HiFiMan Edition S Headphones – The Open & Closed Back Headphones – iOS & Android controls – Review

Audio, Reviews, Tech News

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Welcome to my review of the new HiFiMan Edition S Headphones. The HiFiMan Edition S cost £189 and now is the cheapest headphone in their range with the most expensive costing over £2,000. So HiFiMan have taken all the audio knowledge and create a more budget priced headphone that sounds superb.

Key Specifications

– On Ear – Closed or Open Back Desgin
– Frequency Response: 15Hz-22kHz
– Sensitivity – 113db
– Impedance: 18ohm
– Weight: 248g
– Driver Technology: 50mm Dynamic Driver
– iOS / Android in line cable with mic and controls

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Audio Quality

Work in an office and don’t want everyone to hear what you are listening to. Get home and wait to experience the full benefits of an open back headphone. Or fancy a slightly punchier, stronger bass sound that you can get from a closed back headphone, then the HiFiMan Edition S tick all the boxes.

I tested these headphones using my Samsung Galaxy S7. The S7 does not have a powerful headphone amp, yet the HiFiMan sounded excellent. This is helped by being highly efficient cans. They possess quick timing and have a slightly warmish sound. I really liked these headphones straight out of the box.

In the box, you get a hard carry case, a 6.3mm and airplane adapter, and the cable which has basic controls for android and iOS devices. Because the cable is removable, you can upgrade or replace it as required.

So what else is special about the HiFiMan Edition S. Well they are comfortable and very easy to drive. They sounded superb straight out of my Samsung S7. In open or closed back modes, the bass is tight and fast and deep enough to keep me entertained. The headphones were able to pick out nuances in the music that other headphones hadn’t been able to do. Whether in open or closed back mode the sound stage was wide. Obviously, in closed back mode (this is with the speaker plates on) bass is slightly enhanced and the sound stage reduced. A tiny amount of sound does escape in closed back mode at medium to high listening levels. With the speaker plates off, this is open back mode and the sound freely escapes. The speaker outer plates are held on via magnetism. See video below.

Genres used were pretty much everything – classical, pop, rock, jazz, blues, opera, dance and more. I used streaming apps from Google and Amazon as well as USB Audio Player Pro and Poweramp Alpha apps.

Upgrading the Audio Quality

So after testing the HiFiMan with my S7, I decided to upgrade the experience and use an Oppo HA-2 Headphone/DAC and replace the headphone cable with an Atlas cable. The difference using both of these extras created a cleaner and tighter sound, and more insightful. I could pick out even more detail and the sound stage was even wider. This was a perfect upgrade in my view.

Video Overview and Unboxing – Plus Upgrades

Below is a video to compliment this written review.

Conclusion

Out of the box the HiFiMan Edition S shine. With the versatility of open or backed and being one of the easiest pairs of headphones to drive from HiFiMan, these are highly recommended.

More information and latest deals on Amazon UK – Click HERE.

OnePlus 3 – Launch and Store – All done in Virtual Reality – My Experience & Detailed Specs

Tech News

OnePlus decided to launch their new flagship phone, the OnePlus 3 via Virtual Reality. The process was simple. Download their Loop VR app from the Google Play store and open it at 5.30pm UK time.

Well, that was the first flaw by OnePlus. The app upon opening needed to be updated before it could be used. The download was 604mb. Now anyone waiting to watch the launch could have been on mobile data and or not the fastest wifi speeds. I really think that the app should have had a big warning saying that minutes before launch, you will need to update that app and that the app is 604mb.

So after patiently waiting for the app to download, I started to view the show with my Google Cardboard. The VR experience was pretty cool. The launch was not a live stream, hence the 604mb was mainly VR created video.

Within the VR world, you were able to explore and discover new features about the phone in different rooms, see the 360 degree office and a lot more. Pretty cool to be honest. Then you had to find 3 badges to get the ability to purchase the phone using the VR store. The different areas had lots of cool content and highlighted various aspects of the phone. The UK price is £309 for a 64gb storage, 6gb ram OnePlus 3. Yes, 6gb ram!

So after finding all 3 badges, going to the VR store section, you entered your email. OnePlus then sent a special link. So in reality the payment aspects were not done in VR.

All in all, super cool experience. And now to the specs. You will notice the OnePlus 3 includes nearly everything including NFC.

– Android 6.0 Marshmallow
– Display 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED ,1920×1080, 401 ppi, Gorilla Glass 4
– Processor Snapdragon 820, Quad-core, 2.2GHz,Adreno 630 GPU
– Storage 64GB UFS 2 – no micro SD card slot
– RAM 6GB LPDDR4
– Rear Camera 16MP IMX298, f/2.0, 1.12-micron pixels,PDAF, OIS,RAW, 4K video, 720p slo-mo
– Front Camera 8MP IMX179, f/2.0, 1.4-micron pixels, Fixed focus, 1080p video
– Connectivity USB 2.0,Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2,NFC, GPS, GLONASS
– Network bands GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
– Network bands (North America) WCDMA: Bands 1/2/4/5/8,FDD-LTE: Bands 1/2/4/5/7/8/12/17,CDMA EVDO: BC0
– Network bands (EU/Asia) WCDMA: Bands 1/2/5/8,FDD-LTE: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20,TDD-LTE: Bands 38/40/41
– Network bands (China) WCDMA: Bands 1/2/5/8,FDD-LTE : Bands 1/3/7,TDD-LTE: Bands 38/39/40/41,TD-SCDMA : Bands 34/39, CDMA EVDO: BC0
– CAT 6 (LTE)
– SIM Dual Nano SIM
– Audio – bottom facing speaker, dual mics with noise cancellation, OnePlus Music, Dirac HD,
– Charging USB-C, Dash Charge 5V/4A,Battery 3000 mAh,Non-removable
– Security One-touch fingerprint
– Sensors – Fingerprint sensor, Hall sensor, , Accelerometer, Gyroscope,
Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor and Electronic Compass
– Hardware keys and on-screen navigation ,Alert Slider
– Custom icon packs, Gesture Control (Display On + Display Off),OnePlus Shelf
– Vibration motor
– RGB LED notification light, Night Mode Display, Dark Theme, System Accent Colours
– Dimensions 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35 mm
– Weight 158 g
– Colours Silver, Gold

WWDC 2016 – Ian’s Thoughts of the Keynote Speech

Apple, Tech News,

Ian has jotted down a few thoughts following Apple’s WWDC Keynote speech –

Thoughts on WWDC

So as an Apple Watch, iPhone 6s Plus and iPad Pro owner have been waited for this for a while, and just invested in S7 edge and 360 Cam so wanted Apple to step up.

WatchOS -Good badly needed update, as apps pretty much unusable. Happy with new Swiping through apps, speed increases.watch faces

TVOS – Poor hmmm sold mine and moved to the shield, nothing impressed here, need to really improve gaming aspect,

MacOS – Good, watch unlocking, ApplePay, sync between macs, not totally convinced on Siri but solid update

IOS- Great, much needed Apple Music, and blatant copy of Google photos , maps and messaging – finally HomeKit !!! …guess no support for Nest or Smart Things

So great Keynote All in all

What was missing, PadOS ??? Hmm much needed on the pro, mouse support, file system, I can dream

WWDC 2016 – Wow – My Thoughts on the New Betas , Features and Keynote Speech

Apple, Tech News,

Apple held their WWDC 2016 Keynote Speech yesterday. It was great to see a mix of employees present on stage. It was also apparent that Apple had tons of stuff to try and get through.

Highlights included a whistle stop tour of iOS 10, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

watchOS 3 seemed to address many of the complaints of the current firmware with considerably faster running apps, new watch faces, improved ways to respond and a tweaked user interface. The activity app became more social too. All in all, the Apple Watch just became far more polished and potentially easier to use.

iOS 10 – so much to cover, new features across the board from Photos (RAW photo editing is also possible now), Maps, iMessages and more. Siri suddenly became more useful and functional. The lock screen got spruced up. API’s galore for developers including access to Siri and iMessage. Lots of new gloss too. BUT some of the more interesting changes were those not discussed. A high level take is Apple opening up the platform more than it ever has done.

Apple apps can be uninstalled. These include – Calculator, Calendar, Compass, Contacts,FaceTime,iTunes Store,Mail, Maps, Music,Notes, Podcasts, Reminders, Stocks,Tips,Videos,Voice Memos, Watch, Weather, Game Center – That’s a big list. Of course, as these Apple apps now appear in the App Store, it means Apple can provide quick updates to the core apps without a new firmware.

macOS – this also had lots of new features, the biggest with Siri integration, Apple Pay on the web which also features in iOS 10, universal clipboard and many more.

tvOS – lots of changes here from support for 4 game controllers, a dark theme, single sign on for all the different web services and lots more.

In fact, the list of changes is huge. My concern is how is everybody going to learn how to use all these new features and will it make Apple products harder to understand. Apart from that, the Apple software for the future looks exciting and provides a glimpse of what new hardware could be released to accommodate all these changes.

So what are your thoughts?

Choetech 33W USB C Car Charger – The Car Charger with the latest tech – Review

Reviews, Tech News, , ,

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Welcome to my review of the Choetech 33W USB C Car Charger.

With the rapid expansion of USB Type C and Quick Charge 3, I knew it would not be long before car chargers would be released that were more specific. The Choetech comes with dual ports. One which is a USB C charging port and means it doesn’t matter which way around you place the cable. This as I found is handy at night.

Key Specifications

– 1 x USB C Charging Port: Custom made for Type C charging device like Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Lumia 950, Lumia 950XL, Meizu Pro 5, ZUK Z1, LeTV One Max, LeTV One Pro
– 1 x Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 Port: Compatible with all versions of Quick Charge technology (1.0, 2.0 & 3.0), up to 4X faster than standard chargers
– Up to 5V/3A for charging Type C supported devices. 5V/2.4A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A full charging speed for Quick Charge 3.0 compatible device, 5V/2.4A for most devices
– Safe Guarantee: Over-current, over-charging, short-circuit protection will make the charge safely, without any risk of overheating or damaging your devices.

The Choetech 33W USB C Car charger does exactly what is says on the tin. I also liked the fact that it has a compact like profile. See photo below of it inserted into my car charger.

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Video Overview

I have also created a quick video overview of the product.

Conclusion and Special Offer

A useful and recommended car charger for anyone thats needs fast charging and ideal as it has a USB C port.

Offer. Choetech have kindly offered a 70% Amazon UK discount code for the first 10 people to email me at gavinfabl at gmail dot com. You then need to ensure you order item via link below too. Be quick!

More information and the latest pricing on Amazon UK – Click HERE.

Samsung Galaxy S7 – New Firmware OTA – updated

Android, Tech News,

Screenshot_20160610-223834

Everyday I always manually check for a firmware update on my devices. I had check my Samsung Galaxy S7 first thing this morning, but for some unknown reason, just before I was going to bed, I checked again and voila a 333mb software update was available.

I will update this post later this morning with anything new discovered. It does include the latest security update too which is 1st June 2016.

If you have a S7 and find anything new with this update, leave a note in the comments and I will add your findings to the main post.

My Samsung Galaxy S7 is a UK version, unlocked from Carphone Warehouse.

Update 1 – When sending email in the Samsung email app a banner pops up at the bottom now saying “sending email”.

Flash Deals Sale – Coming Very Soon – Details

Tech News

I constantly browse the internet for any deals or promotions, and I came across a special flash sale /promotion from electronics seller Gearbest.

It seems it goes live from 10am 14th June (UK time) and continues until the 16th June. The deals are on a range of different Chinese electronics from phones, tablets, drones, accessories, wearables and more. Apparently this is a huge summer sale and some of the pricing shown looks attractive.

It will be interesting to see what else is made available during this summer flash sale from Gearbest.

To discover more about the summer flash sale – click HERE.

The 3.5mm Headphone Jack is History – Moto Z removes it as will other new phones – Editorial & Details

Android, Apple, Tech News,

Moto Z

Lenovo just held a press event where it launched several new phones including the new Moto Z. One feature quietly not glossed on was the fact there was no headphone jack. Instead sound came via the USB port.

Motorola aren’t the first manufacturer to omit the 3.5mm headphone jack and certainly won’t be the last. Using the USB Type C port for audio will emit a higher quality sound.

Apple are rumoured to remove this 50+ year old analogue part in the next iPhone.

So is it a disaster. Hardly. For years I have used the USB port to take audio from my phones and into a dedicated DAC to obtain the best possible sound quality. Audeze already sell the EL-8 that come with an Apple lightning connector to plug in to the lightning port. And there are other companies that have ditched the headphone jack connector on their headphones too.

The Moto Z does come with a USB Type C headphone adapter so you can still use all your old headphones.

So why the change. Well as I mentioned the headphone jack is old tech and is 50+ years old now. 24 bit sound can be obtained or higher from the USB Type C socket. 24 bit bluetooth Hi Res sound is now possible. So you can now connect Hi Res Bluetooth headphones and drop the wire altogether. Or if the device has Qi Wireless charging , you could use the USB Type C connector whilst charging.

This change will upset many people at first. Life changes so people will move on eventually and forget the past.

And lets not forget if you have no headphone jack, that is one less hole to let water in!

Motorola Moto 360 Sport & Apple Watch – Review by Ian

Android, Apple, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables, , ,

Today, Ian reviews his Moto 360 Sport and compares it to his Apple Watch.

From Ian-

It’s been awhile since I’ve looked at Android Wear, I was an early adopter of the LG watch and Samsung Gear Live.

For the last year my Tag Heuer has been put away and My Apple Watch Sport has been my daily driver. But It’s a real love hate relationship. love the build, notifications and changeable straps. Hate the user interface and slow apps, the only one that I find useful is Heartwatch.

Motorola Moto 360 Sport Review photos - review on http://gavinsgadgets.com

So to the Moto 360 Sport, love the round screen and the amount interesting Watch faces. I can also live with the flat tire for the ambient light sensor. Android Wear on IOS is better than expected, provides me with the ability to change watch faces and all my notifications work as they do on my Apple Watch., but on a bigger screen. The downside is no third party apps.

The Moto 360 sport does come pre installed with Moto Body, a running app and also has integrated GPS. I did take it out for a run and compared to Runkeeper on the iPhone. Seemed to take ages to get a satellite lock, compared to my iPhone, the other data and reading from heart rate sensor was comparable to the iPhone with my chest strap. The Moto 360 Sport uses a ‘hybrid’ display, which combines a traditional LCD screen with reflective panel so reading in the sun is an ease, but can seem a little washed out compared to the Apple Watch.

Motorola Moto 360 Sport Review photos - review on http://gavinsgadgets.com

Overall an interesting alternative to the Apple Watch, really like the round screen, but the integrated rubber strap is not nice, picks up dust like you won’t believe. May look at the Huawei watch next or a dedicated Sports watch like the Garmin Fenix 3.

More info and the latest deals on Amazon UK – Click HERE.