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Jul 21

Libratone’s AirPlay-enabled soundbars want to cozy up with your iOS wares

Posted in: airplay, Apple, ios, ipad, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, live, speaker, speakers, Today's Chili, TV, Wireless

Been on the prowl for an audio solution with AirPlay to compliment your iDevice or Apple TV? Bid hello to Libratone’s ultra-chic Lounge and Live soundbars. Last year, the company introduced its eye-catching Beat wireless speaker system back at IFA; we were intrigued by its active drivers and carry handle, but mildly disappointed that cord-cutting required pesky proprietary adapters. Apple users will be happy to know AirPlay’s been fully embraced this time, along with the signature adornment of cashmere wool. First up, the Live appears to be an Airplay-enabled Beat with 50 extra watts of RMS power (150 total), and an updated — mini TOSlink accepting — 3.5mm input for hooking up non AirPlay-enabled gear. Next up, the sleek Lounge unit above sports a similar external design and digital 3.5mm jack, but it’s svelte in comparison for wall-mounting under a TV. Under its sheep fuzz, you’ll find two 1-inch ribbon tweeters, two 4-inch ceramic drivers, and one 8-inch inverted woofer, all of which are independently amplified for a combined output of 150 RMS watts.

Poised to please audio enthusiasts, both employ DSP and Libratone’s FullRoom for a “360 degree soundscape” controllable via an iOS app, while the Lounge’s volume can also be handled by a TV remote. The Lounge will be available through Apple’s online store this September priced at £1,099 to €,1199 (about $1,791 to $1,954), and the Live for £599 to £6,99 ($699) at Apple retail locations in the EU and US — both in various colorways. You’ll find details in the PR after the break while your next bout of Gear Acquisition Syndrome begins settling in.

Continue reading Libratone’s AirPlay-enabled soundbars want to cozy up with your iOS wares

Libratone’s AirPlay-enabled soundbars want to cozy up with your iOS wares originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 20

Sonos Play:3 compact streaming media Hi-Fi gets official for $299, we go ears-on

Posted in: audio, hands-on, HandsOn, Music, sound, speaker, streaming, Today's Chili

Chances are you’ve already seen the Sonos Play:3 thanks to the leaktacular thing we call the internet. Now the tiny streaming Hi-Fi system is official and ready to start beaming that shiny new Spotify account you just scored all around your home. Inside the relatively compact chassis is a trio of digital drivers, one tweeter and two mid-range, as well as three Class-D digital amps. Unlike its big brother, which has been rebranded the Play:5 (instead of the S5), there’s no active subwoofer on board, but it does sport a passive bass “radiator” that adds a surprising amount of depth to this little shelf speaker. The $299 streamer requires a Bridge ($49) to actually kick out the jams but, once you’ve got the basic system in place, you can tack on additional Play:3s and even combine them as a stereo pair for better separation of those all important right and left channels. There’s even an accelerometer built in that automatically switches from standard to mono and tweaks the EQ settings when the speaker is turned on its side. We only spent a brief period of time with the Play:3, but it was surprisingly loud and quite clear even at neighbor-annoying volumes — though, we’re reserving final judgment until our review unit shows up. In the meantime, check out the galleries and the PR below.

Gallery: Sonos Play:3 Press Shots

Gallery: Sonos Play:3 Hands-On

Continue reading Sonos Play:3 compact streaming media Hi-Fi gets official for $299, we go ears-on

Sonos Play:3 compact streaming media Hi-Fi gets official for $299, we go ears-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 18

Sonos S3 / Play:3 all-in-one speaker system pops up at Amazon for $300, gets yanked post-haste

Posted in: audio, sound, speaker, speakers, Today's Chili, Wireless

Sonos has proven to be quite the tease in its handling of the Sonos S3 (or is it the Play:3?). The wireless all-in-one speaker system made its first clandestine appearance at the FCC earlier this month, but gave little in the way of details, and now it’s popped up in an (already pulled) Amazon pre-order page. This latest lift of the curtain hasn’t given us much more to go on, but at least now we have a price — $300 — and confirmation that the speaker system is indeed rocking a “trio of drivers and amplifiers,” as we previously speculated. Specifically, it’s got one tweeter, two mids, and a single bass radiator on board. Amazon lists the system as PLAY3US1BLK, leading us to believe that we were also right in assuming that the S3 will come in the traditional black and white. As of now, we don’t have anything confirming a shipping date, but you can bet we’ll blast it your way when Sonos finally decides to give up the details.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Sonos S3 / Play:3 all-in-one speaker system pops up at Amazon for $300, gets yanked post-haste originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 30

Crapgadget: ‘money to burn’ edition

Posted in: iPhone, speaker, Today's Chili

Gadgets can radically alter our lives — they can save us time and money and improve our health. And then there’s the crapgadget, a breed of technology seemingly designed for little more than draining our already microscopic bank accounts. But hey, it’s your money, and if you want to spend it on, say, an inflatable outdoor movie theater, a speaker shaped like a tiny bird, or a case for your iPhone with a terrifying fake beetle attached, that’s your call. If you need us, however, we’ll be recovering from our solo table tennis game by fanning ourselves off with our smartphone. Check out the latest craptastic roundup below, and be sure to vote for your (least) favorite.

Continue reading Crapgadget: ‘money to burn’ edition

Crapgadget: ‘money to burn’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 21

Cue Acoustics PS1 wireless speakers do audio over DLNA, we go hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, speaker, speakers, Today's Chili

Speaker wire is expensive if you buy it at retail, cheap if you just use a spool of electrical cable, but always, always an eyesore. Sure, you can pull it through the drywall, hide it behind some curtains — or you can just go wireless. That’s the option Cue Acoustics will enable with its PS1 bookshelf speakers, shipping this August. They’re a high-end pair, each internally amplified and offering a 5-inch downward-firing woofer, 3.5-inch mid, and .75-inch tweeter, covering all the acoustic hotspots with fanfare. More important, though, is that each speaker can run with only one cable: power. Full details after the break.

Gallery: Cue Acoustics PS1 hands-on

Continue reading Cue Acoustics PS1 wireless speakers do audio over DLNA, we go hands-on

Cue Acoustics PS1 wireless speakers do audio over DLNA, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 20

Nokia’s Play 360 Bluetooth speaker uses NFC daps to pair with your phone

Posted in: bluetooth, nfc, nokia, speaker, Today's Chili, video

Nokia’s N9 got most of the attention earlier today, but the gang from Espoo also announced a nifty new portable speaker to complement its slice of MeeGo. Called the Nokia Play 360, this little barrel of omnidirectional audio streams music from your phone via Bluetooth. It also makes the pairing process easy with NFC — a simple tap of your N9 or Nexus S to the speaker gets the tunes flowing. Not only that, when you get two of these sound boxes together, they sense each other through NFC and switch your sound to stereo. So, what’s the price of such aural enjoyment? It’ll cost you €149 ($213) when it ships in Q3 of this year.

Continue reading Nokia’s Play 360 Bluetooth speaker uses NFC daps to pair with your phone

Nokia’s Play 360 Bluetooth speaker uses NFC daps to pair with your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 12

Soundcast’s OutCast 3.4 multi-room speaker is so fresh and so clean, clean

Posted in: audio, Music, speaker, speakers, Today's Chili

Hard to say if there’s any real connection between the thing you see getting washed up in the image above and the Dirty South, but does it really matter? The OutCast 3.4 multi-room, multi-source wireless speaker might not be the sexiest driver in the shed, but given that it goes where the party goes, we’re willing to bestow forgiveness. We’re told that it’s capable of shedding at some amount of water (obviously), and the unit itself touts an integrated subwoofer, internal battery pack (good for 10 to 20 hours) and a backlit top-panel keypad. Mum’s the word on pricing, but the rest of the skinny is embedded just after the break. Ya heard?

Continue reading Soundcast’s OutCast 3.4 multi-room speaker is so fresh and so clean, clean

Soundcast’s OutCast 3.4 multi-room speaker is so fresh and so clean, clean originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 03

Sonos S3 / Play:3 wireless all-in-one speaker system leaked by the feds

Posted in: leak, speaker, Today's Chili

Look what the FCC dragged in: it’s a brand new, unannounced all-on-one speaker for inclusion in your Sonos wireless audio system. A mini S5, if you will, that goes by the name “Play:3” according to the black and white FCC labels — a hint at black and white offerings just like the S5. Curiously, the FCC docs also refer to the Play:3 as the “S3” in keeping with Sonos’ S5 nomenclature. Our friend Dave Zatz speculates that the diminutive size and name is a good indicator that the S3 / Play:3 will feature a trio of drivers and dedicated digital amplifiers, akin to the S5’s five (two tweeters, two mids, and a subwoofer). And you know what? We’d have to agree. Now, given the S3’s size and Sonos’ proven ability to use software to perfectly synchronize audio across dozens of Sonos boxes, you’ll have to forgive us for wondering if Sonos has a wireless 5.1 home theater solution up its sleeve. Well Sonos, do ya? Evidence of the Play:3 vs S3 naming conventions can be found after the break.

Continue reading Sonos S3 / Play:3 wireless all-in-one speaker system leaked by the feds

Sonos S3 / Play:3 wireless all-in-one speaker system leaked by the feds originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 01

Turtle Beach announces PX3 and Z6A gaming headsets, set to debut at E3

Posted in: e3, game, headset, playstation 3, Playstation3, sound, speaker, Today's Chili, usb, Wireless, xbox 360

Turtle Beach impressed the pants off of us last month with its Ear Force PX5 headset, which is why our mouths began watering when we found out that the company has two new gaming products on the way — the Ear Force PX3 and Z6A. Much like the PX5, the wireless PX3 (pictured above) boasts 18 interchangeable audio settings and supports additional presets that users can download directly from Turtle Beach. Though it was designed with PS3 users in mind, the PX3 can also run on an Xbox 360 and is the first Turtle Beach headset to feature a rechargeable, ten-hour battery.

The PC and Xbox-friendly, surround sound Z6A, meanwhile, rocks eight amplified speakers (including two subwoofers) and is juiced by a 5.1 channel amp that promises to bathe your head with booming bass. The USB-powered device may leave you tethered to your console, but at least it will house your ears in an oversized mesh cushion, which may make those late-night gaming marathons a little more bearable. The PX3 will retail for about $150, with the Z6A set at around $100, and both headsets will be on display at E3 next week in Los Angeles, so we’ll be sure to give you our feedback once we get our paws on them. For now, you can sate your appetite with the full PR and an image of the Z6A — both of which are waiting for you after the break.

Updated: The Z6A is designed for both PC and Xbox platforms.

Continue reading Turtle Beach announces PX3 and Z6A gaming headsets, set to debut at E3

Turtle Beach announces PX3 and Z6A gaming headsets, set to debut at E3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Altec Lansing Mix iMT810 is big, loud, desperately seeking Ione Skye’s affection

Posted in: Apple, ios, iPhone, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, portable, speaker, speakers, Today's Chili

Altec Lansing popped by our offices earlier today to show off the successor to its oversized Mix iMT800 iPhone / iPod dock. There’s not a heck of a lot to talk about in terms of changes with the iM810 — the dock is now iPhone 4 certified, the gold trim has been changed to silver, and the amber LED has been swapped for blue. The company does get some bonus points for reenacting the one scene from Say Anything that anyone remembers with the winner of its in-office John Cusack look-alike contest, however. The new dock packs in a 5.25-inch subwoofer, a seven band graphic equalizer, and a slot for storing its little carabiner-equipped remote — the hulking accessory can also achieve relative portability with the help of eight D size batteries. It’s available now for $300, Peter Gabriel album not included. Press release after the break.

Gallery: Altec Lansing MIX 810 Hands-On