If there’s one thing Apple Music has proved to us by now, it’s that it doesn’t need to continuously pump out new features to improve the user experience — but the large periods of silence make the anticipation even more exciting when the platform does roll out new tools and design upgrades.

Prior to the age of streaming, Apple users got a kick out of their music via iTunes and the revolutionary iPod, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary. I had the 5th gen iPod Nano, and it was one of the catalysts that fuelled my love for music.

But above all, it was the simplicity of the user experience and fun design elements that people remember the most — and one user might've uncovered the future of Apple Music's design approach.

The Cover Flow comeback?

Cover Flow really gave Apple’s early playback interface its wings, displaying all of your saved music into a fun carousel for you to spin through — like a selection of LPs. It was so loved by music fanatics, Apple carried it from iPod and iTunes into iOS before sunsetting it in the mid-lates 2010s.

We’ve been mourning it ever since, but a Redditor's post has recently sparked a widespread cry-out for its return, sharing a video showing a Cover Flow-like design tool with the caption 'excited for new features' (see below). The user says it’s ‘referenced from code’, but they don’t say if they're running a new iOS developer beta.

The post shared to Reddit shows the user navigating the ‘Albums’ carousel on an artist page in the Apple Music app, which launches a Cover Flow-esque interface when they tap on an album. It’s unclear whether the user simply taps or long-presses on an album cover, but I predict it’s the latter.

Admittedly, what we see in the Reddit post isn’t a carbon copy of Cover Flow. It doesn’t have the continuing stack of albums existing beyond the central cover, and makes up a small fraction of the interface. There's also no guarantee you'll be able to switch your phone to landscape orientation to see a 3D rendering of your album's artwork in a rolodex-style selection (this was our Audio Ed Becky's favorite pre-iOS7 UI design feature). But despite this, the potential revival of this design approach has revealed one thing; users are yearning for nostalgia.

Though it’s not set in stone, the idea of Cover Flow making a comeback is something users are finding quite exciting, and you can see it in the replies on Reddit. ‘The listeners yearn for Cover Flow’, one account posted, while another user went the extra mile and created a design concept of what Cover Flow could look like in today’s Apple Music app.

It’s even got to the stage where some users have sought after ways to resurrect the swivelling feel of Cover Flow, mainly through third-party apps. MD Vinyl is a popular music player and widget app, which syncs to audio streaming platforms to display your music in album stack for vinyl form. Soor is another alternative whose name I’ve seen crop up, but comes with a one-time $6.99 / £6.99 purchase.

No matter how hard they try, these third-party alternatives could never replace what Cover Flow was. Nonetheless, they’re still used, and they not only reveal a craving for nostalgia and simplicity, but these types of design features on streaming platforms serve as a reminder that music is so much more than flat files at your fingertips.

It's been an excellent year for tech releases, with the arrival of everything from new TV panel developments, to groundbreaking drones, to awesome spatial audio speakers, to a new breed of AI-connected screenless fitness wearable.

It's also been a really difficult year in tech, though, due to the component crisis and rising prices across nearly all products. In the middle of that tension, it only makes sense for us to find out which companies navigated the challenges best by asking the community of tech lovers out there — and so here are the first TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards.

The results are in, so below we've listed the TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards 2026 winners winners in every category, all 100% voted by you!

Phones & tablets

Phone of the Year

Phone Brand of the Year

Phones Innovation of the Year

Best Value Phone

Best Mid-Range Phone

Best Folding Phone

Best Flip Phone

Best Camera Phone

Best Gaming Phone

Best AI Phone

Cameras & drones

Camera of the Year

Camera Brand of the Year

Camera Innovation of the Year

Best Beginner Camera

Best Mid-range camera

Best Professional Camera

Best Compact and Instant Camera

Best Action and Vlogging Camera

Best Camera Lens

Best camera accessory

Best drone

Computing

Computing Brand of the Year

Best Computing Innovation

Best Value Laptop

Best AI Laptop

Best Gaming Laptop

Best PC Gaming Handheld

Best Gaming Keyboard

Best Gaming Monitor

Best Gaming Mouse

Gaming

Gaming Device of the Year

Gaming Brand of the Year

Gaming Innovation of the Year

Best Console Accessory

Best Gaming Service

Best Gaming Controller

Best Gaming Headset

Best Gaming Chair

TV & home theater

TV of the year

Home Entertainment Brand of the Year

Home Entertainment Innovation of the Year

Best Gaming TV

Best TV for Sound

Best OLED TV

Best mini-LED TV

Best Value TV

Best Projector

Best Soundbar

Best Wireless Home Theater Speakers

Streaming

Streaming Service of the Year

Best Streaming Service for Movies

Best Streaming Service for Documentaries

Best Streaming Service for TV Series

Best Free Streaming Service of the Year

Audio

Headphones of the Year

Audio Brand of the Year

Audio Innovation of the Year

Best Wireless Headphones

Best Wireless Earbuds

Best Open Earbuds

Best Value Headphones

Best Value Earbuds

Best Value Open Earbuds

Best Wired Headphones

Best Wired Earbuds

Best Bluetooth Speaker

Best Wireless Speaker

Best Portable Audio Player

Best Turntable

Best DAC

Best Stereo Speakers

Health & Fitness tech

Health and Fitness Device of the Year

Health & Fitness Brand of the Year

Health and Fitness Innovation of the Year

Best Smartwatch

Best Running Watch

Best Fitness Tracker

Best Smart Ring

Best Electric Toothbrush

Best Connected Fitness Tech

Home tech

Home Device of the Year

Home Tech Brand of the Year

Home Tech Innovation of the Year

Best Home Light Tech

Best Home Security Device

Best Robot Vacuum

Best Vacuum

Best Air Fryer

Best Coffee Machine

Best Value Coffee Machine

Best Fan

• Samsung Galaxy Buds On go on sale, in Asia
• OnePlus Buds Clip are revealed, but you can't buy them either
• The clipping-bud market is getting overwhelming

If you've been idly browsing our best open earbuds guide, you might find your job getting a little more tricksy with each passing day. Why? Because it feels like more clip-on open earbuds are launching than there are days in the week. Case in point, two new options are here... sort of.

First up is the Samsung Galaxy Buds On, which we covered the launch of, at the start of the month. These are Samsung's debut open-ears, and they're finally going on sale on Tuesday 27th October... in Korea, at least. We're still waiting on global availability, but apparently some European websites have listed the buds (and have since had said listings quickly removed), which makes it sound like a worldwide roll-out is on the near horizon.

What about a brand new pair? The OnePlus Buds Clip have also been unveiled, and they sound like something I'd love to test. They have dual drivers, sound leakage prevention, an above-average battery life and automatic left-right detection so you can clip either bud on either ear and get the right music.

The catch? OnePlus retreated from the US and UK earlier this year. While the buds will sell in Asia, Europe and several other regions, you or I won't be able to buy them. And despite a market that continually makes me ask, 'How many is too many open earbuds?' that's a shame.

You have plenty of other options though, as I mentioned above; the clip-style open earbuds market is absolutely saturated at the moment. In fact, buying a new pair is pretty overwhelming.

Don't get c-lippy with me

According to sales figures, open earbuds are massive right now, and I get it. They're comfortable to wear, don't block out the world around you, have great battery lives (thanks to the typical lack of ANC), often cost less than alike standard in-ear buds, and don't sound all that bad any more.

This all explains why there are so many open earbuds on the market right now; in fact, most brands have multiple options. Bose recently unveiled two options. Shokz sells the OpenDots Air alongside its premium model. Soundcore recently shook up its range with two near-identical options. Many more entry-level audio companies such as Soundpeats, Baseus and Earfun have even more.

Competition is good, but to a point. Case in point: open earbuds don't have the scope for variety that, say, in-ear buds do, and 99% of the pairs I test feel largely the same. They fit the same, sound the same and work the same.

So it makes it harder for new buyers to know which pair they should be picking up, and I imagine many people are put off by the deluge. The frequency of releases also means it's easy to lose faith in your choice; a new option will be on shelves before you know it.

Want my advice? Cut out the noise and just buy from a brand you trust at a price that fits your budget (or use our suggestions below if you need pointers).

I've long been a fan of Sonos and its approach to home audio. My apartment is already filled with the company's speakers, including two home theater systems for movies and TV, and a couple of stereo pairs for music. And while the ability to group speakers and play whatever I want, wherever I want, is already a major part of the appeal, I've always felt there was room to take things a step further.

So when Sonos announced the Beam Ultra soundbar earlier this year, alongside a new feature that would allow its portable Play speakers to double as rear surrounds, my interest was well and truly piqued.

I've already made my feelings about the Play perfectly clear, having previously claimed it could be the only speaker you really need. Its ability to perform just as well around the home as it does on the move makes it an incredibly appealing proposition.

And now, thanks to the new Sonos27 operating system, that versatility extends to home theater. Rather than committing a pair of speakers to permanent surround duties, you can simply pick one up, take it into another room and use it independently, before returning it to its original position and having it automatically rejoin the system.

It's a simple idea, but one that has the potential to fundamentally change how people use their Sonos speakers. And having now put the Beam Ultra and a pair of Plays through their paces, I think it's one of the company's most compelling developments in years.

Play it for me, Sonos

A pair of Sonos Play speakers can be used as rear surrounds with several of the company's soundbars, including the Arc, Arc Ultra, Beam (Gen 2) and Beam Ultra. Given the larger size and greater output capabilities of the Arc models, I'd argue the relatively compact Plays might be a slight mismatch, but it's good to know you're not tied to one particular soundbar.

Pairing them with the smaller Beam makes more sense to me, and in my bedroom, the combination is discreet enough not to draw attention, yet powerful enough to deliver a genuinely expansive sound that's a huge improvement over my TV's built-in speakers.

Of course, the real appeal of this setup is that the Plays aren't permanently tied to surround duties. Pick one up, carry it into another room and it should automatically disconnect from the home theater system, becoming an independent speaker ready for music playback. Return it to its original position, and it should seamlessly slot back into place.

Making this possible is some clever technology working behind the scenes. An accelerometer inside each Play detects when it's been picked up and moved, while Sonos Positioning Technology uses near-ultrasonic signals, picked up by the soundbar's microphones, to determine whether the speakers are in the same room and where they're positioned. It can even work out which speaker should act as the left or right rear surround, without you having to assign them manually.

At least, that's the theory.

When I first put this to the test, things didn't quite go according to plan. I carried one of the Plays from my bedroom into the living room, only to find it was still reproducing audio from the home theater system. The connection also became intermittent, with the sound cutting in and out rather than the speaker switching to standalone mode.

I eventually resorted to tapping 'Stop Using Surrounds' in the Sonos app, which allowed me to use the Play independently. But when I returned it to the bedroom, it didn't automatically reconnect either, requiring another trip into the app to select 'Start Using Surrounds'.

Not wanting to be deterred, I tried again a short while later. This time, after moving the same Play into the living room and waiting a few seconds, I heard an audible tone confirming it had disconnected from the home theater setup. Both Plays, including the one still in the bedroom, then appeared as standalone speakers in my AirPlay settings.

Returning the speaker to its original position was just as straightforward. A breathing white light indicated it was determining its position relative to the soundbar, followed by the same audible tone confirming a successful connection. Just like that, it was back to performing rear-left surround duties, without me having to touch the app.

And that's when the appeal of Sonos' new approach really clicked. Instead of a pair of speakers permanently committed to home theater duties, I could now move them around my apartment as needed, without manually reconfiguring the system every time.

Small system, big sound

To give the system a proper workout and find out just how much the Play surrounds contributed, I had to turn to the Penguin car chase scene in The Batman.

I started with the Beam Ultra by itself and was, quite frankly, blown away by its performance. Considering the soundbar's compact dimensions, the sheer scale of the sound it produced was remarkable. The rumble of the Batmobile's engine had impressive weight, while the soundfield extended well beyond the physical confines of the bar. In fact, it effectively disappeared, with sound filling the room rather than appearing to come from a single speaker beneath the TV.

Perhaps more impressive was that I wasn't using a separate subwoofer. In my bedroom, at least, I didn't feel an immediate need for one, such was the weight and authority of the bass. Admittedly, a larger living room could tell a different story, and anyone craving particularly deep, room-shaking bass would likely benefit from adding a Sub Mini.

With the two Plays connected as surrounds, and both the surround and height audio settings left at their default level of 0, the performance became even more immersive. As Batman and Penguin sped along the highway, the sounds of passing lorries and cars extended behind my listening position, creating a more convincing sense of being in the middle of the action.

Curious to see how much further the system could go, I increased both the surround and height audio settings to +5. The presentation became even more enveloping, with rear-channel effects such as blaring car horns becoming easier to distinguish. And when Penguin's car went into a roll, the system did a convincing job of following the chaos unfolding on screen, making me feel as though I was right there in the passenger seat.

Arc you pleased to see me?

The Beam Ultra and Play combination had replaced an Arc and two Sonos Ones in my bedroom, so I was keen to see how the newer system compared with its predecessor. I reinstalled the older setup, starting with the Arc on its own.

There was an immediately noticeable increase in sheer grunt, which wasn't entirely surprising given the Arc's larger dimensions and greater number of drivers. But the difference wasn't quite as dramatic as I'd expected, particularly considering how much smaller the Beam Ultra is.

It was also a reminder of how much easier Sonos has made the process of adding portable surrounds. With the Plays, I could simply select 'Use Surrounds' and, within seconds, they would connect and automatically establish their left and right positions. The Ones required a more involved setup process, including manually assigning each speaker to its respective channel.

Returning to the same scene from The Batman, this time with the Ones connected, revealed a more substantial difference between the two systems.

The Arc-based setup produced a bigger, more authoritative sound, particularly with the surround TV level increased to +5. Car engines had greater low-frequency weight, while the movement of vehicles along the highway was easier to follow as sounds travelled around the room.

Where the Beam Ultra fought back was in its reproduction of higher frequencies and dialogue. Voices sounded clearer and more distinct than they did through the Arc, while effects such as screeching tyres had greater bite and definition.

And while I maintain that the Beam Ultra doesn't necessarily need a subwoofer in a smaller room, the comparison demonstrated that the Arc has an advantage when it comes to outright bass weight.

Ultimately, both systems delivered thoroughly enjoyable and convincing surround sound experiences. The Arc-based setup had the edge in scale and low-frequency authority, but the Beam Ultra and Plays proved that a relatively compact system can still deliver a seriously cinematic performance.

A home theater system with a difference

At $1,297 / £1,297/ AU$2,097 for the Beam Ultra and two Plays, this certainly isn't the cheapest way to bring surround sound into your home. In fact, Sonos' own Beam Ultra and Era 100 surround package costs considerably less ($1,082 / £1,042 / AU$1,652), and as my comparison with the Arc and Ones demonstrated, a conventional setup can deliver a more substantial sound.

But I'd argue that focusing purely on the price of admission, or even outright surround performance, misses the point of what Sonos has achieved here.

Because when I'm not watching a movie or catching up on my favorite TV shows, I don't necessarily need two speakers sitting behind me doing nothing. With this setup, I can pick them up and take them wherever I please, whether that's into another room for some background music or outside for a gathering with friends.

And because the Plays offer both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, they're just as comfortable being part of a multiroom Sonos system as they are accompanying me away from home.

In effect, I'm getting two systems in one: an immersive home theater setup when I want it, and a pair of genuinely portable wireless speakers when I don't.

For me, that's where the real value lies. Sonos hasn't just made its home theater systems more flexible; it's made the speakers themselves more useful. And having experienced how seamlessly the two roles can work together, it's a feature I'd find difficult to give up.

Topping DX1 II: two-minute review

The world is not short of little DAC/headphone amps that want to bring a taste of authentic audio quality to your desktop experience — and here’s another one. The Topping DX1 II is a thorough update of a previous (and very competitive) in the Chinese brand's stable, and it makes a strong case for itself even before it’s started doing its thing.

The aluminum casework looks and feels good and the on-paper specification is difficult to lay a glove on. It includes — deep breath — a very hi-res ESS DAC, carefully considered digital and analog architecture, USB-C for both power and data, sufficient grunt to drive most headphones without difficulty, a fistful of input and output options (including balanced analog connectivity), and the facility for plenty of end-user input where sound is concerned. The standard of construction and finish is more than adequate. And a little remote control handset takes some of the pressure off an overworked physical control interface.

The difference the DX1 II can make to your audio experience when it sits between, say, your laptop and the headphones that are plugged into it is fairly profound. The Topping is by no means perfect — it doesn’t attack the top of the frequency range quite as willingly as it might, and it doesn’t have the heft to make big dynamic variations as apparent as they might be — but it’s a far more convincing and well-realized listen than your laptop alone has a hope of being. Soundstaging, rhythmic expression, detail levels and all-around musicality all enjoy a big uptick, and the way the DX1 II handles a tonal balance is one of the most uncomplicatedly enjoyable things about it.

The Topping DX1 II hasn’t closed the door on other desktop-friendly headphone amp/DAC units at similar money, but it’s certainly made sure it’s on the inside of the conversation for the best on the market.

Topping DX1 II review: Price & release date

• Announced on May 18, 2026 (with availability from late June/July 2026)
• Priced $119 / £119 (around AU$169)

The Topping DX1 II is on sale now, and in the United States it costs $119. It’s £119 in the United Kingdom, while in Australia it goes for around AU$169.

So, it's a little pricier than the oh-so-portable iFi Go Link Max and the bigger, hip-flask-esque iFi Uno, say, but an awful lot cheaper than the also-new iFi iDSD GR2.

What exactly are you getting for your money if you go for the Topping? Read on.

Topping DX1 II review: Features

• ESS ES9039Q2M DAC
• Balanced and unbalanced outputs
• UAC 1.0 and UAC 2.0

There’s something quite admirable about the way Topping has specified the DX1 II — I’ve used bigger and more expensive DAC/headphone amps that don’t come close to the level of this little device.

It’s built around a very capable ESS ES90392QM DAC chipset and features dual-DAC architecture with a dedicated digital-to-analog converter for each channel, plus fully independent processing. Digital files of up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD256 are supported.

A 16-core XMOS XU-316 assists with signal processing — just as with the dual-DAC arrangement and the fully balanced analog stage, the idea is to keep noise and distortion to an absolute minimum.

Digital audio information can be delivered using either the digital optical input or the USB-C slot on the rear of the Topping. The USB-C input also provides power to the device. Outputs consist of an unbalanced 3.5mm headphone socket, a couple of balanced 4.4mm alternatives (one for headphones, the other for connecting the DX1 II to a system, a powered speaker or what-have-you) and a line-level analog output on stereo RCAs.

There’s an optical output in case the digital signal needs to be preserved, and a switch to toggle between UAC 1.0 and UAC 2.0 — the first setting allows the Topping to be compatible with, say, the Nintendo Switch and the Sony PlayStation 5.

Topping has made provision for an awful lot of end-user input into the way the DX1 II performs. Connect it to a computer and you can access both the ‘Home Web’ platform (from where stuff like gain can be adjusted and no fewer than eight distinct digital filters are available) and ‘Topping Tune’. This uses a simple drag-n-drop interface to allow the user to easily create and adjust PEQ settings — frequency, gain and bandwidth control across 10 bands (with independent left and right channel adjustment) can be tweaked and settings saved. It’s available across each of the DX1 II’s outputs.

• Features score: 5 / 5

Topping DX1 II review: Sound quality

• Impressively detailed, easy-going sound
• Pleasant tonal balance
• Could easily sound more dynamic

It’s possible to make quite significant changes to the ultimate sound of the DX1 II, of course — those digital filters have a slight effect, but go crazy with the PEQ and you can achieve some pretty obvious alternations. What you can’t do, though, is defeat the things the Topping does well or fully correct its shortcomings.

With a 24bit/48kHz FLAC file of The Record by Boygenius playing in the Tidal desktop app and incoming via USB-C, it doesn’t take long at all to appreciate the facility the DX1 II has with detail retrieval. It’s alert to even the most minor, most subtle occurrences in the recording, keeps an eye on the low-level dynamics of harmonic over- and undertones, and deals with transients confidently too. It gives these details good weighting, so the emphasis is always on the music and not solely on how deeply into it the Topping can peer.

The tonal balance it strikes is naturalistic and pleasant, and its over-all character is, in the most positive way, easy-going and quite laid-back. It can do ‘urgency’ if it absolutely has to, of course, but its fundamental attitude is one that’s not in any way fatiguing. At no point is the Topping likely to grab you by the lapels — it’s altogether too grown-up and, again in a positive way, polite for that sort of behavior.

Some of this comes about because of its relative lack of dynamic impetus. The headline dynamics of ‘quiet’ and ‘LOUD!’ in a 16bit/44.1kHz file of Life Metal by Sunn O))) are somewhat flattened by the slight shortage of headroom the DX1 II exhibits. The distance between these two positions is not as pronounced as it is when described by a DAC/headphone amp that breathes a little more deeply. Some of it is due to the Topping’s slight-but-definite tendency to roll off the highest frequencies. There’s acceptable extension into the top end, but not quite the attack or even assertiveness that makes treble sounds properly bite and shine.

Elsewhere, though, the DX1 II is on firmer ground. It has a good understanding of rhythm and tempo, and controls its low-frequency activity to the point that there’s a proper sensation of fluency to the way rhythms are expressed. It can open up a soundstage to the point that even quite complex recordings get a little elbow-room, and the stage is also controlled well. And it’s worth noting that, unlike a couple of nominal rivals, the DX1 II doesn’t alter its behavior depending on the volume you’re listening at — even when playing very quietly or really quite loud, its sonic stance remains consistent.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

Topping DX1 II review: Design

• 275g
• Aluminum chassis
• 32 x 100 x 100mm (HxWxD)

The DX1 II is usefully compact (just 32 x 100 x 100mm, HxWxD), so won’t hog space on your desktop or equipment rack. Built mostly from machined aluminum, it’s very well-made and finished — its edges are nicely rounded and it’s not remotely sharp at any of its corners.

At 275g, it’s unlikely to be towed around your desktop by heavy-cabled headphones, either. Only the fact that some of the socketry is quite close together on the rear panel (which is inevitable, really) precludes the use of chunkier, more premium cables and constitutes any kind of issue.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Topping DX1 II review: Usability & setup

• LED display
• Remote control handset
• Overworked fascia control dial

The majority of the fascia is occupied by a relatively large and gratifyingly legible LED display — volume level, selected input and what-have-you is all revealed. There’s also a relatively large turn/press dial that covers a lot of the device's functions. In all honesty, the dial is not especially intuitive when you want to do anything beyond change input or adjust volume — so it’s just as well Topping provides a little remote control handset that makes getting at your EQs, and all the rest of it, quite a lot more straightforward.

Set-up is the work of a moment, of course. You’ll need to connect the USB-C slot to a source of power — maybe this is also your source of music, if it isn’t then your source will need to be connected to the optical input. Then you need to connect the DX1 II to its output device — headphones, probably, or maybe the stereo RCA outputs to an amplifier or powered speaker. And then you’re in business.

• Usability & setup score: 4 / 5

Topping DX1 II review: Value

• Small but feels premium
• Good standard of build
• Out-and-out sound quality not up there (but you won't feel short-changed)

It may only be tiny, but Topping has managed to make the DX1 II feel and, to a lesser extent, look like it deserves to cost three figures. The standard of build is well up to snuff, too — and when you take the thoroughgoing nature of its specification into account, too, the sensation of value for money is hard to argue with.

The value proposition isn’t quite so cut-and-dried when it comes to out-and-out sound quality - but even here the DX1 II does more than enough right to prevent you feeling short-changed.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Topping DX1 II?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Topping DX1 II review: Also consider

It’s more affordable than the DX1 II — and it looks and feels it, too — but the iFi Uno is a high-achieving little device that offers a direct, confident and information-rich sound no matter the source of music it’s connected to.

How I tested the Topping DX1 II

I used the Topping DX1 II with an Apple MacBook Pro — connecting to the USB-C slot allowed for data transfer and power supply at the same time, and gave access to numerous music streaming services.

I connected a pair of Sennheiser IE900 wired in-ear headphones to the unbalanced 3.5mm output, and also to the balanced 4.4mm output (the Sennheiser have a selection of cables with different terminations).

I also connected a Sony PlayStation 5 via the optical input and sent the DX1 II output signal to the preamp in my reference system via its RCA outputs.

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: October 2026

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5: Two-minute review

It’s taken Fyne Audio less than a decade to establish itself as a deeply credible manufacturer of passive loudspeakers at a wide range of prices. The Cubitt 5, though, represents its first pair of active speakers — and they've got some serious competition to overcome.

At first glance, though, the system seems to have every chance. Its compact, well-made cabinets are available in a wide range of finishes, and are home to an intriguing driver array that draws liberally from the company’s very successful (and much more expensive) line-up of passive loudspeakers. Power is more than adequate at 240 watts, and the range of inputs (Bluetooth with aptX HD capability, line- and MM phono-level analog, optical and HDMI ARC) is very competitive, too. The lack of on-system controls is an odd decision, as is the lack confirmation of selected input or volume, and the remote handset that’s your only control option is unlovely.

Get the system up and running and you’ll have to ignore the unwelcome low-volume hiss that comes from each speaker before any music is cued up — fortunately it’s not an issue once your tracks are playing. Instead you’re free to admire the Cubitt 5’s abilities with detail retrieval, soundstaging, low-frequency authority and articulate midrange communication. It’s absolutely as confident as is acceptable when it comes to handling the top of the frequency range, but even here it’s not overtly ill-balanced or unruly.

Add in significant dynamic headroom, an expansive overall presentation and a disinclination to alter its stance in any significant way no matter which of its input options is in use, and it’s apparent that where the fundamentals are concerned, the Cubitt 5 has plenty going for it. Maybe not quite for the best stereo speakers on the market, though.

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Price & release date

• Launched on June 30, 2026
• Priced $749 / £549 / AU$1,499

The Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 wireless stereo speaker system is on sale now, and in the United States it costs $749. In the United Kingdom it sells for £549, while in Australia you’ll have to part with AU$1,499.

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Features

• 127mm ‘IsoFlare’ mid/bass driver with 19mm concentric titanium dome tweeter
• 240 watts of Class D power
• Wired and wireless inputs

The idea of positioning a tweeter in the acoustic center of a mid or mid/bass driver is not a new one, but it’s a rarity nevertheless, and Fyne Audio has been busily democratizing its ‘IsoFlare’ variation on this particular theme for a while now. The Cubitt 5 is just the latest example.

In this instance there’s a 19mm titanium dome tweeter positioned in the center of a 127mm multi-fiber mid/bass driver — the idea, as ever, is to create a single point-source of sound at the same time as optimizing driver integration and sound dispersion. The mid/bass driver’s surround is the company’s ‘FyneFlute’ design, the unusual pattern of which helps minimize unwanted energy from the pistonic movement of the driver. Each of the four drivers gets 60 watts of Class D amplification to power it — an all-in total of 240 watts really should be adequate in a system such as this — and the output is bolstered by a front-firing bass reflex slot. It’s an arrangement Fyne Audio suggests will deliver a frequency response of 43Hz - 34kHz.

The primary speaker takes care of all wired and wireless connectivity. The wireless stuff consists of Bluetooth 5.0, with codec compatibility up to and including aptX HD. Physical connections, all on the rear panel, run to a moving magnet (or high-output moving coil) phono stage accessed via stereo RCA inputs, a line-level analog equivalent also using RCAs, a digital optical input and an HDMI ARC socket. All incoming digital information is dealt with by a DAC of 24bit/96kHz resolution.

• Features score: 5 / 5

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Sound quality

• Expansive and controlled presentation
• Solid punch and decent dynamics
• Audible hiss when not playing

There’s a unique aspect to the way the Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 performs — or, at least, it’s unique in my extensive experience of products of this type. Connect the speakers together using the supplied umbilical, plug the primary speaker into the mains, turn the power on, and there’s an obvious and consistent hiss from both speakers. Is it loud? No, but it can be heard down the length of my listening room. Is it audible when playing music? No, not at all. So is it an issue? I guess not, unless you intend to use the speakers on your desktop, but I can’t pretend it fills me with confidence.

Which is a great pity, because when it’s actually playing music the Cubitt 5 is one of the best sub-$750 wireless stereo speaker systems I’ve heard so far. In virtually every respect, it’s an enjoyable, balanced and well-sorted listen.

With a vinyl copy of Julian Cope’s Peggy Suicide incoming via the moving magnet phono stage, the Fyne Audio doesn’t take its eye off the ball for a moment. It’s good where detail retrieval is concerned, and manages to stay on top of the finest details without sacrificing any sense of unity or performance. It creates a fairly large soundstage — it’s certainly larger than the cabinets that are producing it — and it’s coherent, organized and easy to understand.

The tonal balance is persuasive, too, the Cubitt 5 hits the plosives at the top of the frequency range absolutely as hard as it dares, but somehow they never quite get too edgy or overly hard. The midrange is sweetly communicative, so there’s confidence and eloquence to the way the system handles a vocalist. And while the claims for extension down to 43Hz are, I think it’s fair to say, a false alarm, the Cubitt 5 nevertheless bigs deep, hits hard and controls its low-frequency activity well. Rhythmic expression is very decent as a result, and the way the system handles tempos is similarly unforced and naturalistic.

There’s a fair amount of dynamic headroom available, so the Fyne Audio handles big shifts in volume or intensity calmly, and its overall attention to detail means that the more subtle dynamics of harmonic variation are given their due weighting, too. Frequency response is nice and even, too. The tendency to attack the highest frequencies can make it sound like the top end is being overstated on occasion, but otherwise the Cubitt 5 gives every area of the frequency range fair representation.

It’s winningly unconcerned about volume, too. Some systems can change their character when asked to play at bigger levels, but the Fyne Audio just gets louder. There’s no change in tonal balance or frequency response, and the stage maintains its shape, too. And the same is true when you change inputs — switch to a wireless stream of John Glacier’s Money Shows and the fundamental attitude and character of the system don’t alter in the slightest. It’s still balanced, insightful, punchy and just slightly treble-happy.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Design

• 260 x 165 x 215mm (HxWxD)
• Available in five different finishes
• Supplied without grilles

It’s by no means an easy trick to pull off, but the Cubitt 5 manages to look discreet and interesting at the same time.

The ‘discreet’ part is mostly thanks to the 260 x 165 x 215mm (HxWxD) dimensions, assisted by some nicely curved cabinet corners and a selection of no fewer than five very agreeable finishes. My sample is in ‘olive green’, but ‘arctic white’, ‘midnight black’, ‘pearl titanium’ and ‘pebble gray’ are also available. No matter which finish you decide suits you best, you’ll find it’s the final flourish in a process that includes a very high standard of construction. There are no visible seams, and the soft-touch paint is flawlessly applied.

‘Interesting’ is mostly derived from the driver array that’s already been discussed in the ‘features’ section of this review, as well as the forward-facing bass reflex slot that somehow makes each speaker’s appearance easy to anthropomorphize. The not-quite-circular brightwork surrounding the driver array doesn’t do any harm when it comes to making this most functional of products look interesting, either. It comes as no surprise to me that Fyne Audio doesn’t see the need to supply the Cubitt 5 with grilles.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Usability & setup

• Speakers must be wired together
• No app, no on-speaker controls, no input selection of volume indicator
• Nasty remote control handset

In terms of getting up and running, there’s really not a lot to get your head around here. Despite the fact this is an active system, only the primary speaker requires mains power — it transmits power, as well as data, along a supplied four-core umbilical cable that screws down onto the rear of each speaker. Once the speakers are connected together and the primary is powered up, it’s really only a question of positioning them to your satisfaction and then you’re in business.

Getting what you want from the system isn’t all that tricky, either, but neither is it all that satisfying an experience. This is not a Wi-Fi-enabled system, of course, so there’s no control app, which is hardly unheard-of in this part of the market. There are no controls on either speaker, either, which is rather less common. The primary speaker has an LED tell-tale that’s red when the system’s in standby and blue when it’s powered up. The blue light flashes when it’s following instructions from the remote handset that’s your only method of operation.

Given that the remote is all you’ve got, though, it’s a shame Fyne Audio specified what I imagine is the least expensive handset it could source. The look and feel is down-market, and the fact you’ve no indication of the source that’s been selected or the volume level that’s been specified only adds to the impression of cost- and corner-cutting.

• Usability & setup score: 3 / 5

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Value

Judged purely on the sound it makes, there’s no denying the Cubitt 5 offers very decent value for money indeed — once it’s making a sound, that is. The standard of build and finish only adds to the impression of money well spent.

But there’s more to it than this, of course — and as far as the experiential goes, the feel of operating the system, the sensation is undeniably low-rent. Which unfortunately undermines the impression of value the Fyne Audio system otherwise offers.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Fyne Audio Cubitt 5?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 review: Also consider

The Cambridge L/R S system handily undercuts the Fyne Audio on price, and has an awful lot to recommend it both aesthetically and in audio terms. Not quite the room-filling ability of the Cubitt 5, mind you.

And the same is true of the Ruark Audio MR1 mk3, but if you want a well-specified and great-sounding system that’s genuinely small enough for desktop use and isn’t as pricey as the Fyne Audio, you need look no further.

How I tested the Fyne Audio Cubitt 5

Almost all my testing is done with the Cubitt 5 positioned on a pair of Soundstyle S2 speaker stands, joined together by their supplied connecting cable and with the primary speaker plugged into the mains.

Sources include a FiiO M15S digital audio player with aptX HD Bluetooth capability, a Technics SL-1300G with Goldring 1022 cartridge for vinyl via the phono stage, a Rega Apollo CD player connected to the optical input, and a Philips OLED806 via the HDMI socket.

Which means a lot of different content, stored in a variety of file types, and of many resolutions, is available — and then I listen for almost an entire working week.

• Read TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
• First reviewed: October 2026

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y: Two-minute review

The tagline for Beyerdynamic’s latest consumer-grade, ANC-equipped wireless headphones is “What is your why?” — and, unfortunately, “Why?” was the first question on my lips when I first listened to them. A lacklustre sonic profile is accompanied by a lack of convincing dynamics, at least when listening actively in a quiet room.

My “why?” was answered in part by the Aventho Y’s own “why”: they are clearly designed to be used outdoors, to compete with a constant thrum of traffic and people and cut through accordingly. And this they do, quite commendably. The ANC is impactful, which is more than you can say for most headphones in this price range; there’s also a Transparency mode which is similarly effective outside. The long battery life is a genuine boon, as is the fact you can replace that battery with ease whenever it does eventually lose its edge. 

A shoo-in for our best noise-cancelling headphones guide then? Not so fast. Better as the Aventho Y's performance is when on the move, it’s not saved wholly from its shortcomings. It’s necessary to visit the Beyerdynamic app to reintroduce some low end, and there’s still a sense that you’re not hearing songs as they ought to be heard.

Well-designed and well-priced though these headphones are — and excellent as that ANC is for its price — I can’t love the Beyerdynamic Aventho Y as much as I’d like to, purely for how poorly the sound is handled. Curmudgeonly as this review may at some points seem, I am no stranger to whimsy; I did really enjoy my time with these headphones. They shine in loud environments. Anywhere else, though, that shine is predestined to dull.

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Price & release date

• Released on September 3, 2026
• Priced $149.99 / £129 / AU$280

Beyerdynamic is one of the pre-eminent names when it comes to matters of professional audio. The German brand’s reputation precedes itself, thanks to a near-faultless gallery of clean, clear and natural-sounding monitor headphones beloved by audio engineers and pro producers innumerable — and to say nothing of its microphones, too. 

Beyerdynamic’s reputation in the wider consumer-audio world is less well-tested, though still hugely positive. The brand’s had its hands in MP3 player-era in-ears, gaming headphones and wireless earbuds over the last two decades, in the middle of which the word ‘Aventho’ first appeared. Most of these consumer-friendly audio interventions trucked in the same professional elegance as the brand’s pro-level interventions, with sharp lines or important-looking negative spaces; a stern-ness of design which makes this latest intervention all the more interesting.

The Beyerdynamic Aventho Y are a pair of wireless, ANC-toting over-ear headphones, and a clear signal of fairly naked ambition by the brand to appeal to a new generation of listeners. Some semblances of the Beyerdynamic signature remain, but they’re overtaken by a quartet of somewhat-bold color options and a somewhat-bolder, somewhat-existential marketing push to accompany them: “What is your why?”

In terms of succession, the Aventho Y is a young, hip relative of the Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 — which, specs- and price-wise, still appears to be the adult in the room. The Y, then, is a much more expressive and accessible piece of consumer listening gear, taking the long battery and solid audio philosophies of its late-Millennial Dad, cramming them into a pastel-colored knapsack and promptly running for the Reels.

At $149.99 / £129 / AU$280, the Aventho Y hurls itself right into the middle of an already-stacked field of affordable wireless headphones. So, is the Aventho Y’s “why” compelling enough to beat them?

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Specs

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Features

• Active Noise Cancelling and Transparency modes
• 90-hour battery life (60 with ANC engaged)
• Bluetooth 6.0 with Multipoint

The Beyerdynamic Aventho Y are an affordable set of wireless over-ear headphones, with active noise cancelling and a prodigious battery life to fuel it. More specifically, the Aventho Y boast 90 hours of non-stop listening, or 60 with ANC engaged — that’s easily a month of morning-commute listening, at least. And in the unlikely event that you burn through your Aventho Y’s juice prematurely, you’ll still have the rest of the day’s listening back in no time at all; a five-minute quick charge yields six hours of listening life.

Humongous reservoir of power aside, the Aventho Y sport a pair of 45mm dynamic drivers, serviced by a Bluetooth 6.0 receiver capable of Multipoint connectivity, and of decoding SBC and AAC codecs. On the face of things, it’s a real shame not to see some lossless aptX or LDAC support here, but practically speaking, AAC is fidelity aplenty for day-to-day listening. 

That Bluetooth is, of course, two-way too; there’s a microphone on board for wireless phone calls, and some well-sized control buttons for playing, pausing and skipping songs without pulling your phone out. It’s also the means by which the Aventho Y connects to Beyerdynamic’s smartphone app, which allows control of ANC and user-preset EQ modes, amongst other things. As for physical I/O, there’s a USB-C port that supports both charging and wired listening, and a 3.5mm output for an add-on boom microphone (more details of which are yet to surface).

A big win for me on the features front — which you’ll hear more about later on — is the easily-removable, magnetically-attached ear-pads; behind them, you’ll find a replaceable battery and a tellingly-shaped hole for a USB-C dongle. The dongle is also yet to surface, but will reportedly enable low-latency Bluetooth connectivity to other devices, in tandem with better-quality audio from the aforementioned and as-yet-unreleased boom mic.

• Features score: 4.5 / 5

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Sound quality

• Lacklustre, telephonic bass profile
• Performs better when competing with outside noise
• Smartphone-app EQ-ing essential

To be completely honest, my first impression of the Aventho Y’s performance was not a positive one. On connecting to my laptop and streaming some music from Qobuz, the out-of-the-box sound profile threw me for a loop; being accustomed to Beyerdynamic’s flat-response monitor headphones, I wasn’t expecting a near-telephonic treatment of high mids and voices from this consumer-focused entry.

Queens Of The Stone Age’s Everybody Knows That You’re Insane, taken from expansive 2005 slow-cooker Lullabies To Paralyse should be an urgent, propulsive assault of information from bright guitars to thudding bass and kicks, but the Aventho Y presents it as a peaky mess of honky leads and vocals. Why? Or should I say, “Y”? (Sorry.)

Some artists get a little bit of a better break than others. Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights demonstrated a clarity with respect to monophonic lead guitars, but at the expense of clarity in other areas. The snare in Untitled sounded boxed-up, restrained — as did the bass, which should swell and envelope but instead seemed stuck behind everything else, revving up in hopes of getting past. It’s a peculiar sensation, really. It feels like these headphones can’t fully handle the music they’re receiving, whether it’s through a lack of headroom, or a lack of vacancy for low end to thrive.

It occurred to me, then, that I wasn’t testing the Aventho Y in the environment they were designed for. Marketing copy, express-yourself colorways and aesthetic ads of headphone-clad models dancing in public all point to the Aventho Y being expressly created for soundtracking your life outside. So that’s where I went.

And the experience was much, much different. Everything I’ve said about the default sound profile stands, but matters much less in public. Contending with the everyday noises of urban traffic means that honky high-mids turn, somewhat, into tactile presence. LA Priest’s latest LP Into The Sky is a gratuitously texture-rich compendium of electronic love songs, and had exactly the bite I was looking for while I waited for the bus.

Against the noise of the outside world, It’s less apparent that your music is straining against the limits of the headphones; it’s designed to compensating for a living, breathing world around you. The bass is still a let-down, but, luckily, there’s an app for that.

The Beyerdynamic app gives you control over a few features, including a customisable graphic EQ. Even just some slight adjustments between 60Hz and 200Hz brought back some essential thump and hum; I just don’t understand “Y” (sorry) the Aventho Y shipped with the sound as is. 

I will also say, to the Aventho Y’s credit, that its ANC is frightfully effective — much more so than more expensive headphones I’ve tried before, and to an almost discomforting degree. It does introduce a hissy noise floor, so you aren’t getting a pristine listening environment with it engaged; still, it’s better than cranking the volume over the roar of a bus (or, indeed, the interminable TV-borne whinings of Tempting Fortune’s contemptible contestants while you’re trying desperately to finish a review about some wireless headphones. I mean, honestly).

The Aventho Y also sport a Transparency mode, which pipes a little more of your surroundings into your cans. It’s less effective than the ANC is indoors, but incredibly effective outdoors — albeit with that same underlying hiss.

Sound-wise, the Aventho Y are hard to score. They sound, frankly, quite bad out of the box and in a quiet listening space; they’re clearly not for active listening, or pairing with pricey hi-fi systems. But out and about, they deliver quite well, and especially so when it comes to more practical interventions like ANC and transparency mode. But they wouldn’t sound anywhere near as good as they could without app-based EQ intervention. It’s a mess of “buts”, and all a bit of a shame, really.

• Sound quality score: 3 / 5

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Design

• Cool visual design
• Comfortable for long durations
• Easy to repair and replace elements

The Beyerdynamic Aventho Y are demonstrably nice to look at, courtesy of the smart-and-simple ear cup design and those four tasteful color options. My set are this peachy pastel orange, with tinted cream ear and head cushions — an easy-going Zillennial two-tone, offset by metal-effect silver plastic brackets. That they are plastic is, of course and always, a bit of a shame, but it’s no surprise in a consumer-forward set of wireless over-ears (and even less of one for a pair that ask only for $149 / £129). 

A big win for me is the repairability of the Aventho Y, typified by the magnetically-secured ear pads that pull off with a firm-but-fair tug. Beyerdynamic offer velour-clad pad upgrades, too, for an even comfier experience. 

Removing the left ear pad unearths the enclosure for the Aventho Y’s battery, allowing easy replacement should your battery eventually die on you. This level of replaceability has been historically rare for consumer-grade products in the same camp as the Aventho Y, which makes this a real breath of fresh air — but only so much in the way of props can be delivered Beyerdynamic’s way. 

With the EU now mandating the self-repairability of consumer electronics from 2027, it’s no surprise that new products increasingly bear such customer-friendly design choices, and it’s a shame that, after years of impenetrable products from more unscrupulous brands elsewhere, it’s such a pleasantness to encounter them. Still, I’m allowed to be impressed for now.

While I’m here, I’m also pretty keen on the physical buttons in the ear cups — particularly the literal switch that turns the Aventho Y on and enables Bluetooth pairing. That kind of tactile responsiveness is similarly rare, and hugely welcome.

Finally, I can’t fault the Aventho Y at all on comfort. I could easily wear them for hours (and actually, I have), thanks to some light, comfy ear pads and a fold-up design that lets them sit around your neck without applying undue pressure. How these are put together, and how they interact with you as owner, are easily some of the best things about these cans.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Value

• Excels on all practical fronts…
• …but the sound is hard to get past
• Well-priced for features

At $149.99 / £129 / AU$280, the Beyerdynamic Aventho Y undercut a lot of its large-battery-having, ANC-toting contemporaries as an affordable piece of outdoor-listening kit. There are cheaper headphones, yes, but rarely do headphones as cheap as this offer up to 90 hours of uninterrupted listening and a noise-cancelling algorithm that actually, tangibly makes a difference to your day-to-day. It’s rare also to see a pair of headphones so smoothly designed. The aesthetics and execution are undeniably great. But…

I just can’t get over that initial disappointment I felt listening to them for the first time, at my desk. Beyerdynamic is capable of so much more than this, so it’s difficult to understand “Y” (sorry) they settled on this sound at this price. Without the steady thrum of urban life to contend with, there’s nowhere for the Aventho Y’s sonic shortcomings to hide — and EQ isn’t quite enough to fix them, either.

Again, it’s clear that the Aventho Y’s own “Y” is facilitating some groovy movement in your day-to-day. And they do succeed in that regard, but still need a bit of a helping hand along the way. If you do just want a set of wireless headphones for drowning out the wider world during your commutes, these are excellent value for money. Elsewhere, it’s much harder to truly see what the “why” is with them.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Beyerdynamic Aventho Y?

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y review: Also consider

How I tested the Beyerdynamic Aventho Y

• Tested for 4 weeks
• Used both in and out of the home 
• Predominantly tested using music streamed from Qobuz, via Bluetooth-connected laptop or smartphone

The Beyerdynamic Aventho Y spent around 4 weeks with me, in a variety of listening situations both active and passive. They were tested partly at home, connected to my HP Pavilion 15 laptop via Bluetooth and receiving music from the streaming service Qobuz, as well as from my digital audio library. I also took the Aventho Y out and about on my various day-to-day gallivantings, connected to my Samsung S23 FE via Bluetooth and, again, listening to music streamed from Qobuz.

Read more about how we test at TechRadar

• First reviewed: October 2026

• Écoute unveil improved TH2 headphones
• Use valve pre-amps for analog sound
• They're not cheap!

British audio brand Écoute — no, not French, despite the name — wowed us in January 2025 by sticking valve amps into headphones for a classy hi-fi appeal. And now it's done it again, but apparently better.

The Écoute TH2 promise improved noise cancellation, a more comfortable fit, design tweaks to reduce chances of microphonic interference in the valves — and, most importantly, improved sound quality. The brand hasn't changed the make-up of its cans, just made some adjustments and improvements.

The new cans use a redesigned resonance chamber to improve bass and reinforced shielding to avoid the interference with the analog valve design.

Getting tubular

Despite being an older form of tech, valve amps are beloved amongst audiophiles because they're an analog form of amplification, giving a warm and natural sound while offering loads of the perks of digital amplifiers. We've covered it before: valve amps sound better thanks to physics.

On most hi-fi pieces of kit, valves are large and fragile, but Écoute uses the smaller and lighter NuTube 6P1, so the tubes don't shatter as soon as you sneeze, and don't weigh too much.

The Écoute TH2 connects via Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C and, of course, 3.5mm, and they even work with external amplifiers if you'd rather not use the tech you're paying for.

Another perk is that you can change the EQ and it applies to the DSP, instead of overlaying a blanket change, giving you the ability to make more nuanced changes to your sound.

The catch? These aren't showing up on our list of the best cheap headphones any time soon. They sell for $999 / £999 / AU$1,446, and that's for the fabric band. Getting the leather option costs even more (£1,099 in the UK, and I can't find pricing elsewhere just yet) and both go on sale in November.

Ask anyone about the iPod today, and they'll describe it as an iconic gadget — perhaps even one of the most important pieces of personal tech of all time — but the initial reactions to the first iPod's launch two-and-a-half decades ago weren't all overly positive.

Apple unveiled the first version of the portable music player on October 23, 2001, with Steve Jobs promising a "breakthrough digital device" while on stage at Apple's Town Hall auditorium, part of the company's Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, California — yours for $399 in the US and £349 in the UK.

To mark the 25th anniversary, we're looking back at how the iPod was originally received, including by those who were there at the time. It shows that even the greatest gadgets aren't always recognized as such right away (so there may be hope yet for the Vision Pro).

'1,000 songs in your pocket'

You can still watch the original iPod launch event on YouTube, and it's like stepping into a time machine.

There's plenty of the legendary Steve Jobs charisma on show, as he talks about Apple's new focus on the Mac as a digital hub for photos, videos, and audio — remember this is six years before the iPhone, and at this point in history, Apple had only really made computers, with the occasional accessory.

MP3 players had been available for a number of years when the iPod arrived, but they were niche products. Digital music hadn't yet hit the mainstream, CD ripping was a novel concept, and most people using MP3s were pirating them off the internet (Napster was actually shut down the same year as the iPod arrived, though alternatives sprung up).

The iPod (and iTunes) would be one of the main drivers of the digital music revolution, but not everyone understood Apple's vision right away. Steve Jobs announced the iPod with a flourish, pulling it out of his jeans pocket to emphasize its compact size and promising "1,000 songs in your pocket": it offered a huge amount of storage for the time (5GB), an innovative hardware and software interface, and simple syncing with iTunes on a Mac.

Other MP3 players of the time either offered similar storage capacities with extra bulk, or a smaller size and less capacity. The iPod hit a sweet spot between portability and storage space, helped by a new hard drive from Toshiba, and came with a unique scroll wheel design that made it easier to navigate through thousands of songs, as well as an impressive 10 hours of battery life.

You can get a taste of using it today thanks a new Apple Music easter egg, which has a fully-functional iPod on its "page not found" page.

'It was a mixed reaction'

To get more of a sense of the sentiment at the time, we spoke to Jason Snell, the former editor of Macworld and host of the Designed in California podcast about his memories of the original iPod launch. Snell was there in the Town Hall auditorium on the day, and remembers the press pack being a little confused by a non-Mac Apple product.

"It was a mixed reaction," Snell told us. "The price of $399 was considered to be high, despite the value of being able to fit a thousand songs in your pocket... I think most people just didn't understand what the iPod was. MP3s were only beginning to rise in the public consciousness... Apple actually gave journalists a taped-together cube of CD jewel boxes representing the music it had preloaded on the first iPod."

That's a clever touch from Apple, as it tried to bring its audience along with its vision for what the iPod could be. Snell didn't need much convincing, as his existing MP3 player only held eight songs: "I realized that the music collection on my work computer was only about 3GB in size," he says. "So I could fit every MP3 I'd ever made onto this thing with room to spare, and take it with me on my commute and listen to it as I rode the bus."

A 'glorified consumer gimmick'

You can get a sense of that mixed reaction to the first iPod from the original MacRumors thread from October 23, 2001. It shows that most Apple fans at the time would've much rather seen a new Mac computer announced. The iPod was described as overly expensive, a "glorified consumer gimmick", and "stupid". "Why would they do this?" asks one user.

To be fair to the MacRumors community, there were several notes of positivity too. One commenter said the device "looks really cool", while another recognized that this was "just the beginning" and that the technology would get much better very quickly. The problem was that most people already had CD players, and didn't have a spare $400.

Over at the New York Times, industry analysts recognized the potential of the nascent digital music player market, while questioning how much of an impact the iPod could have without Windows support (iTunes for Windows wouldn't arrive until 2003). NYT columnist David Pogue praised the key features of the iPod, including the speedy FireWire connection, 5GB capacity, and portable size.

Walt Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal described the iPod as "simply the best digital music player I’ve seen", noting that rival players were variously cheaper, smaller, or offered more capacity, but that no other company had managed to package everything together in a single device with as much finesse or appeal as Apple had.

Our sister publication What Hi-Fi? later carried a positive review too. It earned four stars out of five, with the sound quality, screen brightness, compact dimensions, and easy-to-use software singled out as particular selling points for the music player — though the review did note that Creative was selling a player with 20GB of space.

As for Macworld's former editor Jason Snell, a week after the launch he was using the iPod to play music in a hospital delivery room as his wife gave birth to a daughter — and the rest, as they say, is history. Smartphones have since subsumed digital music players to a large extent, and there is no iPod in 2026, but the iconic gadget's place in tech history is guaranteed.

If you're a fan of the first-gen iPod, or if you're too young to have experienced Apple's OG music player and want to know what the fuss was all about, you're going to love what Apple's hidden on its Apple Music website: a fully working iPod.

The iPod lives on Apple Music's "page not found" page, and you can control it with your mouse, trackpad or touchscreen to recapture the magic of the music player that changed everything.

The library is absolutely massive so I haven't been able to test every tune, but every random selection played the appropriate song (albeit for just over a minute rather than the full track).

It's a great way to market Apple Music, but it's also a great reminder of how brilliant Apple's original portable player was.

The iPod changed everything

It's 25 years since the original iPod launched, and everything is different. We rarely rip, mix and burn, and the 1,000 song limit seems impossibly small compared to Apple Music's instant access to 100 million songs. But playing with the virtual iPod has made me smile, because it's reminding me of how excited I was by Apple's game-changing device and its successors.

I think it's really hard to overstate how much Apple changed the way we listen to music. I wrote about it earlier this year, saying I wish we'd stuck with iPods: "what Apple did was what Apple does so well. It learned from other people's mistakes and then marketed its own products perfectly. 1,000 songs in your pocket."

I've owned pretty much every iPod: 3G, 4G, Nano, Shuffle, Mini, Video, Classic… and I miss their style and simplicity. I've seen people make Walkman emulators for the iPhone Duo; I think that screen would be perfect for an iPod, so I'd love to Apple to make a secret option in the Music app to browse your library with this virtual iPod.

And standalone music players are on the rise in popularity — Apple might not bring the iPod back, but there are several new devices that feel inspired by the old Nano and Shuffle designs, and more recently one that looks like a cross between the Classic and a Zune. My colleague Matt Bolton, meanwhile, is convinced that it's time for Apple to bring the Shuffle back in a wireless form.

• Grado's new S150 are the most affordable in the Signature Series
• Newly developed 44mm S driver derived from the firm's higher-end S950
• $295 / £295 (which is around AU$420, taking the US figure as a guide)

Regular readers (and anyone who adores audiophile-grade open-back wired headphones) will likely remember our largely glowing review of the Grado Signature S750.

But, at $1,695 / £1,695 (about AU$3,400), it's fair to say those Signature Series cans are aimed at a very… specific type of buyer. However, the new S150 — billed as the "most accessible entry point into Grado's expanding and award-winning Signature Line" — will set you back less than one fifth of that asking fee.

And Grado assures us that you're still getting the Grado goods. It's all thanks to the S150's newly developed 44mm S driver, which is derived from the family-run firm's much higher-end HP100 SE (yours for a cool $2,495 / £2,795, or in the region of AU$4,230) and Signature S950 headphones (which go for $2,195 / £2,495 or about AU$4,900. And do remember that your audio-curious ears deserve the best your budget can stretch to).

I love Grado's aesthetic, but this toned-down set might have even broader appeal

Let's get into the slight style change, shall we? Grado calls the earpieces an "all-new single-piece housing design", noting the "modernized Grado styling with unmistakable identity". I say — and I think a lot of people might agree — I really like it. They're just slightly less brutalist than what we're used to aesthetically from Grado; see the high-end Hemp or the more affordable SR80x for further reference.

The new driver (they're still open-back headphones; this is Grado we're talking about) incorporates a paper-composite diaphragm, based on the technology found in the larger 52mm S drivers from the HP100 SE and S950. So you're getting a smaller 44mm driver unit, but it uses the same tech that makes much pricier cans great. And I think it shows that Grado’s committed to distilling its expertise down to more accessible levels.

Also, despite that more palatable price point of $295 / £295 or equivalent, you still get the detachable Signature Bronze cables (a standard perk within Grado's Signature Series) plus what Grado calls a "comfortably padded leather headband" for those long critical listening sessions.

The S150 features 3.5mm connections at each ear cup, and the included cable terminates in a 3.5mm plug at the source end, but is supplied with a 6.3mm adapter to provide compatibility with a wide range of the best portable audio players, headphone amplifiers, and assorted home audio kit.

Grado also tells us that the S150 can also be ordered with alternative cable terminations should you prefer, allowing listeners to select the connection that best suits their system.

Do I want to test them? Oh, you betcha I do. Watch this space…

TechRadar's Audio experts test dozens of pairs of headphones each year, and 2026 has been especially strong when it comes to new over-ears. I thought I'd pull together a roundup of our top-rated models — just in case readers were thinking of using next month's Black Friday sales to upgrade — and I was inundated with excellent options. Below, you'll find a collection of all the over-ear headphones that scored four stars or above in our tough review tests.

A five-star standout is the open-back, wired Heddphone D1, with its proprietary driver design that "blows away audiophile-grade options at three times the price". If you're looking for something better suited to, say, public transport or the office, there are plenty of wireless, ANC cans that knocked our socks off, too.

Two brands that upped their game in a big way for their second-gen over-ears were Nothing and Sonos. The Nothing Headphone (a) wowed us with their "gigantic" battery life and excellent on-ear controls, and the Sonos Ace Ultra impressed with a "fantastic" suite of features including detailed EQ options and Dolby Atmos for movies.

We also loved the AirPods Max 2, and they're a strong recommendation for anyone who has an iPhone and doesn't mind a case that looks like a bra. And for budget-hunters, the OneOdio Focus A1 Pro deliver "surprisingly good" sound and long battery life, and you won't believe how cheap they are.

Scroll down for a closer look at all of these headphones and more. Hit the More details button for a summary of the main pros and cons of each pair, as well as a link to the full review.

4.5 or 5 stars

4 stars

• Bose has bought Skullcandy
• The brands have worked together on headphones recently
• Acquisition all but guarantees more Skullcandy cans will get Bose tools

Bose, one of the top-tier audio companies, has spent the last few years helping out other brands with audio tuning and features, and Skullcandy is one of the highest-profile beneficiaries. Just look at the Method 360 or Crusher 1080, both of which were better for the Bose touch — and more recently the Noise Master Buds Open, which we got to try at IFA Berlin last month.

Now, Bose has decided a slice of credit is not enough; it wants the whole pie. The noise-nixing pioneer has just bought Skullcandy, in a deal which seems to guarantee the bony brand's continued success.

It sounds like little will change for Skullcandy, despite its acquisition (although you never can know with these things), but it should ensure that more of the brand's headphones will get Bose touches. Soon, you'll likely see Sound By Bose and the brand's noise cancellation in more devices, beyond the flagship ones.

That'll be particularly great for the Park City, Utah-based company's non-flagship headphones, speakers and earbuds. Skullcandy makes portable party speakers, workout headphones and buds, all at more affordable price-points than its now-parent company, none of which would likely have been in line for a Bose makeover before the acquisition.

Now, there's little for Bose to lose in using its magic touch liberally.

They Bose to the challenge

A few weeks ago, prior to news about the acquisition, TechRadar's Audio Editor Becky Scarrott spoke to Bose's President of Premium Audio, Raza Haider. One of her questions actually happened to be about whether Bose was empowering its rivals perhaps too much, by offering out its tech?

"We exist as a company to produce great sound, through audio research," Haider said, on September 30. "Our products are a very small way of that research manifesting itself onto human beings in the world. The more places we can find for that technology to land, the more service we're doing for the vision of the company.

"Bose cannot be that brand, or that company, that delivers all those use cases. One brand can't cover every single passion point, otherwise it becomes a plain vanilla tech giant. You might as well make washing machines, right? I'm not taking a dig at anyone, but you know what I'm talking about."

So, perhaps we had a preview of Bose's intentions then. It certainly shows that Bose has been wondering about the competition, and how best to maintain its unique positioning in the audio market.

For those of us who just love what Bose can do with ANC and can't wait for it to become more prevalent in a wallet-friendlier brand (and surely that's all of us?), things are looking very good indeed.

• Esoteric knows more of us are embracing CDs — and we'll love SACDs too
• Meet the elite K1XE SACD player and optional PS1XE external power supply 
• How much is it? If you need to ask, I fear it's going to be too much… 

Well well well. We knew CD players were having a moment because we can't seem to stop writing about them — whether ultra-luxe, super-fresh and with aptX Bluetooth, be they hefty and toting both analog and digital inputs, fully transparent like some sort of award, inspired by Death Stranding 2: On the Beach in neon orange or even an affordable little ripper, from FiiO.

So there's a CD player for everyone in 2026. TechRadar even published a roundup of 9 of the coolest new CD player releases not six weeks ago, in an effort to stay abreast of them all.

And now, there's an option for people in possession of an awful lot of money. And why not? It's your money and if you have a collection of SACDs you want to make use of, along with a sizeable chunk of cash to invest into the experience, you should be able to do so.

What am I talking about when I say 'SACD'? These delicate little beauties are shiny and circular just like your regular CDs, but the moniker stands for 'Super Audio Compact Disc'. It's a high-resolution optical audio disc format first introduced in 1999 and developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics. Unlike CDs, the format uses a 1-bit resolution with a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz, also known as DSD64, to provide a data rate of 5.6 Mbps — and that walks all over your typical CD's 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution, or a data rate of 1.411 Mbps, in the hi-res audio stakes.

So, it makes sense to get a serious player for your seriously detailed recorded music, right? That's clearly what Esoteric was thinking too. Behold: the ultra-luxe K1XE SACD player. You may see it as an outrageously high-end player, for a format many people thought was largely done and gone. I call it a huge win for offline hi-res listening.

How many of us still dig SACDs? I'd say the number is growing…

Anyway, what you're looking at in the main image (and the one above) is the Esoteric Grandioso K1XE, the ultra-luxury Japanese audio specialist's new flagship Super Audio CD player.

It features the VRDSATLAS (try saying that out loud, or writing it out several times in a news piece), Esoteric’s proprietary SACD transport mechanism, featuring an "exceptionally rigid, heavyweight platform engineered for outstanding mechanical precision". Also inbuilt is the proprietary Master Sound Discrete DAC G2, a next-generation, discrete digital-analog converter developed entirely in-house by Esoteric.

The K1XE is a fully dual-mono DAC configuration. Esoteric explains that this "large scale" architecture incorporates five independent linear power supply systems to achieve what the company calls "full-bodied sound reminiscent of vinyl playback".

OK but what's the thing on the right, in the main image above? That's the Grandioso PS1XE, an also-new optional external power supply — because you want to power this player properly, don't you? Doing so will reduce electrical interference, lower the noise floor for cleaner SACD sound, move high-voltage AC and heat a sensible way away from those sensitive audio circuits, including that beautifully rigid, hefty transport.

Both products will be available for international shipment from the beginning of November 2026. And it's worth considering shipping costs too (although if you're bothered by those, it's probably a little rich for the blood) because the K1XE alone weighs 34.3kg / 75lbs, which is roughly the weight of a large adult dog — think German Shepherd or Golden Retriever.

Will this glorious beast still play your regular CDs? Almost certainly. Esoteric hasn't confirmed this in its marketing, but practically all SACD players are fully backwards-compatible and are able to read the standard Red Book CD layer of an audio CD (sometimes called a CD-DA) without issue.

And that's important, because CD sales revenue was up 58% in the opening six months of 2026 (and 45% in volume) in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Also, the burgeoning popularity of newer portable CD players (along with the growing trend for wired earbuds that do away with streaming and generally being online) proves that music lovers are buying new, pristine CDs alongside inheriting caches of old (possibly scratched) collections. And isn't listening to a full concept album in superior quality one of life's great pleasures?

Let's tackle pricing: both The Grandioso K1XE and PS1XE will be available worldwide starting November 2026. And I'm just going to write it quickly: the Esoteric Grandioso K1XE SACD player has an MSRP of US $45,000 / £37,999 (or around AU$72, 399). The PS-1XE external power supply is priced at $19,000 / £16,500 (approximately AU$36,199).

Just imagine how good those SACDs are going to sound though…

• UK government cracks down on people who annoy others with phone music
• Fines of up to £100 for those people
• It's cheaper to just buy these headphones

People who play music, TikTok videos or out-loud video calls on public transport probably aren't self-aware enough to know how annoying it is, but apparently the UK government does, because it's finally cracking down on so-called "headphone dodgers".

From next Monday, transport authorities will be allowed to fine rule-breakers by up to £100 if they're causing a nuisance. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is fronting the campaign, after previous governments toyed with the idea.

It's a good idea, but the success is dependent on enforcement, as transport safety officers and not drivers are expected to hand out the fines. Given how minimally-staffed most public transport services are, some (me) are dubious that the rules will make a difference.

However if you've been a 'headphone dodger' and you want to turn a new leaf (good on you), it'd make sense to buy a pair of headphones that cost much less than the £100 penalty fare.

And naturally, we've tested a few that we can recommend…

Sennheiser CX 80U

Starting with something nice and cheap, we've got some wired earbuds, which you can easily plug into the USB-C port on a phone and keep bundled up in your pocket the rest of the time. No Bluetooth dropouts, no losing a bud as you board the bus, no apps, none of that.

The Sennheiser CX 80U sound great, block surrounding noise quite well, and offer a nice simple design. We gave them 4.5 stars out of 5 in our review, only knocking them for some missing features of pricier buds.

Best of all, though, they're really cheap. They launched for $39.95 / £34.99 in January this year, but you can find them even a little cheaper than that on Amazon.

Sony WH-CH530 (or even the Sony WH-CH730N)

If you want great-value headphones, you can't go wrong with a pair from Sony, and its recently-released Sony WH-CH530N are really affordable at $69 / £50.

We haven't yet finished testing these on-ears, they're that new, but their predecessors the WH-CH520 got 4.5 stars in our review. We praised the balanced sound and long-lasting battery, and the newer pair will likely bring improvements.

As you can see in the picture, they come in a wide range of colors, and also have noise cancellation, which isn't something you can say about all options at this price point.

Prefer over-ears? Go for the just-reviewed, all-new Sony WH-CH730N: a solid four stars and they're just under that £99 (or equivalent, in your country of residence) fine line, if you'll pardon the pun…

JLab JBuds Mini ANC

Last, but not least, let's look at some standard wireless noise-cancelling earbuds, which we got to try earlier this year.

The JLab JBuds Mini ANC are tiny — you can even clip the case onto your keyring — so you've got no excuse for not having buds on the bus. At $49.99 / £49.99 they won't break the bank either.

We enjoyed the non-ANC JLab JBuds Mini too, when they came out three years ago, and they're ideal for people who want lightweight buds.

Have further thoughts? Drop us a comment — or better yet, fill out the poll below this text and then add your comment!

• Bluesound is adding fully integrated Apple Music support, on top of existing AirPlay support
• This is rare in streaming systems — Sonos has basically had a monopoly
• Available now via free software update

If you want to play Apple Music natively, in high resolution, on multi-room audio equipment the choice has largely been Sonos, Sonos or Sonos. That's now changed, and direct integration with the Apple Music service is coming to the Bluesound platform and BluOS software as a free upgrade.

That's a big deal because in addition to Bluesound's own products, the BluOS operating system also powers devices from big audio brands including NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, DALI, Cyrus, and Monitor Audio.

It's a significant upgrade, because like Spotify and TIDAL, Apple Music is now fully integrated into the BluOS platform rather than supported indirectly via AirPlay 2. That means the audio is streaming directly to your player rather than via your phone, tablet or computer, so there's no compression, as there is over AirPlay or Bluetooth.

When is the Apple Music upgrade coming to BluOS?

The update is available from today, 20 October 2026, and you can get it by updating the BluOS software on your device. You'll then be able to use the BluOS Controller app to select your streaming, whether that's to a single device or a multi-room setup.

In the case of multi-room setups you'll be able to share Apple Music to specific rooms and audio zones, or have the same music playing everywhere.

Although the update itself is free, Apple Music is of course a subscription-based service, though you don't have to pay extra for higher quality or ad-free streaming.

It's a major win for Bluesound as the key Sonos alternative. There's obviously a lot of crossover between the the slickness the Sonos system has been known for and what people expect from Apple products.

When Sonos had its major software issues in 2024, Bluesound and WiiM emerged as the two multi-room systems hoping to benefit most from it, but WiiM has a strange relationship with Apple. None of its products support Apple Music natively, and many of its products don't even support AirPlay.

So this is a big win for Bluesound with Apple fans, especially since it's always been considered the more audiophile-led alternative to Sonos — now Apple Music can be a source for that.

• Spotify is rolling out a new verification process for Premium Family members
• Users must now scan the account manager's QR code to confirm they're part of the same household
• Spotify will boot you back to the free tier and give you a 12-month Premium Family ban if you fail to verify

Update 10/21: A Spotify spokesperson has provided us with the following comment on Premium Family plan sharing:

'Household plans are for people who live at the same address as the primary account holder, as set out in our terms and conditions. We continue to look at ways to make sure our plans are used as intended.'

Original story follows.

The Netflix password-sharing crackdown is rubbing off on one of the best music streaming services — now Spotify is taking its own approach to putting a stop to Premium Family plan sharing.

Spotify is enforcing this via a new QR code verification system, which has started rolling out to a number of users if they’re not at the same address as the account manager. The QR code appears on the account holder’s device, requiring those under the plan to scan it in order to verify that you’re living in the same household. This code updates every few seconds, making it harder for users to use screenshots to bypass the process.

The platform goes into the verification process in detail on its support page, clarifying that it doesn’t use location tracking but instead checks your address to verify it’s the same one as the account manager’s. Additionally, Spotify states that ‘both the manager and member need to be in the same place to complete the scan’.

If you receive a verification prompt, you’ll have a 7-day window to complete the scan, but failure to comply comes with consequences. Spotify will boot you back to ad-listening on the free tier as well as banning you from joining another Premium Family or Duo plan for 12 months. It really does feel like a prison sentence.

As you can imagine, users are beyond frustrated with Spotify’s latest move, and despite not being on the Premium Family plan myself, even I can’t fathom the ridiculousness of it all.

We don’t know if this is region-specific, but a number of users on Reddit have received verification prompts despite there being no formal announcement from the company. ‘Self sabotage by Spotify. If I have to do this more than once for my kids that live at home I'm shutting it down,’ an angry Redditor posted.

One of the many users' frustrations is with, of course, money. By limiting Premium Family as a solely household plan, Spotify will drive a huge number of users out of the grouped plan and leave them with no option but to sign up to Premium Individual.

This plan is priced at $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$15.99 a month, while Premium Family is $21.99 / £21.99 / AU$25.99 a month and includes up to six individual accounts — which is roughly $3.665 / £3.665 / AU$4.331 per individual account. The more users Spotify can force into Premium Individual accounts, the more subscription revenue it can generate, but it’s so much more than money.

For me, the most ridiculous part is Spotify’s narrow definition of what a ‘family’ is, as a large majority of Premium Family users are members who have moved out of their parents’ home but are still on the same plan — for example, students who move away from home to study. So, in Spotify’s eyes, these types of families are essentially considered lesser than a family whose members still live under the same roof.

Equally, Spotify’s Premium Family plan has been helpful for adults to guide their not-so-tech literate elderly parents through navigating digital streaming, as another Redditor highlights. Someone takes control of the account, sets up a profile for their parents, shows them the ropes, and lets them listen away. Not only does the verification remove this, it also gets rid of the novelty of families comparing their music tastes and reminiscing about their old favourites together.

It has to be said that until now, Spotify has been on its best behavior and even rolled out helpful tools to exclude your kids’ music from your recommendations, which has been welcomed by Premium Family members — but the new verification process just feels like one step forward, three steps back. In that case, Spotify should rebrand Premium Family to 'Premium Household' to avoid confusion.

• Audiophile.fm now has an app for Android and iOS 26 or later, in addition to its web version
• It's a free streaming radio service, and all music is CD quality or hi-res
• No subscription needed, no account, and no in-app ads

If you're looking for an audio alternative to ad-stuffed and/or expensive subscription music services, Audiophile.fm could be just what you're looking for. It's a free and ad-free player for internet radio stations that stream in CD quality or higher, and it just launched an app for iOS and Android, having already been available in your web browser.

While Macs aren't officially supported, you can grab the iPhone version from the Mac App Store. I've done that on my Mac, and can confirm it runs perfectly on macOS 27.

The app was created by Bojan Vidanovic, who explained on r/BudgetAudiophile that "I wanted an easier way to find and listen to lossless radio stations. It brings together handpicked stations streaming in FLAC, from CD-quality to Hi-Res options across jazz, classical, rock, electronic, and more."

The response has been really positive, and having tried it, I'd say that's because it's a really nice app.

Free hi-res audio streaming. What's the catch?

The catch is: there is no catch, as far as I can see. The app and website connects you to internet radio stations, who presumably have all the necessary permissions and licenses in place to ensure the artists they play get paid. The app itself is ad-free, but some of the stations play ads to pay the bills, naturally.

The joy here is serendipity: there's no algorithm serving you up endless variations of the songs you already like, so you can end up with truly random listening: for example I've just gone from Daft Punk to French jazz to Underworld deep cuts to the new Beck album to Culture Club to, er, Alien Ant Farm.

And the sound quality is consistently excellent because all of the stations are broadcasting in FLAC at CD quality or better. I've listened to a whole bunch on my favorite headphones and the only one that sounded horrible was playing Alien Ant Farm.

This is very much a work in progress — things like equalization, Google Cast and AirPlay are on the to-do list — but it's a very impressive starting point and Bojan is actively seeking feedback on Reddit. The plan is apparently to keep the core app free and monetize it with additional paid features at some point in the future.

Obviously, this is no replacement for the likes of Spotify, if you're an audiophile who gets frustrated with the discovery options of the big music services, this could give you a great alternative: a wide mix of music, all in quality to show off what the best wired headphones combined with a nice headphone DAC can do.

• Successful Kickstarter Trettitre Retro Ambient Audio System is now shipping
• Combines several retro physical media sources in a fun configuration
• Sits on your wall (components can be moved), with multiple extra novelties

You can rely on Kickstarter to surface some of the stranger audio products out there, and it's true to form today. A successful campaign from a company called Trettitre has brought us one such device, and it's shipping now.

This is called the Retro Ambient Audio System, a title that's both uncatchy but accurate. It made over $2 million on a goal of $3,000, in just 15 days of funding (this was back in March and April), but you can still make late pledges of $399 (or a conversion for the equivalent in your country; it's about £300 or AU$600) to receive the full bundle.

According to Trettitre, the full MSRP of the device is $899. Since you can order the bundle for $500 less post-campaign, though, it's not clear if it'll ever actually sell for this price.

So what is the RAAS? Well, as you can see in the images, it's an all-in-one physical media machine. It's a combined record player, CD player and cassette player, which is designed to let you listen to any kind of physical media at home.

You can buy the components separately if you like, but the fun is in the setup with the magnetic wall-rack. Trettitre's marketing videos show users removing the record player from the wall, carrying it via a handle, plugging in some IEMs and listening to vinyl on their kitchen table, because this turntable has an onboard battery that charges when you put it back on its wall-mount.

There's one thing missing though: a speaker. You can buy this separately, with Trettitre selling loads of extras including multiple speakers, but know it's not included in the box.

Lights, colors, buttons

Perhaps the first novelty of the Trettitre RAAS is that it's all wall-mounted. Following in the footsteps of Ultrasonic Audio's gorgeous wall-mounted speakers and Fuse Audio's vertical turntable, the company is embracing vertical audio, which is popular among fashionistas (and people with smaller apartments) but decried by audiophiles.

The gadgets all have built-in batteries too, so you can remove them from the wall and use them on the go. The battery capacity is unclear (although six hours for the turntable is listed, or three if you're using it solely as a light source), but you should get a few hours of listening before you need to clip them back onto the wall.

Another notch in the toolbelt? The record player, called the TTT-LP3, has a built-in lighting panel which you can change the color of, like a giant RGB record player. The purpose, I glean, is to make the whole system feel like a part of your home decor. It's not the first time we've seen light-up decks, of course — FiiO's done it, Audio-Technica's gone all glowy with a vinyl spinner and Brian Eno's neon version was so popular, it's had a second iteration.

The LP3 has an Audio-Technica AT-3600LA cartridge, and plays at 33.3 or 45rpm. The next device is the TTT-DP3, the CD player which supports CD, CD-R or CD-RW, and seems to have a neat sliding release system which lets you glide the cover off. Finally, there's the TTT-CP3, a cassette player with some nice chunky light-up buttons and a clean, modernist look.

The RAAS is funky to look at, and offers lots of flexibility for physical media users, but might not be best suited for die-hard audiophiles. While each gadget has a 3.5mm jack. it's clear that they're designed to be used by Bluetooth speakers (unless you're going to have a long 3.5mm wire trailing up to that wall rack).

It's also suspiciously cheap for such a complex system; the best turntables alone cost more than the cost, without other gadgets and a wall mount system. Admittedly you'll need to buy a speaker separately, and Trettitre is pushing its add-ons, but it still raises eyebrows. So it might be worth waiting until the units have shipped, to see what users say, before you get too excited.

Sony ULT Tower 7 review

The Sony ULT Tower 7 is another strong entry in Sony’s refreshed ULT line, coming in with newly developed, rounded woofers for enhanced deep bass, a swathe of connectivity options for personal or professional use, and customizable lighting for highly immersive listening.

This model is the mid-sized option in Sony’s new ULT Tower lineup, sitting above the Tower 5 and below the ULT Max. It has a seven driver setup, with a single 280mm woofer, two mid-ranges, and four tweeters — including two rear-facing tweeters for Sony’s 360-degree Party Sound. It also has an impressive 420W of power meaning that it can get unbelievably loud — honestly I had to test this one outdoors for the most part, as it shook the foundations of our music testing space to its very core.

How good is the Sony ULT Tower 7? I’ve tested it for hours on end, listening to countless tunes, playing around with the light settings, and assessing its various features and functions available through Sony’s Sound Connect app. Here’s why I think it can compete with some of the very best Bluetooth speakers.

Let’s start with the most important thing of all: sound quality. The ULT Tower 7 is an excellent-sounding model, providing clarity and insight right across the frequency range, but the clear standout is the bass. It can extend all the way down to 20Hz with confidence, plating up regimented, meaty bass and even rippling sub-bass.

When tuning into First Summer by H.K., the deep, pounding bass was replicated fantastically, sounding just as dynamic, full-bodied and agile as I’d hoped. But still, vocals were textured and clear in the build up, keys and vocals were brilliantly balanced in the mid-range, and higher-pitched drums had a highly energetic, rhythmic quality.

A lot of these positive qualities were mirrored when listening to Rocking Chair by Mr. Scruff. Rich, deep bass was mesmerizing and phenomenally full-sounding, with tonally accurate keys in the mid-range and expressive drums up top adding plenty of color. In addition, guitars had a great sense of width to them, sounding as if they were playing from the corners of our testing room during my indoor assessment.

When blasting tunes from the ULT Tower 7 outdoors, I was astonished by its raw, uncompromised power. It has a maximum power output of 420W, and sound can fill large open spaces confidently, without losing low-end impact or clarity in the mids and treble. One of my colleagues could hear the speaker clearly from the other side of the parking lot in which I was testing the speaker, and let me tell you, this thing is borderline deafening (in a good way) at top volumes.

My only criticism, sonically speaking, is that the 360-degree sound on this speaker is a bit underwhelming. When listening at less favorable angles, like the side and rear of the speaker, the experience was noticeably worse. The overall sound of my tracks just wasn’t as cohesive and balanced as I’d hoped for, and while the larger ULT Tower Max may remedy this issue, the Tower 7 is certainly outclassed for 360-degree sound by rivals like the Marshall Bromley 450.

Still, this is a fantastic sounding speaker that handles dynamics beautifully, and plates up emphatic deep bass, clear mids and highs, and a whole lot of power. The ULT Tower 7’s Sound Field Optimization — which analyzes speaker placement and background noise and accordingly adjusts sound balance across the frequency range — also means that you’re getting consistent quality in any environment.

Something else I love about the ULT Tower 7 is how easy it is to customize its audio output, thanks to its top-tier EQ options. ULT 1 is best for huge outdoor spaces, and places additional emphasis on deep bass, while ULT 2 provides a more rounded sound that focuses on delivering the most energetic, powerful sound. There’s also a Live mode if you want to replicate live recordings more faithfully, a Flat signature for a more balanced sound, and a custom 10-band equalizer which gives you more granular control over the speaker’s output.

What’s more, this speaker supports the higher-res Bluetooth codec LDAC, enabling you to get a surprisingly detailed, insightful listen from the speaker. If you’re after true lossless audio, you’re in luck too — there’s USB-C, 3.5mm, and RCA connectivity on board. This flexibility is great for professionals who want to hook up a DJ controller via RCA or casual listeners who just want to run with Bluetooth or USB-C. In addition, there’s a pair of mic ports so you can dabble in a bit of karaoke from time to time.

If you’re using the ULT Tower 7 for karaoke, there are some effects available to you in Sony’s Sound Connect app, including a voice changer, echo, and so on. There’s also a party pad for effects like a flanger and sampler, as well as playing drum sounds and robotic noises when DJing. These are easy to access, and more generally, I found the SoundConnect app to be highly user-friendly and reliable — it wasn’t filled with bugs like some rivals’ apps are.

While we’re talking about features, it only seems right to talk about battery life. The ULT Tower 7 can offer up to 30 hours of playback with the LEDs turned off, and for a party speaker in this size-category, that’s very strong indeed. That’s almost double of a rival like the JBL PartyBox 330, and means you can keep the party going well into the early hours. There’s also a Stamina mode for extended playtime, or you can use the speaker while hooked up to the mains.

Let’s move onto design now, an area where the ULT Tower 7 largely excels. It looks fantastic, with eye-catching yet tasteful lighting, an attractive rounded aesthetic, and well-sized, illuminated buttons. Even the ULT logo impressed me because it enables you to adjust volume and cycle through EQ modes swiftly — adding a functional layer here is a very nice touch. While it’s not made of the most premium materials, it’s still built to a great standard, and has a rugged yet refined appearance.

My issue with the overall build, however, is that this speaker is not as practical as it could be. At 50.3lbs / 22.8kg, it’s very heavy, and will take a fair bit of effort to move around. Yes, there are a couple of handles built-in alongside some wheels, but a model this hefty really could’ve done with a pull-out handle for easier transportation. When using the main handle on the reverse side of the speaker, I found the ULT Tower 7 to be awkward to maneuver, something that you won’t find with a lot of the JBL PartyBoxes, for instance.

I also would’ve liked to have seen slightly better waterproofing on the ULT Tower 7. IPX4 means it's safe against splashes of water, and this is essentially the standard for party speakers of this size. But some models, like the Marshall Bromley 450, provide superior IP55 protection, which also shields against dust ingress.

But anyway, let’s get down to the crucial question: is the Sony ULT Tower 7 worth the money? Well, for $649.99 / £499 / AU$799, I think you’re actually getting great quality overall. With imposing, gigantic sound, a flashy look, long battery life, and broad connectivity options, the ULT Tower 7 is more accomplished than a lot of the competition in this price-range.

It’s still a big investment, sure, but pound-for-pound, you’re getting an awful lot of functionality and great audio. If you’re looking to save a bit of cash, then I’d personally go for the Sony ULT Tower 5, but for some added oomph, you really can’t go wrong with the ULT Tower 7.

Sony ULT Tower 7 review: price & release date

• Priced at $649.99 / £499 / AU$799
• Released in September 2026

The Sony ULT Tower 7 released in September 2026, and is the mid-sized option in the new Tower lineup, sitting right between the smaller Sony ULT Tower 5 and the giant Sony ULT Tower Max. It comes in at $649.99 / £499 / AU$799, which is a reasonable price for a model with such powerful sound and fleshed-out features.

While the ULT Tower 7 is a fair bit pricier than the ULT Tower 5, it does come with the benefits of rear-facing tweeters for 360-degree sound, added power, and better battery life. It’s also priced pretty well against rivals in this size category, such as the JBL PartyBox 330 and the Marshall Bromley 450 — which you can read more about in the ‘also consider’ section.

Sony ULT Tower 7 review: specs

Should I buy the Sony ULT Tower 7?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sony ULT Tower 7 review: also consider

How I tested the Sony ULT Tower 7

• Tested outdoors and at the Future Labs music testing space
• Mainly streamed tunes over Tidal
• Tried Party Chain functionality alongside ULT Tower 5

I spent many an hour testing the Sony ULT Tower 7, using it both in our music testing space at Future Labs and outdoors. As well as testing the ULT Tower 7 on its own, I also tried using it alongside the Sony ULT Tower 5 with the Party Chain function.

For the most part, I made use of Bluetooth connectivity to stream tunes over Tidal on my Xiaomi 17 phone, which supports the higher-res LDAC codec. I started by sifting through the TechRadar reference playlist, which features tracks from a wide variety of genres, but I also made sure to bump countless tunes from my personal library as well.

More generally, I’ve spent years testing audio gear here at TechRadar, where I serve as a Senior Reviews Writer. I’ve reviewed everything from wireless headphones like the Sonos Ace Ultra to Dolby Atmos soundbar systems like the JBL Bar 1300MK2. On top of that, I’ve tested a large number of party speakers, including ULT Tower 7 competitors like the Marshall Bromley 450.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: October 2026