Tuesday, February 4, 2014

GADGETS AND GIZMOS SPECIAL ....The Sound Of Music


The Sound Of Music
 
Review of a set of headphones and speakers to add to your listening experience

LogitechUE 9000 Headphones:
 Rs 31,995
If you were to ask me to describe the UE9000 headphones in one word, I would say — macho. But you’re not, so allow me to elaborate. 
Everything about Logitech’s Ultimate Ears UE9000 headphones spells solid. Start with the carry case. It’s hard shell and would protect your headphones nicely enough.   
When you lift the headphones out, you’ll be struck by the look of metal and hard black glossy plastic. Plastic may look nasty on a smartphone, but on these headphones it looks heavy duty. The headphones are very well cushioned with lots of padding in an around-the-ear form. Get inside them, and you’re in a world of your own, with your music.  
The UE9000 is Bluetooth enabled, something you’ll easily see in a slightly more light format. But here, you have a 50 foot range and easy connectivity to your devices. It took a flick of a switch to connect to my phone.  
The sound quality on these ‘phones is also rock solid. Full blooded base gets the most attention but higher frequencies are not boosted and are rather balanced out. Active noise cancellation keeps the world out.  
You can also receive calls on this giant headphone set. The volume and navigation controls are on the side, but what I’m not so delighted about is some of the other buttons that are too recessed closer to the earpiece. You’d get used to it, but in the beginning, you keep fumbling to find them.

JBL Pulse Speaker:
Rs14,990

wireless and mobile speakers are a dime a dozen. But the JBL Pulse has a surprise in store. When you take it out of its box, it’s a black cylinder wearing a grid or net of sorts. There are little dots and icons on the top that you’ll discover are touch-sensitive buttons.  
To get this speaker going, connect it to power using the micro USB cable in the box and once it’s charged, pair it with a device using Bluetooth or NFC. Use the lit-up touch button on the top for this. If you’re using an iOS device, you’ll find you need to download the free JBL Pulse app and this will connect you to your music library. If you’re on an Android device, there’s no app, but you can just get to your music and play. And this is when you find that cylinder coming alive with a great light show. It’s entire body pulses with colourful light play which syncs with your music — more or less.
 
The touch sensitive buttons and the iOS app are used to fire up five different presets of light play, change colours and intensity or configure the show to your liking. If you adjust the volume, the lights will turn white and indicate the volume level before going back to its colour dance. You can attach a pair of headphones and watch the lights in solitary splendour as well. However, you cannot take calls using the Pulse.
 And what about when you’re done watching all the lights and just want to listen to some good music? Well, you can switch off the lights and focus on the sound which I’d say is middling. I felt myself wanting richer sound, more tinkly treble and base with a proper stomach. That’s when you remember that the Pulse is really a small, portable speaker after all. It’s not for those who want loud booming sound, but it’s still a very fun and mesmerising speaker.
Mala Bhargava
- See more at: http://businessworld.in/news/science-and-technology/gadgets/the-sound-of-music/1207196/page-1.html#sthash.CvC3AO9c.dpuf

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