Tag Archives: new

Apple users looking for Bluetooth headphones: Your music can sound better.

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Before we start, here’re some facts you might not know about Bluetooth.

1. Bluetooth was invented in 1994.
Congrats BT, you reached adulthood this year!

 

2. It was named after a 10th century Scandinavian king, called Harald I Blåtand (“Bluetooth”) Gormsson.
Legend has it that the king was known for eating lots of blueberries and subsequently sporting blue teeth, therefore given the nickname “Bluetooth”. His runic initials can be seen in the Bluetooth logo.

BT Logo Breakdown

3. The first commercially available Bluetooth headset only appeared in 2000.
That’s more than a decade ago!

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If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already using Bluetooth headphones, or are looking for one.

A lot of people bemoan that wireless music doesn’t sound as good as wired music. Why is that so? Well, we need to understand how audio is sent to a wireless headphone.

Firstly, the Bluetooth transmitter chooses a codec (a blending of the words “coder” and “decoder”) to digitally compress the audio for sending to the headphone.

Then, the headphone decompresses the file for playback.

All Bluetooth stereo headphones support Subband Coding (SBC), a codec designed to provide reasonably good audio quality. However, it does not give you high-quality music streaming. Your music will still sound compressed – which many of us hate.

Enter another codec: aptX, which is designed to encode CD-quality audio stream without loss of sound quality. Rejoice! Many Bluetooth headphones now support aptX, which is great news to music lovers.

However, here’s the caveat most people don’t know about: both the headphone and the source must support aptX – if either one lacks aptX support, the default SBC codec will be used instead.

Currently, aptX support is limited to mostly high-end Android smartphones and Hi-Fi wireless devices. It is not implemented in Apple devices such as iPhones and iPods.

 

Wait. What?

Yep! Apple users everywhere, bummer.

Thankfully, not all hope is lost! There’s still Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), which is a codec popular on Apple’s iTunes and even Youtube. Unlike aptX, it is supported by Apple devices. The only problem: AAC support in wireless headphones is not very common…

… Until Klipsch released its long-awaited R6 In-Ear Bluetooth Headphones! 

R6 In Ear BT Lifestyle

Boasting support for both aptX and AAC, our R6 BT gives you high quality audio no matter which platform you’re using!

AAC Codec

So, if you’re on the lookout for new Bluetooth headphones, look no further. With this, you’ll never have to settle for low-grade audio anymore.

 

What’re you waiting for? Get yours now at store.tcacoustic.com.sg today!

10 Things You Need To Know about the all-new Sonos Play:5

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The problem with music lovers today is that they pay for premium music streaming services to get better quality music, yet they settle for sub-standard Bluetooth or docking systems. Sometimes, even settling for the standard comes-with-the-phone earphones or laptop speakers. What’s the point then?

Thus, this November, Sonos introduces the all-new Play:5 – the ultimate smart speaker.

Play:5 Hero Image

So what can this new monster of a speaker do?
We’re gonna summarize with 10 Things You Need To Know about the all-new Sonos Play:5:

#1: Trueplay – Your personal sound engineer
Trueplay is an in-built room calibration technology that is available on the Sonos Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 (both Gen 1 and this one). Many people spend hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars to get their speakers to sound great and ensure their rooms are renovated to become the perfect “music and sound room”. Calibrate every Sonos speakers to get the best possible sound for any room you place it in within minutes.

Trueplay

#2: Massive sound, resonant bass
The new Play:5 is packed with 3 tweeters + 3 long-throw woofers. A total of 6 drivers with dedicated amplifiers. These drivers are strategically positioned in the speakers. Two of the tweeters are side firing to increase the soundstage, and the three proprietary long-throw woofers give you bass that goes as low as 27Hz – as low as the Sonos Sub.

Exploded

#3: Ultra-responsive touch sensors
Sonos has done away with buttons to interact with music. The all-new Play:5 allows users to simply tap on the touch controls of the speakers to Play, Pause, and control Volume. What’s new in this speaker is the ability to go to the next song or previous song with a simple swipe across the play/pause touch sensor.

Play:5 Touch Senors(Image Courtesy of pocket-lint.com)

#4: Incredible power efficiency
We do not know what magic Sonos has put into these speakers, but its idle power saving of <2.5 watts is the lowest of all their speaker range. Even lower than the Play:1 (3.8 watts) and its predecessor Play:5 (8.0 watts). Your utility bills ain’t gonna rise with the all-new Play:5.

#5:  Smart triple-orientation & Stereo pairing
Everyone already knows that some of Sonos’ speakers have smart orientation built-in and can be paired as stereo. Like your smartphone’s accelerometer, it adjusts itself based on the orientation it is in. The all-new Play:5 has those features as well, but in addition, it can do the standard horizontal orientation or any vertical orientation. Changing its orientation also creates a different soundstage when paired in stereo – depending on what you prefer or require.

P5stereoPair

#6: Wireless performance of a Sonos Boost
6 strategically located antennas are built into the Play:5. It also has the advanced interference rejection to prevent frequency clashes from other wireless signals such as baby monitors and cordless phones.

#7: Polycarbonate Shell
Super durable, scratch-resistant and it looks extremely sleek with its matte finish. Most importantly, because it isn’t made of metal, it greatly reduces wireless interference. Its design is meant to fit right into any room like a missing puzzle piece.

Play:5 Diagonal

#8: Perforated Grill
The grill has a curvature to optimize sound stage and acoustic projection. In addition, almost 60,000 full-holes perforation on the grills ensures transparency of the sound. If that’s not enough, the Sonos tag is also micro-perforated so that the middle tweeter is not compromised.

P5CloseUpVeritcal

#9: Humidity-resistant
Because of its non-metal composite, the all-new Play:5 can withstand high-humidity conditions such as bathrooms, kitchens and the unforgiving tropical climate.

#10: Most powerful surround speakers ever
Yes, this time, the all-new Play:5 can be used as surround speakers for your Sonos 5.1 home theatre set-up. This will ensure that the surround sound of your home theatre system is unrivalled in any way.

Bonus: Built for the future
Here’s your reward for reading this post – the all-new Play:5 has two microphones built into the speakers and it is not functional yet. In other words, Sonos has something up their sleeves and you can be sure more features are coming your way. Sonos mentioned in their behind-the-scenes video that this speaker will last you the “next 10 years” and it truly is “generations ahead”.  Check out the video below.

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 P5Lifestyle_2P5Lifestyle_3

Our team has tried out the all-new Play:5 and we were absolutely blown away by its quality, technology and massive sound. We are excited to see how this is going to improve even more with future software updates.

If you can’t wait for it, then PRE-ORDER now by clicking here.