ART Precision Phono Preamp…
Sep 22, 2021
Home Electronics
One of the things we've been doing during Covid is listening to more vinyl. It's been…
Secret Lab Throne Gaming Chair Review
Secret Lab makes a variety of gaming chairs. These are essentially very nice office style chairs with attractive and ergonomic designs. The chairs come shipped in a big box with the color of the chair on the outside of the box. It would be very difficult to ship the wrong item.
Secret Lab does a really nice job of packaging the chair and making it dead simple to assemble. They recommend getting the help of a friend to assemble the chair which we didn't find necessary. There are some excellent assembly videos available too for those tackling their first chair. This video by Secret Lab really shows how easy it is to put together. Everything is well organized and there's also an excellent 1 sheet in the box if the wifi is down.
The trickiest part of the assembly is dealing with the plastic wrap of the seat cushion and avoiding the recline mechanism. Secret Lab does a good job of making sure you know not to touch the mechanism until the the back of the chair is attached to the base. They really make you deathly afraid and we can't help but wonder if there's another way to achieve this assembly without the added stress and warning when you first open the box.
Once assembled the Secret Lab Throne chair is a very comfortable chair. It comes with two small pillows for lumbar and neck support. These are nice but we didn't find we needed them. The Throne is considered the small chair in the Secret Lab lineup but we found it comfortable for funkyfresh staffers of all shapes and sizes.
The Throne sells in the $250-$300 range. It's well made, looks good and easy to assemble. We'll decide if it's a good value based on how it holds up over time.
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- Category: Computer Gear
Genelec 8030C 5” active monitor Review
The Genelec 8030C 5” active monitors are a very good choice for transparent and accurate monitors for post production. Our mixes are translating to all playback devices as intended and these Genelecs have become trusted, honest friends during mixdown.
The 8030C 5” active monitor is an extremely well built unit that features 5” inch woofer and 3/4” tweeter both powered by 50-watt amplifiers. These are compact and very powerful monitors that can produce high output levels in control rooms of nearly any size when necessary.
We adjusted the dip switches on the back to account for the speakers being near a wall and slightly elevated. This was critical to achieving the accurate sound we were after. Prior to adjusting the dip switches the sound was really heavy and muddy in the lower frequencies. Once dialed in the sound was natural and transpsarent. We can edit all day on the 8030s as they bring the reality of what we captured in the field to the edit suite.
These 8030c monitors are just really clean monitors that allow you to mix dialogue and music in a very confident way. These are great monitors for critical listening and doing audio forensics and cleaning up interviews. We'd like to see more input options in addition to the balanced XLR but imagine many are installed in permanent professional situations where the added cost isn't necessary.
The auto on/off feature is really great and this goes for any Genelec monitor. Once it's setup you never have to worry about powering them on and off again. They sense the audio signal and toggle on and off as needed. We cam to really love this feature over time and never have to reach around the back to turn them on and off.
We also really like the tough, industrial approach to the design. Both wooder and tweeter are protected by grills and the build is impeccable. It's an extremely well made and attractive designer. The producer finish just instantly makes us feel at ease in the edit sweet.
For many years we've been happily chugging along with our passive JBLs and trusted Hafler amps and we still prefer the heft and heat for music mixes. The Genelecs did take a little getting used to, like adjusting to any new monitor setup. After extended use we can highly recommend them. They just stay out of the way so you can dial in your mix with confidence. When it comes to post production they've become a standard in many editing suites with good reason. The Genelec 8030c monitors are a really good choice and translate well to any kind of playback system. They make a good partner for extended edit sessions and will keep you honest with your final mix.
We tested them in a 10x10 edit suite adjacent to a 30” screen using IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R130 isolators. They are pretty much ideal in this setting. Just give them a clean signal from the board and the Genelec's have plenty of power to fill the space as needed. We took the little feet off before putting them on the isolators. Yes, you can take them off. We prefer to have them off the desk versus pointed up at our ears. Just feels better to us that way.
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- Category: Production and Creative
RAVPower RP-PC029 6-Port Desktop Charger Review
The RAVPower RP-PC029 6-Port Desktop Charger is sturdy and well made. It can charge any combination of smartphones, tablets, MP3 players, generally any rechargeable USB device.
Instead of having multiple wall warts on the kitchen counter this unit takes just 1 AC outlet to power 6 devices. It's much easier to create an organized charging station and all devices charge quickly and it comes with a 1.5m power cord to give you a little extra wiggle room.
The RAVPower RP-PC029 includes Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology and claims it can charge devices up to 4x as fast as conventional chargers. We didn't measure as there's just too many variables with all the devices and battery health etc. We can tell you this unit seemed to charge everything as fast or faster than OEM chargers they came with. This includes iPads, iPhones, Sony Phones, Samsung Phones and SanDisk MP3 players.
Not that we get all excited about charging units but yes this is a good device and well worth the $30. It feels solid, works well and will not end up in the drunk drawer with the sub-par chargers. You'll get a lot of use out of this.
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Startech DisplayPort to DVI Dual Link Active Adapter Converter Review
You've got a new video card and an older monitor and now your monitor isn't working at full resolution. You normally run it at 2560x1600 but now it only works at 1280x800. What's going on?
You need a DisplayPort to DVI Dual Link Active Adapter Converter. Basically, you need this Startech device or something similar that you pick up for under $100. This is a well built unit with a metal housing. And it works seamlessly.
We tested it using a Dell 3007WFP 30inch monitor and Quadro P4000 GPU. Esentially any new video card that does not have a DVI Dual Link connection will require an adapter like this to work with older monitors that may not support Display Port at full resolution. You simply plug the Startech adapter into the DVI Dual Link connector and a USB connector for power. Plug your monitor into the Startech and you're back in business.
If you spent big money on your monitor years ago and you're pefectly happy with its performance you should consider getting an adapter like this. We recently tested a new 30inch HP Z display and the older 30inch Dell 3007WFP side by side and we have to tell you they both look fantastic when driven by the Quadro P4000 at 2560x1600 resolution. So if you still like that old monitor use it with your new rig and keep it out of the ecycle for a while longer.
Find out more here.
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- Category: Computer Gear
Canon TS9120 Inkjet Printer Review
Finally a decent inkjet printer that has all the capabilities you need in smart compact design. The Canon TS9120 is a great little printer that can serve the whole family. It's quiet, relatively quick and produces great photos. From unboxing to first print took about 20 minutes. Plus this printer is smart and knows when to use the different paper sources without demanding I ok the choice each time.
We've tested printers in the past that a complete pain to use, looking at you Epson, because the machine was too stupid to figure out it had 4x6 stock in 1 slot and 8x10 in the other. The first test we did was exactly that. We loaded regular paper in the front and 4x6 glossy in the back. Then using the iPad, macbook, PC and phones from Sony, Samsung and Apple we sent mutiple images and documents to the printer. So yes, mom can printer photos form the phone and junior can printer homework from the iPad. As long as you keep the proper types of paper stocked and an eye on the ink it couldn't be easier and we'll keep everyone happy.
The quality produced by this little printer is great. We did a test comparing phots from the Costco lab to photos printed by the TS9120 on Glossy Canon paper. It's really hard to see any difference. And with a little color and saturation tweaking you get really emulate lab results on 4x6 paper. Bigger prints look great too. It's actually amazing the quality this little unit can crank out.
At first the design seemed a little funky. But it's actually quite smart and allows this printer to take up minimal space. It folds up into a neat little box when necessary and automatically extends the output tray as needed when printing. The angle of the display in front is adjustable and easy to figure out. The scanner and copier features are just a bonus in this case and work fine as well.
But not all is sweetness and light. This printer has a sensor issue. Several times it claimed there was a paper jam when there was no paper jam and refused to print. Like a scene our of "Office Space" we nearly took a bat to this printer in frustration. So while we love this little guy for the functionality and low price we hope our paper jam experience is just an anomaly.
Not that it matters, but we like the red color. We have enough black plastic in our lives and this little printer looks nice in red. Over the years we've tested countless injet printers from Epson, HP, Brother and Canon. This is a good one. When it's error free it works well. Simple to set up, has great connectivity, produces really nice photos and the price is right at $99. Canon is going to sell a whole lot of these.
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- Category: Computer Gear
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