Craig Peterson

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Known for its commitment to design and sound excellence, this marks a bold expansion into a space dominated by established giants.

With a focus on blending superior hardware and wireless ecosystem integration, the Ace seeks to deliver the signature Sonos experience in a portable, personal form factor. But does it succeed in living up to the brand’s lofty reputation? Let’s dive in.

Minimalist Sophistication

Sonos has long mastered the art of blending aesthetics with functionality, and the Ace headphones are no exception. These headphones strike a balance between form and function, with a sleek and understated design that screams modern sophistication.

The matte-finished earcups are smooth to the touch, while the stainless-steel headband adds a sense of durability without sacrificing style. This is a device that feels as good as it looks, and lent a real sense of style to the Soft White model reviewed.

The ear cushions, crafted from plush memory foam and wrapped in vegan leather, provide a level of comfort that makes extended listening sessions a pleasure.

They offer a snug fit that blocks out a massive amount of external noise – even before activating noise cancellation. That said, the earcups might feel a touch tight for users with larger ears, which could be a consideration for those seeking all-day wearability. In terms of replacing, a clever magnetic construction means a real ease of switching these out and adjustments for comfort.

Durability is a key consideration for premium headphones, and the Ace delivers in this regard.

The stainless-steel frame feels robust and well-constructed, capable of withstanding the rigours of daily use. The earcups and headband show no signs of creaking or looseness, even after extended testing. It’s clear that Sonos has designed these headphones with longevity in mind, ensuring they’ll remain a reliable companion for years to come.

Balanced Brilliance

If there’s one area where Sonos rarely falters, it’s sound quality. The Ace delivers an audio performance that’s nothing short of stellar, courtesy of its custom-designed 40mm dynamic drivers in each ear cup.

The sound profile is meticulously tuned, with bright, sparkling highs that bring vocals to life, and mids that are rich and immersive, ensuring instruments sound natural and distinct.

Bass lovers won’t be disappointed either. The low-end is full-bodied without being overpowering, creating a balanced mix that caters to a wide array of musical genres. Whether you’re diving into the lush orchestration of a symphony or losing yourself in the thumping beats of a hip-hop track, the Ace brings it all to life with precision and clarity.

A Quiet Triumph

The Ace’s Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology is another feather in its cap. It effectively drowns out environmental noise, whether you’re commuting on a noisy train or working in a bustling café. While the ANC is a real standout feature here, and combined with the secure fit, I found it both more than capable for most everyday scenarios and a fair bit more effective than the Bose QC Ultras I use at drowning out the din of a daily commute.

What sets the Ace apart is how natural the sound remains with ANC activated. There’s no noticeable distortion or loss of detail, which is a common pitfall for many noise-cancelling headphones. It’s clear that Sonos has put thought – and significant effort – into creating an ANC experience that complements rather than competes with the sound quality.

Ecosystem Integration Needs a Remix

For those already entrenched in the Sonos ecosystem, the Ace offers some truly impressive features.

The standout is the TV Audio Swap function, which allows you to transfer sound seamlessly from a compatible Sonos soundbar to the headphones.

This is particularly useful for late-night viewing, where you can enjoy immersive audio without disturbing others. With support for Dolby Atmos and dynamic head tracking, it elevates your home theatre experience to a whole new level.

The head tracking can be a little disorienting however, as it creates a virtual position for the TV’s audio in front of you as though listening without headphones, so turning to the left or right shifts the sound accordingly – definitely one to test to one’s own taste.

However, there are caveats. The TV Audio Swap feature is currently limited to newer Sonos devices, such as the Arc soundbar, and its setup initially required an iOS device.

Efforts to pair with my OnePlus 13 were unsuccessful in creation of a consistent connection, but was solved with another Android device. While the integration is a step in the right direction, it feels like Sonos hasn’t fully unlocked its potential just yet.

App Support

Sonos’s app has always been a selling point for its intuitive design and robust features, but with the Ace, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The app is essential for initial setup and accessing features like EQ adjustment, but its functionality is surprisingly limited when the headphones are connected solely via Bluetooth.

Even features like auto shut-off or wear detection – pausing the audio when removing the device – was inconsistent or unavailable unless the Ace is directly connected via the app, a bit of an oversight, as I found times where the battery had drained, simply through forgetting to manually turn it off after use.

You can’t as deftly control playback or view currently playing audio through the app – a surprising oversight for a company known for seamless user experiences. These limitations create a disconnect between the Ace headphones and the rest of the Sonos ecosystem, making them feel more like an isolated product rather than an integrated part of the brand’s offerings.

Solid Battery Life Hits The Right Notes

The Sonos Ace boasts a respectable battery life, offering up to 30 hours of playback on a single charge with ANC activated. While this is competitive in the premium headphone market, it doesn’t quite push the boundaries set by some rivals.

Fast charging, however, is a saving grace – just 15 minutes of charging can provide an additional five hours of listening time, which is perfect for users on the go.

Front Row Pricing

At £449, the Sonos Ace firmly plants itself in the premium headphone category, competing with heavyweights like the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Its price tag reflects the level of quality and innovation on offer, but whether it represents value for money depends on your needs.

For users who already own Sonos products and can take advantage of features like TV Audio Swap, the Ace is a natural and worthwhile addition – even more so if you’re an iPhone owner.

Verdict

The Sonos Ace is an undeniably impressive debut in the over-ear headphone market. Its combination of stellar sound quality, premium design, and effective noise cancellation makes it a strong contender for anyone seeking high-end audio gear.

However, the shortcomings on the software side – particularly the limitations of the Sonos app and the selective compatibility of key features – are slight drawbacks to the overall experience. Sonos has built a remarkable piece of hardware, but to truly compete in this space, it needs to bring its software and ecosystem integration up to the same standard – based on the progress made in the intervening period since launch, we have every confidence in their commitment to evolving this experience as they gain learnings in this new category.

For now, the Ace is a headphone that shoots for the stars, but only needs a few software tweaks to take it to the limits of what it can deliver.

Byron Simpson

The post Sonos Ace Headphones Review: Stellar Hardware, Software Takes A Beat appeared first on CRISP..

Nice to meet you both! Can you tell our readers a little more about your business?

Antioxi is a marketplace that brings the most well documented and researched adaptogenic mushrooms and superfoods to people.

Our core values are to ensure our products have sufficient scientific evidence to back their claims, have been farmed in a sustainable manner and have been lab-tested to provide both assurance and transparency behind our processes.

It may be better to start from the top, could you tell us a bit about your background and how you both started Antioxi?

Our passion for entrepreneurship has been seeded from our distaste for the transparency within the food and health market. Not understanding the hieroglyphics written on food labels, the daily change of health trends and the transparency behind the quality of food items.

It turns out that in this world we thought to be ruled by lines of black and white, it is actually overshadowed in a system reading a 50 shades of grey novel. Point is, there is a lot of room to confuse us, customers, in thinking that what we are buying is “good” for us.

And BAAM! Antioxi was born.

After years of researching the scientific principles underpinning our understanding of health, it became vividly clear to us that there are some powerful foods found around the world that should form a part of our daily lives. Adaptogenic mushrooms being one of them.

So all that was left is to ensure that our products matched our core values:

Quality – ensuring the products meet the desired specifications of those used in clinical trials

Sustainable – ensuring our methods of manufacture are scalable and being sustainable

Transparent – by educating and providing evidence (lab tests) of our products and processes

For those just getting into Fungi, where would be a good place to learn about them?

The best introduction I can find to date is the new Netflix documentary “fantastic fungi”. It provides such a great overview of this wonderfully overlooked species inhabiting our earth.

From there the sky’s the limit to be honest, one can keep things high level and understand which mushrooms provide which benefit or you can go as deep as actually reading the clinical trials, which will make the hairs on your arm stand up!

Funny story, every copywriter or content creator we have worked with, after doing their research into mushrooms for our business, have turned into customers. Honestly, the clinical research speaks for itself…

What’s your perception of the Fungi market at the moment, do you think awareness is growing?

Oh heck yeah. From celebs, podcasts (Joe Rogan), Netflix people are starting to see the light. Daniela says I am a tad dramatic as I write this, but I do have a knack for the theatrical.

That being said, if we set the main media aside for a second, the real shift in awareness has been anecdotally by people who take these mushrooms. When you have a friend or loved one who has been struggling with an illness for some time and they start to see health improvements, well one can’t help but take notice…

We actually watched “Fantastic Fungi” on Netflix and follow Paul Stamets’teachings, what was your thoughts on that movie, did it represent the Fungi movement well?

Oh yeah, Paul is an OG (Original Gangster) of mycology. Well sort of an OG, the real OG’s existed almost 2000 years ago as seen in their documentation of plants and mushrooms and their perceived cures for various illnesses.

Either way, the clear message that we hope people take away is a logical one, much of our atmosphere is actually made up of fungal spores and you have been interacting with these spores since the day you’ve been born. In fact, the Gutenberg institute determined that with each breath you take, you inhale between 1-10 of these aforementioned spores. Crazy thought actually…

Therefore, through the various years of research, it has become clear that our body is hardwired to respond to the compounds present in the various mushrooms. Each response being different:

Turkey tail – Beta D Glucan compounds -> C-type lectin receptors -> improves the immune system

Lions Mane–> Hericenones and Erinacines -> nerve growth factor -> improves memory loss/Alzheimer’s

Hope that makes sense?

What are the benefits of taking mushrooms and how often should one take them?

This is a bit of a tricky one to answer, as each mushroom is so unique in the benefits it offers.

You’re looking at benefits ranging from immune health balance to balancing energy levels, assisting with anxiety, focus, concentration… the list goes on 🙂

Just like a multivitamin, mushrooms should be taken daily to really consistently benefit from them.

What’s different about your Fungi vs others on the market?

The difference lies within our blend of transparency, customer service and quality.

When you buy one of our products you can rely on the fact that you are buying quality that is in line with the clinical research that has been done on that product.

You also have the evidence at your fingertips in terms of lab reports available to you and if you need any help deciding we have our very own customer happiness department dedicated to ensuring you get exactly what you need.

Don’t believe us? Ask the customer for whom we Ubered a product to the airport for so that she could get it in time for her flight to Ecuador to give it to her ill father.

We genuinely care and are interested in helping our customers.

Can you tell us a bit about how some mushrooms differ from others?

Yes, this is a great question as it is 2 fold:

The production/manufacturing process

Mushroom quality differs based on the farming methods (organic, wild-grown, rice grown), use of the fruiting body or mycelium (this is the part of the mushroom), the extraction method (water vs ethanol vs dual extraction)

These are just a few of many but we have highlighted them as these are the fundamentals we want our customers to consider when making an educated choice.

The actual mushroom itself

Each mushroom has different compounds that provide different health benefits. Lion’s mane for example is famous for its components Hericenones and Erinacines (the components that promote its cognitive health abilities). Reishi’s true magic lies in the triterpenoids, Turkey tail PSK and PSP (both of which have been extensively studied in clinical trials for cancer) etc…

Don’t you just love how beautifully complicated mushrooms are?

What is the difference between taking a complex 8 mushroom vs say individuals mushrooms as powders?

The question follows the same premise as standing in a pharmacy looking at a multivitamin vs iron tablets. Are you looking for great coverage or are you looking to treat an iron deficiency?

The answer is both, get both 😉

Lastly, is it pronounced “Fun-J-eye” or “Fun-Guy”?

There is no hard rule for this one.

In fact, we both pronounce it differently – Daniela likes to call them fung-i, whereas I believe the correct term is “mushies.”

You can find out more information about Antioxi and buy all of their products directly from their website by clicking here

Follow Antioxi on Instagram here : https://www.instagram.com/antioxi.uk/

Carmen Adkins

The post CRISP. Talks : Marko Grensemann and Daniela Vogl, Co-founders of Antioxi appeared first on CRISP..

Founded in 1928, the American telecommunications firm focussed on base stations and cathode tubes, innovated in wireless technology in the 80s and fashionable flip phones in the 90s.

However, the changing face of smartphones saw them challenged in the 21st Century by a bevvy of new manufacturers and undergoing major restructuring.

Only in 2019 and under much heavy hype and speculation have they re-entered the fray with a rebooted razr and a host of column inches.

But what is today’s Motorola, both in terms of consumer mindset and products? Can they hope to compete in a world of manufacturers topping the table in marketing budgets and flair?

Let’s take a look at three products that suggest they do…

Motorola One Zoom

With the smartphone market duopolised by Apple and Samsung, Motorola cleverly cuts through in the competitive sector by delivering flagship specs at mid-range prices.

The latest example of this is the Motorola One Zoom – an Android-powered effort sporting an impressive quad-camera array (with a 48MP main effort) including an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 6.4″ OLED display – a hardy and high-specced device for under £400.

Selfies haven’t been ignored with a 25MP front-facing camera and battery life has been smashed out of the park with a 4000mAh battery – think a day and a half without worrying where the charger is, and filling up the tank in less than under 90 minutes when you finally do.

Security a concern? The under-display fingerprint scanner – usually the reserve of pricier efforts – is present and correct, as well as the fashionable (if less functional) face unlock.

With such a strong smartphone leading the pack, Motorola stands alongside the return-to-form success story of Nokia by making their way back into the hearts and minds of cost-conscious consumers.

Lenovo Smart Displays

“What’s Lenovo doing here?!” I hear you ask.

A 2014 acquisition of Motorola by the Chinese firm means that much of the current Motorola output is created by this prestigious tech brand, meaning a lot of the tech and innovation seen in current output is shared between the two brands.

The Lenovo Smart Display makes an intelligent bid for your living room (or lounge, or kitchen) by marrying Google’s voice-activated Assistant to a clever multi-purpose device packing a 7 – 10-inch screen.

Anything from streaming music to playing YouTube recipes, the Smart Display cuts an imposing – yet attractive figure – on a desktop.

Integration with everything smart from lights to live video feeds on a home security camera, the Smart Display acts as the perfect connected hub.

A pair of speakers either on the side or beneath the display depending on the model blast out a range-y din depending on the content viewed, whilst the intuitive interface makes any member of the family a capable user in a matter of minutes.

Privacy is also the watchword of the day, and an instant physical mute switch for the microphone means your private moments aren’t shared and uploaded to the Cloud…unless you want them to be.

Google Photos integration turns the Smart Display into an arresting digital photo frame in moments, enabling both search by voice and the ability to cycle through a host of visual memories as a slideshow.

Motorola razr (2019)

Where to begin? I mean, just look at it!

Memories of Hanson’s MMMBop, scrunchies and Tamagotchis come flooding back just by scoping out the clean lines and hinged design of the rebooted Motorola razr phone, given a 2019 twist with the biggest current trend in tech circles – a folding display.

Rather than the curious hinges of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Mate X, the razr’s clamshell design not only evokes nostalgia but makes perfect design sense, with the screen expanding to a 6.2″ diagonal effort once opened.

Not only that, but the innovation persists with not a seam to be seen – that unattractive bend in the display which sets in after persistent use is eradicated thanks to a world-first ‘zero-gap’ hinge.

The front of the phone isn’t neglected either, with a 2.7-inch screen that’s perfect for a quick peek at messages or alerts.

Android is naturally the order of the day, with the razr sporting a sleek and light iteration of the popular operating system – a watchword for Motorola devices to date – ensuring that all the latest and greatest updates make it to you first.

Not only that, but their other point of differentiation is present despite the slender form, namely a monstrous battery. The razr boasts an impressive 28 hours of use on a single charge, with TurboPower charging waiting in the wings should you need it.

The 16MP camera on this is a little bit clever too, onboard artificial intelligence will automatically recognise the scene you’re about to snap and calibrate colour, contrast and settings to help you create the perfect shot. Not a single smile will be missed either, due to its auto-capture feature.

Arriving as an EE exclusive in the UK from 2020, it’ll cost in the region of £1,400…meaning that the price of cutting edge (albeit 4G) technology isn’t going to be as easy to obtain as other Motorola efforts.

But with looks like that, you’re not going to be disappointed.

With a trio of devices aimed at not only assisting in the everyday but delivering assistance in the home and leading the way in style stakes, there’s every reason to assume that Motorola will be back in a big way for 2020…hello again Moto!

Max Boker

The post #HELLOMOTO – How 90s Nostalgia, AI And Folding Tech Rejuvenated An Iconic Brand appeared first on CRISP..