The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless came out almost four years ago, yet it's still one of the best gaming headsets you can buy. Turns out, it's not easy for other companies to duplicate all that SteelSeries got right with this one - mixing multiple audio sources, active noise cancellation, a retractable mic, hot-swappable batteries, and more.
The Bromley 450 carries over its larger sibling's 360-degree audio trickery. Like equivalents from other companies, Marshall's "True Stereophonic 360-degree sound" fools your brain into perceiving more directionality than its form factor allows. Lighting effects ("inspired by '70s stage shows") also carry over from the larger model.
The original KEF Muo launched back in 2015 and felt like a turning point in portable hi-fi. Serious, designer Bluetooth speakers from a respected hi-fi brand were rare back then-with only a few brands like Bang & Olufsen and Loewe interested in combining pretty and portable. These early designs were still given the side-eye by most traditional audio.
What's wild about this jump in stamina is that it's disproportionate to the battery's capacity. The Kilburn II ships with a 5,200 mAh cell, while the new model is only about 5% bigger: 5,500 mAh. Clearly, some big efficiencies have been gained.
The Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro is too weird to exist. It takes the excellent 4K projector and karaoke microphones from Anker's Nebula X1 and stuffs them inside a powerful five-speaker Google TV party on wheels. It's so absurd that it feels like a gadget fever dream - and I'm here for it. At the heart of this system is the same liquid-cooled, triple-laser, auto-image-correction-everything projector I reviewed last summer.
I've tested a variety of portable Bluetooth speaker brands over the past two decades. Most of the time, I connected these speakers to my smartphone and streamed music for backyard gatherings, beach outings, drive-in movies, and other events with family and friends. The most common issue I had with these speakers was finding out the hard way that they're dead -- all because I forgot to charge them in advance.
A compact, rectangular body with a looped carrying strap makes it easy to hang, grab, or slip into a bag when you're ready to go. It's built to be rugged, dustproof, and waterproof (IP67), allowing it to handle wet, sandy conditions and random rain showers without interrupting your music. Plus, its battery lasts up to 20 hours, providing solid playtime for your playlists, podcasts, and background music until you need to recharge.
Good music can instantly lift your mood and the overall vibe of any space. Those shopping for a portable Bluetooth speaker today should consider grabbing the 2nd-generation Bose SoundLink Micro speaker, while it's going for less than $100 at Amazon. The retailer is currently offering this mini yet mighty device at a 23% discount, which drops its $129 price to just $99. Delivery is free, and the offer applies to all color options.
A dependable portable Bluetooth speaker is one of those essentials you don't realize you need until the moment music is missing. Whether you're hosting friends in your living room, hanging out in the backyard, spending a day at the beach, or heading off on a weekend camping trip, good sound can completely define the mood. Phone speakers sitting in red cups simply don't cut it, and that's where a powerful option like the JBL Boombox 4 earns its place.
Amazon has - quite generously - dropped the price of the JBL Xtreme 3 speaker by 39%. You can now pick it up for $200, after a whopping $130 discount. The offer applies to all three color options, including black, blue, and camo. The deal is open to all shoppers (both Prime and non-Prime members), but we're expecting it to wrap up soon.
They're called open earbuds (or open-ear buds, depending on the brand), and just about every audio brand has a pair (or three). They come in a slew of styles, but most either loop around your ears like older Beats buds, or clip on like funky-futuristic earrings. Whatever the style, they're designed to deliver satisfying sound while keeping your ear canals open to the sounds of the world around you.
Unlike Apple's AirPods, the Beats Studio Buds Plus play well with both iOS and Android devices, which is why they're among our favorite wireless earbuds. You don't get every ecosystem perk, but you do get a lot of the essentials. Apple iPhone owners, for example, get hands-free Siri, Find My support, one-step pairing, and Control Center integration. You miss out on AirPods-exclusive features like automatic device switching and spatial audio head-tracking.
The centerpiece of the group is the H7 soundbar, which will retail for $1,000. The soundbar uses FlexConnect to optimize sound based on the layout of a room and its location therein. This is intended to solve for when a speaker can't be perfectly placed to deliver optimal sound, especially spatial audio. The H7 also has a feature LG is calling Sound Follow that tracks the location of a user's phone throughout a room and adapts the audio to their location.
Motorola appears to be preparing a new addition to its true wireless earbuds (TWS) lineup. The company launched the Moto Buds+ in April 2024 in select global markets, followed by an India release in May. Now, a fresh leak suggests a follow-up may be on the way. Renders shared online indicate Motorola could soon introduce the Moto Buds 2 Plus, with early images hinting at a revised charging case design and continued "Sound by Bose" branding, though official details remain unconfirmed.
In the fast-paced race to load AI into every smartphone, laptop, tablet, and earbud, the flashiest AI-powered features usually receive the most attention. When your earbuds use AI to perform real-time translation services or allow hands-free access to a gen AI chatbot, you'll know. There's another way your earbuds use AI that isn't as exciting to talk about, but when it's done well, it's incredibly valuable: AI-powered adaptive noise cancellation.
