Cassette tapes are having a moment, and that moment is refusing to end. According to Billboard, cassette sales have grown more than 440% over the past decade, and in the first quarter of 2025 alone they more than doubled, hitting numbers not seen in 20 years. This isn’t a blip or a quirky indie niche. It’s a full-on cultural movement, and whether you’re old enough to remember rewinding a tape with a pencil or you’ve been hunting down limited editions on Bandcamp, you’ve probably felt its pull.
Gadhouse, the audio lifestyle brand behind some genuinely good-looking retro-inspired gear, clearly felt it too. The result is Miko, their first cassette player, and it arrives looking like it has a point to make. The design alone earns attention. Gadhouse drew heavily from the 1985 to 1995 era, a decade widely considered the peak of expressive, personality-driven consumer electronics. Miko carries that DNA through a translucent front cover that lets you watch the cassette move, an aluminum logo detail, and a compact form factor that sits satisfyingly in the hand.
It comes in two colorways, Smoke and Mint, and both feel deliberately considered rather than arbitrarily chosen. The Mint version especially hits that sweet spot between vintage and current that a lot of retro-inspired products spend significant design budgets trying and failing to achieve.
Beyond the looks, Gadhouse made a smart decision not to stop at aesthetics. The Miko runs on Bluetooth 5.3, which means you can pair it with wireless headphones and walk out the door untethered. There is also a 3.5mm stereo output for those who prefer a wired setup or own a vintage pair they’re not ready to part with. Both options coexist without one feeling like an afterthought, and that kind of functional honesty is rarer than it should be in products that trade so heavily on nostalgia.
The five-button control system handles play, fast-forward, rewind, stop, and record. That last button deserves its own moment. Miko includes a built-in directional microphone, which means you can record directly onto cassette. Voice notes, song ideas, a mix tape for someone you want to impress, or a playlist you’ve actually curated rather than algorithmically generated. The format shifts from relic to creative tool pretty quickly once you remember that capability is built right in. Gadhouse has also announced plans to release their own line of blank cassette tapes and accessories later this year, which suggests they’re approaching this as a longer-term ecosystem rather than a one-and-done launch.
At 192 grams, Miko is light enough to drop into a bag without thinking twice. It runs on AA batteries and accepts USB-C power input, including directly from an iPhone, which is exactly the kind of considered detail that signals a team that actually thought about how people use things in the real world. The campaign imagery reinforces the tone they’re going for: youthful, a little editorial, tactile. It reads less like a tech launch and more like a lifestyle statement, which, for this kind of product, is probably the right call.
The cassette revival isn’t going anywhere because it was never purely about audio quality. It’s about ownership, tactility, and a kind of deliberate listening that streaming has made increasingly rare. When you play a cassette, you commit to it. You flip it, you fast-forward past songs you skipped last time, you sit with the imperfections. Holding a tape, choosing it, pressing play. That sequence means something to people. That’s not nostalgia talking, that’s human behavior. Miko seems to understand this, and it packages that understanding into something that actually functions well in 2026, without trying to be a museum piece or a tech gimmick.
The Gadhouse Miko Cassette Player is priced at $99/£59.99 and available now from the Gadhouse website and global partners, with major retailers including Amazon, HMV, Currys, Tesco, and John Lewis expected to follow. Starting April 30th, it can be bundled with Gadhouse’s Wesley Retro Headphones for $149/£109. For anyone already deep into the format or simply cassette-curious, this might be the most considered entry point on the market right now.
True wireless earbuds have come a long way from their early days of bulky, uncomfortable designs to today’s slim, ergonomic form factors built for extended use. The next phase in that evolution is specialized buds designed for specific use cases. Whether it’s high-fidelity listening for music or gaining a competitive edge in fast-paced shooters where directional audio can determine outcomes, gaming earbuds have carved out a distinct and rapidly growing category.
Razer sits firmly at the forefront of this shift, and its latest release pushes the idea further. The Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed wireless earbuds refine the formula with a strong focus on cross-platform versatility and performance. Built to transition seamlessly between consoles, handhelds, PCs, and smartphones, the earbuds aim to eliminate friction in multi-device gaming setups while maintaining consistently low latency.
Unlike conventional true wireless options, the Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed ships with a charging case that doubles as a 2.4GHz wireless receiver. This is a clever addition that significantly reduces latency compared to standard Bluetooth connections. The case houses a USB-C dongle that can be plugged directly into compatible devices, effectively turning the case into a bridge for high-speed wireless audio transmission. This setup ensures responsive sound delivery, which is critical in competitive gaming where even minor delays can disrupt timing and awareness.
Beyond hardware, the earbuds are engineered for fluid transitions between different usage scenarios. With Bluetooth 6.0 support alongside the HyperSpeed wireless connection, switching between devices is designed to be quick and intuitive. Razer’s SmartSwitch technology enables users to jump from a gaming session on a console or handheld to an incoming phone call without manual reconnection. This can be done via simple touch controls on the earbuds or through the companion app, making the experience feel cohesive rather than fragmented.
Audio performance remains central to the experience. The inclusion of THX-certified 7.1 spatial audio, supported through Razer Synapse 4 on PC, enhances positional awareness in games. This is particularly valuable in competitive titles where identifying the direction of footsteps or distant movement can provide a tactical advantage. The spatial processing aims to create a more immersive soundstage without overwhelming the listener, balancing clarity with depth.
Razer has also improved active noise cancellation, ensuring that external distractions are minimized during gameplay or media consumption. At the same time, ambient awareness modes allow users to stay conscious of their surroundings when needed, striking a balance between immersion and practicality. The earbuds are tuned to deliver a mix of gaming-focused precision and everyday usability, making them suitable for both intense sessions and casual listening.
Battery performance has seen a boost as well, with extended playback times supported by the charging case. Fast-charging capabilities ensure minimal downtime, aligning with the expectations of users who frequently switch between devices and activities. The earbuds also feature customizable touch controls and EQ settings, allowing users to tailor the experience based on their preferences or specific game requirements.
The Razer Hammerhead V3 HyperSpeed gaming earbuds are now up for grabs for a lucrative price of $130, which is very competitive given the features on offer. If you won’t use the dongle functionality, the V3 X version can be had for just $100 which is an even better deal.
Most brands spend their entire design budget hiding what’s inside a product. km5, the Tokyo audio label that’s been quietly rewriting how people think about CD players, just did the opposite. Their latest drop, released through bPr BEAMS, puts the circuit boards, the laser mechanism, the wiring, all of it, front and center. And it looks extraordinary.
The collection introduces three new color variations: the Cp1 in Neon Yellow, the Cp2 in Clear, and the Hp1 headphones in Clear. Available starting April 1st as an exclusive pre-sale at select bPr BEAMS stores and the km5 online shop, these aren’t just color refreshes. They’re a statement about what audio design can actually look like when a brand commits to a philosophy all the way through.
km5’s original aesthetic has always been rooted in rigorous minimalism, the idea that a CD player should be as easy to look at as anything else in a considered space. Their Cp1 was designed like an instant photo frame, built to display the album jacket as art. Their Cp2 had the silhouette of a slim hardback, something you’d be comfortable leaving on a shelf. The Hp1 headphones weighed just 103 grams and arrived with a polished stainless steel band that belonged in a gallery as much as on a commute. The design language has always been controlled, quiet, deliberate.
This new drop takes that same discipline and applies it to a completely different tension. The concept km5 describes as pursuing a contrast between “transparent” and “neon,” a play between the mechanical cool of visible engineering and the almost aggressive energy of neon light. It’s a bold shift in mood that somehow still feels entirely on-brand.
The Cp1 in Neon Yellow is the most immediately striking. The entire frame is cast in that charged, electric green-yellow, and when you look at it, you can see every component underneath lit by the color of the shell itself. It doesn’t look like a product. It looks like something you’d find in a design museum sandwiched between an Olivetti typewriter and an early Apple prototype. The edges illuminate in a way that makes it feel alive, like it’s doing something even when it’s sitting still.
The Cp2 Clear is the one I keep coming back to, though. It’s been a long time coming, because fans of the CP series have been wanting a transparent version of the speaker-equipped Cp2 since the model launched. Now that it exists, it earns every bit of the wait. The internal structure, the laser mechanism, the circuit boards, the speaker grille, all of it sits behind the clear shell in a way that reads more like an exploded technical drawing than a consumer product. It’s serious, it’s cool, and it’s genuinely beautiful in a way that no amount of matte white plastic could replicate.
The Hp1 Clear follows the same logic. The housing is stripped back to transparent, the internals are exposed, and then the lime yellow ear pads arrive as the whole color story’s punctuation mark. It’s a contrast that shouldn’t work as well as it does. The clear mechanical housing next to those soft, textured yellow cushions is the kind of pairing that reads as both street-ready and gallery-worthy at the same time. Techwear people are going to love this. Interior people are going to love this. That’s a rare overlap.
The thing km5 keeps getting right, and this drop confirms it again, is that they understand what the people who buy beautiful objects are actually buying. It’s not just function. It’s not even just aesthetics. It’s the feeling that the people who made the thing cared. That they thought about it all the way down to the part you’d normally never see. Making the inside visible is, in some ways, the ultimate expression of that care. You have nothing to hide when everything you make is worth looking at.
Open-ear earbuds have had a genuine moment over the past year, and it’s easy to understand why. About half of all earbud users have moved toward them, drawn by ambient awareness, ear health, and the comfort of not having anything plugged into their ear canals. The category has grown quickly, and the question now is which designs actually get it right.
The Skullcandy Push 540 Open enters that picture with a clear sense of what’s been bothering people. Thick earhooks that compete with glasses, neckbands that catch on hair and collars, and touch controls that trigger every time headwear grazes the sensor aren’t fringe complaints; they’re consistent ones. Skullcandy took that feedback and built the 540 Open around fixing each of them.
Anyone who has worn open-ear hooks alongside glasses or a hat knows the small but mounting annoyance of too much hardware competing behind the ear. Skullcandy trimmed the earhook thickness based on direct user feedback, and the result is a fit that holds without adding friction to whatever you’re already wearing. It’s the kind of detail you only notice once you stop thinking about it.
The neckband gets the same thoughtful treatment. Unlike rigid or snapping designs found on competing options, Skullcandy’s version drapes naturally, so it won’t fight longer hair or push against a jacket collar. When you pull it off mid-run and don’t have the case on you, the magnetic closure lets it wrap cleanly around your wrist or neck without turning into a tangled nuisance.
Think about what it’s actually like to be deep into a trail run, layered up in a gaiter and hat, headphones that have stayed put the whole time, traffic audible from a distance. That’s the version of open-ear audio the 540 Open is built for. The over-ear hanger keeps things locked in, and the open design keeps the world around you audible.
Battery life is where the 540 Open puts some distance between itself and the competition. At 10 hours per earbud with 32 more in the case, it totals 42 hours, compared to six per earbud for both the Shokz Open Fit Air and JBL Soundgear Sense. The IP44 rating and a 10-minute rapid charge round it out for full days outdoors.
For anyone who trains with a hat on, the ability to disable the touch sensors entirely is a quietly significant option. Most open-ear earbuds don’t offer it. Audio comes from 12mm dynamic drivers, and Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint pairing means two devices can stay connected at once, so moving between a phone and a laptop mid-workout doesn’t require any extra steps.
At $99.99, it’s $20 less than the Shokz Open Fit Air and $60 less than the JBL Soundgear Sense. What’s more interesting than the price gap is that it doesn’t get there by skimping. Better battery life, a flexible neckband that cooperates with real-world dressing, and comfort details from user feedback aren’t the kind of things that make headlines, but they’re what make the difference on a long day outdoors.
Minimalism in product design has gotten boring. We’re swimming in smooth white rectangles, touch controls that offer zero feedback, and devices designed to vanish. Apple spent two decades training the industry to sand away every visible seam, and now we live in a world where a Bluetooth speaker looks like a cylinder because a cylinder offends nobody. Bang & Olufsen understood early that audio equipment could occupy space like sculpture, could earn its place in a room through presence instead of absence. Teenage Engineering proved that mechanical honesty and playful geometry could coexist with premium materials. Both approaches work because they have a point of view.
TRETTITRE’s TTT series combines those instincts into something harder to categorize. The TTT-LP3 wireless vinyl player uses CNC-machined aluminum for the main frame and features a diffused lighting panel that spreads light evenly across the surface when music plays. The TTT-DP3 Bluetooth CD player takes inspiration from a UFO-like form with a transparent magnetic cover that rotates open to reveal the spinning disc. The TTT-CP3 cassette player uses a metal housing with sharp geometric lines and mechanical transport keys that deliver clear physical response. All three mount on the TTT-W magnetic modular wall rack, turning physical media playback into a visible, functional part of interior design.
TTT-LP3: A Vinyl Player That Doubles as Ambient Light
The back of the LP3 includes a hidden mounting structure that allows it to hang directly on a wall. You can mount it vertically so the record becomes part of the visual display, or go for the classic horizontal layout. When you want to move it, you lift the silicone leather handle at the top and take it down. The player detaches easily and gives you the freedom to listen wherever you choose. Traditional turntables usually stay exactly where you put them, limiting your options for when and where you listen. The LP3 works a little differently because of the battery and the wall mount’s wireless charging system, which keeps it powered without a visible cable.
Behind the LP3 sits a diffused lighting panel that spreads light evenly across the surface of the unit. When it’s on, the entire body of the player glows softly, designed to feel closer to ambient lighting than decorative lighting. You can change the lighting effects with the touch of a button. When a record spins, the moving shadows create a quiet visual effect. You can also leave the player mounted on the wall as a soft light source even when no music is playing. That ambient quality pushes the LP3 from well-designed product into something more considered: a slow, breathing light fixture that happens to play records.
The LP3 uses a self-balancing tonearm system that automatically sets the correct pressure when the player powers on. You place the record on the platter and lower the needle, and the system handles the rest. Many turntables require careful calibration before they can be used properly, with tonearm balance, tracking pressure, and counterweight adjustment all part of the process. For experienced collectors that process can be enjoyable, but for beginners it often feels complicated. The LP3 removes that barrier entirely while preserving the tactile experience people enjoy. The player supports both 33 RPM and 45 RPM records, and includes a manual control dial that allows small adjustments to playback speed (roughly ±0.5%), useful for older records that may not spin perfectly at their original speed anymore.
Wireless audio is handled through Qualcomm Bluetooth v5.3 with SBC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive, which allows higher-quality and lower-latency wireless audio than basic Bluetooth streaming. For wired setups, the player also includes a 3.5mm audio output. The built-in battery provides up to 6 hours of vinyl playback or up to 3 hours when used purely as an ambient light source. Full specs: dimensions 342×233×87mm, weight 1430g, Audio-Technica AT3600L moving magnet stereo cartridge, CNC-machined aluminum frame with silicone leather carrying strap. The LP3 arrives in June 2026 for Early Bird backers, May 2026 for Fast Delivery backers.
TTT-DP3: Giving the Compact Disc Its Aura Back
The DP3 keeps the reliability of CDs but gives the player a different visual presence. The design takes inspiration from a UFO-like form with a transparent magnetic cover. When the cover rotates open, the disc is partially visible as it spins, turning something simple into a small visual moment. A CD player shaped like a flying saucer with a rotating transparent lid is an audacious idea, and it works because it doesn’t try to evoke nostalgia. It reframes a CD player as a mechanical object of curiosity, something you watch as much as use.
The control buttons include raised tactile dots combined with a gold-embossed finish, making it easy to identify the buttons by touch alone. You can pause or skip tracks without needing to look down at the player. A small OLED display on the player shows track numbers, playback status, and battery level. The interface is intentionally simple so the information you need is visible immediately. A built-in battery allows the DP3 to run for several hours on its own, so you can move it from room to room, bring it to a small gathering, or take it while traveling. Full specs: Ø170×27mm, 324g, supports CD-DA and HDCD formats, Bluetooth 5.4, SNR >70dB, THD <3%, ABS+PC+Metal construction. The DP3 ships in May 2026.
TTT-CP3: Cassette Hardware for Modern Audio Setups
The CP3 keeps the tactile mechanical elements people associate with tapes while updating the electronics inside. The player uses a metal housing with sharp geometric lines that give it a distinctly industrial appearance. Instead of trying to imitate retro plastic designs, the CP3 leans into a more modern interpretation of cassette hardware. The playback controls use independent mechanical keys similar to piano keys. Each press has a clear physical response. Play, rewind, and stop feel deliberate instead of soft or mushy.
Inside the CP3 sits a Bluetooth module that allows cassette audio to stream wirelessly to speakers or headphones. The player decodes analog audio signals with high precision, helping reduce background noise and preserve more detail from the original recording. The result still sounds like cassette tape, but with greater clarity. Full specs: 122×120×32mm, 360g, supports Type I-IV cassette cartridges, Bluetooth 5.4, SNR ≥55dB, THD <3.5%, Metal+PC+ABS construction. The CP3 ships in May 2026.
When Storage Becomes Part of the Spectacle
The TTT-W Magnetic Modular Wall Rack uses an all-metal geometric structure that allows multiple TTT players to be arranged into a clean wall display while keeping them organized and ready to use. The rack integrates magnetic alignment and wireless charging for the vinyl player, so the LP3 can stay powered without visible cables while being part of the room’s design. Two configurations are available: a T-shaped rack (263×196×27mm, 300g) and a magnetic modular wall rack (612×302×27mm, 775g, combined style T+3). Both support wireless charging at 5-10W and use USB-C 5V 2A input.
The Supporting Cast, from Sculptural Speakers to Planar IEMs
TRETTITRE offers a range of add-ons designed to complement the TTT system. The TreSound1 Speaker arrives in concrete and wooden editions, delivering 2×30W + 1×60W output power with a 1″ tweeter, 2.75″ mid-range, and 5.25″ subwoofer for 30Hz-25KHz frequency response. The conical speaker features 360° surround sound, Bluetooth 5.2 with Qualcomm aptX HD, and a sculptural form that occupies space like a piece of furniture. The TreSound Mini is a portable Bluetooth speaker with a 5200mAh battery, 30W RMS output, and 360° surround sound. The TTT-E3 in-ear headphones use a 13mm planar magnetic driver with a 4-strand silver-copper hybrid conductor, available in 3.5mm and 4.4mm configurations. An aluminum alloy side table (300×300×750mm, 1.75kg, max load 50kg) rounds out the ecosystem.
What It Costs to Build the Setup, and When It Ships
The TTT-LP3 wireless vinyl player is available at $229 for Early Bird backers (June 2026 delivery), down from a planned $449 MSRP. The TTT-DP3 Bluetooth CD player is priced at $79 standalone ($179 MSRP), while the TTT-CP3 cassette player is also $79 standalone ($199 MSRP). If you’re a bonafide audiophile, a $399 bundle gets you all three devices. Optional add-ons include the TreSound Mini Bluetooth Speaker at $169 ($299 MSRP), TreSound1 Wooden Edition at $449 ($659 MSRP), TreSound1 Concrete Edition at $499 ($799 MSRP), TTT-E3 planar IEMs at $139 ($239 MSRP), and the TTT Side Table at $89 ($199 MSRP). The campaign runs through April 9, 2026, with worldwide delivery beginning May 15, 2026.
Some objects simply exist in a space, while others carry a presence even before they are used. ROSSO belongs firmly in the latter. It does not read as a conventional speaker. It feels composed, deliberate, almost cinematic in the way it occupies a room. Inspired by the rear light signature of the Ferrari F8 Tributo, the design does not just borrow from automotive styling. It translates the emotional language of performance into a completely different context. What emerges is less of a consumer electronic and more of a captured moment of motion.
The most striking element is the dual circular illumination, which immediately draws attention not as decoration, but as identity. The rings echo Ferrari’s iconic taillights, yet here they take on a new role. They feel rhythmic, almost like a pulse, suggesting energy even in stillness. There is a quiet confidence in this decision. Instead of blending into interiors, ROSSO chooses to stand out, using light to create a focal point that feels engineered and intentional.
The form itself resists stillness. Surfaces stretch and taper, edges feel pulled forward, and the overall silhouette carries a strong sense of direction. This is not accidental. It stems from an ideation process rooted in the geometry of the Ferrari F8, where circular light elements evolve into a broader architectural language. Over time, the design moves away from literal references and instead captures something more abstract. The feeling of speed, tension, and control. The result is a speaker that appears to be in a constant state of readiness, as if it could accelerate at any moment.
Materiality deepens this experience. The ROSSO CORSA finish, with its high gloss metallic lacquer, creates a depth that feels almost liquid, allowing light to glide across the surface and amplify its sculptural quality. It is bold, expressive, and unmistakably tied to Ferrari’s heritage. In contrast, NERO VELO offers a quieter interpretation. Its satin, soft touch matte coating absorbs light, shifting the focus from visual drama to tactile interaction and restraint. CARBON FORMA introduces a more technical layer through its carbon fiber-inspired textured grille, grounding the design in a language of precision and performance.
What makes ROSSO compelling is how these elements come together to shape not just how the object looks, but how it feels. The illuminated rings begin to act as a visual extension of sound, suggesting vibration and energy. The speaker becomes more than a device. It becomes a multi-sensory experience. There is an underlying idea that sound can have a visible presence, that it can be anticipated before it is heard.
In a market where many products aim to disappear into their surroundings, ROSSO takes a different stance. It embraces visibility, emotion, and expression. It does not attempt to be neutral. Instead, it invites attention and rewards it. By translating the essence of automotive performance into a domestic object, it challenges what a speaker can be. Not just a tool for listening, but a sculptural artifact that carries speed, power, and intent into everyday life.
Most portable speakers these days are designed to disappear. They’re compact, wireless, and largely anonymous, blending into whatever surface they rest on until a voice command kicks things off. Music has become a background utility, something that happens to you rather than something you actively choose. The ritual of physically engaging with sound has faded quietly, replaced by convenience that’s smooth, automatic, and almost entirely invisible.
The BB-777 from Bumpboxx addresses that shift in a very deliberate way. Inspired by the legendary GF-777 of the ’80s, it brings back the classic boombox in a form that captures the unmistakable look and feel of the original, while updating everything under the hood. It’s the kind of design that immediately signals its intent: put music back at the center of the room, loud and visible.
Part of what makes the BB-777 so compelling is just how much it commits to the aesthetic. The wide, horizontal body stretches 29.6 inches across, with dual cassette bays, a central control section, a long analog tuner strip, and four large drivers across the lower half. Paired with two telescoping antennas and a carry handle, the whole thing stays true to the iconic boombox design of the ’80s, built to be seen, not tucked away.
What really sets the experience apart, though, is how it feels to operate. Bass, treble, balance, and master volume are shaped through solid knobs that respond instantly, giving a direct connection to the music. Each adjustment is tactile and precise, bringing back the simple satisfaction of tuning sound with real hardware. There’s also a wireless remote for those moments when you’d rather adjust the sound from across the room without getting up from wherever you’ve settled in.
Then there’s the format support, and it’s where the BB-777 truly stands apart from other retro-styled speakers. It plays dual cassette tapes, loads CDs, tunes the radio, and connects via AUX, USB, or Bluetooth. It also handles CD-R and CD-RW discs, AM, FM, FM stereo, and shortwave radio. Old mixtapes, burned discs, streamed playlists, and radio stations all coexist in one machine without any compromise.
Beyond playback, the BB-777 brings old recordings back to life. Audio from cassettes, CDs, or radio can be recorded directly to a USB drive as clean WAV files, turning a retro boombox into a straightforward way to digitize your favorite recordings. The cassette deck supports cassette-to-cassette dubbing at high speed, and a built-in microphone with dual wired mic inputs and echo and volume controls means it handles voice recordings and live sessions just as comfortably.
Of course, the sound system is equally serious and modern. Inside the wide enclosure sits a 270W system built for bold, room-filling audio, with a 3-way setup featuring dedicated isolated woofers, full-range drivers, and horn tweeters delivering deep bass, clear mids, and sharp highs. The internally chambered housing with bass ports and a fan-cooled amplifier round out an acoustic architecture built for real performance. The low end carries genuine weight, and the highs cut through cleanly.
Running all of that for up to 15 hours is a TSA-approved 97.6 Wh Li-ion rechargeable and interchangeable battery pack. With a 4-to-6-hour recharge window and 100 to 240V multi-voltage input, the battery can be charged either inside the unit or separately, and keeping a spare means the music never has to stop. It’s a smart upgrade from vintage boomboxes, which drained stacks of D batteries far faster than anyone expected.
For those wanting a bigger setup, two BB-777 units can be paired via TWS for true stereo sound, with dedicated left and right channels working together for deeper, more immersive audio across every format. The 100 to 240V AC input makes it ready for use almost anywhere in the world, with no voltage converters needed. It comes in Classic Silver, Radical Red, and Onyx Black, with removable magnetic front grills and a shoulder strap included.
What the BB-777 ultimately offers is something most audio products stopped trying to give people a long time ago: the feeling that music occupies real space. It sits in a room with a presence that commands attention, rewards the people who use it with a physical connection, and carries enough history in its silhouette to feel like it genuinely belongs to culture, not just a shelf.
For half a century, the humble foam earplug has been a masterpiece of single-purpose design. It is a small cylinder of polyurethane, expertly engineered to expand in your ear canal and dampen the world. Its simplicity is its genius, and its disposability is its convenience. We use them by the billion to sleep on airplanes, to protect our hearing at concerts, and to find a moment of quiet in a loud world. Then, we throw them away without a second thought, adding to a global accumulation of petroleum-based plastic that will outlive us all by centuries. The product works perfectly for our ears, but it fails the planet spectacularly.
A company called GOB looked at this quiet, persistent pollution and decided the solution was not to reinvent the earplug but to regrow it. They turned to mycelium, the intricate root network of fungi, to create a material that provides the same acoustic barrier as foam but with a profoundly different lifecycle. Instead of being manufactured in a factory, GOB’s earplugs are cultivated. They are a product of biology, not chemistry, offering a compostable alternative that returns to the earth as nutrients. It’s a clever piece of bio-engineering that solves a problem we have been ignoring for decades.
This application of mycelium is what makes GOB so interesting from a materials standpoint. We have seen this stuff used for packaging and even as experimental building blocks, but scaling it down to a personal, disposable item is a sharp move. The company claims a frequency protection range between 12 and 25 decibels, which puts it right in the sweet spot for general use cases like concerts or loud transit. They call it a biofabricated, single-ingredient foam, which means there are no weird binders or synthetic additives. It is just pure, farm-grown aerial mycelium. The material itself is soft and porous, which allows it to conform to the ear canal without the aggressive expansion pressure of memory foam.
Their go-to-market strategy is just as intelligently designed as the product itself. Instead of fighting for shelf space at a pharmacy, GOB partnered with live event giants like AEG Live and Bowery Presents. This move puts the earplugs directly at the point of highest demand, offering a sustainable alternative right where billions of plastic plugs are currently used and discarded. It completely sidesteps the need for a massive consumer education campaign by simply replacing the existing product at the source. It acknowledges that user behavior is hard to change, so they changed the material instead. This is a product that meets people exactly where they are, offering a frictionless upgrade.
The Beolab 90 has spent the better part of a decade as Bang & Olufsen’s technological flagship, a speaker so absurdly capable that it can beam-form sound to different parts of a room simultaneously. For the company’s centenary, the design team decided the speaker’s technical mastery deserved equally ambitious surface treatments.
The result is a five-edition Atelier series where each version explores a different corner of B&O’s manufacturing expertise. The Monarch and Zenith Editions, revealed today as the series finale, take wood and metal to places you wouldn’t normally associate with speaker cabinets. Angled rosewood lamellas flow across the Monarch’s aluminum body in a continuous sculptural gesture, while the Zenith Edition gets covered in nearly 1,800 individual aluminum spheres hand-assembled across six curved panels. Ten pairs of each, certificates of authenticity, miniature sculptures in matching finishes. The works.
Designer: Bang & Olufsen
The Monarch Edition reads like someone at B&O looked at classic Danish furniture, specifically the kind with slatted wood panels that wrap around curved frames, and decided a 150-pound loudspeaker needed the same treatment. Angled rosewood lamellas follow the contours of the aluminum cabinet in a 360-degree rhythm that echoes fabric speaker covers while introducing actual tactile depth. Six wooden knots connect the lamellas at strategic points, with the front knot featuring a light-through-wood stripe that breaks up what could have been a monotonous pattern. A solid rosewood top ring frames the speaker head while lower base panels continue the lamella motif, creating visual continuity from top to bottom. The ochre-colored aluminum crowns contrast with the warm rosewood in a way that feels deliberate rather than accidental, and semi-transparent fabric sections offer glimpses of the acoustic drivers hiding behind the wood. We covered the Titan Edition back in November, the one where B&O stripped the housing entirely and sandblasted the exposed aluminum with crushed volcanic rock. The Monarch takes the opposite approach, adding layers instead of removing them.
The Zenith Edition abandons wood entirely and commits to a single absurd idea: what if we covered this thing in pearls? Not actual pearls, obviously, but 1,734 anodized aluminum spheres arranged across six panels in seven bespoke pearl-inspired colors. Each panel holds 289 spheres, and the whole assembly is curved to follow the cabinet’s architectural form. The machined aluminum facemask gets pearl-blasted and anodized in dark grey to resemble an oyster shell, because apparently we’re taking the pearl metaphor all the way. A circular mother-of-pearl inlay sits on top, matching the diameter of the aluminum spheres and serving as a luminous focal point that ties the composition together. The effect is weirdly organic for something made entirely from metal, with the layered surfaces and interplay of polished and matte finishes catching light differently throughout the day. I keep thinking about the Mirage Edition we covered in December, the one with hand-applied gradient anodization that shifted from blue to magenta depending on viewing angle. The Zenith pulls a similar trick but through physical texture rather than color gradients.
Both editions preserve the Beolab 90’s core acoustic performance, which remains borderline ridiculous even by 2026 standards. Eighteen bespoke drivers, advanced beam-forming technology that can steer sound to specific parts of a room, enough digital signal processing to make most studio monitors jealous. The original Beolab 90 launched at $185,000 for a pair, and these limited editions will almost certainly exceed that figure, though B&O hasn’t published pricing yet. When you order a set, you get a miniature aluminum Beolab 90 sculpture in the corresponding edition finish, presented in a custom aluminum delivery box, which feels like the kind of detail that matters when you’re spending what a luxury sedan costs on speakers.
The five-edition Atelier series, Shadow and Mirage and Titan and now Monarch and Zenith, reads as Bang & Olufsen methodically working through its material catalog. Each variant explores a different manufacturing technique pushed to its technical limit, whether that’s volcanic sandblasting or gradient anodization or curved wood lamination or hand-assembled metal spheres. The speakers debut at B&O’s San Francisco Culture Store, the brand’s largest showroom globally, before touring to other locations. Limited to ten pairs per edition means most people will never see these in person, let alone own them, but that seems to be the point. A century of operation earns you the right to build things simply because you can.
At some point, music stopped being an event and became wallpaper. You don’t really choose what plays anymore. A playlist starts, an algorithm decides what comes next, and before you know it, three hours have passed and you couldn’t name a single song. We used to sit with albums. We used to commit to them. That shift in how we listen is so gradual, so seamless, that most of us didn’t even notice it happening.
Arindam Kalita noticed. The multidisciplinary industrial designer, based in New York City and currently studying at Parsons School of Design, is betting that plenty of us miss that older, more intentional way of engaging with music. His project, called Analog, is a transparent CD player, and it is one of the more quietly compelling design statements to emerge from the current wave of nostalgia around physical media.
The premise is almost aggressively simple. Analog has a power button and a volume knob. That’s it. No screen, no algorithm, no shuffle function, no “Up Next” queue pulling you in six directions. You put in a CD and you listen to it. The whole thing. In order. The way the artist intended. Kalita describes it as a “distraction-free music listening device designed to restore intention and commitment to the act of listening,” and that framing matters because it isn’t merely a product description. It is a design philosophy made physical.
The transparency is what makes Analog visually arresting. The casing is clear, which means you can watch the disc spin, follow the mechanics working in real time, and see the whole process of recorded sound become something tangible. Kalita calls it “a sculptural window into your sound,” and that description earns itself. You watch the CD move and you’re suddenly reminded that music is a material thing, that it exists somewhere beyond a server farm. That reminder turns out to be surprisingly moving. It’s the kind of design detail that rewards you for paying attention.
The timing of this project feels deliberate. The vinyl revival has been going strong for years, and CDs are quietly following a similar arc. Sales have been steadily climbing, thrift store bins are getting picked over with real intention, and people are rediscovering what it feels like to have a physical relationship with music they love. Analog fits right into that conversation, but it isn’t trying to be retro for the sake of aesthetics. The design is clean and modern, and the transparency gives the whole thing a contemporary, almost scientific quality that keeps it from sliding into nostalgia bait.
The more interesting argument Analog makes is about constraint. Most of us have a streaming library that is effectively infinite, and that abundance, paradoxically, makes both choosing and listening more passive. When you only have the album you put in, you pay attention differently. You stop skipping. You let the slow tracks breathe. You remember that albums have pacing and arc, and that the track you used to fast-forward through is actually one of the best ones. You start actually listening instead of just having music on. Kalita’s design is making a case through form alone that fewer options can create a richer experience.
Kalita believes that humans connect to objects and experiences through tangibility and sight, placing designers in a position of great power and responsibility. Analog is a direct expression of that. It asks you to see your music, to physically interact with it, to be present for it. That feels almost radical in 2026, and I think that’s precisely the intention.
Whether or not Analog ever goes to market is, in a way, beside the point. The best concept design doesn’t just propose a product. It poses a question. What do we actually want from music? Convenience or connection? Background noise or something you can recall the next day? I know my answer, and I suspect if a lot of people stopped to think about it, they’d know theirs too.
