Braven has consistently made excellent Bluetooth speakers since before everyone and their uncle was making a Bluetooth speaker. Amazingly enough, the company has done a stellar job of coming up with new and interesting products in addition to updating and upgrading its existing product line. Case in point: Braven’s latest effort, the BRV-Pro.
Braven set out to create the GoPro of Bluetooth speakers, and while it certainly succeeded at producing a rugged and resilient go-anywhere, do-anything, hardcore adventure-ready portable sound station, what makes this speaker stand out from the crowd is its versatility. It really is like the Swiss Army Knife of Bluetooth speakers.
The BRV-Pro looks a lot like the company’s popular BRV-1, a potent and portable water-resistant speaker that still reigns as one of our all-time favorites. But the BRV-Pro packs far more utility, and it laughs at the idea of full-on water immersion with an IPX7 rating good for a dunk in the drink down to depths of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.
The best part is, the speaker hides a docking platform under a metallic plate that allows you to attach a number of different accessories, with more expected down the road. Available now at Braven’s website are an external battery ($50) which extends the speakers total play time from 15 hours to 40 hours (or a few more smartphone charges), a solar panel ($50) which will charge the battery while you’re busy frolicking in the great outdoors, an action mount ($15) which will work with Go-Pro and other action mounts for use while skiing, riding, boarding, or driving, and a stacking plate ($20) which will link two of the speakers for double the sound.
Other accessories are said to be in the works, and could include an LED lantern or other camp-friendly add-ons.
Like the BRV-1, the BRV-Pro packs a respectable punch for its size, with just enough mid-bass to fill out the sound, making the speaker sound bigger than it ought to. The rest of the frequency range is clean and clear, and capable of reaching surprisingly high levels — certainly enough to rise above the roar of a class-3 rapid, or the rev of a dirt bike.
The speaker is available now at Amazon for $150, with accessories expected to be available “soon.”
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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