Roku Review & HSU Contest At eCoustics.com

By Ian Bell December 4, 2004

Quote from the Rolu Labs SoundBridge review:

“The SoundBridge connects directly into your stereo system or receiver just like a CD player. It receives/plays music from your computer through a wireless connection or via Ethernet cable. I had already copied hundreds of my CDs to my Mac, using Apple’s lossless format. I also had been using iTunes for about two years, mainly to listen to Internet radio, and some CDs imported to the AIFF format. Now with the SoundBridge I can listen to all of my music without having to be at my computer. “

Read the full review

Looks for Designtechnica’s own review later this week!

Win the HSU Research VTF-3 Powered Subwoofer ($849) http://www.ecoustics.com/contest/

There is no long survey to fill out! Just enter your name, address, phone and e-mail for a chance to win.

Contest ends Dec 31, 2004, 18+, USA only.

Ian Bell

Publisher

I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?

Audio / Video

The Beats Pill is back, baby!

In what's been one of the worst-kept secrets of the year -- mostly because subtly putting a product into the hands of some of the biggest stars on the planet is no way to keep a secret -- the Beats Pill has returned. Just a couple of years after Apple and Beats unceremoniously killed off the stylish Bluetooth speaker, a new one has arrived.

Available for preorder today in either black, red, or gold, the $150 speaker (and speakerphone, for that matter) rounds out a 2024 release cycle for beats that includes the Solo Buds and Solo 4 headphones, and comes nearly a year after the Beats Studio Pro.

Audio / Video

Ifi’s latest DAC is the first to add lossless Bluetooth audio

Ifi Audio's new Zen Blue 3 wireless digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will officially be available to buy for $299 on July 9. When it is, it will be the first device of its kind to support a wide variety of Bluetooth codecs, including Qualcomm's aptX Lossless, the only codec that claims to deliver bit-perfect CD quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Admittedly, there are very few devices on the market that can receive aptX Lossless (and fewer that can transmit it), so it's a good thing that the Zen Blue 3 also works with the more widely supported aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LDHC/HWA codecs (all of which are hi-res audio-capable), plus the three most common codecs: AAC, SBC, and aptX.

Audio / Video

The new Beats Pill might replace Sonos on my back porch

The 2024 Beats Pill and an aging Sonos Play:1.

If I were to build an outdoor stereo in 2024, I'd do it with a pair of portable Beats Pills instead of Sonos speakers. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

In 2017, after more than a decade in our home, my wife and I added a pool. With it came a covered deck, making what basically was a new outdoor room. Not uncommon at all in Florida, but new to us.