Tag Archives: Audio

Astell&Kern Just Killed the Touchscreen With Two Knobs and $2,000

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Physical controls are having a moment. Volkswagen and Subaru are bringing back buttons and dials after years of touchscreen regret. Ferrari’s first EV was designed with Jony Ive’s studio around toggle switches and analog-style gauges. Across the design world, the message is clear: tactile isn’t nostalgia, it’s better design.

The Astell&Kern PD20 arrives right in the middle of this shift, and it might be the purest expression of it yet. This $1,970 portable digital audio player could have easily been just another black rectangle with a touchscreen. Instead, Astell&Kern built what it calls a “Sound Lab Control,” a device whose entire design philosophy revolves around physical interaction. Two wheels sit on top of the player, one for volume and one for sound tuning, positioned symmetrically like the controls on a vintage mixing console. On the side, physical slide switches let you toggle between amplifier modes and current levels without ever touching a menu. An LED ring around the power button glows different colors depending on the bit depth of whatever you’re playing. The whole thing is machined from aluminum and feels like something an engineer would be proud to leave on a desk.

Designer: Astell&Kern

The PD20’s signature feature, the Sound Master Wheel, offers 160 steps of EQ adjustment across bass, midrange, and treble. That means you can nudge your sound profile in tiny, precise increments while a song is playing, feeling each click of the wheel under your fingertip. It’s the kind of control that a touchscreen slider simply can’t replicate. You don’t need to look at anything. You don’t need to navigate a settings page. You just reach up and turn.

But the PD20 isn’t just a design exercise in retro appeal. Underneath all those physical controls is genuinely forward-thinking audio engineering. Astell&Kern partnered with Audiodo, a Swedish audio company, to build what they call Personal Sound, a system that uses included earphones to run a hearing test and then generates a custom sound profile matched to your specific ears. It compensates independently for left and right channels, which means the equalization isn’t generic. It’s calibrated to how you, personally, perceive sound. No other portable player on the market does this.

The hardware backs up the ambition. Four ESS ES9027PRO DACs run independently in a quad configuration, and a triple amplifier system lets you switch between Class A, Class AB, and a hybrid mode using a physical slider. Class A delivers that warm, rich analog texture that audiophiles love. Class AB is more efficient and dynamic. The hybrid splits the difference. You can even adjust the amplifier current across three levels to match whatever headphones you’re using, from sensitive in-ear monitors to power-hungry planar magnetics.

Storage won’t be a bottleneck either. The PD20 comes with 256GB built in, expandable to 1.5TB via microSD if you’re the type who carries around a lossless library. It handles everything from standard MP3s up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256 files: formats so high-resolution that most people can’t actually hear the difference, but audiophiles will appreciate having the headroom. There’s also built-in streaming support for Tidal, Qobuz, and other high-res services, which means you’re not locked into offline playback only. The touchscreen is there when you need it for navigation and track selection, but it’s deliberately kept secondary to the physical controls that define the experience.

It’s a lot of capability packed into a device you can hold in one hand. And I think that’s the point. The PD20 represents a growing understanding across the tech and design industries that physical controls aren’t a step backward. They’re a different kind of intelligence, one rooted in muscle memory, tactile feedback, and the human preference for tools that feel like extensions of ourselves rather than obstacles between us and what we’re trying to do.

The dedicated music player, as a category, has always been a niche product. Most people are perfectly happy streaming from their phones. But the PD20 isn’t really competing with your phone. It’s competing with the idea that every interaction with technology needs to happen on a flat piece of glass. For $1,970, you get a beautifully built object that invites you to touch it, turn it, and shape your music with your hands. In a landscape full of featureless screens, that feels like a radical proposition.

The post Astell&Kern Just Killed the Touchscreen With Two Knobs and $2,000 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Elgato’s Wave Next Connects Your Mic, Software, and Stream Deck

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Audio setups for creators have long followed a predictable pattern: buy a microphone, download some software, spend an afternoon reading forums about signal chains, and still end up with a slightly imperfect result. Elgato spent five years watching that process play out across hundreds of thousands of real setups. Wave Next is what they built after deciding most of it didn’t have to be that complicated.

The centerpiece is a custom chip called Wave FX Processor, developed in partnership with Lewitt Audio. It shifts critical audio processing directly onto the hardware, so the microphone signal arrives in every application already polished, without virtual audio devices or routing workarounds. Clipguard 2.0 handles distortion prevention through multiple analog-to-digital converters and 32-bit floating-point internal processing, while five onboard DSP effects shape the voice in real time with zero latency and no CPU load.

Designer: Elgato

VST Insert technology creates a dedicated low-latency path between the hardware and the computer so that studio-grade software effects can be injected directly back into the hardware signal chain. The processed audio then flows as a single input into any application. A creator streaming, recording, and on a video call simultaneously doesn’t need to configure three separate signal paths to get consistent sound across all three outputs.

Wave:3 MK.2

That software layer is Wave Link 3.0, overhauled completely and now free to download for Windows and macOS. It works with virtually any microphone or audio interface, not just Elgato hardware, though Wave devices unlock deeper features: guided setup, device control panels, and an Auto Gain Wizard. Up to five independent submixes let users route voice, music, game audio, and chat to separate outputs, each shaped individually through a horizontal routing table replacing traditional channel strips.

Wave XLR MK.2

XLR Dock MK.2

Four devices carry the Wave FX Processor. Wave:3 MK.2 is the USB condenser option, built around a supercardioid capsule tuned with Lewitt, with settings that persist across systems. Wave XLR MK.2 targets XLR microphone users with 80 dB of clean gain and 135 dB of dynamic range. XLR Dock MK.2 integrates directly into Stream Deck +. Wave XLR Pro, arriving in Q2 2026, adds dual XLR inputs and five hardware-based zero-latency monitoring mixes for two-person or multi-source setups.

Wave XLR Pro

Stream Deck + XL brings physical control to the entire ecosystem through 36 customizable LCD keys, six multifunction dials, and an ultra-wide touch strip for adjusting levels, toggling effects, and switching mixes without opening a single menu. Paired with Wave XLR Pro, it handles what would traditionally require a dedicated mixing desk, though at a fraction of the footprint. That’s a meaningful trade-off for anyone short on desk space.

Stream Deck + XL

The pitch Elgato is making with Wave Next isn’t that audio production should be simple. It’s that the complexity should be optional, readable when you need it, and invisible when you don’t. For creators already deep in the Stream Deck ecosystem, the integration will feel almost obvious. For everyone else, it’s a more honest question of how much control they actually want.

The post Elgato’s Wave Next Connects Your Mic, Software, and Stream Deck first appeared on Yanko Design.

TECNO and Tonino Lamborghini Built the Smallest Water-Cooled Gaming PC

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Tech collaborations with fashion and luxury brands usually follow a familiar, slightly tired script. A logo goes on the back of an otherwise unchanged device, a press release says something about “shared values,” and that’s more or less it. So when TECNO announced its partnership with Tonino Lamborghini at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, it was fair to be skeptical about what “Italian design meets cutting-edge technology” would actually look like in practice.

It turns out the answer involves water-cooling tubes, a 241-pixel LED matrix on the back of a phone, and a mini gaming PC that looks like it belongs on the set of a science fiction film. The collaboration goes beyond a branding exercise. It’s a full product line with a consistent visual language running across all of it.

Designer: TECNO x Tonino Lamborghini

The centerpiece is the Tonino Lamborghini TECNO TAURUS, officially the MEGA Mini G1 Pro, the follow-up to the MEGA Mini G1, which TECNO claimed as the world’s first and smallest water-cooled gaming PC. The TAURUS keeps that cooling system, building around a roughly 10,000 mm² pure copper cold plate and a triple-fan setup inside a gunmetal all-metal chassis.

Through the transparent side panel, you can see the red water-cooling tubes looping around the internals, glowing under orange-tinted fans. Rather than hiding the engineering, it’s deliberately flaunting it. A small status screen on the front body lets you monitor CPU and GPU performance in real time, without opening a separate dashboard on another screen.

The second launched product is the TECNO POVA Metal Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition, which TECNO is calling the world’s first full-metal unibody 5G phone. The camera module takes a triangular form, housing the Lamborghini “L” badge at its center, sitting flush against an uninterrupted metal back with bezels down to 0.99 mm.

A vertical slot running down the body doubles as a pulse light strip. The rear also features a 241-pixel independent LED dot matrix that can display call alerts, notifications, and custom animations. It sounds like a gimmick, but it’s one of the few times a phone’s notification system has been treated as a surface design decision. The phone runs on a Snapdragon processor and comes in silver, matte black, and red colorways.

Beyond these two, TECNO showed a concept AIoT ecosystem extending the design language to laptops, tablets, and open-ear earphones, all carrying the same red-and-gunmetal palette and the Tonino Lamborghini shield badge. The laptops feature a sharp V-shaped crease across the lid, the tablets get red-ringed cameras, and the earphone case is angular enough to feel at home next to the rest of the lineup.

The real question this collaboration leaves open is whether the Tonino Lamborghini aesthetic, bold as it is, adds genuine character to these devices or just visual noise. Luxury branding on tech hardware has a long and uneven track record, and most of it ages poorly once the novelty fades. TECNO is betting the design has enough substance to outlast the MWC spotlight.

The post TECNO and Tonino Lamborghini Built the Smallest Water-Cooled Gaming PC first appeared on Yanko Design.

Motorola’s Bose-Tuned Speaker Automatically Follows You Room to Room

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Bluetooth speakers have largely solved the portability problem and mostly failed the living room one. They tend to look like gym equipment that wandered indoors, sit awkwardly on a shelf, and demand a ritual of reconnecting whenever you walk back in the door. The moto sound flow, Motorola’s first portable speaker and the newest addition to the moto things lineup, takes a different angle on all three of those frustrations.

The design makes the first impression. Two Pantone-curated colorways, Carbon and Warm Taupe, wrap the cylindrical body in a twill-textured fabric finish that reads more like a decorative object than consumer electronics. It’s the kind of thing you’d leave on the coffee table without thinking twice, which is precisely the point. Motorola calls it “crafted to be seen and tuned to be heard,” and for once, the marketing copy isn’t entirely hollow.

Designer: Motorola

The hardware inside includes a dedicated woofer, tweeter, and dual passive radiators, producing a 30W output tuned through Motorola’s Sound by Bose partnership. That collaboration, which also appears in the razr fold, applies Bose’s EQ expertise for balanced, detailed sound rather than the bass-heavy thump most compact speakers default to. A companion app also lets you adjust the equalizer to your own taste, available on both Android and iOS.

The moto sound flow also distinguishes itself in terms of connectivity. Beyond Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, AirPlay, Google Cast, and Spotify Connect, the speaker uses UWB technology to do something more interesting. Walk close to it with a compatible phone, and it picks up your audio automatically, no tapping required. Run two units together, and Room Shift reroutes music to whichever speaker is nearest, while Dynamic Stereo adjusts left and right channels based on where your phone sits between them.

Those UWB features do carry a fine print worth reading. They require a compatible Android 9 or later phone with UWB enabled, so iPhones and older Android devices don’t qualify. The speaker still works over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for everyone else, but Room Shift and Dynamic Stereo, the parts that make the pitch most compelling, are locked behind a hardware requirement many buyers won’t check before purchase.

The 6,000 mAh battery covers long listening sessions, and the IP67 rating makes outdoor or poolside use fair game. A dock handles charging instead of a cable, which keeps things tidy. Four built-in microphones manage speakerphone calls. Starting at €199, the moto sound flow enters a competitive space where JBL, Sonos, and Bose already have devoted followings, each with years of speaker-only focus behind them.

The post Motorola’s Bose-Tuned Speaker Automatically Follows You Room to Room first appeared on Yanko Design.

5 Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers of Spring 2026 — Designed for the Outdoors, Not Your Bookshelf

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Most portable speakers end up on a shelf somewhere, playing lo-fi beats while someone makes coffee. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not what these five were made for. We picked speakers that actually want to leave the house, products built around weather resistance, battery stamina, and the kind of design thinking that considers mud, rain, and a campfire playlist as standard operating conditions. Spring 2026 has delivered some interesting options, from retro survival radios to subwoofer-equipped tanks that laugh at puddles.

What makes this list different from the usual roundup is the lens we are looking through. These are not ranked by loudness or spec-sheet one-upmanship. We looked at form factor, material durability, portability logic, and whether each speaker solves a real outdoor problem or just pretends to with an IP rating sticker. Some are brand new releases, others are designs that aged into relevance this season. All five belong outside.

1. RetroWave 7-in-1 Radio

Emergency radios tend to look like emergency radios: bulky, utilitarian, designed to sit in a basement kit next to expired granola bars. The RetroWave wraps seven functions inside a form factor borrowed from mid-century Japanese transistor radios, with a tactile tuning dial and a design warm enough to earn kitchen counter space. Those seven functions: Bluetooth speaker, MP3 player (USB and microSD), AM/FM/shortwave radio, flashlight, clock, SOS alarm, and power bank. Hand-crank charging and a solar panel provide off-grid power when outlets vanish, a capability no Bluetooth-only speaker on this list can match.

The outdoor logic differs from the rest of this roundup. The RetroWave competes on self-sufficiency, not audio fidelity. A hand crank and solar panel mean it never truly dies. The flashlight and SOS siren add safety utility for trail emergencies. Bluetooth and MP3 playback handle entertainment with respectable sound for a multi-function device, though the tuning-dial analog radio experience is where the personality lives. Shortwave reception opens up international broadcasts and emergency channels that streaming apps cannot access. As an everyday speaker, it has charm. As an emergency tool that also plays music, it is hard to argue against keeping one in a daypack. It belongs on this list not because it sounds the best, but because it is the only speaker here that could keep working days after every other device has gone dark.

Click Here to Buy Now: $89.00

What we like

  • Hand-crank and solar charging make it the only speaker here that generates its own power, a genuine survival feature for off-grid situations.
  • Seven functions (speaker, radio, flashlight, clock, SOS alarm, MP3 player, power bank) consolidate multiple pieces of outdoor gear into one device.

What we dislike

  • Audio quality does not match dedicated Bluetooth speakers on this list, as the multi-function design compromises driver space and tuning.
  • The retro aesthetic, while appealing, may feel out of place for users who prefer minimal, modern gear in their outdoor kits.

2. Marshall Emberton III

The Emberton III wraps textured silicone and metal grille construction around meaningful upgrades over its predecessors. Two 2-inch full-range drivers and two passive radiators push 360-degree sound through Marshall’s True Stereophonic system, so placement on a picnic blanket or backpack strap matters less than it would with front-firing alternatives. An IP67 rating allows submersion in one meter of water for 30 minutes, and the 32+ hours of battery life cover an entire weekend trip without an outlet. A 20-minute quick charge returns six hours of playback, the kind of math that matters when departure is in half an hour, and the speaker is dead.

Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio readiness and upcoming Auracast support means multi-speaker setups are on the horizon. A built-in microphone, absent from earlier Embertons, handles hands-free calls. The signature brass control knob manages volume, track skipping, and play/pause with tactile precision that wet or gloved hands appreciate far more than a touchscreen. At $159, it sits in a competitive zone against the Sonos Roam 2 and JBL Flip 6, but neither offers this battery endurance. Marshall’s sound leans warm and full at moderate volumes, though pushing past 85% introduces harshness common to speakers this size.

What we like

  • 32+ hours of battery life covers multi-day trips, and the 20-minute quick charge for six hours of playback is a practical safety net.
  • IP67 rating handles submersion, dust, and sand, making it one of the most weather-resistant speakers at this price.

What we dislike

  • Sound gets harsh at very high volumes, a physical limitation of the small driver size that DSP tuning cannot fully solve.
  • No 3.5mm auxiliary input means Bluetooth is the only connection option, eliminating wired backup for devices with dead wireless.

3. Brane X

Most portable speakers fake bass by boosting mid-bass frequencies and letting psychoacoustics fill the gaps. Brane X uses a proprietary Repel-Attract Driver (RAD) that cancels internal air pressure forces, producing real sub-bass down to 27.1 Hz from a speaker just 9.3 inches wide. Five drivers total, including a 6.5 x 9-inch RAD subwoofer, two midrange drivers, and two dome tweeters, are powered by four class-D amplifiers exceeding 200 watts combined. A 72 watt-hour battery provides up to 12 hours of runtime, and full IP57 waterproofing means rain and poolside splashes are non-issues.

Outdoors, the five-driver array creates a soundstage that holds up when listeners spread across a campsite or patio. A custom DSP engine runs 500 million EQ calculations per second, maintaining clarity at volumes where competitors distort. Wi-Fi adds Spotify Connect and SiriusXM streaming, Alexa handles voice control, and the Brane app offers custom EQ and grouping for up to eight speakers. At 7.7 pounds, it is heavier than pocket alternatives, but the acoustic payoff justifies the weight for anyone tired of thin, tinny campsite sound. A 3.5mm auxiliary port also accommodates turntables, a rare inclusion in the wireless-first portable category.

What we like

  • Bass response down to 27.1 Hz from a portable form factor is a genuine engineering achievement unmatched in this size class.
  • IP57 waterproofing combined with 200+ watts of amplification delivers serious sound in weather that would sideline most premium speakers.

What we dislike

  • 7.7 pounds limits grab-and-go spontaneity for hiking or cycling trips compared to sub-2-pound alternatives.
  • Battery tops out at 12 hours at moderate volume, less than half of what the Emberton III offers on a single charge.

4. The Harman Kardon Traveller Concept

The Traveller rethinks what a portable speaker should look like for people who actually travel with one. The form factor draws from Sony point-and-shoot cameras, producing a slab so slim it fits alongside a passport wallet. Touch controls and LED indicators sit on top, maintaining the clean design language of the Harman Kardon Esquire Mini 2. A high-density battery delivers up to 10 hours of playback, and reverse charge functionality turns the speaker into an emergency power bank when a connected phone dies mid-hike. Dual microphones with echo and noise cancellation handle calls in windy outdoor conditions.

The outdoor advantage here is not ruggedness but presence. The slimmest speaker is useless if it stays home because packing it is inconvenient. The Traveller solves that by occupying almost no space, fitting into a carry pouch alongside chargers and cables. Three planned colorways (black, silver, electric blue) suggest a product designed to be seen, not hidden. Sound quality carries the Harman Kardon name, though the slim profile necessarily limits low-end output compared to thicker options on this list. For backpackers and frequent flyers who treat portability as the primary feature, this concept points toward a smarter kind of outdoor speaker: one designed to be forgotten in the bag until needed.

What we like

  • Reverse charge functionality doubles the speaker as an emergency power bank, solving two travel problems with one device.
  • Ultra-slim form factor fits in jacket pockets and travel pouches, the most packable option on this list by a wide margin.

What we dislike

  • This is a concept design, not a production product, so availability and final specs remain unconfirmed.
  • Slim profile inherently limits bass depth and volume ceiling compared to thicker, driver-stacked competitors.

5. Side A Cassette Speaker

Somewhere between a novelty gift and a legitimate audio device, the Side A leans closer to legitimate than the shape suggests. Styled after a real mixtape with a transparent shell and a Side A label, it hides a Bluetooth 5.3 speaker inside a back-pocket form factor. The cassette shape forced designers to tune for warm, analog-flavored sound within the tightest enclosure possible, and the result has a cozy quality that bigger, flatter-response speakers do not replicate. MicroSD support adds offline MP3 playback, useful on trails where phone battery conservation matters more than streaming. A clear case doubles as a display stand for desk use indoors.

Outdoors, the Side A works best as a personal-zone speaker. It will not fill a campsite, but clipped to a bag or perched on a rock beside a hammock, it handles solo listening and small-circle hangouts without the bulk of a larger unit. Bluetooth 5.3 delivers stable pairing, and range holds reliably when a phone is in a tent and the speaker is by the fire. At sub-$50, it is a low-risk purchase and an easy gift for anyone nostalgic about cassette culture. The trade-off is clear: do not expect room-filling volume or chest-thumping bass. This is a speaker for people who value character and portability over raw performance, and within that lane, it delivers more than the price suggests.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49

What we like

  • Bluetooth 5.3 and microSD playback cover both streaming and offline listening, handling connectivity gaps common on outdoor trips.
  • Pocket-sized cassette form factor weighs almost nothing, lowering the barrier to actually bringing a speaker on every outing.

What we dislike

  • Volume and bass are physically limited by the tiny enclosure, making it unsuitable for group listening in open spaces.
  • MicroSD support handles MP3 files only, excluding FLAC, WAV, and other formats that audio-conscious users may prefer.

Where spring leaves us

These five speakers share one trait that separates them from the hundreds of Bluetooth speakers released every quarter: they were designed with an awareness that speakers leave houses. That sounds obvious, but most portable speaker design still optimizes for countertops and nightstands, treating water resistance and battery life as checkbox features rather than core design drivers.

The Emberton III and Brane X represent two ends of the outdoor audio spectrum, one betting on endurance, the other on acoustic performance that refuses to compromise because the ceiling is sky instead of drywall. The Traveller and Side A cassette challenge the assumption that outdoor speakers need to be chunky, proving slimness and personality coexist with genuine trail usefulness. And the RetroWave reminds us that the most capable outdoor device might be the one that never needs charging at all. Spring is for getting outside. These are the speakers who want to come along.

The post 5 Best Portable Bluetooth Speakers of Spring 2026 — Designed for the Outdoors, Not Your Bookshelf first appeared on Yanko Design.

Redmi Buds 8 Pro Review: This €69.90 Earbud Punches Way Above Its Weight

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PROS:


  • Clear and balanced sound with rich bass

  • Strong ANC performance for the price

  • Comfortable, stable fit in the ears

  • Responsive touch controls with the slide for volume

CONS:


  • Not integrated with Google Find My Device

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

At this price, the combination of triple drivers, solid ANC, and excellent fit makes the Redmi Buds 8 Pro hard to beat.

Redmi Buds 8 Pro arrives as Redmi’s more ambitious take on everyday wireless earbuds. They aim to combine punchy sound, serious noise cancellation, and gaming-friendly latency in a package that still feels relatively affordable. This is not a basic budget pair built only for casual background listening, and it clearly wants to feel like a step up the moment you start using it.

What makes them interesting is how they chase premium style features without making the experience feel intimidating. The triple driver setup is the headline, but the real promise is a well-rounded daily companion that can handle commuting, workouts, and long listening sessions with minimal fuss. At 399 CNY in China, the value story is hard to ignore, and the key question is whether the real-world experience matches that strong first impression.

Designer: Xiaomi

Aesthetics

Redmi Buds 8 Pro follows a familiar stem style layout, but the visual language leans clean and modern rather than flashy. The earbuds have smooth, flowing lines, with a compact in-ear body that blends into a slim, rounded stem. Most of the earbud surface is finished in a soft matte texture that hides fingerprints and keeps the look understated. On the outside-facing side of each stem, Redmi adds a shiny strip that catches the light, with a small Redmi logo at the bottom as a neat visual anchor. This contrast between matte and gloss gives the buds a touch of sophistication while still keeping them low-key.

The charging case continues that restrained approach with a compact, pebble-like shape that slips easily into a pocket or bag. Its semi-matte shell feels smooth and resists smudges, while a subtle Redmi logo and “triple driver sound” text on the back quietly nod to the hardware inside. On the front, a slim bar of LEDs offers at a glance battery and pairing information but remains discreet when off, so the case still looks clean.

Color options and small accents may vary by region, yet the overall design clearly targets a wide audience. These are earbuds you can wear at the office, on public transport, or at the gym without drawing much attention. If you like bold, statement-making designs, they may feel a bit too reserved, but if you prefer tech that looks tidy and well finished, Redmi Buds 8 Pro sit in a very comfortable sweet spot.

Ergonomics

While the design focuses on clean lines and visual calm, the build of Redmi Buds 8 Pro focuses on comfort and practicality. Each earbud weighs about five point three grams, which helps them feel light enough for long listening sessions without that dragging sensation some heavier buds can cause. Of course, fit and comfort are different from person to person, but Redmi Buds 8 Pro fit my ears very well and never felt like they were about to fall out.

The medium-sized silicone tips come preinstalled, and Redmi also includes small and large tips in the box so you can fine-tune the seal. I usually go with medium-sized tips and sometimes switch to small tips on certain earbuds, but with Redmi Buds 8 Pro, the medium size worked best for me. Some earbuds struggle to stay put even when I am not moving or talking, yet here I had no problem with fit or comfort, even when I talked, ate, did yoga, or went for a jog with the earbuds in.

The charging case weighs about 47 grams, which keeps the full kit small and light enough to disappear into a jeans pocket or a slim sling bag. The rounded shape and smooth finish make it easy to grip and open, and the lid snaps shut with a reassuring click. Magnets inside guide the earbuds into place so they line up with the charging contacts without much effort. In everyday use, that means you can carry the case all day and quickly pop the buds in or out whenever you need them, without really noticing the extra bulk.

Performance

Redmi Buds 8 Pro pack impressive specifications for their price range, and the audio hardware is the main reason why. They use a coaxial triple driver configuration that combines an 11 mm driver with a titanium diaphragm and twin 6.7 mm PZT ceramic tweeters. In listening, the sound comes across as clear and nicely balanced, with bass that feels full and satisfying without overpowering vocals or detail.

Redmi Buds 8 Pro carry Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification and support codecs such as LDAC, but in day-to-day use, the bigger story is simply that the tuning feels well judged. Dolby Audio and Xiaomi Dimensional Audio are also supported, giving you extra options to change the sense of space and presentation, especially for movies and shows.

Active Noise Cancellation works great overall, especially considering the price. It does not completely block out train noise or airplane engine rumble, but it comes close, which makes music and podcasts easier to enjoy at lower volumes. With higher-pitched sounds like a baby crying, it still does not fully cancel everything out, yet it reduces the sharpness enough that you are less likely to get distracted from what you are doing.

One comfort note is heat. I felt the earbuds get slightly warm at first when ANC was on, but it did not seem to build up over time. It is also possible I simply got used to the sensation after wearing them for a while, so I would not call it a major issue, but it is worth mentioning if you are sensitive to heat on hot days.

Battery life is solid on paper and practical in daily use. Each earbud houses a 54 mAh battery, with rated playback of up to about eight hours on a single charge when ANC is off. Turn ANC on and use higher volumes, and actual listening time will drop somewhat, which is typical for this type of product, while the 480 mAh charging case extends total listening time up to roughly 33 hours across multiple top-ups.  

Touch controls on the stems worked great in my use, and the biggest usability upgrade is that volume control is supported via sliding on the stem. The controls support single tap, double tap, triple tap, press and hold, and swipe, which gives you a lot of flexibility without needing to reach for your phone. You can customize these gestures in the Xiaomi Earbuds app, so the controls can match your habits instead of forcing you into a fixed layout.

The app also gives you practical sound tuning options without making things feel overly technical. You can pick from preset audio profiles like Balanced sound, Enhanced bass, Enhanced treble, and Enhanced voice, depending on what you are listening to. If you want more control, there is also a custom EQ option that lets you adjust eight separate bands, with each slider running from plus six to minus six, so you can fine-tune the sound without guessing too much.

Sustainability

For a product category like true wireless earbuds, sustainability is rarely a strong point, and Redmi Buds 8 Pro are no exception. The compact, sealed design means the internal batteries are not user-replaceable, so once overall battery health drops, most people will end up replacing the whole set rather than repairing it. That pattern is common across almost all TWS earbuds today, but it still makes this a product that is easier to discard than to keep alive for many years.

The IP54 rating does offer a small positive by protecting against dust and splashes, which can reduce early failures from sweat, light rain, or accidental spills. One small feature that nudges in a better direction is the “find your earphones” function, which lets you play a tone from the left, right, or both earbuds via the app to help you track them down when they go missing. It is not a full integration with Google Find My Device, yet anything that helps you avoid losing a bud and replacing the whole set still counts as a quiet step toward better longevity.

Value

Redmi Buds 8 Pro is priced at 69.90 Euros, which works out to roughly $83. That puts them in the affordable end of the true wireless market. They still cost more than the absolute cheapest buds, but remain very accessible for anyone looking to step up from basic or bundled earphones.

From a value perspective, they make the most sense if you care about sound quality and noise cancellation more than simply paying the lowest possible price. Cheaper options can handle calls and casual listening, but usually lack the triple driver setup, stronger ANC, and more polished overall experience you get here. For many buyers, Redmi Buds 8 Pro will feel like a worthwhile upgrade that adds clear benefits without demanding a luxury-level budget.

Verdict

Redmi Buds 8 Pro is an easy recommendation if you want strong everyday performance without paying flagship prices. The triple driver setup delivers clear, balanced sound with bass that feels full but controlled, and the ANC is effective enough to make commutes and busy spaces noticeably calmer. Touch controls are reliable, and the volume slide gesture is a genuinely useful upgrade that makes daily listening feel smoother.

They are not perfect, with ANC that cannot fully erase the loudest train or plane noise and weaker results on some high-pitched sounds, plus the usual sealed battery limitations for sustainability. Still, the fit was excellent in my ears, the case is easy to carry, and the “find your earphones” tone feature helps prevent frustrating losses. If you care most about sound quality, noise cancelling, and a polished experience at a very competitive price, Redmi Buds 8 Pro hit a sweet spot.

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These $40-$299 Cassette Players Just Crushed Spotify’s Algorithm

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Somewhere between the algorithmic playlists and the infinite scroll of recommended tracks, music stopped being something you held in your hands. Cassette tapes were declared dead more than two decades ago, buried under the weight of MP3s and then streaming services that promised every song ever recorded for a monthly fee. Search trends tell a different story now, though. Queries for “retro cassette player” have surged over 125% year-over-year, while “retro walkman cassette player” has exploded by more than 1,281% in the same period.

These numbers point to something more than a passing fad or a collector’s whim. Millennials and Gen Z listeners are actively seeking hardware that forces them to slow down, to choose an album rather than shuffle through ten thousand options. The cassette, with its fixed tracklist and physical limitations, turns listening into something deliberate again. Five modern cassette players have emerged to meet that demand, each one approaching the format from a wildly different design philosophy.

FiiO CP13

FiiO built its reputation on portable DACs and audiophile-grade headphone amplifiers, products where signal purity is the entire point. The CP13 carries that obsession into the cassette format with an all-analog signal path, from the magnetic tape head through a JRC5532 op-amp to the 3.5mm output. There is no digital conversion anywhere in the chain, no Bluetooth radio, no built-in speaker. The CP13 uses a motor with a high-voltage 4.2V power supply, paired with an oversized pure copper flywheel measuring 30.4mm in diameter.

Designer: FiiO

That flywheel is the quiet star of the CP13’s engineering. Thicker and heavier than standard components, it reduces wow and flutter to levels most modern cassette players cannot approach, keeping tape speed consistent enough for the analog signal to actually matter. The dual-color aluminum alloy chassis, available in sky blue, white and black, or red and silver, measures just 31.8mm thick. An 1800mAh lithium cobalt oxide battery delivers 13 hours of playback and charges through USB-C, though FiiO’s decision to support all tape types from Type I through Type IV suggests the company expects its buyers to own tapes worth caring about.

What we like

  • Oversized copper flywheel for low wow and flutter
  • Fully analog signal path with no digital conversion
  • Supports all cassette types (I through IV)

What we dislike

  • No Bluetooth output means wired headphones are the only option
  • No recording and auto-reverse functions,

We Are Rewind Edith

Where FiiO chases audio fidelity, the French brand We Are Rewind treats the cassette player as a cultural object first. The Edith, named after Edith Piaf, joins a lineup that already includes models named Kurt, Keith, and Serge, each one a color-coded tribute to a musician. The Edith arrives in a pink and green combination that reads less like consumer electronics and more like a fashion accessory, wrapped in an aluminum case that weighs 404 grams. That heft is deliberate. The brand explicitly references Sony’s original TPS-L2 Walkman as its design benchmark, choosing aluminum over plastic for what it describes as a “cool touch” quality.

Designer: We Are Rewind

Bluetooth 5.1 is the most visible concession to modernity, allowing wireless pairing with headphones and speakers. A built-in lithium-ion battery charges via USB-C and delivers roughly 10 to 12 hours of playback, replacing the disposable AA batteries that defined portable tape listening for decades. The Edith also records in stereo to Type I cassettes through its 3.5mm jack, and ships with a manual tape rewind pencil, a small wink to the analog rituals that streaming services have no equivalent for.

What we like

  • Aluminum case construction gives the player a premium tactile quality, making it feel like an object worth displaying
  • Bluetooth 5.1 and USB-C charging
  • Stereo recording capability through the 3.5mm jack preserves the mixtape tradition

What we dislike

  • The DC motor transport produces more wow and flutter than belt-driven alternatives
  • At 404 grams, the Edith is too heavy and too large for most pockets

NINM Lab IT’S OK TOO

Taiwanese design studio NINM Lab launched the original IT’S OK through Kickstarter in 2019, billing it as the first cassette player with Bluetooth capability. The second generation, IT’S OK TOO, upgrades that foundation with stereo output and a semi-transparent matte body that splits the difference between full transparency and solid color. The casing is ABS plastic and polyethylene, lightweight at approximately 152g. Push-button controls for play, stop, forward, and backward line the front edge, with a classic belt clip on the back.

Designer: NINM Lab

Power comes from two AA batteries or a USB-C supply (not charging the device itself, but powering it directly), with optional USB-C charging if you install rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. The transparent design is the real design statement here, exposing the tape mechanism so the spools become a visible, moving part of the experience. The IT’S OK TOO firmly positions itself as a lifestyle product for a younger demographic that may never have owned a cassette player before.

What we like

  • Transparent body turns the tape mechanism into a visual feature
  • Bluetooth 5.0 stereo output with 3.5mm jack

What we dislike

  • Only supports Type I cassettes
  • AA battery requirement with no built-in rechargeable cell

Victrola Mini Bluetooth Boombox

Victrola has made its name selling affordable turntables to people who want the ritual of vinyl without the investment of a serious hi-fi setup. The Mini Bluetooth Boombox applies that same philosophy to cassettes, packaging a tape player, tape recorder, AM/FM radio tuner, USB port for MP3 playback, and Bluetooth streaming into a hefty yet still portable box. It runs on AC power or batteries, comes in grey and silver colorways, and retails for under $40 at most outlets.

Designer: Victrola

The design is a scaled-down boombox archetype, complete with dual built-in speakers, an analog radio tuning dial, and a cassette door on the front. At this price point, audio fidelity is not the conversation. The Victrola is competing with cheap Bluetooth speakers, not with premium cassette players. Its recording function lets you capture audio directly to cassette through a built-in microphone, and the Bluetooth connectivity means it can serve as a wireless speaker for your phone. What the Victrola lacks in audio refinement, it compensates for in sheer versatility. No other player on this list gives you FM radio, Bluetooth reception, USB playback, and tape recording in one device.

What we like

  • The most versatile player on this list by a wide margin, combining cassette playback and recording, AM/FM radio, Bluetooth, and USB MP3 playback in a single compact unit
  • Sub-$40 pricing makes it the easiest entry point for anyone curious about cassettes but unwilling to commit to a premium device

What we dislike

  • Speaker quality and cassette playback fidelity are both budget-tier
  • Plastic construction and lightweight build feel disposable

Retrospekt Sony Walkman WM-F2015

Every other player on this list is a modern product designed to evoke nostalgia. The Retrospekt Sony Walkman WM-F2015 is the actual artifact, a unit originally manufactured in 1990, disassembled by technicians in Milwaukee, and rebuilt with replaced drive belts, idler tires, and pinch wheels. The playback speed has been recalibrated, the volume potentiometer deoxidized, and the tape head cleaned and demagnetized. Retrospekt sells the WM-F2015 as a “vintage refurbished” product starting at $299.

Designer: Retrospekt

The WM-F2015 is a matte black candybar design with an AM/FM radio tuner, powered by two AA batteries. It ships with orange retro-inspired headphones that look the part, even if they cannot compete with modern over-ears. The appeal here is not specification superiority or modern convenience. There is no Bluetooth, no USB-C, no rechargeable battery, and no recording function. What the Retrospekt Walkman offers is something no reproduction can manufacture: the physical reality of a 35-year-old Sony mechanism, with all its original plastics and original weight, restored to functional condition.

What we like

  • An authentic 1990 Sony Walkman mechanism
  • Retro Sony matte black industrial design and compact form factor

What we dislike

  • A bit pricey at $299
  • Zero modern conveniences: no Bluetooth, no USB-C, no rechargeable battery

The post These $40-$299 Cassette Players Just Crushed Spotify’s Algorithm first appeared on Yanko Design.

Electric guitar–shaped Clearaudio Celebrity Al Di Meola Edition Turntable exemplifies functional art

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In the world of high-fidelity audio, certain products move beyond function and enter the realm of art. For instance, the  VS-01 Bluetooth Vertical Turntable, Orbit Turntable, Concrete Stereo, or Memphis-inspired vinyl player are all in a league of their own. For decades, German manufacturer Clearaudio has built a reputation for engineering turntables that prioritize craftsmanship and sonic purity. With its latest release, the brand takes a more expressive turn, blending technical mastery with musical tribute. The Clearaudio Celebrity Al Di Meola Edition turntable is not only a playback device but also a sculptural homage to one of contemporary jazz’s most influential guitarists, Al Di Meola.

Limited to just 1,000 units worldwide, this inaugural model in Clearaudio’s Celebrity series celebrates Di Meola’s virtuosity through both sound and form. The most striking element is its body, shaped in the flowing outline of an electric guitar. Crafted from high-density wood fiber, the chassis is available in either a deep black finish or a real rosewood veneer, reinforcing its visual connection to the instrument that defined Di Meola’s career. The design transforms the turntable into a statement piece, equally suited to a listening room or a curated interior space.

Designer: Clearaudio

Beneath its artistic exterior lies serious engineering. The turntable features a 30 mm high-density platter paired with a precision CNC-machined aluminum sub-platter. A flat belt drive system ensures smooth rotation, while Clearaudio’s Tacho Speed Control (TSC) continuously monitors and adjusts speed in real time. This system compensates for variables such as temperature fluctuations or belt tension changes, automatically recalibrating at startup to maintain accurate playback at both 33⅓ and 45 RPM. The result is stable rotation and faithful sound reproduction, essential for preserving the nuances of analog recordings.

Vibration control plays a central role in the turntable’s performance. Clearaudio incorporates its Innovative Motor Suspension (IMS) system, derived from higher-tier models in its lineup. The decoupled 12V DC motor is isolated from the chassis to minimize unwanted resonance and mechanical interference. This careful separation helps maintain clarity, allowing listeners to experience greater detail and dynamic range from their vinyl collection. Ease of use has also been thoughtfully considered. A multifunction control knob, inspired by a guitar’s volume dial, manages operation. With a single press, users can power the unit on, switch speeds, or place it in standby mode. During calibration, the knob can be rotated to fine-tune speed adjustments. The interface is simple yet tactile, echoing the physical engagement that defines vinyl playback itself.

Each unit comes fully equipped with Clearaudio’s Profiler tonearm and a specially matched Celebrity moving-magnet cartridge, ensuring optimized performance straight out of the box. Adding to its collectible appeal, the package includes a numbered special-release vinyl album by Al Di Meola and a branded guitar pick, reinforcing the personal connection between artist and equipment. Weighing approximately 22 pounds and measuring about 18.1 x 14.2 x 5.5 inches, the turntable has a substantial presence without overwhelming a space. Its construction reflects careful material selection and attention to resonance control, balancing aesthetics with acoustic performance.

In terms of pricing and availability, the artistic vinyl player has a recommended retail price of about €3,950 (approximately $6,000 USD), depending on the retailer. That reflects the vinyl player’s premium design, precise engineering, and most importantly, collector value.

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Arcade Game-shaped Wooden Cabinet Plays Vinyl Vertically and Cassette Tapes

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There’s something genuinely exciting happening in the world of audio design, and it comes packaged in warm wood and a beautifully nostalgic aesthetic. Swedish artist and craftsman Love Hultén has just unveiled a wooden music cabinet that does something no one really asked for, but everyone immediately wants: it plays vinyl records vertically while also housing a full collection of cassette tapes.

Yes, vertically. Your records, standing upright, spinning in a way that feels both physically unlikely and somehow completely right. It’s the kind of design move that makes you stop scrolling, tilt your head, and go, “Wait, how?”

Designer: Love Hultén

Hultén has built a reputation for creating custom, handcrafted audio devices that sit at the crossroads of art, furniture, and technology. His past work includes a synthesizer housed inside a wooden cabinet, retro-inspired tape players, and all manner of beautifully tactile objects that feel more like heirlooms than gadgets. The wooden music cabinet is very much in that tradition, except it’s one of his most complete visions yet.

The cabinet itself is built from rich, natural wood, giving it the warmth and weight you’d expect from a well-made piece of furniture. But the front panel around the record player breaks from the organic material and shifts into light gray metal, a nod to an older vision of futurism. It’s a contrast that works surprisingly well, the wood grounding the piece while the metal gives it a certain retro-industrial cool.

Sound control comes through a row of small, round knobs at the top of the panel, each one labeled for high, mid, and low. Flanking them on both sides are speaker holes arranged in a clean grid pattern, the kind of detail that feels satisfyingly considered. Nothing is there by accident. Everything has a place.

Below the turntable, the cabinet opens up into storage for cassette tapes, with several colorful ones arranged neatly in rows, also stacked vertically to mirror the record player above. The storage section holds up to 12 records. The whole layout feels like Hultén thought carefully about the ritual of listening, giving both formats their own dedicated space without either one feeling like an afterthought.

The design draws clear inspiration from the Rosita Commander Luxus, a 1970 audio unit with that signature high-chair silhouette and a decidedly mid-century European flair. Hultén’s version carries that same upright, almost architectural posture but updates it with his own sense of craft and intention. The result is something that belongs in a well-curated living room or a design studio, not tucked under a TV stand or shoved in a corner.

What makes Hultén’s work so compelling is that it refuses to be just one thing. It’s not purely nostalgic, leaning entirely on the romance of physical media. It’s not purely modern either, chasing specs and wireless connectivity. It lives in the middle, treating analog formats as something worth celebrating rather than merely tolerating, and wrapping them in an object that demands to be looked at as much as listened to. Hultén himself has described his practice as playing with preconceptions about the distinct realms of art and design, breaking patterns of function and aesthetics.

There’s also something worth noting about the moment we’re in. Vinyl sales have been climbing steadily for years, and the cassette tape revival has moved from niche curiosity to genuine cultural moment. Hultén’s music cabinet arrives at exactly the right time, when people aren’t just listening to physical media again but actively thinking about how it fits into their spaces and their identities.

A music cabinet like this isn’t just a player. It’s a statement about what you value, a rejection of invisible, streaming-era audio in favor of something you can touch, organize, and display. It’s the kind of object that starts conversations, the kind people notice the moment they walk into your room. No price or availability has been announced yet, which tracks for a piece this considered. Love Hultén’s creations tend to be custom or limited, made with the patience and intention that mass production simply can’t replicate. Whatever the wait turns out to be, it might just be worth it.

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Cloudbeat reimagines the portable speaker with user-repairable, circular design

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In a market where most portable speakers are sealed shut and designed for eventual replacement rather than repair, the idea of opening up your own device to extend its life feels almost radical. Yet that is precisely the thinking behind Cloudbeat, a concept Bluetooth speaker that challenges conventional consumer electronics through circular design and user empowerment. Developed by InOutGrid in collaboration with Swiss sportswear brand On, Cloudbeat applies the sustainability principles often associated with performance footwear to the world of portable audio.

At its core, Cloudbeat is built around full user repairability. Instead of relying on glue or permanent seals, the speaker is assembled using standard Phillips screws. This allows users to open the enclosure with basic tools, access internal components, and carry out repairs themselves. The approach removes the intimidation typically associated with electronics maintenance and shifts the relationship between product and owner. A QR code included on the packaging links directly to step-by-step repair instructions, guiding users through disassembly and part replacement in a clear and accessible way.

Designer: Cloudbeat

Material selection plays a central role in the concept’s circular ambitions. The speaker’s main body and protective mesh are both made from polypropylene, and these elements are heat-bonded to maintain material consistency. By limiting the variety of plastics used, the design simplifies recycling at the end of the product’s life. A removable backplate made from recycled EVA foam (the same material widely used in shoe soles) creates a watertight seal while remaining easy to detach when internal access is required. This balance ensures durability during use without compromising serviceability.

If a malfunction extends beyond what a user can reasonably fix, the speaker is designed to integrate into On’s existing Cyclon take-back and recycling system. Through this framework, components can be replaced or responsibly processed, reinforcing the idea that electronics do not need to become waste at the first sign of failure. The system supports a longer lifecycle and reflects a broader commitment to reducing environmental impact.

Visually, Cloudbeat draws clear inspiration from On’s footwear collections. Its streamlined form, color options, and textured finishes echo the brand’s performance-driven aesthetic. A modular strap and integrated carabiner attachment enhance portability, allowing the speaker to clip onto a backpack, gym bag, or outdoor gear. The result is a device intended to move fluidly between urban routines and active environments while remaining consistent with the brand’s design language.

Although Cloudbeat remains a concept rather than a mass-produced product, it offers a compelling vision for the future of consumer electronics. By prioritizing repairability and recycling infrastructure from the outset, the design challenges the assumption that technology must be disposable.

The post Cloudbeat reimagines the portable speaker with user-repairable, circular design first appeared on Yanko Design.