audiosplitz: News

Samsung Gear IconX - First Look

June 07, 2016

Truly wireless earbuds (read totally no cables) are the flavor of 2016 among audio manufacturers. We've seen companies like Earin bring them from Kickstarter concept to production and to the stores. Now, Samsung wants a piece of the pie and you can be sure the competition will start to heat up big time.

3 June - Samsung announced the launch of the Gear IconX, a pair of truly wireless earbuds that target fitness enthusiasts. Out of all the manufacturers of this product category so far, Samsung is undoubtedly a giant and has the financial clout to make wireless earbuds work and hit the mainstream.

What's the Big Deal?

1. Weight / Fit
At 12.6g for both earbuds, it's light and looks like it'll fit snugly in your ears.

2. Tracking of Fitness Data
This data is synced with Samsung's mobile app called S Health. This allows tracking of heart rate, distance and speed of your run.

3. Voice Guide / Touch Controls
This voice guide should help oodles especially when playback controls are actuated through tapping and swiping the capacitative touch exterior of the buds. They provide helpful updates on your fitness status during runs. And it comes in a massive 15 languages.

4. Internal Storage
You connect to your source device via Bluetooth (4.1) but what sets this apart is that it has 4GB of internal memory (good for about 1000 songs) squeezed somewhere. The common MP3, M4A, AAC codecs are all supported.

5. Charging / Power
The 47mAh in the really small Samsung Gear IconX gives about a decent 3.6 hours on music from internal storage and a slightly less impressive 1.5 hours on music via Bluetooth. Once you park them inside the 52g case, they will kick start the charging process and it promises a few charge cycles with its 315mAh power.

For an intro, check out this video from Samsung:

Pricing
We checked with Samsung Singapore on the SG pricing and they advised an MSRP of SGD 298. In the US, it will retail for USD 199.

Availability
They are heading to hit the stores sometime in Q3 2016 in a flurry of 3 colors - black / blue / white.

Where To Buy
If you like what you have read, feel free to support me by buying from Amazon. Going for USD 199.99, here are the affiliate links for the Black , White and Blue variants.

Samsung Gear IconX

USD 199

Bluetooth

Bose's Foursome of Wireless Headphones

June 05, 2016

5 June - Bose launched 4 wireless headphones, signaling its intent and direction in the noise canceling and sports audio space. This is jaw dropping news to say the least.

What's So Special?
This is an incredibly exciting launch for the portable music world. We had predicted last year that Bose would offer a sports wireless model but to see 4 new products released at once is heart-stopping :)

1. Bose QuietComfort 35 (QC 35)

i. Noise Canceling - Everyone was wondering when Bose's classic wired noise canceling QC 25 would go wireless and that time has come. If the active noise canceling (ANC) ability is even on par with the QC 25, we have ourselves likely the best wireless ANC pair in the market.

ii. Design - These headphones are a clear design hybrid between the QC 25 and AE2 SoundLink headphones with playback controls on the right side + NFC. In addition, Bose provides a Connect app (iOS / Android) which was previously only compatible with the AE2. We will check out its full potential once we lay our paws on a unit.

iii. Battery Life - At 20 hours, this provides a decent amount of power, considering that this serves both the Bluetooth and ANC functionality.

10 July 2016 - We have reviewed the Bose QC35 (SGD 549 / USD 349.95 on Amazon)

2. Bose SoundSport Wireless
i. Sweat and Water Resistance - This looks way different from its wired SoundSport predecessor and for good measure. These Bluetooth / NFC buds are designed for resistance to sweat and water and certainly look the part.

ii. Fit - These are fitted with what the Bose QC20 have - StayHear+ tips and they are super comfy in terms of ear fit. Look no further than the Jaybird X2 Wireless and Plantronics BackBeat GO 3 for competitors.

iii. Charging on the Go
The buds have a rather average 6h battery life. To make the deal sweeter, an optional (and intuitively-named) accessory called the SoundSport charging case (just USD 49.95 please) gives an additional 18h of juice when stored for a full charge of about 2h.

Credit - CNET

14 July 2016 - We have reviewed the SoundSport Wireless (SGD 239 / USD 149.95 on Amazon)

3. Bose SoundSport Pulse
These are pretty much similar to the SoundSport Wireless and to top it off, there's an integrated heart-rate monitor and has 5h of battery life. More to come once more info is in.

4. Bose QuietControl 30 (QC 30)
If you're familiar with neckband-type earphones (think LG TONE) and Bose's top notch noise canceling QC20 earbuds, this is a product that marries these two great features into a singular product.

Pricing
We pinged Atlas on the pricing in Singapore (SG).

Update - 21 Oct 2016:
For now, here's the lowdown (USD prices from Amazon):
QC35 - SGD ~~599~~ 549 (USD 349)
QC30 - TBC (USD 299)
SoundSport Pulse - SGD 349 (USD 199)
SoundSport Wireless - SGD 239 (USD 149)

Availability
We checked with Atlas, Singapore's distributor, on local availability.

QuietComfort 35 (QC 35):
Silver / Black - Pre-orders in June 2016

SoundSport Wireless:
Aqua / Black - Pre-orders in June 2016
Citron - Pre-orders in Sep 2016

SoundSport Pulse:
Red - Pre-orders in Sep 2016

Credit - CNET

QuietControl 30 (QC 30) - Pre-orders in Sep 2016

Bluetooth

Plantronics BackBeat GO 3 - Launch at Red Dot Museum

May 18, 2016

18 May - Plantronics kindly invited us to the SEA launch of their new products at the Red Dot Museum in Singapore today. We were pretty pumped up and duly obliged by popping by.

There were 2 new products:
1. BackBeat GO 3 - an affordable and stylish pair of Bluetooth buds.

2. Voyager 5200 - a headset incorporating advanced noise / wind reduction technology.

Let's zoom in on the BackBeat GO 3. There were quite a few folks testing the unit so our first impressions are based on just a few minutes of gleeful fiddling. We'll aim to get a unit for a spin soon!

Update (15 Jun 2016)
We got our paws on a pair! Check out our full review of the BackBeat GO 3

A whole lot of folks from the media and distributors popped by.

What's the Big Deal?
1. Custom Drivers = Vivid Audio
The successor to the BackBeat GO 2 is more fashionista inclined as opposed to purely a pair of buds for sports fanatics. That does not mean that the audio quality is compromised. The GO 3 uses a high quality custom SBC codec that on a first listen, provides a fairly detailed delivery of Sia's vocals on her rousing Chandelier.

2. Moisture Protection
The Plantronics buds come with a P2i Nano-coating, meaning that the music keeps going even in conditions such as light rain and keeps off the sweat and spills.

3. Charge Case
Playback time is 6.5 hours. While it's an improvement from the 4.5 hours of its predecessor, we feel this can still be upped :) If you get the model with the Charge Case, you can get up to an additional 13 hours of listening. There's also an LED indicator to show the power of the buds and the Charge Case.

Pricing
Plantronics will be retailing the unit for SGD 169. With the Charge Case, both will go for SGD 219.

If you were to look at other sports wireless earbuds, this is quite agreeable if you look at the Jaybird X2 Wireless (SGD 259) or the UA Wireless Headphones (SGD 289). However, the feature set for each differs and if you're on a budget, the BackBeat GO 3 is a great option.

Availability
The unit will be available in 2 color stylings - Cobalt Black and Copper Grey. The unit will be available worldwide from May 2016.

Bang & Olufsen

B&O BeoPlay A1 - Review

April 27, 2016

21 Apr - Bang & Olufsen released their smallest speaker to date with the BeoPlay A1 (SGD 399) that can fit in your palm and with a sound delivery that amazes for its size. We swiftly got our paws on a unit and give you our first impressions off the bat.

Credit - B&O

Pros (+): Excellent sound quality to weight ratio; A compact and sturdy build; 24 hour playback.
Cons (-): Carrying string appears a little frail.

Credit - B&O

Availability
From 9 May 2016, the Natural and Moss Green colors will be available in Singapore at Airport Duty Free, Apple Premium Resellers, the Hyatt Bang & Olufsen store, Challenger and Newstead.

Credit - B&O

Design
Unboxing:
The box design is pretty much aligned with the branding of its peers - a solid grey square shaped box.

Ripping aside the shrink wrap, we opened the box and lo, the speaker imposingly laid smack in the center.

Taking off the top layer, we uncovered the following.

Packaging Content:
Spilling out the box contents unveils a minimalist 3 items -
- BeoPlay A1 speaker
- Charging cable (USB-C)
- User guide

The 600g BeoPlay A1 is designed by one of Bang & Olufsen's regular industrial designers, Cecilie Manz. On first glimpse, it appears like a fun and solidly built product, given the accompanying string to hang where you please and the aluminum grill.

It comes in 2 color variants - Natural and Moss Green.

Credit - B&O

The double-moulded polymer base has a rubberized texture that grips well. There are some markings on the bottom to indicate where to plug in the charging cable and the 3.5mm audio cable input (provided separately).

Features
USB-C charging:
This is one of the first (if not, the first) B&O products to incorporate USB-C charging, likely providing a glimpse of the direction of what will be their default jack of choice. All their products were previously using micro-USB. The benefit of USB-C is that it's reversible.

Bluetooth:
Connecting was a relative breeze. Upon the power on, you need to hold the Bluetooth button for 2 seconds after which the LED, next to the power button, flashes blue. Find 'BeoPlay A1' on your source device and boom, you're good to go. Just hit the Connect button, indicated by a circle icon, to play from the last connected source device.

Update (10 May 2016)
Microphone / Calls:
Once calls come in, all 3 LED indicators flanking the left, right and bottom will start flashing green. You can pick the call either with your phone or pressing the microphone button. Another press will mute the call and is clearly reflected in the 3 LEDs turning red. At a 30 cm radius from BeoPlay A1, I had no problems conversing with folks on the other end and on my side, the caller's voice came through just fine.

BeoPlay App:
There's even an accompanying BeoPlay App that can be used. While the Android version will only be released in Spring 2016 (ie. we couldn't test it as yet), the available version (iOS) has some nifty features such as wireless stereo pairing, to link with another compatible speaker, and ToneTouch which gives personalization of the staging settings and tonality.

Credit - B&O

Performance
Sound:
We swiftly linked the Bluetooth to a MacBook Air and streamed Markus Schultz's First Time over Spotify. Boy was it good. For a very compact 600 gram unit of 13.3 (diameter) x 4.8 cm (height), the sound is incredibly punchy and surprisingly was able to fill the room with its strong basslines with considerable vocal clarity.

24 hour playback:
Charging gives your 24 hours of playback on a full charge of 3 hours, a sufficiently agreeable duration to last day trips to the beach. The battery indicator flashes orange during the charging process.

Update (10 May 2016)
Overall
The Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A1 is one great speaker to take with you to the great outdoors. Its punchy sound delivery is impactful given its size. Combined with a very agreeable 24 hour playback and desirable aesthetic, this makes for a good sound companion at outdoor parties with friends.

Where To Buy
You can purchase the BeoPlay A1 in various retail outlets in Singapore at SGD 399. Alternatively, if you like what you have read, do support me by buying either the Natural Silver or Moss Green versions from Amazon at USD 249 via this affiliate link.