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You are here: Home / 2014 / Archives for June 2014

Archives for June 2014

The Soundbook X3 by Bayan Audio

06/19/2014 By Hakan Can

Bayan Audio Soundbook X3

Bayan Audio Soundbook X3

Updated: Now most of you folks have never heard of Bayan Audio. After reading this piece, you may want to check them out, especially if you’re in the need for what I’ve written below. Bayan Audio has three products under the Soundbook designation,  the Soundbook, the Soundbook Go, and the Soundbook X3. I had the pleasure of trying out the latter for a number of weeks. The Bayan Audio Soundbook X3 is a Bluetooth wireless speaker. While there are plenty of Bluetooth speakers available on the market, what sets the Soundbook X3 apart from the pack is its elegance and superior sound. Let’s be honest, most large Bluetooth speakers look somewhere between boring to awful. Do you really want to purchase a product with this description? Sadly, some of you have already made this purchase, but I know I don’t want to.

The X3 is available in two color styles: silver with blue trim and black with orange trim. I’ve only gotten to see the former but I’ve got to admit, from the photos, the latter looks pretty sweet. Even the packaging is sweet and I highly recommend keeping it. As for the X3 dimensions, it’s about the size of a 500 page novel, 9.25” x 4.72” x 1.75” to be specific. Its power output is 20 watts consisting of four 1.5” long throw neodymium (yeah that’s a word) drivers and one 3” passive bass radiator driver. The speaker is run using 100 – 240 volts at 50/60 Hertz. The frequency range is 60 Hz – 20 kHz with a THD of less than 2%. And all of this clocks in at 3.17 lbs. So how is the battery life you ask? It plays music for up to 10 hours at 50% volume on a single charge. And when the battery gets low, the word “LOW” flashes in LED lights on the face of the unit. When this happens, the volume is capped at 50%. In my testing, a complete recharge of the battery takes about 7 hours, give or take an hour. So begin your recharge at 11 PM and unplug it when you awaken at 6 or 7 AM.

I mentioned in the first paragraph that this product is elegant. The housing of the sound book is made from ballistic nylon with an aluminum casing. There’s a protective cover with one side ballistic nylon and the other a rubbery material, which when opened, becomes the stand to the speaker. As it turns out and not a coincidence, the color of the rubber base matches the LED lighting. When opened, the speaker leans back and rests on an angle. (See photos.) When closed a hidden magnet prevents the cover from opening. On the rear of the unit, there are four inputs. From left to right, they are AUX In, Speaker Out, Power In, and a USB. You can even charge another device with this USB port. On the top of the unit, there are five buttons. From left to right they are Tune Down, Tune Up (both for FM radio), Power/Input, Volume Down and Volume Down. Just underneath the Power/Input button is the volume indication. Every time you press the Power/Input button, you change the mode. There are AUX, FM, and Bluetooth (version 4.0) modes which are displayed in the aforementioned LED lighting. All worked perfectly in the unit I tested. The unit also has NFC auto connect paring, an integrated antenna for the radio, and a built-in microphone. The latter comes in handy when conducting conference calls via Bluetooth.

So how do the X3’s 20 watts of audio sound? The short answer is it produces sound very well and envelopes a room, more like an entire floor, in that sound. While testing this I wondered what the point was in keeping my Dad’s old Aiwa stereo rack system. I takes up so much space and weighs so much. In this modern age, such racks systems aren’t really needed beyond the home theater/entertainment system. The speaker is well-balanced, with more bass than anticipated. Most of you will like this strong bass. Now I tested the X3’s abilities from both Bluetooth and via connection to my laptop. I do this for a couple of reasons: 1) I don’t like the sound processing of my LG mobile and 2) I very much like the sound processing of my Toshiba laptop. For this testing, I went beyond my rotating list of testing 4-5 albums. Instead I listened to a minimum of 20-25 albums, half from my cloud library. From Muse to The Killers to Lana Del Rey to Ellie Goulding to Tove Lo, all sounded well. I especially like listening to John Coltrane and Duke Ellington, with Latin instrumental guitarists Struntz and Farah taking the prize. Classical and jazz music production were top notch. The only sound that was a disappointment was Zedd’s Clarity. I don’t think this is X3 related as I’ve encountered this issue before with Zedd. When it comes to electronica, Zedd in particular, everything I’ve tried to date comes up short. I believe a high end system is best to produce what the artist has cooked up.
As this speaker produces a wide range of sound, it is suited for large rooms (300 sq. ft. and greater) as well as small, i.e. the bedroom. It is also ideal for outdoor settings, for instance a back porch, but I don’t recommend the beach. In my opinion, it’s too nice of a product to be around sand.

Included with each Soundbook X3 are the following:
• A multi-language manual
• A 3.5mm 3’ stereo audio cable
• A mains power adapter with 5’ cord
• EU and UK adapters for use with the charger

You can find Bayan Audio products at a variety of online retailers most notably Amazon. The X3 has a list price of $299 while the slightly smaller Soundbook lists for $199. If you have any questions, feel free to send a tweet or post a comment. I do respond.

For those of you who will be attending CES2015, feel free to visit their booth. The Bayan Audio booth is located at the Sands Expo Hall, Booth 74961.

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Filed Under: Hear This, Sight & Sound, Speakers Tagged With: Audio, Bayan, Soundbook, Speaker, X3 01/01/2015

My Interview with Supernatural’s Alaina Huffman

06/09/2014 By Hakan Can

Supernatural's Alaina Huffman
Supernatural's Alaina Huffman

Supernatural actor Alaina Huffman

Depending on what shows you watch, you’ll recognize Alaina Huffman from any one of a number of notable roles. Most recently she’s portrayed the last Demon Knight of Hell—Abaddon in the long running CW show Supernatural.  Abaddon is a terrific character to play as she’s a super baddie, getting to toss around the Winchester Brothers while wording some great lines.  Others may recognize her from SGU Stargate Universe where she portrayed Lt. Tamara Johansen.  Although I’ve seen Alaina in 4-5 previous roles, it’s her role as the Lieutenant where I recognize her work the most.  For those of you that were always wondering, Alaina was pregnant during part of the show with child, so all those pregnancy scenes was real.  Not the actual birth of course.  More on this in the interview.  And for you super hero fans, she portrayed the hero Black Canary in the show Smallville.  I do believe this was the first incarnation of the Justice League on any screen.  So you’ve got to admit, she’s had some pretty cool roles.  And yes, she was even on the show Painkiller Jane.

I meant to ask Alaina about her stints on Dawson’S Creek and The O.C., two shows which I’ve seen every episode of.  Go on and make fun of me, but I was young once too.  In the moment, you deviate from the prepared list of questions, and that’s alright.  It gave us time to talk about filming the mini-series Jack Hunter and sightseeing in Turkey, motherhood, the coloring of hair (mostly mine), and a variety of other topics such as current television favorites.

She’s truly as fun and personable as you’ll soon see and hear.  A shame you folks weren’t around for the conversations before and after the interview.  There was some funny stuff coming out of our mouths, well mostly hers like “man handling” and “yogurt makers.”  She was kind enough to take time away from all that was Pop Culture Expo to sit down for this interview.  It’s my pleasure to bring this interview for you all to enjoy.  And Alaina, next time you (and hopefully your husband) come to Boston, we need to get you some time in our fair city and do some sightseeing.  I look forward to seeing you soon on the TV in future projects.

For the past two weeks I’ve been trying out how to begin this written segment of the interview.  Although we filmed this interview over two weeks ago, my delay in getting this to you folks and to Alaina wasn’t due to writer’s block.  Unfortunately two weeks ago, and I’ll keep this brief, I had a bad fall in my home and dislocated my left shoulder. I tripped over an ottoman; how Turkish of me.  A week later, it was relocated (put back into place) which hurt even worse.  And this was capped off two days ago by throwing out my lower back while lifting my new cat Elmas. (She just emigrated from Turkey the day before; a common theme you may have recognized by now.)  I don’t recommend any of you following in my injury missteps.  For those of you that know, I am recovering and will be whole again soon.

In case you were wondering, we filmed this in the offices of the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA, hence all the trophies. There were cases full of them, most off screen.

You can follow Alaina Huffman on Twitter at @AlainaHuffman

You can follow the show Supernatural at @cw_spn and at http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural/

Filed Under: Digital Hollywood, Entertainment, Network TV, The Interviews Tagged With: Abaddon, actor, Alaina Huffman, Smallville, Stargate, Supernatural 01/01/2015

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