iHeart Radio

iHeart Radio is one of the most popular streaming radio services in the world, with over 250 million monthly listeners. It offers a wide range of music genres, podcasts, and live radio stations, including free Halloween music.

• Halloween Radio
• Haunted House
• Pumpkin Spicy
• Autumn Leaves

Pandora

Pandora is another popular streaming radio service that lets you create personalized stations based on your favorite artists, songs, or genres. It has over 70 million monthly active users.

• Halloween Party
• Family Halloween

LiveXLive

LiveXLive is a streaming radio service that focuses on live music and events. It has over 42 million monthly active users. It offers hundreds of stations across various genres and moods.

• Halloween Party
• Halloween: The Count-Up

Need a Speaker to Play Your Halloween Music?

These speakers have LED lights to create the perfect eerie atmosphere!

Photo by Javier Molina on Unsplash

The post Best Free Streaming Radio for Halloween 2023 appeared first on Technically Well.

The Soundcore Motion X600 speaker gives off some retro “boombox” vibes from the 80s and 90s with it rectangular shape and built-in (albeit non-foldable) handle. We’re testing the “Lunar Blue” color, which is a pleasing shade of light blue on the metallic finish.

The controls are located across the top and tilted towards you slightly at a convenient 15° angle. The power button is indented, which makes it easier to locate by feel. The rest of the buttons are flat and include these functions:

• Bluetooth: This button places the speaker back into pairing mode, so you can connect a different phone
• Spatial Audio: This toggles the Spatial Audio feature, but you’ll likely want to leave it enabled.
• Bass Up: Another toggle that you will want to likely leave enabled for enhanced bass.
• Volume controls: The – and + buttons decrease and increase the volume.
• Play/Pause button: This button can also skip forward with a double-press and rewind with a triple press

Performance

Soundcore Motion X600 vs Bose Revolve+ II

The Soundcore Motion X600 has excellent sound and gives my Bose Revolve+ II a run for its money. The bass is strong without being overly powerful, but if you find it to be too much, you can turn off the Bass Up feature. The bass isn’t quite as strong as the Bose Revolve+ II, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: the Bose Revolve+ II almost sounds a little “muddy” with the bass compared to the Motion X600’s Spatial Audio feature.

Soundcore Motion X600 Spatial Audio

The Spatial Audio feature further enhances the higher frequencies, providing some separation for the percussion and vocals for an impressive sound stage. In fact, after listening for a while with the Spatial Audio feature on, turning off will suddenly make your music sound almost anemic, even though this speaker still sounds great with the Spatial Audio feature off. However, please note that this speaker doesn’t specifically support spatial audio formats such as Dolby Atmos Music, but instead provides a sort-of spatial audio “enhancement” for all music.

If you have an Android device compatible with LDAC, you’ll be happy to know that this speaker also supports LDAC for Hi-Res Audio, but I found the “regular” Bluetooth audio streaming from my iPhone to still sound impressive on this speaker.

If you want to tweak the sound some more, the Soundcore app allows you to pick from a handful of pre-built equalizer settings and also gives you the ability to create your own.

The Motion X600 doesn’t have any LED lightning effects (other than the backlit buttons) like the Soundcore Flare 2, but the X600 does get louder with its 50 watts of power (compared to 10 watts on the Flare 2).

Features

• Spatial Audio: Enabling the Spatial Audio feature provides additional separation in your music, making it sound as if the music is surrounding you. You don’t need to use a special audio format; just play your music as normal.
• IPX7 water resistance: This speaker can actually be submerged in water briefly and survive, but just make sure the rubber cover on the back is in place and protecting the charging port. Looking for free music for listening poolside? Check out our list of best free summer stations.
• Built-in mic: The X600 has a built-in microphone, so you can use it to accept a quick phone call.
• Aux input: If you don’t want to use Bluetooth, you can connect an Aux cable (not included) to the Aux port on the back.
• Soundcore app support: The Soundcore app gives you some additional functions, such as customizing equalizer, disabling the voice prompts, and upgrading the firmware.

Battery Life

The Soundcore Motion X600 can last up to 12 hours with the volume around 25% and the Bass Up feature turned off. It takes up to 6 hours to recharge the speaker with a 5V 3A USB-C wall charger (not included).

Video Review

Soundcore Motion X600 Portable Bluetooth Speaker with Wireless Hi-Res Spatial Audio,50W Sound,...

Soundcore Motion X600 Portable Bluetooth Speaker with Wireless Hi-Res Spatial Audio,50W Sound,...

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The Soundcore Space One features a new “floating-axis” design, allowing the ear cups to rotate in either direction, allowing for a more comfortable fit. I also found the ear cushions to be very soft and comfortable as well. The headphones themselves feel very light and almost too “plastic-y,” which may bring their long-term durability into question. However, the all-plastic design also means that they are very lightweight and very comfortable to wear for extended periods. Our review headphones feature Soundcore’s new Sky Blue color, but the headphones are also available in Jet Black and Latte Cream.

Performance

Soundcore has implemented 40mm dynamic drivers into the Soundcore Space One as well as LDAC for high-res audio. Even without LDAC, the sound quality from the Soundcore Space One is great, with rich bass and strong mids and highs. If you initially don’t like the sound, there are several equalizer options available within the Soundcore app, as well as the ability to perform a “Hear ID” hearing test to create a personalized hearing profile.

Noise Cancellation

Many Active Noise Cancelling headphones focus on cancelling out lower frequencies, like the hum of an airplane. Soundcore designed the Space One headphones, so they cancel out the higher frequencies of human speech. Soundcore claims that this results in 2 times the reduction of voices when compared to Soundcore Life Q30. In their testing, they also found that the Space One performed better in overall noise reduction compared to the Sony WH-CH720 headphones.

I tested these headphones with a news broadcast playing in the background, but found that the Soundcore Space One was not quite as good as the Sony WH-1000XM4 when it comes to people speaking. I also tested them with a white noise machine and found that, like most ANC headphones, they also reduced the sound of it very well.

In addition to voice cancellation, the headphones also include Adaptive Noise Cancellation, as many of Soundcore’s newer headphones do. With this, Soundcore only turns up its Active Noise Cancellation powers when needed by using an outward facing microphone to determine the amount of sound around you. If it isn’t that noisy around you, the Active Noise Cancellation effect is reduced, so you don’t get that underwater effect when you don’t need it.

They also support Transparency Mode, which is an important feature found on many new headphones and earbuds with active noise cancellation. It allows you to hear the sounds around you while listening to music or other audio. This can be useful for situations where you need to be aware of your surroundings, such as walking in a busy street.

Features

• Active and Adaptive Noise Cancellation: As noted earlier, the Soundcore Space One headphones feature effective noise cancellation focused on voices specifically. The amount of Active Noise Cancellation used is also adjusted automatically based on the ambient sound around you.
• Auto-Pause: The headphones will automatically stop playing your music when you remove the headphones. You need to activate this feature first by using the Soundcore app, as it does need a calibration process to be completed.
• Hi-Res Audio: The Space One headphones support LDAC (if your phone supports it) for higher quality sound than standard Bluetooth.
• Hear ID: Like many of Soundcore’s other headphones, the Space One include Hear ID, which can be calibrated to your individual hearing using the Soundcore app. You’ll then have a personalized hearing profile tuned to your ears.

Soundcore Space One vs Sony WH-1000XM4

When comparing the Soundcore Space One to the popular Sony WH-1000XM4, you can find that you get most of the features and longer battery life. The Space One may have fewer microphones for phone calls, but calls still sound fine.

I tested out the Space One’s voice cancellation while watching a news program and found that the noise cancellation wasn’t quite on the same level as the Sony WH-1000XM4. Still, the Space One will get you about 80-90% of the way there for a much smaller price tag.

Battery Life

The Soundcore Space One headphones last up to 40 hours with ANC on (55 hours with ANC off), making them great for charging and long trips. The headphones can be recharged with a USB-C cable, and a quick 5-minute charge can yield up to 4 hours of listening time.

Video Review

Soundcore by Anker, Space One, Active Noise Cancelling Headphones, 2X Stronger Voice Reduction,...

Soundcore by Anker, Space One, Active Noise Cancelling Headphones, 2X Stronger Voice Reduction,...

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As our devices have become larger and more powerful, so have their power requirements. Remember those small “lipstick” power banks? They’re difficult to find now!

The UGREEN 145W 25,000mAh power bank is built for those powerful devices with its large 25000mAh capacity and its ability to output a total of 145 watts. It has some weight to it at just over 1 pound, which is something to keep in mind if you plan to carry this around frequently. It could potentially add some extra heft to your laptop bag! Its dimensions are ‎6.3″ x 3.2″ x 1.1″. It looks sleek with its matte, silver-colored finish with an LED display on the side to show you the remaining capacity, which is a lot easier to interpret than the 4 blink LEDs many other power banks use.

Performance

Sure, this can charge your smartphone, but where this power bank really shines is its ability to charge your laptop! It can handle MacBooks with a USB-C port including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, and other modern USB-C devices such as the Dell XPS 15 and 13, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and more.

This really comes in handy for both students attending class or professionals attending a conference, for example, where you may be moving from class to class (or session to session) and need a portable method to keep your laptop charged. Therefore, you don’t need to try and be the first person in the room to secure a desk by an outlet. And, thankfully, this power bank has 2 USB-C ports and 1 USB-A port, so you can share it with a friend.

It can also charge smaller devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Android phones. It also supports “trickle charging” (by holding down the power button for 3 seconds) to charge even smaller items like AirPods, Apple Watches, and Bluetooth earbuds which would normally draw so little current that most power banks would think they are done and would shut off.

If you have another USB-C device, you’ll want to refer to the “Technical Specifications” below to verify that the power bank is capable of the voltage and amperage that your device needs to charge, just to be safe. However, the UGREEN 145w power bank seems to conform to all modern charging standards, so I have yet to find a device that does not charge with it. Below are some of the devices I tested.

Apple MacBook Air M1

The UGREEN 145W power bank was able to charge my MacBook Air with 20V.

Nintendo Switch

The UGREEN power bank successfully charged my Nintendo Switch at 15V.

Lenovo 14W Laptop

My Lenovo 14W Laptop (running Ubuntu!) was able to charge with its normal 20V profile with this UGREEN power bank.

Dell Chromebook

The UGREEN 145w power bank supports the Dell Chromebook’s 20V charging profile, allowing it to charge at full speed.

Features

• Two USB-C ports: This power bank allows you to charge two USB-C devices at the same time, although, when you’re charging multiple devices at the same time, the maximum wattage gets split up among the available ports. Please refer to the image below to see how the number of ports in use affects each port’s maximum output.
• “Regular” USB-A port: If you have a charging cord with a rectangular USB connector, you can still make use of this power bank as it has a USB-A port in addition to the two USB-C ports.
• Trickle charge mode: By holding down the power button for 3 seconds, you can activate “trickle charge” mode, which allows device that draw very little current (such as AirPods, Apple Watches, and Bluetooth earbuds) to continue to charge even when most power banks would assume they’re done.
• LED Display: The unit displays a numeric readout of the remaining charge capacity.

Recharging the UGREEN 145W power bank

You can recharge the UGREEN 145W power bank by using the either USB-C port, but USB-C port #1 can accept up to a 65W charge for the fastest recharge (USB-C port #2 accepts up to 45W, but only one can be used at a time). For example, you could use UGREEN’s 65W USB-C charger to recharge the power bank in as little as 2 hours.

Additionally, lower-wattage USB-C chargers will work as well, just at a longer recharge time. For example, if you used a tablet charging brick (generally around 18W), it could take 12.5 hours or more to recharge.

Technical Specifications

USB-C port #1 (marked “100 watts”)

Input: 5V-3A 9V-3A 12V-3A 15V-3A 20-V3.25A 65W Max

Output: 5V-3A 9V-3A 12V-3A 15V-3A 20V-5A 100W Max

Supported input protocols: PD3.0/PD2.0/FCP/AFC/BC1.2/5V Adaptive

Supported output protocols: PD3.0/PD2.0/QC3.0/QC2.0/FCP/AFC/APPLE 5V2.4A/BC1.2/5V Adaptive

USB-C port #2

Input: 5V-3A 9V-3A 12V-3A 15V-3A 20V-2.25A 45W Max

Output: 5V-3A 9V-3A 12V-3A 15V-3A 20V-2.25A 45W Max

Supported input protocols: PD3.0/PD2.0/FCP/AFC/BC1.2/5V Adaptive

Support output protocols: PD3.0/PD2.0/QC3.0/QC2.0/FCP/AFC/APPLE 5V2.4A/BC1.2/5V Adaptive

USB-A port (the regular, rectangular USB port)

Output: 5V-3A 9V-2A 12V-1.5A 18W Max

Supported output protocols: QC3.0/QC2.0/FCP/AFC/APPLE 5V2.4A/BC1.2/5V Adaptive

UGREEN 145W Power Bank 25000mAh Portable Charger USB C 3-Port PD3.0 Battery Pack Digital Display,...

UGREEN 145W Power Bank 25000mAh Portable Charger USB C 3-Port PD3.0 Battery Pack Digital Display,...

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The new Shokz OpenFit headphones continue Shokz’s tradition of letting you enjoy your music while still being aware of your surroundings, but now you can get that with stronger bass.

Design

The Shokz OpenFit headphones somewhat resemble Beats’ PowerBeats headphones in that they are two separate earpieces that “wrap” around your ear. These are similar in style to the OpenRock Pro earbuds we recently reviewed.

Each earpiece is very lightweight (only 8.3 grams), soft, and flexible, so they are comfortable to wear for long runs and walks. However, my ears do get “tired” of them after a few hours, so I don’t know if I could wear these for a whole work day.

Performance

The Shokz Open Fit headphones don’t actually use bone conduction. The earpieces have tiny speakers on them that are directed towards your ear canal.

By doing so, the sound is more well-rounded and bass is greatly enhanced compared to traditional bone conduction headphones, while still keeping your ears open to the outside world. I’m still able to easily hear cars approaching or dogs barking while enjoying my music during runs. They also work great for podcasts, but are less useful in noisy environments such as public transportation or airplanes, where you actually do need to block outside sounds.

Since the speakers are outside your ear, someone else could potentially hear your music or phone calls if you were in a totally quiet room and someone was sitting uncomfortably close to you. But since the tiny speakers are aimed towards your ear, in most environments, it is not possible for someone else to hear what you hear.

The OpenFit earbuds are also great for phone calls as they feature AI Call Noise Cancellation technology, which aids the microphones in eliminating background sounds, so your callers can more easily hear you. I did some test recordings with white noise playing in the background, and the microphones effectively filtered them out. However, it would still sometimes pick up sounds directly in front of me, such as typing on a keyboard.

Features

• IP54 water resistance: While the Shokz OpenFit can resist splashes and sweat, they cannot be submerged in water. Workouts are ok, but taking them in the pool is a no-no.
• Single earbud use: You can use either earbud independently while keeping the other in the charging case.
• AI Noise Cancellation for mics: Since these are open-ear headphones, there is no noise cancellation for listening to music. However, if you make phone calls with the earbuds, the mics will help filter out background noise, so your caller can hear you better.
• Controls: A double-tap on either earbud will play and pause your music. To skip to the next track, hold the touch sensor on the right earbud for 3 seconds. To rewind a track, hold the left earbud for 3 seconds. Unfortunately, you cannot adjust the volume directly on the earbuds; you would need to use your phone for that.
• App connectivity: You can download the Shokz app to adjust the sound equalizer and install firmware updates.

Battery Life

The OpenFit earpieces can last up to 7 hours on a single charge, with the charging case providing up to 28 hours of listening time total. Shokz also notes that a quick 5 minute charge can last up to 1 hour.

Shokz OpenFit Headphones, Black - Black

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The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earbuds themselves look very similar to the original Liberty 4 earbuds, however the case opens differently and is a little bit larger. Instead of a slide cover, it now has a button that automatically open the case. The earbuds are also slightly larger themselves, the most noticeable difference is the longer stem.

The Liberty 4 NC earbuds come in a variety of colors: black, light blue, dark blue, light pink, and white.

Performance

The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC headphones give you the great sound quality of the “regular” Soundcore Liberty 4, but with souped-up Noise Cancellation powers. This is something I’ve definitely noticed while using these earbuds while mowing the lawn: the definitely drowned out the sound of the mower more than my other Active Noise Cancellation earbuds or even some of my over-the-ear headphones.

With the Soundcore app, you can enable Adaptive Noise Cancellation on the earbuds, which automatically adjust the noise cancellation mode based on the noise level around you. You can also chose from the 5 levels of noise cancellation manually, or manually selecting a noise cancellation setting for traveling such as airplane, train, bus or car.

There are two Transparency Modes to select from (”fully transparent” and “vocal”), however, the Liberty 4 NC earbuds do not feature Adaptive Transparency Mode like the Apple AirPods Pro 2.

Soundcore notes that the Liberty 4 NC earbuds are SGS certified and can reduce noise by up to 98.5% compared to other earbuds. It can be difficult to compare how effective noise cancellation because different headphones can be effective at cancelling noise at different frequencies, but here’s a chart of the frequencies that each earbud is best at cancelling.

Besides the noise cancellation features, you still get the great sound quality of the original Liberty 4 earbuds: strong bass, and clear mids and highs. You can adjust the sound with the Soundcore app by selecting one of the pre-built settings (like Bass Booster or Dance), or create your own equalizer settings. The earbuds also feature HearID which performs a hearing test of sorts and creates a custom listening profile for you.

Features

• Adaptive Noise Cancellation: As noted above, the Active Noise Cancellation adapts to the environment and helps offset the sounds around you.
• Auto Play/Pause: The earbuds can automatically pause your music when one is removed from your ear. This can be disabled in the app if you don’t like this.
• Gaming Mode: If you game on your phone, you can enable this feature in the Soundcore app to reduce Bluetooth latency.
• Sound Leak Compensation: When enabled in the Soundcore app, this setting detects if audio is leaking (due to a poor fit) and adjusts the sound output accordingly.
• Dual Connection (multi-point connect): The earbuds can connect to two devices simultaneously (like your phone and your laptop) and automatically switch between the two.
• “Find My” feature: This feature simply plays a chirping tone on the earbuds, but during the beta period, the chirp sound was very low, which is going to make it difficult to find an earbud anywhere but a completely quiet room. Hopefully this gets fixed in a future update.

Liberty 4 vs Liberty 4 NC

So what’s the difference between the Soundcore Liberty 4 compared to the Liberty 4 NC? There are a some features missing from these new earbuds that were present in the original Liberty 4:

• No heart rate tracking
• No head tracking or movie mode for the spatial audio feature
• No CloudComfort ear tips

What’s new on the Liberty 4 NC from the original Liberty 4?

• Mainly, the enhanced environmental adaptive noise cancellation feature is the biggest improvement you’ll see (er, hear?) on the Liberty 4 NC.
• These new earbuds have a “Sound Leak Compensation” setting that helps boost the sound if the earbud detects sound leakage (seal is not tight to your ear)
• There is an additional “Long Press” control on these earbuds that you can customize (to turn Noise Cancellation on/off, for example).
• There is a “Safe Volume” setting on these Soundcore earbuds to limit the maximize volume.

Liberty 4 NC vs AirPods Pro 2

How do the Liberty 4 NC compare to the AirPods Pro 2? You get many of the features of the AirPods Pro 2 for less than half the MSRP price, but there are some important differences. The AirPods Pro 2 have adaptive Transparency Mode (where it will reduce loud sounds when allowing sound to come through), which these Soundcore earbuds do not have this feature.

The AirPods Pro 2 also have head tracking when using spatial audio, so it sounds like the music is coming from your phone even as you move around; the Liberty 4 NC do not have this although the original Liberty 4 did.

Finally, the AirPods Pro 2 is more tightly integrated with the iPhone operating system, allowing you to more easily access the battery life and settings. With the Liberty 4 NC, you’ll need to use the Soundcore app to access the battery information and settings.

Battery Life on the Liberty 4 NC

These earbuds can achieve up to 8 hours on a single charge, and up to 50 hours total when you factor in the recharges from the case.

Video Review of the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC

soundcore by Anker Liberty 4 NC Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds, 98.5% Noise Reduction,...

soundcore by Anker Liberty 4 NC Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds, 98.5% Noise Reduction,...

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Design

The earbuds are lightweight at just 7.3 grams per earbud and feature a black exterior with gold accents, giving the look a big of bling. The earbuds sit conveniently in the compact charging case when not in use, which easily fits in your pocket.

Performance

The Opera 05 earbuds feature Hi-Res audio with LDAC support if your phone supports it, which is limited to just Android phones at this time. If you have an iPhone, don’t worry as the Opera 05 will still work, just not quite as high as sound quality as the LDAC protocol can provide.

Even if your phone doesn’t support LDAC, the sound quality on the Opera 05 is great. The bass is strong and mids and highs come through crystal clear. As with most earbuds of this type, you’ll want to make sure you find the right ear tips to “seal” the earbuds to your ear canal to get the best sound and bass response.

SoundPEATS Opera 05 vs Air3 Deluxe HS

If you want the best sound quality and you have a compatible Android phone, the Air3 Deluxe HS and the Opera 05 both give you LDAC support. The biggest difference is that the Deluxe HS earbuds are open like the original AirPods, so there is no Active Noise Cancellation. So if you want LDAC and Active Noise Cancellation, then the Opera 05 are for you. If you need to be able to hear what is going around you when working or working out, then you’ll probably want the Deluxe HS.

SoundPEATS Opera 05 vs Air3 Pro

The Air3 Pro also have Active Noise Cancellation, but they lack LDAC support. However, the Opera 05 do not have Game Mode support, which reduces the latency, so if you need Game Mode and Active Noise Cancellation, then you’ll probably want to go with the Air3 Pro.

Features

They also feature Active Noise Cancellation effective up to 30 decibels. The microphones help eliminate sounds around you for phone calls with dual electronic noise cancellation and a design to help block wind noise. You can hear a sample of the microphone quality in the video review.

The earbuds are splash proof with an IPX4 rating, but please note that the charging case is not water resistant.

Battery Life

The earbuds can last up about 7 or 8 hours on a single charge, with the charging case providing up to 2.7 additional charges. The charging case can be recharged with a USB-C cable. The earbuds take about 1.5 hours to recharge in the case.

Video Review

The post SoundPEATS Opera 05 Review appeared first on Technically Well.

Thankfully, most of us found our work-from-home groove and have dedicated home office space now. However, there are times when you would like a change of scenery and work from a coffee shop or even just another room of the house without sacrificing your dual-screen setup. Portable monitors have become popular, more affordable, and allow you to be productive from virtually anywhere. The Mobile Pixels Duex Lite monitor goes beyond many other portable monitor by actually attaching to your laptop and sliding out when needed.

Benefits of an extra screen

Having two monitors is incredibly useful for anyone who does a lot of multitasking. With two monitors, you can keep an eye on multiple windows and applications at the same time, which allows you to work more efficiently. Additionally, two monitors can make it easier to work on larger projects, such as spreadsheets and presentations, as you can have the data or slides on one monitor and the tools or editing window on the other. Furthermore, two monitors also make it easy to research online while working on a project, as you can have one window open for the project and one window open for research. Finally, two monitors also allow you to multitask in other ways, such as watching videos or streaming music while working on a project.

One such portable monitor is the Mobile Pixels Duex Lite. It’s a 12.5 inch monitor with a 1080p resolution and weighs just 1.3 lbs. It’s compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, and has both a USB Type-C port (no driver needed if your laptop supports video via USB-C) and a USB-A adapter (which usually requires the installation of a driver).

Setup

The Mobile Pixels Duex Lite portable monitor includes 4 magnets with adhesive that can be attached to the back of your laptop’s monitor. The entire unit can then be mounted on the back of your laptop, and conveniently slides out when needed. This will add a bit of bulk to your laptop, but you can remove the monitor (except the 4 magnets) whenever it is not needed.

Depending on your laptop and how “thin” it is, this monitor may be too heavy to attach to the back of your laptop without pulling the screen down. In that case, you can use the monitor in portrait mode with the built-in stand. Or, you can use something like a stand made for iPads (not included) to prop the monitor up horizontally.

If your laptop supports video via USB-C (which many laptops manufactured in the past few years do), you can simply connect the included USB-C cable to both deliver video and power the monitor. If you laptop does not have a compatible USB-C port, a regular USB-A adapter is included, but requires the installation of Mobile Pixels’ driver which can easily be downloaded from their website.

This particular model of the DUEX Lite does not have an HDMI port, so you cannot connect this monitor using a simple HDMI cable.

Performance

I tested this monitor with a Windows Surface Pro 8 first. Being a tablet with its own kickstand, it’s not possible to attach the monitor to the back of it, but it worked fine in portrait mode using the built-in stand. I was also able to use it horizontally with a simple tablet stand (not included). Windows detected the monitor immediately upon connecting the USB-C and duplicated my display at first, but I was able to extend the monitor (and flip the upside down image) easily within the display settings in Windows.

I also wanted to test the monitor on a Linux machine, so I used my Lenovo (model 14w) laptop’s USB-C port and found that Ubuntu 20.04 detected the monitor without an issue as well. It’s important to note that there are no Linux drivers available for this monitor, so you will need to use a USB-C interface that supports DisplayPort as the USA-A connection will not work without the drivers.

I also tested the Mobile Pixel Duex Lite portable monitor by mounting it to my Dell Chromebook. While there is not official driver support for Chrome OS, this monitor still worked because this Dell Chromebook (model C7486-3250GRY-PUS) can output video and power via a single USB-C connection.

The monitor is very lightweight at only 1.3 pounds, although this might be enough to cause your laptop’s delicately balanced monitor to fall back under the additional weight. The monitor can display a 1080p resolution on the 12.5” panel.

The screen’s brightness and color and more than sufficient for multitasking with emails, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets. However, colors can be presented differently on the DUEX Lite compared to the main laptop screen. Therefore, if you’re doing any sort of photo or video editing, you’ll probably want to stick with the your laptop’s main display.

The size of the screen will likely be smaller than your laptop’s built-in screen, so text may display smaller and be inconsistent with the size on your laptop’s built-in display. This can be a little jarring at first, but I was able to quickly adapt to it.

The monitor has some built-in controls to manually adjust the brightness and color tone of the display. There is also an option to enable the blue light blocking feature which is nice to enable close to bedtime.

The DUEX Lite version of this monitor only has one USB-C port and is therefore not compatible with the Nintendo Switch or other devices that cannot deliver both power and video over a single USB-C port connection. The DUEX Plus version of this monitor offers two USB-C ports and is therefore compatible with the Nintendo Switch (using one of the USB-C ports for the video) when paired with another USB-C connection providing power. The DUEX Plus monitor also offers a larger display size at 13.3”.

Duex Lite Mobile Pixels Portable Monitor, 12.5" Full HD IPS Dual Monitor for laptops, USB C/USB A...

Duex Lite Mobile Pixels Portable Monitor, 12.5" Full HD IPS Dual Monitor for laptops, USB C/USB A...

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SOUNDPEATS Air3 Deluxe HS vs Air3 Deluxe vs Air3

The “HS” version of the Air3 Deluxe adds LDAC support. Another slight difference I noticed is that they don’t specifically have cVc 8.0 noise cancellation for the microphones, but they do have a similar technology that they refer to as Environmental Noise Cancellation. It’s still effective and reduces the background sounds so the mics can focus on your voice during phone calls. The battery charging case also gives you slightly less total playtime at 20 hours compared to the regular Deluxe model at 22 hours.

Performance

Since the earbuds themselves are the same from the Air3, the Air3 Deluxe HS sounds great with a good bass response and clear mids. They are a strong competitor to the Apple AirPods for anyone who likes the form factor and is looking to save some cash.

The Bluetooth connection seems solid and I really haven’t noticed any drop-outs or other interruptions in the connection while using them as long as I have my phone nearby. If I walk to another area of the house and leave my phone behind, the connection starts to get garbled which is to be expected.

Features

• LDAC support: If you have an Android device that supports LDAC, you can take advantage of the higher quality audio. iPhones do not currently support LDAC, but they would still work with these earbuds.
• Longer battery life: The Air3 Deluxe HS version of these earbuds features a larger charging case that can last up to 20 hours (3 charges), compared to 17.5 hours on the non-Deluxe Air3 (2.5 charges).
• Auto-pause: If you remove either earbud, it will automatically pause the music on your phone, then resume it when you place the earbud back in your ear.
• Touch controls: While you can’t customize the touch controls like you can on the Apple AirPods, I found most of the features I need are already programmed. For example, you can decrease the volume with a single tap of the left earbud (and increase it with a single tap of the right earbud). You can play and pause by double-tapping the left earbud, and summon Siri with a triple-tap of the right earbud.
• One earbud mode: You can use either earbud by itself while the other earbud is in the charging case.
• Game mode: The earbuds have a low latency “game mode” that can be accessed with a triple tap of the left earbud.

Should you upgrade from the Air3 Deluxe to the Air3 Deluxe HS?

If you’re an iPhone user, there is no reason to upgrade as iPhones do not support LDAC. The HS earbuds will still work with iPhone, just without the LDAC audio quality.

If you’re an Android user withe a device that supports LDAC, you may want to upgrade if the Hi-Res Audio is important to you. If you’re not an audiophile and you’re happy with the sound of your current SoundPEATS earbuds, you likely do not need to upgrade.

Video Review

SoundPEATS Wireless Earbuds Air3 Deluxe HS with Hi-Res Audio Certification and LDAC Codec,...

SoundPEATS Wireless Earbuds Air3 Deluxe HS with Hi-Res Audio Certification and LDAC Codec,...

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The Soundcore VR P10 earbuds are made for gaming, in fact, they’re one of the first certified “Made for Meta” earbuds available. They’re a great companion to the Meta Quest 2 headset as you just plug in the dongle to listen through the earbuds, and the dongle allows pass-through charging so you can charge your headset while using the dongle at the same time.

Performance of the Soundcore VR P10 Earbuds with the Meta Quest 2

The earbuds sound great and are perfect for playing on the Meta Quest 2 as they have very low latency while using the dongle. I also really like that they are just plug and play: pop the dongle in the USB-C slot on the headset, and sound starts coming through the earbuds. No need to dig around the “Settings” menu to find the Bluetooth area and then go through a pairing process.

Soundcore states latency is under 30 milliseconds, and while I couldn’t specifically measure this, I did notice the latency was much better than standard Bluetooth earbuds and seemed to be in sync with the game.

Soundcore VR P10 Compatibility with Windows and Linux

I’ve actually been searching for something like this for a long time: truly wireless earbuds with a dedicated USB dongle. They’re surprisingly rare at the moment, but if you’ve ever tried to pair regular Bluetooth earbuds to a Windows computer, you’re probably familiar with how finicky Windows handles Bluetooth with headphone and headset modes, and how bad the microphone can sound.

Instead of messing with Bluetooth, you can simply plug in the dongle for the Soundcore VR P10 earbuds. There are no special drivers needed, and the earbuds and mic show up as a standard USB sound device in Windows. They even work in Ubuntu without any special setup.

Soundcore VR P10 and the Nintendo Switch

You can plug these earbuds into a Nintendo Switch either by plugging the dongle into the bottom of the Switch, or by using a USB-A adapter (not included) to connect the dongle to the dock. In my test, the earbuds and the microphone worked for voice chat in Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch, although my teammates stated my voice sounded a little more distant compared to using my normal gaming headset. However, these Soundcore earbuds are a lot easier to travel with compared to full sized headsets.

Music and Bluetooth

While these are gaming earbuds first, they can also be paired to your phone via Bluetooth for listening to music. In fact, you can pair the earbuds with your phone and the dongle at the same time, and incoming calls on your phone will mix in with the sound through the dongle, so you can take a phone call while gaming at the same time. The Soundcore app gives you several equalizer settings as well as the ability to customize your own. The app also lets you change the color of the LEDs and set enhanced gaming sounds like “Super Hearing” that helps enhance the sound of gunfire and footsteps.

Music quality isn’t quite as good as some of Soundcore’s other earbuds, such as the new Liberty 4, but it’s fine for casual music and podcast listening between gaming sessions.

Battery Life

You can get up to 6 hours of battery life on a single charge (up to 24 hours with the charging case), and the dongle can be stored magnetically inside the lid of the charging case.

Video Review for the Soundcore VR P10 Earbuds

soundcore VR P10 Wireless Gaming Earbuds, Authorized Meta/Oculus Quest 2 Accessories, <30ms...

soundcore VR P10 Wireless Gaming Earbuds, Authorized Meta/Oculus Quest 2 Accessories, <30ms...

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