Soundfreaq, the portable speaker company we’ve found has a knack for squeezing good sound out of budget-friendly devices, has unveiled three new products to show off at CES 2014. The new lineup includes a refresh of Soundfreaq’s Sound Rise alarm clock, the Double Spot, which is basically a double shot of the company’s wood encapsulated Sound Spot speaker, and the tiny, iPhone-sized Pocket Kick. Here’s the lowdown on the newest members of the Soundfreaq family.
The smallest new device of the three may just be the biggest news of the release, as Soundfreaq has taken its acclaimed Sound Kick speaker and shrunk it down to a sleek little pocket-sized block of plastic and steel. The speaker claims to provide “surprisingly loud, full, and clear” audio from its tiny form factor, and it is meant to slip into your pocket more easily than many smartphones.
Like the rest of Soundfreaq’s new class, the Pocket Kick offers Bluetooth 4.0. The speaker employs a passive radiator at its backside to reach down to the lower frequencies, and boasts a heavy selection of features for its size, including 10 hours of battery runtime, a 3.5mm Aux input, and a speakerphone. The Pocket Kick is slated for a late spring release.
Apart from a slight re-design, which loses the previous version’s 30-pin iOS docking station, the latest Sound Rise’s most critical new feature is its upgrade from the stale Bluetooth version 2.0 + to the faster and higher audio resolution of the aforementioned Bluetooth 4.0. The upgrade is all the more impressive since Soundfreaq was able to keep the Sound Rise’s price manageable, just below $70.
Other features for the clock include a fully dimming display with an auto-on function at wake-up, dual alarms with day setting control and a battery backup, a 3.5mm Aux input, and a USB charging station to free up a socket by your nightstand. The new Sound Rise is slated for release in April.
When we first laid eyes on the Sound Spot, all we could think of was that the speaker’s “mid-century” wooden frame looked like it had been carved from the wall of a sauna – in a good way. We enjoyed the funky little speaker, which packs a warm, punchy sound signature for a small price. The new Double Spot raises the bar over its predecessor, again adding the superior Bluetooth 4.0 protocol for much cleaner streaming, as well as a twin driver to allow for a full stereo soundstage.
Features for the stretched version include the original Sound Spot’s trio of tone control options, a 3.5mm Aux input, a USB charging port, and Soundfreaq’s UQ3 signal processing designed for a more immersive listening experience. Unfortunately, unlike the $60 Sound Spot, a battery must be added to the Double Spot to make it fully portable, which adds $39 to the price tag. Soundfreaq also says a $149 version with battery in-tow will be available at select retailers. The speaker will be out sometime this summer.
Along with those 3 headliners, Soundfreaq has also provided a sneak peak at its new Novogratz speaker line featured below. The collection matches Soundfreaq engineering with the modern design styles of HGTV’s Robert and Courtney Novogratz. We’ll have the scoop on those, and the rest of the new Soundfreaq lineup in a few short days from the showroom floor in Las Vegas, so stay tuned.
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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