PK Shiu
Creative ZEN Hybrid Headphones Review
Creative ZEN Hybrid Headphones Review

Insta360 Link Webcam

Not a lot of people have heard about this webcam. It is at the higher end, but wow the quality and features are great. Check out the full video review:

Highlight of the features

  • gimbal driven, tracking my face without loosing resolution

  • the mic is surprisingly good

  • resolution up to 4K

  • general image quality is great

  • whiteboard mode (see video for demo)

Whiteboard Mode

This camera can find your whiteboard and frame in the content. This is great for doing presentation. The camera comes with a few “corner” stickers. If you want to print you own, you can use these that I created: Download and print at 100% scale.

Creative ZEN Hybrid Headphones Review

Introduction

The Creative Zen Hybrid comes in a nice package. My white version looks great. The headphones are comfortable, folds small to throw in a bag. It even has a wired mode in case the batteries is exhausted. With 27 hours of play time, that is unlikely to happen. It is hard not to compare it to the Sony XM4 in looks. Does it perform like the XM4?

Controls

The Zen hybrid has a generous set of physical buttons on the right ear cup to control its function. ANC is a dedicated button. The power button serves as a multi-function button for power and pairing. There is a separate volume control that also skip tracks when long pressed.

Bluetooth

The ZEN has BT 5.0, HFP and A2DP profile. If the audio sounds bad, switch the mic input on your phone or computer to something other than the ZEN to get the headphones out of HFP mode.

The ZEN Hybrid unfortunately does not have multi-point. It can connect to one device at one time only. Since I like to use my headphones between my phones and my iPad, I have to manually disconnect the headphones from one before it will connect to the second device.

Batteries and Charging

The ZEN uses USB-C for charging its 500mAh battery. Charge time is something between 1.5 to 3 hours. Once charged, it has 27 hours of play time. That is very good.

During charging, the indicator shows a solid red. It will turn to solid green when it is fully charged. If the headphones has less than 10% batteries left, the indicator will flash red.

Audio

The ZEN has AAC and SBC codecs only. Not APTx for higher quality audio stream. The 40mm drivers at 32 ohm works well and overall sound is good with my test tracks. However, with both my MacBook Pro running Monterey and my iPhone XS, the volume of the headphones when connected using bluetooth is low. I have to set the volume to almost maximum to get good sound. This may be a software issue. I have opened a ticket with Creative.

The mic quality is very good. It does isolate my voice during calls in a noisy environment. Check out the test in the video.

The ANC performance is fairly good. There is also an ambient mode where it will pass surrounding sound through, useful when you want to be aware of your surrounding. To activate ambient mode, double press the ANC button.

Comfort

I find the Zen Hybrid very comfortable -- it is a combination of soft ear cups, light weight, and well padded headband. The Zen looks like the Sony XM4, but it is lighter and more comfortable.

Conclusion

Especially for the price point, this could have been a very full feature set of headphones. The audio performance is good. I could almost live with the lack of multi-point bluetooth, but Creative has to fix this volume too low problem with bluetooth mode.

Edifier W295BT Plus headphones review

Packaging

IMG_6103.jpg

The unbox experience is very good. The headphones are presented in a molded carrier inside a nice box. Underneath are the extra eartips, charing cable and the carrying tin. Yes, a carrying “tin” — a metal circular box that is about 1.5 inch tall and 3 inches diameter. This box certainly will protect the headphones, although it is a bit bigger than the typical soft pouch.

Battery life


The reason I picked this particular model is that it has a claimed battery life of 12 hours! I am looking for a bluetooth headphones that someone can use almost constantly during the day without the need for recharging. With my run down test, after 11 hours of music playing at a normal volume, the battery shows 40% according to the report by the connected iPhone. By playing music at 50% volume I measured 15 hours of playback time before the battery ran out. Now that I have used it under normal condition, the batteries definitely last for an entire day each day.

Design and Fit

The earbuds and the remote control module both are larger than the normal bluetooth earbuds. I assume that’s where the larger batteries are located. The earbuds are not too large to be uncomfortable. It stills sit in the ear unobtrusively. I like memory wire setup, but like most other memory wire, it takes a bit of adjusting to get it right. Once it is bent to the right shape, it helps the earbuds stay in, and fit around my eyeglasses frame easily.


Sound quality

Initially I find the sound quality average. I burnt them in for probably two days, during the battery test. The sound stage is still not very wide. Bass is natural, not overly boosted. The highs are slightly harsh. After the burn in period, I give it a B+ for sound, which is good in terms of earbuds at this price range.


Overall, these are a good buy, especially if you want a long lasting, comfortable pair of in ear headphones.

Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Wireless Headset Review

tl:dr; If you are looking for the best wireless headset for making video calls when working for home, this is the best headset to get. Great sound. Comfortable to wear. Connect to computer and phones seamlessly.

Review criteria

I work from home most of the time. I conduct online video meetings several hours a day. Having tried many different brands and types of headset, these are the top requirements I use to determine which headset is the best:

Wireless

There are cheaper wired USB headset. But wireless headset let me stand up and walk around, go get a cup of coffee, all without missing anything. And no cord to get tangled. Not all bluetooth connects are the same.

Three Mic setup with swing down boom

Great Microphone Sound

It is hard enough to talk and listen over a video link. I want to sound good and clear so that people on the other end can hear me. Most high end headset has good sound, including the Jabra evolve and Apple AirPods.

Battery Life

Most smaller headsets, like the AirPods, last only an hour or so with constant use. There is nothing more annoying then having to switch headset during a call. I need something that has at least 4 hours of realistic talk time.

Comfort

Using a headset several hours a day is not comfortable. Most in ear headsets are out with the exception of the AirPods. Pressure in the ear canal is never good. On ear headset is actually more comfortable than over the ear for someone who wear glasses. Weight and head band design also matters.

Why the Voyager Focus UC

Long Battery Life

The voyager, being a full size headset, has great battery life. It is rated at 12 hours talk time. I have never ran out of battery during a day’s worth of conference call. Because it comes with a easy to use charging stand, charging the headset overnight is easy to do. No trying to figure out the right direction to plug in a micro USB cable. Although you can charge it using USB as well, especially if you are on the go or in a hotel. The headset comes with a soft slightly padded carrying case.

Stable Connection to iPhone and MacBook Pro

The Voyager connects to my iPhone XS using standard bluetooth 4.1, but connect to my MacBook Pro 2017 using a proprietary adapter/dongle. I attach it to a USB-A to USB-C adapter and plug that into my MacBook Pro. Initially I thought this will be a hassle. But the dongle has a useful LED light that tells me the connection and mute status. I grew to like it.

The headset switch seamlessly between my iPhone and my Mac. I find that I need to give the headset a few seconds to get connected. Do not flip the boom mic down until it is connected to both the phone and the computer. It has audio status to tell me that it is connected.

The Earpad and headband design is comfortable

The on-ear earpads are comfortable. The clamping force is very low. The headband is a suspended design that put very little pressure on the top of my head. The elastic suspended design also means the headset will not go out of adjustment.

Mic Quality

I conducted two mic sound tests. I record myself talking into the headset, first with music playing from my Amazon Echo on my desk. When I discovered that almost none of the music is recorded, even the full size Echo device is only three feet or so away on my desk, I was amazed. Then I played a coffee shop ambient sound track very loudly on my home stereo, then walk around with the headset recording my voice. Again most of the ambient sound is filtered out. You can listen to a sound test here:

Design

The Voyager Focus has a lot of good design features:

  • I like the physical on/off and pair switch. It is easy to locate. Easy to use.

  • The control groupings are intuitive: All media control is on one side, including volume, track next/pre, play and pause. The other side is the mic boom, and the power and answer control. On the boom itself is the mute switch. While there are many physical switches, they are sensibly grouped.

  • Ambidextrous design: You can actually wear the headset with the mic boom on left or right. The headset can tell and will route the left and right channel accordingly. Smart huh? However it does not switch the volume “Knob” direction. So depending on which side is the volume “knob”, forward can means louder or softer.

  • The headset has a smart sensor. When you remove the headset from your head, it will pause music playback. It works with all audio app on my iPhone, and native music apps on my Mac, like iTunes. It will not pause a video playing inside a browser.

Useful Apps

There is a plantronics app call PLT Hub on iOS, and a Plantronics Hub app for OSX on the Mac. both are free software. They allow customization of various things on the headset and the connection dongle.

Conclusion

The Voyager is the best after I tried several other types and brands. The Apple AirPods win on comfort, sound and compatibility, but fails on battery life. I had to charge one earbud after the other during a call to keep going during the day. I tried the Jabra Evolve 65e neckband style headphones. The mic quality is great, but it is uncomfortable for my ear, and the bluetooth implementation does not work well with the Mac at all. In fact their support document says it is only designed for mobile use.

This headset is not cheap. But for the number of hours I use it each day, it is easily one of the best gadget purchase.




















Millican Smith the Roll 15L backpack Review

Millican is a small English company that designs and makes highly functional and stylish bags. They name their bags in a very interesting way. This particular line is called the "Smith the Roll" and it comes in several sizes.

More to come...

Millican Smith the Roll 15L Backpack

Back of Millican Smith the Roll 15L Backpack

Millican Smith the Roll 15L Backpack internal organization

Video Review

Muji Double Fastener Case Review

Muji has a line of pouches that I find very useful. They comes in three sizes, large, medium and small, and in multiple colors: blue, light grey, mustard and black. Here I am reviewing the medium and small case together. The medium case is 5in x 7in, or 13.5cm x 19cm, just slightly smaller than a A5 notebook. The small is 4in x 5in or 10cm x 13.5cm. 

Both cases have two compartments — the front one has a mesh front and the back compartment is enclosed. The two zippers have a different zipper pull on them. The front zipper pull has a thumb loop to make opening it easier. I can see replacing the standard pull with a custom pull, although the hole is just a bit too small for a standard size 550 paranoid.

The polyester material is good quality with a tight weave but thin. They are definitely not as rugged as say halcyon or cordura, but are perfectly adequate for normal use.

For the cost, I think these just became my favorite every day pouches.

Book review: Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play

If you are in EdTech, interested in how technology can be used to make positive contribution to education and creativity in particular, you should read this book. The format of the book makes it very easy to consume. There are interesting real world example in each chapter to illustrate the points being made. As a whole, the book makes a compelling argument for how technology can work hand in hand with the right support from teachers, mentors and peers to engage learners to grow into creative thinkers. Creativity doesn’t come from laughter and fun: It comes from experimenting, taking risks, and testing the boundaries.Using Seymour Papert’s idea of Hard Fun. Technology can help to challenge children and provide a platform for discovery.

I have been involved with the Scratch community from the beginning, almost ten years ago. Most of the content, in isolation, is not new to me. But even with that familiarity, the book as a whole ties all the research and learning together, reinforcing the connections.

One of the important notes I took from the book is how to find the balance when working to create an environment for children. Someone in the teacher position needs to move between a variety of different roles: catalyst to help start an idea, consultant to supply expertise in specific areas, connector to bring peers together to help each other, and collaborator to jump in and work together.

Go pick up this book. You can probably finish it over one weekend. It will change the way you approach the use of technology in education and learning professionally, and personally.

 

Osprey Pandion 28L Backpack Review

I use this Osprey Pandion pack mostly as a three day travel pack for business. While at 28L it is on the small size, I love the light weight, the mesh back, and the kickstand for travel.

Main Compartment

Starting with the main compartment, here is where I put my clothes and toiletries. I use a small packing cube for things that I can roll up like t shirts, and a pack-it folder for shirts. I have a LL Bean small toiletries bag. All these and one or more smaller organizer pouches fits in the main compartment together with my laptop. The laptop compartment is suspended and well padded. There is a document pocket in front of the laptop area, followed by a medium size slightly padded zipper pocket. Maybe a small tablet can fit in there. I seldom use that pocket because my iPad Pro only fits in the document pocket.

The Pandion has a slightly larger brother, the tropos which has a separate laptop compartment. The size of that pack is 32L because the laptop compartment gives maybe another inch of depth. While sometimes I wish I can pull the laptop out easier, I do not want the extra depth and weight. The Tropos and the Pandion also differ in the front of the pack:

main compartment for cloths

That was inside

Laptop and tablet slots

 

Outer Pockets

Front Stuff Pocket

The Pandion has a elastic front stash pocket that is extemely useful for travel. I stuff my light weight outer layer in there when I go through TSA Pre or in and out of cars. It probably won’t fit a winter coat, but any light weight puff jacket or hoodie will fit just fine.

The Tropos has a center zipped compartment and I think is less useful.

Padded Eyeglasses pocket

The Pandion also has two large elastic and mesh water bottle pockets on each side. They are very deep, certainly fits a large 20L bottle. During travel they are more useful as extra dump pockets for things like snacks as well.

Finally there is a slightly padded, sunglasses pocket at the top of the pack that I use for dumping my phone when I go through TSA.

Second large compartment

Organizers

There is a second compartment in the pack that runs the full height of the pack. The back wall has organizer pockets up top, and a zipper pocket in the bottom half.  It is useful when I have random things I want to be able to get to quickly, like my Amazon Basics foldable iPad stand. This compartment is pretty deep (front to back) and I can fit my bond travel gear pouch in there with all my electronics.

 

Suspended Mesh Back and Kickstand

Suspension Mesh back

These are two innovative features of this osprey. I find the mesh back really comfortable for walking around the airport. Often I ended up walking 10, 15 mins or more around the terminals and the suspended mesh definitely makes the walk easier. Together with the load lifters, and the chest strap, the fully loaded feels like nothing during the walk. The pack comes with detachable half inch waist webbing, but I removed them since I don’t find that I need them.

One thing about the mesh back — if I am wearing something smooth like a synthetic hoodie, the mesh tend to move slightly as I walk and I can hear a whoosh-whoosh side is it run against the synthetic materials.

I read some reviews that said they do not like the kickstand and I never can understand that. Especially with the thinner profile Pandion (comparing to the Tropos) I find that the bag will stand on the kickstand 90% of the time. It is really useful when I am waiting in line at the TSA, or working in a conference room. I can just put the bag down anyway.

Conclusion

This is a great travel pack for business. I have used this for 10+ trips in the last few months. My alternative is the Cotopaxi Allpa pack that I also like a lot. I can fit more things in the Allpa but I have to leave it at the hotel once I get to my destination. Whereas the Pandion I take that to work each day at my destination.

Check out my Video Review

This is an affiliated link.

Vanquest Katara 16 Backpack Review

The Katara 16 is a 16L everyday carry backpack that can be converted easily to a left or right single shoulder sling bag. There are a lot of options out there for a 16L day pack. The Katara serves this space well with smart design and nice styling.

Styling

While the pack is only available in tactical colors (coyote tan, wolf grey, black, multi cam black) , I find the multi cam black can pass for, must to the dismay of true fans of tactical gear, more of a fashion statement because of the pack’s overall styling. The Katara has a much softer outline. The low profile hypalon MOLLE and the low key Vangquest logo on the front helps as well. Both the front and side profile are much softer. The two external pockets has a wedge shaped side profile that make the pack more distinct and also giving it more capacity.

Materials

The use of 500D really make the pack softer and lighter. Note that high wearing areas are still made with 1000D. The inside are all done with 210D high visibility Vanquest orange that I personally really like. There are also several zippered translucent pockets in all of the compartments.

Design and Usage

The compartments in the Katara naturally falls into three categories. The main compartment is the largest one with a hydration or laptop pocket. I can fit my 13 inch MacBook Pro with touch bar and my 10.5 inch iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard attached in there. Note that with a slim profile( 3.5 inch from my measurement although their spec says 4), these electronics will eat into the rest of the available space. This laptop pocket cover is tapered at the top so that you can get to whatever is inside from the sides when you use this pack as a sling. I am not sure this design is needed. If I have a small iPad or kindle in there I can get to it from the side. But with my MBP there is no other way to take it out other than from the top. The front of this pocket is looped covered which is great, but with that tapered top it drastically reduce the usable area for the looped back.

 The top of the main compartment, on the front side, has a full wide zippered pocket that is just over 4 inch tall I find I can get to this pocket by zipping open just the top of the pack. The zipper stopping webbing on both sides help with keeping the rest of the pack close. For a EDC pack, it is all about quick access to many items and I find this design very smart.

There front of the main compartment also has a three way opennng pocket. Again this is designed for side access. In this case it works well and let me keep some items separately from the main content and get to them quickly. If you do not want to use this pocket, you can also unzip it completely and roll it down to the bottom, giving you a simpler main compartment.

 

But there is more! The sides of the main compartment both have a pocket and webbing at the top. If you have narrow longer items, you can put them in there. Flash lights and tools perhaps?

Review Break

Let’s take a break. As you can see at this point — this pack in typical vanquest fashion, has (too many) many organization features. This is a good thing because while you cannot use all the organization at the same time, you can fit the pack to your particular usage. This is a signature design of Vanquest and I am a huge fan of that.

Front Compartments

The two front compartments both have an interesting side profile. The bottom one is deeper at the top, and the top one is deeper at the bottom. Both compartments have open pockets in the back and a zipped pocket in the front. The top compartment’s open pocket also have one row of elastic webbing. I find that with these two compartments, I can sort out my EDC items between them. I put the most frequently accessed items in the top compartment, and secondary items at the bottom compartment. The Katara design is not perfect, I wish there is a pen slot somewhere. I ended up just slotting my pens behind the elastic webbing. I also wish there is a fleece lined eye glasses/phone pocket.

 

The outside of the top front compartment is completely covered with loop materials so that you can decorate your pack with a lot of patches. The vanquest logo is sewn on discretely. The only problem I have with the loop front is, because of the shape of front and the lighter backing material, it is slightly difficult to make the patch stands out.

 

The Back and straps

The back panel is very well padded. The last quarter of the back padding is extra thick. This helps this small pad rest on the lower back. The design of the convertible straps to switch from backpack mode to sling mode is very well designed. The pack comes with stowaway waist straps. I don’t think anyone would use the waist straps with such a small pack. At least the straps are small and easily put away.

The shoulder straps have a lot of design feature. The straps are well padded and S shaped. There is a one inch webbing sawn on top, segmented for easy lashing There is a detachable chest strap. The straps can be opened near the bottom, and the buckle is covered by a elastic loop for security.

There is a padded top carry handle on the pack. The padding is great, but there is a small seam that runs along the center underneath. The padding is nicer than the padding on the same handle on the Javalin 3.0.

Conclusion

This is a very well designed small everyday carry pack. It is a good balance of organization feature and weight. Think of this as the other extreme from a Goruck Echo. While I like the sleek look of the Goruck, I always think for smaller packs, well design built in organization is important. For that I really like the Vanquest Katara 16.

Video Review

Bond Travel Gear Escapade Gear Pouch Review

I own a lot of different pouches, some no name brand ones, some expansive ones from well known tactical gear companies. As a mobile tech professional, I find this pouch fits my EDC need extremely well. I carry my MacBook Pro charger and cable, my slim rechargeable battery pack, my Anker small charger, several cables, all in this pouch. Adding to that lip balm, pen, and other smaller items.

The key to this pouch is the organization design. It is not just a few rows of elastic loops. I do not find elastic loops useful for office gear. They are good for flash lights and multi-tools, but I am not carry those around. Instead, the different size pockets in the Escapade pouch let me organize my gear inside and keep them separate. As a result, the overall, full packed size of the pouch is still very small and slim. Very space efficient. The elastic loops also have a sticky rubber strip inside of them, which helps hold on to items if they are not fully stretching out the elastic. Great design detail.

I only have two minor complains, one is the material, while rugged, seems to attract lint and other particles. I also wish it has a small strip of webbing in the back so that I can use it as a handle.

Overall, this is a really well design and made in America pouch. With the lay flat opening, I take this with me as I move between offices. Once I am at a desk, I zip this thing open and everything I need is inside, easily accessible. When I am ready to leave the office, or leave for the airport, I just put everything back inside, zip up the pouch, throw it into my bag and I am ready to go.

 

 

 

Alpha One Niner Chio Bag Review

Helmie of Alpha One Niner continues to design and produce bags that serve his own travel needs. I really like his designs. So when he released the Chio everyday carry bag I have to get one to try out.

Last weekend I took the bag out for a day trip on a family event, where I would mostly be waiting around for the whole day in a conference center. So I took my 10.5 inch iPad Pro, a book, my A5 notebook, and my nockco pen case with me to do some work. I took my Bose noise cancelling headset, iOS device charging pouch, and my mini EDC pouch with me. Add to that a hat, wallet, and mints.

All of these things fit snuggly in the bag. I also installed a Mill Spec Monkey loop panel inside the outside large compartment to hold a few pens. Note that while the bag has 5 outside pockets, they do not offer additional depth to the bag. i.e. any space taking up by these pockets pushes partially back into the main compartment. Or in my case, because the book and my notebook and my iPad with a Smart Keyboard cover together are quite thick, it does not leave a lot of extra rooms for the other pockets to hold anything beyond thiner items.

That is not an issue though — I have my wallet, my pen case, my car keys, and my mint tin placed in the outer pockets. The rest of the items fit perfectly in the main compartment. I like how the bag, once filled, fill out nice and symmetrically and the bottle flattens out. The bag can almost stand on it’s own. This goes to the very careful design of the shape of the bag.

Fully filled and weighted, the 1.5 inch strap feels comfortable either cross body or on one side. The zippers are buttery smooth. The construction of the bag is of very high quality — but then I expect nothing less from Alpha One Niner. The Evade backpack is one of my go to backpack for travel.

I went with the Kryptek typhon material because all black I think will be too boring for a everyday carry bag. I am not a big tactical bag guy but I really like the typhon pattern on this bag. For the average person it just look interesting. My minor complain is that the material feels a bit rough to the touch. My Evade has the two tone ripstop material that is very nice. However in this bag, the Kryptek may offer a bit more structure, especially when the bag is not fully loaded.

In conclusion, the bag works really well for as an every day carry bag. This is going to replace my smaller sling bags, or sometimes my Jack Spade canvas field bag as my EDC bag.

Anker Soundbuds Slim+ Wireless Headphones Review

Bluetooth

The bluetooth range is very good. Testing connection with my iPhone8, in my semi open ground floor, the slim+ reaches from one corner of the floor to the other, reaching about 40+ feet with no disconnect. Heading upstairs, the connection stayed until I was another 30+ feet away on a different floor. Note that when paired with my 2017 Retina MacBook Pro, the range is less but that’s more a problem with the MacBook Pro’s bluetooth.

One negative about the bluetooth implementation with the Slim+ is that it does not support multi-point. You have to manually (re)connect each device to the Slim+ if you use it with multiple devices. I switch between my iPhone 8, and my iPad Pro. Note that you do NOT have to re pair the devices, just reconnect. Other, usually more expensive headphones, support multi-point and will remember the last two devices and stay connected to them and switch between them as needed without manual intervention.

Battery and Charging

The battery, together with three buttons, one indicator light and the mic, is in the single control “block” on the right side of the cable. It is light enough that it is not pulling the earpiece out of my right ear, even during a jogging test. The charging port is covered with a flexible rubber piece that is not difficult to open because it has a tiny lip. This is good design because there is nothing more annoying then trying and fail to pry open the charging port.

When battery is running low, the slim+ will give an audio signal as well as black the LED red. I did two run down test and both times the battery lasted for just over 6 hours playing music constantly. The charge time from empty to full is just under 2 hours. During charging, the LCD stays steady red until charged. The LED then turned solid blue.

Sound Quality

First, the slim+ now supports AptX. I tested it with my MacBook Pro. The codec showed AptX in the bluetooth display. This should provide better playback audio quality. But note that iPhones do not support AptX. For me, this is only useful when I listen to music on my MacBook Pro.

For my sound quality test, I test them with my iPhone8, as that is the most common usage scenario for me. In general I found that I need to burn the headphones in a bit before it started to sound good. After my first two fully charged and discharge test cycle, the Slim+ has accumulated over 12 hours of play and the sound definitely opened up a lot.

The seal of the earbuds affect the sound quality a lot as well. So make sure you pick the right size earbud and have the earbuds seated in your ear, making a good seal. These are the tracks I used to test the sound quality:

Wasted by Brandi Carlile: This track has a steady bass drum and piano chords background throughout. I find the bass responses good without over powering. I almost wish it is more boosted, as with many headphones, to give it more of an unnatural punch for fun, at least for this track. Her raspy vocal sounds clear and warm. Sound stage is good.

Viva La Vida by Coldplay: This is another fun and complex track. With the recording, Chris Martin’s voice is somewhat muffled by all the instruments. The Slim+ managed to surface his voice enough. It may not be as good as the Klipsch X11, but that costs ten times more.

Exit Music (For a Film) by Brad Mehldau: Switching to Jazz, this track pushes any headphones to render the various instruments clearly. For the Slim+ the cymbal attacks are reasonably good. The very deep double base keeps up except for the very low notes. I find that the Slim+ does not boost its treble and bass like many headphones. I prefer this more natural response, especially for Jazz and vocal pieces. I think this track shows off the Slim+ the most — showing what a $30 or so headphone can do.

Fit and Comfort

The Slim+ comes with four set of tips. The medium one that comes fitted works fine for me. I don’t really need the wings to keep the earbuds in my ear. I did a bit of jogging with them and they stay in fine. The cable is not the flat tangle free type, but I don’t find it posing any problem. The entire unit is light enough. The earbuds are made of a nice soft rubber material that put little pressure, and I can comfortable wear it for an hour at a time.

Conclusion

Does the Slim+ sounds better than the Klipsch X11i? No. Is it more convenient than the BeatX in connection management? No. But remember, this is a pair of sub $30 headphones that sounds almost as good as something that is ten times the price. For day to day use, the sound is natural, the earbuds are comfortable, bluetooth range is extremely good when paired with the iPhone. Battery life is good. I recommend it.

Jibo Review Day 1

We unboxed Jibo this evening. Here are some quick observations:

  • The packaging is very nicely done, and it is easy to unbox

  • The setup process is friendly, and almost entirely done on Jibo except initially you need to install their iPhone app to setup WIFI on Jibo

  • It uses a QR code to send the WIFI info from the iPhone App to Jibo, nice touch

  • It rebooted many times before becoming useful

  • The built in apps / capability right now is not that great, it cannot play music, make calls, etc

So what does it do well? The movement is definitely well done. It can find and look at the speaker initiating the conversation. It has good programmed personality. I don't think anyone would pay full price for it until more applications are developed. But as an original Kickstarter backer, I am glad it's here, joining our household of multiple Amazon Echos.

Check out this quick video:

Enfonie Echo Dot 2 Battery Pack Review

Sometimes you found a product that you did not think you need until you tried it. The Enfonie Echo Dot battery pack is such a device. When the manufacturer offer this battery pack at a discounted price for a review, I accepted because I always wonder why anyone would need such a thing. I have a full size Amazon Echo in my office, and the Echo Dot in my bedroom. They are always plugged in.

 

When I connected this battery pack to my Dot, I realized now I can move the Dot around the house and use it as a portable speaker ! Since I use the Echo a lot to listen to the radio and music, it works really well. The batteries lasted about a full day. It died over night so I think the advertised 10 hours of battery life is accurate. Normally you would plug the pack back in often, so it will never die on you.

$29.49 $46.99
Buy on Amazon

I have the original Echo Dot, so this battery pack actually does not fit perfectly with it, whereas the current version will mate with the pack seamlessly.

One cool feature of the battery pack is that it has an additional USB out so you can use it to charge a phone as well. Just for fun, I used it to power my micro:bit, as you can see in the picture. It works, but because the micro:bit draws so little power, the pack shuts off the charging after a minute or too.

If you want a portal Alexa machine, this pack is for you.

mixcder MS301 Bluetooth Headphone Review

Sometimes you know you have a winner if that’s the one pair of headphones that you keep reaching for. I find the MS301 a very easy to use pair of headphones. It is comfortable. It sounds good.

Packaging

The MS301 comes in an attractive, large box with gold graphics on a matte black background. The inside plastic that carries the headphone is of average quality. A USB cable and a 3.5mm audio cable packed inside another matte black box completes the package. The fact that they enclosed the cables inside another box makes for a much better presentation. Some cheaper Asian branded headphones just leave the accessories randomly flowing in the underside of the plastic container.

Bluetooth

This is the best and worst part of this pair of headphones. On the plus side, it supports AptX. I connected my 2017 MacBook Pro to it via bluetooth running AptX. This has to be the connection method of choice. The bad part about the MS301’s bluetooth does not support any sort of multi-point connection. It seems to only pair with one device at a time. I have to re-pair the headphones when I switch between devices. So if you are planning to use it for both say a laptop and a mobile phone, this is not the headphone for you.

Range for this headphone is mediocre. I get 20 feet line of sight maximum.

Sound Quality

The MS301 has a reasonable flat response, with a slightly boosted base. This is important for me as I listen mostly to jazz and classical where good vocals are important. I ran it through my standard set of tracks.

Starting with Eric’s Song by Vienna Tang, The Waking Hour: This is a simple track with Vienna’s silky vocal singing along a piano. I can hear all of the nuances of her voice interlaced with the piano. Switching over to  Exit Music (For a Film), by Radiohead, OK Computer: Changing from Tang’s female vocal to the booming vocal, with a multi layer supporting vocals and instruments. All the audio tracks are still coming through cleanly. The bass is slightly boosted but not over powering the vocals.

For fun I always then play Exit Music (For a Film) by Brad Mehldau, The Art of the Trio, Vol. 3: — the Jazz original. This is a very different style of course. The piano is front and center with various percussions building up around it. Sound stage is good with this pair of headphones.

Changing style complete I went to Trust by Christina Perry, Head or Heart. The rocking bass line is strong but not overly boosted. A similar track: Viva La Vida by Coldplay plays equally well.

Battery Life

What I love about these full size headphones is that the battery last a very long time — too long to test accurately. I manage to test my pair of MS301 over an entire week before I have to recharge it.

Controls

All the controls for the headphone is on the right, with a power button/pause/call near the top, and volume up/forward, volume down/backward button pair down near the bottom. A small multi-color LED near the power button shows you the status of the headphone. I find that occassionally I hit the power button by mistake because it is near the top. One time it initiated a redial on my phone (pressing the power button twice) because I was trying to turn up the volume.

Power Button: long press on/off. Single press: pause/play/answer. Double press: redial
Volume Up: single press up, long press next track
Volume Down: single press down, long press prev track

Comfort

This pair of headphone is very comfortable. The ear cups have soft foam covered by a soft synthetic leather material. For my medium size ear it covers my ear completely without too much clamping force. The headband is also padded. The entire ear cup swivel 90 degrees to the back (For folding flat) and forward by 45 or so degrees. The hinge construction seems to be mostly metal.

Conclusion

These Asian branded headphone keeps getting better. I have reviewed several pairs of mixcder headphones over the years and each new pair is better. The MS301 sounds good, looks great and is comfortable. The retail prices are getting closer to the $100 mark so it has more competition. The comfort, AptX support, and long battery life gives it a big advantage.

Specs

40mm driver, 32 ohms
bluetooth 4.2
500mAh battery, 2 hour charging time, 20 hour active use, 2200 hour standby

Note: A free review unit is provided to me by the distributor. All opinions are my own.

Archeer A225 Portable Bluetooh Speaker

Introduction

The Archeer A225 bluetooth speaker arrived in a stylish brick shape box with the speaker inside. The speaker comes covered in a nice grey fabric and the body is of a soft cream color plastic. The entire device looks stylish and feels like a premium product.

Bluetooth

I immediately connected the speaker to my iPhone 7. It pairs easily. The bluetooth range is amazing. First, using my standard line of sight test, the connect stays solidly connected from 40 feet away. Then I started walking around the ground floor of my 800 square foot house and the connection remains solid. I went upstairs and the connection held. This device by far has the best bluetooth connection from everything else I own.

Controls

The power button is on the bottom of the speaker unit. This made sense at first, since it is used for turning the speaker on and off, and pairing. Then I realized that play and pause control is also done by the power button. Short pressing the power button will toggle between play and pause. This seems counter intuitive — the fact that I have to pick up the speaker and press the button. This is a two handed operation. If you choose to use the speaker, which has a built in mic, to take phone calls, the answer/hangup/reject call is also controlled by the power button on the bottom.

The A225 advertised that it has touch control on the top. Swiping left and right will skip track forward and backward. It works flawlessly. Looking at the top of the unit (see photo), I also try to swipe circularly to change the volume. I must have tried doing it for a whole minute without success. Finally I realized that the darker grey ring on the outer edge of the top of the unit is the volume control. You turn it to change the volume. This is a electronically controlled volume control. There is a total of 16 steps of volume as you turn the ring.

The volume control works nicely once I figured it out, but it sure was confusing at first. One suggestion to Archeer is to change the graphic on the top of the unit to not suggest that I can swipe to change volume.

Sound Quality

According to the specification on the user guide, the unit has dual 45mm speaker with a 5W output. Without any special porting, I did not expect the unit to sound anything other than two 45mm drivers. It would be unfair to compare this unit with other more advanced portable speakers. Instead I compare it to the Anker SoundCore. The SoundCore has a base port, and indeed it’s base is more prominent than the A225. However I find that the A225 is not driven hard even at maximum volume. So there are no overt distortion at maximum volume. The Anker SoundCore cannot be played at maximum volume without it sounding terribly distorted.

Overall, as a portable speaker that I can take outside on the patio, or play music or podcast from my phone around the office, the sound is completely usable. I would never call the sound high fidelity, but I do not expect that from a portable speaker at this price range. I am actually glad that it is not boosted in anyway — which many other systems do, because a boosted bass will make the listening think that it sounds “better”.

Battery Performance

The charging time is around 4 hours, matching the specification. Over a few days of testing, I have yet to run down the battery enough to test the claimed 6-7 hours of play time. My guess is that it will match the factory specification.

Conclusion

For the price point, I think this is a very attractive portable bluetooth speaker. It does fulfill the need for a small, reasonably sounding portable speaker for used around the house, the office, or bring it outside during a cookout. It looks good and sounds fair. I recommend it.

 

Specification

Bluetooth 4.1 class II, A2DP V1.2, AVRCP V1.4
Speakers 45mm 4Ohm 5Wx2
Battery: 3.7V 2000mAh Lithium