17 Dec
Blog

Shure Aonic Free Review: True Wireless Studio Monitors

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.

Shure Aonic Free Trial: True Wireless Studio Monitors

RRP $ 199.00

"Big in size, comfort and precision are these buds for critical hearing."

benefits

  • Clear, precise and detailed sound

  • Very convenient

  • Very good transparency mode

  • Easy to use, customizable controls

  • Great EQ settings

  • Good call quality

disadvantage

  • Big buds, big charging case

  • No ANC or auto pause

  • No wireless charging

  • No watertightness

Shure is no stranger to high-performance audio. The company's in-ear monitors (IEMs) and microphones have been the first choice of musicians and audio professionals for decades. But when it comes to the true wireless earphone market, Shure has only just stepped into the ring with its $ 199 Shure Aonic Free. Was it worth the wait? And how do these new buds compare to products from more established brands like Sony, Jabra and Apple? Let's check them out.

A larger set of buds

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Let's talk to the elephant in the room: The Shure Aonic Free are big. They use a very similar design to Sony's previous flagship, the WF-1000XM3, which places the electronics, battery, and other goodies in a diamond-shaped gondola that sits fairly prominently outside your ear.

Shure's design is even bigger than Sony's, making the Aonic Free one of the biggest buds we've ever tested. Fortunately, these nacelles look pretty sleek, with a relatively thin profile and a satin gunmetal finish that gives the plastic a high quality, sophisticated look. If you really want to get noticed, they are also available in red. But despite their size, they are also remarkably light and in fact weigh a gram less than the Sony XM3.

There's a lot of precision and detail, especially in the mids and higher frequencies.

And while there's no denying that these buds are really big, the design has two distinct advantages. First, with all of the bowels of the buds outside of your ear, the part that actually fits in your ear is tiny and extremely comfortable. Shure uses memory foam earplugs instead of silicone, which increases comfort by reducing pressure points.

Not everyone loves the sometimes squishy feel of memory foam, but I'm a huge fan. Once inserted, the fit is very secure, but it won't withstand vigorous activity, as well as buds designed for this purpose. Expect to need regular readjustments as you walk. In fact, you might want to avoid using the Aonic Free for exercise: they are some of the only earbuds on the market that do not offer official protection from water in relation to an IPX rating.

Second, the large outer gondolas make pressing the multifunction button located on the top edge very easy. Accidental presses are almost completely eliminated, and you probably won't accidentally remove an earbud while using these buttons.

The Aonic Free comes with an equally large charging case to match the large buds. It absolutely dwarfs the tiny package of the AirPods Pro case, and I doubt a lot of people will think of it as pocket money. It also lacks wireless charging, which is an unfortunate shortcoming at this price point. Nevertheless, it is robustly built, the lid can be easily opened and closed using a large study hinge and the Aonic Free is really easy to plug in and out of the charging sockets.

I like the sound

Man with Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

In keeping with Shure's reputation for stage and studio equipment, the Aonic Free has a neutral and very clear sound signature. There's a lot of precision and detail, especially in the mids and higher frequencies. A track like Dire Straits ’Six Blade Knife and Mark Knopfler's unmistakable Stratocaster work becomes a haptic experience – you can almost feel the strings under his experienced hand.

The bass reproduction is strictly controlled, is only displayed when necessary and never overwhelms the other frequencies. Such a conservative approach to bass can make the Aonic Free sound cold when you're used to headphones or earphones like the Sony WF-1000XM3 or XM4.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.This is how things sound right out of the box. But the Shure Play Companion app can completely change the personality of the Aonic Free with its EQ adjustments. Shure gives you seven presets to play with, including Bass Boost, Bass Cut, Vocal Boost, and Loudness, but if you really want to get the most out of the Aonic Free, you need to try the manual EQ option. Here you will find a graphic EQ that can be adjusted more precisely than I have ever seen it before. You get four control points on a frequency spectrum from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Each of them can be raised +/- 10 dB in 0.5 dB steps, and you can even adjust their bandwidth from 0.2 octaves to 4 octaves in 0.1 octave steps.

If all of this is Greek to you, suffice it to say that this is an unmatched level of EQ control for a set of true wireless earbuds, and those who love to mess around with the sonic weeds will love it.

It's worth noting that the Aonic Free doesn't generate as much volume as a percentage of some other well-respected earbuds. In other words, at 50% volume on my iPhone, the Aonic Free were significantly quieter than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro or the Technics EAH-AZ60. I don't see this as a problem – they can still get really loud – but you may find that you have to run these earbuds at a higher setting than you are used to.

It's also worth noting for Android users that Aonic Free supports the aptX codec, which can be helpful in situations where audio delay (latency) is an issue.

Total control

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Aonic Free do not have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but thanks to these foam earplugs they are excellent at blocking outside noise passively. There have been a couple of times when I felt like ANC was blocking a bit more, but not many. What they have is a very good transparency mode that you can set in the Shure Play app to let in little or a lot of the noise around you. In fact, at the maximum setting, it amplifies some of these sounds, so some careful adjustment is required.

I love that Shure has built in a feature called PausePlus that allows you to automatically turn on transparency mode when you pause your music. With too many earbuds, you'll have to pause first and then switch to transparency, which can be annoying when someone tries to talk to you.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.

The Shure Play app also gives you complete control over the multi-function buttons. You can assign up to three different commands per earbud, including play / pause, skip forward / backward, transparency on / off and access to the voice assistant. In addition, you can choose whether you want to control the volume with a fourth gesture. It's a bit awkward, admittedly – you have to press and then long press – but it's a handy option nonetheless. The only thing Shure left out is wear sensors, which can automatically pause if you remove one or both of the earbuds – another surprise considering how many other earbuds come standard with them at this price point.

Your phone call options include muting the microphone and switching between two calls, both of which are rare features. You can also use each earbud independently for music and calls.

Avoid the wind

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Call quality on the Aonic Free can be excellent, but you need to avoid windy or very noisy situations. The microphone does a great job of capturing the full tone and resonance of your voice, with little to no distortion, but struggles to maintain that quality under adverse conditions. They're definitely not the earbuds you'd want to use on the phone while you bike through heavy traffic, but they will work admirably on Zoom calls or anywhere you find relatively calm conditions.

Speaking of Zoom calls, the Aonic Free are the first headphones I've come across that can automatically turn on a red LED light when you're on the phone to let others know that just because you're not speaking, you aren't yet to be interrupted. It's a look back at the early days of Bluetooth, but I think it's brilliant – all true wireless earbuds should have a similar option.

More performance please

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Shure claims that the Aonic Free can last for around seven hours on a single charge, and as far as I can tell, that's correct when you're listening at 50% volume. But as mentioned above, because these Buds run quieter than other models, you'll likely hear at 60% or more, which will reduce battery life a bit.

I agree – six to seven hours is still enough for most people. But what I can't understand, given their huge charging case, is why you can only charge the earbuds twice for a total of 21 hours of playtime? If the Aonic Free were really small – say, AirPods Pro small – I'd happily accept that (although even the AirPods Pro have a longer total time of up to 24 hours), but the Aonic Free have no such excuse.

Our opinion

Although the Aonic Free are larger than most true wireless earbuds, they are very comfortable and offer exceptionally clear and detailed sound. For the discerning listener, this may be worth the price of admission, but given the many features that are lacking at the price, most people will likely be happier with other models.

Are there any better alternatives?

When it comes to sheer clarity, attention to detail, and EQ control – that so-called studio sound – you will hardly find a better set of true wireless earbuds, even if you are spending well over the price of $ 199 on Aonic Free. But considering how many features Shure has left out, here are two options worth considering:

$ 200 Jabra Elite 7 Pro: At the same price as the Aonic Free, the Elite 7 Pro has it all: Great sound, great ANC, great transparency, tons of customization options, long battery life, wireless charging, and an IP57 rating that makes it effectively waterproof. Oh, and they're much smaller too. Audio purists will still prefer the incredibly precise sound of the Aonic Free, but I also think the Elite 7 Pro sounds pretty good.

230 $ Technology EAH-AZ60: For a slightly larger investment, the AZ60 offers fabulous ANC and sound quality that rivals the Aonic Free, but with a slightly warmer standard signature that will appeal to people who don't love the sometimes overly accurate Shure sound. The Technics also have Sony's LDAC codec for wireless hi-res audio and Bluetooth multipoint to connect two devices to your earbuds at the same time.

How long will they last?

Given their total lack of water protection, this very much depends on how careful you are with the Aonic Free. The build quality seems to be excellent, however, and Shure backs it with a two-year warranty, which is unusual in this product category. That might be a good sign that they'll be better off in the long run, but like all true wireless earbuds, it's likely that decreasing battery life is what is keeping them from still being in your audio arsenal 10 years from now.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you're looking for what Aonic Free has to offer – a highly detailed, precise, and customizable sound with very few other bells and whistles. For everyone else, you can find better options for the same price or less.

Editor's recommendations



17 Dec
Blog

HP ZBook Studio G8 Review: Powerful, Portable, and Pricey

An HP ZBook Studio G8 is on a table.

HP ZBook Studio G8

RRP $ 6,863.00

"The HP ZBook Studio G8 is fast and well built, but the price is far too high."

benefits

  • Stable built

  • Spectacular display

  • Thin and light for a workplace

  • Excellent keyboard and touchpad

  • Good productivity and creative performance

disadvantage

  • Too expensive

  • Performance does not correspond to the price

  • Terrible battery life

HP offers a full line of portable workstations for developers and technical users, from the ultra-portable ZBook Firefly G8 to the ultra-powerful ZBook Fury G8. In the middle of the product range is the ZBook Studio G8, a workstation that is aimed at both gamers and creative professionals. Simply put, it's not your typical portable workstation that is large, heavy, and highly upgradeable. It is aimed at the same people who might buy a Dell XPS 15, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, or MacBook Pro.

It's not a cheap laptop either. I tested a configuration with the Intel Core i9-11950H vPro CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU that says the retail price is a whopping 6,863 US dollars. As of this writing, the price is still $ 4,392, although prices will fluctuate.

Either way, you are spending a huge surcharge to get a laptop with high-end components and a handful of professional features. For most people, this won't be a winning combination compared to today's extremely powerful thin and light consumer laptops.

draft

An HP ZBook Studio G8 sits on a table showing the back and lid.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ZBook Studio G8 is more like traditional thin and light laptops than a workstation. This is intentional, because the laptop should appeal to both consumer-oriented power users and professionals who are looking for a highly mobile solution. Take a look at the ZBook Studio G8 and you'll see a striking resemblance to an HP Specter from a few years ago. There's an aggressive angle along each side, sharp chamfers on different edges, and the back edge is a sharp wedge that adds some flair to the design.

The color is called "Turbo Silver" and the overall aesthetic is sophisticated but eye-catching. It's a lot more attractive than the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2, which shares similar components but is a lot more boxy and old-fashioned. The ZBook Studio G8 challenges the Dell XPS 15 more directly in its look and feel, but the Dell is slimmer and just as attractive.

Thanks to the very thin display bezels on the sides and relatively narrow bezels at the top and bottom, the ZBook Studio G8 with its 15.6-inch display in 16: 9 format is quite a large notebook. It's only slightly larger in width and depth than the XPS 15, with its 15.6-inch 16:10 display that has tiny bezels all around, and it's considerably smaller than the ThinkPad P15. It's also thin at 0.69 inches compared to the 0.71 inch on the XPS 15 and 1.24 inches on the ThinkPad P15 at its thickest point, and at 3.96 pounds lighter compared to 4.42 pounds, respectively. 6.32 pounds for the XPS or P15. The ZBook Studio G8 manages to fall into the thin and light category while housing some serious components.

The ZBook Studio G8 is as good as the best in terms of build quality. There's no bending, bending, or twisting in the lid, keyboard deck, or bottom case, and HP puts the laptop through a brutal series of 21 military certification tests. The ZBook Studio G8 is easily on par with the Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, which makes it a fairly robust device.

The ZBook Studio G8 does not offer the same expandability as many workstations. It has 32GB of RAM, much less than others that can be upgraded to 128GB, and the maximum storage is 2TB. There's only one slot for a solid-state drive (SSD), while many workstations have two – the ThinkPad P15, for example, has two slots and can be upgraded to a whopping 16 TB of storage. That's the price you pay for being so thin and light.

On the left side of the HP ZBook Studio G8 there is a single USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

On the right side of the HP ZBook Studio G8 there are two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a mini display port connector and a full-size SD card reader.

Connectivity is good for a thin and light laptop, although thicker workstations tend to have more ports. On the left you will find a single USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack and on the right you will find two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a mini DisplayPort connector and an SD card reader in full size hand side. Power is supplied via a proprietary connection that is fed by a sizable 200 watt power supply. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 provide wireless tasks.

There are a few "professional" features that you won't find on a typical consumer laptop. For example, there is built-in tile support that will help you track down your laptop if it has been stolen. HP's Wolf Security Suite provides hardware-based protection against BIOS corruption and attacks, and there are several other security features only available on HP's business-class laptops. The chassis can also be disinfected and has been tested for 1,000 cleaning cycles with selected household towels. Whether these features offer enough added value to justify the price of the ZBook Studio G8 is an open question.

power

An HP ZBook Studio G8 sits forward on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device was equipped with the 8-core / 16-thread Core i9-11950H vPro CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 32 GB RAM and a 2 TB PCIe SSD. You can also choose up to an Nvidia Quadro A5000 GPU if you want really professional graphics, but otherwise my review unit was maxed out. I ran it through our suite of benchmarks and found that while it's a fast laptop, it doesn't outperform some consumer-grade laptops that cost less than half the price.

The ZBook Studio G8 performed well in Geekbench 5 and took third place in our comparison group behind the Apple MacBook Pro 16 and the Lenovo ThinkPad P15. In our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265, the Lenovo took first place and in the Cinebench R23 came third, again behind the MacBook Pro 16 and the ThinkPad P15. In the PCMark 10 Complete Benchmark, which is a great test of productivity performance, the ZBook Studio G8 finally took third place behind the ThinkPad P15 and the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X with a Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU.

The extremely high price of the ZBook Studio G8 can hardly be justified due to the performance alone.

Most tellingly, however, was the workstation's performance in the real-world Pugetbench benchmark running in Adobe Premiere – a demanding application for which the machine was specifically designed. The ZBook Studio G8 scored 612 in the benchmark, a solid score that fell short of the ThinkPad P15, Dell XPS 17, and the insanely fast MacBook Pro 16, which beat the rest of the field. The ZBook Studio G8 wasn't even much faster than the Dell XPS 15 with a slower CPU and GPU. In short, HP's workstation was disappointing in what is perhaps the most important benchmark.

The only way to characterize its performance is that it is certainly a fast laptop that will serve its professional market well while satisfying productive users at the same time. At the same time, however, it's not necessarily faster than the thin and light mass of high-end consumers. The extremely high price of the ZBook Studio G8 can hardly be justified due to the performance alone.

Underdog bench 5
(Single / multiple)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) PCMark 10 Pugetbench Premiere Pro
HP ZBook Studio G8 (Core i9-11950H) 1637/9139 1594/11788 84 6432 612
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 (Core i9-11950H) 1691/9250 1596/12207 84 6866 724
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1 Pro) 1773/12605 1531/12343 95 N / A 956
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 1519/10497 106 6251 432
Dell XPS 15 (Core i7-11800H) 1556/7692 1513/9979 103 6024 509
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H) 1568/8801 1525/10145 109 6209 692
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (Ryzen 9 5900HX) 1544/8299 1486/11478 90 6486 571

Gaming performance

Given that HP specifically mentions Gaming as one of the ZBook Studio G8's strengths, and it features an RGB backlit keyboard per key and the OMEN Gaming Hub utility, it's fair to rate its gaming performance. The RTX 3070 was supposed to make it a competitive gaming device, but it turned out that its performance was downright mixed.

The ZBook Studio G8's 3DMark Time Spy Score was low compared to the peer group, especially the Razer Blade 14 and Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, which both came with RTX-3070 GPUs. The HP caught up with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, where they tied for first place, and it ended up between the Razer Blade 14 and Legion 5 Pro in Battlefield V. However, his Fortnite score was the second lowest and he wasn't especially fast on Civilization VI, where its CPU should have paid some dividends. Overall, the ZBook Studio G8 is undoubtedly capable of playing competently at 1080p and even 1440p, but it won't beat many dedicated gaming laptops.

Laptop 3DMark time spy Assassin & # 39; s Creed Valhalla
(1080p ultra high)		 Battlefield V
(1080p Ultra)		 Fourteen days
(1080p epic)		 Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
HP ZBook Studio G8 (RTX 3070) 7391 77 fps 83 fps 89 fps 112 fps
HP Victus 16 (RTX 3060) 7341 59 fps 72 fps 99 fps 118 fps
Razer blade 14 (RTX 3070) 8605 60 fps 96 fps 96 fps 111 fps
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 3070) 9175 61 fps 73 fps 101 fps 114 fps
Asus ROG Strix G15 (RX6800M) 10504 77 fps 109 fps 108 fps 150 fps
MSI GS66 Stealth (RTX 3080) 9097 70 fps 117 fps 140 fps 149 fps
Razer blade 15 (RTX 2080 Super) 7637 58 fps 98 fps 110 fps 134 fps
MSI Creator Z16 (RTX 3060) 6322 50 fps 57 fps 56 fps (1600p) 92 fps

At this point it should be noted that the ZBook Studio G8 gets very loud under full load and produces so much noise in our gaming benchmarks that I wanted to put on headphones. The case also got quite warm, with parts of the palm rest exceeding 126 degrees Fahrenheit and the bottom of the case reaching over 140 degrees F. The CPU temperatures stayed below 90 degrees F during the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, so HP did an excellent job of keeping the component temperatures within a reasonable range.

display

Close-up on the display of the HP ZBook Studio G8.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device came with the 4K OLED display (3840 x 2160), one of four options, along with two Full HD options (1920 x 1080) and HP's DreamColor 4K display running at 120 Hz. With OLED displays you can't usually go wrong, and mine definitely looked great. The colors were dynamic without being oversaturated, the display was bright enough in all my work environments (including outside in southern California sunlight), and I enjoyed deep black colors.

My colorimeter was mostly happy with the display, but it wasn't quite as spectacular as some of the OLED panels I tested. It was bright at 413 nits, well above our 300 nit threshold, and the contrast was excellent at 28,880: 1 (note this is a lower score than some of my previous OLED tests, but I switched colorimeters and it apparently tests OLED displays differently). The colors were wide at 94% of AdobeRGB and 100% of sRGB. The color accuracy was just OK with a DeltaE of 2.16 (1.0 or less is considered excellent). Compared to the Dell XPS 15 OLED display with 397 nits, 27,770: 1 contrast, 97% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB and a color accuracy of 0.41. The ThinkPad 15 had a more average IPS display that was very bright at 542 cd / m² and had a contrast ratio of 1,040: 1, 76% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB and a color accuracy of 1.49.

Creative types will love this display, although they would like the colors to be a little more accurate. Everyone else will enjoy the colors, brightness and contrasts that make the ZBook Studio G8 an excellent laptop for creative and productive work.

The speakers of the HP ZBook Studio G8 rest next to the keyboard.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Four speakers, two tweeters and two woofers provide the sound, and when they are all the way up, they emit ample volume. There was no distortion either, with clear mids and highs and a hint of bass. These are some of the best speakers you'll find on a Windows laptop that rival the Dell XPS 15, which is the Windows benchmark but doesn't quite get on par with the excellent MacBook Pro audio.

You can use these speakers for all of your listening needs from gaming to Netflix bingeing to music. No headphones or external speakers are required.

Keyboard and touchpad

Keyboard and touchpad of the HP ZBook Studio G8.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ZBook Studio G8's keyboard is very similar to that of HP's Specter range, with plenty of key spacing, large keycaps, and a row of cursor movement keys along the right side. However, its switching mechanism is completely different, it is the same depth, but with more click than push button. It's a comfortable and quiet keyboard on par with the excellent version of the Specter, even if it feels different. My test unit came with the optional per-key RGB lighting that can cycle 16.8 million colors, and it's as good as a gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 14. It's strange to have such lighting on a portable workstation but that too shows how HP sees its customers using the laptop.

The touchpad was large and comfortable, with a glass surface that made swiping precise. As a Microsoft Precision touchpad, it supported the multi-touch gestures of Windows 10 and was pleasant to use. The display was also touch-enabled and precise as usual.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by both an infrared camera for facial recognition and a fingerprint reader in the upper right corner of the palm rest. Both worked quickly and reliably.

There's no privacy switch or slider for the webcam, which was disappointing. And the webcam itself gets stuck at 720p.

Battery life

An HP ZBook Studio G8 is on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Inside the ZBook Studio G8 there is an 83 watt hour battery installed, which is not exactly huge for this device class. The Lenovo ThinkPad P15, for example, has a capacity of 94 watt hours and the Dell XPS 15 is almost on par with HP with 86 watt hours. Throw in some high-end components and a power hungry 4K OLED display and my predictions for battery life have been bleak.

Things were just as bad as I expected. Starting with our web browsing test, which ran through a number of popular and complex websites, the ZBook Studio G8 only lasted five hours, about half of what we'd like to see in this test. The XPS 15 OLED lasted nine hours and the ThinkPad P15 reached 9.5 hours. In our video test, which repeats a local 1080p movie trailer, the ZBook Studio G8 only lasted 6.25 hours, compared to the XPS 15 OLED for 11 hours and the ThinkPad P15 for 11.15 hours.

I also ran the PCMark Applications battery test, the best indicator of productivity performance, and the ZBook Studio G8 got 5.5 hours, while the XPS 15 got eight hours and the ThinkPad P15 6.35 hours. Finally, in the PCMark Gaming Battery Test, which shows how hard a laptop works on battery power, the ZBook Studio G8 lasted 91 minutes, roughly the same as the XPS 15 OLED and about 40 minutes longer than the ThinkPad P15.

Overall, the battery life of the ZBook Studio G8 was poor. You have to lug around and plug in the large power pack before a work day is over. If your workload is demanding at all, you'll pocket it even before noon.

Our opinion

The ZBook Studio G8 manages to pack components at the workstation level into a thin and light housing. However, this happens at the expense of pure performance and expandability. Aside from some professional features that may or may not be useful to the typical developer or even engineer, the ZBook Studio G8 outperforms some 15-inch laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen. not 4 (which is actually more expandable than the HP).

That makes the ZBook Studio G8 an odd laptop. It's a great machine, no doubt about it. But it's also horribly expensive without much to add to justify the investment.

Are there alternatives?

The ThinkPad P15 offers similar performance to the ZBook Studio G8, but is much more expandable at the expense of the added thickness and weight. It's just as expensive, but you'll be happy to find that you can upgrade the memory and storage if needed.

You can also consider MSI's WS65 Mobile Workstation. It supports the same basic components and can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM, but it is also thinner and lighter and does not offer the same expandability as some workstations.

Finally, the Dell XPS 15 is an excellent choice when you don't need these professional features. It's just as well built and handsome, and it's almost as fast in our test configuration that it wasn't maxed out. Buy an XPS 15 and its high-end components and you'll likely get similar performance for thousands less.

How long it will take?

The ZBook Studio G8 is solidly built and will withstand many years of productive service. However, it is not as expandable as many workstations. So you buy what you get. However, the three-year guarantee is welcome.

Should you buy it?

No. The ZBook Studio G8 is also a great device. It's just too expensive compared to the competition.

Editor's recommendations



05 Oct
Blog

Surface Laptop Studio Review: It’s Weird and Wonderful

The front of the Surface Laptop Studio in Stage mode.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio

RRP $ 2,100.00

"The Surface Laptop Studio is finally the Pro-level Surface PC that many have always wanted."

advantages

  • The most powerful Surface PC

  • Gorgeous 120 Hz screen

  • Funny 2-in-1 design

  • Wonderful haptic touchpad

  • Excellent workmanship

disadvantage

  • CPU holds back performance

Surface devices play by their own rules. They shy away from conventions. You're pushing the boundaries.

This sometimes leads to products that prefer form to function, or others that fall completely on their face.

The Surface Laptop Studio could easily have been another of those stumbling blocks. To my delight, Microsoft expertly balances the need for a powerful laptop with the adventurous design that Surface devices are known for. As an alternative to the Dell XPS 15 or MacBook Pro, the Surface Laptop Studio has its strengths and weaknesses. But at face value, it's a winner as a device that offers a completely unique PC experience.

draft

The back lid of the Surface Laptop Studio.

From a distance, the Surface Laptop Studio looks pretty conventional. It's a silver 14-inch laptop with a Microsoft logo on the lid. Big deal right?

Then your eyes will be drawn to the ventilation slots on the side walls of the laptop. Next you will see the fold in the back of the lid. As you drag the screen forward across the keyboard, you'll realize that this is not an orthodox laptop.

The base of the laptop is cut in half and consists of two parts – one with ports hanging over the side and one with open air vents. It's unlike anything I've seen in a laptop design before.

It's rare to see this amount of airflow in general on a premium laptop like this one. Laptop manufacturers usually prefer a simpler design with less visible openings. The MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 15 are both examples of this philosophy.

A side view of the Surface Laptop Studio.

But the Surface Laptop Studio is allowed to bake and eat its cake. This airflow is a heat technician's dream scenario without affecting the connections or the minimalist design. In fact, the vents are completely hidden from most angles. It also provides a nifty place to magnetically store the Surface Pen (on the front) and could theoretically also be a way to keep the heat away from the palm rests. The cooling is inspired, although the top half of the vents are actually used to vent audio rather than hot air.

This design means that from a full side view, the Surface Laptop Studio appears thicker than it actually is. It's 0.7 inches thick, thicker than both the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 15. The Surface Laptop Studio is also quite heavy at 4 pounds, though it's only slightly lighter than the XPS 15 and MacBook Pro 16 inches . A laptop with the same screen size as the Razer Blade 14 is both thinner and lighter.

The rounded corners of the Surface Laptop Studio stand out from the crowd, Microsoft goes one step further and also rounds off the corners of the display. This is even different from the other Surface products and combines it directly with Windows 11. For the first time in a long time, Surface hardware and Windows software feel like they go hand in hand.

Stage mode and studio mode

The Surface Laptop Studio from the side, pulled forward in stage mode.

While the Surface Laptop Studio opens and closes like any other laptop, Microsoft couldn't help but incorporate some crazy 2-in-1 modes as well. When open, the lower half of the lid can be pulled forward into "stage mode". It magnetizes on the keyboard deck, so the touchpad remains available for use but the keyboard is covered. This has also been demonstrated with other laptops, such as the leather-bound HP Elite Folio. It bears the greatest resemblance to the Acer ConceptD Ezel laptops, which also had a kind of pull-down "stage mode".

However, implementing it on the Surface Laptop Studio is the best attempt at making this type of hinge work smoothly. Although it often requires the use of two hands, switching the device from one mode to another feels fluid and easy. The magnetic fasteners feel secure and guide the movement of the hinge.

Once you know what's possible, it feels just as natural as other 2-in-1s like the Surface Pro 8 or the iPad Pro. In contrast to the ConceptD Ezel, you shouldn't use the Surface Laptop Studio in the phases between the different modes. That means it's more limited, yes, but it feels more robust.

The Surface Laptop Studio in stage mode.

So what is Stage Mode good for? Well, Microsoft envisions that you spend most of your time illustrating painterly masterpieces using the Surface Pen. That may apply to you, but I am not an artist or a designer. And yet, I've found plenty of cases where the stage mode came in handy. We all know that touchscreens on laptops are not convenient for long periods of time. Reaching up and touching a laptop screen with your index finger is (and always has been) an ergonomic nightmare. Touching the screen with your finger also causes the lid to wobble.

Stage mode fixes both of these problems. The angle is more comfortable for touch operation, whether with the finger or the Surface Pen, and it is much more stable than in laptop mode.

The Surface Laptop Studio was completely shut down in Studio mode.

There is also “Studio Mode” which is a little less useful. The screen can be folded almost flat on the keyboard. Here you only have the touchscreen as the main input. Due to the weight of the device, you are unlikely to use it as a "tablet", so to speak. Because of this, Studio Mode is primarily intended for dedicated time with the Surface Pen, whether you're working in Illustrator or writing notes in Whiteboard while holding it like a clipboard. I admit that artists may appreciate Studio Mode more than I do.

Finally, you can also flip the screen completely so that it faces away from the keyboard. This mode is great for watching movies or playing games with an external controller. One problem with this mode is that the speakers are facing away from you.

The best thing about these modes, however, is how easy it is to ignore them. If all you wanted was a Surface Laptop with an RTX graphics card inside, the Surface Laptop Studio doesn't sacrifice too much to take advantage of its experimental hinge feature.

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The Surface Laptop Studio moved forward in stage mode.

The Surface Laptop Studio has a fabulous display. It's by far the best screen Microsoft has put in a Surface device outside of the Surface Studio All-in-One, regardless of what metric you're testing it with. The 14.4-inch screen (of course) has an aspect ratio of 3: 2 with a resolution of 2400 x 1600. That is 197 pixels per inch (ppi), which is not quite as sharp as the 227 ppi of the MacBook Pro 13 -Inch or the 290 ppi of the 4K Dell XPS 15. Still, the screen feels very sharp for its size.

However, the Surface Laptop Studio has the upper hand against these two laptops with its 120Hz refresh rate. For a long time, refresh rates above 60 Hz were reserved for gaming laptops only, but the Surface Laptop Studio (and Surface Pro 8) are finally bringing the benefits of ultra-smooth animation to the non-gaming world. Once you've spent time on a 120Hz screen, especially in Windows 11, you don't want to go back.

Of course, the Surface Laptop Studio can also use this refresh rate in games, which makes it a more legitimate gaming laptop compared to the Dell XPS 15, Asus Vivobook Pro 16X, MacBook Pro or Acer Swift X.

Once you've spent time on a 120Hz screen, you don't want to go back.

The display of the Surface Laptop Studio also has fantastic picture quality. Apart from the Surface Studio, the Surface Laptop Studio has the brightest screen from Microsoft with a maximum of 443 cd / m². There are lighter screens out there, but it's exactly what Apple currently has in its MacBook Pros and feels very bright even when working outdoors or next to a window.

The color space reaches 100% sRGB and 82% AdobeRGB. It's not perfect like some 4K laptops – the Dell XPS 15 or the HP Specter x360 come to mind. But when combined with the 1.3 Delta-E, this is a display suitable for serious creative work. These results were all achieved in the preset color profile "Vivid". The “sRGB” color mode option has a narrower color space and poorer color accuracy.

Ports

The connections of the Surface Laptop Studio.

Thunderbolt 4 coming to Surface Laptop Studio is a big deal and makes it competitive. The Surface Laptop Studio has two of these USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left. On the right side you'll find a Surface Connect dock and headphone jack.

Despite the quality of these ports, their number is worrying. I'm not going to waste your time lamenting the lack of USB-A and HDMI, but it certainly would have been nice to have another USB-C port and even an SD card slot. It would have been a huge benefit for this laptop audience not to need an adapter to upload content directly from a camera, and that is something that the XPS 15 includes.

Microsoft is following the example of Apple, which only offers two Thunderbolt 4 ports on its M1 MacBook Pro. However, if the rumors about the upcoming 14-inch redesign prove to be true, the decision to cut older ports could be a little on the decline.

Webcam and speakers

The webcam has a resolution of 1080p, which is certainly a step up from the Surface Laptop 4, XPS 15, or other 720p laptops. It's not quite as crisp or smooth as the Surface Pro 8. The Surface Laptop Studio of course also has an IR camera in the top frame

The device uses a quad speaker setup – two under the keyboard and two subwoofers on the sides of the laptop. The result is a nice audio balance that's a solid upgrade over the Surface Laptop 4. But here, too, the powerful, front-facing speakers of the Surface Pro 8 run in circles around these speakers, as do those of the MacBook Pro.

power

The Surface Laptop Studio on a white table.

The promise of a truly "pro" level Surface device has been a long time coming. The Surface Book 3 came close, but it didn't quite have the performance and display quality required by creative professionals.

The Surface Laptop Studio tries to do two things to overcome the performance limitations of the Surface Book 3. First, it uses a slightly more powerful Intel processor than the Surface Book, Surface Pro, or Surface Laptop lines. The Core i7-11370H is a 35 watt instead of 25 watt chip. More power is always a good thing, and it results in improved CPU performance over the Surface Book 3. Improved multi-core performance is the key to improved performance in all kinds of creative and technical tasks is targeted.

However, 8-cores, 45-watt CPUs in laptops like the Dell XPS 15, MacBook Pro 16-inch and many others will always have the upper hand over the Surface Laptop Studio.

Microsoft says it developed its own custom framework for managing the power shared by the CPU and GPU, and insisted that this 35-watt CPU was the best solution. The Surface Laptop Studio's performance is disappointing in many synthetic benchmarks. As expected, laptops like the Dell XPS 15 consistently offer better single-core and multi-core performance.

Underdog Bench 5
(Single / multiple)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) PCMark 10 Pugetbench Premiere Pro 3DMark time spy
Surface Laptop Studio (Core i7-11370H) 1321/5131 1304/5450 179 5091 417 4266
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 1519/10497 106 6251 432 6691
Dell XPS 15 (Core i7-11800H) 1556/7692 1513/9979 103 6024 509 4540
Acer Swift X (Ryzen 7 5800U) 1287/6663 1437/10135 99 6247 333 4073
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (Ryzen 9 5900HX) 1544/8299 1486/11478 90 6486 571 4601

The ailing processor is most emphasized in Handbrake, which reveals the CPU performance for a practical test. Without the help of the discrete GPU, which the Surface Laptop Studio uses second to address performance issues, it falls short of the competition in a simple video encoding test, revealing the limitations of the quad-core processor. Surprisingly, the processor performance alone isn't much faster than the Surface Pro 8.

But here, too, Microsoft emphasizes the overall package – real performance that can balance the performance between CPU and GPU. Although it shares a lot in common with Nvidia's Dynamic Boost technology, Microsoft's own framework is homemade here. According to Microsoft, the system dynamically assigns both power (up to 50 watts for the RTX 3050 Ti) and fan speed, making moment-to-moment decisions to manage both the CPU and GPU.

The PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark is good evidence of this claim as it tests a number of video editing tasks that use both components.

The Surface Laptop Studio certainly does better here than in CPU-related tests and benchmarks. For example, the Dell XPS 15 is 33% faster in multi-core Cinebench performance, but only 15% faster in PugetBench. While the Surface Laptop Studio's CPU is still holding back performance, the system undoubtedly does a good job of balancing the system's power distribution.

In comparison to similar laptops, the performance of the Surface Laptop Studio is in the midfield.

Compared to laptops with a similar mix of components, the Surface Laptop Studio is in the middle of the PugetBench performance. The fastest RTX 3050 Ti content creation laptop I've tested is the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X, which uses a Ryzen 9 5900HX.

Gaming is also a good test of overall performance and power distribution. Unsurprisingly, the Surface Laptop Studio does admirably in more GPU-heavy games and struggles with titles that rely more on CPU power. You can see this in a game like Civilization VI, which is heavily CPU dependent for fast frame rates, especially at lower resolutions and graphics settings. At 1920 x 1200 and medium settings, the Surface Laptop Studio is still fast with 105 frames per second, but clearly behind the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X and Dell XPS 15. This comparison is even out at higher resolutions.

Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop Studio copes well with internal temperatures and does not exceed 82 degrees Celsius for either the CPU or the GPU. The surface temperatures got warm, sometimes even on the right palm rest. It's not as outrageous as the Razer Blade laptops, but you will definitely feel the temperatures rise throughout the device as heavy-duty tasks are performed.

Keyboard and touchpad

To my surprise, there have been very few attempts to recreate the MacBook Pro's Force trackpad on a Windows laptop. Nobody came close. Then the Surface Laptop Studio comes and surpasses it. This is officially my favorite touchpad on any laptop, outperforming the MacBook Pro and the more conventional Surface Laptop 4.

First, the tracking and gesture support is second to none. The glass surface is incredibly smooth, the palm deflection is accurate, and it's big enough. But with the haptic feedback system it is really fun.

A top view of the Surface Laptop Studio keyboard.

According to Microsoft, it uses a similar haptic motor as the Force Trackpad and simulates the feeling of pressing a button. Microsoft's implementation is even more compelling, and the ability to adjust sensitivity is the icing on the cake. I've found the sweet spot to be around 75%, but when you turn it up to the max it almost feels like a physical click to the brain.

Microsoft has performed a similar miracle with its Surface Slim Pen 2, which simulates the feeling of friction through subtle haptic feedback in the stylus. While the Surface Slim Pen 2 didn't come with the Surface Laptop Studio, it's a fantastic supportive peripheral.

The keyboard isn't nearly as adventurous, but it's no less enjoyable. Choosing gray keycaps instead of black is a nice change of pace (and prevents it from looking like a MacBook rip-off.)

Meanwhile, the keystrokes feel similar to the Type Cover of the Surface Pro 8 – precise, with a lot of spring travel and a comfortable floor movement. The size and layout of the keyboard are almost identical to the Surface Pro 8 Type Cover, only the power button has been squeezed into the row of functions. I wouldn't have minded an extended keyboard with bigger keycaps, but I immediately felt comfortable on this keyboard.

Like all Surface devices, the Surface Laptop Studio doesn't include a fingerprint reader, but instead relies on Windows Hello functionality in the IR camera.

Battery life

I was pleasantly surprised at how long the Surface Laptop Studio would last on a single charge. Despite having a high-resolution screen (with a high refresh rate) and discrete RTX graphics, I had no problem using the Surface Laptop Studio away from an electrical outlet for most of a work day.

I tested the battery by browsing a number of websites until the battery ran out. The Surface Laptop Studio lasted over 10.5 hours in this test, which is better than both the Dell XPS 15 (4K OLED) and the Surface Book 3. The Surface Laptop Studio has a strong battery life, but champions like the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X lasted over 16 hours through this same test.

You can get up to 14 hours out of the Surface Laptop Studio for extremely light tasks like our video playback test, which runs a local 1080p clip until the battery runs out. I never quite reached the 18 hours required by Microsoft, but for a laptop of this size and performance, I can't complain.

Configurations and price

Like the Surface Book 3, the Surface Laptop Studio starts at $ 1,600. However, this basic configuration is unlikely to attract many buyers. Although it has 16GB of RAM, it doesn't have a separate graphics card, and with the CPU limitations discussed earlier, the $ 1,600 and $ 1,800 models remain a little underpowered.

As always, Microsoft charges a lot for upgrades. It costs an additional $ 600 to switch from 16GB to 32GB of RAM and 512GB to 1TB of storage. That's $ 200 more than Apple charges for the same upgrades (and $ 100 more than Dell)! That makes the $ 2,100 configuration a solid option, especially since you can upgrade your SSD for more if you really want to. It's actually a few hundred dollars cheaper than the Surface Book 3 in the high-end options.

And don't forget – the Acer Swift X is $ 1,000 cheaper than the Surface Laptop Studio, despite having very similar components.

When storage and storage are balanced, the Surface Laptop Studio is $ 500 more expensive than the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro. The Surface Laptop Studio is over $ 500 cheaper than the Intel-powered MacBook Pro, of course, but it's soon to be replaced.

Our opinion

The Surface Laptop Studio isn't perfect – its weakened quad-core processor is a problem. If you need that power more than anything, there are more powerful options out there.

You need to get into the overall vision of the product for the Surface Laptop Studio to be worth the price. The various 2-in-1 modes, integration with the Surface Slim Pen 2, the haptic feedback touchpad, and the gorgeous 120Hz screen are all things that set the Surface Laptop Studio apart from any other laptop you have right now able to buy.

Are there alternatives?

The Razer Blade 14 matches (or surpasses) much of what the Surface Laptop Studio does in terms of performance, size, and premium feel. It doesn't have the pull-forward hinge or stylus support, of course, but the option for an RTX 3080 and the eight-core Ryzen 9 5900HX make it a more powerful laptop.

Much is unknown about the upcoming M1X MacBook Pro 14-inch, although it will certainly be the main competitor of the Surface Laptop Studio when it launches later this year.

The Dell XPS 15 is also a good alternative. You can't directly compare it to the Surface Laptop Studio due to its different screen, but both laptops can be configured with the RTX 3050 Ti and are similarly powerful creative laptops.

How long it will take?

The Surface Laptop Studio should last for many years – hopefully up to five or six. The processor and graphics card will no doubt feel old after a few years, but the ability to upgrade the memory yourself – up to 2TB – helps

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. The Surface Laptop Studio offers a one-of-a-kind 2-in-1 laptop that you won't get anywhere else.

Editor's recommendations



30 Jun
Blog

Beats Studio Buds Review: These Are The AirPods Pro Lite

Beats Studio Buds

"With the Studio Buds, Beats has found a perfect balance between functionality and price."

  • Inexpensive

  • Good sound quality

  • Good ANC

  • Good transparency

  • Very convenient

  • No wireless charging

  • No wear sensors

  • No EQ or control adjustment

With the exception of the Powerbeats Pro, which are primarily aimed at athletes, Beats by Dre has never made true wireless earbuds for everyday use. That surprising omission was finally addressed with the new $ 150 Beats Studio Buds, a set of ultra-compact Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) earphones that offer most of the benefits of the AirPods Pro at a much lower price. Are these the real wireless earbuds you've been waiting for? Let's find out.

What's in the box?

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Following a growing trend across the industry that we're excited about is the Studio buds come in a tiny cardboard box that has less structural rigidity than a packet of Rice Krispies. That means much less material to dispose of and it is fully recyclable.

Once embedded in your ears, the earbuds will only stick out a little.

Inside you will find the Studio Buds already in their charging case, two additional sets of silicone earplugs (media are installed as standard), some paper documentation and a very short USB-C to USB-C charging cable. Given that there are still a lot of people out there who don't have a USB-C port on their laptop or tablet or a USB-C charger, I think Beats a USB-A to USB-C adapter should have enclosed. Keep this in mind if you are one of the crowd without USB-C.

design

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The tiny Studio Buds use the same eartips as the AirPods Pro. Instead of the AirPods' iconic white stems, an unusual mohawk-like fin shape makes them a little easier to grip with your fingers. At the tip of the fin is a single physical control button. The intent is that when you take the Studio Buds out of their cases and angle them in your ears, you don't accidentally tap a touch control.

Once embedded in your ears, the earbuds stick out just a tiny bit – just enough to grab the fin or push the button.

Unlike the AirPods and AirPods Pro, the Studio Buds don't have optical sensors, so they can't automatically pause your music when you remove an earbud or resume playback when you put them back in.

The Studio Buds also lack Apple's H1 or W1 wireless chips, but even so, they're still considered a Class 1 Bluetooth device, and more importantly for Apple fans, they give you hands-free access to Siri (or Pushbutton access on google). Assistant on Android devices).

In keeping with Beats' reputation for sport-friendly headphones, the Studio Buds have an IPX4 rating, which should offer more than enough protection for a sweaty workout.

The Studio Buds are some of the most comfortable earbuds I've ever tried.

The charging case isn't quite as compact as the AirPods or AirPods Pro and doesn't offer wireless charging, but its fully rounded contours make it comfortable to hold and still light and small enough to fit in your pocket.

A single LED on the front shows the charging status of the case, but to know how much charge the earbuds have, you need to consult your phone.

Comfort, controls and connections

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Studio Buds are some of the most comfortable earbuds I've ever tried. Their tiny shape and ventilated design reduce much of the "full-ear" feel that other in-ear headphones can create. I had no problem with the standard medium-sized earbuds, but with only two other sizes to choose from, it's hard to tell if everyone will be that lucky.

As with most physical buttons, the controls are precise and easy to use.

The rounded shape of the earphone body makes a lot of skin contact with the outer ear. In combination with a properly fitting earplug, the Studio Buds offer a more secure fit than the AirPods Pro. You may not get the confident understanding of an ear hook design like the Powerbeats Pro, but I doubt those buds will accidentally come off.

As with most physical buttons, the controls are precise and easy to use. One click handles play / pause / call acceptance / call end, two clicks jump forward and three clicks jump back. Unfortunately there is no way to change this and control the volume. Click and hold to toggle your ANC mode or activate your voice assistant, depending on which earbuds you're using.

I'd prefer some customization options here, but the downside is that you can use each earbud independently and the controls remain the same.

Pairing the Studio Buds is quick and easy on both iOS and Android. Simply opening the case lid while it's near your phone is usually enough to trigger a pairing notification with a tap of your finger, and that's all.

They don't support Bluetooth multipoint for pairing with two devices at the same time (but this is a very rare feature in wireless earbuds). The Bluetooth range is excellent: I was able to get around 25 meters outside and there were no problems roaming inside. The connection stayed rock solid the entire time, which we couldn't say about the Powerbeats Pro.

Sound quality

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Beats Studio Buds won't disappoint Beats fans: they have the same bass-forward sound signature that the brand is known for. As with all in-ear earphones, the fit determines how powerful this low-end gets. While I found both medium and large sized earbuds comfortable, the large earbuds provided more bass response.

The bass isn't quite as snappy as on more expensive earphones like the Jabra Elite 85t or the Sony WF-1000XM4, but it's decent enough for the price and actually better balanced than the similarly priced Jabra Elite 75t.

Fortunately, this deep bass is balanced out by the rest of the frequencies and only occasionally creeps into the lower mids, where it can seem slightly muddy. As with other Beats products, hip-hop, EDM, and rap music sound fantastic, but there is enough detail in the mids and highs to enjoy many other genres as well.

The Studio Buds have very good noise canceling.

Beats and Apple headphones never offered EQ adjustments, which never made sense to me. Earbuds come with different sized earbuds because each ear is different. For me, an EQ adjustment fixes the same kind of problem – not everyone will like the way the earbuds are tuned at the factory.

Noise cancellation and transparency

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

I know ANC is getting more affordable – heck, you can now get real ANC wireless earbuds for well under $ 100 – but I'm still impressed that Beats are adding it to Studio Buds and priced at $ 150 Could hold dollars.

See, not all ANCs are created equal. Bad ANC is just pointless and often introduces as much new noise in the form of hissing as it tries to suppress. The Studio Buds have very good noise canceling. It's not as good as what you get from the AirPods Pro, Jabra Elite 85t, or Sony WF-1000XM4, but they are solid performers and shave both low and high frequency sounds.

What's more impressive is that despite their ventilated design, they achieve this ANC level. Vents let a small amount of air into the ear to help make up for the clogged feeling closed earbuds can create, but this can make noise cancellation less effective. If I hadn't known the Studio Buds were ventilated, I wouldn't have known because of their ANC performance.

Transparency mode falls into a similar area – it's not exactly the "felt like I'm not wearing earbuds" effect of the AirPods Pro, but it's more than enough for having conversations or just being aware of potential hazards like traffic to be.

At startup, the earbuds will force you to toggle between ANC, Transparency, and Off mode, but Beats tells me that if you click and hold, you will only be able to use two of these in a future firmware update.

It would be nice to be able to fine-tune both ANC and transparency, but just like the EQ situation, this is simply not possible for the Studio Buds.

Call quality

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Despite the total of six microphones, the Studio Buds did not convince me with their call quality. Background noises weren't too annoying, but they were definitely audible. Some noises, such as cars driving by, were greatly reduced, while others – such as birdsong – did not seem to be affected at all.

Because the noise-canceling microphones process this noise, it is difficult for them to keep your voice perfectly clear. There's a lot of jiggling and sometimes it feels like you're far from the mic.

Things improve a lot when they are inside where they work well.

Find my buds

Beats Studio Buds

Beats Studio Buds

Apple's Find My platform is the ultimate lost item tracking service, with millions of iOS devices around the world constantly searching for compatible products such as AirTags or Apple Watches. The Studio Buds also belong on this list. They also work with Google's Find My feature when you pair them with an Android device.

The only minor downside is that the earbuds can only be forced to emit a sound when they are not in their case.

Android too

The Studio Buds stand out for being the first Beats product that plays (almost) well with Android devices like iPhones. There's a Beats app you can download from the Google Play Store to get software updates and check battery life, but right now it doesn't give you access to ANC modes or click-and-hold options like on iOS.

Battery life

Beats Studio BudsSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Beats claims eight hours per charge for the earbuds with ANC and transparency turned off. If you enclose the two full charges in the charging case, you will get a total playing time of about 24 hours. Turn on ANC and those numbers will drop quite a bit, to five and 15 respectively.

At 50% volume, these claims are very accurate. In fact, I was able to last nine hours with ANC and transparency turned off.

There is also a quick charge option: five minutes of plug time gives you an extra hour of life.

Let's put that into perspective: the Powerbeats Pro get nine hours / 24 hours, but that's because they don't have an ANC. The AirPods Pro get 4.5 hours per charge (ANC on) or five hours (ANC off) and a total of around 24 hours with their case. While the Studio Buds may not win the overall award for Best Endurance, they are equal to or better than other Apple / Beats true wireless models.

Our opinion

With a tiny size, comfy fit, great sound quality, and ANC that gets the job done, the $ 150 Beats Studio Buds are by far the best value for money of the entire Beats / AirPods line of wireless headphones.

Is there a better alternative?

I think there's no better alternative to the Studio Buds given their $ 150 price point, but as long as the hands-free Siri isn't high on your wish list, this is the Jabra Elite 75t deserve serious consideration. They sound great (though maybe not as clear as the Studio Buds), and they have very good ANC and transparency, as well as slightly better battery life and loads of features like EQ and controls. Thanks to the great Jabra Sound + app, there is also a Find My Earbuds option.

How long will they last?

With an IPX4 rating and seemingly decent build quality, the Studio Buds should perform well for many years to come. Battery life is always an issue with these type of headphones, and you will likely find that the charge they can hold drops over time. They come with a one-year warranty from Apple.

Should you buy it?

Yes. Even if you are not an iPhone user, the Studio Buds are an excellent and affordable companion for music and movies.

Editor's recommendations



28 Jan
Blog

Tempo Studio Review: Smart Fitness Display Features Weights

Tempo Studio Rating 3 out of 5

"The Tempo Studio Fitness Display is the smarter, more sophisticated connected home gym."

  • Comes with all the accessories you will need

  • 3D motion tracking for the correct shape

  • Sharp looking touchscreen display

  • Weights are hidden in the device

  • Less live lessons

  • Do not follow all exercises

Getting in shape is different for everyone. Some people may just want the number on the scale to go down while others choose to improve their stamina or stamina. However, whatever the goal, there is no doubt that smart fitness displays are changing the way we exercise at home.

While most of them focus solely on high-intensity cardio training, the Tempo Studio emphasizes strength and muscle building by using 3D sensors to monitor proper form. It also features free weights and a barbell for workouts, live classes to measure yourself against, and more. On the surface, it offers everything you need as a worthy alternative to the actual gym. But how much better is it than competing displays?

A home gym with weights

Without question, the Tempo Studio's biggest differentiator is how it packs all of the weights necessary for training. With other intelligent fitness displays like Mirror or Echelon Reflect, users have to enter their own weights. Tempo Studio comes with a variety of weight plates, two dumbbells, a barbell, a heart rate monitor, an exercise mat, and a recovery roller – all included in the sticker price of $ 1,995. You could easily spend a considerable sum on purchasing a set of weights. So, when you know all of this is already included, the Tempo Studio is ahead of the pack.

Even better is the fact that it includes all the weights and dumbbells. Because of this design choice, Tempo Studio is more of a freestanding smart fitness display than a wall mount. The end result is a sizable exercise machine that is 6 feet by 2 feet, 2 inches by 1 foot, 4 inches. In my tiny apartment, it takes up quite a bit of space, but I still appreciate that it keeps the weights in a compartment under the display while the barbell and dumbbells are attached to the back. Managing fitness equipment has never been easier.

The largest touchscreen in your home

The imposing stature of the Tempo Studio is mainly due to its gigantic 42-inch display. What was more surprising was the realization that it was actually a touchscreen, which I honestly did not expect. Not only is it detailed and bright, it also doesn't suffer from some of the visibility issues caused by glare on some other mirror-based smart displays. Everything is perfectly visible even at larger angles, so that the instructions of the trainers on the screen can be easily followed.

Speaking of touch, the interaction with the display is strange at first, but pretty straightforward and responsive. It's just a couple of inconveniences while you're exercising. For one thing, I wish there were special volume controls that could be accessed immediately.

Managing fitness equipment has never been easier.

Instead, the volume can only be adjusted when you start a workout and press the appropriate icon in the lower right corner of the user interface. There is also no smartphone integration. Basic functions such as pause / playback therefore always require a physical touch on the display.

Correct shape through 3D motion tracking

What sets Tempo Studio apart from the competition is its ability to track correct form for various exercises using a 3D flight motion sensor located under the display. It looks like a camera, but it's really only there to model your shape. If there's one thing I've learned about exercising from every personal trainer I know, it's that getting in shape goes a long way. And that's exactly what Tempo Studio does by constantly telling me to keep my knees over my toes when I'm not in the ideal squat shape.

The Tempo Studio also shows my heart rate and other statistics about my current training – e.g. B. How many repetitions I did, my pace and my freedom of movement. The level of detail achieved through the use of the 3D motion sensor provides valuable data that fitness junkies will appreciate. However, not all exercises are tracked with the 3D motion sensor. In fact, motion tracking seems to be limited to exercises that are mostly about weights. Most of the other workouts, like some of the boxing and cardio workouts, don't get motion tracking treatment.

Despite this shortcoming, the Tempo Studio seems to be constantly learning – maybe at some point it can pursue a wider range of workouts. Some things are better than nothing.

Bringing sweat to a sweat needs more variety

If you've ever taken any of the group classes at traditional gyms, you'll know what to expect with Tempo Studio classes. As mentioned earlier, the focus here is on strength training. So expect some serious lifting. By combining some cardio exercises with core strength training, I was able to work up a sweat and get a decent heart rate. I'm used to lifting heavy weights, but not at the speed or intensity I'm going through here. It's a challenge for sure, so you may want to drop the weights on the first start to acclimate and find the right pace.

Workouts are harder than just relying on gravity or body weight, which definitely helps build muscle. However, the studio doesn't have nearly the same different classes as Mirror. Likewise, there are fewer live courses to sign up for and try out. Even so, the on-demand courses provide what you expect – great motivation and guidance from Tempo Studio teachers. At the end of each class, the exercise is broken down into a chart to help track my progress over time.

I would love to see more different workouts to choose from, but I love that they include weights in their workouts. If you are on your priority list and want to build muscle, Tempo Studio will help you along the way. All you need to know is that it requires a subscription of $ 39 per month.

Our opinion

Even if it's not perfect, Tempo Studio has appeal. It's neither crazy expensive nor cheap. At $ 1,995, it's more than the attractive Lululemon Mirror ($ 1,495) but less than the Tonal ($ 2,995). The latter also focuses on strength training, but achieves it through a patented digital weight system based on resistance.

When you have all the weights and equipment ready to go, combined with real-time coaching from 3D motion sensors, it is enough to recommend the Tempo Studio as a fully connected home gym that you should consider.

How long it will take?

You can treat the Tempo Studio like a device to use at home as it stays stationary in one place. It's nice to know that Tempo Studio comes with a limited warranty that covers the case and weights for three years. The display and heart rate monitor are covered for one year.

Is there a better alternative?

Not everyone focuses on weight training. So, if you are looking for something with a wider range of classes, you should check out Mirror by Lululemon. It includes exercise classes you won't find with Tempo Studio, such as Pilates, ballet, tai chi, and more. Mirror also offers one-to-one classes where only you and the trainer are present.

Should you buy it?

You bet. The one-time costs (without subscription) include everything you need for a challenging training session.

Editor's recommendations




07 Sep
Blog

AKG K371-BT Headphones Review: Portable Studio Monitors

akg k371 bt headphones review 9

"The K371-BTs are portable, detail-oriented cans that live up to the AKG heritage."

  • Excellent reproduction of critical details

  • Nice folding design

  • Quality touch controls

  • Good battery life

  • Uneven pressure can lead to fatigue

  • Weak bass

AKG's legacy lies in studio environments where musicians look for strong performance from their cans with critical hearing. Because of this, AKG makes some of the best detail-focused studio headphones on the market that are especially appreciated by recording artists. Not only are these headphones very expensive, they are also not tailored for everyday use.

The AKG K371-BT fills that void as a portable set of studio monitors that are also relatively inexpensive. They cost approximately $ 180, and while they don't offer active noise cancellation, they want to take AKG's legacy with them on the go.

How are you? Let's get into that.

Simple and uncomplicated packaging

The K371-BTs come in a simple, lightweight cardboard box that is safely recyclable as it doesn't have any thick coatings or textures. That said, the presentation isn't all that impressive, but I think it's more important to me to responsibly dispose of a box than to indulge in how it looks and feels.

akg k371 bt headphones review 3 "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn2.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/akg-k371-bt-headphones-review-3 - 640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAJaron Schneider / Digital Trends

akg k371 bt headphones rating 2 "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/akg-k371-bt-headphones-review-2 - 640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAJaron Schneider / Digital Trends

The headphones come with a soft carrying case, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and three (!) Aux cables – wrapped, short and long straight – for hard conduction into a computer or soundboard. They even come with a 3.5mm to ¼ inch plug adapter, just like dedicated studio monitors. At the other end, plugged into the headphones, it looks almost like a mini XLR. It's a huge port, and I couldn't find any information from AKG about why it was connected to that port, but it could be that the sound quality improves dramatically if you plug in instead of relying on Bluetooth – more on that later .

The three different cables are a first for me and I didn't think I'd appreciate them as much as I did. I'm usually a fan of the coiled cable, but because of the way the connector is constructed (more on that later) I preferred the long straight cable. I like that I had a choice.

Jaron Schneider / Digital Trends

Lots of companies don't go out of their way with the tote bag (some don't include one at all), but the AKG tote bag doesn't get called in the blink of an eye. I really like it. The outside is a kind of rough, tough stitched nylon while the inside is a soft velvety material that feels like a great home for the headphones. It's still a soft case, so any protection it could offer is minimal, but at least it looks and feels good.

Jaron Schneider / Digital Trends

properties

The AKG K371-BTs have only a few specific features. They have neither active noise cancellation nor a Bluetooth multipoint, nor are they integrated into an intelligent assistant. Instead, the focus is on sound quality and ease of use.

In terms of ease of use, the only visible button / switch on the headphones is located on the left auricle and is used to turn the headset on and off. After connecting, a small LED in the switch lights up blue. It turns white (and flashes) when the battery level is low and stays white while charging. Then turns off completely when the battery is fully charged.

Jaron Schneider / Digital Trends

To control the music, the left auricle has a touch-sensitive pad that feels identical to the non-touch-sensitive pad on the right auricle – a seamless implementation. The pad is sensitive to swipes and double taps: swiping up or down increases and decreases the volume, swiping forward or backward to jump forward or backward, and double-tapping the pad pauses or plays the music. I've used a lot of different headphone touchpads and the implementation here is among the best. Since the pad itself is relatively small and easy to recognize by its feel, I don't often get the desired response with a touch command. Overall, it works great.

I've used a lot of different headphone touchpads and the implementation here is among the best.

Thanks to a small microphone on the left ear cup in front of the charging port and slightly forward on the headset, the K371-BTs can also be used for calls, so that you can better record your voice. Learn more about the quality of these calls below.

The battery life of these cans is very good at 40 hours per charge. It's not the best on the market for a noise-canceling headset (this award goes to the Jabra Elite 45h, which takes an impressive 50 hours), but it's solid.

They don't seem to have a quick charge feature, unfortunately, but they'll fully charge from an empty state in two hours.

AKG does have a headphone app, but confusingly, not all AKG wireless products are supported, including the K371-BTs. It comes as a very surprising to me that a brand like AKG has inconsistent app support. The ability not to adjust the EQ on these headphones is an unfortunate disadvantage that we will discuss below.

Fit and comfort

I have to say that the AKG K371-BTs are unfortunately not the most comfortable headphones I've tested. They collapse so that they can easily be stowed on a hinge that also determines the fit. This joint results in a wobbly fit when they are over my ears. It's hard to explain, but it feels like the bottom of the mug isn't as tight to my head as the top, which makes it feel like the pressure on the top of the mug is more extreme. This one-sided fit leads to fatigue quickly when I wear it.

Jaron Schneider / Digital Trends

I really like how the headphones break down. The way AKG makes them fold up and fold in on itself feels like a design that puts less stress on the joints and results in a headset that will last a long time.

Unfortunately, the AKG K371-BTs aren't the most comfortable headphones I've tested.

The ear cups are a leather-like material that feels pretty normal, but is by no means bad. For the price AKG charges, they're just pliable and soft enough to meet my expectations. The pillow on the headband is also made of air-filled silicone and is moderately comfortable. Nothing to write home about, but no major complaints either.

akg k371 bt headphones review 7 "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn4.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/akg-k371-bt-headphones-review-7 - 640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAJaron Schneider / Digital Trends

akg k371 bt headphones review 8 "class =" m-carousel - image dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn5.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/akg-k371-bt-headphones-review-8 - 640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAJaron Schneider / Digital Trends

I mentioned earlier that I really appreciate the different cable options because I didn't like the coiled cord I usually choose for my headphones. This is because the huge connector that AKG chose for the connection point to the headphones is so sturdy that it doesn't bend or fold easily. The cable stuck out to my shoulder, and the coiled cable in particular was pulled against the side of my neck due to the tension from the coil. When it hit my shirt I could hear it echo through the cord and into the cups, which was extremely distracting. When I switched to either of the two straight cables this problem subsided.

Studio quality audio

For those who have worked in music or even video editing, solid, neutral headphones with excellent treble clarity are a must. If this is what you expected in the AKGs, you will get it. These are wireless studio monitors, and with the K371-BTs, you get everything you'd expect from the name. So while you are getting super clear sound that is great for critical listening, you also have a situation where the bass presence is not particularly strong.

The K371-BTs are strongest with vocals. Podcasts, voices in movies, and music for copywriters are where you'll love these headphones the most. The voices are incredibly crisp and clear without getting icy or sharp. This is a sign of high quality, well-coordinated drivers. If you're like me and love listening to the vowel tones of the copywriters more than the words they say, you will likely be very happy with what the K371-BTs offer.

The song of you! from Lany and Oxygen from RØMANS come into their own with the K371-BTs, whereby the details of their pitch and cadence are crystal clear, while the sound is of soul-touching quality.

You get solid performance over Bluetooth, but since they only support AAC and SBC codecs, these headphones really break out of their case when you connect using one of the three included cables. I enjoy the freedom bluetooth offers, but if you want you can plug these in while working in a recording studio and be very happy with the fidelity they can offer. Wired listening is a huge quality upgrade over Bluetooth, especially if you're listening to high-fidelity audio sources like a Tidal Mastes track. They won't compete with the best AKG brands and aren't quite as good as the V-MODA M-200, Grado, or Audeze wired headphones, but they're in the same stadium. For its $ 180 price tag, that means something.

The critical listening experiences … are displayed here in full.

As I mentioned earlier, like many studio-only monitors, the bass performance of the K371-BTs is pretty low. The lower registers are absolutely there for you, they are only represented with a flat EQ that corresponds in its strength to the mids and highs. This is great for audio work, but for the occasional listening I really like to hear more oomph. Since there is no way to adjust the EQ, this limits who really likes these headphones.

Jaron Schneider / Digital Trends

In Avengers: Endgame, the final cinematic battle sequence sounds hollow compared to how it is played back on other audio devices. That said, the K371 BTs were reinforced when Sam (Falcon) was talking to Steve Rogers (Captain America) through his earpiece just before the Avengers rallied. It was shockingly clear – clearer than I can remember ever hearing. The critical hearing chops I mentioned are fully displayed here. And for what it's worth, despite the lack of that bass, the headphones still kept me tingling with excitement as I watched all of these heroes lined up.

Call quality

The K371-BT's microphone is good enough, but there is nothing to write home about. Your voice can sound far away at times, but is generally pretty clear and appropriate. On the other hand, you won't have any problems hearing calls as the noise isolating headphones do a good job.

Oddly enough, the touch controls don't support answering or hanging up a call. I can't imagine it would have been that difficult to associate it with the same gesture as pausing and playing a song, but with the K371-BTs, all you have to do is use your phone to control calls.

Our opinion

Personally, I really enjoy studio monitors when I'm at work and appreciate the critical detail these headphones can provide. Unfortunately, I think that many people who would otherwise love these headphones will be disappointed with the lack of bass response and the fact that the equalizer cannot be adjusted. They are very good but can end up being a niche.

Are there any better alternatives?

The $ 180 price tag is good as it is just below many other great options that rival $ 200, such as The Skullcandy Crusher Evo, which has significantly more bass. The Sony WH-CH710N is a solid choice as is the Jabra 85H, which is available now for $ 200. After all, the very good HD 450BTs from Sennheiser are available for only $ 150 and a good set of cans.

How long will they last?

These headphones are well built and shouldn't break anytime soon. With the ability to physically connect them to your computer, they're useful even if the battery runs out. In addition, there is a one-year manufacturer's guarantee.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you are looking for a pair of versatile studio monitors. They aren't the best bluetooth headphones you can get, and they aren't the best studio monitors either, but they're a very good device that can work well as either.

Editor's recommendations




30 Aug
Blog

Beats Studio 3 Wireless Review: Who Let The Bass Drop?

Beats Studio 3 Wireless

"A great design suffers from mediocre ANC and a lack of low-end oomph."

  • Excellent design and controls

  • Very convenient

  • Excellent battery life without ANC

  • Easy pairing with Apple products

  • Expensive

  • Overwhelming bass

  • Bad quality wireless calls

When the $ 350 Beats Studio 3 Wireless debuted in 2017, we didn't get a chance to review. If we had done that, we might have come to the same conclusion as other reviewers: These are really decent Active Noise Canceling (ANC) headphones.

In the personal audio world – especially in the world of wireless headphones – three years is an eternity. During that time, Sony, Bose, and pretty much every other major brand have launched new top-of-the-line wireless ANC headphones – two new top-of-the-line models in Sony's case – while Beats was content to keep everything running on the Beats Studio to let 3 wireless.

Given the activity of the competition, can Beats justify the Studio 3's high price tag? Or were these beats struck?

Let's take a look.

What's in the box?

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Beats Studio 3 Wireless "class =" m-Karussell - Bild dt-lazy-no "src =" https://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/beats-studio-3-wireless-2-640x640.jpg " srcset = "https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Beats Studio 3 Wireless are large headphones and come in a large box. Fortunately, it's 100% cardboard and you won't find any hard-to-recycle materials like foam or plastic inside.

In addition to the Studio 3 headphones, you get a zippered hard case, a micro USB charging cable, and a 3.5mm analog audio cable with an in-line set of remote control buttons and a microphone.

Beats also throws in a small snap hook in case you want to attach the tote to a backpack or purse.

design

I'll be honest: I've never been a huge fan of the earliest designs from Beats, with their shiny white, red, or black headbands. It always seemed to me that they should draw attention to those who wore them – not something I'm looking for.

However, the Studio 3 comes in a variety of colors, including the blue of my review unit – a shade that is only slightly lighter than the navy and has a satin finish. It's tasteful and muted, with little chrome accents on the hinges and earcups to remind you that these aren't $ 80 headphones.

The best thing about the Studio 3 Wireless, however, is the fully integrated headband and earcups. This design is unique to Beats and gives these headphones a sleek and minimalist look. It also creates a very slim profile, reducing the “Princess Leia effect” to a minimum.

This theme of visual simplicity continues into the controls, which are virtually invisible. In the left auricle there is play / pause, call acceptance / end, forward / backward jump and access to the voice assistant via the central "b" logo, while the volume is controlled via the plastic ring that circles the logo.

The only other control is the tiny power switch on the right auricle, which doubles as a power supply, bluetooth pairing and ANC on / off. Directly below this button is a five-LED light strip that serves as a quick reference for the remaining battery life.

Like many full-size headphones, the Studio 3 folds up for storage, but the ear cups don't rotate to lie flat. This makes them a bit bulky and explains why the snap hook is included – the hard travel case is bulbous and easy to slip into a backpack only if you have plenty of extra space. Despite the fact that the ear cups don't lie flat, the Studio 3 is more comfortable when worn around the neck than many over-ear models I've tried – here, too, their minimalist design helps.

The Studio 3 manages the balancing act with a fit that is both very secure and very comfortable.

My only minor criticism of the design of these cans is the padded underside of the headband. It's covered with a grippy silicone rubber surface that prevents the Studio 3 from moving. However, this material is a dust and dirt magnet that needs to be wiped off regularly with a damp cloth to keep it clean.

Convenience, control and connections

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Studio 3 Wireless aren't the lightest full-size headphones you can buy – that honor goes to the Sony's WH-1000XM4 – but they are certainly among the most comfortable.

The trick for headphone comfort is to manage the delicate balancing act between headband padding, clamping force, ear pads (size, shape and padding) and the materials used.

The Studio 3 manages this balancing act with a fit that is both very secure and very comfortable. You may have seen people exercise or even jog with these doses, and while that's not a choice I would make, the Studio 3 makes it possible – something I say about the majority of full size headphones that I have , can't say I checked.

You may notice some strange dents in the ear pads in the attached photos – ignore them. The headphones had been in her pocket for a long time before I removed them, and about an hour after I took these photos, they had bounced back.

The controls are also very well executed. I'm a fan of physical buttons. In my experience, they just work. Touch controls – even the best – can't respond quickly. Not only are the Studio 3's buttons large and easy to find and use (amazing as they are seamlessly embedded in the auricle pivot), they are also precise. There is no guesswork – press, click, done.

Yes, there's a pretty audible click when you're using them, but I make a quick click when I don't have to repeatedly tap a touch control.

Just two things are missing: a wear sensor that automatically pauses your music when you remove the headphones would be awesome (Apple's AirPods, AirPods Pro, and the WH-1000XM4 already have this), as well as a pass-through mode that allows you to They feed in outside noise for a while.

The Studio 3's wireless range is excellent – much better than most wireless headphones.

As with all Apple-made headphones that use the W1 or H1 wireless chips, Bluetooth is a delight on the Beats Studio 3 Wireless. To pair them, just turn them on a few inches away from an unlocked iOS device with iOS 10 or later and you will be instantly notified that your Studio 3 is ready to use. Just tap once and you're done.

There's no Bluetooth multipoint (which lets you connect to two devices at the same time), but Apple does this almost as well, allowing you to switch between Macs, iPhones, and iPads with just one click.

The Studio 3 is also compatible with Apple's audio sharing feature, which allows two W1 or H1 equipped headphones or earphones to listen to content from an iOS device at the same time. This function will be available for more devices with Bluetooth Audio LE. However, it is currently exclusive to Apple.

Unfortunately, audio sharing, simple pairing, and device switching are not supported on Android devices.

As a Class 1 Bluetooth device, the Studio 3 has excellent wireless range – more than 300 feet outdoors – much better than most wireless headphones. I was able to leave my iPhone in the house and still had a reliable signal when I stood two doors down from a house across the street.

Battery life

The battery life on the Studio 3 Wireless is either mediocre or excellent, depending on how you plan to use it.

With ANC enabled, you get 22 hours of playtime, which is just a bit better than the $ 400 Bose noise canceling headphones 700 after 20 hours, but not as impressive as Sony's $ 350 WH-1000XM4 after 30 hours.

However, if you don't use the ANC feature (which seems to gobble up the battery life), you get an excellent 40 hours, two hours more than the Sony's.

The quick charge function is average and with 10 minutes plug time you get 3 additional hours of playtime.

Speaking of plugs: The Studio 3 uses the Micro-USB format, not the newer and more common USB-C connection. This is hardly a deal breaker, but for most people it means another cord to remember when you hit the streets.

Noise cancellation

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Studio 3 Wireless has what Beats calls "real" ANC. The company claims to "continuously locate, isolate, and suppress outside noise in real time in order to reproduce the sound as it was intended". That sounds great, but in reality I'd say the ANC is average and certainly not as good as what you'll find with the Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 or the Sony WH-1000XM4.

When no music is playing, the ANC produces a noticeable hiss, preventing a convenient way to simply find some peace and quiet.

Background noise is definitely reduced when the ANC is on, and Beats is right on one point: there is no noticeable change in audio quality between on and off modes.

However, when there is no music playing, the ANC creates a noticeable hiss that prevents these cans from being a pleasant way to simply find some peace of mind. Why exchange the sound of an airplane's engines for a soft hissing sound?

I also noticed that the ANC mode was struggling to compensate for windy conditions and sometimes accidentally amplified the wind tone instead of erasing it.

The good news: the Studio 3 Wireless does an excellent job of passive noise isolation, which makes ANC a nice but not critical feature.

The bad news? This passive noise isolation is so good that I want a passthrough mode even more – especially when making calls.

Sound quality

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

I'd always viewed Beats as a bass-forward company, which definitely goes for other products like the Powerbeats Pro.

So it was a complete surprise that the Studio 3 Wireless doesn't fit this shape at all.

This is the same complaint we had with the Solo3. Not only is the bass not the main part of their sound signature, I'd even say it was forced to return to the mid and high ranges.

On the one hand, there will definitely be a group of people who like the idea of ​​a less booming beats set – maybe fans of the famous “neutral” or flat EQ that audiophiles praise.

But I don't count myself among them. I like tons of frequencies so when I listen to a deep, sad track like Hans Zimmer's Time, I get that hair-raising low-end bass that feels right in your stomach. The Studio 3 just lacks that kind of bass, and since you can't change the EQ, you can't compensate for it by adjusting other frequencies.

Before you take this as a sign that you should add the Studio 3 to your "other" column, you should note that although these cans disappoint the bass heads, they still produce an excellent, detailed sound in the mids and highs.

For music with a powerful voice, especially for music created by the greatest divas of our time such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga or Adele, Studio 3 provides energy and clarity.

And if you like it loud, these cans are happy to be ready, with no hint of distortion or pain-inducing volume bumps.

Despite Beats' roots as a brand adopted (and promoted) by legendary hip-hop and rap artists, these particular Beats headphones are better suited for genres that are a little less lowdown-thumped.

Call quality

Beats Studio 3 WirelessSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

I recently tested the BeatsX, a set of wired bluetooth earbuds, and praised them for their call quality. I believe that their in-line microphone – placed close to their mouth – is the secret of this success.

I'm even more convinced now after making a few calls to Studio 3 Wireless, which can't withhold a candle from the BeatsX.

The Studio 3 doesn't seem to have any gain issues as the voices were perfectly audible in terms of volume, but clarity is another matter.

Most of the time, it sounded like listening to my caller through a few layers of fabric. I could feel what they were saying, but it was very exhausting.

Granted, my chosen location was something of a torture test – a very busy street with lots of truck traffic – but even during the lull in vehicle activity, it was never a great experience.

I suppose the silver lining is that the included analog cable with inline microphone should make it so easy to plug in the cable and press the rotary dial when it comes to better call quality.

Our opinion

With its excellent design, controls, and no-ANC battery life, the Studio 3 Wireless is still a great choice for those who don't prioritize big bass, whisper-quiet ANC, or wireless calling. But at $ 350 you really have to guess what they have to choose over the competition.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes indeed. I mentioned the $ 400 Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and the $ 350 Sony WH-1000XM4 in this review, and I think both are arguments for getting out of Beats Town. Choose the Sonys if you value customization, comfort, and sound quality. Choose the Bose if ANC and call quality are high on your list.

How long will they last?

The Beats Studio 3 Wireless comes with a one-year warranty from Apple, which can be extended with an optional AppleCare purchase. I think they will last for many years with normal use, although you can expect the battery capacity to decrease over time. Overall, they are very well built, with first class materials and durable metal parts for heavily used areas such as hinges and slides.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but I think you should wait to find them on sale for $ 250 or less. If you're an Apple believer, some of Apple's wireless features may be worth the Studio 3's high price tag. But make sure you understand the weak points and are in good working order – especially call quality and lack of low-end bass – before you put your money on it.

Editor's recommendations




23 Jul
Blog

V-Moda M-200 Review: Studio Cans With Surgical Precision

V-Moda M-200 studio headphones

"The M-200 is able to reveal details that fewer headphones miss. It is a wired winner."

  • Very detailed and precise sound

  • Mids and highs are incredibly clear

  • First class materials

  • Very convenient

  • Balanced audio cable and input

  • Restrained bass reproduction

  • Flat EQ will not please everyone

  • Ear cups can fill up larger ears

-Moda M-200 It's been seven years since we got the hands and ears of V-Moda's $ 310 M-100 crossfade headphones. At that time we were impressed by the relatively new audio brand with the combination of the killer look and high-end audio chops of the M-100.

Now the company is back with its successor, the $ 350 million M-200. Can the new kid on the block still deserve our praise, although most of the new headphones at this price are now wireless and the original M-100 is only $ 250?

Time to find out.

design

Headphone design is a tricky business. You have to balance comfort, mobility, weight, ergonomics, style and, of course, audio performance. The V-Moda M-200 scores with only a few minor problems.

Material and workmanship are excellent. The M-200 combines robust metal ear cup pins and hinges with soft and supple synthetic leather.

The ear cushions are magnetically attached to the ear cup, making replacement a breeze when that day comes. Unlike many of the headphones I've tried, the pillows feel good whether you wear them with glasses or not.

Comfort, portability, weight, ergonomics, style and of course audio performance. Overall, the M-200 scores very well.

As the name suggests, the "FlexSteel" headband can be turned so far that you can use the headphones individually for quick monitoring or DJing. However, it maintains its shape when used normally.

I haven't used the M-200 for months, so I can't confirm how much abuse they will suffer, but their build quality creates a lot of confidence.

Although the M-200 is slightly heavier than some other high-end headphones at just over 10 ounces, it feels perfectly balanced once it is on your head. There is practically no movement between the firm but comfortable clamping force of the headband and the fit of the ear cups. I wouldn't hurry to jog with these puppies, but you definitely could.

For smaller heads, the minimum size of the headgear may be a little too large. I wore them like this and they were perfect for me – but just straight.

As comfortable as I found them, if your ears tend to stick out of your head, you may find that they touch the inner lining because the distance between the pillows and the inner surface is very small. Less than half an inch separates the sides of your head and the internal grille that protects the driver. Some headphones, like the WH-1000XM3 from Sony, are three-quarters of an inch or more, which gives a much more spacious feel.

My only small criticism of the design of the M-200 is the lack of a laterally rotatable hinge for the ear cups. Because of this, there is no way to lay them flat when worn around the neck, which leads to a somewhat uncomfortable experience. These impressively thin metal ear cup cones actually sat right on my collarbones and I couldn't leave them there for more than a few minutes.

Connections and cables

V-Moda M-200 studio headphonesSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

As wired headphones, you won't find any buttons, switches or touch controls on the M-200. Two 3.5mm connectors on the bottom of each ear cup are the only breaks for the otherwise very clean look.

The left connector is for a standard headphone jack (which is hard to find on smartphones these days), while the right connector is reserved for those who have access to a balanced stereo output.

Balanced outputs are even rarer in the personal audio world, but are common in audiophile devices and in professional studio environments. They are valued for their almost complete elimination of interference from one channel to another, which very demanding listeners claim to notice with unbalanced headphones.

The impressive design of the M-200 is that it not only uses a single cable, but also a single input. Most balanced headphones split their balanced cables into left and right connections.

V-Moda includes both a balanced cable and the more conventional unbalanced stereo cable, which is equipped with an inline microphone and a one-button remote control for handling phone calls and play / pause functions on most smartphones.

An individual look

V-Moda M-200 studio headphonesSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

After unpacking, the M-200 looks fantastic in my opinion. Designing headphones that don't look like they're trying to swallow your head is difficult – especially if it's an over-ear model.

This sweet aesthetic can be enhanced by choosing interchangeable metal shields.

And yet the M-200 is slim and unobtrusive thanks to the hexagonal shape of the outer shell of the ear cup and the metal cones that seamlessly continue the bow of the headband.

This sweet aesthetic can be enhanced by choosing interchangeable metal shields (the outermost plate of the ear cups). These increase the price of the M-200, but if you want your headphones to reflect your personal style, the $ 30 is well spent and the options are almost limitless.

V-Moda has kindly sent us a number of personalized Digital Trends shields for review – custom logos are another option.

portability

V-Moda M-200 studio headphones "class =" m-carousel - image dt-faul-no "src =" https://icdn8.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/v-moda-m-200-00010 -640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEASimon Cohen / Digital Trends

V-Moda M-200 studio headphones "class =" m-carousel - image dt-faul-no "src =" https://icdn9.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/v-moda-m-200-00009 -640x640.jpg "srcset =" https://www.digitaltrends.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://www.digitaltrends.com/R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEASimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Since the M-200's ear cups cannot be rotated, the included hard-shell travel case has turtle-like proportions to allow for the additional height. The resulting bulbous shape will be difficult for most people to comfortably put in a backpack or laptop bag. Therefore, V-Moda contains a snap hook, with which you can attach the tote bag to the outside of your bag.

Despite the somewhat unfavorable shape, the housing is actually quite small, and the M-200 can be folded up admirably in a confined space, while still leaving space for both cables. An internal pouch for cable adapters would have been a nice touch – especially since you have to bring one unless your smartphone has a headphone jack – but unfortunately your adapters have to float freely in the main cavity.

Sound quality

The best way to describe the sound signature of the M-200 is "scalpel sharp". The sheer amount of detail they can render is amazing, especially in the mids and highs that usually compete with each other in smaller headphones.

This is not the case with the M-200, which creates a frequency separation that enables every instrument and every voice to be fully enjoyed.

As with the M-100, this precision can sometimes be painfully bright. The volume control on my smartphone was not nuanced enough when I tried to find the right balance of gain that allowed me to enjoy the excellent definition of the M-200 without causing pain.

Unfortunately for those hoping to repeat the impressive bass forward stance of the M-100, the M-200 has a reserved low end, resulting in the "flat" EQ so appreciated by audiophiles and professionals alike. But many people who don't fall into these categories may not be prepared for the M-200's smooth bass response.

The sheer amount of detail they can render is amazing, especially in the mids and highs.

Even on tracks that are very long to create a low-end that you can feel in your chest, like Boom Boom Pow from the Black Eyed Peas and Hans Zimmer Time, the M-200 is cautious about the bass and prefers him nuance over power.

It can be delicious: this balance brings out all the beauty of an acoustic guitar on a track like Road Trippin & # 39; by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and classic pieces with a full orchestra are a delight, especially if you don't like anything better than picking them out your favorite instrument.

But it can also be troubling: this level of purity has a degree of attack that those who are used to a customized EQ, like the type that tries to warm up the sound, sometimes find it uncomfortable.

When describing the sound stage of headphones – the imaginary space in which the music is played – we often use terms such as "broad" or "immersive". But here, too, the unique properties of the M-200 create a different set of adjectives. The placement of musical elements is remarkably precise. As I listened to tracks I'd heard dozens, if not hundreds, of times, I suddenly noticed subtleties – like a background voice or a light use of a tambourine – in a way I had never done before.

It is not clear that I did not know these elements. But with the M-200, they were able to occupy such a clearly defined space on the sound stage that it felt like I could turn around in my seat and actually see the instrument or vocals in question. If you've never heard this precision before, it's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Our opinion

Granted, $ 350 is a lot of money for headphones that aren't wireless and don't have active noise cancellation. But for those looking for tonal perfection, the V-Moda M-200 offers virtuoso performance for hundreds of dollars less than other audiophile options.

Is there a better alternative?

Finding an audiophile headphone with a balanced audio input can be shockingly expensive, making the M-200 an easily accessible model with this feature. As such, it is in a class of its own.

If you know everything about the M-200, but fear that its flat EQ doesn't suit your taste, then V-Moda's own M-100 Crossfade or M-100 Crossfade Master is the place for you. You lack the symmetrical input, but you'll find that the sound is warmer, the prices are cheaper, and the designs are practically identical, including the custom shield option.

How long will they last?

The V-Moda M-200 comes with a very generous two-year warranty. However, the company also offers the Immortal Life Replacement Program, which offers discounts on new V-Moda products if the M-200 loses its warranty after the failure.

This is a nice safety net, but given its excellent construction, I doubt you will need it.

Should you buy them

Yes. As long as you are looking for the highest audio precision in a comfortable and elegant set of wired sockets, the M-200 is guaranteed to be satisfactory.

Editor's recommendations




23 May
Blog

JLab Audio Studio ANC Review: Big-Time Battery Life

JLab Studio ANC headphones

"JLab offers excellent battery life and ANC at a very attractive price."

  • Incredibly good battery life

  • Serviceable ANC on a budget

  • Very affordable

  • Not the most convenient

  • Modest sound quality

As a rule of thumb, any product that offers an all-star range at a rock-bottom price initially has a twofold reaction: intrigue, then skepticism.

When the $ 59 Studio ANC headphones from JLab Audio arrived with the promise of more than 30 hours of battery life and active noise cancellation on the packaging on my doorstep, I was optimistic to find out if this new on-ear offering was actually available good – or too good to be true.

Out of the box

I will not waste time describing the packaging of the Studio ANC to you, as it is a largely unforgettable case. It's no small thing at JLab – it's not a bad thing that they focused on the present rather than the wrapping paper.

JLab Studio ANC headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

The headphones are supplied with a surprisingly padded travel bag, an additional cable, a USB charging cable and a user manual. You do not need the manual to connect the Studio ANC to your mobile device as this is standard if you ever have experience with Bluetooth pairing. However, I would recommend reading the manual to fully understand the controls that are distributed across the four buttons on the headphones.

JLab equips the Studio ANC with Bluetooth 5 technology, which is solid considering that much more expensive headphones still work with older versions of Bluetooth that lack the range and speed advantages of the newer technology.

After some time with these headphones, my connection was easy. The range was also exceptional, so I could move around my house without worrying about a break while my phone was charging.

design

Studio ANC's on-ear style makes it a kind of mediator between over-ear headphones and in-ear wearables, which leads to a mixture of advantages and disadvantages.

At 141 grams, the Studio ANC are much lighter than many full over-ear cans. At the same time, they keep the design of their bigger brothers and only underline the subtle aesthetic that has made in-ears so popular.

The Studio ANC have ear cups, which JLab calls "Cloud Foam", and an adjustable headband made of synthetic leather. It is a comfortable combination at first, but I couldn't help noticing that the feeling wears off over time. For most, it may not be a big deal, but the headphones created more pressure than necessary, and it has become a factor in longer listening sessions.

You will find four buttons on the right. There is a round power switch that allows you to answer or end calls in the moonlight and activate the voice assistant of your choice. There are volume buttons that you can use to scroll through the tracks. And there is the active noise canceling button, which is camouflaged as well as the JLab logo on the right ear cup that I would have completely overlooked without the manual.

properties

I immediately feel compelled to address one of JLab's greatest demands first: more than 34 hours of playback without ANC and more than 28 hours with the function activated. For comparison, the recently released Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 are 20 hours or less without ANC and are priced at $ 250.

JLab Studio ANC headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

If the Studio ANC has a catch, the battery life is not sufficient. I have listened to them regularly over the past week and have not even unpacked the charging cable. This is remarkable for headphones at this price and one of the best aspects of Studio ANC for me.

There is not much to mention in terms of features. The integration of the voice assistant works well and I was able to use Amazon Alexa as my standard A.I. Do. although JLab only lists Apple's Siri and Google Assistant as options. It was okay to go for walks, although I would warn against exercising with them. There is no waterproof rating for Studio ANC on the JLab website. This gives cause for concern as to how they would withstand sweat or rain.

Audio quality

If you've been waiting for the moment when these headphones have inevitably returned to Earth, you've come to the right place. Despite the reasonable comfort and some great features for little money, the Studio ANC sounds just the way it is – just another pair of headphones for $ 60.

JLab Studio ANCNick Woodard / Digital Trends

That doesn't mean they're bad. If you listen almost exclusively to podcasts these days (like yours really), I would recommend them without hesitation. You don't need enough audio quality to enjoy Conan O & # 39; Brien Needs a Friend, and Studio ANC fits that bill exactly.

However, if you are hoping for solid cans to listen to music, you may want to continue shopping. Regardless of the genre, I couldn't escape an apparently distant sound with a strangely hollow low-end. In this case, you get what you pay for, and I wouldn't buy it if you expected great, affordable audio quality based on the Shure SE 112.

There is no equalizer with which you can create the audio of the Studio ANC. However, a JLab branding tool is available for download. They recommend a burn-in time of at least 40 hours – which in a nutshell means that different tones and frequencies are played through the headphones in order to achieve optimal performance.

In addition to the microphones designed for active noise cancellation, the Studio ANC has a third microphone that allows you to receive your voice for phone calls. I found the call quality admirable so that my conversations could break through the turbulence of a windy spring day while walking.

Active noise cancellation

Active noise cancellation in the Studio ANC is a no-frills feature. It only offers an ANC level and there is no ambient sound mode. You have a button to turn on and off and that's it.

JLab Studio ANC headphonesNick Woodard / Digital Trends

The ANC function is effective at least in connection with budget headphones. If you activate the ANC function, you will not have an uninterrupted listening room, but you will hear hard noises such as lawn mowers or power tools that are damped to a certain extent. If you want more effective noise cancellation, you have to pay for it. Otherwise the Studio ANC can be serviced in this department for its price.

JLab is not the only company that makes extremely cheap ANC headphones. Anker makes a pair with hybrid ANC at similar prices, and companies like Cowin and TaoTronics are also on the market. However, we haven't had a chance to test these other products yet. Therefore, I cannot currently judge how well the Studio ANC is stacking up.

Our opinion

While JLab has missed the brand in terms of audio quality, the company has still delivered incredibly affordable headphones with excellent battery life and adequate active noise cancellation.

Are there any better alternatives?

The $ 70 Shure SE 112 are currently our most popular, affordable headphones, and offer great sound quality at a price that won't take your toll on your finances. If you don't mind spending more on a product with similar battery life and improved audio, the Sony WH-CH710N for $ 199 is a good option.

How long will they last?

The Studio ANC feels sturdy enough, although I wouldn't back up my bets on cheap headphones that are build quality to withstand the test of time.

Should you buy them

Yes. They are not for audio enthusiasts. For less than $ 60, you get a pair of headphones that last for almost an entire week without a fee. These are useful for people who are looking for a simple, affordable, and reliable set of cans.

Editor's recommendations




09 Apr
Blog

Amazon Echo Studio review: Gorgeous Bass Meets 3D Sound

"The best Amazon speaker you can buy literally takes music to a whole new level."

  • Class leading bass

  • Chic and simple setup

  • Support for Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio

  • Large, spacious sound stage

  • All Alexa smart

  • Occasionally subdued middle class

  • Brittle note for lighter instruments

  • 3D music is still limited

Amazon's new Echo Studio Smart Speaker is not only good – sometimes it's fantastic. It is also one of the few smart speakers that you can buy that actually compete with the Sonos One. This is partly due to impressive functions that you won't find in any other intelligent loudspeaker on the market, not least thanks to the surprising support from Dolby Atmos.

Even putting the Echo Studio in the same sentence as the One is proof of how far Amazon has come in recent years. With products like the studio and the new Echo Buds, Amazon has proven that it can no longer be left out of the audio conversation.

Related articles

With the studio's 3D sound stage and a burgeoning new Amazon ecosystem that feeds it, Amazon is starting its own conversation, in which other loudspeaker manufacturers will certainly participate.

Roll out the barrel

With a large, rounded housing and an oversized CD feed cut through the base, the Echo Studio offers a unique profile. It is by no means repulsive and the exterior of the acoustic fabric offers a certain seal of approval, but is many times larger than the Sonos One and Apple's HomePod. The well-known Echo LED atrium on the top of the studio is wide enough to actually fit on an angel's head.

There are good reasons for the size of the studio. It is equipped with hardware, including two 2-inch drivers on the sides, a 1-inch tweeter on the front and a full 5.25-inch woofer for firing basses. There is another 2-inch driver on board, pointing up towards the ceiling to enable the hemispherical immersion, for which 3D sound formats such as Dolby Atmos and the new 360 Reality Audio System from Sony are valued. More on that later.

On the round top of the studio are control buttons, including the action button to manually call Alexa (if you don't want to call the speaker using the "Alexa" command), volume buttons, and my personal favorite, a mute button that rotates this rainbow-blue Alexa LED Darth Vader red, which ensures that the speaker doesn't listen to you.

As someone with a natural reluctance to allow listening devices in my house, the red hoop is a comforting reminder that my conversations are safe. It is also part of Amazon's ongoing efforts to restore confidence in its discretion.

As with all Echo loudspeakers, a microphone array in the housing enables voice activation via the “Alexa” voice command (or some other information) and acoustic calibration to adapt the sound signature of the loudspeaker at any location.

Ready, hired, streamed

Sonos, the undisputed king of simple speaker configuration for a long time, has real competition. Setting up the studio couldn't be easier. Sorry Sonos. You learned it by watching you.

After installing the Alexa app on your phone, follow the on-screen instructions and you can start streaming in no time. You can quickly add your favorite streaming service, including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Tidal, and of course Amazon Music (among others).

It's not just the setup that's intuitive. Amazon's Alexa app makes it easy to customize basic audio settings, control playback, and connect to other devices, from an echo subwoofer to other echo speakers for a multi-room speaker system.

Again, the Sonos app feels very similar, which makes it user-friendly and, in my experience, much more stable and intuitive than Google Home. I also like the fact that unlike Sonos products, you can easily connect to the studio through other apps, including Spotify Connect.

There are more ways to connect than just Wi-Fi. The Echo Studio offers a Bluetooth connection if necessary. There is a dual-use 3.5mm optical / Toslink connection on the back of the speaker for connection to a TV or other device.

Unfortunately, you cannot decode Dolby Atmos movies over an optical link, but there is a workaround. If you have a newer Fire TV device, you can pair the studio with it to stream Dolby Atmos content from selected apps.

This is a fairly specific use case, and it means that you can't get Atmos from the biggest source to the speaker right now. 4K Blu-rays. Although you can certainly set up the Echo Studio as a soundbar replacement, this isn't the best way to use it for your money. Amazon also has other plans for its new 3D speaker.

Alexa stuff

Before we get to the audio extras for those new to the world of smart speakers, let's talk about how much the Amazon Echo line, including the studio, can do. There is a lot to discover, from connecting and controlling a smart home system to checking the weather, shopping and numerous other smart home skills. In fact, the Alexa app offers a whole range of new and old abilities to try out.

This includes controlling the playback of the speaker with your voice. This is easy and works better now than it did a year or two ago. The speaker had few stumbling blocks when he was put through his paces, even with music. With Spotify, the studio seemed to know what I wanted to hear more often than not.

Amazon Echo Studio

As part of the Echo family, the studio can also do things that most third-party Alexa speakers can't. B. Intercom calls throughout your home through your Echo Collection. However, the Sonos One can speak both Alexa and Google.

Amazon Music is growing

You can't talk about Echo Studio without mentioning Amazon Music, as both parts are important to Amazon's plans to lead Spotify and Apple Music.

In early fall, Amazon announced that it would add high-definition music to its subscription music service for just $ 5 more. This undercuts the price of all these competing services and adds something that Apple and Spotify don't have at all.

Just as important for our purposes are "millions" of tracks with a resolution of up to 24 bit / 192 kHz selected songs mixed in Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio (or newly mixed). Dolby and Sony also appear to be realizing their new plans and adding important studio partnerships.

Chills at 360 degrees

The biggest question I had after Amazon unveiled Echo Studio in its latest Alexa product extravagance was simple. What does Dolby Atmos actually mean in an intelligent speaker?

Most Atmos systems surround you with a barrage of speakers to get the 360-degree audio effect, including at least two uploaded speakers to bounce the sound off the ceiling. Even mentioning Atmos for a humble intelligent speaker seems bold. After tracking down the few tracks on Amazon Music (which thankfully have a 360 audio playlist), I was impressed with what this speaker can do.

It gave me something that I've never had from a $ 200 piece of plastic. Chills.

The first song I wrote was Elton John's Rocket Man. At first it was just a few slide effects that spread like a sound aura over the speaker. But as the song started up, the piece's expansive synthesizers stretched from the top of the speaker to the walls and finally blossomed into a cloud of swirling sounds at the front of the room.

The studio couldn't completely submerge me, but it gave me something I never got from a $ 200 piece of plastic: chills.

Stage against signature

While the side and up firing drivers are paramount to the studio's 360 tricks, the powerful, authoritative bass must be the speaker's best asset for everyday listening. Any great speaker can boom, with Google's Max being one of the best examples. But the studio's bass isn't just great. It's clean, tight, and well controlled.

The second song on Amazon's 360 playlist was Ariana Grandes 7 Rings, and although I'm not a Grande super fan, I was impressed by the tight jackhammer bass that the studio reproduced as a chorus beat hit. This powerful bass in combination with the bubbling 360-degree stage ensures a brilliant ride through the entire playlist.

Amazon Echo Studio

However, the studio is not perfect. Because of the only tweeter in the front, the speaker has a little bit of a problem when it comes to delivering detail and clarity in the midrange, especially when singing. It can also become thin at heights when lighter mixtures are fed.

In this regard, the Sonos One and also the Apple HomePod are clear of the ground. This becomes clear when you move away from 360 and high resolution tracks. And let's face it, most of us are stuck listening to compressed music every day.

You can get more clarity in the mid-range by disabling the studio's Stereo Spatial Enhancer, which may choke the mid-range on some tracks, but which also brightens the upper registers, which is sometimes uncomfortable. I found it helpful to reset the highs in the settings.

Regardless of this, the studio's sound signature takes a back seat to the soft, rich and detailed sound of the Sonos One. In addition, the 3D effects of the studio depend on the interior of your living room (especially on the walls and ceiling). 3D blends are currently limited. On the other hand, the sound stage and bass of the Sonos One are more reserved and compact compared to the spacious studio.

guarantee

Amazon's Echo Studio comes with a one-year limited warranty, and you can purchase an additional year.

Our opinion

The best smart speaker Amazon has ever made keeps its promise and offers a new way of listening in combination with Amazon Music. The Echo Studio is one of the most enticing new smart speakers on the market, offering premium bass and solid sound across the board.

Is there a better alternative?

For an Amazon spokesman, no. And if you want to immerse your toes in the world of Atmos Music, this is also your best choice for speakers. If you're looking for a rounded, everyday speaker with the versatility of Google and Alexa (and a more balanced sound signature), the Sonos One is the obvious alternative.

Although the price hasn't dropped since last fall's release, it should be noted that Amazon is currently offering a bundle that includes packages in a free Philips Hue Bulb.

How long it will take?

The speaker seems to be well built and has an expanded decoding for 3D audio formats that are just beginning to take shape. If anything, it's a bit ahead of its time.

Should you buy it

Yes. If you're looking for the best Amazon Alexa smart speaker you can buy – and especially if you're thrilled to dive into the latest musical limits – the Echo Studio is an easy choice.

Editor's recommendations