According to Apple, you should use micellar water with PEG-6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, distilled water, a soft-bristled children's toothbrush, two small cups, and a paper towel. Fortunately, Apple also suggests something much simpler: an AirPods cleaning kit. The AirPods maker points customers to the Belkin AirPods Cleaning Kit.
Nothing launched its Headphone (a) alongside its Phone 4a series on March 5th, with compatibility with the Phone 4a Series via ChatGPT to hear Nothing News or Essential Space, its information hub app. Nothing nailed the audio quality in its previous headphones, as I've written while testing its open-ear Nothing Open and the Nothing Ear (a). It's no different here, with neutral and clear sound fit for all-day listening.
Tuning frictional behavior on the fly has been a long-standing engineering dream. This new insight into how surface geometry governs slip pulses paves the way for tunable frictional metamaterials that can transition from low-friction to high-grip states on demand.
Remember the pocket archaeology of untangling your headphones every single time you pulled them out? That split second of dread when you'd fish them from your bag only to discover they'd somehow tied themselves into impossible knots? Designer Aleš Boem remembers. But instead of trying to solve that universal frustration, he's immortalized it. His project, Tangled Headphones for print, takes that chaotic mess of wires we all spent years battling and transforms it into something worth looking at.
While Sony recently announced its LinkBuds Clip earbuds, many are left wondering when we'll see a proper in-ear flagship offering in the WF-1000X series. A new leak gives us our first look at the WF-1000XM6 alongside pricing details. Sony WF-1000XM6 appeared in a Thai retailer's listing, which has since been deleted. We get to see the updated design of the earbuds, which appear to be wider than their predecessors and seem to have an all-matte finish.
The ring-like portable speaker has a lanyard that lets users hook it onto a backpack or simply carry it around the wrist. Another option is to wear it around the neck, turning the device into a personal stereo system that surrounds the user with sound while remaining lightweight and portable.
According to Soundcore, the Space 2 debuts with improved low-frequency noise cancellation, improved diaphragms for audio quality, and AI-powered noise reduction algorithms for clearer voice and better noise-canceling performance.
For some time now, I -- like many audiophiles -- have looked down upon such earbuds. And although these aren't anywhere near the best earbuds I've experienced, the sound they produced was quite surprising. There was rich, clear bass, clean highs, and (mostly) mellow mids. For me, that's a winning combination out of the box. And, thanks to the EarFun app (and a firmware upgrade) the noise cancellation and connection stability were both much improved.
They do sound good in open mode. When they're not covering your ear canals, the Aerofit 2 Pro rank among the best open earbuds in their price class, with an airy sound signature that naturally focuses on the upper registers. While no open earbuds I've tried accentuate bass as well as regular buds, the Aerofit 2 Pro have more resonance down low than most, accompanied by splashes of keen instrumental detail and clear stereo separation.
Wireless audio has become the industry standard, but there are still options out there for people who prefer a wired connection. Two new choices joining the market come from Sennheiser, which has released the CX 80U wired earbuds and HD 400U wired over-ear headphones. These new takes on the company's previous models for wired listening have replaced the 3.5mm audio jack connector with a USB-C cable.
I tend to find them underwhelming because overall sound quality is subpar compared to the more "traditional" in-ear models. Any promise of noise reduction, or a far-fetched claim of noise cancellation, usually doesn't hold true. The first time I used the Shokz OpenFit Pro ($249.95) I was immediately met with better audio performance than I'd just experienced on Sony's new LinkBuds Clip and noise reduction technology that actually lessened some distractions.