myOurReview

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: Two-minute review The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are my favorite cans released in the past year, and are an absolutely thrilling listen that also set a new standard when it comes to active noise cancellation. See, maybe I didn't even need two minutes to help you make your decision about them. Of course, you've probably already noticed that the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones achieve this by being more expensive than most of the best noise-cancelling headphones , so that complicates things – though I think they more than earn this price tag. Things are also complicated by their short battery life, which is really noticeable compared to the 30 hours minimum we expect from the best wireless headphones these days. 24 hours doesn't sound terrible, but the difference has really jumped out to me compared to Sony headphones with 30 hours of battery. It's also a bit of a shame they don't match some of the other more elite ...

LG revealed all of its new 2024 OLED TVs at CES 2024 – including the first transparent OLED TV that you’ll be able to buy, which we got to see in action – and the one I was most curious to see in action (apart from the see-through one, obviously) was the LG C4 . In its initial unveiling of the C4, LG revealed that the new model would be brighter than last year’s LG C3 , despite using the same core OLED panel. This is an important upgrade, because its key competitor last year was the Samsung S90C , which offered much better brightness at the same price, and this year’s Samsung S90D will be even brighter. But the question was: how much brighter would the C4 be? After seeing the LG C4 in action, I don’t have an exact measurement for how much brighter it is, but I can sum it up: bright enough. The level of extra vibrance and pop is immediately clear; HDR highlights gleaming off metal are more dazzling, and white areas of the screen have the extra cleanness that brighter OLED white...

Sonos Move 2 review: Two-minute review The Sonos Move 2 is the new big, portable speaker from Sonos, designed to be a home speaker than you can just grab and take with you when you feel like it. The Sonos Move 2 is much bigger and heavier than most of the best Bluetooth speakers , but it packs in a lot more audio tech and battery life than those do – it can last 24 hours (and this holds up in my testing). The downside is that all of this tech comes at a seriously high price of $449 / £449 / AU$799. The Sonos Move 2 does everything it's supposed to extremely well. It sounds great, with depth, poise and detail to please picky listeners, as well as being fun and loud enough for parties. Its loudness is part of its advantage – where other portable speakers top out and lose control, the Move 2 has tons of headroom. Given that a mix of Bluetooth and Sonos Wi-Fi connectivity are now also offered by other Sonos speakers – particularly the Sonos Era 100 , which sounds the same but is ...

The new Sony WH-CH720N noise-cancelling headphones are a direct replacement for the previous CH710N model, adding new features, plus sound and noise-cancelling upgrades. With a price of $129 / £99 / AU$259, they're aggressive from Sony, bringing a lot of flagship-level features from the best noise-cancelling headphones to lower budgets. But do they bring flagship-level performance too? Well, I mean, obviously not the same as the Sony WH-1000XM5 , which cost more than three times as much – but I've been using my trusty Sony WH-1000XM3 for years now, and they were the flagship back in 2018, and recently dropped as low as $180 / £160 in places where they're still on sale (they seem to be finally on the out, sadly).  So I thought there's a chance that the new headphones might be able to match this older model, which would be incredibly exciting at this price. I took them both out to play in the traffic of the city, because the noise cancellation is where there tends t...

The Sonos Era 300 is the company's first Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker, and I got to try it with both Dolby Atmos streaming music and movies in a home theater configuration. Sonos has made soundbars with Dolby Atmos before, of course, but this is its first separate speaker unit to be designed around positional audio – and I've got to say, it blew me away. We'll obviously reserve final judgment for a full Sonos Era 300 review, but even after a demo I can say that it's one of the most impressive speakers I've heard for its $449 / £449 / AU$749 price, and that it's a genuinely transformative upgrade for the Sonos Arc soundbar, finally bringing the true 'dome' of Dolby Atmos sound to a Sonos home theater setup. And like the smaller Sonos Era 100, it's easier to get audio to it than almost any other Sonos speaker, thanks to featuring Bluetooth audio support as well as optional 3.5mm line-in via an adapter, and I think that even you don't put Dolby A...

The Sony WH-CH520 are the new super-affordable headphones in Sony's wireless lineup, coming in at $60 / £60. They're on-ear Bluetooth headphones, and while, as you might expect at this price, you're not getting active noise cancellation or Hi-Res Audio support, their focus on sound (and a few useful tricks) means they're still fantastic value. I don't mind at all when the manufacturers of the best cheap headphones put everything into audio quality, and though the sound here obviously isn't going to blow minds for the price, I could happily listen to it all day. After activating DSEE (more on that shortly), I can't fault the balance between bass, mids and treble; all are equally represented and clear, and the Sony WH-CH520 deliver a nice dose of detail. The bass underpins things well, adding depth while staying controlled, and letting you have some fun with electronic or dance music. The mids are capable of letting vocals stretch their legs, and giving de...

Apple HomePod 2: Two-minute review The HomePod 2 is a surprising relaunch for Apple's smart speaker, because at first glance, it doesn't appear to offer much different to the original model. And after taking a much deeper glance (and listen), I can tell that it does not, in fact, offer much different to the original. The HomePod 2 a fairly compact speaker (smaller than most of the best wireless speakers , though obviously larger than the dinky HomePod mini ) with a lot of speaker power built in, and you can hear it. It's energetic, bursting with detail, dynamic, and underlined with natural and resonant bass. For its price, nothing sounds quite as good for a single speaker – and combining two in a stereo system makes for even bigger and bolder sound. But access to this power is frustratingly limited. The only ways to access audio are through the Siri voice assistant, or Apple AirPlay 2 system via Wi-Fi. There's no Bluetooth, no Chromecast, no Spotify Connect, and n...