boombox

Logitech purchased the Ultimate Ears headphone line way back in 2008. Since then, slowly but surely, the UE logo has been creeping in as the upscale Logitech audio brand -- witness the UE AirPlay speaker from earlier this year.

As of today, the Logitech UE branding officially goes large with the introduction of seven new audio products. Among the new models are two mobile Bluetooth speakers, three new headphones with memory foam cushions, a noise-isolating in-earphone with four-armature speakers in each earpiece, and the next evolution of the Squeezebox Radio powered by Logitech UE's new mobile companion app.… Read more

Steve "The Spherical Audiophiliac" Guttenberg makes his first 2012 appearance on the show this morning and adds some more descriptors to his middle name.

He brings in a few noise-canceling earbuds and headphones into the studio for a head-to-head, and we'll confer about which modern artists have the talent to stick around another 30 years.

Finally, we'll end the show with a talk about Paul McCartney pulling his tracks from Spotify! These stories and more on today's 404 Podcast.… Read more

The Jawbone Jambox portable Bluetooth speaker is a must-pack item for travelers, but its small size means you're not using it to host dance parties or even as a permanent computer speaker at home.

That may soon change, however, as an FCC excavation from Web sleuths at Wireless Goodness exposed Jawbone's plans for a larger, boom-box-style Jambox.

The code name right now is "Big Jambox," but the filing doesn't unearth much dirt aside from that and its Bluetooth connectivity. Depending on its size, however, the larger speaker will likely compete with larger iPod/iPhone speakers … Read more

LAS VEGAS--iHome is showing off several new products at this year's CES, including the retrolicious boombox, the iP4, which gives new meaning to the phrase "pretty in pink."

iHome says the iP4 is a "re-imagining of the classic stereo boombox" and offers "intriguing updates for your iPhone and iPod." These include SRS TruBass digital signal processing technology, a 5 band EQ coupled with 4-inch carbon composite woofers and 1-inch ferro fluid cooled tweeters, and and FM radio and aux line-in jack.

Like boomboxes of yesteryear, the iP4 operate on 6 D batteries or … Read more

Jawbone has had some success in the market with the Jambox, a small Bluetooth speaker with speakerphone capabilities. Designed to augment the sound of smartphones and tablets such the iPad, the nice thing about the Jambox is that it plays loudly and takes up little room in your bag, so it makes for an excellent traveling companion.

Logitech's Mini Boombox does exactly the same thing as the $175 Jambox, and while it doesn't do it quite as well--and isn't as slickly designed--it only costs half as much.

The Mini Boombox is smaller than the Jambox and about … Read more

In a nod to the success of the Jawbone Jambox mini Blueooth speaker, Logitech has just announced the Mini Boombox, a $99.99 portable Bluetooth speaker with a built-in rechargeable battery and speakerphone capabilities.

While the speaker is compact, it appears to be larger than the Jambox (we're still waiting for weight and dimensions). Battery life is rated at 10 hours, which seems decent enough, and Logitech is touting the touch controls on the top of the unit and a "specially designed acoustic chamber that delivers great sound with enhanced bass."

The speaker is obviously a good deal cheaper than the Jambox, which runs around $180, so we're curious to know how it sounds and just how compact it really is. … Read more

Big-name iPhone/iPod speaker manufacturers like Bose and Logitech have recently rolled out new products designed to wirelessly stream music from your iOS devices using...Bluetooth. Wait, wasn't AirPlay supposed to take over in this space, promising better compatibility, range, and sound quality? It was, but as good as AirPlay is, it's not a great choice for iPod speakers this year, especially with the Bluetooth alternative. Here's why.

Bluetooth works nearly identically to AirPlay on iOS devices When we reviewed LG's LSB316 sound bar with built-in Bluetooth, we were surprised at how easily the Bluetooth feature worked with our iPhone 4. It felt exactly like AirPlay, offering the same compatibility between apps, and it even uses the AirPlay icon. If nobody told you it was Bluetooth, you probably wouldn't even realize you weren't using AirPlay.

AirPlay products are prohibitively expensive so far If you really want AirPlay, you can plunk down $600 for the B&W Zeppelin Air Speaker, but that's about four times more than most people want to spend on an iPhone speaker. JBL's On Air Wireless costs $350. Even iHome, known for its budget iPod speakers, is charging $300 for its AirPlay-equipped iW1.… Read more

Back in 2009, we reviewed the $300 Mix iMT800, a modern iPod/iPhone speaker dock with the look and feel of an old-school, crank-it-till-your-ears-bleed boom box. Now Altec's updated that portable speaker system with some small tweaks--the new model is known as the Mix BoomBox iMT810. Since the two systems are so similar, a lot of this review will sound the same as the review for the older model. But let's start with the differences. Here's what the new iMT810 has versus the previous system.… Read more

Back in 2009, we reviewed Altec Lansing's $300 Mix iMT800, a modern iPod/iPhone dock with the look and feel of an old-school, crank-it-till-your-ears-bleed boom box. Now Altec's updated that portable speaker system with some small tweaks and is shipping the new Mix iMT810.

In our review of the previous model, we said the design of Altec Lansing's Mix iMT800 "may not appeal to everyone, but its winning combination of good performance, lots of oomph, and portability makes it one of the best iPod speaker options out there."

While we haven't tested the new … Read more