Beantown Review

Boston's Digital Lifestyle & Consumer Tech Site

You are here: Home / Archives for Hakan Can

Review: The Qube from Matrix Audio

By

[soliloquy id=”931″]

Updated: Filed in the better late than never category comes the Qube, the universal pocket speaker from Matrix Audio. Over the past few months (you heard me correctly–I said months, not weeks or even days) I’ve been testing this speaker against an array of portable mini speakers.  When I received the Qube, I had wondered how it would compare in the sound department.  Suffice to say I was not disappointed. It has become my go-to solo speaker whether in or away from my home office. Over this period of time, I’ve been impressed with not only the sound but its consistency to reproduce that sound months later. No lemons here.

The first thing one notices is how stunning the speaker looks.  It’s a well-manufactured beautifully-crafted piece of equipment.  It’s sharp looking in its black aluminum finish (available in five other colors: silver, red, blue, pink and purple, see photos) but it’s also sturdy and has some weight to it, 78 grams to be specific. Now, not only is the speaker sturdy, but the packaging is as well.  To this day, this packaging, even after a few months, is where I store the Qube when not in use.  If you choose to discard it, don’t forget the packaging is 100% recyclable which is important to so many of us.

The speaker is aptly named as a universal pocket speaker. It’s 38mm in each axis thus the name Qube.  One can easily and comfortably carry it around in their pocket; I’m not just saying that. It fits well whether in ones pants or shorts front pocket.  If you’re afraid it may get scratched, use the ultra-suede carrying pouch and transport it in your purse or satchel.  It takes up so little volume that you actually may forget that it’s there.  The design is straight forward. On the back side, there’s an On/Off button as well as a micro USB connection.  Simply hold down the power button for a few seconds and a blue LED activates, and then you’re good-to-go.  To shut it down, use the same method until the blue light deactivates.  There’s no volume slider, but then again, what’s the point of having one. Whatever device you connect the Qube to i.e. laptop, smartphone, etc. has volume control so no need for redundancy.

So you ask…how does its 3 watts of audio sound?  Pretty good in fact.  For sound testing, I use the same 4-5 artists for consistency while constantly plugging and unplugging various speakers for comparisons sake.  These artists are 30 Seconds to Mars, John Coltrane, Lana Del Ray, Muse, and now Zedd.  Testing the latter first, the Qube was strong and clean in vocals and higher frequency mid-ranges while a bit short in the bass area, which didn’t surprise me base don its design. In testing similar sized speakers, the opposite is true: more boom in the bass and weaker in the vocals. Now we all have different tastes but I’m willing to sacrifice some bass for tighter vocals.  And if you need a second opinion, watch what happens with those collapsible portable speakers at mid-to-high volume while listening to say Lana Del Ray’s title track Born to Die.  The speaker hops around like one of those novelty Mexican jumping beans. I can’t tell how often those other speakers jumped off my desk and shelves.  Thanks to the heft and low center of gravity, there’s no stage diving for the Qube. That last thing I want is a kamikaze speaker.  Call me crazy but I would like to use it again.  (In case you’re wondering LDR sounded amazing.) Of all the music genres sampled, I’d say Jazz sounded best with Coltrane’s sax on Lazy Bird sounding dynamite, closely followed by the sounds of Muse and LDR.

If you’re looking to purchase the Qube but don’t see it in your favorite online or retail store, you need not look any further than the manufacturer’s website: www.matrixaudio.com.  It retails for the price of $39.99.  If the Qube isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, Matrix Audio has recently introduced the Qube 2, a universal Bluetooth portable speaker which retails for $79.99.  Also available from MA is the NRG which lists for $29.99 and the ONE for $69.99.

For those of you who will be attending CES2015, feel free to visit their booth. The Bayan Audio booth is located at the LVCC North Hall, Booth 6627.

[soliloquy id=”906″]

All photos are courtesy of Matrix Audio

My Interview with Being Human’s Sam Huntington

By

Actor Sam Huntington of Being Human

Two Thumbs Up with Sam Huntington of SyFy’s Being Human

So it’s mid-afternoon on a Sunday and you’ve been hanging out having a great time with one of the lead actors of the SyFy show Being Human, so what do you next? Well you top it off with an interview so that’s what we did. Sam Huntington who plays the character Josh (a werewolf) was kind enough to sit down for about 12 minutes and we spoke about everything that came to mind. Now, I did have a list of items I wanted to cover, but when you’re in a good place, you sometimes forget to address a few. Case in point, the ill-fated television series Cavemen. In all honesty it was probably best we never got to it even though it came up earlier in the day. Sam is a local boy coming from Peterborough, NH and would you believe he’s been acting for 18 years. As he says, “he’s been really lucky.” But I think talent has a lot to do with his success. We discussed Being Human, Not Another Teen Movie and other acting credits as well as life in Montreal, a city I almost moved to many years ago. He’s genuinely approachable and super friendly. It’s my pleasure to bring to you this interview for you all to enjoy.

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.

Originally the subject title of this interview was “More Poop and Pee”? After 6 months I changed it.  My rationale had something to do with Bing/Google search.  Listen to the entire interview and you’ll hear this subject come up in the 11th minute.

You can follow local NH boy Sam Huntington on Twitter at @SammyHuntington.

You can follow the show Being Human (even though it’s wrapped up) at @BeingHumanSyFy and at www.syfy.com/beinghuman.

Update: Sam has a new film The Throwaways set to come out in January 2015. The link will take you to IMDB.

Actor Sam Huntington of Syfy's Being Human

Acting silly with Sam Huntington of SyFy’s Being Human

The Soundbook X3 by Bayan Audio

By

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.

[soliloquy id=”883″]

My Interview with Supernatural’s Alaina Huffman

By

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/

STM Bags Review – The Brand To Own

By

STM, three letters you’re probably not used to seeing together. By the time you’re finished reading this post and reviewing the photos and video, you’ll be quite familiar with them. STM is a bag maker from all the way across the western pond based out of Sydney, Australia. They have a variety of bag collections: Annex, Canvas, and Velocity. But they’re more than just a bag maker. They also offer attractive and functional cases for mobile phones and tablets and sleeves for laptops. Their complete lineup is presented on their website www.stmbags.com. Feel free to peruse and try out their sizing calculator.

[soliloquy id=”742″]

A little over one month ago, STM introduced their Annex line of bags. For the purposes of this review we’ll focus on two models, the Link and Trust from within this line. The Annex line is available in three colors (charcoal, olive, and red), two of which I have in hand.

The STM Link is a quick cam-adjustable shoulder bag for use with 10” tablets that I would describe as cute, yet it’s not particularly aimed at women. It comes with two external sleeves, one of which is closed via magnet and three oversized aluminum zipper pulls with #10 YYK self-repairing plastic zippers, the latter a feature you don’t usually see on bags of this size. This feature helps prevent a zipper from malfunctioning. How many times over your life have you had a zipper fail? You can’t recall can you, but I bet it was plenty.

The bag can simultaneously hold a 10” tablet (high density foam padded on both sides) and a thick reading book, in this case, all 630 pages of Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs (see photo.) The bag’s exterior is Cottna 320D/640D (D for Denier) water resistant poly. Its interior is 200g polyester and brushed nylex. Each Link comes in at 0.8 lbs. with dimensions of 10.2” x 7.5” x 0.6”. This is for you specification nuts.  And yes, there’s plenty of space for your cards, keys, pens, wallet, and mobile phone. The Link has a list of price just under $60.

The STM Trust is a true messenger bag available in two sizes: for 13” and 15” laptops. Like its smaller cousin, the Trust has a quick cam-adjustable shoulder strap but this model also has an added padded shoulder cushion for comfort.

Oversized aluminum zipper pulls with #10 YYK self-repairing plastic zippers are a plenty, with four by my count. No magnets this time but there is one external sleeve in the rear with another within to hold a mobile phone. The latter is a nice feature, one in which may have to be enlarged as mobile phones keep increasing in size.

The laptop compartment is padded with high density foam on both sides. There are also two water bottle pockets with compression straps, one on each end. Now here’s where this comes in handy. If you’re heading to the gym, one side could hold your pre-workout drink, the other, your post-workout protein. The bags exterior and interior materials are just like that of the Link. This is across the Annex line. The small Trust comes in at 2.2 lbs. with dimensions of 11.2” x 15” x 4.7”. The medium Trust comes in at 2.5 lbs. with dimensions of 12” x 15.7” x 5.5”. With the Trust, there’s even more space for your cards, keys, pens, wallet, but this time, enough space for a laptop battery and an airport sandwich to spare. The Link has a list of price just under $130. And in case you’ve wondered, the workmanship and stitching is impeccable. I checked thoroughly on both models.

STM also offers a couple perks of purchasing. Register your product at www.stmbags.com/rt and they’ll be able to provide assistance in the case of a warranty. They’ve also partnered with RewardTagTM to help recover a lost bag. Just look for the information collar inside each bag to get started. Plus, there’s a monthly bag giveaway contest open to new registrants.

You can find STM products at a variety of online retailers, i.e. Amazon, eBags, and REI to name some. And if you look right now, you can catch some deals at REI’s current sale. You can also find STM at your local retailer. In the Boston area, they’re available at Eastern Mountain Sports and Micro Center. This way you get to touch and feel them.

Game of Thrones Panel Interview with Kristian Nairn and Esmé Bianco

By

[soliloquy id=”748″]

What happens when you put an Irishman, and English lady and an American journalist on a stage?  Well, you get a question and answer session with none other than actors Kristian Nairn (aka Hodor) and Esmé Bianco (aka Roos) of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, moderated by entertainment writer Jim Sullivan.  Throw me into mix and you get someone filming the panel session for you all to enjoy.  Add two more Americans into this cauldron of fun and you have Deric Shea and Gary Sohmers, the founders of Pop Culture Expo.  These two gentleman are the brains behind PCX, a mix of pop culture, science fiction programming, comic books, costume play, gaming and more which took place for the first time this past weekend at the Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA.  The Q&A is broken down into two parts, the first running for about 40 minutes, and the second for about 20 minutes.  With three episodes remaining in this 4th season of GoT, there may or may not be some spoilers so beware.  There may or may not even be an update on the 5th season of GoT which begins filming in two months. (Update: there’s been a 5th and 6th season announcement.)  So…plug a speaker into your mobile device, tablet, laptop, or whatever you have got and enjoy.

Finally, I’d like to add that it was a pleasure to meet and converse with all these folks listed above.  It was a fun two days being with these great people.  There will be more Pop Culture Expo’s coming every 6 months so check them out at www.popcultureexpo.con

You can follow the super friendly Kristian Nairn on Twitter at @KristianNairn

You can follow the insanely attractive Esmé Bianco on Twitter at @esmebianco

You can follow super writer Jim Sullivan on Twitter at @JimSullivanInk

Hakan Y Can is a Editor & Owner of this website. Twitter: @BeantownReview