Review: Grado’s GW100 headphones make open-back wireless affordable
There may be superior-sounding open-back headphones, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything better than the Grado GW100 that’s both wireless and affordable.
Recently I checked out Audio-Technica’s ATH-AD1000X headphones as a possible open-back option for Macs, iPads, and iPhones. They sound excellent — I’m wearing them as I write this — but a fundamental obstacle is that as with many open-back models, they’re wired-only. That doesn’t fly with too many people these days, especially iPhone owners.
Grado is a well-known brand in the audio world, primarily as a source of open-back headphones that won’t break the bank. The GW100 is its first Bluetooth option, which it claims it held off on until it could match the quality of wired products.
Once more, a quick primer. Most headphones are closed-back, which improves qualities like noise isolation at the expense of shaping output and creating a narrower soundstage. Open-back headphones tend to have a “purer” sound with a wide stage, at the cost of bass.
Construction-wise the GW100 isn’t terribly impressive out of the box. Most of it is built of lightweight plastic, and the earpieces are covered with a cheap, removable foam lining. It’s not what you’d anticipate from something costing $249.
It does retain Grado’s signature style though, and lightweight means exactly that — this might something to consider if you feel other on- or over-the-ear headphones weigh too much. Foam lining isn’t ideal for comfort, but it is tolerable.
Thankfully, the tradeoff in build quality is made up for in sound. Grado says it custom-configured its driver design for the GW100, which further employs Bluetooth 4.2 with aptX, a Qualcomm compression technology that enables “CD-like” quality.
As a rule the headphones sound great. They’re not audiophile quality — you’d need aptX-HD for that — but frequency response ranges from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz, and most of that comes through loud and clear. I sometimes felt as if sound was a little muffled or lacking in bass, but not in any serious way, and that was more than offset by having a smooth and open soundstage.
Another pleasant feature: real physical buttons for playback. Many headphones use touch gestures these days, which I find maddeningly imprecise. Here, it’s quick and easy to change tracks or volume.
A couple of minor complaints are that they bleed audio, and while portable, are even less suited to rain and sweat than usual. Both issues are inherent to open-back technology, however, so there’s no faulting Grado.
Conclusions
If you’re considering a first step into open-back headphones or simply want a more portable version, the GW100 won’t disappoint so long as you know what you’re in for. That’s the catch, naturally — people who want privacy or or more rugged design will have to turn elsewhere. So too will audiophiles, but they’re probably browsing far more expensive options anyway. For the common man, this is excellent.
Score: 4 out of 5
Where to buy
The Grado GW100 Wireless Headphones sell for $249 at top retailers, such as Amazon and B&H Photo.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-21-2019, 02:18 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Microsoft sees dip in quarterly Xbox revenue as hardware sales slow
Microsoft has closed out the fourth quarter of its 2019 fiscal year with year-over-year decreases in both its game and Xbox businesses, declines that come as the next generation of consoles looms on the horizon.
For the quarter ending June 30, the company reported a $233 million decrease in game revenue, down about 10 percent from the same period last year. That makes for just over $2.05 billion in game revenue, down from $2.29 billion during the same period last year.
Microsoft’s earnings report calls out a 48 percent year-over-year decline in Xbox hardware revenue specifically, noting that the shift was mainly due to a decrease in consoles sold during the quarter. Xbox software and services, meanwhile, fell by 3 percent year-over-year, offset partially by a rise in subscriptions. Microsoft notes that it had a strong Q4 in that category last year, which likely also contributed to the year-over-year decline.
However on a yearly basis, the company saw an increase in game revenue. Its games business as a whole saw $11.39 billion for the 2019 financial year, up from $10.35 billion in 2018. Monthly active Xbox Live users have also increased over the last year. As of June 30, 2019, Xbox Live has 65 million MAUs, up from 57 million at this same point last year.
In its full report, Microsoft also called out games, cloud/AI engineering, and GitHub as three of the four departments responsible for a 15 percent increase in its R&D expenses.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-21-2019, 02:18 AM - Forum: Minecraft
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Minecraft: Java Edition 1.14.4
Today we’re releasing 1.14.4, a release that addresses left over issues from 1.14. We plan on this being the final release for 1.14 and we’ll continue our efforts on 1.15. Aside from new features, 1.15 will also focus on quality and performance improvements.
With the impending arrival of Batwoman, The CW isn't holding back when it comes to bringing out the big guns. During the show's inaugural San Diego Comic-Con panel, two major names were revealed as being integrated into the series.
First and foremost, it was announced that Burt Ward, the iconic actor who played Robin on the original Batman TV series, will appear in the Crisis on Infinite Earths five-part crossover this season. While it wasn't confirmed he would be appearing as the Boy Wonder, it's worth noting that Legends of Tomorrow star Brandon Routh will appear as a version of Superman. So it sounds like Ward's Robin may pop up somehow.
Another major reveal was that Season 1 will see the introduction of Tommy Elliot, who Batman fans know as the alter ego of the villain Hush. Based on what showrunner Caroline Dries said, it sounds like viewers will see the origin of the character. For those that don't follow the comics, Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who ultimately killed his abusive father before eventually becoming the masked killer known as Hush.
Dries also noted that Batwoman will not be recycling villains from elsewhere in the Arrow-verse, but will instead dig deep into the library of baddies from the Batman and Batwoman comics. As for whether Batman himself will make a substantial appearance, Dries claimed "anything is possible."
That said, executive producer Sarah Schecter pointed out that in the beginning, at least, the focus is entirely on Kate and her story, much like the first seasons of Supergirl were about Kara's (Melissa Benoist) journey. It's worth pointing out, though, that Supergirl did introduce Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) so anything truly is possible.
Poll: Tell Us Who You’re Siding With In Splatoon 2’s Final Splatfest
When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.
Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night Switch Fix Expected To Arrive Soon
When Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night arrived on the Switch a week after initial release, Nintendo players quickly established something wasn’t right.
Digital Foundry had a closer inspection of this version of the game and found the performance and visuals had taken a tremendous hit and own review here on Nintendo Life said these same issues detracted from what was a fantastic game on other platforms.
So, how are the developers planning to resolve these issues plaguing the Switch release? Now that Koji Igarashi and his team have released the “Iga’s Back Pack” they are focused on releasing the July update. 505 Games Global Brand Manager Roberto Piraino has now posted the following development update on the game’s Kickstarter page:
Hello everyone, I’m happy to report that this week we submitted a patch for Switch, once it’s approved we’ll update the game asap. The following changes are already locked in, and we’re working to confirm even more changes/improvements etc. for this patch, hopefully by next week
Below is exactly what you can expect:
Performance Updates
The teams continue to work on input delay, stability and optimization. We’re not ready to release these improvements just yet, but we’ll be sharing more information in the coming weeks.
Bug Fixes
Map quest markers no longer showing when target has been killed
HD Rumble issues in certain areas fixed
Familiar Changes
Familiar upgrade via Grade was nerfed
Increased strength based on level
Dullahammer Head has been nerfed
Shard Adjustments (Decreased Power)
Riga Storaema
Craftwork
Bunnymorphosis
Flame Cannon
Straight Arrow
Chase Arrow
Heretical Grinder
Circle Ripper
Shooting Dagger
Riga Dohin
Welcome Company (nerfed significantly – starting from 3 portraits instead of 5)
Weapon Adjustments (Decreased Power)
Flying Edge
Rhava Bural
Rhava Velar
Enemy HP Increases
Dullahammer Head
Malediction
Drop Adjustments
Increased the drop rate of “Monster Fur” from Simians
Credits
Text corrections
Map
Map close button has been remapped to standard exit/close button
Marker button has been changed
Trail display button has been changed
Map scroll speed improved
Zoom in and out improved
Zoom level retained when reopening the map
Auto-center when opening the map
The same post also mentioned how the development team was still prioritizing “important fixes and improvements” and went on to thank owners of the game for their patience.
Thank you everyone for your patience while we continue to make improvements on Switch and the other platforms as well, we will be following up with more updates soon.
How are you finding Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on the Switch? Tell us below.
Oracle has announced the general availability of Oracle Linux 8. With the release, the core operating environment and associated packages for a typical Oracle Linux 8 server are distributed through a combination of BaseOS and Applications Streams. BaseOS gives you a running user space for the operating environment. Application Streams provides a range of applications that were previously distributed in Software Collections, as well as other products and programs, that can run within the user space.
Fear The Walking Dead Renewed For Season 6 At Comic-Con
AMC's Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for a sixth season. The announcement of its return was made during the show's panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and it doesn't come as much of a surprise considering it is one of AMC's most-watched shows.
As a prequel series to The Walking Dead, it follows the exploits of a series of dysfunctional characters as the world begins to crumble around them as part of what will end up becoming the full-on undead apocalypse depicted in the main Walking Dead series. The show stars Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark, one of the few remaining characters from earlier seasons.
Fear the Walking Dead has had a number of fresh faces added to its cast lately, including Maggie Grace, Jenna Elfman, and Garret Dillahunt as Althia, June, and John Dorie respectively. Lennie James has also reprised his role as Morgan, who he played in the main Walking Dead series.
The Walking Dead comic series, from which the TV shows are inspired, came to a surprise ending on July 2, ending its 15-year run. Creator Robert Kirkman, who also works on both TV shows, said the comic's conclusion won't impact the series.
"I hate knowing what's coming," he said in a letter to fans. "As a fan, I hate it when I realize I'm in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I'm nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel. Some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones are when they're structured in such a way and paced to perfection so your brain can’t tell if it's been watching for 15 minutes or 50 minutes ... and when the end comes ... you’re stunned.
"I love long movies for that very reason. You lose track of time because you went in convinced that you're going to be there for a long time, but the story moves at such an entertaining and engaging pace that by the time the movie's wrapping up ... you can't believe it’s already over. Surprise, it's over! All I've ever done, all a creator can really do ... is tailor-make stories to entertain themselves, and hope the audience feels the same way. That's all I've ever been doing ... and it seems to work most of the time."
Fedora community has announced the preview release of Fedora CoreOS. The initial preview release of Fedora CoreOS runs on bare metal, QEMU, VMware, and AWS, on x86_64 only. It supports provisioning via Ignition spec 3.0.0 and the Fedora CoreOS Config Transpiler, automatic updates with Zincati and rpm-ostree, and running containers with Podman and Moby. Benjamin Gilbert of the Fedora team said that Fedora CoreOS is designed specifically for running containerized workloads without regular maintenance, automatically updating itself with the latest OS improvements, bug fixes, and security updates.
