Latest news with #RyanWaniata
WIRED
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Sony Bravia Theater System 6 Review: Great Performance, Odd Design
Of all Sony's Bravia home theater gear for 2025, the new Theater System 6 (not to be confused with the new Theater Bar 6) is the strangest. Part soundbar, part home theater in a box (HTB), the System 6 eschews the status quo of single-bar solutions with fancy Dolby Atmos speakers and networking features for a callback to budget home theaters of yesteryear. Photograph: Ryan Waniata The system's collection of 5.1 surround components includes a beefy subwoofer, two tall and musical surround speakers, and a small center soundbar that performs much better than you'd expect based on its thin frame and mundane design. The whole setup runs through the tubby sub, including all inputs and an amplifier box that acts as a bridge for the wired surround speakers. The mostly wired configuration feels more Vizio than Sony, while its layout evokes '90s A/V vibes. Without Wi-Fi, the System 6 is a pain to update and misses out on modern extras like smart assistants and Apple AirPlay, but features like Sony's virtual 3D surround engine and controller app give you more to work with than vintage plug-and-play solutions. Most importantly, the System 6's cinematic oomph is a blast for movies, gaming, and everything in between. Home Theater in a (Big) Box The System 6 may be all-in-one, but it's still something of a bear to set up, starting with lugging the massive L-shaped box into your TV room. Flipping open the side reveals a sprawling collection of components, including five main pieces, dual power cables, and flat-wire cables for connecting the surrounds and main bar. It's all pretty intuitive, but you'll want to block out some solid setup time. Props to Sony for including the same attachable soundbar feet found in its flagship Bravia Theater 9 to help it sit above TV stands
WIRED
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Sony's Bravia Theater System 6 Delivers Great Sound in an Odd Package
Photograph: Ryan Waniata The sub blends well with the bar, which takes on the upper register with notable panache for its size. You'll hear some excellent touch to dialog and subtler effects, especially in the middle of the sound. The bar isn't particularly lyrical or precise toward the top of the frequency spectrum, but it's well tuned and serves its job admirably at the system's center. The System 6 doesn't fully eschew 3D audio. It supports virtually every major sound format, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and clicking the Soundfield button on the remote or app with supported content notably changes the vibe. The surround speakers push the sound forward to virtually mimic 'sound objects' for a more spherical sound. You won't hear pointed overhead effects like with true upfiring speakers, but it's a nice option. You can even see the format change from 5.1 or 7.1 to Dolby Atmos or DTS:X with Soundfield engaged. I don't recommend using it for regular surround or stereo content, especially music, which is the System 6's weak point. Streaming from your phone sounds good for most genres, but like a lot of surround configurations, the system is at its best when fed cinematic content, even if it's just the laugh track in a sitcom or a well-mixed sporting event. Photograph: Ryan Waniata While watching a golf tournament in 5.1, I was almost shocked at the near visceral recreation of the course's atmospheric din, especially the singing bird near the production microphones that seemed to take up residency behind my couch. I had a similarly transportative experience playing the new co-op game Split Fiction , which served up a feast of potent effects, immersive environments, and traceable enemies to help my wife and me navigate the landscape. Sony's System 6 is more of a hassle than many of the best soundbars, and I'm still annoyed by my firmware failures. Conversely, for its nearly $800 cost, you could get a more traditional home theater setup, like this one from Klipsch. Still, the System 6 is more convenient and compact than multi-speaker setups, filling its own niche with thrilling cinematics in a fun and approachable package. Sometimes it pays to zig when everybody else zags. If you are after an aesthetic and great-sounding system for your living room, it's worth considering.
WIRED
26-04-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Meta Ray-Bans Now Speak Your Language, Roku's New Streaming Sticks, and Kia EVs Get Supercharged—Your Gear News of the Week
Plus: Duolingo now teaches chess, Kia EVs get Supercharged, and it's a big week for coffee. Photograph: Brenda Stolyar; Getty Images All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. At a speedy event in New York City this week, Roku announced its plans for 2025, which includes two new streaming sticks, some nice software updates, and upgrades to its top two Roku TVs—most notably the value-forward Plus Series. The new Roku Streaming Stick has two big selling points—it's compact and it's $30, but like the previous Roku Express, it's confined to HD content. That limits its value, but it could make a solid addition to a small den or kitchen TV, thanks to the addition of the Roku voice remote for searching across the breezy streaming platform. For $10 more, the similarly slim 4K UHD Streaming Stick Plus is the hotter value. Both devices can be powered by most TVs directly, meaning no need to plug them into a wall outlet, and they include new software features like a 'Coming Soon to Theaters' row and personalized sports highlights. Photograph: Brenda Stolyar On the TV front, Roku's top-line Pro Series TVs get a modest update, including 'custom factory calibration' to ensure a more accurate picture. However, it's the affordable Plus Series that receives the more significant makeover, including the addition of mini-LED backlighting. While we'll have to put it to the test, this should help improve dimming control for better contrast and deeper black levels with less light bleed. All Roku TVs will also now include a Bluetooth headphone mode for quick sound swapping. The new streaming sticks are available for preorder and are expected to ship on May 6, while Roku will announce new TV pricing and availability later this year. —Ryan Waniata Meta Ray-Bans Get Live AI Translations Meta has announced the rollout of its AI-powered real-time translation feature for the Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses to all markets. That means if you're traveling to another country, you can download the language pack and hold conversations in English, French, Italian, or Spanish without connecting to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Just say 'Hey Meta, start live translation' and you'll hear them talking in your preferred language through the speakers in the glasses, while the other person can view a translated transcript on your phone. I've experienced Meta's translation with text before and found it adequate for reading my children's books in Spanish; Meta AI even offered, unprompted, some funny insights. When traveling, my coworker Kate Knibbs discovered that live translation is a little awkward when it's limited to the written word. Live translation with other speakers should make it much more useful. The company also announced new frame styles and colors, like the Skyler cat-eye style in chalky gray, as well as a few more software features. You'll now be able to send and receive messages from Instagram on your glasses, ask Meta AI to play music from an expanded list of music apps (as long as you ask in English), or ask Meta AI to identify songs in passing. Meta is also expanding access to Meta AI in other countries in the European Union, as well as launching the glasses themselves in Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates. —Adrienne So Kia EVs Can Now Use Tesla's Superchargers Kia EVs are finally part of the Tesla Supercharger club, the company has confirmed, and its cars can now access more than 21,500 of Tesla's DC fast chargers in North America. The move, which was originally approved in January, expands Kia's charging network by more than 80 percent and sees the automaker joining the likes of Ford, Rivian, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz in tapping into Tesla's resources. As part of the move, the company announced that its refreshed 2025 EV6 and the 2026 EV9 will come with Tesla-compatible NACS connectors, but existing Kia EV owners with a CCS1 charging port can get adapters from their dealer. —Verity Burns Cuisinart's First-Ever Espresso Bar 'Collection' Anyone for coffee? This week, Cuisinart announced what it's touting as its very first espresso bar collection—a Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear of three bottomless portafilter machines. The range starts with a vanishingly slim profile, 15-bar EM-160 Espresso Bar Slim retailing at $230, and tops out with a $600 'Grind and Brew' EM-640 model with 16 espresso grind settings. The mid-sized $300 machine, EM-320, doesn't have a grinder but adds 5 bars of pressure compared to the Slim. This is hardly Cuisinart's first foray into espresso, but it does amount to a bit of a reboot for the American brand. Each device in the Espresso Bar collection comes equipped with a frothing wand, a 52-millimeter stainless steel bottomless portafilter, and an option on cold-extracted espresso for iced lattes or martini lovers. The devices offer a fairly tall profile: Cuisinart advertises that each will allow room for a 20-ounce travel mug. Likely the most distinctive of the three machines, the lowest-priced 'Slim' device is less than 7 inches wide. Tuesday was the official launch for the new line, but retailers like Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel quietly added the Cuisinart appliances to their websites in mid-April—an increasingly common strategy from manufacturers who want advance reviews on retailer websites by the time the company's PR officially declares liftoff. — Matthew Korfhage Fellow Drops Its First Espresso Machine The coffee news doesn't stop there. With the fanfare and tightly controlled pre-hype usually reserved for iPhone launches, San Francisco coffee device maker Fellow announced its first espresso machine. The retro-futuristic-looking Espresso Series 1 comes in black, cherry red, or malted chocolate. It offers adaptive pressure at the coffee puck, guided brewing, and a steam wand with a thermostat that stops frothing at the designated temp. Fellow reserved its biggest excitement for the Espresso Series 1's patented new boiler system, which the company says will offer what it calls the 'holy grail of espresso'—true temperature and pressure stability, in a home espresso machine market best known for wild fluctuations and slow heat-ups. The company's research and development head, Nick Terzulli, explained the tech at a livestreamed launch event from the company's San Francisco office. The new 'boosted boiler' involves three independent heating elements combining fast heating with a thermal mass heater, a mini-boiler, and a heated group head for tight temperature control at the output. With all three in concert, Terzulli says, you can achieve the thermal stability of a commercial dual boiler on a 120-volt circuit, with less than two minutes heating time. 'If you understand physics, you understand why my head is exploding inside my body, right?' Terzulli said. The device costs $1,500, but anyone who buys during the first two weeks of the presale can reserve the Espresso Series 1 for $1,200 and get $100 in free coffee. — Matthew Korfhage Duolingo Now Teaches Chess Strange things are happening over at Duolingo's headquarters. After its infamous green owl mascot faked his death earlier this year, the language learning app continues its abnormal behavior and wants to teach a new subject that transcends language: chess. It's still in early testing with a limited number of Duolingo users, but it will roll out to iOS in English in the coming weeks, with other platforms to follow in the following months. OK, teaching chess isn't all that abnormal for Duolingo. The company began its first non-language courses in 2023 with music and math. Chess is the latest, and it continues the signature gamified learning experience the app is known for. The course is built for people who might find the game intimidating and starts with basics like how each piece moves, patterns, and strategies. You can play fast-paced mini-matches to hone your skills or full games against Duolingo's in-app chess coach.
WIRED
21-04-2025
- WIRED
Technics' AZ100 Are Instant Contenders for the Best Premium Wireless Buds
Technics is no slouch in the feature department, and the latest pair offers just about every modern feature you could want. You'll find all the basics like auto-pause sensors, a multiband EQ, Google Fast Pair, and an Earbuds Finder, with customization available in the Technics app. In fact, virtually everything is customizable for an almost dizzying array of options. If there's something you don't like, from how the buds relay video sync to how your voice sounds on calls, there's likely an adjustment available. Not everything feels as polished as Apple's AirPods Pro, the software leader in the space. The AZ100's call suppression feature, for instance, does a great job killing ambient noise around your voice (or even the voice on the other end), but it makes you sound a bit sterile and robotic in the process. The app itself sometimes refused to load, forcing me to refresh it, though it was otherwise stable. Photograph: Ryan Waniata Multitaskers will be pleased to see the return of three-device multipoint pairing, letting you easily swap between your computer, tablet, and phone over Bluetooth, with no brand loyalty required. Speaking of Bluetooth, you'll not only get support for regular codecs like AAC and LDAC over Bluetooth 5.3, but also Bluetooth LE Audio, which should futureproof the buds for next-gen wireless streaming. The AZ100's touch controls are responsive, customizable, and comprehensive, with default options for playback, calling, volume, and ambient audio at the ready. The layout is a tad confusing at first, but I appreciate the ability to accomplish just about any task without grabbing your phone. Velvet Sparkle I often save the sound performance for last, but the AZ100's sound is too good to hold off any longer. Like most hi-fi buds, they provide a slow and steady revelation of their skills. The further you drill down, the better they sound. When I first fired them up, I was surprised by the sound signature's warm and almost thick flavor, seeming more reliant on the bass and lower mids than expected. That said, I generally prefer a smoother touch in my hi-fi over sharp and zingy, and it didn't take long to find that the AZ100's warm entrance acts almost like a velvet backdrop on which instrumental textures and effects glitter like jewels in the light.
WIRED
13-04-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Tariffs Will Make TVs Even More Expensive. Buy These 2024 Models Instead
There are some great deals on last year's top TVs and soundbars. Photograph: Ryan Waniata, Parker Hall; Getty Images If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. Donald Trump's new tariffs have put a strange pall on the US economy. Uncertainty abounds, but prices seem likely to rise on all kinds of goods, from food to construction materials. Big-ticket electronics like TVs and soundbars may be at the front of the line. Pricing for Sony's new flagship Bravia 8 Mk II OLED TV, expected to launch at the same price or lower than 2023's A95L, instead came in at a significantly higher cost, and it appears other brands are following suit. With so many unknowns, it's no wonder I'm getting questions from friends considering a new TV or soundbar. My advice on getting ahead of the tariffs is the same advice I give about saving cash in nearly every review I write: Buy last year's models. Sure, you'll miss out on a new feature or two, but you're still getting great gear at a better price. With that in mind, here are some top suggestions on the best TVs and soundbars from last year or earlier that can save you big money right now. Power up with unlimited access to WIRED . Get best-in-class reporting that's too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today. WIRED's Featured Deals Photograph: Roku Roku's Plus Series is a great buy for those looking to spend very little on a shiny new screen that keeps things simple. Controlled by Roku's intuitive smart system, this TV is easy to use and easy on the eyes thanks to features like local dimming for solid black levels and contrast, and punchy quantum dot colors. Voice control makes it easy to find your favorite shows, and extras like simplified Bluetooth connection and a lost remote-finder (my personal favorite) keep daily frustrations at bay. Photograph: Parker Hall For videophiles who haven't jumped on OLED yet, you won't find a better mix of staggering picture quality and value than this. Considering I spent $500 more on an LG C1 at the smaller 55-inch size a few years back, this feels like a serious steal. The C4 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) adds nearly double the brightness of my older model, advanced gaming features like a 120-Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 connection across all inputs, and LG's signature Magic remote that works like a Wii controller for point-and-click control. This is one of the best OLED TVs we've ever tested and would be a hot pick without tariffs. Considering the state of things, it's a no-brainer buy. Looking for a TV that will look great on even the brightest summer afternoons? Hisense's U8N (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a master blaster, getting nearly twice as bright as the same model last year, and its skills don't end there. You'll get great contrast and black levels with minimal light bloom, vivid colors, and advanced gaming features, along with an intuitive Google TV interface to run the show. Not every deal requires going back a year. TCL jumped ahead of the line with the early release of the value-packed QM6K (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which we named the best TV for most people, and it's on sale now. It's not the brightest TV in its price class, but this display wins on balance, providing excellent black levels with very little light bloom, rich and natural colors, and an impressively clear screen. It's got great gaming features, it's light and easy to set up, and TCL's version of Google TV makes streaming a breeze. I've got no idea how long this sale will last, but now's a great time to get it before it's gone. Another fantastic OLED TV, this time from Samsung, the S90 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) was easily one of my favorite TVs for the money in 2024. Now 'the money' is a lot less thanks to a sale price that, at time of writing, matches LG's excellent C4. This TV is stylish, provides fabulous contrast with OLED's perfect black levels, and its quantum dot colors make it bright and showy yet sophisticated. The only real downside to this TV is Samsung's lack of Dolby Vision support, but I didn't miss it much, as the TV lit up everything I watched with its beautiful OLED glow. Photograph: Sony This isn't exactly a bargain-basement deal, but considering the cost of Sony's latest OLED (if that stands), I figured I'd throw it in as a bonus. This may be your last chance for some time to get a Sony OLED that isn't shockingly expensive. Premiering in 2023, the A95L (9/10, WIRED Recommends) isn't as bright as the latest models, but there's a reason it won 'King of TV' at the prestigious Value Electronics TV Shoutout. Loaded with a Samsung QD-OLED display and Sony's fantastic processing, this TV is a crystal clear marvel, with some of the best picture quality I've experienced. This TV could fall back to its MSRP by the time you see this, but if you've been hoping for a premium Sony OLED and it's still on sale, now is your moment. Vizio has cracked the code on affordable audio performance, and this nearly free soundbar is the latest proof. The AIO bar (8/10, WIRED Recommends) won't get you much in the way of extras—there's no Wi-Fi support, no analog inputs, or even a remote—but what you will get is clear and dynamic sound that blows away your TV speakers in a singular tube that looks good on your console. The bar is easy to set up and simple to control with your TV remote or the Vizio app, and you can even wake it from your phone for Bluetooth streaming. Photograph: Ryan Waniata If you're looking for a serious sonic upgrade in a system that lets you grow as you go, Klipsch's Flexus Core 200 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a smooth criminal. Made with real MDF rather than just the thin plastic of most bars, the Flexus is built around performance, including up-firing speakers for immersive Dolby Atmos 3D audio. The bar alone offers plenty of punch, but you can upgrade it with Klipsch's Flexus surround speakers and subwoofer, or even add your own sub, thanks to its rare inclusion of a traditional subwoofer output. It doesn't include Wi-Fi but does provide Bluetooth streaming and an app for settings adjustments. We've been going back in time with Samsung's flagship soundbar since long before the tariff worries arose. The Q990 series is the pinnacle of Dolby Atmos soundbars, comprising multiple speakers, 11.1.4 channels, and an intuitive interface for clear, full, and powerful immersion. Even in a booming economy, it rarely makes sense to buy the latest iteration of the Q990 when you can usually get similar performance for several hundred dollars less. One thing you won't get with the Q990C (now two models back) is pass-through for VRR or ALLM when you connect a game console to its spare HDMI inputs, which the new models include. Otherwise, this is the bargain buy for those after knock-out surround in an all-in-one package.
