Harman Kardon SB 16 is a sound bar having excellent sound quality. The design is much better than other sound bars in the market and it made a really good impression when I first saw it in my labs. This device has controls on the unit itself; there are buttons for switching the source, volume control and power. This means that if you have lost the remote control, you can still use the sound bar. There aren’t any calibration setting requirements here but you do get adjustments for sound tuning. There is a ‘Trim’ switch which sets input sensitivity in 3 steps. Out of the box, the system comes with Trim at ‘1’ and the sound wasn’t loud enough even when the volume was maxed out. The maximum limit was increased when I switched to the second Trim. The sound bar also comes with ‘Wall-Table’ EQ which tunes the tonal balance of the speaker for table or wall mounting. On the rear panel, the Harman Kardon SB 16  [...]

I am here blogging about three very popular FireWire external hard drive that I came across on the internet. The first one is the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Pro which has a storage space of 500 GB and is really inexpensive as compared to rivals in the competition. There is something called interchangeable ‘personality cables’ which add to the speed and versatility. This drive works with both Windows OS and Mac and the manufacturer gives it a three year warranty. My only gripe was about the warranty which is less than the five year period that other FreeAgent drives offer. There is also back up software included with the drive. Other external hard drive devices offer you a menu of preset ports but with the GoFlex Pro, the manufacturers has decided to cut down the cost by offering ‘personality cables’.  Through this, you can only purchase the connections that you really need for the system profile. I also must applaud Seagate for  [...]

I have had tons of Bluetooth headsets in my labs and now they all have started to look the same. However, there is an exception once in a blue moon. For instance, I got the Plantronics Discovery 975 last year which had great audio quality and there was also the Aliph Jawbone Prime with awesome design. Aliph has been making a lot of research for making good quality Bluetooth headsets and hence this is my favorite Bluetooth headset company. I hold this company with high regards and this time, it looks like the Aliph has surpassed itself. Aliph Jawbone Icon that I got in my labs has plenty of designs to choose from and it looks like a museum piece. Also, it is the first Bluetooth headset to have operating system built-in. You can program the internal chip to give a richer experience than other Bluetooth headsets. For instance, there is a visual battery meter next to the one in your iPhone. That’s not all, this is the first Bluetooth headset I have ever seen to have Dial or Audio ‘apps’  [...]

Motorola is working hard to make its products smaller and this is clear from their products like the Motorola Slvr and Razr. Now it is applying this formula to Bluetooth headsets as well and the Motorola H700 Bluetooth headset is a good example of it. The device has a very basic design and it looks very much similar to Motorola HS850 but the H700 is 30 percent smaller. It is 1.69 inches (2.51 inches when you open the microphone boom) by 1.06 inches by 0.66 inches and weighs about 0.2 ounces which is really lightweight. Motorola H700 Bluetooth headset has a pebble like design which doesn’t take up a lot of room in your pocket. The silver and gray color scheme also looks aesthetically appealing. Motorola offers this headset at $100 which is affordable but you can get it cheaper online. The best feature on this Motorola H700 Bluetooth headset is the PowerFlip foldable microphone. Just like the HS850, the headset will get switched on automatically when you fold the  [...]

I have been following technology for a long time now and it is really intruging to see the number of accessories that have come up for the iPod and iPhone. I get tons of them in my labs for review. Most of them are portable speakers and the sound quality is not really good because they have size limitations. I got the Logitech S715i in my labs for review and it has the best sound quality I have ever seen in such a set. The price too is quite affordable at $149. This set has raised the bar for such speakers. The design of the Logitech S715i looks really cool, it is two inches thick and 15 inches wide. The device has a bigger footprint as compared to other portable speakers but is still quite portable. You can easily fit it in to a laptop bag. On the front, there are buttons for power and volume. Between these buttons, there is the iPod dock for plugging in your iPhone or iTouch. On the back, there are two jacks for a power adapter and headphones. On the back, there are two passive  [...]

When it comes to laptops speakers, there is not much to desire because these sets are seriously limited by size. They have to be really small or else it won’t be easy to carry them around. Furthermore, they also have to give good sound quality which is quite rare. I am yet to see portable laptop speakers which give good sound quality but I am not complaining because of the limitations that the manufacturers have in front of them. These speakers should also be economical in power consumption or else you will get reduced work time on your laptop. I got the Twelve South BassJump portable subwoofer in my labs for test and I didn’t expect a lot from it either. This is just a subwoofer; the bass will complement the sound coming out of your MacBook speakers. The external body of the subwoofer is made up of aluminum and it matches quite well with the MacBook. Your friends might think this is an Apple product. On the bottom, there is a rubber sheet. Maybe the manufacturer has put it there  [...]

When it comes to headphones, there is a lot of versatility in terms of design, price and quality. Thus customers have a lot to choose from. There are entry level phones which cater to people on stiff budgets and on the other side, there are the high end Bose sets which will certainly make a big hole in your wallet. There are also the bulky headphones which are mostly meant for use at home and there are the sleek earbuds with thin wires that are ultra compact hence easy to carry. I got the Urbanears Plattan headphones for review in my labs and this is a good set for music playback. Urbanears are not fashion centric; I have seen some of their products in the past and I have noticed that they haven’t put any effort to make their products look sexy. I am not saying that the products are downright ugly; they do have a stylish edge. In this case, the style is confined to various colors options which you can choose from. There are fourteen color options for the Urbanears Plattan headphones  [...]

I first came across the MEElectronics M11P+ Sound-Isolation In-Ear Headphones at CES 2010. It belongs to the group of durable and affordable headphones and I was quite pleased when the company sent the headphones to my labs for testing. I will recommend you this set if you are a fashion conscious person. The cost of this set is $70 which is a bit high and the sound quality is nothing different from M6, its predecessors. The only feature that is put to justify the high price is the microphone and call answer button. MEElectronics M11P+ Sound-Isolation In-Ear headphones are quite impressive and the design too is durable. There are three color options to choose from – black, red and silver. The colors relate to the earpiece shiny coating. There is a 52 inch cable descending from each of the earpiece and it is covered in clear plastic. The cloth coating on the inside makes the set ultra rugged. The headphones are also  tangle resistant. On the other end, there is a gold plater L plug  [...]

If you a Mac user, notebook or desktop, then chances are that you are a style conscious person. For such people looks matter more than the performance and hence there are a few companies making stylish accessories for Apple’s computer products.Targus has come up with a new mouse and it is simply called Wireless Mouse for Mac. There’s also a Bluetooth model called Targus Bluetooth Laser Mouse for Mac. Targus Wireless Mouse for Mac runs on two AA sized batteries and there is a compartment in the pointer for storing the wireless receiver. To access it, you simply have to lift up the mouse top. The receiver doesn’t protrude too much, it only sticks a few millimeters out of the USB port so we would recommend you to have it plugged in all the time. Targus Wireless Mouse for Mac, is 1.5 inches tall (at its tallest) and 2.5 inches wide. These dimensions make it less than ideal for travel but it is not that bad either. The body curved  [...]

We got to review the first version of Soundmatters FoxL Personal Audiophile Loudspeaker with Bluetooth last year, and we were impressed by its large soundstage and small footprint. We recommended the non Bluetooth model since there was some aural degradation in the wireless audio quality. It is been a year since then and the manufacturer has now given us Soundmatters FoxL v2, another Bluetooth version set which improves on the wireless quality of audio and the wireless range to is extended. There is also a built in speaker phone for portable teleconferencing. The cost of this device is $200 which is quite expensive but we feel it is justified by the high end build quality and fidelity. Soundmatters FoxL v2 looks quite similar to its predecessor and hence you might easily confuse it with the previous model. The latest model has '2' in the bottom right side. On the speaker's front, there are two 25mm dome speakers. The company calls them “Twoofer”  [...]