Music is befitting for a variety of activities, not the least of which are outdoor sports that require a helmet. While earbuds can work in such a situation, they’re not entirely ideal, and that is where Outdoor Technology’s new Chips Bluetooth headphones come in. Unlike traditional headphones, the Chips setup features two speakers connected by […]
Some purists will definitely argue with this, but skiing (or snowboarding) isn’t really complete without music. Not to mention the necessity of making and receiving phone calls with your comrades. Thus, most of us spend each lift ride fumbling with gloves, wires, and buttons in sub-freezing temperatures. No longer.
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I’ve been using RHA headphones for about 6 months, and I have been pleasantly surprised by their performance. The RHA 450i Earphones are definitely on my recommend to buy list. RHA recently announced that they will release premium earphones in late August.
The MA600i is made from aircraft grade aluminum, and comes with 320.1 dynamic drivers. The MA750i earphones will be made from 303F stainless steel and feature handmade 560.1 dynamic drivers. They will also support over-ear cabling for those who uses these to work out. I usually loop them around my ears, but this will be a pleasant change.
Both of these headphones have a 3-button remote and built-in microphone. They will be available on the 28th of August, through the Apple Store, for $89.95(USD) for the RHA MA600i and $129.95 for the RHA 750i.
For the more discerning customer who is particular about the kind of speakers they use with their TV or home theater setup, Samsung has announced a new soundbar in the form of the AirTrack KW-F850, which is the successor to the F750, although in the case of the F850, it has been designed to play nicely with larger televisions, such as those that measure 60” or perhaps even larger (we can imagine it might look a little ridiculous with smaller televisions).
According to the specifications, the Samsung AirTrack F850 is able to output power of 350W which is 40W more than the F750, deeper bass thanks to its subwoofer, along with the ability to pair your mobile devices with it thanks to Bluetooth and NFC connectivity. The Samsung AirTrack HW-F850 is expected to begin shipping in Europe this September, although no word on when it will make its way stateside or to other countries at the moment. No word on pricing either, but given that the this model is designed for large-screened televisions, we expect it will be more expensive compared to Samsung’s previous AirTrack offerings.
Samsung AirTrack KW-F850 Soundbar Announced original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Many soundbars are designed for small or mid-sized TV sets, where price and space are top priorities. Samsung is bucking that trend with its newly unveiled AirTrack HW-F850: its follow-up to the vacuum tube-based F750 is built expressly for 60-inch and larger screens. As Samsung can afford a considerably larger bar, the F850 boosts the total power to 350W, up 40W from the F750. The company promises deeper bass from the subwoofer, too. As you’d expect, both Bluetooth audio and NFC pairing carry over from the F850’s tinier counterparts. Samsung expects to ship the extra-large soundbar to Europe in September; the company hasn’t mentioned pricing, although the F850 will likely command a premium over smaller AirTrack models.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung
Source: Korea Newswire (translated)
We’re sure many of you guys have experienced getting your earphone cables caught on something, like the edge of the table, the door handle, and etc., and the result is either the cables getting yanked out violently from your device, or it could pull the device from your pocket or hands and make it crash to the floor. However wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to connect our earphones to our media devices without worrying about that? Something like Apple’s MagSafe adapter where it would disconnect without causing the device to crash to the floor? Well that’s what the Pogo concept aims to achieve.
According to the Pogo’s description, “Using a neodymium magnet and 4 “pogo” pins, a strong connection is made between the two pieces, passing the signal through. The end result is a product that is universally useful, and innovates a technology that hasn’t changed much since its inception in the 60′s.” Essentially it would be similar to the MagSafe adapter in which the cable would disconnect if too much force is applied on it, but at the same time strong enough so that it will not disconnect too easily. Unfortunately the Pogo is a concept meaning that there’s no telling if and when it would be made a reality, but in the meantime you can check it out in the video above.
The Pogo Concept Is The MagSafe Equivalent For Earphones original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Plantronics is launching a new gaming accessory called RIG, and it is essentially a sound mixer with a switch that will let you configure your gaming audio, gaming chat and mobile audio (or any other source connected via a jack 3.5mm) in one easy setup.
When you’re playing, you want a complete immersion, so headphones are great, especially if the loud speakers aren’t an option late at night. But as you play, you still want to be able to hear notifications or calls from your phone. That’s where RIG comes in: it can mix three sound sources (PC/console speaker + USB audio + mobile) at any given time, but the large switch button in the middle will allow you to switch in two different modes. (more…)
Plantronics RIG Review: Fast Gaming/Mobile Audio Switch original content from Ubergizmo. 
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I recently had the opportunity to swap out the 5.1 audio system in my living room with the Vizio S3821 2.1 soundbar and subwoofer. This slimline sound system is a great way to add high quality sound to your flat-screen TV without having to run a bunch of wires, and without breaking the bank.
The speaker bar itself measures 38″ (w) x 3.6″ (h) x 2.9″ (D) and fits nicely beneath or in front of most flat screen TVs 40″ diagonal and up. It also comes with mounting hardware should you choose to wall mount it instead. In addition to the soundbar, the system includes a small powered subwoofer (13.5″ (w) x 11″ (h) x 6″ (d)) that you can set anywhere you have a power outlet, thanks to a wireless connection to the main speaker.
Connecting the Vizio soundbar is simple. The easiest way to go is to connect its optical or coax digital input to the corresponding output on your TV set. Most modern sets can do the switching between multiple video inputs, then output audio using one of these methods. This way, you avoid the need for switching inputs on the soundbar. That said, it does offer a total of six inputs, including one each of digital optical, digital coax, RCA analog stereo, 3.5mm mini and USB. The fifth input is a wireless connection for Bluetooth devices. Vizio is kind enough to include optical, coax and RCA cables in the box. Inputs can be switched from the remote control, and are displayed on the face of the soundbar using a set of small white LEDs. In my case, I only connected a single optical cable to my TV and paired my mobile devices.
Speaking of Bluetooth devices, this thing was a dream when paired with my iPhone and HTC One. Music quality was exceptional, providing room-filling sound in my 400+ sq. ft. living room, and a wide soundstage that bested the dedicated 5.1 speakers I currently have. Its included remote control can also be used to operate your Bluetooth device, including play, pause and track controls.
But the music capabilities of the Vizio 2.1 soundbar are really a bonus. The main use case for this system is for watching movies and television programs, and playing video games, and I’m happy to say it handled all of these with aplomb. I found the sound quality of the soundbar to be quite satisfying, with good dynamic range, and imperceptible distortion even when pushed to the highest volume level it could push out.
The 6″ powered subwoofer isn’t going to make your walls shake the way they do in a theater, but it does offer enough punch to get the point across. Oddly enough, Vizio doesn’t provide wattage specs for the speakers – they only say that frequency response ranges from 50Hz to 19KHz, and that the system can push out 100dB of sound at 1 meter with less than 1% THD.
Top volume for the system isn’t going to make your eardrums bleed, but it is plentiful – more than enough to wake the neighbors and fill a large living space, and its really nice that there’s no crackling or unexpected vibration at peak volume levels. When using the system, I did find that turning on DTS TruSurround offered the best overall experience, as it created an extremely large and open soundstage, and did an admirable job providing a sense of surround when watching movies and playing games. That said, you won’t be able to pinpoint sound locations like you could with dedicated speakers for each surround channel. The system also supports DTS TruVolume for keeping volume levels consistent. Personally, I’m not a fan of messing with dynamic range in that way, so I left that off.
Overall, I was more than pleased with the quality of the Vizio S3821 soundbar. It’s more than sufficient for anyone looking to add high quality sound to their living room without breaking the bank, and works well for a wide variety of content. It’s priced at just $179.99(USD) and can be purchased direct from Vizio, though you can find it over at Amazon for about $20 less.
HTC and Beats have had a pretty long relationship together, with Beats earphones being bundled together with some HTC devices, and their software preinstalled in HTC phones to provide a better audio experience. However it seems that the relationship could soon be coming to an end, which we’re guessing could partly be due to HTC’s financial troubles, and the fact that Beats and HP have been enjoying a similar collaboration as well.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, they are claiming that Beats is looking to buy back HTC’s share in their company. The report states, “The moves come as the founders of Beats Electronics LLC—music mogul Jimmy Iovine and American hip-hop producer and artist Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre—are broadening the company’s business from headphones to include speakers, audio systems in cars and consumer electronics and a soon-to-be-launched online streaming music service.”
If anything you might recall back in 2012 that the HTC and Beats brand could be parting ways, and while this was a rumor that was denied by HTC back then, assuming this report is true, it looks like things are coming round full circle! Until then do take it with a grain of salt.
Beats Rumored To Buy Back HTC’s Stake In Their Company original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Whatever you feel about Beats’ audio, you can’t help but think that the company’s partnership with HTC hasn’t really worked out. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dr. Dre and Co. are planning to buy back the phone maker’s remaining 25 percent stake in the business — just a year after HTC reduced its stake by half. Either way, we’re hoping that this potential separation helps HTC get back to winning ways and frees up Dr. Dre to resuming prescribing those pills he’s now so fond of.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Mobile, HTC
Via: WSJ Digits
Source: Wall Street Journal
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