Avi Greengart – Page 2

Review: XGIMI Horizon Ultra

December 20, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

By Avi Greengart

Technological disruption is often portrayed as coming fully-formed from an all-new thing that is superior to established options, but that’s not always how innovations w ork. Many disruptions come from products that provide lesser experiences at lower price points or appeal to a different set of customer needs than the industry standard. These products then improve over time and eventually hit a tipping point where their advantages overtake the status quo. The front projection market has been fairly static for a while, but that is starting to change.

Smart Portable Projectors Move Upmarket

Fitting millions of tiny mirrors on a piece of silicon sounds like science fiction, but Texas Instruments introduced DLP all the way back in 1987. It has been a mature technology since the days of the Intel 286, and it has been used in business and home theater projectors since the 1990’s. Over the past decade or so, companies like Anker’s Nebula have taken commodity DLP chips and put them in soda can-sized containers containing a battery, LED lamp, speaker, and a MediaTek processor with Wi-Fi. By adding Android TV and keystone software, this becomes a self-contained streaming media projection system. You can turn it on, point it at a wall (the keystone software automatically adjusts the image angle, no adjustments necessary), and start watching. Image quality and brightness are usually just adequate, but the portability and convenience make cannister projectors the perfect solution for taking on vacation or getting a big picture without requiring dedicated wall space. They can be cheap, too, with most units selling for $400 – $600, no installation, and usually no dedicated screen – though YouTube van lifers and apartment dwellers often graduate from hanging a sheet to adding an inexpensive pull-down screen.

XGIMI is one of the cannister projector pioneers, and the Chinese company has now sold over five million units. However, it is starting to move decidedly upmarket and its latest product threatening to displace enthusiast home theater projector brands. XGIMI (pronounced “ex-jimmy;” we asked) started with relatively dim, smart portable pico-projectors, but it now offers higher brightness UST (Ultra Short Throw) projectors and 4K HDR projectors using laser light engines. The XGIMI Horizon Ultra I've had in for review is unique: it takes most of the elements of portable smart projectors designed for quick and casual use, then adds serious image quality that should appeal to home theater enthusiasts. In fact, the Horizon Ultra is the first long-throw projector of any kind with Dolby Vision.

The Horizon Ultra runs on the MediaTek MT9629, which is certainly a capable processor, as it supports 4K and HDR, but it is far from MediaTek’s top of the line Pentonic series. By pairing the MT9629 with a 4K DLP chip and a home-grown hybrid LED/laser light engine, the $1799 Horizon Ultra is able to outperform home theater projectors that cost $6000 in some key measures – specifically, HDR.

The Horizon Ultra’s light output requires a lot of power, so the unit does not have a battery and must be plugged into the wall. The power brick is enormous, and the cable position can make placement challenging. The projector itself is also significantly larger and more of a cube than its cannister predecessors, though it weighs just 11.5 lbs. and is still small enough to tuck in a closet when not in use. Despite the power, the Horizon Ultra merely gets warm during use and is almost dead silent even from two feet away.

The Horizon Ultra is spec'd at 2200 lumen, which is bright enough for casual viewing and sports with the lights on. For serious movie and prestige TV watching, you're still going to want full light control to get the best image. In the cinema mode and in Dolby Vision colors pop without oversaturation. To get HDR, XGIMI uses a dual laser and LED light engine, and it works! In scenes like Wonder Woman crossing no man's land, the sparks of bullets off Diana's shield are markedly brighter than the rest of the image, and her lasso is obviously enhanced, too. Watching Foundations on Apple TV — which has a "lets apply Dolby Vision to everything" mode — was a treat. Wide color gamut and high dynamic range scenes abound. Like many 4K projectors aimed at the consumer market, the DLP engine that XGIMI is using is not native 4K – it uses pixel shifting to get there — but it sure looks like 4K when the image is properly dialed in.

The Horizon Ultra’s origin as a portable smart projector can still be seen in its design – and its remote control. The unit’s built-in Harmon-branded speaker plays relatively loud and clean, even if it does not provide stereo or any spacial effects. However, people cross-shopping the Horizon Ultra with other home theater projectors won’t want a speaker at all and may never use the built-in Android TV functionality. They might prefer to save the space and cost of the speakers because they will be using one of the two HDMI 2.1 inputs instead with an A/V receiver or processor and amplifier. The remote control is also a victim of budget projector cost cutting, with no backlighting to speak of.

There are other, more fundamental, design compromises for home theater use.

Black levels and projector placement are the Horizon Ultra's main weaknesses. My eight-year-old Sony 1080p LCOS puts out a markedly softer image (as expected) but slightly better black levels. The XGIMI blows it away on brightness and on modern benchmarks like HDR and color range. However, getting all that light output on the screen can be a bit of a challenge. On most home theater projectors, the distance, height, and left/right position of the mount are precisely calibrated to match the screen size by an installer or the DIY enthusiast. Cannister projectors are less fussy about placement: by including aggressive keystone correction and dropping picture quality in favor of convenience, you can just set them down anywhere and they adjust the image accordingly. The Horizon Ultra tries to split the difference. It has the same set-it-and-forget-it keystoning feature as its smaller predecessors, but using it robs the projector of resolution. Enthusiasts would prefer to adjust the projector physically and not lose pixels, but that can be difficult with the Horizon Ultra. It has a single tripod-style thread underneath that did not seem strong enough for ceiling mounting and it lacks any other standard mounting points. There is an optical zoom lens for distance (settings are buried in the menu) but no ability to tilt and no lens shift. The optional stand does add modest tilt angles, but it did not extend up high enough to use behind my seating position. I ended up having to use the keystone feature and adjust the image manually to fit my screen at the cost of lost resolution and light spill all around the screen. The resulting image still looks good, especially in a dark room and with 4K HDR content, but it would look even better if I could properly mount and aim the Horizon Ultra. At $1800, XGIMI is pricing the Horizon Ultra out of reach for casual users, but if you can’t place the projector in the right spot in the room to ideally fit your screen, it still might make sense to choose a projector from a traditional brand like Sony, EPSON, or Optoma even without Dolby Vision and even at a higher price point.

Conclusion

XGIMI is taking technology perfected in budget smart portable projectors and is bringing it to the enthusiast home theater market. The Horizon Ultra has HDR features that aren’t found on other projectors at any price, and if the placement works in your room, it is a bargain at just $1800. Going forward, XGIMI needs to improve mounting options and provide tilt and lens shift. But even as is, the Horizon Ultra is a disruptive product that should have home theater enthusiasts discovering the brand for the first time.

XGIMI sent over a Horizon Ultra and stand for review but HomeTheaterView has no financial relationship with XGIMI and does not accept affiliate payments.

Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Smart TV Review: Better TV Tech, Much Smarter

December 3, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

By Avi Greengart, portions reprinted with permission from Techsponential

Amazon introduced the Fire TV set top box back in 2014 as a way to ensure that its Prime Video content would get pride of place in the user interface, unlike competing devices from Roku and Apple. Over time, Amazon shrunk down the form factor to sticks, Borgified them into cubes, and eventually chose to build the Fire TV interface directly into televisions in 2021. Amazon’s initial Fire TV lineup was clearly aiming for volume sales, and targeted entry level sizes and display technology. In late 2022, Amazon moved a bit farther upmarket with the Fire TV Omni QLED. The new series added quantum dots for better color, up to 96 zones of full array local dimming for better contrast and black levels, Dolby Vision IQ, and a larger 75” option. While the display technology was improved, the real differentiation was Amazon’s ambience mode and smart display functionality.

Ambient modes on TVs are nothing new. At CES 2017, Samsung introduced a line of lifestyle televisions designed to blend better with the décor. The Frame cost hundreds of dollars more than a typical Samsung TV but it had a matte finish, a motion sensor, and a library of fine art and photographs so that it appeared to be a picture frame when not in active use as a television. The Frame was an immediate hit, and future versions added additional sizes and a light sensor, while retaining their premium pricing.

When Amazon introduced its own TV with an ambient display mode last year, you could be forgiven for considering it a poor person's Samsung Frame. The Fire TV Omni QLED lacks the matte finish and light sensor that make The Frame physically appear to be framed artwork on the wall, but it costs a fraction of the Samsung’s price. When the Fire TV Omni QLED launched late last year at pricing including $799 for 65” or $1099 for 75”, Amazon dramatically undercut Samsung but not equivalent QLED televisions from TCL or HiSense. On sale for the 2023 holidays, Amazon is much more competitively priced: $589 for 65”, $879 for 75”. The best value is the 55” set, at $439.

Amazon is leveraging the MediaTek MT9020 chip in the Fire TV Omni QLED to provide a series of smart experiences beyond just displaying artwork, photos, and videos when the TV is 'off.' In fact, the Fire TV Omni QLED is actually more of a gigantic Amazon Echo Show than a Samsung Frame clone. The Fire TV Omni QLED has always-listening Alexa voice control, a series of widgets, and all the smart home integration of a 10” Echo Show without a touchscreen. If an Amazon package is on its way, a notification can pop up on your TV. Ask Alexa for the weather, and you’ll get a 7 day forecast that takes over the bottom third of your screen. When someone rings your Ring doorbell, their image can automatically show up on screen and you can use the TV’s microphone to tell them not to interrupt your TV time.

MediaTek MT9020 is also used in Fire TVs from Xiaomi and HiSense that don’t have ambient mode, and similar MediaTek chips power the majority of 4K TVs on the market. MediaTek offers so much computing capability on today’s smart TVs that the only thing holding back most TVs from offering more capabilities is software. Proving the point, Amazon recently added its ambient experience to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max – a $60 streaming media stick. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max uses an even less-capable MediaTek processor, the MT8696T, as it is only needs to handle the computing and streaming needs, and not also control the TV display and audio hardware directly.

I have been testing a 65” Fire TV Omni QLED for several months. The initial setup prompts for an Amazon account, which shouldn’t be a surprise; you probably shouldn't be buying a Fire TV if you aren't going to use Amazon services. If you have other Fire TV devices you can restore settings from them and skip a few steps. You can opt into leaving the mic on even when the TV screen is off – this is essentially a very large, very flat Echo speaker. This is opt in, and Amazon not only flags this during setup, but makes it clear where the mic mute switch is for privacy. You can also use Alexa to navigate on-screen menus and choose content; this is never 100% foolproof, but I found the implementation on the latest Fire TV Cube better. Alexa correctly understood commands and wording more often on the Cube; I suspect that it simply has more microphones in its array.

There is an introduction to the Ambient Experience during setup, but it defaults to being off, and you’ll need to figure out how to turn it on later. Actually using the widgets and Ambient Experience ranges can be underwhelming or even frustrating. There are only a handful of widgets, and they aren’t terribly sophisticated. There are a lot of backgrounds to choose from at no charge, but I had to search Google to find out how to select them. You can adjust overall Ambient Experience settings in the main Settings>Display menu, but actually choosing what to display requires knowing a magic sequence of button presses: enter Ambient Experience by pressing the power button on the remote, and then pressing the menu button (the hamburger button/three horizontal lines). Once there, Amazon provides plenty of choices, including your own photos saved on still graphics, motion art and videos, fine art, regional collections, and even key frames from movies. The motion sensor in the Fire TV Omni QLED works well, putting the set into picture frame mode when you enter the room.

Like all Fire TV products, Amazon’s interface supports most streaming apps, and Amazon’s own Prime Video is given prime positioning in the menu structure.

Image quality on the Fire TV Omni QLED is a big step up from most other Fire TVs. I did notice some banding and digital noise in the opening sequence from LA LA Land, but the colors were rich and saturated in Movie Dark mode. It is not the brightest TV, but the set’s dozens of local dimming zones and Dolby Vision IQ ensured that high dynamic range content pops. The Batman streamed from Amazon Prime Video is a great test for black levels and shadow detail, as the cinematography and muted color grading match the depressing tone the director was after. The Fire TV Omni QLED did not do well here; in some scenes the levels of gray merged together making it hard to tell what was going on. For better high dynamic range and contrast, a mini-LED or OLED set is required – but that will generally cost a lot more. This is a good budget TV but it is still just a budget TV.

Like most TVs at almost any budget level, audio quality from the built-in speakers is not impressive, and a soundbar is recommended. Another option is to connect your Amazon speakers! During setup, the Fire TV Omni QLED noticed that I have a bunch of Echo speakers on my account and offered to connect them and use them for the TV’s audio instead. Smart.

Accessories / Audio / Music

Cleer Scene is a Pretty Versatile Bluetooth Speaker

October 3, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

by Avi Greengart

Cleer's Scene is a small horizontal Bluetooth speaker that stands out for its looks and versatility. The swoopy, color-on-color industrial design is absolutely gorgeous, especially in the red colorway that Cleer sent over. It may look round, but it is flat on the bottom so it won't roll away. Sonics are good; if sound quality is your primary purchase driver this isn't the last word, but at modest volumes it plays cleanly with an emphasis on midrange. This is a small portable speaker and doesn't play louder (or lower) than physics allows, but it can certainly fill a small room with sound. There are physical control buttons, AUX in, and a microphone so the Scene can double as a speakerphone. It's portable, fully waterproof (IPX7), has up to 12 hours of playback time, and costs a reasonable $99.

Cleer sent over a Scene for review but HomeTheaterView has no financial relationship with Cleer and does not accept affiliate payments.

Accessories / Audio

Review: 1More P50

September 8, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

by Avi Greengart

1More is an audio brand that somehow has flown under the radar, despite consistently offering excellent sonics at reasonable prices and getting rave critical reviews. The company's latest earbuds are a bit of a throwback – they aren't wireless, and they don't have any form of active noise cancellation. They even have a 3.5mm headphone jack! Just in case you live in 2023, the P50's do come with a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter, along with a soft carrying case for the earbuds and accessories so that you don't lose it.
1More should lead a seminar on packaging; for $169 earbuds, the unboxing experience is excellent, setting high expectations for the product itself.

There are FIVE drivers in each of the P50's: one dynamic driver and four planar units. Five drivers sounds like a comedy sketch about adding more razer blades, but the end result is really nice sound for a price a fraction of professional IEMs (In Ear Monitors). 1More claims that these earbuds were tuned by "Grammy award-winning sound engineer Luca Bignardi, capturing the passion and emotion of music." To my non-Grammy award-winning ears, the 1More P50's audio response is extremely flat. The $169 1More P50's sound more like to my reference $1200 UE18's (which have six drivers apiece) than most consumer earbuds that tend to emphasize bass and, to a lesser extent, treble. The treble on the P50's is clear without any ringing or sibilance, but without any extra oomph, so there should be no listener fatigue. They are extremely revealing — you can easily hear the difference between production quality in different musical eras and genres. These really excel in accuracy and soundstage – orchestral, theatrical, and live music is particularly engaging on them. The Hamilton Broadway recording sounds extraordinary on them, and I had to stop writing this review to listen to Marc Knopfler's guitar technique on Dire Straits Live.
In my initial listening tests, bass response was the weakest element. To get the best bass the P50's drivers could deliver, I had to move to the largest foam tips to get a better ear seal. That was a bit uncomfortable, so I compromised with the medium foam tips, and then rotated them to get as tight a seal as possible. YEMV (Your Ears May Vary). This brought the bass back to tracks like Will of the People by Muse or even the chorus on pop tracks like Victoria's Secret by Jax, and completed the flat response across the board. Still, bass does not extend particularly deep and may not be loud enough for bassheads. If you want over-emphasized bass for hip-hop or movie watching, or if you just a warmer midrange, you might be able to get part of the way there with EQ, but these probably aren't the right earbuds for you.

The in-line microphone is fine for calls even in moderately noisy environments, but the volume level is low. If you hold it just a bit closer to your mouth, it sounds great.
One final note: the DAC that's hiding in the adapter is pretty good, but when I substituted in an ifi Go bar, there was a slight reduction in noise and increase in clarity once I matched the volume. Of course, the ifi Go bar costs $329 so pairing that with earbuds that cost half that is kind of ridiculous. But if you do decide to go there, the P50's are capable of revealing any sonic differences.
Highly recommended.
1More sent over a P50 for review but HomeTheaterView has no financial relationship with 1More and does not accept affiliate payments.

Accessories / Audio / Music

Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Review

June 29, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

by Avi Greengart

Anker has steadily built its Soundcore brand on two key values: sound quality and low — but not bargain basement — pricing. The multi-driver Liberty Pro 3 are one of my favorite sounding earbuds at any price, but they is apparently priced too close to more traditional brands (read: Apple) and the company has been slow to upgrade them with competitive noise cancellation. Instead, it has focused on its more affordable non-Pro Liberty, first launching the $129 Liberty 4 last year (they were fine) and now the $99 Liberty 4 NC.

Despite the lower price and similar product name, the new Liberty 4 NC headphones are actually a significant upgrade with slightly better sonics and greatly improved adaptive noise cancellation. Rather than applying what seems like a blanket anti-noise filter, the Liberty 4 NC take a few seconds to sample the acoustic environment and then adjust further, similar to the Bose Quiet Comfort II. Where that comparison falls down is that the Soundcore gets quiet, but the Bose magically makes the outside world simply disappear. That's where the Liberty 4 NC presses its price advantage; even on sale the Bose cost over $250, placing it in a completely different price tier.

I enjoyed the Liberty 4 NC's performance on phone calls; callers sounded clear and there is just the right amount of microphone sidetone so you can hear yourself speak and not shout into the mic.

What about sound quality on music? The Liberty 4 NC is nicely balanced: bass is pronounced but not overwhelming or boomy. Treble is clear in the mix but not harsh. That said, these are not the last word in transparency, image separation, or tone. Soundcore's own Liberty Pro 3's have a better overall soundstage, and nothing beats the incredibly low noise floor of Apple's AirPods Pro 2. That said, the Liberty 4 NC does nothing wrong; it's quite a pleasing listening experience, it can be customized further in the app, and it's a tremendous value.

Anker gave me Soundcore Liberty 4 for review at a launch event but HomeTheaterView has no financial relationship with Anker and does not accept affiliate payments.

Accessories / Audio / Music

Mini Review for a Mini Speaker: Scosche BoomCan MS

April 21, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

by Avi Greengart

The Scosche BoomCan MS came in really handy yesterday when my flight was cancelled, and I needed to spend another night working on the road. This adorable little Bluetooth speaker attaches magnetically to recent iPhones where it acts as a kickstand and bounces audio off the table for a bit of added reverb. It's using the magnets just to attach, not connect or charge; it will connect to any Bluetooth source, not just iPhones.

It's tiny, so it's hardly the ultimate in fidelity, and it works better with show tunes and pop than Rock or Metal (Muse was more distorted than it's supposed to be). It charges over USB-C and should last several hours (Scosche says five). You can buy a pair and create stereo and I'm sure that's lovely but I strongly suspect most people will just buy one. It's $50, loud enough for hotel-room-writing-music, and so portable that I'm probably making it a permanent resident in my travel bag.

Scosche sent over a BoomCan MS for review but HomeTheaterView has no financial relationship with Scosche and does not accept affiliate payments.

Uncategorized

XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro Launch Event

April 11, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

By Avi Greengart, reprinted with permission from Techsponential

XGIMI recently launched its latest smart projector, the MoGo 2 Pro (press release) in New York. The projector belongs to a relatively new category of home entertainment display that combines front projection, portability, and smart TV streaming capabilities over WiFi. As with previous display technology shifts, smart projectors are leading to new companies and brands.

XGIMI (pronounced, “ex-jimmy;” loosely translated from Chinese as, “excellence in square meters”) was founded nine years ago in Chengdu, China. IDC ranked it as China’s projector market share leader by 2018, and it has sold 4.5 million units since launch. XGIMI started selling its first portable 1080p projector, the MoGo Pro, in 2019. There are other notable Chinese competitors using the new category to grow, including Anker’s Nebula brand, but large consumer electronics brands like Samsung and HiSense are also competing (see Techsponential’s CES 2023 report).

All of XGIMI’s projectors use Android TV, which has full global reach (unlike Amazon Fire or Roku which are at least somewhat regional), and allows XGIMI to focus entirely on hardware rather than the content user interface, streaming capabilities, or apps. (Note: the Netflix app is not natively supported, so many people may still prefer to attach a streaming stick from Amazon or Roku.)

XGIMI expects that consumers’ primary entertainment display will be a flat panel TV, but that secondary displays can be well served by projectors so long that all is required is a blank wall. XGIMI also sells ultra short throw (UST) projectors that benefit from a fixed position and screen and can be used without as much light control. At the MoGo 2 Pro event in New York, XGIMI showed off the projector in different use cases: replacing a small bedroom TV with a 100” image, movie night in an eat-in kitchen, and even watching content in the bathroom.

The $599 MoGo 2 Pro is notable for some contrarian design decisions. In a category where portability is a core part of the value proposition, the MoGo 2 Pro is actually larger and heavier than the original. It’s still small and light (2.4lbs) enough to move from room to room, but the larger footprint provides more room for the light engine and larger speaker enclosures. As a result, it is almost twice as bright as its predecessor and audio is significantly louder. This addresses real pain points for a device that is frequently used in less than ideal lighting conditions and without the benefit of a soundbar.

That decision to prioritize performance over size also pays competitive dividends: while the MoGo 2 Pro does not use a laser light source like Anker’s inch-or-so slimmer Nebula Capsule 3 Laser, the MoGo 2 Pro is brighter (400 ISO lumens) and costs $200 less than the Nebula (which is spec’d at 300 ANSI Lumens). XGIMI set up the MoGo 2 Pro and Nebula Capsule 3 Laser side-by-side in the kitchen area of the Manhattan apartment it rented for the event. While the difference was not dramatic, the MoGo 2 Pro was indeed obviously brighter, louder, and faster at adjusting keystone correction and autofocus — all at a lower price point.

While the 1080p MoGo 2 Pro is not aimed at videophiles, it has been tuned to provide up to 90% DCI-P3 color coverage and the D65 Hollywood color temp. In a moderately light-controlled environment and screen sizes significantly below the stated maximum 200”, the MoGo 2 Pro should provide a satisfying picture for casual TV, streaming, sports, and movies. Combing through the specs page, I was surprised to discover that it will even support 3D, though active shutter glasses will cost you $29 each.

The rest of the tech specs are reasonable but not terribly exciting. Connectivity is only dual-band WiFi 5 (not 6 or 6E) plus Bluetooth 5.0, which is essential for headphones. There is a 3.5mm output jack for connecting better wired speakers. The MoGo 2 Pro’s Android TV 11.0 has Chromecast built-in, 16GB of storage, and is supplemented by a USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI 2.0 (not 2.1). The MoGo 2 Pro omits a battery entirely but it will run off of external USB-C battery packs, so you’ll need to invest in one of those or an extension cord if the 8’ power cable doesn’t reach where you place the unit.

XGIMI invited me to its launch event but Techsponential and HomeTheaterView have no financial relationship with XGIMI and do not accept affiliate payments.

Accessories / Audio / Music

Review: ifi Audio GO link

January 26, 2023 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

By Avi Greengart, Lead Analyst, Techsponential

Just because Apple decided that nobody needs a 3.5mm jack on what has become people's primary music device (and all of its competitors followed) doesn't make it true. If you have wired headphones, earbuds, or IEMs (in-ear monitors), you'll need an adapter. The thing is, phones output digitally now and when companies removed the headphone jack, they bypassed the DAC that the silicon typically provides. That means this is a more complicated adapter, as it needs to have its own DAC (digital to analog converter) embedded in there.

Apple started the problem, and it offered a solution: a $9 dongle that converts from Lightning to 3.5mm. That makes it one of Apple's least expensive products of all time, but does it sound any good, and how much do you need to spend to get something noticeably better? (Spoiler: the Apple adapter is actually a bargain for what it is, but if you have good headphones you absolutely can do better.)

A while back, ifi audio sent me their $329 GO bar, which is a great little DAC/headphone amp combo that has a plethora of features, but the one that caught my eye is a special mode to deal with sensitive IEMs. It sounds great, and I will happily recommend it in its category, but if all you're trying to do is connect wired headphones to your phone, it's crazy overkill. So when ifi audio announced a much simpler product, the GO link, for just $59, I had to get one in. The GO link absolutely nails the assignment of adding a good DAC to anything without a 3.5mm headphone jack at a price that makes it an impulse buy. It natively supports USB-C and ifi Audio includes little attachments for Lightning and USB-A (to use as a better DAC than the one in your PC). Unlike the GO bar, it lacks a case, but most people will leave it attached to their headphone cable so that's fine. And it isn't so simple that you can't use made up words to talk about it with your audiophile friends, according to the website, the GO link features a, "Discrete ESS Sabre Hyperstream DAC chipset with time domain jitter eliminator, discrete oscillator and 112dB dynamic range for discerning listeners."

I started my discerning listening with the iPhone 14 Pro and Drop HIFIMAN HE-X4 headphones (budget planar magnetic headphones that deserve their own review someday). The difference between Apple's dongle and the GO link was easy to hear: on the GO link, instruments had more separation and the noise floor was slightly lower. I found it easier to discern certain elements (a unique time signature on the drums, instrument tambre), and the music was more engaging overall. For $9, it's hard to complain about Apple's dongle. It's not bad! But if you are an active listener and have invested in high quality headphones, there is easily a significant enough difference to justify the expense of the GO link.

Next, I tested the ifi Audio GO link on a [embargoed upcoming Android phone] and compared it to Anker's $20 USB-C to 3.5mm dongle. On the relatively inefficient HIFIMAN headphones, the difference was stark: the GO link can play so much louder than the Anker that it isn't fair — the Ankers are a poor fit for this application. Apple and Anker do not specify output power on their adapters, but ifi Audio marketing does: "power output of 70mW into 32 ohms, and a maximum voltage output of 2.05V into 600 ohms."

ifi Audio also claims that its S-Balanced circuit delivers better performance on IEMs, too, so I tested them with Ultimate Ear UE12 IEMs. These require minimum power to drive, so the Anker was much more competitive. The GO links still played louder, but on IEMs that's irrelevant unless you want to damage your hearing. At more reasonable volume levels, the GO link did sound a bit better than the Ankers — I noticed that bass drum kicks were a bit fuller — but it's subtle. Whatever DAC Anker is using does sound good and they are a third the price.

Overall, given the simplicity and versatility with both input (USB-C, USB-A, Lightning) and output (even on more demanding headphones) the ifi audio GO link is a no-brainer. Highly recommended.

Accessories / HDTV

Monster “UHD 8K Cobalt” HDMI Cable

March 22, 2021 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Monster pioneered the premium audio accessories business, starting with thick, oxygen-free copper speaker wires before moving to more questionable interconnect cables and other accessories, eventually landing on headphones and Bluetooth speakers. The original speaker cables were genuinely (and demonstrably) better than the thinner wires due to a combination of physics and quality control. They sold well because Monster did a tremendous job on marketing at point of sale; in some years, they made up the majority of consumer electronics retailer profit (sell the TV and VCR at cost, make money on the cables). With the rise of the Internet and streaming media players, the market for premium branded cables took a big hit – Monoprice, Anker, and AmazonBasics can supply perfectly good cables for less, assuming that you even need to buy an audio or video cable at all.

Today, Monster is a licensing company, but it is not surprising that one of those licensees (DealRise, LLC) sells super-premium HDMI cables under the Monster brand. Their PR rep offered to send over an 8K cable in any size; I asked for 8', they sent 6'. The packaging is beautiful — probably not fully necessary, given that Amazon is a primary retail channel, but still expected for the brand — and the cable itself appears well constructed. I wasn't able to fully test it because TVs are so big now that a 6' cable is now too short to reach from my receiver to the TV input, and I don't have a full HDMI 2.1 electronics chain yet. The Xbox Series X from Microsoft is fully capable, but my flagship Denon receiver (AVR-X8500H) has not gotten the promised HDMI 2.1 update yet. Finally, while the fantastic 6-series TV that TCL sent over supports some advanced gaming functionality, it, too, lacks HDMI 2.1 inputs.

However, if you do have a fully HDMI 2.1 chain and want to take advantage of things like 8K or 4K/120Hz gaming, you will actually need cables rated for significantly higher bandwidth (48Gpbs) than even the best HDMI cables from just a year or two ago (18Gbps). Do you need a brand name like Monster 8K to achieve that? Not necessarily, and I can't vouch for Monster's performance yet. But the technical requirements are real. If you run into HDMI 2.1 equipment incompatibilities — something we have seen with some early HDMI 2.1 A/V receivers — it could be difficult to isolate that the problem is actually the interconnect cable, so it's worth buying something you trust will deliver the performance you'll need.

Accessories / Audio / Music

TCL’s MTRO 200NC First Impressions

September 23, 2020 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

TCL is best known for its high-value televisions, but it is actually one of the largest consumer electronics conglomerates in the world. TCL runs its own factories and is investing $8 billion in its latest display panel fab. TCL's mobile division sells Alcatel and TCL branded featurephones, smartphones, and tablets, and the parent company also makes washing machines, refrigerators, consumer IoT devices, and more.

I have tested some of TCL's super-inexpensive in-ear headphones — some as low as $10 — and found them to be ridiculous values; they sound as good as products 10x the cost. So I was eager to get in TCL's on-ear MTRO headphones, now in a version with active noise cancellation, for just $79. Can they compete against products that are 4x – 6x more expensive from Sony, Bose, Apple (Beats), and others? In a word, no.

The good: they sound good: the noise floor is low, the bass is well rounded without being bloated, and mid-range is just a bit lively, which sounds great on rock and pop. I also liked that there are physical buttons on the earcup; I'm not convinced that consumers can remember or properly execute swiping maneuvers on the go.
The bad: the MTRO 200NC's noise cancellation is really weak. A female Voice of God loudly informs you every time you turn noise canceling on or off, so there's no question whether it is engaged, but it just doesn’t do very much. Also, charging is via ancient microUSB, rather than USB-C, so you'll need to keep a dedicated charging cable on hand.
And the ugly news: these look and feel like those $29 BEATZ or SUMSANG headphones you see at drugstores, not like a product from a company with a respected global brand, major sports sponsorships, and $11 billion in revenue last year. The flimsy cardboard and plastic packaging could not be cheaper, and it is not helped by the font choice and colors. The headphones themselves are no better: the plastic used on the headband and earcups feel rough and the buttons are toy-like. Even at $79, even if you are willing to look past the noise cancelation performance, aesthetics matter. If you can overlook the out of box experience (OOBE) and build quality, fine, but if you are giving them as a holiday gift, you should be aware that they don't look like they cost as much as they do.