earbuds, which featured a similar case that we called “neat, but somewhat fiddly”. The aluminium case twists open to reveal the earbuds securely embedded into deep magnetic divots, but the slot only opens by a couple of finger-widths, and so it isn’t always easy to pluck them out.
That said, there are a swathe of rival designs on the market that vary vastly in quality, and this makes us appreciate the rare premium quality of the TrueControl ANC case’s solid build. It feels made to last and hardy enough to survive a tumble out of a hand, bag or pocket.
The earbuds have a matching air of quality about them too. They look and feel nicely finished, and we’ve no complaints with the responsive circular touchpad, which in the dedicated RHA Connect app can be set to skip tracks, adjust volume and cycle through noise-cancelling modes (on, off or ‘ambient’) with swipe forward/backward or tapping motions.
The app is also where you can adjust EQ, see battery levels and activate wear detection features – ‘auto-pause’ pauses music when an earbud is removed from your ear, while ‘auto-play’ resumes play when it is reinserted. Both work as promised during our test.
Comfort
The buds join the likes of the Sony WF-1000XM3 as some of the bulkiest earbud designs out there, but that isn’t a reason to avoid them – in fact, they’re one of the most comfortable and secure-fitting we’ve come across.
They’re easy to lock in place without much force or twisting, in part thanks to a notch that easily nestles into your ears. And multiple sizes of silicone and memory foam tips ensure there’s something for everyone.
When in place, the TrueControl ANC make your ears feel a little full – you won’t end up forgetting they are in – but despite the size of the earbud housings they feel relatively lightweight. Not even a mild attempt at headbanging during Judas Priest’s Hell Patrol manages to dislodge them.
Sound
The RHA’s sonic character plays into the hands of such a track: it’s big and full, warm and smooth, with an abundant low-end and rich mids that are able to get stuck into the meaty electric riffs and double-kick drumming. There’s a fair amount of detail in the mix, too.
Switch the noise-cancelling on and it doesn’t affect the sonics as much as we’ve heard with some other earbuds – all in all, it’s pretty satisfying. Their best efforts to reduce background TV noise and everyday road traffic are laudable, although as is to be expected from this kind of design they won’t cloak you in isolation to the extent that heavy traffic or engine noise is completely muted. You’re still likely to be disturbed when playing at low volume or mellow instrumental tracks, too.
The TrueControl ANC’s ‘ambient’ mode works adequately, amplifying your surroundings so you can conveniently hear conversations or announcements without having to remove the buds from your ears.
Our main issue with these RHAs is their inability to deliver the more mature aspects of sound as well as the best-in-class competition can. Compared with the slightly more affordable Sony WF-1000XM3, the TrueControl ANC lack the dynamic punch and rhythmic prowess to truly engage you in anything particularly musical. Dynamically, they’re fairly restrained, and the fact their rich balance doesn’t hugely favour treble doesn’t help them sound any less subdued either.
What treble there is lacks refinement, too, and this is highlighted when we play Soul Push’s Good Man. Whereas the grooves underpinning the track sound upbeat, crisp and open through the Sonys, the RHA’s rendition isn’t as spirited and musically cohesive and is less interesting to listen to.
Verdict
The RHA TrueControl ANC offer a comfortable listen – one that can be easily endured for hours without it grating. However, it’s not all that compelling, especially at lower volumes where they all too easily settle for offering background listening.
Despite their neat, comfortable earbud design and decent noise-cancelling, they need to offer more in the sound department at this premium price to merit a place on people’s shortlists.
SCORES
Sound 3
Comfort 5
Build 4
MORE:
Read our guide to the best true wireless earbuds and best AirPods alternatives
Ultra-high-end Swiss hi-fi manufacturer Goldmund has launched a new SACD player, the EIDOS Reference, costing £175,000. The player takes its name from Plato’s theory of forms and is as high-minded as it is high-priced.
The Eidos Reference can read all current digital disc formats (SACD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW) and audio data from DVDs. Alongside the dedicated balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs, there’s also a USB input capable of supporting PCM audio up to 384kHz and DoP up to DSD512.
The EIDOS is the consequence of a long-term project researching disc mechanisms at Goldmund’s Geneva labs.
A mechanism from D&M was chosen and integrated into a Goldmund mechanical grounding system. Goldmund says its magnetic damping technology further increases the loader mechanism’s rigidity, thus improving sound clarity.
Goldmund has also included all of its technologies that relate to vibration control, power supply regulation, digital conversion and analogue circuitry, in order to extract the best performance possible.
Each Eidos player is handmade in Geneva, weighs a substantial 110kg and comes in either a classic aluminium finish or a new, matt black option. If you’re a discerning music lover with a suitable hi-fi system (and a strong back), this could be your next source.
MORE
7 examples of high-end audio engineering to savour
The Sennheisers offer an even and analytical listen, they’re just missing an extra ounce of energy and fun
For
Expansive, detailed presentation
Comfortable design
Solid build and finish
Against
Beaten for verve and energy
There’s an old Chinese proverb, attributed to zen master Hsi-Tang Chih Tsang in 800AD, that reads: “Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes it obstructs your vision.” Back then, he wouldn’t have had access to the Sennheiser HD 560S open-back headphones, but his summation reminds us that items deemed highly desirable can produce the greatest disdain, should we find them disappointing.
In hi-fi circles, any product boldly claiming to have been “crafted for the analytical audio enthusiast” but carrying a price tag of less than £200 ($200) will probably either turn out to be exceptionally good value or a huge disappointment. So, has Sennheiser struck a rich seam of gold with the HD 560S, or is it about to rub the dust in our eye?
Comfort
Sonically, Sennheiser is pushing these cans as the closest option to its thrice-the-price HD 660S, but in terms of comfort the company likens them to the reputable HD 599.
Thanks to the velour earpads and ample padding on the headband, they are really rather comfortable. And at 240g without the cable, their relative lightness belies the size of those large earcups, which really do fit around the ear.
Although Sennheiser’s claimed ‘barely there’ feel is optimistic – the clamping force of the plastic headband is stronger than the What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Grado SR325e, for example – they’re an easy wear thanks to the padding, light design and slightly forward-angled earcups. Owing to their open-back design, the HD 560S feel ventilated and cool to wear, too.
Sennheiser HD 560S tech specs
Type Open-back, over-ear
Impedance 120ohms
Frequency response 6Hz – 38kHz
Output 6.3mm jack (with 3.5mm adapter)
Cable length 3m
Weight 240g
The headband is plastic and the sliding mechanism clicks when adjusting them to fit, but it isn’t noisy during use. The earcups are anchored low enough to permit just enough movement, in or out from the headband itself, for an optimal fit. The cups are also designed to swivel just enough to ensure they will cover your ear properly.
These wired headphones come with a rubberised and relatively slender 3m cable, with the 6.3mm plug designed to connect to hi-fi sources, such as headphone amps and audio interfaces, bearing that connection. The bundled 3.5mm adaptor, meanwhile, will hook you up to digital audio players, tablets and smartphones that have a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Sennheiser HD 560S’ cable is detachable and connected to the left earcup only.
Build
Under the hood, Sennheiser’s all-new 120ohm drive unit with a specialised polymer-blend diaphragm and high-strength magnet aims to reproduce deep bass notes and treble with both clarity and control.
Sennheiser says its Ergonomic Acoustic Refinement (EAR) angled driver alignment recreates the optimal triangular listening position you’d find in hi-fi loudspeaker setups and high-end recording studios, too.
Although this is an open-back headphone and susceptible to ‘leaking’ sound by design, we find the Sennheisers actually bleed audio far less loudly than the aforementioned Grado SR325e. That said, if you’re conscious of not upsetting your housemates with your musical choices, take heed.
Sound
We cue up Sean Paul’s reggae/dancehall classic, Dutty Rock, and the Tidal Master album comes through with an unusually healthy dollop of spaciousness at this level. The initial chord intro to I’m Still In Love With You snakes between our left and right ears with a greater analytical accuracy than through most competing headphones at this level.
Sasha’s vocal is well handled through the easy treble next to Paul’s deeper registers within a cohesive and layered mix. Instruments such as horns, which can often feel muddied in this track, are celebrated with a good amount of three-dimensional brassiness through the midrange, too.
As the album continues to Bubble, the presentation is even, clear and spacious. The bass is agile, although there is a little extra bass weight available in the pricier Grado SR325e. Roughly struck key chords through the treble are also marginally more impactful and edgier through the Grados, but even accounting for the price difference we feel the Sennheisers don’t convey the full degree of verve and zeal which we know to be part of the recording.
We switch to Melissa Etheridge’s Come To My Window and a shaker is beautifully placed at the top of our right ear. Etheridge’s rhythm guitar joins a cohesive mix where every passage is noteworthy and musically pleasing, alongside an unusually detailed vocal for the category. Our playlist continues to Angels Would Fall and, again, there’s separation and layering, from the initial riff in our left ear to the eventual central, textured vocal.
Over the course of our testing, we find much to celebrate when listening to classical music – stream Ravel’s Jeux d’eaux played by Monique Haas, and the keys are emotive, clear and refined – but we find ourselves wanting just a little bit more energy, punch and excitement from the HD 560S when listening to our heavier, funkier reference tracks.
Verdict
Sennheiser’s extensive back-catalogue of five-star and Award-winning headphones spans more than five decades. This wired set of open-back over-ears is a valid addition, offering a perfectly acceptable and sonically detailed budget-conscious option.
Those looking for audiophile-grade sound quality – as is the company’s claim – will, however, find them just a shade undercooked for punch, zeal and enthusiasm.
Best Speaker Stands Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best speaker stands you can buy in 2021.
We’d argue there’s really no such thing as bookshelf speakers. Even if that’s how yours were advertised, it’ll take a sturdy pair of speaker stands to have them sounding their best.
You needn’t spend eye-watering amounts to achieve good support for your speakers, however. There are plenty of affordable options that are still rigid and non-resonating, neutralising unwanted cabinet vibrations, thus minimising distortion and improving overall sound quality.
The technology is such that a fine pair of stands from a few years ago will be a fine pair of stands today, but if you’re still propping your speakers up on an MDF bookcase, you’d best think about investing right now.
So, without further ado, here are the best options for every budget.
1. Atacama Moseco 6
The best speaker stands we’ve heard at the money – work well with all sorts of speakers.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (hwd): 61.5 x 22.5 x 30.5 cm
Reasons to Buy
Punchy and detailed performance
Sturdy build and finish
Good value
There’s a reason these Atacama speaker stands continue picking up What Hi-Fi? Awards. Two metal columns – one filled for better stability, one for cable management – and a bamboo base offer sturdy support and a neat look.
And they allow our system to flourish by letting the speakers deliver their best in terms of punch, detail and rhythm. For around a ton, you’ll struggle to do better.
Read the full review: Atacama Moseco 6
2. Soundstyle Z2
If you’re looking for one of the best speaker stand bargains, look no further.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (hwd): 56.8 x 22.5 x 30.5 cm
Reasons to Buy
Great value
Can boost detail, attack and openness
Reasons to Avoid
The tonal balance could be weightier
The Soundstyle Z2 speaker stands have been favourites of ours for more than a decade, winning Awards at various prices, and they remain a solid (ahem) choice.
Soundstyle has added lockable spikes to the base and improved the bolt and socket assembly of the main support for additional rigidity, while also filling the stands with damping materials to reduce resonance. They also come with top spikes. The new stands can help improve detail, add drive and help bring out the excitement in your music.
Read the full review: Soundstyle Z2
3. Q Acoustics Concept 20 Speaker Stands
An elegant pair of stands that allow your system to sound its very best.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (hwd): 65.5 x 24 x 38.6 cm
Reasons to Buy
Allow for subtlety and punch
Help where rhythms are concerned
Excellent build and finish
Designed for the Q Acoustics speaker, but compatible with any speakers, these are a little more expensive but deliver a performance to justify the price.
The clever construction – a layer of compliant compound in the metal top plate that helps dampen unwanted resonances by turning them into heat energy – makes them superb supports for all types of speakers. They look classy and have some cable management, while sonically they will free-up your system in terms of punch and bite.
Read the full review: Q Acoustics Concept 20 Speaker Stands
4. Custom Design FS104 Signature
Allow speakers to sound vibrant, transparent and rhythmical.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (hwd): 61 x 19 x 24 cm
Reasons to Buy
Exciting, informative delivery
Range of sizes
The FS104 Signature has five columns: a large one in the middle and four satellites. Assembly is fairly simple, especially for anyone who’s ever played with construction sets or a certain brand of Swedish furniture.
There’s an all-black option but, for contrast, the satellites also come in gold, chrome and brushed chrome. Overall, these stands allowed our kit to perform with more control and precision than did their rivals, offering a livelier, clearer sound.
Read the full review: Custom Design FS104 Signature
5. Atacama HMS2
More than capable premium stands.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (hwd): 60.7 x 25 x 30 cm
Reasons to Buy
Wide, open soundstage
Good detail
Option of rubber pads
Reasons to Avoid
Not quite as musically cohesive as we’d like
Made from carbon steel, the HMS2s (HMS stands for High Mass) certainly look built to last and come in a smart matt black finish, the only colour option at the moment. Our sample arrived ready filled with Atabite fillers, just to add to the weight (these cost extra).
Tonally these Atacama’s help our reference speakers offer a prominent and smooth midrange and sweet treble, although the bass lacks some authority where needed. With the HMS2s, Atacama has supplied a more than capable stand, that will appeal to fans of detailing and those who like their vocals sweet and smooth.
Read the full review: Atacama HMS2
Best speakers 2021
See all our speaker stand reviews
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