Audio/MP3

With most speakers or headphones, you're stuck with the designer's sound, but with the Logitech UE Personal Reference Monitors (PRM) you get to play headphone designer and dial in exactly the sound you want.

Each pair is totally unique; they're built with the individually designed equalization curves you selected. My PRMs sound absolutely amazing, but I'm a little biased, I designed them to please my ears! Every PRM buyer will do the same, and if they totally screw up and hate the result, Ultimate Ears will give them another try. Each PRM set is handmade in UE's facilities in California.

The price for this level of customization doesn't come cheap, though; the Personal Reference Monitors sell for $1,999. That's extreme, but so are $285,000 luxury cars. I cover the full gamut of audio, from affordable to the craziest expensive gear. … Read more

A well-calibrated Panasonic TC-PVT50 TV will look exactly the same in almost any room with the lights turned down. Video performance is reliable and predictable, but audio is the exact opposite. Speakers will sound very different in different rooms, sometimes to a frightening degree. AV receivers' speaker calibration systems might help a little bit, but they can never eliminate the problems created by sound reflecting off a room's walls, floor and ceiling. The size and shape of the room, furniture, floor covering, mirrors, windows, and drapes all play their parts in the sound environment.

When I was a hi-fi … Read more

When I want to stick something in my ears, here's what I look for: a noise-isolating seal, in-line controls for playback and taking calls, and a clip to keep the cord from making too much of that rubbing noise.

Oh, also, a price tag below $20.

Ta-daaa: today only, and while supplies last, Daily Steals has the Logitech Ultimate Ears 350vi headset for $16.99 shipped. Price at Amazon: $59.99.

Actually, this is a slightly different package than what you'd get from Amazon. The latter includes a hard-shell carrying case and five sets of ear cushions. Here, … Read more

Bluetooth speakers are all the rage these days, but when you stream your music library, Pandora playlists, and the like to a Bluetooth speaker, the audio gets compressed. And that makes audiophiles angry.

Plus, why listen to a relatively small sound system when you've already got a big, honking stereo? What you need is some Bluetooth-style way to beam your tunes from your iDevice to those sweet speakers -- but without the Bluetooth-style compression.

There's one way, and it's on sale! Through November 4, Shoptronics has the Nyrius NiAA300 Digital Wireless Audio Transmitter System for $59.99 shipped … Read more

Is $10, or the price of a few Starbucks lattes, really too much to pay for an album? Is $10 really too much to support musicians well enough they'll want to record more music? I still play LPs I bought when I was a teenager, and I can't think of anything else I still use from that part of my life. Those records are, if anything, more valuable to me now then they were then. I'm old enough to remember when record companies were freaking out about kids making cassette copies of albums, but producer and engineer … Read more

Great-sounding headphones have never been more affordable. Even the least expensive headphone model on this list, the Panasonic RP HJE 355 in-ear, has oodles of detail and decent bass punch. For me the most important thing when evaluating headphones is sound balance; no frequency range should call attention to itself, so I don't like overly bassy headphones, or ones that overemphasize treble. Headphones should sound clear, not muffled or fuzzy. I prefer spacious stereo imaging over sound that's stuck inside my head. Headphones that allow music's soft-to-loud dynamics to bloom are better than ones that constrict dynamics. … Read more

A couple quick housekeeping notes before we dive into today's deal...

First, I've heard one too many complaints from readers about 1SaleADay's slow shipping and poor customer service. I've asked the company to comment on these issues, but have yet to receive a response. Until I do, I won't be sharing any more of its deals. I'm not saying you shouldn't patronize the company, only that you should expect slow shipping and little-to-no information about your shipment.

Second, I get a quite a lot of reader mail, and I apologize that I can'… Read more

I remember just before the CD was introduced 30 years ago thinking that digital audio would be a giant leap forward in fidelity, but as soon as I heard a few CDs I knew digital wouldn't do a thing to make music sound more realistic. The CD was vastly better than LPs and cassettes in terms of noise and distortion, but voices still didn't sound like they do in real life, and pianos didn't sound as big and powerful as they do in Carnegie Hall. That mystified me; those early digital recordings were compression-free, and I was … Read more

DENVER--The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, held in Denver, was a must-see event for audiophiles young and old. The biggest change this year was a bonanza of affordable high-end products -- mixed in with the usual crazy expensive gear -- along with a good helping of midpriced goodies.

Music Hall had a rather plain-looking little monitor speaker, the Marimba ($349 a pair), that sounded big and truly powerful. I have never heard that level of bass "slam" coming out of such a diminutive speaker; I can't wait to get it in for review.

Woo Audio's stunning new … Read more