The Sonos Arc Ultra Soundbar and Sub 4 Subwoofer
Pump up the volume so you don’t have to read your favorite shows
Sonos has gotten quite bitter criticism since launching its first headphones, the superb Sonos Ace, back in June. If you believe the technology press, the company has been in permacrisis since then—the Sonos app was deemed terrible and the products not great, and even the headphones case was decried as a disaster. (For me, it’s the best case I’ve seen.)
It’s all slightly baffling because we’ve been trying their latest TV soundbar, the Sonos Arc Ultra, and the optional subwoofer, called the Sub 4, and, as with the headphones, found them absolutely glorious. You can also add in Sonos rear speakers to go for a fully immersive setup. (We didn’t.) Or you can integrate your Sonos Ace headphones so they automatically take over from the home-theater sound when you put them on your head.
As it happens, the audio on the TV chez Landing Gear, the wonderful Samsung Serif, is already excellent, so it wasn’t obvious how the new Sonos soundbar would improve on that.
But the Arc Ultra does, to the startling extent that if you use the (we think excellent) Sonos app to improve dialogue audio, you may find it possible to once and for all dispense with subtitles, which are becoming alarmingly popular—especially among the over-35 cohort—as so many directors insist on making character dialogue incomprehensible.
The depth and immersion effects are also truly captivating. The Sub 4 we tested isn’t wholly necessary for everyone, but it’s a thing of physical beauty, and it sounds rather majestic.
Even as an admirer of the brand, I was not looking forward to setting up the system. But getting it running turned out to be a delight. I’m not sure I have ever enjoyed installing a product in any respect—Apple comes close to the perfect initiation rite but still manages to get you scratching your head at some point. But with Sonos, it was a definite pleasure.
The Klydoclock
The charm of a pendulum clock, without the maintenance
If the gadgetry offered on social media is anything to go by, this past year has seen a worldwide frenzy of inventiveness. Barely a day has passed without your columnist being sorely tempted by some new product I didn’t realize I needed.
Equally ingenious, it must be said, are the many ways Facebook and Instagram gadgeteers have of disappointing. All too often, the innovation that looked so exciting and life-changing in the slick online advertising turns up in a gray plastic bag from China and emerges completely useless from its sloppily made, unbranded box.
The incomprehensibly named Klydoclock, which Facebook served up a few weeks back, is a glorious exception to the universal law of disillusionment. It is the very opposite of a letdown. When I requested a sample from its Israeli makers, I was sure it would be a dud. It is instead one of the most delightful products of the year.
Klydoclock is not a complicated new concept—just a clock, nicely made, in a wooden cabinet and with two round, colorful digital screens. The bottom one simulates a swinging pendulum, and the larger screen displays a wide variety of animations, some arty, some psychedelic, and some cartoon- or manga-themed. You can change the animations with a remote. The clock ticks satisfyingly to give it a retro feel, and there are a variety of charming chime sounds. Inevitably, there’s a wide range of settings, most of which I haven’t explored because the defaults are so excellent.
It’s especially hard to know which entertaining clockface to select. We settled on an amusingly animated Dutch interior, then flipped to a Disneyfied frog popping its head in and out of a pond, and then, finally, to footage of Apollo astronauts arranging the Stars and Stripes on the moon. You’ll probably never be able to settle on one for good.
A couple of slight issues: The Klydoclock is a bit lightweight and slightly top-heavy—be sure to put it somewhere it won’t fall over. Also, the setup procedure is tricky but will work if you persevere. Stay calm. Even though it took only 15 minutes, I did not.
The H2O Audio Tri 2 Multi-Sport Pro Headphones
A perfect pair of headphones for when you need to stay alert
San Diego swimming-headphone maker H2O Audio rather dominates this niche-product area, which is made possible by bone-conduction technology—so you can have your music playing loud and clear but still be able to hear the frantic shouts of “Shark! Shark!” when necessary.
You may not be thinking beach at this time of year, but H2O’s latest and most advanced, the Tri 2 Multi-Sport Pro stores 130 hours of music and runs for nine hours on a charge. It also works up to 12 feet down, so swimming underwater with a soundtrack is possible. The Tri 2 Multi-Sport Pro can also pair with a phone via Bluetooth and has a microphone, so you could conceivably be in a hot tub or indoor pool and take calls.
H2O Audio headphones are good for non-water-based activities—bike riders and runners wear them to stay aware of traffic around them. If you use yours to commute or for long bike rides, the charger case might be useful, too. It will charge the headphones twice with its built-in battery pack.
The WindowSwap Webcam Channel
Get a room with a view, without having to leave the comfort of home
When the Internet was young, Webcams were one of the delightful novelties. All over the world, enthusiasts began, just for fun and with no commercial motive, placing always-on cameras at interesting spots. It is thought to have started when some scientists at Cambridge University put the laboratory coffee-maker online so they could check from their computer terminal to see whether there was a pot brewing.
A Hong Kong company, WindowSwap, has revived this venerable tradition by hosting lengthy videos—and some still shots—taken from people’s windows around the world, complete with audio.
There don’t seem to be any truly live videos, but this doesn’t detract from the pleasure of being able to set up your desktop—especially if you have a big screen—as if it were a real window in someone’s house or office in Manila or Tokyo, in a village in France, or on a farm in India, or one overlooking a neighboring construction site in Turkey. The audio is particularly enchanting.
The more mundane the scene, the more oddly engaging WindowSwap is. And you can upload your own recording. The site is free, but there’s a $5-per-month paid upgrade that offers the inevitable extra features. We haven’t tried them, in order to honor the original free spirit of the Webcam, but we have donated to WindowSwap’s voluntary tip jar to say thanks for the entertainment.
Based in London and New York, AIR MAIL’s tech columnist, Jonathan Margolis, spent more than two decades as a technology writer at the Financial Times. He is also the author of A Brief History of Tomorrow, a book on the history of futurology
