Most modern games come with some use of stereo sound, and games with higher budgets make use of Dolby Surround Sound to provide realistic experiences of being surrounded and FEELING the impact of what is going on around you. If you are using a pair of Apple earbuds in your gaming laptop … you are really missing out. I recently looked at another set of Dolby enhanced headphones, but to truly get the experience you needed entirely too many cables. Now we have a new headset from Plantronics that offers Dolby 7.1 surround … but only requires a USB connection!… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

My daughter Maggie, getting gear for her isn’t that hard; she’s fine with the default iPhone ear buds.  She’s also not much of an audiophile; if it’s pink, she’s fine with it–I got her a pair of iHome rechargeable speakers for her iPhone, for example, and she loves them not because of the sound, but because they’re pink.  Such is the life of a parent.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

We know that Dan is a big fan of the Sonos Wireless HiFi system based on his reviews last year of the PLAY:5 and PLAY:3, as well as his recent video showing how easy it is to set up the system. One thing that holds some people back from a Sonos system is the cost associated with it. Even though these are high-performance systems, the initial entry cost may be high enough to cause some hesitation in the purchasing process. (Though Dan has said to me that it is well worth it.) Well, Target is sweetening the deal for a limited time, so if you haven’t yet made the jump and are interested, read on.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I have been known to disparage networking hardware and software as “Internet plumbing.”  When it’s all working right, it’s down there, out of sight, providing the pipes and keeping flow going and whatnot, and it’s not particularly exciting to me.  But just because a tech is “under the hood”, doesn’t mean it’s not important.

And in that same vein are the audio techs that DTS provides which, while under the surface of a lot of things you enjoy, are (ahem) under the surface of a lot of things you enjoy, if you know what I mean.  Like gaming, and TV, and home theater, and whatnot.  Here’s what they say:

·         Building on DTS’ Blu-ray legacy

I recently reviewed the iMainGoXP by Portable Sound Labs, and found it to be an excellent solution for portable audio for my iPad and Kindle Fire. Now they are introducing a whole portable speaker line-up including some based on BlueTooth wireless communications!

Here are some of what they are introducing at CES this week!

● PSL PipeLine: The device features a stellar base unit with two 2” subwoofers and two detachable speakers. For more sound “Drops” (separate PSL device) can be added, which can be synched to media device and carry sound throughout a home or provide killer surround sound.
● PSL Drop: Each “Drop” speaker contains two 34mm

(Doug says, “Oooh; shiny!”)

Sony is a big company.  I mean, it’s a whopping big company–tends of thousands of people; tens of billions (with a “B”!) in revenue every year.  Big.  Japanese.  Electronics.  You can bet that at a Heap Big Show (or “shew”, ad Ed Sullivan would say) like CES, they’re going to want to make a big splash.  I’m in Austin, not Vegas, so I can’t tell you how big a booth they have, but I’m guessing it’s, ah, not small.  Here’s some verbiage from their PR folks:

Sony is introducing consumers to a new world of connected products, from TVs, Blu-ray players, and home A/V receivers to tablets, smartphones

I don’t really watch TV.  I mean, I watch TV shows, and I watch movies, and such, but I don’t, ya know, watch TV.  I’m a downloader–I usually wait until a show is available on iTunes or Netflix or some streaming utility, and I watch it on my iPad, my iPhone, or (rarely) my laptop.  DVDs we do watch on the TV, but it’s a lot more comfortable watching stuff on my iPad while my son plays Gears of War Death Metal Doom Quantum Quake Nukem XVIII, or whatever.  (He uses headphones.  Last time I checked, Le Tour Eiffel was collapsing.)

Folks like E FUN want to move me back towards the couch, but… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

We started the day at the Monster Press Conference. The first big news was that, unsurprisingly, Monster Cable is now simply Monster. The reason, quite simply is that Monster’s offerings have expanded significantly in the past few years. The move is reminiscent of Apple Computer become simply Apple when they found more and more of the product line to not be specifically computers and computer-related items. It made even more sense once they began speaking about their new products, the focus of which was far from the company’s cable roots.

My biggest personal tech find of 2011 has to be the Sonos home audio system. I got a review loaner and bought one within a day. I was that impressed with it and continue to love it. You can read the the initial review here and read the review of the new, smaller PLAY:3 here.

During the inaugural Gear Fest last summer I had Carly film a quick walkthrough of setting the Sonos system up. It never made it into a post… until now.

I have reviewed a number of earphone solutions in just about every price range; yes, I do have a problem. If it were up to me, I would try all earphones with the goal of  finding the perfect fit and sound. Earphones are an interesting product because you can find them anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. One has to be cautious when formulating an opinion on them and make sure they are comparing apples to apples. A pair of $250 earphones should be superior to a $35 set, logically. That is not to say that a $35 earphone is not good or worth the purchase, though. I recently received the E461-BM earphones from Arctic and put them through some rigorous testing during our football playoff travel run. Arctic products have impressed me with their quality in relation to their price ranges in the past; read on to see how the E461-BM earphones stack up.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Today’s Gear Deal brings us the Panasonic DMP-BD755 Blu-ray Player and a free HDMI Cable. Normally $99.99 our Gear Sponsor has found it for just $64.99 plus free shipping. Details here.

Gear Deal: Panasonic DMP-BD755 Blu-ray Player plus HDMI Cable via LogicBUY

If most of the iPhone 4 and 4S cases you’ve seen have been too boring, then you might enjoy the “Knuckles” case by Rebecca Minkoff ($58).  You certainly wouldn’t have to worry about dropping your phone when it’s in this silicone case, and the added benefit (?) is that when you hold the case a certain way, no one will mess with you. An offbeat case deserves an offbeat headset, so while you’re at it — take a look at “Zipped Up”, the new wired headset also by Rebecca Minkoff ($48).

Both… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

My eldest son had a birthday recently, receiving numerous presents. This in and of itself is not unusual, but there was an aspect to one of those presents that triggered a revelation of sorts for me. Before I delve into that, let me preface it with a disclaimer: I currently own no Apple products. Zip. Nada. Zero. In the realm of cell phones, I’m partial to Android. I love the customizability of it, the screen widgets, and how I can choose to integrate it with my PCs. My son, not yet a cell phone user, owns an iPod. Consequently, towards his birthday he wanted some accessories for it. A quick trip to the internet revealed… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

I love the JawBone Jambox that I purchased a few weeks ago. It came on vacation with me and was quite handy to have around. I like it even more now that I discovered Jawbone’s MyTalk portal. It let me set up the button on the device to activate Siri, and it also let me change the voice used for notifications on the device. Here’s a look at some of the options …

I recently started a new job where I can work at home, and prior to my start date I spent a lot of time and effort moving Sami’s office to a separate room and fixing up my office to make it a more useful workspace.  And one of the beauties of doing this is that now I can listen to my music on speakers, rather than headphones.  I don’t mind headphones, per se, but I really love having music fill my environment, if you see what I mean.

Now, I’m all set with speakers myself, but this new “Air Music System” by Klipsch sure looks sweet.  Yes, it goes for an MSRP of $549.00, but if… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...