Author Archive for shigzeo
Sensaphonics j-phonics earphone in review
Who would have thought that Sensaphonics, the stodgiest custom earphone maker on the planet, would go universal? I didn’t, and I bet that Sensaphonics USA probably didn’t either. Nope, the j-phonics is a 100% Japanese product; it begins and ends in the land of the rising sun. Cool as that may be, cooler still is the fact that its guts are brilliantly tooled, reminding me of the excellently balanced Prophonics 2X-s custom monitor. But, rather than coming wrapped in medicinal silicon, the j-phonics comes packed in cute, coloured polycarbonate shells, new internal laminatation, and a new low[er] price.
Feel free to discuss the j-phonics in our forums?
iDesign in Review – Illustrator, baby – baby illustrator!
This magical device that is for consumption only writes all of my reviews, edits my work, and even submits assignments for me. Now, thanks to iDesign, it even offloads some of my dependence on a computer for vector-based design. I say some because, while iDesign is a great app, it won’t replace Illustrator – yet.
ROCK BAND Reloaded (for iPad) in Review – Tap Tap Tapping on Heaven’s Door
If frantic touching and the occasional guitar riff turn you on, Rock Band Reloaded may have you out of your shorts faster than you can say “Alice in Chains”. The truth is that EA’s ROCK BAND Reloaded is titillating: it’s got frantic action, good music, and a load of well thought-out tweaks that make gaming a pleasure.
Jays t-Jays THREE earphones in Review – satisfaction is slim!
The t-Jays THREE is more Sennheiser than Sennheiser’s former flagship dynamic headphone, the HD650. If you like rich and smooth dark, you’ll fall in love with the t-Jays. Jays have three of them to tailor to your ear and your wallet. TMA has THREE for the skillet today. If you dig low profile, neutral, and modular, again, Jays are the only horse in town and the t-Jays THREE is quite a ride.
VentureCraft GoDAP in Review – audio and power for the people!
Firstly, I’m not dead. Now with that out of the way:
What do you get when you combine the audiophile heart of the iPhone with a juiced-up ad-hoc power supply? Or, perhaps I should ask it this way: what made VentureCraft, maker of car-mounted cameras and creative telegrams, shoot for the moon and create an audiophile iPhone battery jacket? My guess is a pioneer spirit. VentureCraft are the first company to build such a combination. As off-beat as the GoDAP battery jacket and headphone amp combo unit may sound for a company like VentureCraft, it is certainly worth the raised eyebrows and facepalms. It’s just so ingenious and geekily disturbing that it’s worth a perfectly long review!
Feel free to discuss VentureCraft’s GoDAP in our forums.
Firestone Audio Rubby and Libby in Review
Firestone Audio have been making steady strides in desktop audio. To complement this year’s long, hot summer, they pushed out two hot amps: the Rubby power amp and the Libby headphone amplifier. Why they are such big news here at TMA is that both mains-powered amps also feature great USB/Optical/Coax and analogue audio inputs. If you can put two and two together, you’ve probably figured out that this means hi-res audio from the iPad through the Camera Connection Kit (CCK). Recently, I`ve forgone the whole computer thing in favour of just this combination. Still, both amps work great with computers, with external DAC`s, and with other Hifi gear. Nevertheless, TMA will keep the iPad slant in this review, but show just what can be done with these two desktop amps.
iPhone umbilical cord charger mains like a baby…
Cult of Mac were right, this is disgusting, but I am strangely drawn to it, drawn to it, drawn to it…
Final Audio FI-BA-SB and FI-BA-A1 earphones in Review – Top Brass
If Final Audio Design were in charge of the world’s marketing, everything from cars to cakes would glisten with the magicalest of molecules. The clearest timber would resonate in plastic pencils and cooking pots. Flowers would reflect the warmth of a thousand suns. Thankfully, however, Final Audio Design cook up wonderful audio equipment like the 1601 series earphone and today’s FI-BA-SB and FI-BA-A1. With these new models, Final Audio took a new approach, creating practical listening devices for the busy, but discerning audiophile.
Feel free to discuss the FI-BA-SB and FI-BA-A1 earphones in our forums. And if you’re in the mood, contact Musica Acoustics to purchase the FI-BA-SB or FI-BA-A1. Musica Acoustics also stock a lot of other very good earphones.
Apple’s iWork for iPad 1.2 Update: improved Office support, iDisk added
Woohoo! Word count in Pages 1,2!
The entire iWork Suite has been updated for better online support via iDisk or WebDAV and better Microsoft document handling in the latest 1.2 update. I spend hours and hours with Pages every day and notably less time with either Keynote and Numbers, but I’m confident in saying that Apple’s software options are leagues ahead of competing productivity and business apps, yet still behind their desktop analogues. For serious typers, Pages is a better option than Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite (TMA Review). It’s faster, handles tables and images better, and now, has iDisk support along with word counting! The same goes for Keynote and Numbers, Apple’s presentation and spreadsheet apps.
The updates are free for customers who already own each app. Grab ‘em below:
Apple Inc., Pages, 42.71MB – $9.99
Apple Inc., Numbers, 46.19MB – $9.99
Apple Inc., Keynote, 54.71MB – $9.99
Full list of updates and more screenies after the gap:
1 Million iPhones sold in South Korea since November 2009
Just in case you didn’t know, South Korea finally opened its economic borders in 2009. In April, the country finally allowed the first foreign mobile phones into the country. Yes, you read that right: Korea was locked into Korean-only handsets till 2009, a fact that was indicated no more clearly than the completely bass-ackward ergonomics of their handset. In November of the same year, South Korea also opened up to smart phones and later allowed the iPhone into the political island. Yes, you read that correctly – every single legal handset in the country was just that, a dumb phone. Now, after only 9 months on the market, the iPhone has sold 1 million units. In a highly populated nation like South Korea, it’s its easy to bump into iPhone users. 45 million people live in a space smaller than Iceland. A few weeks ago, Korea made the news again with incredible iPhone 4 pre-orders. If anything, we’re starting to see the shackles of anti-competitive industry fall off this nation – hooray!
