Audio - Page 11

Suitable for those wanting to game on a Microsoft Windows PC, Sony PlayStation 4, or Xbox One, Corsair has today announced its VOID Surround headset - adding a wired version to the previously all-wireless product range.

"Most gamers don't play on just one platform, so we wanted to build a headset that can be used anywhere" said Corsair's headset product manager, Joshua LaTendresse, with this headset adding the same sound quality and comfort enjoyed in our VOID 7.1 RGB wireless review. Made with a cast aluminum construction and microfiber ear cups, lovers of leather should look elsewhere.

This headset functions with Dolby 7.1 functions only when plugged in through USB, as we're not being offered a 'true surround-sound' experience here - but as my reviews go to show, that's not really a bad thing. Being released with an MSRP of $79.99 compared to the newly-announced wireless RGB white model at $129.99, this product is available for purchase immediately.

With a minimalistic design and body constructed of birch wood, the 'Get Up Stand Up' home Bluetooth speaker system by House of Marley is a fancy new addition to this saturated market.

When a market is saturated you have to do something different in order to stand out from the crowd, with Hosue of Marley opting for this great wooden design and frame, while including what seems to be a decent audio setup. Available for $329.99 from Amazon or the company directly, this unit offers two 4.5-inch woofers, two 1-inch tweeters and an internal amplifier for maximum sound output.

Connection options include Bluetooth, 3.5mm AUX and RCA, while the speaker can be completely controlled via the supplied remote. As for extra features, this speaker has an included USB port in order to charge your smartphone while in use.

When you're simply wanting to run the best house parties, it seems that Dashbon is the company to call up. Its new invention is called 'Flicks' and these two models offer up to eight hours of playback when operating off an internal battery while pumping out sound at the same time.

Available in a 140WH model which is priced at $599 and a 280WH model at $699, these LED projectors both display content in 720p HD, offer a HDMI connection that includes smartphone support, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and Bluetooth 4.0 support. The smaller edition provides four hours of movie playback or 28 hours of Bluetooth jams while the larger 280WH model offers the claimed eight-hour movie experience or 56 hours of Bluetooth music.

Weighing in at 6.17 lb (2.8 kg) and 7.72lb (3.5 kg) respectively, you can further connect these all-in-one projectors to your Roku Streaming Stick, Google Chromcast or Amazon Fire TV Stick.

New to the world but not to us, Epic Gear has just announced its new THUNDEROUZ headset to the world - something that I've been pre-release testing with a review to follow soon.

This headset features Epic Gear's own EG-Amp technology, working as an amplifier for the headset when plugged in through USB, supporting the provided 3.5m AUX connection. Another unique feature on offer here includes the touch sensor on the side of the earcup, allowing users to seamlessly change through different lighting modes and effects, great for those after something a little more fancy.

Sporting 50mm neodymium drivers, plush leatherette earcups and a stereo 2.0 sound configuration, this headset will be available mid-March for around $79.99.

Known for its wide range of mobile accessories and reliable power banks, Arctic has recently announced a new company direction - gaming headsets.

Announcing the P533 Series in a recent press release, this technology and lifestyle brand has signified a slightly altered company direction. The two headsets on offer are identical in specifications but offer different color schemes, being released in both Racing and Military color schemes.

Sporting cloth earcups, a 2m extension cable, a 3.5mm AUX connection, neodymium drivers and compatibility with Xbox, PlayStation, tablets, smartphones and PCs, this new range is available for $79.99 from the company directly.

Guitar maker Fender is now in the headphones game with its Fender Pro In-Ear Monitors line. Designed and assembled in Nashville by last year's acquisition Aurisonics, the price ranges from $99 to $499, depending on which of the five models you choose.

The higher-end models include 3D-printed Digital Hybrid Technology (DHT) shells, which are based on thousands of ear scans with the aim of creating a universal fit (Fender claims they 95 percent of ears will love them). Some others feature Hybrid-Dynamic tuned Balanced Armature Array (HDBA) for a "rich, full frequency response with substantial bass."

Availability is not yet known, but we'll keep you posted.

An update to the Amazon Echo now lets Alexa read you a nice story. And this new feature has a chance of replacing you as the head minstrel, reading bedtime stories to your kids.

This update comes completely free to all owners of the Echo, and works rather simply. Just ask Alexa to "read "insert book name here" and she'll start exploring the depths of that particular novel. Unfortunately her voice isn't quite so natural sounding as of yet, but it's quite the innovation, especially if you'd rather listen to that while engaged with other activities. She's able to read any book in your Kindle library.

The interesting thing is how this will conflict with another Amazon company, Audible, which serves up actual narrated audio-books. Granted, Alexa isn't quite as sultry and smooth as some of the great narrators used for Audible books, but given time we could see a rise in the popularity of using a well-developed AI to do such things instead. Siri even sounds a lot more natural now, even if some of her responses are pre-programmed.

Warner Bros. is definitely not shy when it comes to revealing details about the most expensive movie ever made: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The studio has just released a tease of one of the tracks from the score of Batman v Superman, called "Their War Here". Personally, I think this will be the music we'll hear during the flashback scene where Bruce Wayne is running through Metropolis when Superman and Zod were fighting in Man of Steel.

The official soundtrack for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice drops on March 18, one week before the movie hits theaters. It'll arrive digitally, on CD, a 2-disc deluxe CD, and on a Limited Edition 3-disc deluxe vinyl. As for the full track listing, check it out:

Currently on Kickstarter with under three days remaining, Hult Design has presented its Pavilion wireless speaker and D-spiral acoustic system.

Sitting at $64,613 raised of the $70,000 goal and 65 hours to go at the time of writing this article, this speaker features some amazing design characteristics and has been based on architectural influences from around the globe. Featuring three-dimensional audio, a D-spiral acoustic bass booster, a 20W peerless driver, APTX + AAC codec and touch controls, this product has had its internal speakers provided by Tymphany, a company with over 85 years of experience.

However, style and class comes at a price, with an investment of $279 earning you a black of white Pavilion Q speaker, marked at $110 off retail. If you're looking for more sound, two units are the maximum per person and will set you back $449.

CES 2016 - Sennheiser's booth was a very alluring audio enthusiasts paradise, but they were showing off far more than just fancy and expensive headphones. They're pioneers in VR audio.

The most interesting and significant technology that they demonstrated was their proprietary 3D algorithm for they developed for games. The game demo they had running was called EDEN and was mostly a barren landscape rendered with Unreal Engine 4. In that hilly landscape though are a swathe of dinosaurs that are stomping about to help demonstrate what a 3D audio landscape sounds like. And it's a remarkable difference. What this algorithm does is work with HMD's to give an illusory feeling of aural freedom. So when you move your head around, the audio changes appropriately. This is a far cry from typical sound encoding for games.

The API they've created is able to easily calculate those changes, which will likely be a bit more computationally intensive than in the past. This middleware will hopefully make its way to game developers soon, and it would be cool to see a partnership with AMD so they could use their TrueAudio technology to use the GPU to do those calculations. The demo was a bit sparse and it could definitely have used a bit more interactivity, but it was a good first showing of what'll eventually be available. The future of audio is looking bright, such as it did back when Aureal and Creative were battling it out with their a3d and EAX API's.

CES 2016 - Computer audio has been somewhat stagnant lately, with even Creative letting the audio chipset they developed for the Sound Blaster Z line carry them over in the discreet audio world for awhile. But that hasn't stopped them from continually upping the game in the field of audio.

For their next trick, they're bringing 15.2-channel sound, and Dolby Atmos certification, to the living room in the form of a sound bar. That's right, a premium sound bar device that lets you enjoy what's usually reserved for theaters or the incredibly willing audio enthusiast.

The X-Fi Sonic Carrier is more than just a way to enjoy Atmos enabled content, which is where there's more positional data encoded in the source than there probably is in real-life, but it's also a complete home entertainment solution aiming to take on the living-room entertainment space. And the positional audio from one bar is actually pretty convincing too.

CES 2016 - Audio is a precarious subject for a lot of reasons. Not everyone can tell the difference between two different sets of headphones and sometimes audio-quality isn't the first thing on some peoples minds when it comes to building PC's. But then you try a $55,000 set of headphones and you wonder where they've been all your life.

Sennheiser is now on to their second generation of Orpheus headphones, using the original 1991 model as inspiration, they crafted the ultimate audio experience. And no, the price-tag doesn't color the experience, they're actually that good. It's overwhelming, so much so that someone actually cried while listening to the Orpheus (not me, but almost...)

They feel expensive in your hand, and I placed them gingerly on my head, careful to avoid bending them too far. But there's no actual need to fret, because these are made to be used and actually listened to. I put them on with Hotel California playing through them, which has a huge variety of sounds to help showcase just what they're capable of. Once they're on, you get blown away by the huge sound-stage, something that extends into what might be described as natural. It's not like you're sitting at a concert, no, it's much more than that. It's like you're literally in the music itself somehow, if you close your eyes. It just envelopes and it's never harsh and I certainly never wanted to take them off.

CES 2016 - Beyerdynamic has a good showing at CES this year with a new product that just launched, the DT 1770 PRO, as well as a much improved version of their halo product, the T1, which I took the chance to sit down and relax to some tunes while the world wizzed by.

The second generation of the T1 improves on a lot of the areas that astute audiophiles have been complaining about since they came out. First on that list are a removable cable system based off of mini-XLR that allows for customized cabling from your favorite third party. IT's a huge step forward even just for the piece of mind given that cables connections are the first to wear out anyway.

And inside they've reworked the drivers completely to give it a slightly different, but overall better sound profile. The top-end is slightly rolled-off but the low-end is perhaps even more smooth and just a bit more present. The result is a more fun headphone that doesn't completely sacrifice the neutral flavor that they're known for. Even on the loud show-floor, the sound was good on a variety of material. Subtelties in the works of Dvorak couldn't be discerned with such loud ambient noise, but even then the sound is leagues better than Apple Earpods.

CES 2016 - Another interesting announcement from the trade show in Las Vegas this year comes in the form of EVGA's new 'Pro Audio card'.

Joining the recent announcement of a laptop that was designed fully in-house, EVGA says that this card targets gamers and audiophiles, but the name isn't finalized just yet. It's likely that the specifications aren't finalized as the name isn't even decided just yet , so stay tuned for updates.

We do have a little bit of info on this card though, with EVGA saying that this card is set to contain "State of the art audio fidelity" and "True analog engineering for lifelike audio reproduction." As for specifications and form, the company says it will providing a 130dB+ signal to noise ratio and being released in two modes - as a PCI Express x1 add-on card and an external USB.

CES 2016 - Adding to it's award-winning Cloud headset lineup, Kingston HyperX has announced that a console headset will be joining the ranks, coming in the form of the HyperX CloudX, set for release in late Q2 2016.

Offically licensed and destined for the Xbox One, this headset will connect directly to your Xbox One through a 3.5mm Aux plug, providing audio and sound in one. Alongside an in-line volume control, this headset also boasts memory foam ear cushions, a leather-padded headband and hard carry case.

While this product is based initially on the Cloud II headset design, the CloudX comes packaged with a different conection setup, a hard carry case and an in-line volume control unit without the need of a virtual 7.1 surround-sound card. If you're after one of these for yourself, you're going to have to wait for a confirmation on pricing.

CES 2016 - Powered by a total of 7 processors with 14 cores, the X-Fi Sonic Carrier soundbar by Creative contains 15 drivers and it's a monster.

Currently priced at $1750 for pre-order and set to be $5000 on release, this product's internal structure is CNC machined and supports connections through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and wireless speaker links, allowing users to link up an additional four subwoofer units as they see fit. Operating in a 15.2 configuration, the drivers offer an 800 watt RMS total rating, featuring drivers in an 11-front/side and 4 up-facing configuration.

Supporting up to 4K (60fps) video content playback, this system allows for online music streaming service integration from companies such as Spotify and Pandora, while servicing video giants such as Netflix, Hulu plus and HBO GO. If there was is a soundbar holy grail, this has got to be it.

If you're looking at an audiophile level all-in-one speaker system, this collaboration between AKG and Grammy winner Quincy Jones might just be the thing for you.

The Q200 features six speakers within and has been dubbed part of the Quincy Jones signature collection, joining the N90Q headphones which were released one year ago. This speaker system contains six drivers within, powered by 300W amplifiers and claims to "fill any room with exceptional volume and unbeatable studio-quality sound."

Featuring connection options through AirPlay, DNLA, Bluetooth, analog, optical and phono preamp integration, the speaker further contains the ability to run Spotify Connect Technology. Compatible with Smartphones and tablets, simply connect through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and play music to your hearts content - this is crucial as there are barely any controls on the speaker system itself, meaning you're going to have to run everything through your device.

Ever wanted to worship your favorite audiophile brand but often find yourself stuck outdoors with no way to protect a $500 pair of lovingly crafted headphones? JBL has just announced its waterproof and rugged Clip 2 and Charge 3 portable speaker products to solve this issue.

The Clip 2 comes with Bluetooth streaming capabilities, a built-in carabiner, a IPX7 waterproof rating which means you can submerge it in water, and the ability to daisy chain speakers together for extra sound. While also containing an integrated 2.5mm AUX cable sound input, this speaker is coated in fabric material and comes with a rubber housing to ensure its own safety.

The Charge 3 is packed with a 6000mAh internal battery and also comes with an IPX7 waterproof rating. In addition, this product comes packed with daisy chain abilities through 'JBL connect', allowing you to connect any JBL connect certified speaker in line with this device. This speaker is also rated at a higher bass threshold, offering what JBL calls its 'bass radiator'.

Interested in playing music all around your house from a single central device? Harmon Kardon is here to make that happen with its OMNI+ series of speaker products, encompassing the Omni 10+, 20+, 50+, Bar+ and Adapt+ models.

Featuring Bluetooth and 2.4GHz/5GHz wireless connectivity, the Omni 50+ is further rated as IPX5 splashproof and is marketed towards indoor or outdoor applications. Built as an expandable system, you're able to start with any single OMNI+ speaker and expand your range throughout the house as you see fit. Further supporting Apple WAC, these speaker systems can be controlled by the Harmon Kardon Controller app for Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones or tablets, further allowing for speaker group or individual controls (per room) as you see fit.

This amazing technology and connectivity comes at a price, with Harmon Kardon asking for $249 for the 10+, $349 for the 20+, $499 for the 50+, $999 for the Bar+ and finally $199 for the Adapt+ which contains input and output capabilities. These products will hit the market in Summer 2016, avaialble here.

CES 2016 - Connecting in partnership, JBL and Under Armour have announced two new audio products. These new additions come in the form of the UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate and UA headphones Wireless. Both products were quoted as "Engineered by JBL Features" in a recent press release, accompanying a massive CES 2016 announcement haul for JBL.

The UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate features an instant heart rate reading with a single button press, Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, 'Twistlock' technology that promises they will never fall out, a sweat proof IPX 5 rating, five hours of playback time and it comes packaged with a 12-month MapMyFitness Premium membership. While further offering 'JBL signature sound', this product will set users back $250 and is set for release in late Spring 2016.

Next up is the UA Headphones Wireless, boasting Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, 'Twistlock' technology, a 'Flexsoft' comfort fit, a three button in-line control unit with microphone, a sweat proof IPX 5 rating, eight hours of playback time and a 12-month MapMyFitness Premium membership. This model will cost $180 and is now available for pre-order.