St. Vincent is back with another song from All Born Screaming. After last month’s “Broken Man,” Annie Clark has shared the single “Flea,” featuring Dave Grohl on drums and Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass. Listen to the track below.
All Born Screaming is out April 26. Clark’s follow-up to Daddy’s Home boasts contributions from Grohl, Meldal-Johnsen, Cate Le Bon, Josh Freese, Stella Mozgawa, Rachel Eckroth, Mark Guiliana, and David Ralicke.
Beginning in May, St. Vincent will go on tour in support of All Born Screaming. Joining her on the road are Spoon, Yves Tumor, Eartheater, Momma, and Dorian Electra. See the tour dates below.
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St. Vincent: All Born Screaming Tour
St. Vincent:
05-22 Ventura, CA – The Majestic Ventura Theater * 05-24 Napa, CA – BottleRock Napa Valley 05-25 San Francisco, CA – The Masonic * 05-26 Napa, CA – JaM Cellars Ballroom * 06-07 Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands – Best Kept Secret 06-08 Aarhus, Denmark – NorthSide Festival 08-08 Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater # 08-09 Carnation, WA – Thing Festival 08-11 Vancouver, British Columbia – Orpheum $ 08-13 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory $ 08-14 Ogden, UT – Ogden Twilight at the Ogden Amphitheater 08-16 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre 09-05 Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway ^ 09-06 Philadelphia, PA – The Met ^ 09-10 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount ^ 09-11 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount ^ 09-13 Washington, D.C. – Anthem ^ 09-14 Toronto, Ontario – Massey Hall @ 09-16 Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theater @ 09-20 Saint Paul, MN – The Palace Theater @
* with Momma # with Spoon ^ with Yves Tumor $ with Eartheater @ with Dorian Electra
I returned the next day and the most blatant issues had abated, but the TV’s lack of contrast and black levels when compared to last year’s excellent QN90C (8/10, WIRED Recommends) made me confident I wasn’t getting the full picture (literally). A few colleagues also said the TV looked great when they viewed it earlier this month. As such, I’m reserving judgment until the full review.
What I can say is the TV showed the same excellent off-axis viewing that gave its predecessor a leg up over many backlit LED and QLED TVs, and I expect it to once again be a top contender in its class when the final version arrives. Even so, Samsung has its work cut out this year, as competitors are promising big things, including massive upgrades to lower-priced models like Hisense’s U8N and TCL’s QM8 that double their peak brightness (or more) over last year. That should make for an exciting QLED showdown in 2024.
Sonic Framework
Samsung’s Frame TVs have always been more about style than performance, though they’ve offered enough 4K brilliance to become a popular mainstay. That’s what makes the new Music Frame speakers such an interesting addition to the party. They’re designed to be both standalone wireless speakers and extensions of Samsung TVs and soundbars over Q-Symphony. The question we’ve had since CES 2024 is, do they sound any good?
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
The answer in my brief time with a pair of them is, somewhat surprisingly, yes. The solid bass provided by dual woofers along the back panel lends some body and punch to the sound, while the midrange and treble drivers are suitably clear and engaging, if not pristine. That’s better than you’d expect from picture frames that spill out sound from small creases along their sides.
The Music Frames can sit on stands or be wall mounted, and we only got to hear them in the former position where their sound was freer to expand in the lower frequencies. Still, I walked away impressed by their clear and accessible sound and I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Hiatus Kaiyote—the quartet of guitarist and vocalist Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin, and drummer Perrin Moss—enlisted a handful of Melbourne-based musicians for the new album: Taylor “Chip” Crawford, guitarist Tom Martin, and flutist Nikodemos. They also collaborated with Brazilian producer Mario Caldato Jr., known for his work with Beastie Boys, Seu Jorge, and others.
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Hiatus Kaiyote: Love Heart Cheat Code
Love Heart Cheat Code:
01 Dreamboat 02 Telescope 03 Make Friends 04 BMO Is Beautiful 05 Everything’s Beautiful 06 Dimitri 07 Longcat 08 How to Meet Yourself 09 Love Heart Cheat Code 10 Cinnamon Temple 11 White Rabbit
Hiatus Kaiyote:
06-21 Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre 06-22 Rothbury, MI – Electric Forest 06-23 Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre 06-25 Toronto, Ontario – Toronto Jazz Festival 06-27 Montreal, Quebec – TBD 06-28 Boston, MA – Roadrunner 06-29 Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall 07-01 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring 07-02 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount 07-06 Atlanta, GA – The Eastern 07-07 Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl 07-09 Chicago, IL – Salt Shed (Indoors) 07-10 St. Louis, MO – The Big Top 07-12 St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre 07-16 Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall 07-17 Carnation, WA – Remlinger Farms *# 07-18 Portland, OR – Grand Lodge #* 07-20 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
The sympathetic nervous system kicks in, boosting your heart rate, increasing your blood pressure, and triggering the body to produce inflammatory cells. Over time, these changes can lead to chronic inflammation, high blood pressure, and plaque buildup on your arterial walls.
To complicate matters, when you begin to lose your ability to hear at a particular frequency due to aging, illness, or injury, the auditory system goes into overdrive and overrecruits at another frequency. This over-recruitment is helpful in terms of allowing you to hear softer sounds, but it can also amplify unwanted noise.
Noise-Quieting Tools
You can close your eyes, avoid being touched, and even deprive your taste buds, but you can’t turn off your ears. They’re working all the time, even, or maybe especially when you’re sleeping. That’s one reason there aren’t great therapies for noise sensitivity disorders, Brout tells me. “In the face of sound that is either painful or that the brain is misinterpreting as dangerous, it’s really difficult to dampen the nervous system reactivity,” she says.
So it’s no surprise that Brout is a big believer in identifying tools and devices that can help quiet the sounds in your environment. The most obvious, of course, are earplugs, which dramatically reduce environmental noise by preventing sound waves from reaching your inner ear, the place that triggers your body to react to noise in the first place. Protective earmuffs operate the same way, and they’re typically more comfortable and user-friendly than earplugs. Though, depending on your environment, they may not be as practical as their smaller, less noticeable peers.
“Typical foam earplugs attenuate high frequencies like the upper keys on a piano. But there are specially designed earplugs called high-fidelity or “musicians’ earplugs” that attenuate (weaken) sound equally across all frequencies,” says Meinke, who uses myriad protective devices to protect her ears in different environments—regular earmuffs or foam earplugs when she mows the lawn, high fidelity filtered earplugs when she goes to noisy live music events or restaurants, and electronic shooter’s earplugs or earmuffs when she does firearm impulse noise research.
A more sophisticated solution—and my birthday gift from my boys last year—are Bluetooth-enabled noise-canceling headphones, which emit sound waves that complement and cancel surrounding noise. The technology allows me to listen to the latest true crime podcast or immerse myself in Spotify’s Feel Happy playlist while blocking the sound of my boys sparring in the same room.
“These tools not only minimize the physical effects of noise pollution, but they also give you a sense of control over the sounds in your environment,” Brout says. “Just make sure to do your homework before you purchase. Some of these devices are legit, and they can be a boon for people who are sound sensitive, but others are essentially useless.”
Worried about inadvertently drowning out the sound of an approaching car during your run, your crying baby, or your pooch who needs an open door to pee? Meinke says if you fit the earplugs to match the amount of attenuation you need for the listening environment, you’ll never be in a position where you don’t hear anything.
Environmental Controls
Whether you use high-tech tools or creative furnishings, Meinke tells me it’s better to spend money upfront on effective prevention efforts than paying downstream for hearing aids and rehabilitation. “You can modify your space to plan for the sound level you want to achieve,” she says. “Soft window coverings, fabric art on the walls, absorbent floorings, acoustic ceiling tiles and wall treatments. All of these things can help mute sounds.”
I don’t have heavy draperies or sound-absorbent flooring, but I now use an air purifier and white noise machine in my home office to drown out disruptive sounds during working hours. I choose meditative soundscapes on YouTube. I also asked my husband and sons for thoughts on how we could collectively turn down the volume. My youngest had an idea from school. His teacher uses a web-based tool called Bouncy Balls, to bring awareness to rising noise levels (other options include Too Noisy Lite and Calm Counter).
I pulled up Bouncy Balls on Google Chrome and watched, mesmerized, as a plethora of brightly colored circles bounced in concert with the ambient noise level in our kitchen. When the noise got too loud, based on my chosen sensitivity level, a noise alert from the site (not me) told the boys to quiet down. Soon I began placing my laptop in the center of the table at mealtimes. Yes, I know screens at mealtimes are not ideal, but neither is deafening conversation, and it did reduce the cacophony to a mere buzz most nights.
While there’s no surefire solution to quieting the mind-numbing decibel level in our home, I’ve discovered that when I use tech tools in tandem with self-care—getting enough sleep, taking breaks, removing myself from the chaos—the stressful sounds my beloved boys produce becomes more manageable.
Think about the last time you saw a person lugging around a Bluetooth speaker and thought to yourself, “Dang, that person looks cool. I want to listen to whatever they’re listening to!” If you have no such memory, you’re not to blame, and you’re certainly not alone. Many portable speakers are dorky hunks of plastic that are aesthetically adjacent to pleather trench coats, mall swords and TJ Maxx hoverboards. And then there are the units that actually sound good, which—with a few exceptions—rank in the looks department between perfunctory and obnoxious.
Iconic guitar amp makers like Fender, Vox, and Marshall have noticed this hole in the market and have plugged it with their own offerings. Marketed as stylish sound cubes bursting with punchy midrange and timeless rocker swag, models like the Fender Indio ($379) and the Marshall Kilburn II ($399) promised to sound just as good as they looked. Now your cool uncle who sleeps on a waterbed can blast Metallica and make jokes about turning up his Marshall to 11 while you knock back a Leinenkugels and help him change the oil in his van! But do these diminutive faux amps have the cojones to make the infamous snares on St. Anger fill the garage with crisp and clangy treble? Can their woofers be trusted to ensure that what little low-end was left in the masters of …And Justice For All is evetrn remotely audible?
In the case of the Orange Box, the aptly named entry from the legendary London-based amplifier brand Orange, the answer is a resounding yes. Clocking in at 50 watts and weighing a little over 6 pounds, this workhorse of a speaker packs a massive punch for its size. After spending a month running the Orange Box through its paces in a variety of scenarios where Bluetooth speakers are essential—kitchen prep, yard work, household repairs, bothering fellow hikers with Top 40 music at a National Park—we’ve sussed out the good, the bad, and the bothersome of this impressive little box.
Dial-a-Tone
Photograph: Orange
Stark minimalism has been all the rage since the mid-aughts, but the stripping-away of essential knobs, jacks, and buttons is a sore spot for the aging demographic that know the Orange brand better than most. Thankfully Orange’s mimicry of their beloved amplifiers yields tactile, user-friendly results in the Orange Box. With the exception of a rather standard pairing workflow, the rest of the controls on the device have a satisfying analog feel to them. Turning the volume knob up controls the actual output of the amp rather than that of the paired device. This works wonders when you’re across the room and want to control the unit remotely with a maximum volume ceiling that’s mitigated by the volume controls on your phone.
Dedicated bass and treble knobs felt like nice extras at first but became essentials after daily use. The former can add or subtract a warm thump from the low end—around the 100-Hz mark, based on our tests—while the latter can be used to either add or remove presence that hovers around 8 KHz: the sweet spot for most spoken word and singing. Having a hard time hearing a podcast in the shower? Crank the treble to 10. Guests straining to hear over your music at a dinner party? Cut the treble to create a lane for casual conversation.
One minor flaw of the Orange Box is the way it handles the crowded high end of radio-friendly pop music at high volumes. If modern producers cease to brick-wall their mixes and cram every last sonic crevasse with ear candy, then the Orange Box may eventually be up to the challenge, but until then the last era of radio hits that really shine on this speaker is the post-grunge explosion of the late ’90s. Then again, what zoomer is spending $300 on a Bluetooth speaker that looks like the amp their grandpa used to play proto-metal on during the Carter administration? Master of Puppets sounds absolutely killer on the Orange Box, and (almost) nothing else matters.
Party Time
Photograph: Orange
The Orange Box is sexy as-is, but the included leather strap doesn’t do much in making it easier to carry around town on its own. For an extra $60 you can buy a gig bag made of sturdy gray denier fabric, which results in a potent totable that looks and feels more like a soft-side cooler full of ‘Kuges than a portable amp. The bag fits snugly around the box, and a piece of cream-colored cloth covers the grill of the speaker without muffling any of the output. The top snaps in place tidily via a pair of magnets, and it peels back quickly to offer easy access to the control knobs. Side pockets keep small essentials like aux cables, beef jerky, and weed safe from the elements, but the power supply does not fit conveniently in any of the compartments.
Confusion aside, nearly all the commands you need are at the ready, with more control options available in the Soundpeats app. Considering the previous two pairs of Soundpeats buds I tested had no app support at all, that’s a notable step forward for the brand.
Economy Plus
As expected, the Air4 Pro don’t offer everything you’d get in the $200 to $300 price range. They skip fancy extras like spatial audio or earbud trackers (sadly), but there are enough goodies here to make you feel reasonably chuffed about your purchase. The app unlocks conveniences like a multiband EQ, battery display, and even a gaming mode that lowers the audio latency to a claimed 88 milliseconds. You’ll also find controls for ambient sound modes, as well as the ability to turn off the buds’ auto and touch sensors. The ability for firmware updates down the line leaves open the possibility for new features or control options in future app iterations.
First, you’ll need to set it up, which requires a mandatory registration process that seems to have stalled some users due to its (unlisted) password requirements. The first few times I tried to register, my password was rejected. Pro tip: I dumbed it down to letters only, which then worked without a hitch.
Connecting the Air4 Pro’s multipoint pairing sidesteps the app, requiring simply turning off Bluetooth on your first device, connecting to the second, and reconnecting the original device. Once done, the buds moved remarkably smoothly between my iPhone and my spare Android phone or Macbook.
Battery life is another selling point, with Soundpeats claiming up to 6.5 hours of playback per charge, and three extra charges in the case. I got a bit less in testing with noise canceling, but using the feature for the better part of three hours at a stretch still left over 60 percent in the tank, so you can probably expect between five and six hours. The buds also charge quite quickly in the case, facilitating enough playback time for all but the most demanding use cases.
I made a fair few calls with the buds with no real complaints on either end. They tend to get testy with wind, but I found them up to the task for most scenarios.
The biggest get, the Air4 Pro’s noise canceling, is limited yet effective. It does a solid job rolling off low-frequency sounds like airplane drones, traffic, and other ambient noises, especially with some music playing. It’s not as successful as class-leading options like the Liberty 4 NC, but you’re also unlikely to pay as much for the privilege.
As expected, the Air4 Pro’s ANC struggles at subduing high-frequency sounds, from children yelling to keystrokes. The Liberty 4 NC and Space A40 both outdo them there, but you’ll have to step up to premium noise cancelers like the AirPods Pro (9/10, WIRED Recommends) or, above those, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 (7/10 WIRED Recommends) and Bose’s latest QuietComfort buds to successfully fend off those annoyances.
If you’re hunting for your first pair of AirPods, you may have a few questions, such as proper cleaning methods and how to tinker with certain settings. We’ve got some answers to a handful of common questions about AirPods.
Do Airpods work with Android?
Yes, you can use AirPods with non-Apple devices, since they use the standard Bluetooth protocol. But you’ll lose out on features like Siri integration, ear detection (it won’t automatically pause audio when you take an AirPod out), and the ability to customize shortcuts on the double-tap feature. However, headphones from Beats usually offer broader support for Android.
Can you buy a single AirPod?
Yes. If you lose an AirPod, you can buy a replacement for the right or left AirPod through Apple. AppleCare+ doesn’t cover lost or stolen AirPods, so it will cost you. You can use Apple’s “Get an Estimate” tool to calculate the possible cost. The same applies if you lose the Charging Case. Your replacements will be new versions.
Why is only one AirPod working?
If you can’t hear audio in an AirPod, make sure your case is fully charged. Then place both AirPods in the case and charge them for 30 seconds. From there, open the charging case and use your iPhone or iPad to check that each AirPod is charging (there should be a lightning bolt icon next to both). Put both AirPods in your ears and test the audio. If that doesn’t work, you should reset your AirPods.
Why isn’t the AirPods case charging?
Start by checking your connections. If you have the AirPods or AirPods Pro, make sure the cables are fully plugged into the case and power adapter. Allow your AirPods to charge for at least 15 minutes (you should use one of Apple’s cables). If you have the AirPods Max, allow them to charge for at least five minutes. Then, open either the case on the AirPods or AirPods Pro or the Smart case on the AirPods Max and hold them near your iPhone or iPad. You should then see the charging icon appear when looking at the battery status. If that doesn’t work, you should contact Apple Support.
If you lose an AirPod, can you find its location?
If you have the AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro (all versions), and AirPods Max, you can track your AirPods using the Find My app. (You can’t, however, track an empty AirPods case unless you have the 2nd-generation AirPods Pro.) Make sure the feature is turned on by going to Settings > Bluetooth, tap the “I” icon, and scroll down to turn on Find My Network. If it’s already on, go to the Find My app, and under the Devices tab, tap on your AirPods. From there, you’ll see the exact location of both your left bud and your right bud. If they aren’t near you, tap Get Directions and it’ll automatically open their location in Maps. If you’re nearby, you can also press Tap Sound to listen for beeps. If you have AirPods Pro (2nd generation) along with an iPhone 11 or newer, you can also use Precision Finding.
If your AirPods show “No location found” or “Offline,” this means they’re out of range or need to be charged, so you’ll only see their last known location. At that point, you might be able to get directions, but you won’t be able to use Find Nearby or play a sound. You’ll get a notification on your Apple device if they do come back online.
Can you clean AirPods?
Yes. You can use a soft, dry, lint-free cloth to wipe down the AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. But there are other additional steps you can take, depending on the type of AirPods you have. Apple has steps on how to properly clean each version here.
Why won’t AirPods connect to my device?
If your AirPods won’t connect, you should start by checking that your iPhone, iPad, and Mac are all updated to the latest version of their respective operating systems. Then, make sure both AirPods are charging, Bluetooth is on (Settings > Bluetooth), and double check that AirPods appear in your list of devices via Settings and that they’re selected. If they aren’t on the list, hold the button on the back of the charging case until the status light flashes white and follow the onscreen instructions.
How do you get rid of the crackling or static sounds on AirPods Pro?
If you’re hearing crackling or static sounds from your AirPods Pro, make sure you’re running the latest software. You should also check that your connected device is nearby and that there is no wireless interference or obstructions between you and your iPhone, iPad, or Mac (like walls or floors, a lot of Wi-Fi activity, wireless speakers, etc). If none of these are issues, try listening to audio from a different app to see if it’s the app causing the problem. Otherwise, you can look into the AirPods Pro Service Program for sound issues.
Why isn’t Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) working?
Double-check that you’re running the latest software version on your Apple devices. When both AirPods Pro are in your ears, check that ANC is turned on (you can go to Settings > AirPods Pro > Noise Control on your iPhone). You should also check if Adaptive Audio is on. It helps to clean the microphone and speaker since earwax and debris can build up over time. If it’s still not working, you can look into Apple’s AirPods Pro Service Program for sound issues.
Can you turn off Siri Notifications?
Yes, if you don’t want Siri annoyingly reading aloud text messages and other notifications while you’re trying to listen to music or a podcast, you can turn them off. You can read step-by-step instructions here.
Cardi B has shared her second new song of the month, “Enough (Miami),” as well as guesting alongside SZA on a new remix of Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me.” Listen to both songs below. “Enough (Miami),” which follows Cardi B’s “Like What (Freestyle),” comes with a minimalist video directed by Patience Harding. Find both new songs below.
Brownstein and Tucker recorded the Frayed Rope Sessions EP with producer John Goodmanson at the same studio where they made Little Rope, Flora Recording & Playback in Portland, Oregon. Proceeds from the Bandcamp sales of the EP will benefit Noise for Now.
Swapping between the bar’s multiple inputs is slightly more intuitive, with a different LED color assigned to each input: HDMI ARC glows magenta, optical is yellow, the analog input is green, and the USB input is cyan. This color coding has become more common in A/V gear of late, usually seen in active/powered bookshelf speakers like the KEF LSX II where space is at a premium. In the Q6310’s case, the bar’s center-channel speaker likely takes up the real estate a traditional digital display might inhabit.
Another likely reason TCL punts on the visual display is that, as a Roku TV Ready soundbar, the Q6310 is designed to allow you to control and adjust some settings directly from a Roku-powered smart TV. That functionality stems from a long partnership between the two brands, with Roku taking the reins as the smart interface in many TCL TVs (though TCL now seems to favor Google TV for its more premium models).
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
If you don’t have a Roku-powered TV, TCL’s app makes controlling the bar’s sound modes, volume, and other settings much easier via an iPhone or Android device. Other app settings include a Night Mode to keep the dynamics in check when the family’s asleep, a Dialogue Enhance feature, and virtual surround sound control.
There’s also a calibration feature, AI Sonic, which uses your phone’s microphone to adjust the sound to your room, à la Sonos. That’s an impressive inclusion at this price, but the setup experience is quite loud and I couldn’t hear much of a difference once finished.
Aluminum Punch
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
My first thought when I started evaluating the Q6310 was that it doesn’t sound much better than a lot of high-end TVs I’ve auditioned this year. The sound is clear and forward, especially for dialogue, but there’s a brittle, metallic quality to the midrange and treble registers that can feel as thin as the soundbar looks. To be fair, a lot of pricier TVs these days are outfitted with multiple speakers like soundbars are, so comparing the two isn’t as big of a diss as it once was.
Every month seems to bring new sets of earbuds with longer battery life and more compact designs. As such, we can’t list everything we like. But if you’re still hunting, here are some other recommendations.
Montblanc MTB 03 for $395: These earbuds are priced out of reach for most buyers, but if you’ve got the cash, you’ll be rewarded with a luxury experience worthy of the brand. Montblanc has called in some heavy hitters from the audio industry to design and voice these buds. The result is a small, comfortable, and quite flashy-looking pair of wireless earbuds that sound really impressive.
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 for $100: Even several years in, Samsung’s Buds2 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) are a great value. For cheaper than a pair of AirPods, you get noise canceling, transparency mode, and some of the lightest, most comfortable buds around. Frustratingly, the companion app only works for Android, so iPhone users will miss out on most features. Some people have also had issues with these earbuds causing irritation in their ears. We did not experience this, but if you do, be sure to return the buds immediately.
Apple/Beats Powerbeats Pro for $180: Apple’s beefy Powerbeats Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) provide a super-secure fit, sound far better than Apple’s standard AirPods or Beats pairs before them, and squeeze an impressive nine hours of life out of a charge. They’re getting long in the tooth and forego now-standard extras like transparency mode and ANC, but could still be worth consideration for those after serious stability.
OnePlus Buds Pro for $140: These AirPods-esque earbuds sound great, look great, and work just about the same as the Apple product, though they’re designed for Android. If you want that, go ahead. I just happen to think some of the designs above are much sleeker.
JBL Tour Pro 2 for $250: When I first saw photos of these headphones at CES 2023, I believed that a screen on a pair of wireless earbuds—to see how much battery is left, play and pause music, etc—would be awesome. It turns out that while the earbuds are totally fine and they are totally decent sounding, I don’t need a screen on the case. At all. I don’t think I looked at it once, beyond testing, while using the headphones. So much for that.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 for $179: Sennheiser’s aging Momentum True Wireless 2 are still available, and now at a much lower price point. Apart from fantastic sound, Sennheiser also fixed the bug in the first Momentum pair that drained the battery after a week or so even if you didn’t use them.
Raycon Everyday Earbuds for $80: These YouTuber-beloved earbuds are actually a decent cheap pair (7/10, WIRED Review). They are small and light, and they come with an IPX6 rating, which makes them great for workouts.
Master & Dynamic MW08 Sport for $299: The Sport are a great option that come with active noise canceling and a striking design, but the high price keeps them out of the reach of most people.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Finding time to focus can take any professional time. One Phase Undock study found it takes some workers nearly 24 minutes to get focused on any task. Try focusing with a pair of Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise-Cancelling Headphones that offer an immersive audio experience with active noise canceling and transparency mode, and they’re only $179.99.
No more distractions.
No more little distractions getting to you when you’re trying to power through a tough problem. These headphones let you customize your listening experience, whether that means activating transparency mode so you can hear if someone asks you a question or using total noise canceling to immerse yourself in audio.
These headphones are equipped with a custom acoustic platform and a 40mm active driver and deliver rich, stunning sound with increased audio fidelity. The integrated digital processor optimizes frequency responses for a powerful and balanced sound profile, ensuring crystal clear calls and wireless freedom for users.
Fully charged, these headphones could deliver up to 40 hours of audio, and music isn’t the only thing they do. The headphones feature on-device controls, so you can take calls, control your music, and activate Siri with multi-function on-ear controls. Additionally, they seamlessly switch between Apple and Android devices, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of tech devices.
The Beats headphones come in open-box condition, typically considered excess inventory from store shelves, and are verified to be in new condition before being repackaged.
Time to focus.
Give yourself the tools to laser focus on the tasks at hand, whether it’s powering through your inbox or listening back to the audio of a meeting.
Whether you’re listening to the latest episode of the Gadget Lab podcast or hitting the trail with Taylor Swift on repeat, the right pair of wireless headphones can make your day. The only problem is that there are so many to choose from. WIRED’s Gear team is constantly testing new models, and these are the very best wireless headphones we’ve found.
Updated March 2024: We’ve added the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, and Sony WH-CH720N headphones.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Lykke Li has released a cover of the famous 1963 song “Ring of Fire.” She recorded her cover with producer Andrew Sarlo for Damsel—the new Netflix movie starring Millie Bobby Brown and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Listen to the new song below; scroll down for a Damsel trailer.
June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore wrote “Ring of Fire,” which was made a hit by Johnny Cash. “I respect her songwriting so much, and you realize just how powerful it is when you can sing her song in any way,” Lykke Li said of June Carter Cash in a press statement. “A song of that quality can be a lullaby, it can be a hymn, it can be a country song—and it just stands the test of time.”
Read Pitchfork’s review of Lykke Li’s latest album, May 2022’s Eyeye.
Jack Antonoff continues to share songs from his soundtrack for Apple TV+’s The New Look. This week, he’s released Nick Cave’s new cover of the French standard “La Vie en rose.” Listen to it below.
Antonoff produced Cave’s “La Vie en rose,” and he enlisted some of his Bleachers bandmates to perform on the track: Evan Smith and Zem Audu play saxophone; and Mikey Freedom Hart is on synthesizer.
Édith Piaf composed and recorded “La Vie en rose” in the 1940s. Cave sings the English version of the song, featuring lyrics by Mack David.
Justin Timberlake has shared another new song from his next album, Everything I Thought It Was. Timberlake wrote his new track, âDrown,â with Louis Bell, Henry Walter, Amy Allen, and Kenyon Dixon, and Bell co-produced it with Cirkut. Listen to the song below.
âDrownâ is the second single from Everything I Thought It Was, following âSelfish.â Timberlake performed âSelfishâ and the Tobe Nwigwe collaboration âSanctifiedâ on a January episode of Saturday Night Live.
PC Music founder A. G. Cook has announced a new album; Britpop arrives May 10 via New Alias, his new record label. Cook has also unveiled the title track from the record, which features Charli XCX. Listen to that below.
Billed as a 24-song odyssey in three parts, Britpop is a snapshot of the musician and producer in all of his genre-bending pop modes. He used the three parts—Past, Present, and Future—to explore electronica, Britpop, and futuristic sounds, while blurring the lines between mainstream and experimental music, according to a press release.
Britpop follows Cook’s previous solo albums Apple and 7G, both of which dropped in 2020. His only other formal collections include the EPs Nu Jack Swung from 2013 and Pop Carol from 2020, as well as the 2017 film score ∂, though Cook has released dozens of singles and collaborations over the past decade. Last year, Cook teamed up with Easyfun for the debut Thy Slaughter album, Soft Rock.
Cook’s decision to put Britpop out on New Alias is in line with last year’s news that PC Music’s influential run as a record label is over. To coincide with the label’s 10th anniversary, it was announced that 2023 would serve as “PC Music’s final year of new releases.” Moving forward, PC Music is “dedicated to archival projects and special reissues.”
During the 2024 Grammys broadcast, SZA was seated at the awards ceremony where she ended up bringing home three trophies, but she also snuck a teaser of a new song titled âSaturnâ into a MasterCard commercial that same night. A few days later, she sang the entire song for a bonus online-only Grammys performance. Now, SZA has officially released that track along with live and sped-up versions. Listen to âSaturnâ below.
Thanks to SOS and its various hits, SZA was the star of the evening at this yearâs Grammy Awards. She won Best R&B Song for âSnooze,â Best Progressive R&B Album for SOS, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for âGhost in the Machineâ with Phoebe Bridgers. Though she was the most-nominated artist of the evening, SZA wasnât the person with the most wins come the end of the evening. That honor went to Bridgers instead, who tallied up four total.
Fresh off her wins, SZA took the Grammys stage to perform two songs from SOS for viewers: âSnoozeâ and âKill Bill.â During the latter performance, she and a dozen women in Kill Billâthemed outfits fought staged battles with men. At one point, SZA threw a guy in the air herself while still singing.
The best Bluetooth speakers still have a place near and dear to our hearts, even as we’ve seen better (and more portable) smart speakers creeping into the universe. It’s fun and easy to ask an Amazon Echo or Google Nest speaker to play your favorite track or tell you the weather, but smart speakers require stable Wi-Fi and updates to work. By (mostly) forgoing voice assistants and Wi-Fi radios, Bluetooth speakers are more portable, with the ability to venture outside of your house and withstand rugged conditions like the sandy beach or the steamy Airbnb jacuzzi. They’ll also work with any smartphone, and they sound as good as their smart-speaker equivalents.
We’ve tested hundreds of Bluetooth speakers since 2017 (and many before that), and we can happily say they are still some of the best small devices for listening on the go. Here are our favorites right now. Be sure to check out all our buying guides, including the Best Soundbars, Best Wirefree Earbuds, and Best Smart Speakers.
Updated February 2024: We’ve added the JBL Charge 5 and Tribit Stormbox Flow, as well as honorable mentions for the Tivoli Model Two and Dali Katch G2.
Special offer for Gear readers: GetWIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access toWIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
One of the biggest announcements out of FETC24 this year involved Lightspeed, the leading provider of instructional audio solutions that create equal access to learning, and their launch of Cascadia—a networked instructional audio platform that not only projects the teacher’s voice within the classroom but also empowers teachers to call for help and communicate outside of the classroom directly from their lanyard microphone.
I had a conversation with Tony Zeikle, Senior Vice President of Revenue at Lightspeed Technologies, Inc. about the features of the new product, its integration with existing school systems like phone networks and paging solutions, and its potential benefits for teachers and students, especially in light of challenges posed by the pandemic. We also touch upon the evolving landscape of educational technology, including the role of audio in augmented reality, virtual reality, and language learning. Have a listen:
More details about the launch:
Cascadia delivers all the benefits of instructional audio and integrates with existing life-safety and building communication systems, providing the ability to initiate mobile, silent emergency alerts and make two-way calls to the office from anywhere in the building.
“The need for teachers to communicate with resources outside of the classroom continues to grow, whether in an emergency or simply when help is needed,” said Shaun Fagan, Senior Vice President of Product and Lightspeed. “With Cascadia, schools can now meet this need by providing teachers with a communication tool that offers mobility, simplicity, and immediacy.”
Cascadia connects to a school’s network, providing centralized monitoring and control, along with key integrations to critical building-wide communications. The Cascadia platform provides:
Timely alerts from anywhere in the building
Communication to the office with two-way calling
Real-time teacher location during an active alert
Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) to leverage network infrastructure
Integration with classroom multimedia
Student sharing with Sharemike
“By integrating with leading life-safety and building communication providers, our solutions provide schools with the flexibility to leverage their existing investments and build the best systems to meet their needs,” said Fagan.
This networked communication system can enhance existing safety protocols and procedures, which is vital for students and parents. Students (87%), parents (96%), and educators (98%) all agree that school safety is extremely important to them, according to the 2022 State of School Safety Report by Safe and Sound Schools.
Below is a machine-generated transcript:
00:00:05 Speaker 1
OK, Tony. Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to off, etc in a couple weeks and I know lightspeed’s going to be down there. Maybe we could just get right into it, talk a little bit about the news and any announcements that that you guys might be promoting on the show floor.
00:00:22 Speaker 2
Absolutely. You know, we go to FTC every year. We love the opportunity to be able to interact with a lot of school districts and just across the entire industry of the Ed tech space. And you know, we are well respected and known for what we do in the classroom with instructional audio, putting a microphone on a teacher and providing a low volume, highly intelligible speech through speakers.
00:00:42 Speaker 2
So that every student in the classroom can effectively hear the instruction.
00:00:46 Speaker 2
The new product that we’re launching this month and it’s just gone on to our website this week is called Cascade, Cascadia and it’s an instructional networked platform. It’s our first foray into being a networked system, so that our our technology directors can have visibility into all of their instructional audio solutions.
00:01:05 Speaker 2
Across an entire school.
00:01:07 Speaker 2
And also adding some additional features. You know, the thing that we really realized was as we put microphones on, teachers and teachers are wearing a microphone, you know, both in their classroom and around the school is that that microphone can have some additional features and abilities beyond just that. We have an important piece of real estate.
00:01:27 Speaker 2
So to speak, by having that microphone right here at a, you know, hands distance away.
00:01:33 Speaker 2
For the teachers, So what we’re doing is adding some components of being able to integrate our microphone for safety and security purposes and that can be incorporating it in as a discrete silent alert that can notify the office that there’s something wrong in a classroom or somewhere else in the school. And we’re also integrating it with the school’s phone system so that the.
00:01:55 Speaker 2
Teacher is actually able to make a teacher initiated call to the office.
00:02:00 Speaker 2
Sometimes a little bit more information is required. You know with that discrete alert or something like that, and the teacher being able to have a quick conversation with the office and it could be something as minor as a student needs help in the hallway. It could be just instruction, maybe a teacher or a student’s heading to the office just so that quick information can provide a little bit more.
00:02:20 Speaker 2
Information for the teacher and staff to be able to communicate the thing we really realized coming out of the pandemic.
00:02:27 Speaker 2
Was that gone? Are the days that a teacher just walks into their classroom at the beginning of the day doesn’t interact with any other adults the rest of the day? And you know, they’re just with their students in that classroom. The dynamic has changed and teachers need support, whether it’s for behavioral purposes, whether it’s just standard communication across the school campus.
00:02:48 Speaker 2
And we realized that we could add some value there by adding some additional buttons and additional features onto our microphone.
00:02:56 Speaker 1
You know, it sounds like a pretty significant upgrade. And when you talk about significant, you’re also talking about sophisticated and and and complicated especially I guess when you’re tying in phone systems or IP based, if any of our readers or listeners here are responsible for those sort of IT systems. Can you give us some of the the?
00:03:16 Speaker 1
Weak speak when it comes to how those are being integrated.
00:03:19 Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. What we really desire to do is stay in our space from an instructional audio standpoint. That’s what we’re known for. That’s what we’re respected for. So we’re really staying there. But what we have done is identified that we can integrate with existing paging and intercom solutions through our network system. So that from a wireless standpoint, we use deck technology for our wireless.
00:03:41 Speaker 2
Transmission, but from the amp we’re now connected through the through the network and integrate with that paging system so that we’re integrating with what the school is already used to using.
00:03:52 Speaker 2
And being able to navigate and then those buttons can do different things based upon what the school desires it to do based upon their safety and security protocols and those kinds of things. One of the things that we really wanted to make sure that we did through this process is there can be complexity on the back end for sure, but how do we keep it simple for the teacher? How do we make it so that it’s very easy and intuitive?
00:04:14 Speaker 2
For them to use, you know, one of the things that we realized was when it comes to school wide communication, there’s different ways that teachers were interacting, whether it be, you know, maybe a walkie.
00:04:24 Speaker 2
Bucky and those are kind of bulky and they might be taking them to recess or different places across the school. They’re not very wearable, so to speak, but they serve their purpose. You think about other things that they’re using sometimes they’re using their own cell phone, which sometimes isn’t on the school’s network, isn’t a school.
00:04:45 Speaker 2
Piece of property.
00:04:47 Speaker 2
And there’s some challenges tied to apps and things like that. On their own personal device that can be challenging for a school to navigate, and then, you know, they have their phone system maybe or their, you know, in the school and it’s fixed. And it’s not a wearable technology, so to speak. So we felt like there was a little bit of a gap in terms of just communication that we can make a little bit simpler.
00:05:07 Speaker 1
Yeah. And you mentioned the pandemic in in some of the the changing behaviors.
00:05:12 Speaker 1
Is that something that that as as a company as as a technology company who’s emphasizing these technologies as being an enhancement, has there, has there been a change in terms of maybe convincing faculty members who maybe were resistant? Like why do I need a microphone? I’ve always, I’ve always taught my algebra class for for 30 years and never seem to have necessary like.
00:05:34 Speaker 1
And always felt awkward about. So maybe now that they’re more comfortable and see those benefits.
00:05:39 Speaker 2
Yeah, really kind of two purposes that the pandemic really highlighted the need for this technology. One was when teachers were wearing masks in their classroom, you know, that mask was at 10 decibel drop in their voice. And also you had the loss of the visual cues of the mouth through that mask. And so I think that necessity of audio and the challenge of communication through the pandemic.
00:06:02 Speaker 2
Just heightened teachers awareness of why this technology is important. One of the first responses we’ve gotten for years when teachers put a microphone on and they hear that low volume, highly intelligible speech coming through, is that they didn’t have to repeat their instructions nearly.
00:06:17 Speaker 2
This much students were more attentive and at the end of the day the teacher had more energy. They realized I don’t have to raise my voice all day, every day for my students to be able to hear me, you know another, you know, we talked a little bit about maybe the rise in behavioral issues in a school. You know, I I went to a lot of Superintendent conferences towards the tail end.
00:06:37 Speaker 2
Of the pandemic and.
00:06:38 Speaker 2
After the pandemic and a lot of superintendents would just say we are just seeing an A significant increase in behavioral issues tied to all of the challenges that the pandemic had for students, their home life and all the things that they were going through. And, you know, there was an increase in room clears just.
00:06:55 Speaker 2
You know things that are every day in a school that you know a lot of people maybe don’t hear about, but they’re the challenges that teachers are facing every day and they’re very aware of it. So increased communication across the school campus was one thing that we just wanted to really focus on. And, you know, one of the things that I’m sure that you’ve thought about too, and you’re hearing from other companies.
00:07:16 Speaker 2
As well.
00:07:16 Speaker 2
Well, is how technology needs to evolve. You know, we talked about AI and ChatGPT and how that’s being incorporated into the classroom. And there’s a lot of different things. And I think coming out of the pandemic and in the next few years, we’re gonna continue to see a lot of really innovative technologies that are going to change the way that the classroom is shaped and the way teaching and learning.
00:07:38 Speaker 1
Yeah, because especially we’re talking about the future of education technology conference, right. And I’m I’m looking forward to getting down there and now that we’re.
00:07:45 Speaker 1
Kind of finally free to a certain degree from the pandemic and kind of start to look forward on some of these technologies, the augmented reality, the virtual reality audio is a big part of all of those things, right? So I mean you can, are you anticipating other new kind of applications where?
00:08:06 Speaker 1
Audio will be part of that.
00:08:09 Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the other component is just making sure you have clear audio for extended learning. You know, students that are outside of the classroom. How do you make sure that audio is clear on both ends? You know, if you have a group of students that are in another classroom across the school campus or, you know, in a different part, or if you have a teacher that’s remote.
00:08:29 Speaker 2
How do you make sure audio is clear through that whole process and we continue to think through that and we have a lot of various innovative solutions that we provide to be able to make sure that that can happen. One of the things that.
00:08:42 Speaker 2
Provided during the pandemic was our T3 solution, which is basically being able to provide a student with every a microphone. Every student in the classroom, and that became really applicable for remote learning where you might have a teacher that’s remote because if a student has a question that teacher needs to be able to hear it and.
00:09:01 Speaker 2
Being able to interact that way and really making the classroom setting different than what it has been in the past, and I think we’ll continue to see that evolve and change. But audio is at the heart of a lot of.
00:09:12 Speaker 1
Things one especially too. I I’ve noticed that when you look at various AI applications, various transcription applications, I mean specifically just Microsoft Word, the character recognition.
00:09:28 Speaker 1
It’s kind of across the Rubicon, right? I mean, it used to be like it was pretty good, but you’d have to spend a lot of time kind of cleaning.
00:09:36 Speaker 1
I notice now that just I mean the the character recognition when it comes to audio transcriptions, it’s just really spectacular. But the key comes down to.
00:09:47 Speaker 1
The microphone and what that technology can capture, right? I mean, so that’s kind of like the the front lines of any of this stuff working at all.
00:09:56 Speaker 2
Yeah. And you think also even about, you know, English language learning and the way that’s evolving in in K12 right now, I think over 10% of our student population.
00:10:05 Speaker 2
And now is falling into that category. So how can we do translation services through that process as well? So there’s a lot of exciting things that are happening through all of that.
00:10:17 Speaker 1
And the one piece of the the audience here that I don’t think needs much convincing are the students themselves.
00:10:26 Speaker 1
Right. I mean this is just.
00:10:27 Speaker 1
This is the technology is not a novelty to them. I mean, of course we’re all going to be speaking into microphones.
00:10:34 Speaker 2
Absolutely. And you know, I think students, especially now with, you know, headphones and everything else, they’re used to a more immersive experience when it comes to audio. So how can we deliver that to them, whether they’re in the classroom, whether they’re at home or whatever medium that they’re doing in the learning environment? We need to be thoughtful of that and engage them where they are.
00:10:53 Speaker 1
Well, lots of exciting stuff. Uh, I look forward to seeing you in person, not just on the on the zoom platform where we can kind of go more in depth. But thanks for your time to kind of.
00:11:04 Speaker 1
Let our listeners and let our readers kind of know what’s on the on the forefront here when it comes to audio.
00:11:09 Speaker 2
Absolutely. And what you know will be on the showroom floor, but we’ll also have a demonstration room where we can show Cascadia and demonstrate it on a first hand level in an enclosed space. So we look forward to being able to meet with many people at FTC.
00:11:23 Speaker 1
Excellent, Tony. Thanks again. Appreciate it.
00:11:25 Speaker 2
Thank you.
Kevin is a forward-thinking media executive with more than 25 years of experience building brands and audiences online, in print, and face to face. He is an acclaimed writer, editor, and commentator covering the intersection of society and technology, especially education technology. You can reach Kevin at KevinHogan@eschoolnews.com
