As we made our way through the various rooms at The New York Audio and AV Show (you can read about it here), we were struck by a common theme: We can't afford any of this. Don't get us wrong, the stuff was amazing, but it left us wishing we had a wallet bursting with bills and not random business cards. Oddly enough, ... continue reading
There are approximately one million different ways to amplify the sound coming out of your iPhone to a party-appropriate decibel. Between all the docks, horns, stereo connectors, jacks, brands and prices you could literally spend days looking for just the right one to sit on desk or table. Or, you could just pick up ... continue reading
It might be a rare occasion, but if you have ever dropped your pocket knife in a pond while out camping, you know the annoyance involved in retrieving that sucker. The Cork Knife eliminates any fear of cutting rope on the side of a lake or whittling wood over a creek while you're on your next trip. The cork handle ... continue reading
Let's be honest, the speakers on our portable gadgets are garbage. Listening to something on your iPhone without additional amplification sounds like the muffled beats escaping from the headphones of some dude sitting next to you on the train. As we've delved into the world of portable Bluetooth speakers, a few ... continue reading
So many of the products we find are simple in premise. We see them and think, "Dammit, why didn't we think of a portable computer so we could swim in gold coins?" Then it quickly dawns on us, even if we had that brilliant flash in our skulls, we wouldn't have a clue how to begin making it. Then we stumble across ... continue reading
Even if you're not John Cusack, boomboxes are cool. We gotten past the point of cassette tapes and D-batteries (if they even make these anymore) though, so we need one that works with phones and mp3 players. Unfortunately, finding a boombox that looks as good as the ones from the 80s, and supports modern technology, ... continue reading
We're not going to kid ourselves: you probably already have three different ways of projecting your iPhone / Android tunes throughout a room. If you're going to spend another $300 on another piece of technology to replace one of the ones you already have it had better be really damn good. The Table Top Concert Hall ... continue reading
It seems like product designers and manufacturers are always trying to solve the same two problems with the iPhone: the audio and the fact that it doesn’t stand up on its own. You can buy any number of accessories that solve either problem, but until now there hasn’t been any one product that solved them both as ... continue reading
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," would be a good summation of the history of guitar design. Whatever axe you choose to play today, won't be so dissimilar from the ones the Stones, Zeppelin (unless Jimmy Page brought up a double neck) and older legends carried out on stage with them. While you might not be playing ... continue reading
Listening to music when you're not near your surround sound system should be easy. Your phone holds thousands of songs locally, has access to millions through your subscription service and can even beam music digitally to far off lands. It should be easy to get it from the device into your ears, but it's not. You can ... continue reading
You've got two options when rocking your Beats by Dre headphones: Look like every other person who happens to have the exact same pair or do what Lil Wayne did, and encrust them with a million dollars worth of diamonds. Frankly, we don't care for either option. While we do love our Beats, we don't like to conform ... continue reading
There are a lot of things $1000 will buy you. A few hours at the "club." Rent or a good chunk of your mortgage payment. A down payment on a Rolex. It will also get you these Sennheiser HD700 Headphones. Why would anyone spend $1000 on this particular pair of headphones? Because they've got a vibration damping frame, ... continue reading
With all the handheld gadgets we own and time we spend staring at them, we probably will evolve into some sort of craned-neck species. Human candy canes. If you're looking for one audio system for them all, there's the OnBeat Xtreme from JBL. It docks your entire Apple catalog (iPhone, iPod and iPad) and can also ... continue reading
The biggest issue we have with the iPad is the audio (well, and not supporting Flash and general addictiveness). Sure, a quick solution is a Bluetooth speaker set up, but once we're out of range that sucker is pointless. Seeing as how the iPad is a device for the go, tying it down with wires or 30 feet ranges, kinda ... continue reading
To some, speakers are simply pieces of equipment that get placed in corners, partially hidden from view. They deliver acceptable audio in an aesthetically bland design. We're going to go out on a limb and say, that as a reader of Cool Material, you are not one of these people. If you're like us, you put thought into ... continue reading
Do you remember a time when a proper home audio system cost thousands of dollars and required separate cabinets just to house a bunch of different pieces of audio equipment that we would consider ugly by today's standards? We do. We also happen to consider ourselves pretty technologically savvy, but setting those ... continue reading
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