Finding a unique selling point in a pair of headphones at the moment is like searching for a needle in a very big haystack made out of audio gear. What are you looking for? Good sound? Comfort? Noise-canceling? A good price? There are differences between everything out there, but by and large, they are much of a muchness. So how do you make your headphones stand out?

Well, if you’re Cambridge Audio, then you mix your HiFi equipment expertise with some epic hardware, and add in a dash of the most recognizable over-the-top British accent around for a package that stands out — and then you undercut the competition with a very slick price point that makes them the best deals in audio right now. These are the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, and if you’re looking at some new overhead headphones for the bus, the commute, when you’re out for a walk, or for just chilling on the couch and watching Apple TV Plus, then you might have just found something that ticks all the boxes.

Price and availability

In a market that sees top-of-the-range noise-canceling headphones priced at over $300, the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 buck the trend. They’ll cost you $279 at full price, and you’ll occasionally see that price drop to $229 on sale. When the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM5 cost you $399 and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 cost $299, that makes the very shiny and very new P100 a very tempting proposition.

As for where you can get hold of one, you’ll likely be looking at Amazon to grab yourself a pair.

Build and fit

Cambridge Audio is well known for making home HiFi equipment that is built to last — and it's got years and years of experience and catalogs of equipment that shows just how good it is at it. Its headphones have never been an exception to the rule, and despite a lack of metal of any kind in their construction, the Melomania P100 are no different. The headband, while slightly lacking in padding, is solid-feeling, and the earcups themselves are wrapped in some premium plastic. Color options are fine: There’s a black option or a gray option, and I can already see the light gray color that we’ve got here attracting all the grime from the surrounding area with the clinical precision of a well-trained robot butler.

The case is excellent as well. It’s stiff, very solid, and has a space sized perfectly for the cables inside, nestled between the headphone slots. The color matches the headphones, and just like the cans themselves, while I’m confident that they’re protected when I stick them in a rucksack, I’m not so confident that the case will stay nice and gray. I can foresee a mucky future for the case, one that’s managed to accumulate all the bits and bobs from the bottom of your backpack.

Fit-wise, you’re looking at a pair of extremely comfy headphones. The padding all around is soft and accommodating, although it's a bit thin on the headband. If you can situate them on top of your head properly it never becomes an issue, but it is something that’s worth bearing in mind. They aren’t fatiguing when you wear them for long periods of time, and I had no problems wearing them throughout the day while listening to my tunes while working.

Features

For a pair of headphones that in their native UK only cost £229, they are packed to the brim with some top-tier features that easily put them either on par or above against the more expensive competition. The title feature is one that only the audio nerds amongst us are going to care about, and that’s the amplification hardware that’s been packed inside each earcup. They use the same AB classification amplification that you’ll find in Cambridge Audio’s dedicated HiFi amplifiers, lending them some serious audiophile credibility. As with all Bluetooth headphones, you won’t get the full effect of a lossless audio track, but Hi-Res is going to sound fab. 

The battery life is also well worth highlighting, with the number on the box promising 100 hours. I’ve been testing them for the last week, using them through a work day, and I’m yet to need to charge them (I’m still, in fact, on around 20% or so), so the battery life claim seems to match up with the actual life you’ll get on a charge. Manage to use up that titanic battery life and need to juice up quick? Stick them on charge for just five minutes and you get a full four hours of use — very nice. The battery life will change depending on how you use them, of course, so max volume, every single ounce of noise canceling people are going to end up with batteries as dead as their ears (seriously, stop using your headphones at max volume if you want to hear past the age of 50).

There’s the aforementioned noise canceling as well, and its pretty good. It’s not quite as impressive as the noise canceling on the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM5 or the AirPods Max, but it does a decent enough job of making sure that the noise outside the headphones won’t bother you while you listen to your music. Offices silenced, bus journeys more comfortable, and, if you’re a terrible parent, cries of small children quietened. There’s, as usual, a focus on the bottom-end sounds, so higher-pitched noises can make their way through. What’s nice is the three different noise-canceling modes — on, off, and transparency. Off is just like wearing any normal pair of wireless headphones, allowing some of the noise in, while transparency mode feeds the noises from the outside into your earholes so that you can have a chat with the person at the Costco counter. Or the bus driver.

It’s the environmental features that I really appreciate, however. I have loads of headphones from a couple of years ago that now have dead batteries, that no longer hold a charge. They are, ostensibly, completely dead, with non-user-replaceable batteries. There are headphones I don’t want to use because the earpads are toast, leaving horrible bits of faux leather coating all over the place. The P100, on the other hand, have both user-replaceable earpads and batteries, so in theory, they could last for an extremely long time, particularly thanks to the replaceable batteries. I say in theory because that relies on the batteries continuing to be available, and that 3rd party companies make replacement earpads beyond Cambridge Audio. I do really like the feature however, and I hope that more companies embrace the idea of user-replaceable batteries.

Finally, there’s the Melomania connect app, which lets you activate gaming mode and choose a vocal assistant who talks you through your experience with the headphones. There’s the standard voice, or the voice which you should use — the ‘Southwark’ option. That uses the actual recorded voice of actor Matt Berry, himself from London, Southwark, just like Cambridge Audio itself. You may have heard of him from the likes of Toast of London, The IT Crowd, or, more recently, TV’s What We Do in the Shadows. It’s loads of fun to hear his over-the-top lilt shout ‘noise canceling’ or ‘gaming mode’, and adds some more personality to a headset that’s already set well apart from its contemporaries. The app lets you activate gaming mode, which reduces lag on the Bluetooth so that you can hear all the sounds you need closer to when you need them in game.

Sound Quality

Ok, so Cambridge Audio has brought every ounce of its significant HiFi chops to bear on the Melomania P100. There’s the aforementioned class AB amplifier at play in addition to aptX and other assorted Bluetooth goodies to make sure that they sound as good as possible. Has it worked? In a word — yes.

In a few more words, the Melomania P100s are a well-judged and excellently well-balanced pair of headphones, with a decent amount of beef to keep things from feeling too analytical. There’s plenty of detail up high, and then some stellar low-end grunt that goes all the way down. The soundstage is top-notch, wider than you might expect from some closed-back headphones, and stereo imaging is pretty good as well. For the price, there’s not much that can take the fight to the Melomania P100, and you’d find it tricky to find much better that are $100-$200 more expensive.

The chunky distorted bass of Psycroptic’s Rend Asunder lays the foundation for a crisp interpretation of tech death, equally detailed and weighty in all the right places. The hi-hats are piercing and bright, while layered guitar parts weave their syncopated rhythm. Instrument separation is uncommonly good for a death metal performance, each part of the ensemble separable from the rest. The vocals are clear and thick, although there are some occasional hiccups when the rest of the ensemble gets busier.

Michael Giachinno’s Kronos Unveiled from The Incredibles soundtrack shows some impressive dynamic range. When the music is supposed to be quiet and subtle, it is, not boosted by the headphones. It builds and it builds to the mighty crescendo, which is punchy, powerful, and revealing. The orchestra is wide, and surrounding, making for an involving, engaging listen.

Finally, the pulsating synth and slick retro style of Carpenter Brut’s Day Stalker brings a threatening undertone thanks to the driving sub-bass line that the Melomania are more than happy to provide. It’s not a complicated track, but the headphones do a quality job of building throughout with the addition of each new additional instrument line.

Competition

There is loads of competition out there for the Melomania, but all the stuff that offers the same features, sound quality, and carrying case will cost you a whole bunch more money than you’d spend on Cambridge Audio’s offering. There are the aging Sony WH-1000XM5, and while their noise canceling might be better, you’ll get better sound quality at a much lower price from the Melomania. They might not be as well made as the AirPods Max, but they rival the Apple option in sound and cost less than half as much. When you look at the competition in the same price bracket you’ll soon find that battery life won’t be as good, they’ll lack noise canceling… The Melomania are an excellent option, and outweigh the competition in a whole range of ways.

That and no other pair of headphones has a Matt Berry voice option.

Should you buy them?

You should buy them if…

• You want a unique pair of headphones in a world of cut-and-paste options
• You want spectacular sound quality
• You’re after something comfortable

You shouldn’t buy them if…

• You don’t have much space for the large carrying case
• You hate Matt Berry (you weirdo. And you can turn him off. Weirdo.)

Verdict

The package that the Melomania present is more than you could imagine possible for the otherwise fairly low price. If nothing else, they’ll make Sony and other manufacturers look up from their desks and realize that they need to step the game up — turns out you can make premium, fully-featured headphones for less than $300. If you now want to cost more than the Melomania you’re going to have to really put in a whole lot of work to make sure that buyers get their money's worth.

As for the headphones themselves, they’re a real treat. They sound excellent, fit comfortably, and while they take a little more space in your bag, they’re a great example of some great-sounding headphones. If you don’t mind not having a Sony or Apple logo on your head, the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 should be at the top of your list.

I’ve only recently joined the iPad fold, but now that I have, I can’t stop using it to watch TV, browse my photos, and read comic books. There is only one thing that annoys me about iPad use, and that’s the hand strain that comes with holding a fairly weighty 13-inch diagonal slab of metal and glass. Does it stop me from using my iPad? No, not even remotely — but it has made me search out new and innovative ways to not hold it with my hands while I use it.

I’ve tried propping it up on pillows, setting it up against piles of heavy books — even fashioning a makeshift stand for it with lollipop sticks. None of them worked particularly well, so you bet my fingers went straight to the keyboard when Lululook let us know about the new stand for the M2 iPad Air and M4 iPad Pro. I don’t think I’ve grabbed something so quick, and now that I’ve been using it for a solid month I think I’ve found the perfect companion to my iPad Air, and you might’ve as well.

Price and availability

You can head directly to the Lululook website and nab yourself a 360 stand, and it will cost you $129 for the 13-inch version that I’ve got here. That’s the same price for the Air and Pro stand, and it still doesn’t change for the 11-inch version. Given the square cutout for the camera on my stand, I suspect that the Pro version is going to be much the same as what I’ve got here.

That does make it a fairly costly iPad stand, but you’ve got to bear in mind that this one is not just made out of metal, but contains all the electrical gubbins needed to charge your iPad as well. That adds a whole bunch more value to the package, and more than justifies the higher price.

What I like

I’ve used plastic stands for iPhones and other devices before, and they are, by and large, terrible. So when I pulled the 360 out of its box, the reassuringly cold and weighty metal frame was both a joy to hold and unfold. It lends a sturdiness to the stand that invokes more confidence, especially when you remember it has to hold an iPad’s worth of metal, glass, and circuitry.

Once out of the box (and suitably hefted about with impressed ‘hms’, ‘yeahs’, and ‘wow, that’s heavier than I thoughts’), you’ll find a large, heavy metal base with a standing arm jutting out of the top. That arm allows you to tilt and pan your iPad at a whole range of heights and angles, the bottom raising and lowering the height and the top pivot chatting the angle.

There’s a further swivel on the top that changes the orientation of the iPad, from portrait to landscape, and vice versa. All of the swivels and angle adjustments are tight as can be, although you’ll want to keep the iPad above the final quarter of the height adjust — towards the end it starts to sag, which we’ll touch briefly on later. 

The base also rotates on a clicking rubber plinth, which keeps the whole thing rooted to the desk while providing more adjustment and swivel. The clicks are obnoxious, but they’re easy enough to ignore after a while.

The iPad itself attaches to the stand on a large panel that uses the magnets in the back of the tablet for a secure fit. It is about as secure as they come — while I wouldn’t recommend it, you could very easily lift the entire assembly by the iPad. Again, don’t, but they are strong enough that you could.

On the magnetic backing plate,you’ll also find some contacts for the smart connector on the iPad. This feeds power to the battery in your tablet, so you don’t have to worry about charging the iPad separately or even plugging in the iPad itself. It’s a very useful and well-implemented feature, and it means that if you want to use the iPad at a better angle on a desk with a keyboard and have something else plugged into the USB-C port on the bottom (like an SSD, for example) then you can.

What I don’t like

That charging is powered by a USB-C port on the back of the main panel, and it’s not in the best place. When the stand is in portrait mode and standing slightly tighter against the back panel, the cable that you’ve plugged in can become worryingly squished by the stand arm itself. It’s not massively concerning, but it could well mean that the cable you’re using will have its life cut short by a lack of space to bend properly.

The other issue is the stiffness of the arm itself if you plonk your iPad at a lower height. The arm has a habit of drooping at that point, and sometimes the already weighty stand doesn’t feel like quite enough to handle the weight of the iPad and topples over. It’s only slight, and for most people, it’s not going to be an issue — but if you want your iPad at a low height for drawing and want it floating and not resting on a table, then you might be better off with something else.

Finally, there are those obnoxious clicks. I never found myself swiveling the iPad all that much, given that I basically only needed it to be facing me while in use, but the noise the thing makes while spinning it on its base sounds like an old engine about to explode. It might be there to make the swivel feel more premium, perhaps, but it is a noise. Your mileage may vary, of course, but to me, it was like nails on a chalkboard.

Competition

There are a plethora of different iPad stands that we’ve used out there. Similar to the 360 is the Benks Infinity Pro, which looks almost identical but lacks the charging element of this model. If you want something more foldable then you can go pick up Lululook’s Foldable magnetic stand, although the hinges on that model are unreasonably stiff. Finally, if you want something to hold your iPad a little higher, then there’s the super-premium MagFlott Pro stand — which is our pick for best iPad stand in 2024. 

All in though, the 360 presents very well against the competition, especially taking into account the charging addition in the back.

Should you buy one?

You should buy one if…

• You want a stand that will charge your iPad
• You want loads of adjustment
• You have one of the latest iPad models

You shouldn’t buy one if…

• You want a silent stand
• You need extra height

Verdict

The Lululook 360 stand is a great iPad stand, even with its few foibles. Sure, that clicking is grating and it would be nice if the lower height levels were sturdier. Overall though, the charging more than makes up for the issues and the stand still feels like a premium product that justifies its price tag.

That, and it makes it super easy to read comic books in bed.

Headphones are a tricky thing to get right, particularly when they’re wireless. There are a bunch of different things to perfect, like sound quality, comfort, weight, features, and more — a balancing act that not every manufacturer is particularly good at. If you’re Sonos, then, entering a crowded space with your first pair of headphones, what do you focus on?

Where other headphone brands have emphasized the music ability of their headphones, Sonos has done something different — it’s a unit that feels designed more for at-home use than anything else. That’s not to say there’s no effort put into their out-and-about qualities, far from it, but there’s a sense that these are headphones that want to squeeze into an existing Sonos system rather than working completely on their own.

But has Sonos managed it? Are they the best headphones you can buy, or are there still elements that the brand needs to work on before they really take the headphones world by storm? We’ve been spending the last couple of weeks getting into the nitty gritty with the Sonos Ace headphones, and now we have a clear picture of the kind of product that Sonos has produced — and whether they’re a must-buy, a solid choice, or one to avoid.

Price and availability

The Sonos Ace are available now, for $449/£449, at most places where you can buy headphones. That means Best Buy, Amazon, and more — where you can buy headphones, you’ll likely find a pair of Sonos Ace. Remember, however, that to get the most out of the Ace you’ll need to add in a Sonos Arc sound bar. If you’ve already got one, then you’ll be completely fine, the Ace will just seamlessly slip into your use case.

If you haven’t got one, however, then you’re going to need to factor in picking up one of those — and that’s another $899 on top of what is already a fairly expensive pair of headphones. Of course, you don’t need the Arc to have a good time with the Sonos Ace, but if you want to use the headline feature then it’s a must-have — for now.

Broadly, the Sonos Ace are priced fairly competitively to their rivals. They’re more than the equivalent Sonys, the WH-1000XM5, but around $100 less than the AirPods Max. Again, this is not a cheap pair of headphones, but a higher price was to be expected by something that wants to go up against the very best. Whether they’re worth that price, however, remains to be seen.

Build and fit

From a typical Sonos cardboard box, formed of multiple layers and environmentally friendly paper tape-sealed sections, comes a remarkably solid hard case. It feels good in the hand — sturdy, and hardwearing. It’s made out of environmentally friendly material, which does come with its own strengths and weaknesses. For one, it lends the case a kind of felt covering, more fibrous than the fabric you’ll normally find adorning headphone cases. It’s more akin to the case that comes with the extremely premium Master & Dynamic MH75, for better or for worse.

See, the black color that my headphones have come in has, initially, a premium feeling and look, but the moment it gets a chance to go near dust, or other assorted household muck, it loses its slick noir luster, taking on a mottled grey hue instead. Given that this case will not exist in a vacuum, and presumably be tossed into many a backpack (of which the contents can not be guaranteed to be immaculate), it’s a disappointment to what could otherwise be one of the best cases in the business.

The case is compact, around the same size as the case that my older WH-1000XM4 came in (the XM5’s case grew significantly), and crucially, it’s very slim. Packing it into a bag, despite its ability to take on a layer of grime, is a great deal easier than other cases in my collection, and it’s stiff enough that it feels like it could take some punishment on the road. It’s set out nicely on the inside as well. The headphones fit perfectly in place, the earcups swiveled down, and then a small, removable, purse-like oval holds the charging and headphone jack cable. It squeezes open, which lends a kind of ‘those edges are going to squeeze their way open around the whole thing at some point’, but until then it's a compact and convenient way to store the cables you need.

As for the quality of the headphones themselves, Sonos has done a great job at making a confidence-inspiring pair of headphones. The materials used to build the headphones are top-notch, from the stainless steel of the expanding headband to the leatherette that covers the earcups and plush headband. The plastic of the earcups is top-notch, although the black color is susceptible to greasy fingerprints — easily wiped off, but ugly when you’re using the headphones out of the house. There’s a white option if you’d rather something less inky, and potentially less likely to show off greasy fingerprints.

Overall, the Sonos Ace feel like a well-put-together, solid-feeling pair of wireless headphones. The sliding earcup adjustments are smooth and stiff, so they’re not going to start sagging on you over time. There are no significant wobbles that make you question their longevity, and all of the buttons have positive and quiet action. As a headset, the Ace are up there with the very best — as you’d hope, given the lofty price tag.

As for the fit, they are close to being pitch-perfect. The light weight makes you forget them once they’re on, and the plush headband and earcups feel fantastic — for most people. Clamping force is good too, not pushing on your head too much while retaining a secure fit. They pass the headbang test with flying colors, that’s for sure. But what do I mean when I say ‘for most people’?

Now, this is going to sound like a very niche complaint (mostly because it is) but if you’re like me and you’ve got a cartilage piercing on your upper ear on either side, there’s a likelihood that they’ll start to cause discomfort after a while. It’s not something I’ve experienced with other headphones either, which is why it’s worth bringing up here — and I’m not entirely sure why it happens. It could be because the opening in the earcups isn’t quite big enough for my ears, and the thinnest part of the cups are pressing my ears into the harder plastic surface below — on the side where there’s no piercing, no problem. On the side where there is, however, owch. For most people? Not a problem. For people like me? Something to consider before dropping $449 on a pair.

Features

As with most wireless headphones that you can pick up from a big manufacturer in 2024, they are packed to the gunnel with features. From noise canceling to a dedicated home cinema mode, Sonos is hoping to pull you in with not only features you’ll find elsewhere but completely unique ones as well — making for an interesting set of headphones indeed.

Let’s start with the simple features, the ones that don’t take much explanation. First up — physical controls! And in this case, some of the best buttons I’ve ever seen on a pair of headphones. Where the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM5 rely on inaccurate, irritating touch controls, the Ace opt for simpler physical controls. They’re better even than the dial button combo on the AirPods Max, and feel well thought-through and ergonomic. 

There are two buttons — one on the bottom of the left earcup which turns the headphones on and off and activates pairing mode. On the right earcup, you’ll find the second button which controls the noise control modes, and conjures your voice assistant. Then there’s what Sonos calls the ‘Content Key’ — a sliding switch thing that presses in. Up and down on the toggle change the volume, pressing once pauses the music, and pressing twice or three times skips forwards and backward respectively. All work well, and are placed in helpful, natural spots.

The noise canceling triggered by the button is fine. It’s not as good as Sony’s or Apple’s that’s for sure — but it’s going to do ok at blocking out the sound of the commute, or your busy office space. Louder sounds make their way through though, and there aren’t any hybrid modes to keep things interesting. Instead, you get ‘noise canceling on’, ‘noise canceling off’, and ‘aware mode’. The latter isn’t going to read your surroundings and decide how much canceling you need, rather it uses the microphones to pump the sound into your ears so that you can hear what’s going on around you. It’s all the same modes as the AirPods Max, but given that Sony and other brands have more noise adjustable noise canceling you would have thought Sonos would have done the same.

The Sonos also have wear detection, so they’ll pause your tunes when you pop them on and off. It works really well, and doesn’t get confused when I do my ‘someone's talking to me’ one earcup on one earcup off thing. That doesn’t turn them off mind you — you’re going to need to press and hold the power button, rather than just popping them back in the case as you might with the AirPods Max.

So far, the Sonos Max seem like a fairly run-of-the-mill pair of headphones. Battery life is similarly as expected — 30 hours of listening while noise canceling is on. That’s more than the AirPods Max, by the way, although there is a four-year difference between the two. There are headphones out there now that exceed that 30-hour promise with gusto, however, so if you’re after the best battery life possible there are other options that might fit your wants and needs better than the Sonos offering. Charging comes through a USB-C port on the bottom of the left earcup, and you can hook that port up to a headphone jack with an included (hear that Apple?) USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack. That will also up the bit rate of tunes (if it's available in your app of choice) so that you can listen to hi-res lossless audio.

There’s Spatial Audio on board as well, and it’s really, really good. It works with Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimted. My experience with the former has been nothing short of transformative — it’s generally a feature I leave off for headphones listening, but the Sonos Ace have me searching out tracks so that I can hear their Spatial Dolby Atmos mix and get the full ‘I’m in the recording studio with James Hetfield’ effect. Perhaps it's down to Sonos’ experience making surround systems for the home, but the Ace are far and away the best Spatial Audio I’ve ever experienced. You can place every instrument with pinpoint accuracy, and get immersed in the audio more than you might have thought possible. It’s epic.

Dynamic head-tracking is here as well, and while part of me says it feels like a gimmick, it is fun. It also works better than most examples I’ve used before, however, with a smooth transition around your head that’s much better than the jerky experience that tends to come with head-tracked Spatial Audio.

Now, I’d like to say that experience extends over to the home cinema portion of the headphones — but until I get to try it, I can’t say for sure. The idea is to hook the Ace up to a Sonos Arc soundbar, and then listen to all the audio from your TV through your headphones. It’s how Sonos wants’ the headphones to fit into a Sonos system, given that they aren’t able to strap a WiFi antenna and gubbins into a pair of headphones yet. Now, it seems easy to use, but again, once I’ve tried it out I’ll be able to report back properly.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Sonos’ app here as well — it’s never been perfect, but after a recent update many users complain about some features not working, and some being outright missing. Since the initial update, there have been a plethora of fixes, and I’ve been lucky enough to not suffer from the same issues as others. It’s worth noting going in, however, and reports are so widespread that it’s a ‘when I suffer from the issues’ rather than ‘will I suffer from the issues’. I should also say that you shouldn’t let the app put you off the headphones — the issues at hand have affected the speaker lines rather than the Ace so far.

Sound Quality

Now, you can have the most impressively featured headphones around, but if they don’t sound any good then they’re not going to be worth picking up. Thankfully, you needn’t worry about the Sonos Ace — they sound great. There’s a breadth to the sound that manages to dwarf the bassy WH-1000XM5, and a solid soundstage even when not using spatial audio. The mids are well-rounded and placed perfectly, and the highs are pin-sharp. It must be said that they’re a very bass-forward presenting headphone, but in the long run, you’re not going to mind as some deceptively rumbly sub-bass shakes your skull to your favorite tracks. It’s not particularly dynamic, with a fairly consistent noise ceiling that has a habit of flattening out sections of music, but that’s something you can say about most of their rivals. Overall, it’s a stellar performance that shows Sonos has put a great deal of work into how they sound.

Aespa’s Supernova hits in all right ways, that slick bass synth plowing through the mix like a freight train with grease on the tracks. It sounds huge, emphasized by the solid Spatial Audio mix. The girls are perfectly placed with the soundstage, and the synth stabs throughout are threatening and powerful. The Sonos Ace excel when given the chance to flex their bass drivers like this, giving you buckets and buckets of sub and mid-bass to really hit their point home.

Devin Townsend’s Addicted goes all the way to eleven, and the Ace are more than happy to oblige. Hevvy Devvy’s guitar tone is already known for being monstrous, but the Sonos Ace kick it up a notch and make it indomitable. The kick drum hits hard and fast, while the more delicate parts of the track don’t get lost in the cacophony. It’s 5 minutes of heavy, and the Sonos are some of the best around for the sound. 

Finally, Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra play the main theme of Howl’s Moving Castle with a Merry-go-round of life. The piano in the beginning is delicate and well-placed, and the orchestral build-up to the triumphant mid-way point is engaging and exciting. It’s fun, and while perhaps not as dynamic as some classical listeners might like, it’s a great way to listen to one of the best pieces of movie music around.

Competition

If you’re looking for a pair of headphones like the Sonos Ace, then you’ll very quickly notice that you’re spoilt for choice. For one, there are the AirPods Max, which while old, bring the sound quality, noise canceling, and top-quality build (bar the case) for $549. If you absolutely must have everything Apple, then you’re probably already popping a pair of these in your basket, the four-year date on their release schedule not bothering you and your Apple-filled house. If, however, you’re looking for something that gives you something different and even does some things better (like sound quality, case quality, and controls) for less money, then the Sonos Ace are a great alternative.

Then there’s the likes of the less expensive Sony WH1000XM5. They’re bassy headphones that won’t sound as good as the Sonos Ace, but they will block out more noise on the train or while you’re walking to work. They’re comfortable too, and they won’t hurt the ears of those with cartilage piercings. What they, lack, however, is something that only the Sonos Ace can provide.

If you own a Sonos Arc, then the Sonos Ace should almost be a no-brainer. They connect up to your sound bar, and let you listen to your movies with surround sound without the need to bother the neighbors when you want to watch Dune 2 at max volume at 3 in the morning. It’s really the killer feature of the headphones, and, by the looks of things, it’ll be coming to Sonos’ smaller soundbars later this year. Where the Sonos Ace make a compelling case musically as to why you should grab a pair over their competition, it’s really the surround sound movies and TV that really hammer home the kind of people that should be considering grabbing a pair.

You should buy the Sonos Ace if…

You own a Sonos Arc soundbar

If you buy the Sonos Ace and don’t have access to the Arc soundbar, then you’re almost getting half a product. They’re still good without the soundbar, but you’ll always feel like you’re missing out

You want the best Spatial Audio

The head-tracked Spatial Audio is some of the best around, with plenty of depth, and crucially lacking in over-processed sound as some are.

You want something different

Sonos is a newcomer to the headphone market, and with that comes a certain degree of exclusivity. They look cool, sound good, and connect effortlessly — and look different to most of the competition.

You should not buy the Sonos Ace if…

You have a piercing in your upper ear

Take it from me — it can get sore.

You want the best noise canceling around

The noise canceling isn’t rubbish, but there are better options out there if you want something that will block out every single outside noise.

Verdict

Judging the Sonos Ace completely on their own, they are an excellent pair of headphones with a great feature set that more than justifies their slightly higher price than some of their closest rivals. They’re comfortable, good-looking, and present some great sound thanks, most likely, to Sonos’ audio wizards who continue to know exactly how to dial in a piece of sound equipment.

Things become trickier when you stack them up against the competition, but even then there’s a compelling reason to pick them up — albeit one that's exclusive to current Sonos Arc users. Overall, the Ace should be on your list if you’re looking for some solid over-ear headphones, but you should consider what you find most important before taking the plunge.

Accessory maker Anker, best known for its line of mobile power banks and chargers, has recently released its newest power bank on a budget.

The Nano Power Bank is small in size but comes packed with many useful features. Released back in May, it’s part of a refresh by Anker to improve upon its power banks in regards to its environmentally-friendly design, as well as implementing the faster Qi2 charging standard.

With this Power Bank, you can shout “It’s over 9000mAh!” just like Vegeta from the Dragon Ball anime. As well as being at a great price point, the Nano Power Bank is a great fit for any backpack if you need to charge your iPhone quickly. With this in mind, I put it through its paces over the past couple of weeks to see how it held up when charging my iPhone 15 Pro Max when required.

Anker Nano Power Bank: Price and availability

Anker’s Nano Power Bank costs $39.99 / £39.99, which is great value for the amount of charge it offers. For example, if you have an iPhone 15, you can charge the phone up to 1.8 times.

You can buy the Nano Power Bank directly from Anker right now, but you can also buy it from Amazon and Walmart for the same price.

Anker Nano Power Bank: What I like

Anker’s Nano Power Bank is a great example of how big things can come in a small package. Featuring 10,000mAh of power, it can charge an iPhone 15 almost twice. With the power bank’s 30W Bi-Directional Charging, built-in USB-C cable, and additional USB-A and USB-C ports at the front, you can recharge the power bank to 50% in just 45 minutes or charge an iPhone 14 to 50% within 30 minutes. The PowerBank can also charge three devices at once, but be careful — 10,000mAh only charges your devices so much in this situation!

Using the Nano Power Bank over several weeks, I’ve found it to be very useful because of these features. I’ve been taking it out of my bag to quickly charge my iPhone 15 Pro Max while I’ve been out, as well as plugging it into my MacBook Pro to give it a small power boost.

I’m also a big fan of the Nano Power Bank’s design — it’s a curved rectangle weighing a light 7.58 oz. There’s a small screen to let you know how much charge there is left too, so you know exactly how much you have before you leave for a work commute. Its external case is also made from 80% recycled plastic, showcasing Anker’s effort to make sure the Nano Power Bank is environmentally friendly. Overall, the Power Bank feels well-made every time I hold it. It’s perfectly designed for portability, so if you’re looking for something small yet mighty, Anker’s Nano Power Bank is it.

Anker Nano Power Bank: What I don't like

There’s not a lot to dislike about the Nano PowerBank. It does exactly as promised, although there’s only one improvement I’d like to see in a future revision.

The lack of MagSafe, Apple’s method of magnetically attaching its products to accessories, feels like an obvious miss here. This addition would have allowed four devices to be charged at once — meaning an AirPods Pro case could attach through MagSafe. The size of the Power Bank allows for MagSafe, but it seems like this is something Anker purposely left out — perhaps due to pricing reasons.

Anker Nano Power Bank: Competition

There are countless power banks that you can buy right now — some are cheaper and some have a larger capacity You only need to look at our best portable battery bank guide to see the huge amount of varied products available in the category.

For example, take the UGreen 145W, 25,000mAh power bank. As this one is slightly longer than Anker’s Nano Power Bank in design, it means that there’s 15,000mAh more here to charge your devices with. It’s important to mention, however, that the price of UGreen’s power bank is $90 / £84, making it significantly more expensive compared to Anker’s power bank at $39.99 / £39.99.

For something that fits well in a bag, with a great design and enough ports to charge your iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once, we strongly recommend Anker’s Nano PowerBank if you’re looking for something easy to use to keep your devices charged.

Should you buy it?

You should buy this if…

• You crave a power bank with portability
• You need to charge more than two USB-C devices
• You’re on a budget

You shouldn't buy this if…

• You want a power bank with MagSafe
• You need a power bank that can charge your MacBook repeatedly in one charge

Verdict

The Nano PowerBank is a fantastic accessory. Despite its small design it offers a lot of useful features to keep your nearby devices charged when needed. At $39.99 / £39.99, it’s at a great price point for those who want a backup to keep in their back for those just-in-case scenarios. Granted, there’s no MagSafe, but it’s a small price to pay for what this power bank offers.

In-ear wireless earbuds are, as ever more manufacturers pump them out, a dime a dozen. To make sure that their headphones stand out, those same manufacturers have to fill them with features that are either better than what everyone else does, or something new, and unique.

The Denon PerL manage to bring all the requisite features you’d expect from some more premium headphones to a very reasonably priced pair. They’re related to the Denon PerL Pro, a pair of headphones that we happened to really like, and while they might not have some of the top-shelf features and components of the $299 Pro, the PerL are a great, cheaper option with one thing that will make you think twice before you pick something else up.

Denon PerL: Price and availability

While Denons other PerL earbuds, the PerL Pro, cost $299/£299, the PerL cost a much more reasonable $199/£189. That makes them cheaper than the AirPods Pro, and while they might not have the all-conquering noise canceling of Apple’s option, they have a secret weapon that could bring you across.

You can grab them from the Denon Store, but they’re not yet on Amazon in the United States. Potential buyers can go to the Big A in the UK, however, and you’ll find them at other major audio retailers and other big box stores like Walmart.

Denon PerL: Build and fit

The fit and finish on the PerL belies their more budget-oriented price — they’re not wholly different from the more expensive PerL Pro, albeit missing a couple of the glossy elements to set them apart. The case doesn’t creak or flex, and there’s that crucial element of ‘bag-tossability’ so that you don’t worry about throwing them into your back on the way to work.

There is just one crucial issue with the case — and that’s its shape. It’s necessitated by the shape of the buds themselves, and rather than the slim, smooth oblong that comes with something like the AirPods Pro 2, it’s a thick, chunky oval thing that opens in the top. While it fits easily into a bag, it’s trickier to stick into a pair of jeans. I found that it dug into my leg when I wore my skinny jeans, leaving a Denon PerL-shaped dent in my leg for some time after taking them out of my pocket. For jacket pockets it's ok, but if you like to put your buds in your pants pockets you might have less luck.

The buds themselves are the most interesting part of the pocket, bringing a plate-like form factor to the table. It’s the same shape as the Denon PerL Pro, bringing the more expensive design down to a lower price. It does, however, turn out to be very comfortable. See, the PerL don’t rely on the rubber bud bits themselves to stay in your ear, instead featuring a shaped piece of rubber that nestles into the folds and creases of your hearing implements. Overall, in my ears, the Perl are very comfortable, and while larger than most, they’re no more cumbersome than a pair of buds like the AirPods Pro 2.

Denon PerL: Features

The Denon PerL are packed with all the features you’d expect for the price — and one more very cool one. The core, expected active noise canceling is here, although it lacks the adaptive modes of the more expensive Pro model. It’s solid enough, and it’s almost as good as its competitors — although it falls down with the higher frequencies. Bus noises, traffic, and noisy offices are made short work of, but it's noticeable when some sounds slip through the algorithmic cracks. It can get caught up on very loud noises as well, overcompensating with some extra digital crackle. Unless you work on a construction site (where you shouldn’t be wearing noise-canceling headphones, naughty naughty), however, you’re going to be just fine.

Then there’s Denon’s ‘Fit Checker’, which helps you find out whether the buds are crammed into your ear properly. It works quickly and easily, and all you need do is make sure you’ve got the right bud bits attached and then move them around in your ear until you get a little green tick. The fit checker is found in the app, which houses the other features of the buds.

You can toggle the noise canceling on and off, play with the fit checker, check the battery level, and update the software. The app itself is speedy under the finger and well laid out — and dominated by the key feature. The Denon PerL use the same Masimo AAT (or Adaptive Acoustic Technology) as the Pro to map out the shape of your ear, and make the best sound signature for your hearing.

It works an absolute treat, although we’ll get to how it sounds later. It’s easy to use as well. Just follow the on-screen prompts, ensure that your surroundings are quiet, and then listen to the five-minute series of beeps and boops as the earbuds work out a sonic image of your ears. From there, you get a personalized, sphere-like sound profile that you can name, which in a fun addition, is named every time you turn your headphones on. My headphones welcome me back with a ‘Hello, Tammy’. For added fun, call it something funny so you can laugh every time you pop your earbuds in. ‘Commander piddlefingers’, for example.

Finally, in the app you can change what Denon calls the ‘immersion mode’. The idea is to make you feel like you’re at a concert, and so turning it up brings up the bass. It does what it says on the tin — dial up the setting, and you get more bass and warmth. Does that make it more immersive? No. Does it make it more fun? Yes. Yes it does. I love a neutral sound signature, but sometimes you just want loads and loads of the deep stuff — and the immersion dial deals out bass in spades.

Controlling the buds is fairly easy thanks to the touch controls, which are usually a bug-bear of mine. In this case, however, that plate-like design makes working out where to touch a doddle, and the fact that I can customize them makes them even more useful. Physical controls are always hard to get working on buds like these, so I’m glad that the touch controls work well. There are also wear sensors on the inside of the buds so that music plays and pauses depending on how close they are to your ears. Those aren’t a given at this price point, so it's nice to have them.

The battery life of the PerL is solid, but not exemplary. You’ll get 6 hours of life out of the buds themselves, and then an extra 18 hours of juice is housed in the charging case. Compared to the AirPods Pro 2 that’s about par for the course, but there are now some options out there that give you more battery power.

Denon PerL: Sound quality

The PerL are all about the sound quality — giving you that audio customization from the PerL Pro without the extra bits that cost more. Does it move across successfully, and will you miss the omitted lossless and spatial audio support? In a word (or three, in this case) — yes, and no. The Masimo audio processing works very well, making for a sound signature that makes your music sound excellent, and given the nature of the Bluetooth connection, you’re unlikely to miss Lossless audio. Spatial Audio will depend on your preferences, but the price-sound quality ratio here is such that it makes up for the lack of Dolby atmos inclusion.

When you look at the app once you’ve had your profile created, there are two sound options to choose from — a ‘default’ option, and your ‘personalized’ sound sphere. Now, I can’t say for certain, but it sure feels like the ‘default’ option is perhaps slightly deliberately held back so that the ‘personalized’ option sounds better, but then the personalized option sounds so good that I’m not really bothered.

While it might seem a little warmer than some of the competition, there’s an accuracy and smoothness to proceedings that make the PerL some of the best-sounding earbuds for the price. The PerL Pro have some very stiff competition to go up against, meaning their excellent audio has to have more scrutiny, while the PerL have a different bracket to go up against — and the personalized audio makes them sound better than most, if not perhaps all, of their similarly priced shelf mates.

Drum beats are crisp, bass lines pulsate, and guitars groove. Vocals are well-shaped and accurate, while the sub-bass is thick and heavy. It’s great. At this price, there really aren’t any complaints you might have.

Alfa Mist’s jazzy errors is light and effervescent, the piano dancing around the plucked guitar. The drums lay a solid base for the rest of the ensemble, and the bass prances through the mix. Stereo separation is very good for a pair of in-ears, and soundstage places the band around you. It’s not as good as a pair of over-ears or Spatial audio, but it’s a darn sight better than you might expect.

Dark Fortress’s Satan Bled is generally a tricky track for buds, as the guitars blast over pummeling drums and heavy bass — but the PerL don’t miss a beat. Cymbals, usually lost, are pin sharp and accurate, while the chainsaw guitars are menacing and impenetrable. Crushing, threatening, and dark — just how we like it.

Denon PerL: Competition

There are loads of options out there at this price point, but none offer the same list of features as the PerL. The AirPods 3 cost around $10 less, but omit noise canceling and don’t have the fancy audio personalization you’ll find here. They do, however, offer Spatial Audio, so that might tickle your fancy. The AirPods Pro 2 cost $50 more, and while they lack the Masimo AAT sound profile stuff, they do have some of the best noise canceling around. Is it worth the extra $50? If you want to make sure you can’t hear anything from the outside world, then yes, but otherwise, the superior sound of the PerL make them a better bet in our eyes.

There are also options from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser, although you’ll likely be better off looking elsewhere for this price, particularly at the Denon we’ve on hand here. The attention with those brands tends to go to their top-of-the-range products, leaving the cheaper options often floundering.

Denon PerL: Should you buy them?

You should buy them if…

• You want some of the best-sounding buds for the price
• You want some comfy buds
• You want something different to Apple’s AirPods

You shouldn’t buy them if…

• You care a lot about Spatial Audio
• You exclusively wear snug trousers

Denon PerL: Verdict

The Denon PerL bring all the best bits of the PerL Pro earbuds down to a more manageable price point. The sacrifices made to allow them to be cheaper don’t ruin the experience, and the features that make it across give the PerL a more premium feel than their price might suggest. Spatial Audio would be nice to have, and the noise canceling leaves something to be desired, but as a complete package, you won’t find much better for the price. At the end of it all, however, these are some of the best wireless earbuds around.

They take the fight to Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, and while you could never say they come out on top, they get mighty close. Denon, if you’re reading: Improve the noise canceling and work out a way of slimming down that carrying case, and you’ve a surefire recommendation over the Apple’s white buds.

If you’re in the market for a lower-cost pair of over-ear headphones with noise canceling, you’re spoilt for choice with options from all the major manufacturers like Sony and Sennheiser vying with lesser-known brands like 1More for your hard-earned cash. One brand that has traditionally served the budget end of the spectrum very well has been JLab, which has made some impressive options in recent months.

The Studio Pro ANC are designed to be the brand's top-of-the-line noise canceling over-ears, and they come in a suitably low price to make them a very compelling option if you either don’t want to spend as much as you might need for some of the more expensive options, or if you can’t. But how good are the Studio Pro ANC, and should you consider them over the competition?

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Price and availability

The Studio Pro ANC will set you back $99 from the JLab website or Best Buy, putting them squarely in the ‘not too expensive’ category. That’s less than the equivalent Sonys and Sennheisers, and arguably a better deal when you consider what JLab has managed to pack in.

For a pair of decently put-together, comfortable headphones that pack in noise canceling and transparency modes, that’s a pretty remarkable price. 

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Build and fit

The Studio Pro ANC feel well built enough, although there are a couple of spots that make me think twice before tossing them and their carrying bag into my rucksack. They are a light headset, which comes with both positives and negatives, for a start. In combination with their soft, deep earcups and large caverns for your ears, the weight makes for a very comfortable pair of headphones.

It doesn’t, however, make for a very sturdy-feeling pair of headphones. When considered with the thin, metal slider that connects the earcups to the headband, the whole package feels slightly less confidence-inspiring than you might hope. Don’t get me wrong, the plastic feels high quality and durable, and the headband feels nice on the head, but the whole package feels like it can’t take as much of a beating as an everyday pair of headphones should.

What might go some way in making them feel less stressful to cart around would be a hard-carrying case, an increasing rarity in the headphone space. Instead, you get a padded carrying bag, which the headphones can fold up and fit into. It’s fine, and will protect them from some damage during storage, but a hard case would go a long way in making me more comfortable in what I call ‘bag-tossability’.

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Features

The Studio Pro manage to pack in some solid features for the price, including on-device EQ, noise canceling, and some very solid battery life. They don’t connect to the JLab app as well, which for some is going to be a travesty in customizability, and offers a massive boon that makes them a simpler affair to use.

I stand in the former camp. I like being able to customize my headphones, yes, but I hate that so many of them need my personal details before I can start using all the features of the headphones that I’ve bought. In this case, most of the customization options are accessible on the headphones themselves, although they aren’t as in-depth as they might be if you had a connection to an app. 

First up are the three EQ modes, accessible by holding down the volume up and down buttons for 3 seconds. The first is what JLab calls SIGNATURE, and it’s a warmer signature that boosts some of the lower frequencies for that ‘bounce’ that so many listeners like in their headphones. The second is ‘BALANCED’, a signature that allows the rest of the frequency range to breathe for a more neutral sound. Finally is ‘BASS BOOST’ which does the obvious — there’s more bass. All are well implemented, and give you exactly what you want out of each. My personal favorite is the SIGNATURE sound, although your mileage may vary.

Once you’ve mucked about with those, you can press the lovely, clicky JLab button on the right earcup and cycle through the various noise-canceling modes. There are four in total: Be Aware mode, ANC high, ANC low, and ANC off. The first, Be Aware mode, is JLab’s version of transparency mode. That uses the headphones microphones to pump in noise from the outside, so you can hear what’s going on around you. It’s a little weaker than most transparency modes, but it still works well enough. Press again and you get the ANC high setting, which blocks out the most noise. It’s not the strongest of noise canceling modes, but then you’re not paying the big bucks as you might to get the best noise canceling possible. Press for a second time and you get noise canceling low, which turns the noise canceling down slightly, more suited to a quieter environment like an office or a library. Finally, there’s noise canceling off, which turns the noise canceling off completely, relying on the physical seal around your ears for noise control.

My only complaint with these modes is that the sound confirmation noises are confusing — rather than a voice telling you what each mode is, it just makes a noise and expects you to decipher what it's on about. You soon learn what each means, but it is initially befuddling.

We’ve touched briefly on one of my favorite parts of the headphones already — the physical controls. I, for one, am pleased to see more headphone makers using proper buttons on their headphones, and these are some solid physical controls that work very well. There’s a power/play/pause button, a volume up and down control, and then that noise canceling changing JLab button on the right earcup. They’re clicky to the touch, but not so clicky that they reverberate around your cranium when you press them. Nice.

There’s a 3.5mm headphone hack that you can use to connect them to a device when they run out of battery, and you can use that to bypass the internal DAC and listen to lossless music. That is one thing that’s otherwise missing — some form of lossless music would have been nice to have wirelessly, even if it's not that max bitrate available.

Finally is the battery life, which JLab puts at 43+ hours with ANC on. That’s a decent amount of battery life for a pair of noise-canceling headphones and means you’ll be able to use them for a good few days before you need to go running to the nearest power outlet. They charge over USB-C, and you’ll get a full battery after about an hour and three-quarters.

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Sound Quality

JLab has been working on the sound that its headphones can pump out, and the Studio Pro ANC manage to encapsulate all the good bits that the company has managed to sort. All my audio testing was done using Apple Music here, and in the SIGNATURE sound mode.

One thing of note is that while the sound profile isn’t particularly refined, it manages to be dynamic, giving weight to all the most important parts of a track. The highs are clear, the mids well-rounded, and the bass deep and punchy. It’s not game-changing sound, but it perfectly rounds out an already compelling package.

Take the devilish delights of Molasses Drops of Sunlight. Its throwback occult rock sounds have all the right lashings of jangle, while the twang of the guitars creeps through and provides the perfect edge. The vocals are clear and precise, and the bass guitar is easily detectable amongst the rest of the ensemble. 

Orville Peck's acoustic country stylings on No Gory in the West are picked out in solid detail, Peck's vocals stark and emphasized over the punchy acoustic guitar. As the track builds, the warmth of the second guitar comforts and welcomes, each strum rhythmic and accurately reproduced.

1991’s Full Send brings the bass, and loads of it. The synths are smooth and clear with no distortion, and the sub-bass pumps with plenty of presence. Mid-bass is a strength, giving plenty of thickness to proceedings. It’s perhaps a little limited in soundscape, but it’s a solid, bouncy club experience.

There’s no Spatial Audio support here, but the headphones make for a convincing soundstage. It’s not the widest, but stereo imaging is solid enough, separating out each instrument reasonably well. Is it like picking up a pair of range-topping noise cancelers? No, of course not — but it gets damn close, and makes that price seem a whole better than you might expect.

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Competition

There are loads of other options out there at this price, but the Studio Pro ANC outperform most of them in all areas. The 1More Sonoflow are a solid effort and comes with a great case, but the Studio Pro ANC sound better than the slightly cheaper 1More.

We recently reviewed the Marshall Major V, and while the battery life is stunning, you get better sound and some ANC for a lower price with the JLabs. Really, that should be a no-brainer: The JLab are a much better option for the price. They're easily some of the best over-ear noise-canceling headphones, that's for sure.

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Should you buy them?

JLab Studio Pro ANC: Verdict

If you’ve got $100 and you want a new pair of headphones, you’re not going to do much better than the JLab Studio Pro ANC. I like the way that they sound, the way that they look, and how they feel on my head — and you probably will too.

Just be more careful with them on account of their slightly more delicate feeling build, and you’ll have a very solid-sounding pair of headphones for not a massive financial outlay.

When I’m out and about, using my iPhone 15 Pro Max to take photos, listen to music, and find stuff with GPS, I find that my phone battery drains very quickly. While I’m at it, my Apple Watch Ultra is using its juice to track my steps, check my heart rate, and occasionally take over GPS maps duty. Battery life is at a premium when you use your phone on day trips, and it stretches even more when I’m away for the weekend.

The Belkin Boostcharge Pro has been a game changer, providing an extra top-up for both my Apple Watch and my iPhone. It ranks among the best portable battery packs for iPhone, and I highly recommend it.

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Price and availability

Price is perhaps the Achilles heel of the Boostcharge Pro, as it costs $100/£100. For any portable battery pack, that would be a lot, but given you can only really charge your iPhone and Apple Watch once with it, that’s not a massive amount of power-per-penny.

It’s a premium device, however, so it does justify its price with quality materials and the built-in Apple Watch puck — although you might want to look elsewhere if you want the most battery life possible.

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Specs and features

The first thing to note about the Boostcharge Pro is the built-in Apple Watch charging puck. It’s certainly my favorite feature about the charger — when I go away, it’s just one less cable that I have to pack. In fact, if I know I’m going away to a hotel or somewhere there’s going to be an accessible power plug at night, I only really need the battery and a single cable — the USB-C cable.

That way, I can plug the battery in to charge when my phone isn’t charging, and then use the puck to charge the Apple Watch when it needs more power. It’s great and means I can save loads of space in my luggage. You can even use the puck to charge your AirPods Pro 2 — although users of older AirPods will need to use the USB-C port.

The battery itself isn’t massive: It’s a 10,000mAh pack, which will give you a full charge of an iPhone and an Apple Watch. For me, that’s all I need over the day — and with the 3-day battery life of my Apple Watch Ultra, it acts as a useful boost rather than a full charge. It’s not the biggest capacity battery, however — there are bigger ones out there for less money. They won’t be as portable, however, and likely won’t have the charging puck.

Charging speed is good, too, with 20W for the iPhone and 7.5W for the Apple Watch. That’s a little slower than the Apple Watch charger you got with your watch, but it's plenty fast enough to top it up. You can see how much battery life is left in the charger using a little button that sits atop the charger, lighting up a series of four LEDs to show you the remaining charge.

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Build and Looks

I like the look of the Boostcharge Pro, although it’s certainly not going to win any beauty competitions. It’s simple and effective, a pill-shaped oblong covered with a soft touch coating. 

Materials on hand are good, too — the soft touch coating makes it feel more premium even though it’s made out of plastic, and there’s a reassuring heft to the whole affair. Giving a little contrast is the glossy top panel, which houses the button, LED lights, and USB charging port. The Apple Watch puck is integrated nicely as well, not sitting too far forward on the casing.

A subtle logo makes sure you know that you’ve got a quality Belkin device, and its smooth, pebble-like shape makes it easy to slip into a pocket. I have no concerns with the build — I have dropped it accidentally, and it’s come out the other side with nary a scratch in sight. It goes a little way to justifying the device's slightly higher price, setting it apart from other battery packs.

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Competition

The Anker MagGo Power bank that we reviewed also has a 10,000mAh battery, although rather than an Apple Watch charging puck, it has a MagSafe charger instead. It’s cheaper by $10, too, although it will take up more room in your pocket.

Want to make your iPhone a camera? Then, the ShiftCam SnapGrip camera grip not only adds some cool camera features to your iPhone but also acts as a kind of MagSafe battery bank. There’s no way to plug your Watch into this one, mind you, so it’s a one-trick pony in that regard. It’s also $129 — one for the camera die-hards this one.

There are also some cheaper options out there in the best portable batteries for iPhone list, although you won’t get the Apple Watch charging puck or the premium build that comes with a Belkin battery. You might get more battery power, however.

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Should you buy it?

Belkin Boostcharge Pro: Verdict

The Belkin Boostcharge Pro is an excellent portable battery bank with a cool extra feature in the form of its useful Apple Watch charging puck. It’s not cheap, mind you, although you do get a weighty, premium product for the $100 asking price. If you need some extra battery life on slightly longer trips, then the Boostcharge Pro is perfect.

If you work on a Mac, you’ve likely found your MacBook, no matter the model, lacking in ports. Even the most high-end models only have four USB-C ports, an SD-Card reader, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. On the go? That’s fine. At home, where you want to plug in your three monitors and your insane number of USB devices that still don’t follow the USB-C standard? You need more ports, my friend — and this here dock might just be the best way to get them.

The FusionDock Max 1 from iVanky (which, for purposes of my sanity and my fingers, shall from now on be typed out as the FusionDock) is almost $500 worth of metal-wrapped port glory. It’s built from the ground up for Mac and has a grand total of two Thunderbolt chips in there to really up the ante — but is it any good?

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Price and availability

The FusionDock is, without hyperbole, extremely expensive. It’ll set you back $439 if you buy one from Amazon or from the iVanky store — and while the firm says that’s a reduction, I can’t find a time when the price was higher. Having said that, iVanky places the full price at $549, so if you miss these lower prices, then you may end up paying what is half a MacBook for a dock.

While it may be an expensive piece of kit, it’s the kind of money you’re going to have to pay for the features on offer. There are plenty of different hubs and docks out there that cost you less, get you more ports, and let you hook up an external display. If you’re connecting dual 6K displays or a triple 4K setup and you’ve got five different USB hard drives filled with photos, however, then you need something more substantial — and that’s where the FusionDock comes into play.

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Specs and features

Let’s start with the sheer number of ports on board the FusionDock. Here’s a brief list:

• Five USB-A 10GBps ports
• Two HDMI 2.1 ports
• An SPDIF optical port
• Two headphone jacks
• A 2.5Gigabit Ethernet port
• Two 10GBps USB-C ports, one with Power delivery
• Four Thunderbolt ports with support for a 6K monitor up to 60Hz
• A microSD card slot
• A miniSD card slot

That’s a lot of ports, no matter how you shake a stick at it, whether those ports are fancy Thunderbolt ports or not. With its spread and variety of ports, the FusionDock sits comfortably above its competition, providing a litany of connections for the professional MacBook user.

The distribution of ports is good as well, leaving two USB-A, two USB-C, and two Thunderbolt ports accessible on the front, alongside the SD card slots and a headphone jack. The rest of the ports are hidden away behind the back, letting you keep all your permanent cables hidden.

Before we move on, however, it's worth noting compatibility. M1 and M2 users are well catered for, although M3 isn’t guaranteed to work. Unfortunately, Intel Mac or Windows users are completely out of luck, as the dock won’t work with your chipset. A shame, but as the M-series Macs work differently, it's no great surprise, and it means that the support for the current crop of Apple releases is excellent.

As for display support, it’s going to depend on the Mac that you’ve got. ivanky has a table to make it easier to work out how many displays your Mac is going to be able to support, although with the help of the DisplayLink software you will likely find you can connect more displays than you might first expect. Here’s the official multi-display support breakdown:

Whatever happens, you can connect a display up to 4K 60Hz to the HDMI port and a 6K 60Hz display up to one of the USB-C Thunderbolt ports. Also excellent with the latter connection is that it will passthrough connection to any extra accessories that might be connected or built into the monitor — my 4K USB-C based Alogic Clarity Display has a camera and extra dock built in, for example, and plugging it into the iVanky leaves all the extra features working.

Data transfer through the USB ports is excellent, quickly shifting large files. The power delivery port charged up my AirPods Pro in no time at all, and the power delivery to my MacBook over the dual USB-C cable kept my MacBook charged throughout the workday.

My favorite part about that dual connection (which is necessary because of the dual Thunderbolt chips inside the dock) is that it terminates in the MacBook end in a dual USB-C plug. It's perfectly matched to the dual USB-C ports below the power connector on a MacBook, and clips in with no issue at all. A unique solution to an interesting problem introduced by the docks internals.

Although it does raise an interesting point — it does date the cable to a particular Mac series. While the ‘perfectly sized MacBook’ cable fits now, it says nothing for future Macs — what happens if there’s a new standard? It also means that it doesn’t work with Macs like the Mac mini or the Mac Studio — for those you’ll have to opt for two separate cables instead.

Is it missing any ports? I’m going to say that unless you have a piece of ancient hardware that you still use which only has a FireWire plug or a SCSI connector, then you’re going to be very well catered for — even if you use a wired mouse and keyboard. If we’re being really picky, having a DisplayPort and support for 8K monitors would be nice — although that might make that lofty price even higher.

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Build and looks

Whip it out of the box, and you’ll immediately notice the heft of the FusionDock. It’s made out of an aluminum shell, and feels cold, heavy, and metallic in hand. Beyond the quality of the port selection, it goes some way in justifying its high price tag while keeping it pretty well planted on your desk when you go to plug something in.

The dock can be oriented horizontally or vertically, although if you’ve got the space, then I’d recommend laying it down flat. A vertical dock has a habit of tipping over when you reach over to plug things in, no matter how heavy it may be, and the FusionDock is no different.

I like the look of the dock as well, considering it's supposed to be something that you plonk on your desk, connect up, and then forget about. It’s got a wicked floating look thanks to its stand, which not only makes it look cool but also keeps it cool. In fact, where previous docks I’ve used have gotten pretty hot during use with all my peripherals connected, this one stays much cooler to the touch.

Bear in mind, however, that you’ll need space for a beefy power brick. Where some docks I’ve used in the past have been powered by a USB-C connector, this one has a more traditional barrel plug connector — and a suitably enormous brick. Just make sure you’ve got some space to put it either on or under your desk.

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Competition

The iVanky sits in a busy sector, but as a Mac-exclusive docking station, it serves a very slim niche very well. There are alternatives we’ve looked at, such as the Ugreen 8K docking station, which pumps out a slightly higher video signal, but it has nowhere near the number of ports.

There are docks made for other Macs as well, including the Satechi USB-C Slim Dock for iMac . It’s cheaper and has fewer ports, but for just getting a couple more USB inputs, it's a great option. This is easily the best dock for MacBook Pro, with a multitude of ports and some MacBook Pro exclusive features as well.

You needn’t spend as much as you will for the FusionDock to get more ports — but if you want as many as possible and multi-monitor support, this is the way to go.

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Should you buy it?

iVanky FusionDock Max 1: Verdict

The iVanky FusionDock is an absolute monster that will please any creative that uses a MacBook at their desk. Massive multi-monitor support, a barrage of USB ports, and some extras like a SPDIF port and a pair of 3.5mm jacks. There’s not much more you could want out of a dock, and considering it’s all wrapped up in a premium metal shell just seals the deal.

No, it’s not cheap, and if you just need a couple of extra USB ports and an HDMI port, then you’ve got a million options — for the more discerning user, however, the FusionDock is a triumph.

According to Apple, 5K is the optimum way to view the content that you create on a Mac. To that end, the Apple Studio display is a 27-inch 5K giant made out of aluminum and glass. Aiming to take your eyes off the Apple prize, premium accessory maker Alogic released the Clarity Pro Touch monitor series last year, with touch screen and webcam options built in — at drastically lower prices than the otherwise expensive Apple options.

Sure, it isn’t 5K, but the 4K panel is nonetheless an excellent display for anyone looking for an incredible Mac experience and one of our favorite monitors of the year. Now, Alogic has done something that Apple has yet to do with its cheaper monitor: Make it bigger.

The Clarity Max Touch (nice naming convention there) is a 32-inch variant of the Clarity Pro and touch models, packing in similar specs with a whole new screen size. If you’ve been looking at the Clarity Pro Touch for some time but want something bigger, then this might just be the big Apple Studio display alternative you’ve been waiting for.

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Price and availability

First, we’ll need to go over the options that you can get with the monitor, and tell you how much each one costs. First, at the bottom of the pile, is the Clarity Max. This model comes equipped with a 32–inch 4K display and a built-in dock with 65W power delivery. That’ll set you back $999/£999 — an excellent price, and if you don’t need a webcam or a touch screen, then this is the option you should go for.

Second up is the Clarity Max Pro, which adds in an 8MP webcam for those all-important modern-day work-life video calls. That hikes the price up to $1199, which is an expensive webcam. It does rise out of the monitor though, which is a cool party trick.

Finally, the Clarity Max Touch adds another $200 to the price and brings a touch panel to the 32-inch 4K display. It is a very nice addition, but it’ll be up to the end user to decide whether it's worth it.

You can grab a Clarity Max monitor directly from Alogic currently, although the Clarity 27-inch series all became available on Amazon very quickly after release, so expect that with the new models as well.

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Build

Just like the Clarity series that came before it, the build is excellent. While not metal like the Apple displays, the silver plastic on the rear of the monitor is solid, premium feeling, and suits the idea of ‘creative work space’ well. I like the cooling vents on the back which echo the design of the Apple monitors, and I appreciate that this isn’t just another ‘black monitor that blends into your desk.’

The sides of the monitor are black and also made of plastic, but again feel sturdy. As for the glass panel on the front, it’s a wonderful, clear piece of glass, with very little space between the display and the glass surface above. There is going to be a little more space there than there might be on a non-touch model, but it doesn’t make a difference to color reproduction or clarity of image.

The stand is also excellent, and very similar to that found on the Clarity 27-inch series. It’s mostly metal with a plastic covering, and clicking the monitor into place is an absolute doddle. Adjusting that stand is super easy as well, with very little effort required to angle the monitor just right. One thing to be aware of, however, is that the base place takes up a hefty amount of space — while that makes it super solid in place, it also makes it slightly unwieldy on some smaller surfaces.

There is only one place that I might be a little concerned about — and that is the pop-up webcam. At the moment, the webcam doesn’t seem to want to go down, and I’m concerned about the longevity of the mechanism. The webcam on the 27-inch Clarity Pro Touch that I use has started whirring more heavily through use, so I’m hoping this one stays quieter over the course of its life. Out of the box, it is quiet, however, and I’ve reached out to Alogic to see if the camera sticking around when it’s no longer needed is deliberate or a software bug.

(A quick note! Alogic is aware of the issue, and a fix is coming for the end of release week — this review will be updated to reflect the change and the update)

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Features

The Alogic Clarity Max Touch is packed to the brim with some extremely useful features. Starting at that aforementioned webcam — it's another great piece of monitor-bound optics. Image quality is good, and it’s easy to make sure that you’re directly in the eyeline of the camera thanks to a little scroll wheel in the back which adjusts the height of the camera slightly. It pops up when you need it, and descends when it’s not needed anymore. (At least it should — mine sticks around when it’s no longer needed).

The touchscreen is another great feature, albeit one you have to spend a lot more of your money on than you do for the standard model. It’s a reactive screen, accurate, and easy to use — if you use the UPDD software that you can find on the Alogic website. That makes the touchscreen function how would normally expect a touchscreen to work, unlike some that feel like giant trackpads with a screen behind them. I like it — but as with the previous model, I’m not sure I’ll use it much. For those looking for a great way to pan around a project in an app like Adobe Premiere, however, it’s a great addition to the dish.

Interestingly, however, I found the touch screen most useful for browsing the OSD when playing with the settings. I didn’t have to muck about with tiny buttons on the bottom, trying to remember which one does what — I just tapped the options on the screen, and the things that I wanted to happen just kind of happened. It’s great, and in a way makes the touch screen a more interesting proposition than it might have already been.

The common feature among all the different options is the dock at the back of the monitor, where you’ll find a couple of USB ports and a USB-C 65W power port to charge your MacBook while it's plugged in. That port carries a display signal as well, so you’ll only need one cable plugged in for the whole thing to work as a unit. You can use the HDMI ports and Display port as well to daisy chain everything together, keeping everything clean and wire-free, which is always a bonus, and the USB ports on the back are great for peripherals like keyboards, mice, and even extra storage. I had no problem with the ports, and the USB-C input worked the moment I plugged my MacBook Pro in.

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Display quality

The display on the 27-inch Clarity monitors was excellent, and this is no different — it’s just bigger. That means great color reproduction and clarity beyond most other monitors at this price point.

HDR support is a nice addition and looks great when properly dialed in. It’s a great display and matches up very well if you’re looking for a monitor that’s great for creative use without spending several thousand dollars on something from the likes of LG or Apple.

The size here is the main boon — and only once you’ve used a 32-inch monitor do you come to realize how nice it is to have loads of extra screen real estate. It’s good for media consumption as well, making all your favorite movies and TV shows look incredible. The only thing that it’s not quite as good for is gaming. Its 60Hz refresh rate is good and makes browsing your Mac smooth and buttery, but for gamers, it might not be quite enough. Something worth keeping in mind.

One last thing about the display on the front — Alogic calls it ‘edge to edge’. It’s, like, not. The bezels are hefty, leaving a large amount of dead space around the screen — I love the way the front looks, I don’t mind the bezels, but don’t call them small. They’re not, and they’re certainly not ‘edge to edge’ slim.

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Competition

It’s not really competing with the Alogic Clarity 27-inch monitors, but it’s an addition to the line that sits in a slightly different market space. Arguably, it’s not entirely a competitor to the Apple Studio display, given how much bigger it is, but you’ll still likely be looking at the two side by side.

There are other 32-inch creative monitors out there, such as the BenQ PD3220U, a large, colorful monitor that comes in at a similar price. It doesn’t have the useful dock, however, or the option of a touchscreen. There are Dell options at a similar price and spec, but again, missing that touchscreen. If you want a large touchscreen, this is one of your only options — buyers looking for a non-touchscreen model, however, are spoilt for choice. The Clarity Max should be one of those at the top of your list.

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Should you buy one?

Alogic Clarity Max Touch: Verdict

The Alogic Clarity Max Touch is an excellent monitor. It looks amazing, the screen is fabulous, and its extra features make it well worth looking at when you compare it to other options out there.

Until we learn more about the camera being stuck in its up position, however, it will lose half a star — with any luck, yours won’t have the issue, but mine did, and I must score accordingly. 

Overall, however, I really like the Clarity Max Touch, and if you’re looking for a large 4K monitor with some extra quality-of-life improvements then this might be just what you’re looking for.

My first practice guitar practice amp was a Marshall. It had the gold trim, the leather-like outer skin, and the bronzed knobs. It sat front and center in my bedroom, plugged into a guitar that was shaped like a battleaxe, Its shimmering surface glinting in the sun. It was, for some time, my pride and joy — I have the softest spot of Marshall gear.

So you can imagine, when I got to try out some of Marshall's coolest tech, I was excited. One of the products I’ve been testing is the new Marshall Motif II, a pair of in-ear buds directly targeted at Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 with a similar feature set, form factor, and, crucially, a lower price.

But will they appeal to anyone but the rock-inclined of us?

Marshall Motif II: Price and availability

You can get the Marshall Motif II from most good retailers, such as Amazon and Best Buy. Stock seems good for the most part as well, with no supply issues as yet. The Marshall website also has them for sale, if you’d rather go straight to the source.

Price-wise, they come in under the AirPods Pro 2 at $199/£179. That is a very tempting price point, especially when you get them in hand.

Marshall Motif II: Build and fit

The Marshall Motif II have a case that’s about as close to the AirPods Pro 2 that you’ll find, apart from the material that’s used to make it. It’s that same smooth, oblong, albeit with a little inflation in all dimensions. That is, in my eyes, a very good thing — it slips into pockets without sticking out or jutting into your leg, and makes for a very nice feeling case in hand. It’s all covered with a kind of leather-feel coating, made to emulate the surface on Marshall amps. It’s got a nice bounce to it, a kind of softness, and it feels great in hand.

The buds themselves are small, black, and they look like more angular verisons of the AirPods. They are a little bigger than Apple’s buds, but the tip options mean that they slip very easily into the ear, and don’t fall out — even with the most rigorous of headbanging. They also feel premium. I really like the knurled stems that serve no practical purpose other than making them easier to take in and out, and I like the little ‘M’ on each bud.

They look more interesting than your standard buds as a result, and really stand out in a lineup when compared to the competition — just as you’d hope something from one of the biggest rock brands on the planet would.

Marshall Motif II: Features

There are the standard specs — 30 hours of battery life in total, 6 hours in each bud, wireless charging for the case, a quick charge option that gives you an hour of life with a quick 10-minute charge. You know, the usual. Those battery life claims in my experience have been accurate, and they’re pretty much par for the course compared to the competition. Turn ANC off, however, and that battery life jumps up to 9 hours, which is pretty stellar.

That ANC is better than you might expect, but just falls a little short of the AirPods Pro 2, the continued iMore noise canceling champion. They’re very good at blocking out the lower frequencies, but could be better at dealing with the higher: Things like voices still come through more than you might like. Play music on the bus, however, and you’ll not hear much of the outside world.

That ANC can be turned on and off with touch controls on the side of the buds, and while I’m not completely convinced, they are better than some. You can customize the long press which turns off noise canceling by default, and then there are other various combinations of taps to skip, play, and pause. Personally, I’d like to see a way to control the volume and change the noise canceling status, but that is not an option — it’s either or, unfortunately.

I’m not completely convinced by them because I still get loads of accidental taps when I adjust them in my ear. They’re better than some, but it’s a little irritating to adjust one only to pause the track, or turn noise cancelling on and off.

Those controls can be played around with in the Marshall Bluetooth app, which works well. There are sound profile options in here if you don’t like the way they come out of the box, as well as controls to adjust the strength of the noise canceling. You can also turn on the transparency mode, another new feature for the Motif II.

It works well too, using the microphones to pump the outside world into your headphones when needed — although it won’t do it automatically as some do. I have it set to change with a long press on the touch panel, switching between ANC and transparency, which seems to work well enough.

Marshall Motif II: Sound quality

The Motif II have an interesting sound signature, and one that’s not completely expected from Marshall. There’s the characteristic mid-range boost for vocals and guitars, but most of the warmth of the profile comes from an enhanced upper bass layer. Sub bass is present, but not overpowering, and the highs are more pronounced than you might expect from a Marshall product.

That means a sound profile that works best, as always for rock and metal, but one that also now excels for jazz and Classical music as well. For drum & bass, however, and other more sub-bass heavy arrangements, they’re not quite as strong. It’s a more colored sound signature than the likes of the AirPods Pro 2, but one that might be more pleasing for more people.

The rip-roaring Heartbreaker from Led Zepplin solidifies the Marshall Motif II as some seriously impressive rock buds, leading the charge with some wicked overdriven guitar. The cymbals sound great thanks to that reliance on the upper-register, and the rest of the kit is well represented by the rest of the signature. The guitar solo is, as you’d hope, a highlight here, with plenty of bite and presence to the screeching guitar. 

Kendrick Lamar’s Swimming Pools does the opposite, and highlights some of the weaknesses of the sound signature. The bass doesn’t quite hit as well as you might hope, and the digital hi-hats are piercing and uncomfortable. It feels a little hollow all in, and while not horrific, it’s not particularly special.

Back to something good, however, and you’ll find the Marshalls truly at their strongest. Weirdly, something as unapproachable and lo-fi as extreme metal is a great way to get the best out of them, with Mayhem’s Freezing Moon as furious and off-putting as it should be. The guitars are cold, exacting, and emphasised by the upper-mid bias, while the drums are given a keen edge by the rest of the signature. It’s a great listen, and shows just how much a headphones performance can vary.

Marshall Motif II: Competition

There is a fair amount of competition for the Marshall Motif II. There’s Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, which bring better noise canceling and slightly superior sound for an increased cost. They are smaller as well, if you’ve got really small pockets. Some might also find the less intrusive fit of the AirPods to be superior as well, although your mileage may vary.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 are another option for the discerning listener, although we have yet to test them. Reviews around are good, however, but you’ll find that they cost a great deal more than the Marshalls at $299. Noise-canceling, most notably, will be the key difference here.

In the long run, however, if you’re looking for a pair of earbuds that are going to be at their best playing rock and metal, then you’re not going to find anything with the panache and fun of the Motif II.

Marshall Motif II: Should you buy these?

You should buy these if…

• You're a big listener to rock and metal
• You want some buds that look different
• You don't want AirPods

You shouldn't buy these if…

• You like Rap or bass-heavy tunes
• You want excellent noise canceling
• You want something simple looking

Marshall Motif II: Verdict

I’ve come to love the Marshall Motif II in my testing time. I like the way they look, I like the way they sound, and I like the price point that they sit at. I do wonder if Marshall could have done more in terms of the noise-canceling performance, but then I play some of my favorite death metal, and my complaints melt away into a mire of roared vocals and heavily distorted guitars.

That’s not to say there’s nothing here for the fans of other genres — they’re built well, most music sounds good, and they look pretty cool with their fun-knurled stems. There is only one color option, however. “It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none.” 

“None more black.”

You want to know what's fun about testing headphones? Beyond the part where you, you know. Use lots of headphones. It’s seeing different companies' design perspectives, and what they view as the most important part of the headphone experience. This is perhaps at its most interesting when you look at the most expensive Bluetooth headphones that you can buy – how do companies justify your, on occasion, close to $1000 purchase?

Perhaps it's best to think of these things like expensive cars. On the one hand, you’ve got companies that want to make the most luxurious cars possible. Exotic materials, rich leathers, and sumptuous carpeting. The likes of Master & Dynamic and Bang & Olufsen might fit into this bracket – otherworldy headphones that would fit into the runway at a fashion show. They look and feel good, but they don’t perhaps sound as good as other options. Like many a luxury car, they put looks, feel, and comfort in front of raw performance. The Rolls Royces of the headphone world.

Then you’ve got the sports car and supercar manufacturers – the Porsches and the Ferraris. Companies that want to make their headphones still luxurious, but might forgo the same amount of leather and metal so that they can pack them full of performance. The Bathys, from French audio gurus Focal, are just this kind of headphone – and they’re pretty special.

Focal Bathys: Price and availability

The Focal Bathys are not cheap – even remotely. They’re not the most expensive Bluetooth headphones that you can buy, but they are treacherously close. A pair of the French monsters will set you back $799/£699, which is obviously a lot of money.

Now, whether they’re worth that to you is entirely up to your sensibilities – but if you’re looking for some incredible Bluetooth headphones, then these are the way to go.

As for where you can get them, you’ll be looking at Amazon or a dedicated HiFi store. That is a little restrictive perhaps, but what's worth searching for is often worth buying.

Focal Bathys: What I liked

Let’s start from the moment you pull them out of the box. The hard case they come with is amongst the best in the game – it has a cool, mottled pattern on it, and it’s thin enough that I’m confident it will fit into most backpacks. Crucially, it's much better than the suede, microfibre-lined thing that comes with the AirPods Max. It’s thinner than its competition as well, like the hard case that comes with the Master & Dynamic MW75, so it’s a little more portable. Inside, the top is a section for the cables that come in the box – a USB C to USB C cable, and a 3.5mm headphone cable for plugging it into a separate DAC. Below, the headphones sit nestled safely, the earcups swiveled around so that they fit perfectly.

Taking a closer look at the headphones, they are a work of art. I’ve always glanced at Focals overhead headphones with jealous eyes, their mad French design a key highlight and subject to much of my envy. It’s the pattern of dots and circles that surround the center of each cup that does it for me, and then the glowing Focal logo in the middle seals the deal. The headband is a mixture of velvety soft leather and smoother leather across the top, all padded to make them more comfortable.

Back to the earcups, and the earpads themselves elevate the comfort to ‘all day wear levels’. They’re soft, covered with leather, and the memory foam within is equal parts squishy as it is firm, keeping them planted over your ears. I’ve taken to wearing them all day while I work, and the considerable weight of the headphones soon melts away.

The good stuff continues – physical controls. Oh, how I love physical controls. No messing around with a touch panel, worrying that you’re going to get something a little wrong and end up deafening yourself with a sudden volume increase or annoying accidental track skip. Just buttons and switches. They are all easy to locate, if a little small, and click satisfyingly when pressed. Lovely.

Once they’re turned on and connected to your devices, you can play with the app – and a solid app it is too. It’s not quite as in-depth as perhaps Sony’s app is, but it gives you noise canceling options, sound profile, and equalization options, and will even tell you the tech (such as APTx) that’s being used to stream your tunes. Nice for the nerds out there. Like me.

Once you’ve finished mucking about there, you can finally get to listening to some music, and you’ll be very glad that you did. Spinning up Focus’s Sylvia, and you’re transported back to the seventies when flares and jazz-fusion guitar solos were played by Dutch madmen. They invite you to turn the volume up – not because they’re too quiet, but just because they want to give you more. More of everything – there’s some truly incredible bass extension here, and lovely, thick mids covering all the right bases in the three-and-a-half minutes of Jan Akkerman’s addictive guitar noodling. There’s perhaps a little detail missing in the hi-hats and the top ranges, but at that point you’re nitpicking. These are super dynamic headphones, with plenty of ‘get up and go’.

Switch over to something with even more bounce and you’ll find them equally as engaging. You can hardly call Disturbed’s Down with the Sickness a HiFi track, but the Bathys relish the opportunity to get you to headbang. The distorted guitars are every bit as crispy and crunchy as you might want, with plenty of separation from the rest of the ensemble. The kick drum pummels you in just the right way, and there’s a rumble that gets you moving unlike much else. Focal has transferred its expertise in making some truly spectacular wired headphones to the wireless space – and we’re the sole benefactor. OO AHAHAHAH.

Finally, giving them the opportunity to wind down rewards you with something special – an incredible soundstage for close-backed headphones. Sarah Vaughan at Mr. Kelly’s stage jazz club version of Willow Weep for Me is an all-time great, and the Bathys do a spectacular job of placing all the instruments around Vaughan. It’s like being at Mr. Kelly’s, part of the audience – except you’re sat directly in front of the stage. Vaughan’s crystal voice layers perfectly over the rest of the ensemble, with clarity in spades and wonderful control. They are just as good at laid-back as they are at ridiculous 90’s Nu-Metal nonsense, and that is a lot of fun.

To give the last track more of a chance I plugged the headphones into my Hi-Res audio player, and turned on the DAC mode. Accessible with a small switch on the right earcup, the DAC mode uses an internal USB digital-to-audio converter to play music up to 24bit/192Khz, and does so with aplomb. There’s a little more detail and a little more dynamism. As an all-in-one package for the traveling audiophile, these are the only option.

Focal Bathys: What I don’t like

You know, what I don’t like feels a little disingenuous with the Focal Bathys – because I like pretty much everything. Perhaps the only thing of note is the noise-canceling performance, and even the worst you could say of it is that there are perhaps one or two headphones that do it better. Will it block out an AC unit in the office, and some traffic on a busy street? Absolutely. Will they do it as well as AirPods Max or the current class leader, the Sony WH-1000XM5? No, they won’t. And while that might make the $799 price tag sting for just a second, you’ll slip them back on and be transported to the world of the music that you’re listening to and forget all about it. And honestly, with headphones, that’s probably the most important thing.

Focal Bathys: Competition

There are perhaps more competitors to the luxury headphone crown than ever now. The Bang & Olufsen H95, which feel and look like a Rolls Royce (didn’t think I’d forget the car thing did you?) are around the same price, and while perhaps more luxurious feeling, they aren’t as sonically proficient. The Apple AirPods Max lose it in every way other than noise canceling, but they cost substantially less (which isn’t something I ever saw myself typing, but there we go), and the Master & Dynamic MW75 bring the luxury and a slightly reduced price tag but lack the DAC mode and sound quality.

Really, overall, it depends on what you want in a pair of over-ears. If you want the best-sounding Bluetooth headphones, you may well have just found them.

Focal Bathys: Should you buy these?

You should buy these if:

• You want the best-sounding Bluetooth headphones
• You want something that looks different
• You’re going to be plugging them in, like, ever

You shouldn’t buy these if:

• You want class-leading noise canceling

Focal Bathys: Verdict

Beyond the slightly subdued noise canceling performance (which I need to reiterate is good – but there are better), the Focal Bathys are almost perfect. They’re incredibly comfortable, they look and feel great, and they sound phenomenal. While expensive, I don’t think you can hold the price against them – considering the amount of performance you get here.

Small in-ear Bluetooth wireless headphones are roughly a dime a dozen at the moment, with approximately 1,600,456 different varieties available when you do a quick Amazon search. As with most audio gear, while there are some surprise hits from companies you’ve never heard of, you’re often most likely to find the top-quality stuff from the big established names. The Sony Linkbuds S are one such pair of headphones — a pair of tiny little in-ears with noise canceling.

They’re not quite as impressive as their bigger sibling, the Sony WF1000-XM4, however, they still have their own feature set that might drag your eyes away from the more expensive AirPods Pro 2. But do they stack up? Are those features worth the asking price? How do they go compared to their competitors? Let's find out.

Sony Linkbuds S: Price and availability

When they’re full price, you can nab a pair of the Sony Linkbuds S for around $200. You can go to pretty much any big box retailer to get yourself a pair, although our preferred place would be Amazon, where they are frequently discounted.

There is currently a $70 discount at the moment, making the little buds $128. That's a pretty special price for some accomplished little earbuds.

They’re available in three different colors: Black, White, Blue, and the Ecru that is reviewed here. While I got to play with the Ecru, it was the blue that really caught my eye. It’s not a color you often see represented in earbuds.

Sony LinkBuds S: What I liked

So when I popped them out of the box, I was instantly surprised by their size. They are tiny. They’re smaller than any pair of AirPods I can think of and are fairly comparable to the equally tiny Beats Studio Buds. Considering there’s an entire touch capacitive touch panel, a battery, Bluetooth guts, driver, and a proximity sensor, it’s almost like black magic how Sony has managed to pack everything in.

Also fairly small is the charging case. It’s a little wider than some others, including the AirPods Pro and the Beats studio buds. It’s still small enough to fit into a Skinny jean pocket, however, which is all that really matters to me. The buds click into the top to charge kept in place, as always with some magnets. Those magnets are strong and keep the buds nicely in place. It's a relatively nice case that gives reasonable battery life as well.

You’ll get 6 hours from the buds alone (plenty for a decent-length train journey) and then an extra 14 hours from the carry case. This is decent, but not spectacular. The AirPods Pro 2, for example, provide roughly 10 additional hours in the case, and Sony’s own WF-1000XM4 give you a total of 24 hours of battery life. In the long run, the battery life of the Sony LinkBuds S is pretty good, however. In my testing, I found that real-world numbers are fairly similar to those claimed by Sony, and I never found myself wanting for extra.

One of my favorite parts of these buds is their environmental credentials. They’re made of recycled plastic, and it lends a really nice texture to the buds and the charging case. It also makes me feel a little bit better about using them, given I know that less new plastic was used in their construction.

The sound is acceptable here. They are best described as ‘analytical’ rather than ‘fun’ or 'dynamic’, with a strong focus on higher frequencies. Those highs are clear and precise, making them a very vocal forward headphone. Bass is present and smooth, and the mids are accounted for and pleasing to the ear. There is lots of detail here — listening to Behemoth’s ‘Off to War’ and you’ll hear every element of the band working towards the onslaught of sound. It doesn’t get the blood pumping like it perhaps should, but it’s an interesting way to listen to tracks you might be familiar with.

Dua Lipa was a particularly strong point with the LinkBuds S, with tracks like ‘Levitating’ fitting well with the headphones tuning. Again, some dynamism was lost to the focus on the higher register, but Lipa’s dulcet tones come through to the forefront with uncommon smoothness. The disco bassline was well represented, again analytical, adding up not to a perfect listening experience but a pleasing one.

Sony LinkBuds S: What I didn’t like

So that environmentally conscious design decision I liked, it’s not all good. That case doesn’t feel particularly sturdy, with a weak hinge and some give to the plastic. The texture is nice, but it doesn’t feel durable. Considering I’m often tossing these little guys into a bag or my pocket, I’d like them to feel a little better built.

The touch controls also leave a lot to be desired. They’re clumsy, irritating, and I leave them off. When I go to adjust my headphones, I don’t want to activate and deactivate noise canceling thirteen times. That leaves me to change tracks, volume, and noise-canceling activation on my phone, which feels slightly like a step back.

Especially because some of those functions have to be done on Sony’s ‘headphones’ app. It’s not the worst app in the world, but it is definitely not the best. Finding functions can be tricky, given that things like noise-canceling are called ‘ambient noise control’. Everything is there and you’ll soon get used to it, but it’s still a bugbear of mine. Connecting to the app can also be a pain, as it refuses to admit that the headphones are connected via Bluetooth. Given the app has been around for years now, you’d expect it to be a more solid experience.

Unfortunately, while there are lots of positives about the sound quality, it’s just not quite up to snuff. While clear and precise, they lack a certain amount of bounce. Listening to Kendrick Lamar's ‘Humble’, the dynamic mixing becomes lost in a tonal flatness that pervades music that's supposed to be fun. Lamar’s rapping is as clever and sharp as ever, but the feeling is lost to otherwise very boring sound reproduction. Similarly, jump on over to BlackPink’s ‘Shut Down’ and the Girls sound bored rather than intimidating, the playful bravado diluted to the point of not being present at all.

Sibilance is also a problem with the LinkBuds S, and it comes from their over-reliance on the upper register. Esses and Ts often have too much emphasis, making longer listening sessions fatiguing. This lends a thinness to the sound as well, and really takes away from the overall experience of the buds. Where they try too hard to be more analytical and detailed they become a much less fun listen than their competitors like the AirPods or the Beats Studio Buds.

Are the SonyLink Buds S bad? No, not all — but they are disappointing.

Sony LinkBuds S: Should you buy them?

You should buy the LinkBuds S if you:

• Want some tiny, tiny earbuds
• You want to be friendly to the environment
• You don’t want warm-sounding headphones

You shouldn’t buy the LinkBuds S if you:

• Want an easy listening experience
• Don’t like touch controls

Sony LinkBuds S: Wrapping up

There is a lot to like with the Sony LinkBuds S. They are small, with good battery life and some really funky colors. Those environmental credentials are also a cool extra, making them a little more guilt-free compared to those they might share a shelf with. The biggest thing that might tempt you over at the moment is the price. They are less than the AirPods Pro 2 and the Sony WF-1000XM4 and offer roughly the same kind of features.

What you won’t get here, however, is particularly stellar sound quality. They are detailed, yes, although they can be fatiguing in the long run. Sound is not the reason to pick these up. Neither is build quality. I’m not super impressed with the feel of the case, and the package doesn’t feel like it will last very long. I would love to be proved wrong, but initial feeling doesn’t fill me with confidence.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend you try these little headphones. They’re not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren’t as good even as earbuds that cost almost $50 less. Look instead at the Beats Studio Buds, or spend a little more on the Sony WF-1000XM4.

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• Arrow Season 3
• The Flash Season 1
• Gotham Season 1
• Agents of SHIELD Season 2

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• Dan Moren of Dan Shot First
• Jay Torres of J Torres Comics
• Dave Wiskus of Better Elevation
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• Doctor Who s08e02-04 - iTunes | Amazon

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Support the TV Show: Go to fractureme.com to get your photos printed in vivid color, directly on glass. Order with Need and then send an email to hello@neededition.com with the subject-line, "No Spoilers." to get a bunch of extras thrown in!

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• 0:00:00 - 24: Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m - iTunes | Amazon | Google Play
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The TV Show is like app or game reviews for television episodes. Whether you're watching on the console in your living room or streaming to your phone or tablet, follow along for the week of TV that was. On this episode Dave and Rene talk about presidential bait and switches on 24 and the dive into the full 4 episode run of the BBC's Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond.

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The TV Show is like app or game reviews for television episodes. Whether you're watching in your living room or streaming to your phone and tablet, follow along for the week of TV that was. On this episode special guest Guy English joins Dave and Rene to talk about the Mad Men mid-season finale. Also 24 a bunch of cross-references, and season 3 of Sherlock!

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• 24 - iTunes | Amazon | Google Play | Xbox Video{.nofollow} | BlackBerry World
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Our names are Don, Matt, Guy, and Rene. This is the Princess Bride. Prepare for podcast! Inconceivably, this is the one where we give you our words as Spaniards that we talk all about Rob Reiner’s classic storybook story. (Only not left handed.)

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• The Princess Bride on iTunes
• The Princess Bride on iBooks
• The Princess Bride on Kindle
• The Princess Bride on Blu-Ray

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• Don Melton of Don Melton
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