Momentum for space development is growing on a global scale.
The rocket company SpaceX, led by CEO Elon Musk, has been carrying out numerous missions since putting its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket into service. The company now boasts the highest launch frequency in the world, and this has helped boost the number of rocket launches worldwide to 254 last year. This is a dramatic increase of more than 20 percent compared to the previous year.
In Japan, Honda has begun developing a reusable rocket, and it was reported just this June that it had successfully taken off and landed in its first launch test. However, despite Japan being described as a suitable location for rocket launch tests due to its geography, there were only five launches in Japan last year, far behind the number of launches by nations with advanced space programs like the United States, China, and Russia.
The Japanese company &Space Project aims to reverse this trend and expand the base of Japan’s space industry. The company has launched a new initiative in cooperation with Noon by Material Record, a research and development project led by the Nomura Corporation Group, which produces acoustic devices using sustainable materials.
This partnership has given birth to Debris, a speaker fashioned out of the tank of a space rocket. The design incorporates scrap parts from the test fuel tanks of the commercial rockets produced in the town of Taiki in Hokkaido.
A release party for Debris was held this past June at CITAN in Nihonbashi.
PHOTOGRAPH: MASASHI URA
Taiki is is a hub for Japan’s space industry and home to the Hokkaido Space Port, which is used by private companies and university research institutes around the world involved in space development. It’s also used by Honda for its reusable rocket takeoff and landing tests.
The company has always had premium prices, but in certain categories the products haven’t always matched the brand’s prestige: 2010s attempts at noise-canceling earbuds were bulky, sounded middling, and had poor battery life; and it also sold a line of too-expensive Bluetooth speakers with screens that nobody needed.
Then, after its physical storefronts were not having the billboard-like effect Bose wanted, the brand, just prior to Snyder joining, decided to dramatically pivot—a word that can so often be replaced with “panic”—to a strategy that focused on online sales and bolstering exhibits in existing storefronts such as Best Buy in the United States.
This seismic shift meant that every single Bose store in the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan shuttered, resulting in 119 store closures and hundreds of layoffs worldwide. So far, under Snyder’s stewardship, that swerve toward online and in-store retail has, according to the company, worked out—but it could have gone the other way.
Brands like Nike that have pivoted away from brand-owned retail stores have seen sales dives, but the key difference lies in Bose’s decision to lean into retail partners. By bolstering exhibits in places such as Best Buy and other stores, as well as leaning into sales on Amazon and other online retailers besides its own website, Bose has been able to maintain a broad reach while also not keeping retail overhead in-house. According to Snyder, this slimmed-down approach has been effective in righting Bose’s fortunes, especially when paired with excellent new products.
Audio Exclusive
In being a tech company that entirely focuses on audio products, Snyder says that the secret sauce at Bose is research. Engineers are constantly looking for innovation in materials, acoustics, design, production, and more. When asked about recent innovations in solid-state driver technology, for example, she isn’t shy about its prodigious market research.
“What’s interesting about Bose is we have been an audio company for 60 years,” says Synder. “We know we’re going to be in competitive markets. We’ve always been in competitive markets, whether that’s headphones, or in the home, or in the car. What makes us different is we’re all about audio. You can be assured we experiment with everything. When we believe something’s ready, we bring it forward. We’re always looking for technology that can change the game.”
This is particularly evident when it comes to noise canceling, which was pioneered by the brand for aviators—a market Snyder says Bose is proud to remain dominant in—rather than folks in the main cabin of the plane.
Using the Pros
By investigating what pilots needed to operate safely and comfortably in the cockpit, and constantly asking them for improvements and ideas, Bose was able to develop and trickle down what remain the best noise-canceling algorithms WIRED has ever tested. That makes sense, given that latest generation of Bose Quietcomfort over-ears and earbuds offer genuine professional-grade aerospace technology.
Snyder says the brand uses professionals, or semi-professinals in the case of its PA gear for small-venue musicians, not only to improve its products but also to market to folks who are interested in higher-end audio. “They’re a professional musician. They have a great ear. They know what great sound sounds like. Those products create a sort of halo.”
It’s a great time to double down on stereo sound. Multi-speaker formats like Dolby Atmos get all the headlines, but if you’re building an all-in-one stereo or 2.1 system to elevate everything from your turntable to your TV, there have never been more options.
With stereo streaming amplifiers and receivers popping up all over the audio sphere (not to mention tons of powered bookshelf speakers), it can be tough to know where to start. The R-N1000A makes things easy. Sitting a step below Yamaha’s flagship R-N2000A, the R-N1000A is pricey yet approachable, with a hardy mix of versatile connectivity, superb performance, and rocksteady usability.
You might expect any legacy audio brand to provide consistent performance across inputs in the streaming era, but as our extensive testing has borne out, juxtaposing traditional audiophile components with conveniences like Wi-Fi and HDMI ARC is no cakewalk. The N1000A proves you can have it all in one box, showcasing uncommon stability in a powerful and downright fun package tailor-made for the modern stereo era.
Old School, New Curriculum
Pulling the hulking yet sleek R-N1000A from its packaging, my first question was, where is the display on this thing? Don’t get me wrong, I love the receiver’s sparkling front face with its tactile selector knobs, especially in the silver model I reviewed, but even the coolest retro design demands modern concessions.
It wasn’t until I fired the unit up that I realized the demure black strip along its base is the display, offering a small but legible guide for source, volume levels, and other settings. It’s not as handy or as versatile as the large screens on pricier streaming amplifiers like Rotel’s RA-5000 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) or Naim’s Uniti Atom (8/10, WIRED Recommends), but it gets the job done without disturbing the vintage aesthetic. It helps that Yamaha’s MusicCast app, necessary for Wi-Fi setup, displays conveniences like album art and digital file resolution.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Style aside, the R-N1000A is crafted with performance in mind. It utilizes Yamaha’s TopART (Total Purity Audio Reproduction Tech) design, with a “meticulously symmetrical left/right circuit layout” and “special resin” to block vibrations. A double-bottom chassis with a 1-mm iron damping plate and anti-resonance feet further dull unwanted noises. The unit’s vented frame weighs a healthy 27 pounds and stands 6 inches tall, over 17 inches across, and 15.5 inches deep, so you’ll need plenty of console space.
While the R-N1000A doesn’t get the giant toroidal transformer found in the R-N2000A (and other pricier rivals), its capable custom transformer and block capacitors provide potent A/B amplification at a claimed 100 watts per channel of continuous power at 8 ohms and 140 watts at peak power. Yamaha doesn’t publish continuous power specs at 4 ohms but claims 220 watts per channel of peak power. A 384-kHz/32-bit SABRE ES9090Q DAC provides topline high-resolution digital transference for hi-res sources with support for WAV and FLAC files up to 384 kHz and DSD files at up to 11.2 MHz.
Locked and Loaded
Even with stereo network receivers and amplifiers seeming to spring up autonomously, you’ll have a hard time finding one with better connectivity than the R-N1000A. The back panel is loaded with three dedicated digital inputs (two digital, one coaxial), USB-B connection, AM and FM tuners, three RCA line inputs (one for a CD player), HDMI ARC for your TV, a subwoofer output, Ethernet, and stereo pre-outs for a second amplifier. There’s also a solid phono input, though I actually preferred my Orbit Theory’s built-in pre-amp. Up front is a quarter-inch headphone out.
A handy second speaker zone set below the gold-plated A-zone stereo terminals allows you to connect two pairs simultaneously, designated for 8-ohms only. One other note on impedance: If you’re connecting a single pair of 4- or 6-ohm speakers as I did, Yamaha recommends you navigate to Advanced Setup and change the impedance. It’s a minor pain, but takes just seconds.
If you have other MusicCast devices, you can create additional playback zones from any connected sound source wirelessly in the app. There you’ll also find loads of built-in streaming services, including internet radio stations, Pandora, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Sirius XM, among others. The wireless suite finishes with AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth 4.2 in a pinch. Chromecast is notably missing, though with so many supported services, including both Spotfy Connect and Tidal Connect, Android users should be in good shape. The receiver is also “Roon Tested” for Roon’s dedicated server system.
This new iteration of the WATT/Puppy is the first redesign of the speakers since 2011. They ain’t cheap though, and cost more than $53,000 for a pair (£41,998 if you speak British). You can customize individual parts of the speakers, like the grille colors and hardware bits, making it possible to put together a variety of distinctive-looking sets. You can also install spikes on the feet for near-total vibrational isolation—which should keep the sound from getting flabby when Walter Becker hits the lowest notes on your 180-gram audiophile vinyl Aja remaster.
Elon’s Payday
Elon Musk really likes money. Or at least that’s what you might assume seeing as he is currently in a fight to secure $56 billion as a salary for staying on as CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
On June 13, Tesla shareholders will vote to approve the gargantuan paycheck for the world’s richest man. It’s been a tense row, with the chair of Tesla’s board calling for shareholders to approve the money lest Musk leave for, well, greener endeavors. And—surprise, surprise—Musk has been shit-talking Tesla shareholders who say they will vote against the pricey package.
In other Elon adventures, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk diverted a shipment of Nvidia AI chips away from Tesla and had them sent to facilities of his other pet project, the social site formerly known as Twitter. (Now stupidly known as X.)
An Overview of AI Overviews
As Google is wont to do these days, the company’s latest AI ambitions have yet again riled up people online. AI Overviews are Google’s newish written summaries that appear at the top of a results page on some Google searches. The goal is to present a short, easily readable answer to a searcher’s question in an instant. In reality, those answers are sometimes completely wrong or misleading. Not only that, but giving searchers an immediate answer without them having to click on any links creates an all but existential crisis for websites that depend on people going to their page. Like, you know, every journalistic publication out there.
This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, WIRED writers Kate Knibbs and Reece Rogers join the show to talk about how AI overviews are changing how we find information online, how Google has managed the feature’s rollout, and what happens when the overviews start stealing what you’ve written.
It’s been Nearly eight years since Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone. Yes, you can get excellent wireless earbuds nowadays, but maybe you prefer plugging in or you don’t want to think about charging your headphones. The joy of the 3.5-mm headphone connector is that it’s one of the few universal standards left.
You can use any pair of corded headphones—no need to worry about whether they’re Lightning or USB-C or whether the connectivity will blip in and out. No batteries to charge, no dongles to attach, and no earbuds to lose (or earbud cases to run through the washing machine). There are times when Bluetooth is preferable, but it’s nice to have the option. As WIRED’s smartphone reviewer, I go through handsets big and small, cheap and expensive—these are the best with the venerable port. Read our Best Android Phones, Best iPhones, and Best Cheap Phones guides for more.
Updated May 2024: We’ve added the Moto G Play 2024, Moto G Power 2024, Samsung Galaxy A15 5G, Asus ROG Phone 8, Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra, and Scosche’s FM transmitter.
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.
Recorders, generally speaking, are meant to sit in the background, quietly absorbing sound without contributing to it. They’re a neutral, inconspicuous product type almost by necessity. If you’re recording field audio, like trying to capture the perfect loon call out in the wild, you’d be better served by a proper shotgun mic to pinpoint the sound. Audio recorded directly in a studio sounds great on the TP-7, but again, you can handle that with some far less expensive yet still really good microphones.
The device can also be tricky to navigate, with some menu diving required to access certain features that won’t feel intuitive right away. There’s also some kinks you’ll find if you’re coming from another type of recorder.
As one example, I tried to feed music from Spotify through the TP-7 to test the line-in functions, with a pair of headphones plugged into the output jack so I could monitor the sound. At the time, I didn’t realize that by default the audio still played through both the plugged-in headphones and the on-device speakers. That is, until my girlfriend came in from the other room, laptop in hand, to tap me on the shoulder and say, “I’m getting on a call with my boss. Can you please stop blasting that song.”
I was able to solve this little problem, along with a few similar snafus, by sifting through the thick little flip-book that is the instruction manual. But sometimes there wasn’t exactly an intuitive way of figuring that out without manual diving. And some interactions take a bit to get the hang of.
Leaving the recorder running, for instance, takes two button presses—one tap of the red Record button, then a separate press of the Play button right next to it. On similar devices from other brands, you usually just tap the Record button once and it starts taping. These little idiosyncrasies are the price you pay for something like this. (Besides, you know, the actual price you pay for it.)
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Viewing the TP-7 from some kind of hoity-toity professional standpoint is perhaps a little disingenuous. Because the TP-7 is just a good time. It’s far more fun than you’d expect a recorder to be. After all, you’ll recall that the whole front disc spins while you’re recording, and the thing just feels great in your hand, with all its clicky-clacky buttons and smooth switches.
There’s also clever, well-thought-out functions that make recording more interesting. If you press the Play button a second time while playback is going, the disk will reverse its spin and play the audio backward. It’s a fun little option that could be great for music producers fiddling a sample or anyone checking their recordings for any secret satanic messages.
Also the ability to mix and match inputs and outputs with the plugs at the top offers a great deal of flexibility for combining with other audio gizmos. I paired the TP-7 with another of Teenage Engineering’s creations: the EP-133 K.O.2, a remarkably affordable (for Teenage Engineering) sampling device. By mixing and matching the input and output cables between the devices, I could record from the sampler into the TP-7, then manipulate the sound there and port it back over to the sampler, with the DJ scratch sounds fully intact.
Audio quality: It seems like it would go without saying, but we’re saying it anyway: You can’t always tell from a spec sheet how a headset will sound. A well-made stereo headset can sound better than a poorly made 7.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound set. Check reviews to get a sense of how a headset performs in real life.
Surround sound options: Modern headsets have gotten very good at recreating or simulating surround sound in headsets with systems like Dolby Atmos for Headphones or DTS:X. These systems are particularly impactful in games where you want to be able to hear exactly where an enemy is firing at you from. Be sure you can turn the surround sound on or off.
Comfort: This is another subjective category, but if you’re going to wear a headset for hours while you’re gaming, it’s important that it doesn’t hurt. A heavy headset pressing against your temples can give you a headache after a while. Look for headsets that have adjustable, ergonomic designs, plenty of cushioning, and are generally lightweight.
An adjustable boom microphone: If you plan to use your headset for online gaming, a good microphone is important. Many headsets come with boom mics that can be positioned in front of your mouth. Some are removable, while others can simply be rotated or bent away from your mouth when they’re not in use. Make sure you get the kind that’s right for your needs.
Visible mic muting and indicator LEDs: It’s important to know when you’re broadcasting audio so you don’t accidentally share your private conversations with your teammates. Some mics mute automatically when you flip them upward, while others use a dedicated mute button. We particularly like headsets that include red LEDs that indicate when you’re muted, which can be helpful.
Mic monitoring so you can hear your voice: If you want to keep tabs on how you sound to your teammates, and not sound like you’re yelling while playing, mic monitoring is a feature that lets you hear your own audio through your headphones. Optimally, you can adjust its volume. When you listen to a podcast or radio talk show, chances are those folks are using some form of mic monitoring so they can hear themselves, as well as others.
Equalizer (EQ) and customization tools: Games, movies, and TV shows are mixed differently, and when you’re listening, you might want to emphasize different aspects of the audio signal. Custom EQ presets let you set different balances for watching a movie versus playing a game, or even have different balances on a per-game basis.
