Audeze Sine review

The Audeze Sine, unlike most other headphones, are ready for a future that actually may not come to fruition. I'm talking about the possibility of a 3.5mm-less iPhone 7 and how Apple's move could signal a big change in the way manufacturers make headphones.

If Apple does decide to juke the decades-old standard, Audeze will be prepared with the Sine. It's the latest model from the renowned audio company, with an on-ear, closed-back design and slick leather details.

While wireless is certainly the trend, Audeze is keeping things analog, or as analog as possible when you're passing audio through a Lightning cable, which is packed with an inline remote that functions as an all-in-one amplifier, digital signal processor and digital to analog converter.

iPhone users who are using anything newer than an iPhone 4S will have a Lightning port at their disposal and, so long as you don't need to charge your phone, you'll be able to take advantage of the features and hearty boost in audio quality gained with Audeze's clever amp-in-a-cord connector.

The Audeze Sine aren't cheap, coming in at $499 (£449, AU$799), which puts them on par in price to the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless, a rival in terms of comfort, styling and feature count. But the Sine are also up against literally every other wired headphone on the market.

For those who own an iPhone, the Sine are a sensible purchase. They sound amazing when connected through Lighting and they are snazzy and comfortable enough to wear around all day. But for everyone else, opting for the 3.5mm-only variation provides a comparably ho-hum experience that doesn't come close to justifying the slightly reduced $449 (£399, AU$699) price tag.

Design

The Sine's build exudes quality, with the sturdy frame and leather capped accents. Starting with the leather headband, it's stuffed on each side with plush cushions to aid in comfort. It fits nicely, even around my plus-sized noggin.

Stretching down, the adjustable arms slide smoothly from inside the headband to accommodate heads of all different shapes. These also operate as a swivel for the earcups to allow for a custom fit on your ears.

Touching on the cups themselves, they are almost completely made up of leather on the exterior. From front to back, these are smooth to the touch and supple when resting against your ears. Their shape cleverly contours, like theKoss Pro4S, to allow your ear to fit comfortably right in the middle.

The backs of each earcup houses a port where you plug in the corresponding cord for the left and right audio channels. Whether you're using the Lightning cable or the standard 3.5mm option, these connectors don't differ.

Performance

If you're an iPhone user, you should really be listening to the Sine through the Cipher Lightning cable, which features an amplifier, digital signal processor and digital to audio converter. It houses all of these components because the Lightning port bypasses the iPhone's default audio system, which means that the data coming out of the iPhone to the Sine hasn't yet been converted and processed.

When you first plug the Sine into a Lightning port, you'll be prompted to install the app. This is recommended, as it will keep the hardware up-to-date with the latest firmware and also because it lets you tune two equalizers to your taste. These are stored on the cable and usable on multiple devices.

To get the best impression of what the Audeze Sine is capable of, you really should listen through the Cipher cable. The sound is full of attack, warmth and detail. Everything sounds neatly balanced in the closed-back cup and, to my ears, nothing seemed out of place or disproportionate in the sound presentation.

If you have an Android phone, or are just listening through a non-Lightning port, the 3.5mm cable option is appreciated and totally serviceable, too. But, for as much difference as I wasn't expecting to exist between the two options, Lightning is clearly the way to go.

By comparison, audio coming through the 3.5mm cable sounded more reserved and didn't have the immediacy or the warm quality that I loved from the Cipher cable. Again, it's nice to have, but it's not how the Sine was meant to be experienced.

The Cipher Lightning cable gives the Sine all of the modern powers we love to see in a set of wired headphones. There's a multi-function inline remote that can adjust volume, pick up phone calls and switch songs. It also features a microphone so your phone can remain in the pocket.

Going back to the 3.5mm cable, the Sine really loses all of its interesting functionality. There's no microphone, no music control and a noticeable reduction in sound quality. It's a shame that non-iPhone users are getting the boot here because there's a lot to like about the Sine from a design perspective.

Final verdict

The Audeze Sine are potentially ahead of the curve, with its Cipher Lightning cable, which really boosts the sound over the 3.5mm option. It also enriches the experience with a capable inline remote.

But for non-iPhone users, there's not much to see here other than a set of expensive headphones that fault you for not being an Apple customer. Audeze could easily sell a 3.5mm version of its cable with the integrated controls as amplifier, but, until it does that, keep looking for other options.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 review

Or at least that's the theory.

Power up

At last I finally have my hands on Nvidia's latest and greatest GPU, the GeForce GTX 1080. Coming jam packed with 2,560 CUDA cores, 160 texture units, 64 ROPs, 8GBs of Micron's latest GDDR5X VRAM, and a GPU boost clock running in at a comfortable 1,733 MHz, is there any wonder why the PC enthusiast community is so abuzz?

For those less savvy with the technical jargon, the best way to compare these cards is simply by looking at how many TFLOPs they can produce. The GTX 980, manages a respectable 5.5 TFLOPs, the 980 Ti, 6.5, the Titan 7.

And the GTX 1080? 9 teraflops.

Yep, in essence it should be almost twice as powerful as its predecessor, and in nearly every scenario, it is. At least in our testing. So let's get to it.

Design and cooling

Overall it's a cool card. Not as cool as some of the GTX 980s we saw two years ago, but it still remains at a chilly 82 degrees C, or 91 if you bump the power limiter up, and let GPU Boost have access to that extra headroom. Overall it falls well within operating parameters.

What is interesting about this card in particularly, is the inclusion of the DisplayPort 1.4 connection standard. The biggest limiting factor currently with 4K gaming, is the lack of higher refresh rate monitors. DisplayPort 1.2 is limited to pumping out 3840x2160 at 60 Hz, meaning the buttery smoothness of 144Hz gaming panels has been unobtainable on higher pixel density screens.

Although there's no 4K 120 Hz panels out on the market just yet, Nvidia claims two 1080's in SLI will be able to push 4K resolutions at 144 Hz. DisplayPort 1.4 also supports resolutions as high as 8K (7680x4320) at 60 Hz with HDR, or 4K at 120 Hz with HDR

Panasonic TX-40DX700 review

There's no doubt about it, 4K looks its best on a 60-inch TV. But who has room for a traditional big screen? Not everyone obviously, which is why Panasonic has loaded this 40-inch edge LED-backlit LCD TV with all of its latest tech including, of course, 4K.

However, because the panel is so small, a 3840 × 2160 resolution isn't the main reason to buy Pana's 40-inch. No, that distinction goes to the inclusion of high dynamic range (HDR).

Promising brighter, more colourful and more contrasty images, HDR is the future – and it's not diminished by the size of your TV. Theoretically, that means the 40DX700, the smallest and cheapest HDR TV available from Panasonic, ought to wow us with era-defining colour. (It doesn't, but we'll cover that more in a minute.)

Don't expect any curves on the 40DX700, either – it's flat and slim, with a matte silver trim measuring just 5mm around the sides and top, and only 16mm along the bottom, which tapers backwards. Unusually, it's also got a choice of how it's supported.

Do you ever look at your TV and think, "Man, I wish its little silver feet were slightly further apart!"? No, nor me, but nevertheless the 40DX700 has two separate configurations for its triangular bracket-style feet: one at each end for an easel-like appearance, or both much closer to the middle of the set. The latter doesn't look half as good, though it's a probably a decision that will ultimately be left to size of the table on which you place the DX700.

The edge LED-backlit VA panel inside the 40DX700 offers local dimming and claims 14000Hz scanning. That number is more gimmick than hard-and-fast science, though.

In layman's terms, 14000Hz is merely backlight motion rate, or BMR for short, which uses the panel's frame interpolation feature to fudge a 14000Hz effect. Really, all that means is that you won't see much motion blur on the 40DX700 which, don't get us wrong, is crucial – a 4K TV with blurry moving pictures would be pretty useless.

Firefox OS is heating up

Although Panasonic calls its new operating system My Home Screen 2.0, it's actually built entirely around Mozilla's Firefox OS and is absolutely brilliant. Three large icons for TV, Apps and Devices float over whatever input is live, which makes it much easier to use than so-called smart TVs of years gone by.

It's all controlled by a large, silver remote control that sports large buttons and plenty of easy to use shortcuts. Chief among them is a red Netflix button, though the clear Apps and Home buttons are just as important. It's also possible to 'pin' almost anything to that screen. This works best if you add a favourite TV channel, though it's just as easy to add an input – perhaps HDMI1 – and rename it 'Blu-ray player' or 'Xbox One.'

Reach the apps page and there's one standout that begs to be pinned to that Home screen: Freeview Play.

It's nothing more than a hub app for the catch-up TV apps from UK broadcasters, but the chance to have the BBC iPlayer, ITV, 4 On Demand and Demand Five all in one place is excellent. The BBC's News and Sport apps come as a bonus. Other apps include Netflix and Amazon Instant (and, yes, the 40DX700 has HEVC decoding for 4K streaming), YouTube (complete with VP9 decoding for watching in 4K), AccuWeather, Wuaki.tv, Chilli Cinema, and many more squirrelled away in its Apps Market.

Happily, it's all powered by a quad core PRO processor, and so remains fluid and quick to update with apps loading rapidly.

The ins and outs

How many inputs do most people actually use on a TV? That question has obviously been asked, and answered, by Panasonic's TV designers because they've fenced-off what they consider the unpopular ones.

A small flap on the back of the 40DX700 lifts away to reveal an Ethernet LAN slot (sensible, since most of us use WiFi), a set of component video inputs (we're surprised these even exist on TVs nowadays), stereo phonos (ditto) and an optical digital audio output (OK, so that's where we disagree with Panasonic – the 40DX700's speakers aren't that good).

The oft-used slots are on an easy-to-reach side-panel on the TV's left-hand side as it's being watched. Three HDMI inputs are supplied in a line – two HDCP 2.2-compatible for 4K, the other one ARC-ready – alongside a USB slot, RF input to feed the Freeview HD digital TV tuner, a headphones jack and a Common Interface slot.

All of those ins and outs force cables sideways, which should make the 40DX700 easy to wall-mount, though, there are a couple more USB slots nearby, both of them rear-facing.

Also available

At a mere 40 inches in screen diameter, the 40DX700 is the little sister to its two stablemates in the DX700 series, the 50-inch 50DX700 and the 58-inch 58DX700. Unlike the recently reviewed TX-DX600 series, all include 4K resolution and HDR.

However, if you do want a 40-inch TV with the latest and greatest technology from Panasonic, trade up to the TX-DX750 range for niceties like Studio Master HCX picture processing and a twin HD tuner (to record one show while watching another) and you'll have to choose between the 50-inch 50DX750, 58-inch 58DX750 and 65-inch 65DX750.

Sky Q review

Sky Q represents a massive leap forward for Sky. The company has badged the new service as "the biggest re-imagining of Sky ever" and this isn't hyperbole - it's a Sky system built from the ground up, for those who no longer just want to watch shows in their living room which is, well, pretty much all of us.

Sky has tried this before. Its multi-room package was a successful attempt at spreading Sky channels throughout the house but this relies on installation. Sky remedied this somewhat with the opening up of its Sky Go app to other platforms. The app's appearance on Xbox and PlayStation meant that you could have multi-room, through the web, without having to get a Sky engineer in.

Then there was the introduction of its contract-free streaming option Now TV. All of these are good services in their own right but they are silos - they don't connect with each other.

Sky Q is the connective tissue for its television service and it is something that has been sorely needed. Since the launch of Sky HD a decade ago, the broadcast game has significantly changed.

It is now fighting against a number of content providers, namely BT, Netflix, Amazon and Virgin. Business models at Sky are being re-evaluated because of this. It's tougher than ever to sell content 'packages' - consumers are looking toward all-you-can-eat non-contract offerings.

Design and setup

Sky has always been a step ahead with technology, however. And Sky Q is packed with cutting-edge ideas - some of which Sky customers won't even see for the first couple of months. Sky Q feels like a package that is one step ahead of what the customer wants, and Sky will want it to be that way for years to come.

Sky Q is completely connected - each box you add to the system speaks to each other so if you have recorded something on the main box downstairs, then you will be able to access it upstairs. If you are mid-watching something then the idea is you can pause (as long as it has been recorded or is being recorded), then pick up from where you left off anywhere in your home, thanks to the inclusion of an iPad app.

There are two options with Sky Q. The version we reviewed was the more premium Sky Q Silver option but there is a standard box that can still take advantage of the Fluid Viewing experience, but isn't quite advanced.

The standard Sky Q box offers 1TB of storage, the ability to record three things at once and watch a fourth, and you can also stream to one tablet. Both boxes also act as a WiFi hotspot. Sky Q Silver ups the storage to 2TB, can record four things and also watch a fifth and you can stream to two tablets.

There's no difference in size when it comes to the main boxes. They both measure 232 x 155 x 34mm, which is a severe reduction in footprint when compared to the current HD box - which varies in size depending on the makers of the box but the biggest measures a chunky 398 x 283 x 81mm.

These main boxes are part of a bigger mesh network. The network is powered by a new Sky Hub that offers dual-band wireless 5G technology.

Creating its own mesh network means that there's no additional pressure on your normal WiFi connection. In fact, it will help WiFi flow better through your home as each box you add to your Sky Q setup also acts as a WiFi hotspot.

The technology behind this mesh network is being provided by AirTies. According to this company, the service allows 10 premium video streams simultaneously from multiple sources including live broadcast, recorded on PVR, OTT from the internet or from a local NAS server.

So, Sky isn't quite using the tech to its limits yet but this doesn't mean it won't - Sky has made its boxes Ultra HD (4K) compatible, though this feature is currently dormant.

Apple Watch 2 release date, news and rumors

its grand possibilities. Here's what we've heard.

The Apple Watch 2 release date is shrouded in so much mystery that not even Siri knows the answer, despite her advanced knowledge of the company's forthcoming WWDC 2016 conference dates.

Asking my Apple Watch "When does the Apple Watch 2 come out?" only gets me to this message: "Apple.com should be able to answer that question. Continue on the iPhone."

There are two important things you should know about this answer. First, of course Apple's official website doesn't reveal such juicy information. I've checked. Everyday.

Second, this is one of the many areas in which the Apple Watch throws you to the iPhone instead of handling tasks itself. There's plenty of room for improvement and a need for a sequel.

Siri, apps and fitness tracking need a serious tune up, and more sensors and even greater waterproof guarantees should be added in Apple Watch for 2016.

There's tangential evidence that such an iPhone-compatible smartwatch for 2016 is in development at the Cupertino company. Let's get into the latest rumors point-by-point.

• Read our in-depth review of the Apple Watch

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The second generation Apple Watch
• When is it out? At WWDC in June or September's iPhone 7 launch
• What will it cost? Probably a lot, similar to the current Watch

Apple Watch 2 release date

Although Siri didn't answer my question about the Apple Watch 2 release date, there are at least two distinct points in 2016 in which I could see the company's next wearable launch.

Unsurprisingly, we didn't see next iPhone-compatible smartwatch announced on March 21, as some had previously thought. An annual cycle for the wearable is a bit overeager for even diehard Apple fans.

Instead, iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7 graced the stage. Oh, yes, Apple Watch was there, too - and not just the white one on CEO Tim Cook's wrist. New Apple Watch bands and a lower price were all we got.

That means the launch may happen either on June 13 alongside iOS 10 at Apple's WWDC 2016 event, or in September along with the likely iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus debut.

Of the two release dates, the more cautious September launch sounds a lot like Apple's slow and steady approach to new product categories.

However, a WWDC 2016 announcement would still go along with the Q2 2016 release date estimate that the chairman for Apple Watch supplier Quanta hinted at.

Barry Lam from Quanta said in 2015, "Quanta and Apple are currently developing the second-generation of the Apple Watch, expected late next year in the second quarter."

A new report suggests that Apple Watch supplier Quanta will be responsible for all the production on the Apple Watch 2, as the company has lowered its order from its initial estimates.

Sources from the upstream supply chain suggest the Apple Watch 2 will go into production in Q2, suggesting it'll be launched before the expected iPhone 7 launch in September.

This would give Apple enough time to tinker with its smartwatch and not make early adopters feel too cheaped with a rigid 12-month-upgrade schedule. Whether it's a true reinvention for a incremental Apple Watch S upgrade remains to be seen.

Apple Watch 2 price

There may be some wiggle room with the Apple Watch price, considering US retailers had the iPhone smartwatch on sale for some time before the company recently lowered the official price.

It launched at a hard-to-justify starting price of $349 (£299, AU$499), and the unofficial price drop during Black Friday took it down to $299 at some stores. Four months later, Apple made it official.

Introducing the Apple Watch 2 at this new price from the get-go would put the gadget in more hands and on more wrists. Just don't expect the gold Apple Watch Edition price to budge from $17,000 (£13,500, AU$24,000).

Tim Cook promises Apple Watch will be better

Apple CEO Tim Cook just teased that "you'll see the Apple Watch getting better and better," and he soon expects "people will say, 'How could I have ever thought about not wearing this watch?'"

He could be hinting at an inevitable watchOS 3 software update, it'll take an Apple Watch 2 hardware announcement to meet those high expectations. Ipso facto, he just confirmed the new Apple Watch.

Right now, plenty of people can live without the Apple Watch, and even Cook acknowledges this: "We're still in learning mode. We're learning fairly quickly, though. We know a lot more than we did a year ago."

There's a lot of promise behind these statements, even if the Apple boss doesn't distinctly mention the Apple Watch 2 by name.

Apple Watch 2 news and rumors

Watch OS 2 was a small step forward with improvements, like better native app support, tetherless Wi-Fi and the ability to watch videos, reply to emails and make FaceTime audio calls.

New Apple Watch 2 features, coupled with a watchOS 3 update, are bound to let you do more directly from the smartwatch, too. The rumor of a GPS chip for running, without your phone in tow, persists.

Most recently, we heard that the next Apple Watch will be thinner by measures of up to a 40% reduction in thickness. However, that could be meant for the Apple Watch 3.

There's a good chance that the next Apple Watch won't mix things up much in terms of design. Or at all, if Ming-Chi Quo's insider knowledge ends up becoming truth.

Apple wearable won't boast any visual changes to the design, according his sources as reported by to AppleInsider. A more significant Apple Watch refresh could happen some time after, possibly in 2017.

While he suggests that the design might not change one bit in the next Apple Watch, the specs, as you'd imagine, will be getting a big boost. We're currently unsure of exactly which components will be improved upon, but it's relatively safe to assume we might see a bump up in screen resolution, onboard storage and battery life.

A new wireless chipset is said to allow for basic communication tasks to be handled without a paired iPhone, and the same technology may also mean that lost Apple Watches could be found using Wi-Fi triangulation.

A source talking to Phone Arena went on to claim that the Apple Watch 2 will have a video camera, allowing users to make and receive video FaceTime calls rather than just audio ones.

New models might be launched too, providing users with more than just the standard, Sport and Edition versions available now. It's not clear exactly what form these new models will take, but new materials could be on the cards, such as titanium, platinum and perhaps even Liquidmetal.

But if you're hoping the appearance will change or we'll see a circular smartwatch from Apple you might be out of luck, as another leak suggests that the Apple Watch 2 will have the same screen size, shape and resolution as the first Apple Watch - this is the way the Cupertino firm does things, after all.

One thing which will apparently change according to the same source is the thickness of the screen, which will be made thinner to allow for a larger battery. Yet that clashes with previous rumors that the juice pack will be staying the same, albeit with possible software improvements to improve its life.

It could also have a new breed of smart band to go along with it, as a recent patent application has been filed for a strap that has light fibres woven in, meaning you'll be able to get notifications from your wrist all the way around.

Hopefully it won't flash or be too overt - simply function as a second screen that could give more information than the smaller screen could.

Overall we're really not sure what to expect from the Apple Watch 2 just yet, and we're sure it will hold plenty of surprises and features beyond what we've heard so far and beyond what the original Apple Watch (which will be getting Watch OS 2) is capable of.

While the March 21 Apple press conference didn't usher in the second coming of the Apple Watch, we'll be scanning the internet and reading between the lines of Apple statement (and the lines of iOS 9.3 code) for even the smallest suggest of the Apple Watch 2 and even a minor Apple Watch S upgrade.