REVIEWS
Spring brings some of the most stylish new audio releases for you. MacTribe gives you a look at the best headphones and audio players for a chance to fulfill your obsession.
Audyssey
South of Market Audio Dockaudyssey.com
Price: $399.99
The SOMA Audio Dock does a wonderful job of representing its namesake neighborhood in San Francisco. Just like SOMA, it is modern, and it is industrial. It is sleek and artistic. But above all, just as the residents of SOMA would demand, it is of superior quality. The SOMA Audio Dock features are numerous, but its main feature is the audio sound system. Audyssey Smart Speaker technology means balanced audio at any volume and the deepest bass you can find for a unit of its size. Once you experience its high-functioning performance, you may just have to visit San Francisco's SOMA and experience firsthand the surroundings that inspired such a wonderful audio dock system.
ION
Center Stageionaudio.com
Price: $199.99
You've got the iPhone with the best music playlists of your friends, and you know it! So now, you can turn your living room into a dance floor with the help of Center Stage, the compact and complete sound amp system. It's two speakers with stands, a built-in mixer, microphone, cables and the oh-so-important cradle to hold your iPhone or iPod. Take it from the living room into the basement if a few of your buddies in a local band want to play for you; it is light and highly portable! Bonus: if they bring an electric guitar, they can just hook it up to Center Stage. No additional amps required. Use the mixer and play DJ to build the perfect balance and sound. You're in control of a truly complete sound amp system.
iFrogz
Vertex with Micifrogz.com Price: $49.99
The Vertex is the latest of iFrogz comfortable and stylish over-ear headphones. They are lightweight, so you hardly notice them on your ears during long midday jam sessions! Touches of contrasting color - tones of red on the black set, and touches of white on the iron headset - add to their visual appeal. With the convenient in-line mic, you don't have to miss calls or switch from headset to phone in a frantic and awkward flare of panic! Use them with any media device that has a 3.5mm jack.
Logitech
Rechargeable Speaker S715ilogitech.com $149.99
The most beautiful cars are the ones that have curves and contour. Brilliance and beauty of automotive design are gifts to us from top designers in Germany, Italy and Britain. Well, I felt a similar feeling of aesthetic satisfaction when I lent my eye to the Logitech Rechargeable Speaker S715i. The whole unit is round, curved and geometrically balanced. To stand it up, flip the black plastic piece covering the iPod/iPhone dock into a kickstand. Genius! With eight drivers and their location spacing mapped out oh-so-precisely, you have great quality for the size and price. Use it plugged into the wall with the included AC Adaptor or cable-free for up to eight hours of listening. Bonus features include handy remote and protective travel case. I'm going to throw the Logitech S715i into the back of my BMW Mach 5 and head out of the city… oh; I guess I need to wake up now…
Palo Alto Design: Cubik Desktop Luxury Hi-Fi Speakers
Paloaltoaudio.com Price: 199.00
What is striking about this new release from Palo Alto Design is that it’s metal-cone full-range driver produces unbelievable bass and crisp high-frequency sound. On top of that ear candy, what sets this speaker apart is design. It’s a sleek, speaker that looks great on your desk, next to your computer. It features Advanced Enclosure Design to produce deep bass from such a small enclosure: a highly advanced long-vent enclosure was designed to do the job. Palo Alto was then smart enough to add a metal stand to ensure that the great quality bass and overall sound wouldn’t be compromised by other vibrations in its surroundings. Cubik's audio-amplifier circuit uses full-digital amplification technology. This cutting-edge innovation amplifies a digital audio signal without converting the signal to analog. The sound comes directly from your computer, through the USB cable, and then the full digital amplifier amplifies it with no conversion loss. Overall It's crisp sound and sleek design is noteworthy. These are my new favorite pair of speakers!
iMainGo X imaingo.com Price: 59.99
The iMainGo X is here! It’s a compact, portable speaker system easy to use with your iPhone or iPod. The case is sleek, lightweight and made of neoprene so it’s water resistant. The great thing is, once you’ve popped in your iPhone or iPod, you can play, control and view everything without opening the case. You can also use the iMainGo X as an external speaker system for any device with a 3.5 mm connection. Like your iPad, kindle, even your electric guitar or portable gaming system! This is the iMainGo 2.0 and this new version offers:
SoundMatters
FoxL v2soundmatters.com Price: starting at $169.00
The engineer clown in the circus ring, designer of the clown's infinite mini car, got something right! He changed our very perception of what is physically possible. So did the physicist and former NASA engineer, Dr. Godehard Guenther , who designed the FoxL pocket-sized music system. This updated version, v2, features even better sound quality and a bluetooth option for wireless music and hands-free capabilities. With design innovation that blends the tweeter and woofer drivers into a "twoofer" at no cost to audio purity, the FoxL v2 has something very special. It is unbelievable when you listen with your own ears to hear hi-fi quality come from such a tiny speaker. The clowns defied my sense of visual reasoning with their car. Dr. Gunther has me mesmerized in the audio sense!
Blue Sky EXO2 Stereo Monitoring System
abluesky.com Price: $499
Blue Sky means professional audio. Their latest release, the eXo2, is the newest version of its original eXo stereo monitoring system. The greatest update is the subwoofer's significantly reduced size with no loss to its original performance quality. The equipment and programs necessary for making music are now readily available to more and more of us. The result is we are hearing beautiful music from any nook that we can find! It’s a pleasure to hear the complete eXo2 system, which includes two satellites, one subwoofer and a desktop controller made especially for our personal music labs!
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Apple 2012
Steve Jobs was once judged to be worth 40% of the Apple stock price;the most valuable CEO of them all. That would equate to $100 a share at current levels. Anyone reading the authorised biography of Jobs by Walter Issacson or the unauthorised "iCon" would certainly get the feeling that Apple will not survive with its market stardom intact for long without the triple crowned genius of Steve. However, while looking pretty shaky, the stock has not tanked like Greece, Italy, Spain and a lot of markets and stocks all over the world. The idea is that Apple has DNA and, like Obi Wan, somehow Steve Jobs is stronger now than he ever was. Nice trick if you can pull it off.
The Future
All in all, the tragic loss of the genius that built the company and a veritable storm of competition against its core products Apple seems impervious to all shocks. This is only heightened by the fact it is taking place in the midst of a financial crisis. Can nothing dent this juggernaut? You could point to the near $90 billion dollars of cash in the bank and suggest that this is a good indication of the kind of momentum Apple has, which will tide it over against all mishaps. This is clearly what the market believes. Theoretically the market is always right, so those that see Apple losing its shine may have a long time to wait. Tell us what you think on Twitter!
Techie Trendy: Fashion Delights Part I
Techie Trendy: Fashion Delights Part 2
More Apple
More News
Apple 2012
Steve Jobs was once judged to be worth 40% of the Apple stock price;the most valuable CEO of them all. That would equate to $100 a share at current levels. Anyone reading the authorised biography of Jobs by Walter Issacson or the unauthorised "iCon" would certainly get the feeling that Apple will not survive with its market stardom intact for long without the triple crowned genius of Steve. However, while looking pretty shaky, the stock has not tanked like Greece, Italy, Spain and a lot of markets and stocks all over the world. The idea is that Apple has DNA and, like Obi Wan, somehow Steve Jobs is stronger now than he ever was. Nice trick if you can pull it off.
Bumpy Ride?
The last few weeks of market volatility have made Apple look bumpy and it is at the bottom of its channel, which if it broke down through would be ominous. At the beginning of 2008 Apple was $100, it is now $400. Somewhere along that rise, about in the middle, Apple became very highly valued but with many justifications. Perhaps if I call the top long enough, one day I'll be right and there are a lot of factors saying Apple has seen its all-time high.
Apple is still leagues ahead of its competition and it could simply be that now the market has had a look at the me-too emulators they are re-assured of Apple supremacy for quite some time.
The Future
All in all, the tragic loss of the genius that built the company and a veritable storm of competition against its core products Apple seems impervious to all shocks. This is only heightened by the fact it is taking place in the midst of a financial crisis. Can nothing dent this juggernaut? You could point to the near $90 billion dollars of cash in the bank and suggest that this is a good indication of the kind of momentum Apple has, which will tide it over against all mishaps. This is clearly what the market believes. Theoretically the market is always right, so those that see Apple losing its shine may have a long time to wait. Tell us what you think on Twitter!
