It’s a healthy sign when consumers have the ear of a company that wants their ears. Marshall heard from the market that there was a desire for ultra-portable on-ear headphones with active noise cancellation, and the end product is the new Milton A.N.C. It brings familiar design language and flagship flourishes into what has typically been a less feature-packed form factor. Until now.
At $229.99, the Milton A.N.C. is positioned between the Major V and Monitor III A.N.C. [literally in one of the pictures below]. It adopts the textured surface, brass logo, multidirectional control knob, and customizable M-Button of the Monitor III A.N.C. (for toggling ANC/Transparency mode, cycling EQ settings, or going directly to a Spotify playlist, etc.). But it does it in a foldable form factor similar in size to the Major V. That’s where the similarities to the Major V end, however. The build and built-in tech have far more in common with the bigger brother.
Larger, detachable, replaceable earpads with softer memory foam improve comfort and passive noise attenuation. Combined with six optimally placed microphones and a next-generation adaptive algorithm that adjusts noise cancellation in real-time, the Milton A.N.C. blocks out noisy environments so you can make the most of the new custom-tuned Hi-Res Audio-certified driver system. That certification means it can deliver a frequency range of 20Hz – 40kHz and handle sources up to 24-bit/96 kHz. To do this, Milton A.N.C. features audio over USB-C alongside Bluetooth 6.0 with LE-Audio plus support for SBC, AAC, and LC3, as well as advanced-resolution LDAC with a compatible source. Adaptive Loudness ensures the Marshall sound signature comes through clearly when ambient intrusions increase, and proprietary spatialization processing, based on the “True Stereophonic” spatial sound of Marshall’s Bluetooth speakers, widens the soundstage.
Completing the package is a replaceable battery capable of 80 hours of wireless playtime without ANC and 50+ hours with ANC. We’ll share more thoughts on listening and longevity once we’ve had time with a pair.
In the market for something less portable but more colorful? Marshall has also released a purple crushed-velvet ACTON III Marshall X Hendrix 60th Anniversary Edition [$299,99, below left], as well as a matching, far more indulgent halfstack redesign of the 1959 HW and 1960AHW Cab guitar amp accompanied by a custom Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face pedal [$4,999, below right].
Denon has updated two of the more consumer-friendly home-cinema centerpieces in its X Series audio/video receivers, their first refresh since 2022. While the new AVR-X2900H ($1,349 USD) and AVR-3900H ($1,849 USD) retain a familiar chassis with a few cosmetic changes, more extensive internal changes reinforce amplification for more emotionally physical audio while staying faithful to the source material. And the design goal was not just about what you hear, but also what you don’t. We were given the opportunity to preview these products at Denon headquarters in Kawasaki, Japan (a broader experience we’ll share more about in the future), and we heard the sound of the sound, never undue pressure put on the hardware. [Disclosure: HARMAN International, the parent company of Denon, provided travel accommodations during the creation of this story.]
Demoed on a 7.2.2-channel system featuring Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series speakers, these Dolby Atmos AVRs delivered soundstage, dynamics, and detail throughout film scenes and orchestral scores, combining subtle dialog with heavy effects and full-range impact with low-frequency speed. Throughout both models, purposeful mechanical design introduces new digital features while managing EMC/noise conflicts. System architecture, including a new 32-bit eight-channel DAC, focuses on heightened stability and spaciousness. Balancing measurements with careful listening is Denon’s Sound Master, Shinichi Yamauchi, who ensures any changes to circuit geometry and/or components maintain suppleness, resonance, and spatial realism.
Denon AVR-X2900H 7.2 Ch. 95W 4K/8K Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Powered by HEOS
While Denon offers reinforced-rack/custom-install closet-grade receivers, the AVR-X2900H is for folks who want control without needing as big an investment in space and cash. A power tier above the recently refreshed AVR-S980H, it’s a 7-channel AVR rated at 95W per channel into 8 ohms, with dual subwoofer outputs. That makes it capable of running a 5.2.2 system, with support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Audyssey Silver MultEQ XT calibration software out of the box, plus Dirac Live with a license purchased separately, allows for quick to comprehensive room correction. HDMI/gaming features include six inputs supporting VRR, ALLM, 8K/60 Hz or 4K/120 Hz, 8K/HDCP 2.3 with Dolby Vision/HDR 10+, high-resolution audio support, 1440p passthrough, and AMD FreeSync. There are also two HDMI outputs (one eARC). There are four analog audio inputs, including a moving-magnet preamp for a turntable, plus Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect/Qobuz Connect/Roon Ready, and Denon’s own HEOS wireless platform for other services. This means streaming music gets as much attention as other content, and that it’s easy to integrate the AVR-2900H into a whole-home audio system alongside Denon Home speakers, which can be used as wireless rear surround channels after a future firmware update.
Denon AVR-X3900H 9.4 Ch. 105W 4K/8K Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Powered by HEOS
The step-up AVR-X3900H, meanwhile, moves to 9.4 channels of amplification, 11.4 channels of processing, and 105W per channel, backed by higher-grade components and flagship-derived DSP. With four independent subwoofer outputs and the ability to add an outboard 2-channel amp, this allows for even more immersive 5.4.4 or 7.4.2-channel setups. And if speaker upgrades demand it, use the 11 preamp outputs to keep the 3900H as a hub while accessing even more power. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are still supported, as is Sony 360 Reality Audio, AURO-3D, and IMAX Enhanced. Audyssey is upgraded to Platinum MultEQ XT32, and Dirac Live ART (Active Room Treatment) and Dirac Bass Control can be added. The HDMI inputs are the same, now joined by an additional output (one eARC). Five analog inputs are available, including the turntable, as are the streaming/HEOS ecosystem/connected speaker capabilities. Plus, there is a deep suite of IP-based Web UI setup tools, HDMI diagnostics, and additional control interfaces for CI and running dedicated rooms.
In a townhouse on New York’s Upper West Side, Bose revealed its new Lifestyle speaker collection through a multi-story demo involving quite a few stairs and equally ascending audio. From a company so well-known for actively canceling noise, this was about generating buzz.
Part of a small group of tech writers navigating the narrow stack of immaculately accessorized rooms, I was escorted to the first floor and to my first glimpse of a WiFi-connected sound system that our hosts said represented over four years of research and development. [Disclosure: Bose provided travel accommodations during the creation of this story.]
Solo, part of a stereo pair, one endpoint in a whole-home system, or acting as the rears in a surround-sound system, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker ($299-$349, based on Black/White Smoke or limited-edition Driftwood Sand colorway) was presented as high-immersion and low-friction. Easily set up, room-filling sound from a compactly sculpted, furnishings-friendly speaker made to blend into any real estate. High-class to humble.
And with its front-firing three-inch woofer and accompanying tweeter, but most of all its upfiring driver, the Lifestyle Ultra made the ceiling work as hard as our legs did going from landing to landing. A combination of the physical Direct/Reflecting array and proprietary TrueSpatial digital signal processing [not native Dolby Atmos support] lifted the center image and expanded the sweet spot. How high and wide that reaches compared to competitors will be revealed when we get a pair to compare.
As for the bass, it delves lower than the Ultra Speaker’s fabric-fronted capsule belies, thanks to CleanBass technology with a proprietary rear QuietPort treatment that uses resistive materials to detune disruptive resonances. This allows long ports in small enclosures without obvious turbulence.
Up a level, up the driver count to nine. The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar ($1,099, in Black/White Smoke) shares the contours and capacitive touch controls and CleanBass of the Ultra Speaker, stretched into a calmly modern 5.0.2 configuration [which does support Dolby Atmos via HDMI eARC]. Featuring what the team describes as the most radical acoustic redesign of Bose soundbars in a decade, the Ultra Soundbar has four full-range drivers under the front textured knit, two facing upwards, plus a center tweeter flanked by proprietary PhaseGuide radiators, derived from classic ribbon-tweeter thinking. “Leaky,” these waveguides use tiny radiating points that add up coherently in the direction of sonic travel, allowing sound to be placed off to the sides and present more width without additional drivers. Paired with an 85″ TV, motion felt like it was stretched beyond the constraints of the credenza.
Taking advantage of that focused frequency is Speech Clarity, an evolution of AI Dialog features on previous soundbars. Instead of simply boosting center-channel levels, it uses AI to distinguish, isolate, and amplify dialogue above muddying effects. As someone who watches with subtitles, I immediately noticed when this mode was toggled on and was pleased by the bump in clarity, cutting through but not carving up the natural-feeling midrange.
A few more flights … of fancy and stairs. While the Ultra Soundbar can operate standalone, you might want a more immersive experience. Take a pair of Ultra Speakers and add them as wireless rears in the Bose app. And if you want to augment the low end, the new Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer ($899, in Black/White Smoke) is glass-topped and makes the bottom drop with its 10.5-inch woofer. Now it’s a 7.1.4 system (or you can pair just the Ultra Soundbar + Ultra Subwoofer for 5.1.2). Custom Tune, an updated version of ADAPTiQ, does room calibration tailored to your specific setup and unique space (no brownstone required) using your smartphone microphone. So long, dedicated headset.
The Ultra Speakers and Soundbar share support for AirPlay 2/Google Cast, allowing for a multi-room audio setup that includes both Ultra and non-Bose products. The company made a conscious choice to let users operate outside a walled garden, using Spotify Connect, for instance (TIDAL Connect coming later via firmware), instead of forcing the Bose app to control music and set up what speakers play. The app can build a home theater system progressively and offers controls, but so do the on-product touch points. There’s also Bluetooth 5.3 baked in. And the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker supports both an analog 3.5mm input (think a turntable with built-in preamp) and next-gen Alexa+, allowing for natural-language interaction. You can also physically mute the speaker for complete privacy. One thing the Lifestyle Ultra collection doesn’t support is pairing with previous Bose home-theater products.
I’m watching Oslo wake from Vigeland Park, the grass and granite glazed by a North Sea sigh. Hundreds of figures hold poses around me. Angry children, entwined couples, and elders all wear features smoothed by 80-plus winters … and nothing else. Carved and cast by namesake Gustav Vigeland, these nude statues are stripped of uniforms in favor of unifiers. They display no decorations or discernible hierarchies. Yet they share textured stone expressions of unshielded experience. This mineral musculature exists to remind those bearing witness that we are born bare, equal before weather and time. It renders Norwegian humanism into a physical manifesto celebrating intrinsic dignity and communal resilience.
It’s a philosophy that follows me from Oslo’s bustling Havnepromenaden west to the wonky timber alleyways of Bryggen and the rain-varnished, pine-lined Mount Fløyen switchbacks above. It accompanies me north along the rocky slopes and 360-degree fjord views at Bruviknipa.
It’s a mindset that seems stitched into the design details coming out of Norwegian technical outerwear company Helly Hansen’s waterfront headquarters. It becomes the lens through which I experience several stimulating days in June 2025, learning about hydrophobic face fabrics, RECCO reflectors for searchability, friluftsliv (“open-air living”), and the annual Open Mountain Month. [Disclosure: Helly Hansen provided travel accommodations during the creation of this story.]
Founded in 1877 by sea-captain Helly Juell Hansen, the brand’s first products were coarse-linen slickers soaked in linseed oil. This workwear was makeshift armor against squalls that could soak sailors and sink fortunes. Today, Helly Hansen patterns that same survival instinct into performance textiles with 3L HELLY TECH membranes and LIFA waterproof/breathable fibers.
In a building staring out at the harbor, nestled roughly 70 km north of its origins, the company produces garments that are pressure-tested by lab scientists and professional partners before they ever reach storefronts. These include Search-and-Rescue (SAR) organizations like the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), alpine medics, and mountain guides who can’t afford a single wardrobe malfunction.
Whereas Vigeland’s frozen choreography memorializes the cycle of life, Helly Hansen’s taped seams and articulated sleeves celebrate the comfort to go about daily life. From commuting to summiting, a hardshell makes endurance something achievable. From contemplating cultural psychology in a drizzle to a simulated helicopter rescue demo, this clothing enables my curiosity.
My private thoughts on Oslo’s public spaces are echoed in Helly Hansen’s introductory presentation. The company declares its guiding light to be producing professional-grade gear “to help people stay and feel alive.” But its protective gear isn’t meant to separate you from the elements so much as allow you to endure nature’s power.
We proceed to a product overview with Philip Tavell, then-vice president at Helly Hansen. He gives us insight into how Helly Hansen delivers its “Trusted By Professionals” promise to 55,000 of them worldwide. It’s a process built on conversations and observations. “Sometimes people say [they need] something but act differently when they actually use the product,” Tavell explains.
“They make us improve. They make us be curious. They force us to find solutions that we didn’t know existed.”
When Helly Hansen designs a product, the company asks ski patrol, sailors, SAR volunteers, and other sleet-proof stoics to complain about what exists and what doesn’t. They try prototypes, destroy prototypes, and in the process expose what a garment should and could withstand. Their worst-case scenarios inform everyone else’s everyday rainwear.
Helly Hansen ambassador Izzy Holmes gives a professional’s perspective on the input that goes into something like an Odin Infinity Minimalist Jacket. Mountain guides were searching for a waterproof, windproof shell in their pack that they “don’t even want to be able to feel,” Holmes explains. But they also needed something they could always count on when fast-moving alpine weather turns. What they (and us) got is just 7.6 ounces but still 3.5 layers, breathable and packable for high-output adventuring.
And Tavell acknowledges the women’s shell must be built with the same technical ambition as the men’s. Women in the field are doing the same work and facing the same hazards, so they voiced frustration that brands thought they should get a “dumbed-down version.”
Helly Hansen Odin Infinity Minimalist Jacket
An NPA representative reinforces the stakes: when conditions have everybody heading home, volunteers have to go out and help those who can’t get in, and at that point, “we can’t discuss if the clothing is good enough; it should just work.” For this reason, zippers are shortened because a waist belt needs space, and a pocket is removed because a harness makes it ornamental.
The accumulated failures that inform successful workwear then trickle down to aestheticized rainwear, even if the reflective details that make a SAR uniform recognizable are less likely to. But one thing that’s shared is a repairability focus when new products are constructed. Replaceable zippers, snaps, Velcro, and other mechanical spare parts that can keep a jacket in service are a cornerstone of sustainability.
In-the-field anecdotes and accidents make for dramatic scenes and adjusted seams, but the stress tests begin way before fabric sees any vistas for validation. Off an unassuming corridor, Helly Hansen’s lab is where the indignities begin. Here, passing a standard test is merely a starting point. Shedding water for 30 seconds in controlled intervals doesn’t answer the questions asked by real-world exposure, which can last for hours. Something needs to address the grind of rain-soaked backpack straps on shoulders or the rub of salt-stiffened sleeves on sides. Somebody needs to account for the drag of oily hands on zippers or being dried badly, then stuffed into/pulled from a pack repeatedly.
The lab does its best to recreate and stretch past the conditions most clothes encounter. That means withstanding pressures, wet and dry abrasion, and punctures that bridge the gap between industry expectations and real-life weather, friction, and sweat, not to mention the lazy violence of daily use. We’re shown a waterproof test of the HELLY TECH Professional system that goes up to a 50,000-millimeter hydrostatic-head (HH) rating, though the promise communicated is an expedition-grade 20,000mm to be on the safe side.
Next to more traditional ways of measuring prolonged hydrostatic pressure or air permeability sit the custom chambers. There’s the cut-testing machine built around an actual ski edge, inspired by real Norwegian national team incidents. And then there’s the shock box. First, fabric samples, new and old, are turned into small bags loaded with tennis balls. Then, they are soaked, dropped, tumbled, scraped, contaminated, and just rudely treated with salt, sand, Velcro, sandpaper, and metal edges to watch the material age in fast-forward.
This accumulated abuse is all part of the proving ground for Helly Hansen’s signature waterproofing technologies. It’s also part of addressing the larger PFAS puzzle facing every shell maker. A waterproof jacket has to keep liquid out and let body vapor escape. And it has to do it through a laminate whose face fabric is absorbing physical punishment. So, it’s the lab’s job to make that contradiction measurable. They take field feedback and provide product managers with data that shows the full picture of what’s achievable.
Resisting wet-out used to be achieved in part with Durable Water Repellent (DWR) chemistries that repelled both water and oils. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) treatments moved surface energy down to roughly 6-12, good for both water and oils, we’re told in the lab. But the regulatory and industry-wide transition to PFAS-free hydrocarbon finishes hit roughly 25-30, enough for water repellency but only moderate oil resistance.
Helly Hansen’s top-tier no-added-DWR solution, LIFA Infinity Pro, took proprietary fibers developed in the 1970s for base layer moisture management and applied advanced textile engineering to heat and stretch them into a waterproof/windproof membrane. They then paired this sweat siphon with a highly breathable backer and a woven, inherently hydrophobic LIFA face fabric. In the lab’s language, the goal is to “let water-hating fabric do all the work by itself,” rather than overloading it with chemical treatments. That system came to market in 2020.
A newer iteration of LIFA Infinity is found in the Odin Infinity Minimalist Jacket. It utilizes a bicomponent ePP microporous membrane made without solvents and a recycled face fabric with a PFC-free DWR to facilitate an even softer, lighter, more pliable product. It’s a lot of invisible engineering … putting chemistry and construction and thought into a garment so reliability is the thing you don’t have to think about.
If Oslo supplied philosophy, and headquarters provided proof, the next stop offers perspective.
Pack on my back, To Helly & Back playlist of black metal and blackened rock in my ears, we shuffle to early a.m. shuttles. A short flight to Bergen and we’re back on a bus heading to Osterøy, one hour northeast and Northern Europe’s largest inland island. We’re welcomed at Klyvvikje, a greeting complete with folk costumes and hand-hammered artistry made in a blacksmith’s forge on the farm, a property in our hosts’ family for over 100 years. We’ll stay here overnight, not far from the village of Bruvik—though we only see that from above.
We have just enough time to snack and repack before we hit the trail. We arrive expecting one of the 200 to 240 days of downpours that annually sweep Bergen, the rainiest city in Europe, then continue into the nearby fjords. What we encounter is balmy, suspiciously kind. It’s downright disorienting. Temperatures pushing the 70s, out go the rain layers and out comes the Solen UPF 50+ sun protection. We’re only going on a day hike, but ounces matter when you’re ascending over 500 meters (1,873 ft). We head relentlessly uphill until we summit the Bruviknipa massif at 822 meters (2,697 ft).
After many, many stone steps and stacked curves, we’re greeted by a Norwegian flag at the summit register, plus a panoramic view of the Sørfjorden’s deep blue mountain mirror [shown above]. My Cascade Mid-Cut Hiking Boots maintain stability, and Helly Hansen Blaze Softshell Hiking Pants stretch stylishly as we complete our trek, around five hours and 9 kilometers (5.76 mi) round-trip.
Back at the farm [shown below], we set up our tents along the edge of the property, guests appreciating the hospitality you don’t get hut-to-hut hiking. But if there had been any more space between the farm and the water, we might not have even had to ask permission. Norway’s 1957 Outdoor Recreation Act codified that anyone and everyone has the right to hike through and camp on any land at least 150 meters from an occupied structure. Just leave no trace. This makes it easier to access the 20,000 kilometers of marked hiking trails and over 500 cabins maintained by Den Norske Turistforening, the Norwegian Trekking Association.
The mountains’ lavender silhouettes soften against the luminous half-light sky as we crowd around a fire and raise Aquavit to a rewarding day of good weather and goodwill. Skål! (“cheers!”) rings out repeatedly alongside the would-be clink of our paper cups. The sun may not want to go to bed, but I do.
We wake up to homemade waffles and dockside yoga, all safely recovering from yesterday’s calf-burning climb.
But what if we hadn’t? That’s the question posed as part of the morning’s dramatic RECCO demo.
Using a makeshift fjord-side landing pad, pilots from a SAR team based in northern Norway land a helicopter [shown below]. With them are representatives of the Swedish reflector-and-detector system, which is incorporated into several products we’ve been carrying, like the Odin 9 Worlds 3.0 Shell Jacket and Resistor Backpack, and could be key to a successful recovery mission.
But the product’s origin story begins with tragedy: founder Magnus Granhed lost a friend in an avalanche and, according to RECCO’s Gustav Crenér, “just sort of walked around with a ski pole trying to locate his friends.” From that helplessness came a mission “to make people in the outdoors searchable and help organize rescue, to save lives.”
Developed with friends at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology, the technology [shown below] is almost disarmingly simple at the wearer’s end. The reflector is “a piece of copper, pretty much, with a diode in the middle,” Crenér explains. It weighs about 4 grams, contains no battery, and is “100% passive,” meaning it is always functional unless physically destroyed. These thin metal wafers are easily sewn into garments and equipment: jacket brims, pack top lids or haul handles, near sleeve cuffs or lower legs. They are not typically placed against the chest, however, because the water content of the human body can block effectiveness, especially if a buried wearer is face down.
A detector sends out a radio signal that, when it hits the reflector, echoes back an audio cue rescuers can follow. A handheld version, used by ski patrols, police, military, ambulance personnel, and other professional responders, weighs roughly 950 grams. Crenér describes it as standard avalanche-rescue kit alongside transceivers, dogs, and probes, but he is careful to frame RECCO as “an additional layer of safety,” not a replacement for comprehensive gear or common sense.
The helicopter serves as the ultimate extension of the RECCO detector. An airborne detector, which hangs roughly 10 meters below the helicopter to send energy downward, is about “100 times more powerful” than the handheld unit. Crenér explains that its mass, about 80 kilos, helps hold it steady as it operates about 100 meters up and 100 kilometers per hour, scanning a corridor roughly 100 meters wide. This allows it to cover a square kilometer in six minutes.
All of this is weather permitting, of course. The helicopter system is best deployed for bigger summer searches, like finding a mountain biker, mushroom picker, or hunter. Or for finding a hiker, as we soon see simulated. While the trail we took the day before seemed benign on our idyllic afternoon, that same path could be dangerous once the light dips or someone slips. Taken up in small groups, we do a sweep in the direction of the mountain we traversed. In our headsets, we hear quickening feedback and watch a meter flash red [shown above] as we approach a reflector stashed strategically in a gully.
A RECCO-equipped jacket plays an important role for both the wearer and SAR organizations, as reflector sales help place detectors and train personnel without cost to rescue teams. Typically, however, the RECCO badge has been associated with winter and ski wear. Or, at the very least, a premium price point, like the $400+ Odin 9 Worlds or Odin Infinity Minimalist jackets. Helly Hansen, however, saw an opportunity to make more people searchable and fund more detectors in the market, so they started putting RECCO in the 2025 Loke Jacket, its most affordable, high-volume shell.
After all, Helly Hansen’s annual Open Mountain Month events encourage and empower people to connect with the outdoors and each other (with guidance from professionals). And if you’re going to push for that, part of the social contract is making safety feel less like a luxury upgrade and more like a shared responsibility.
Two days later, back on land and back in Bergen, it’s finally rainy enough to put the Odin 9 Worlds 3.0 Shell to good use. Taking advantage of my limited time and growing tolerance for precipitation, I wander the harbor’s cobblestone contours, secure in a garment that will hold up. And, should curiosity carry me into some troll-infested, goat-inhabited forest beyond city limits, it could also help a rescue team narrow the search. Helly Hansen can’t make the elements disappear, but it can minimize the messiness of meeting them head-on, a technical expression of the old Scandinavian conviction that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
In 2016, Sony introduced the MDR-1000X, establishing a legacy of active noise-canceling headphones that have accompanied commuters, frequent flyers, and remote workers for a decade. To celebrate 10 years of blissfully isolating iterations, Sony has introduced the 1000X The ColleXion [X = 10, you see]. Building on the premium ANC platform of 2025’s WH-1000XM6, this anniversary edition elevates the design language and digital signal processing into a luxury victory lap.
At $649, The ColleXion is almost $200 more than its functionality-focused sibling. What you get for that additional outlay is a mix of “emotional value” materials and refined acoustic architecture. Plastic is replaced by stainless steel for the arms, buttons, and other accents, while a custom vegan leather is integrated across the enclosure, replaceable earpads, and expanded head cushion for a seamless appearance and increased comfort. Adding to the sense of elegance and ease, the inner housing has been enlarged, while the overall profile has been slimmed by more than 5mm.
To ensure the sonic output doesn’t suffer from reduced displacement, the ColleXion features a newly developed 30mm soft-edge unidirectional carbon driver. Compared to a carbon fiber weave, this material has increased rigidity, allowing reduced distortion even under pressure, as well as enhanced high-frequency reproduction. Further improving the signal/noise ratio is circuitry with 1.5x the copper foil to reduce resistance. On the software side, a new Integrated Processor V3 enables The ColleXion to be the first headphones with DSEE ULTIMATE upscaling/Edge-AI sound enhancement, as well as three selectable 360 Reality Audio spatial upmix modes (Cinema, Music, Game). All this has been tuned in collaboration with GRAMMY-winning mastering engineers.
All of this comes in a magnetically secured, clutch-like carrying case with an integrated handle [shown below].
What remains the same is the QN3 processor, plus 12 strategically placed AI beam-forming microphones for optimized noise cancellation and call clarity. Some passive isolation has been traded for pressure relief, so the WH-1000XM6 will still offer the highest level of ANC, but the ColleXion shouldn’t lag far behind. And we’ll know for sure and share our thoughts once we spend some time with a pair in the near future.
Plan to stick with the WH-1000XM6, but in the mood for a new colorway? Sandstone, shown below, joins Platinum Silver, Black, Sand Pink, and Midnight Blue. Still the same top-tier noise cancellation and customizable sound. Still $459.
Specialized has long understood that a commuter bike shouldn’t feel like a compromise. A good experience should turn a dreary slog into the best slice of your day, which is why the Turbo Vado has been highlighted in PopSci electric commuter bike coverage: it’s an ebike that means less grind, more glide. The new Turbo Vado 3 EVO takes that city bike and upgrades it for when the road gets patchy, the errand list gets ambitious, and you might want to blow off some post-work steam with a dirt detour. Just add safety accessories.
The core upgrade is that the Vado 3 EVO gets the full-power Specialized 3.1 motor system from the Turbo Levo eMTB: 810 watts of peak power, 105 Nm of torque, and an 840 Wh battery. That means the foundational experience doesn’t change by trim. Specialized claims 0 to 25 kph in three seconds, but the more useful translation is cleaner launches at lights, less strain on loaded climbs, and “SuperNatural” assist that feels pressed into your pedaling instead of dropped on top of it. The motor has also been tuned for quieter, smoother operation (which can be tweaked via app), and the vibration-conscious construction should feel more hushed than hectic.
The EVO-specific IP67 chassis, informed by Body Geometry and Ride Dynamics experts to reduce body pressure and increase rider confidence, is what gives the bike its wider comfort zone. A 120 mm suspension fork, 27.5-inch wheels front and rear, and 2.6-inch all-terrain tires offer a planted stance that should take the sting out of cratered streets, rough shoulders, and gravel shortcuts. [A base 4.0 model with Shimano CUES 9-Speed drivetrain plus Shimano BR-MT200 180mm hydraulic disc brakes weighs 63 lbs.] At the 5.0/6.0 trim levels, a lowerable seatpost with 40 mm of built-in suspension at the touch of a button makes for easier feet-flat stops in traffic, then a quick return to a more efficient pedaling height once you’re rolling. Add a MIK-HD-compatible rated for 27 kg rear rack with integrated brake light, optional 10 kg front rack capacity, child-seat approval, trailer compatibility, and multiple mounting points, and the Vado 3 EVO starts to look less like a commuter bike and more like a full-power platform for Monday’s laptop-and-lunch crawl to a Saturday farmer’s market haul, with a school dropoff and/or long ramble in between.
Specialized says the 840 Wh battery is good for up to five hours of ride-anywhere range, and the optional 280 Wh Range Extender pushes total capacity to 1,120 Wh. Charging also sounds unusually painless: the standard 5-amp charger gets the bike full in less than four hours, while the optional Smart Charger can take it from 0 to 80 percent in under an hour. That’s less “overnight recovery,” more “coffee stop with benefits.”
The trim story is refreshingly straightforward. The ride quality, motor output, and battery range stay the same across the line, so the lowest trim still gets the full-fat Vado 3 EVO experience. Move up the ladder to the 5.0 build and you add Shimano 11-Speed RAPIDFIRE PLUS drivetrain, TEKTRO HD-T5040 4-Piston Caliper brakes, plus more of a premium convenience layer: the integrated 2.2-inch touchscreen MasterMind display, low- and high-beam lighting, a manual wheel lock system, optional Quad Lock phone mounting with wireless charging, and Apple Find My. On the 6.0 model, Specialized makes all that stock and piles on even more goodies with a digital lock system, upgraded Rock Shox Psylo suspension fork, SRAM Eagle AXS wireless shifting, a front rack, Garmin radar, custom SRAM DB DB6 brakes, and a more polished metallic finish. [In total, those additions bring the 6.0’s weight up to 68 lbs.]
In addition, there is a Turbo Vado 3 X [shown below], which adds 120mm rear suspension to the equation, making it more capable of transitioning from urban to off-road when the mood strikes.
Specialized
With the Vado 3 family, commuting is more purr, less grrrr, and just the beginning of this bike’s daily-life integration.
Portland, Oregon’s Campfire Audio launched in 2015 as the logical continuation of founder and lead engineer Ken Ball’s ALOaudio. ALO, or Audio Line Out, was a company obsessed with the signal chain. And Campfire Audio emerged to produce hand-assembled in-ear monitors capable of transforming what the bespoke cables and boutique portable amps were transporting. With the 2016 introduction of the Andromeda [an IEM whose 10th anniversary edition we’ll have more to say about in the future], Campfire Audio’s distinctive industrial enclosures were established alongside a layered and lucid house sound, the result of acoustic chamber experimentation focused more on overall organic timbre than eking out every millimeter of transients. That changes, however, with the introduction of the Chimera—a summit-fi statement that sets out to add all possible technicalities and physicality to the spaciousness-first foundation.
Campfire Audio
The Chimera is a $7,500, nine-driver platform for quad technologies, including Campfire firsts. Its architecture combines an all-new 10mm True-Glass dynamic driver for lows and low-mids, a dual-diaphragm balanced-armature driver for midrange detail, two high-frequency BAs, four Sonion EST (electrostatic) super-tweeters, and a shell-embedded 10mm bone-conduction driver for low-frequency resonance (the first time Campfire has integrated such a component). A targeted pressure value, acoustic routing, vintage ceramic-film capacitor, and a “Master Track” final-stage tuning damper in the nozzle contribute to dynamic control and coherence. Early impressions from CanJam Singapore suggest this complexity doesn’t stand in the way of articulate texture in a gently U-shaped, sometimes W-shaped, very protean monitor that, with the right eartips, is fast while weighty, precise but more about rich presence, and never preoccupied with injecting itself into the audio. And, at 5.5Ω @ 1kHz with a rated sensitivity of 94dB SPL @ 1kHz/14.6 mVrms, the Chimera isn’t difficult to drive from a range of DAC/amp/DAPs to achieve full expression of its 5Hz – 20kHz frequency response.
Further helping justify the cost are the materials, including CNC-machined billet magnesium finished with a durable PVD coating, a carbon fiber-brass Damascus faceplate, machined brass nozzle, custom fasteners and vents, 2-pin connectors, plus an ALOaudio Valence-6 cable featuring copper + silver-plated copper conductors and 4.4mm balanced termination developed for maximum synergy. There’s also a black leather zipper case, two-pocket mesh Breezy Bag, ear tip selection, and various cleaning tools.
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