Rolling Stone Audio Awards 2024
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There’s no shortage of high-end audio gear on the market these days, from Bluetooth headphones that double as noise-canceling, work-from-home essentials, to floor-standing speakers that promise room-shaking bass.
But which new releases or fan-favorites actually live up to their hype? We’ve spent the past year testing hundreds of earbuds, headphones, speakers and sound systems to compile our 2024 Rolling Stone Audio Awards.
These products earned a place on our list for superior performance, innovative technology and distinctive design, proving that good music and good looks can go hand in hand.
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Innovation Award: Samsung Music Frame
Image Credit: Samsung Samsung’s Music Frame will make your audio look as good as it sounds, and you won’t want to wait to hang it up and hit play at home. There’s a lot to love with the specs here: the speaker contains two, built-in woofers, two tweeters, and two midrange drivers, with waveguides that will really help create a depth of sound, especially for wider rooms. The physical print on the front will be customizable, so it can seamlessly blend into any style you’re going for in your home, whether you use it as a picture frame, or for an artsier listening setup. Releases: Spring 2024.
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Best Overall Headphones: Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones
Image Credit: Sony Designing excellent headphones is a tall order for any brand, but with the WH-1000XM5s, Sony delivers the best ones in the game. These noise-blocking cans blow the competition away with their crystal-clear sound, thanks in part to eight built-in mics that optimize what you hear based on where you’re listening, whether you’re commuting or on a plane. On top of their balanced tone, they boast improved voice-call quality and 30-hours of battery life per charge.
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Best On-Ear Headphones: Grado GW100x
Image Credit: Grado The first (and only!) open-back Bluetooth headphones out there, the GW100x are Grado’s 3rd edition of the award-winning headset, and delivers an audio experience like we’ve never heard before. The perfect blend of old-school cool with new-school tech, the industrial-style headphones are packed with brand new 44mm X Series drivers that provide better performance and a refreshingly spacious soundstage for an open-back design. Sweet acoustic advantages and less sound leakage? That’s music to our ears.
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Best Wired Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO
Image Credit: Beyerdynamic When it comes to wired headphones, these closed back DT 770 PRO headphones from Beyerdynamic are the gold standard. The mid-range is impeccable and the soundstage is crisp and bright, the level of musical detail you could previously only find in pricey studio equipment. But the DT 770 Pro’s are bonafide crowd-pleasers, just as well-suited for monitoring levels as they are for sitting home and listening to your favorite tracks.
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Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
Image Credit: Bose Bose just re-established itself as the champion of noise-canceling headphones with these QuietComfort Ultras. You get three levels of noise-cancellation — Quiet Mode, Aware Mode, and Immersion Mode — with the last mode creating an unbelievable quiet, zen-like listening experience. Audio quality is unsurprisingly excellent too, especially with bass-heavy music.
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Best Headphones for Travel: Razer Barracuda Pro
Image Credit: Razer This set of headphones from Razer works perfectly for both music and gaming which makes it a perfect companion for travelers on the move. Its advanced noise cancellation technology allows wearers to decide exactly how tuned in they’d like to be to surrounding sounds while also enjoying headphone audio. Separately, its noise canceling microphone capabilities can be customized for indoor and outdoor sounds — delivering near perfect speaker sound quality in every environment.
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Best Workout Headphones: Beats Studio Pro
Image Credit: Beats We’ve sweat it out with plenty of headphones in the past, but the Beats Studio Pro headphones are miles ahead of the competition, and for good reason. They deliver rich, immersive sound, and you can switch between three built-in sound profiles to enhance your listening experience depending on your genre of choice. But when you start breaking a sweat? The Beats Studio Pros not only stay put, but they make the most of your audio experience through even the toughest of workouts.
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Best Audiophile Headphones: Bowers & Wilkins Px8
Image Credit: Bowers & Wilkins If you want a pair of audiophile-worthy headphones that don’t just feel luxurious to slip on, but sound luxurious too, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 are it. They deliver exceptional sound — some of the best we’ve ever heard — with sleek finishes so aesthetic you’d almost want to wear them on just as an accessory. The two 40mm drivers are designed to deliver rich, well-balanced sound, and trust us when we say they truly deliver — you’ll be able to feel each thump of the beat and every vocal harmony like you’re right there in the studio.
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Best Gaming Headphones: SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro gaming headset leaves its competition in the dust, delivering premium audio that’s clear and complex, while its noise-canceling and 360-degree spatial audio features gives gamers a deeper sense of immersion. This pro-level gaming headset can connect to a specific console, like the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or Nintendo Switch, and a gaming PC setup simultaneously — thanks to a robust base station that’s designed for precision audio. It even comes with two swappable batteries, so you can power through to that next level.
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Best-Designed Headphones: Master & Dynamic MW75 Neuro
Image Credit: Master & Dynamic Master & Dynamic wants to make your listening experience smarter, not harder, and their effort paid off big time, with headphones that’ll become your workday productivity and de-stressing companion. They’ve teamed with Neurable, an AI platform, to combine their premium sound with neurotechnology to help maximize your cognitive performance with the MW75 Neuro Headphones. The Bluetooth headphones feature Neurable’s unique neural sensors, meant to measure brain signals, so you can stress less and just focus on the next track.
Available for Pre-order Now.
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Best Value Headphones: Edifier W820NB Plus
Image Credit: Edifier Coming in at under $100, when it comes to bang for your buck, it doesn’t get much better than the Edifier W820NB Plus headphones. Featuring hybrid active noise technology and an encapsulating design, there’s a lot to love here — mainly the way the headphones automatically identify ambient noise and transmit corrective signals to deliver on their promise of premium noise cancellation at a budget-friendly pricepoint. Lightweight and cushion-y, these will sit comfortably over your head and ears and will allow you to hear outside noise when you need it — and block it fully when you don’t.
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Best DJ Headphones: Sennheiser Professional HD 25 Plus
Image Credit: Sennheiser Highly-regarded within the music community, the iconic Sennheiser Professional HD 25 Plus is a must-have for any aspiring or well-versed DJ. With fans across the dance music scene, these lightweight headphones will sit comfortably over your head and on your ears delivering perfectly crisp sound. Plus, their rotatable ear capsules allow for one-ear listening — which will come in clutch when you want to monitor audio with one and listen to the crowd with the other.
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Best Overall Earbuds: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds
Image Credit: Bose And the award for our favorite earbuds of the year goes to…Bose’s QuietComfort Ultras. We couldn’t take these buds out of our ears since they arrived in the mail — and you’ll hear why. That’s why we called them a “must-have for any music fan.” The QuietComfort Ultras are the best all-around earbuds for their comfortable fit, long-lasting battery life, workout-friendly design, and their unparalleled sound quality.
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Best Audiophile Earbuds: Sennheiser MOMENTUM 3
Image Credit: Sennheiser Listen up, audiophiles: allow us to introduce you to the best-sounding earbuds you can buy right now. Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3s take your music to the next level, thanks to adaptive sound cancellation and the brand’s TrueResponse tech — ensuring a near-HiFi-worthy listening session when you’re on the go.
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Best Noise-Cancelling Earbuds: Sony WF-1000XM5
Image Credit: Sony Sony has upped the noise-cancellation game with its WF-1000XM5 buds, which feature adaptive sound controls and AI technology to deliver a truly intimate listening experience. Put simply, they seamlessly block out outside noise to make sure everything from your playlists to phone calls come through crystal clear. The earbuds can last up to 24 hours when used with their charging case, and even support high-res audio listening.
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Best Earbuds for Travel: Devialet Gemini II
Image Credit: Amazon Forget the neck pillow — the Devialet Gemini II should be your ultimate travel companion. The sleek matte black and gunmetal design are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these buds, with enhanced tech that’ll immerse you even deeper into whatever you’re vibing to while you’re on the road. Enhanced noise cancellation blocks outside ambient noise, and they also dynamically adjust to the shape of your ear for the best on-the-go listening experience possible.
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Best Value Earbuds: Tranya Nova Hybrid Earbuds
Image Credit: Amazon For exceptional clarity and sound — for under $100 — look no further than the TRANYA Nova Hybrid wireless earbuds. Allowing you to switch seamlessly between noise reduction and transparency mode, we prefer these over the more expensive name-brand options as they deliver on pretty much the same qualities — but at a fraction of the price. What we particularly love about these water- and sweat-resistant buds are that they’re able to cut out 90% of background noise so you can make crystal clear calls on your commute without sirens interrupting daily catch-ups.
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Best-Designed Earbuds: Nothing Ear 2
Image Credit: Nothing London-based audio brand Nothing designed the coolest earbuds of the year with the Ear (2) buds. The buds take a style cue from their name, showcasing what’s under the hood with clear tips that feel both timeless and modern. Bonus: They’re high-res audio-certified and include 11.6mm drivers for powerful bass and rich, immersive sound with every track. What’s not to love about them? The answer’s pretty simple: nothing.
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Best Earbuds for Sleep: Anker Soundcore Sleep A10
Image Credit: Anker Soundcore If you’re on the hunt for a noise-blocking accessory that you can wear while you lay down to sleep, these Anker Soundcore Sleep A10 Bluetooth earbuds stands above the rest. Designed to nuzzle into your ear, and stay nuzzled in, their flexible ear wings and sealed tips provide a secure but comfortable fit — even for side sleepers. You can listen to your favorite soothing sounds, and, once you’ve drifted off, these can ingeniously switch modes to cut the sound and help you catch some uninterrupted Zzz’s.
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Best Open Earbuds: JBL Live Flex 3
Image Credit: JBL Adding screens to everything isn’t always a recipe for success, but JBL’s impressive earbud improvements on their JBL Live Flex 3s combined with a savvy smart case makes them stand out from the crowd. They feature a case with a 1.45-inch LED touchscreen with a display that lets you adjust the volume of your music, change the EQ, and even switch between noise cancellation modes. The buds themselves have a comfortable, open design and well-balanced sound, which make them a welcome alternative from the gummy-tipped earbud crowd. Available: Summer 2024.
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Best Earbuds for Battery Life: Campfire Audio Orbit
Image Credit: Campfire Audio Having a pair of earbuds that can last a full day off one charge is crucial. So when it comes to picking the right pair, very few come close to the Campfire Audio Orbits. Not only do they have IXP5 water-resistance, but have the capacity to last 8.5 hours off a single charge, with an additional 30 hours in the case.
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Best Earbuds for Small Ears: Cleer Audio Ally Plus II
Image Credit: Cleer Audio Small ears? No problem with the Cleer Audio Ally Plus IIs. Their lightweight design balances design and functionality, equipped with five sizes of eartips for any ear size. Not to mention they also boast superior sound performance with higher clarity, quality, and enhanced noise cancellation.
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Best Workout Earbuds: Jabra Elite 8 Active
Image Credit: Jabra With both military-grade durability and Dolby surround sound, the Jabra Elite 8 Active earbuds are the best earbuds for an active lifestyle. These earbuds have passed nine durability tests to ensure adequate functionality with movement, including a 56+ hour battery life, and noise cancellation technology that allows for clear audio reception in both directions. Bottom line? They’ll make even the noisiest of gyms or activities sound like hardly anything at all.
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Best Speaker System: Ultimea Nova S90 Speaker System
Image Credit: Amazon Ultimea’s compact Nova S90 Bluetooth speaker system is the best way to bring Dolby Atmos 7.1 surround sound to your home theater — all in one affordable, accessible package. The set packs in a soundbar with two surround sound speakers (at an ultra-slim 1.5 inches tall) and a subwoofer. It works with 4K TVs and includes two HDMI, eARC, USB and auxiliary connections, but the audio presets for music, dialogue and movies will really take your watch parties to the next level. Coming Soon. Note: Photo above is of Ultimea Nova S80 Speaker Sytem.
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Best Surround Sound System: Platin Monaco 5.1.2 Home Theater System
Image Credit: Amazon For less than $800, the Platin Monaco 5.1.2 Home Theater System is one of the best bang-for-the-buck surround sound systems out there. It’s a seven-piece audio system has an eight-channel central speaker, two rear satellite speakers, two front-facing speakers with upward firing audio, a subwoofer that’s designed to fit underneath your couch for deep bass and rumble, and a WiSA-certified base station that connects everything together. And best of all? The system is nearly wireless, so you don’t need to run lengthy speaker wires throughout your entertainment system.
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Best Portable Speaker: Sonos Move 2
Image Credit: Sonos Portability and stellar sound quality don’t always go hand-in-hand, but Sonos’ Move 2 proves that you can have it all in one sleek package. Sonos packed the Move 2 speaker with a whopping 24 hours of battery life per charge, and its dust- and water-resistant design makes it an essential for listening to your tunes outdoors. Whether you use it on its own or connect it to your Sonos ecosystem, its powerful audio delivers room-shaking sound wherever you take it. The bottom line is that it’s a speaker that blows the competition away.
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Best-Designed Speaker: Bang & Olufsen Beolab 8
Image Credit: Bang & Olufsen Bang & Olufsen is world-renowned for their sound systems, and the Beolab 8 is the perfect selection for your at-home entertainment setup. Its sleek design combines chic, Art Deco looks with premium audio functionality, not to mention the ability to convert it into a cinema-worthy surround sound system. It also allows you to control the stream of sound, switching between narrow and pointed acoustics to wide for full immersion that leaves its competition in the dust.
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Best Smart Speaker: JBL Authentics 500
Image Credit: JBL With 270 watts of 3.1 channel sounds, JBL’s Authentics 500 speaker is hands-down the best smart speaker you can buy right now. Inspired by retro designs, this home speaker is anything but old-fashioned, equipped with built-in WiFi and Airplay for wireless streaming. Intuitive controls through the JBL One app allow you to adjust the bass, treble, and volume with just the touch of a finger. Three midrange woofers also provide so much clarity that every detail of a song sounds brand new.
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Best Value Speaker: Tribit StormBox Flow
Image Credit: Amazon When it comes to value, the Tribit Stormbox Flow speaker easily tops our list. Its pulsating sound delivers a powerful bass considering its small size, and it packs a 30-hour battery life so you’ll always have the juice to jam from sun-up to sun down. The double-speaker party mode also allows you to sync multiple speakers together for a fully immersed listening experience wherever you need it.
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Best Hi-Fi Speaker: Q Acoustics 5040 Speaker
Image Credit: Q Acoustics Seeking sleek and space-saving audio power for your home? Look no further than the Q Acoustics 5040 Floorstanding Speaker. Despite its size, it includes dual 5” mid/bass drivers which allows it to bring “big speaker” sound without needing to occupy big speaker real estate. Each speaker is sold individually but are well worth their value to deliver hi resolution sound. The speaker’s tweeter is also sealed and isolated to minimize sound distortion.
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Best WiFi Speaker: Sonos Era 300
Image Credit: Sonos Perfectly powerful — the Sonos Era 300 more than earns this year’s best WiFi speaker audio award. Its innovative sound design will surround every inch of your space, top to bottom, with every last detail of the audio you choose to play from it. WiFi capabilities provide Voice Control with industry leading privacy and for support all of your favorite apps and services. The speaker is also surround sound capable if purchased in multiples and paired with the Sonos Arc or (gen 2) Beam.
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Best Bookshelf Speakers: ELAC Debut ConneX
Image Credit: Amazon If you’re looking for some easy-to-setup, dependable bookshelf speakers that sound way better than their price point, look no further than these Debut ConneX speakers from ELAC. The bass from the speakers’ 4.5-inch woofers (one on each) is shockingly good, and balances very well with their 3/4-inch tweeters.
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Best Soundbar: Klipsch Flexus Core 200
Image Credit: Klipsch Klipsch and Onkyo have joined their audio forces to produce the best-sounding soundbar we’ve heard this year. All of the non-passive components in the Flexus Core 200 — amp included — are made by Onkyo, with impeccable quality control that hits all the right notes for us. The 3.1.2-channel soundbar has up-firing drivers for Dolby Atmos, and delivers crisp, clear cinema-quality sound and lower latency to the wireless surrounds than other models. Releases: April 2024.
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Best Smart Soundbar: Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar
Image Credit: Bose Bose is one of the leaders in premium audio, while the company’s new Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar takes home audio to the next level. Not only does the smart soundbar have well balanced and robust sound that’s crisp and clear, but it also has “TrueSpace” features that gives you spatial audio. It separates various elements of your favorite movies, TV shows, and music and places them throughout the room — thanks to dual upward firing dipole speakers — to really immerse your experiences.
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Best Value Soundbar: Roku Streambar
Image Credit: Amazon The Roku Streambar has been out for a couple of years now, but it’s still hands-down our favorite budget-friendly soundbar on the market. It has a Roku streaming system built-in (so you don’t need to buy one separately) and sounds shockingly good for its price point.
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Best Outdoor Speaker: Sony SRS-XB100 Compact Bluetooth Speaker
Image Credit: Sony The ultimate compact outdoor speaker, Sony’s XB100 may be small in size, but it packs a mighty sound. Most importantly, Sony made it waterproof and dustproof, essential features we look for in any outdoor speaker. It also boasts a 16-hour battery life per charge, giving you long-lasting tunes whether you take it to the beach or on a hike.
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Best Standing Speaker: Focal Aria Evo X N°3
Image Credit: Focal Focal, a French audio company known for its hi-fi audio systems, is refreshing their iconic line of Aria loudspeakers this year, and the star is their latest floorstander. The new Aria Evo X N°3 features reworked tech like a new inverted M-shaped dome tweeter and Flax cone, which deliver natural sound, rich midrange reproduction, and incredibly powerful bass. Combined with an elegant design, this distinguished loudspeaker will become a must-have for all lovers of hi-fi sound.
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Best Large Speaker: SOUNDBOKS 4
Image Credit: SOUNDBOKS “Harder, faster, better, stronger” may be the lyrics to a Daft Punk and Kanye song but they’re also the perfect way to describe the SOUNDBOKS 4, the best large speaker we tested this year. Packed with big, powerful sound that pushes the limits of what a big speaker can do, the SOUNDBOKS 4 is perfect for soundtracking your next party or event. Think booming, throbbing bass that you can really feel, and crystal clear details, even at high volumes. The hard casing and handsome grill instantly commands attention, while battery life gets you up to 40 hours on a single charge so the party never stops.
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Best Karaoke Machine: Tonor K20 Wireless Karaoke Machine
Image Credit: Amazon For an all-in-one system that’s guaranteed to get the party going, the Tonor K20 Wireless Karaoke Machine has everything you’ll need. Think: powerful sound, thanks to its 8-inch subwoofer, illuminating LED lights, with the addition of a built-in mini disco ball, and 12 hours of playback with reliable Bluetooth connectivity for added convenience and on-the-go fun.
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Best Karaoke Mic: StageSound Wireless Bluetooth Karaoke Microphone
Image Credit: Amazon Sing your heart out from anywhere with the StageSound Wireless Bluetooth Karaoke Microphone. The handy mic will connect to any speaker — including your car — since it’s compatible with the FM function frequency, meaning your family road trips just got a lot more entertaining. Some extras? Why not: You can switch between sound modes depending on what you need to use it for (speech, karaoke, or professional) and you can record your vocals as well. Just plug in your headphones into the built-in port and start belting out your favorite tunes.
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Best Party Speaker: JBL PartyBox 310
Image Credit: JBL Looking to start a party? The JBL PartyBox 310 the cream of the (audio) crop, covering any space of any size. The speaker has 240 watts of audio power for depth and detail even at the loudest levels, with heart-thumping bass that just makes that party atmosphere. It’s Bluetooth-enabled to connect a smartphone or tablet, while the JBL PartyBox 310 even comes with two sturdy and thick wheels at its bottom for portability, so you can bring the party with you.
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Best Record Player: Fluance RT81+
Image Credit: Amazon How do you make a well-loved record player even better? For Fluance’s RT81+ turntable, that meant adding an Audio Technica VM95E cartridge, an upgraded 3mm acrylic mat and aluminum platter, a built-in preamp for easier setup, plus adjustable feet. In short, they all work together to deliver an immersive vinyl experience that you’ll instantly want to take for a spin.
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Best Wireless Record Player: Victrola Stream Sapphire WiFi Record Player
Image Credit: Victrola Victrola’s Stream Sapphire turntable is a worthy premium upgrade for vinyl-lovers looking to go wireless with their audio setup. It has more streaming capabilities than ever (including compatibility with Sonos, Roon, and the Universal Plug and Play protocol (UPnP)), and sports some spiffy audio specs to boot. With a chic, bespoke walnut veneer plinth, an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge, and support for streaming lossless FLAC audio files (up to 24-bit/48kHz), this turntable brings out the best cadences in your vinyl possible. Releases: Spring 2024.
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Best Value Record Player: Rega Green Grade Planar 1
Image Credit: Rega Meet the record player that checks all our boxes, including delivering on both impeccable sound quality and design — all by going green. Their original Rega Planar 1 has patent pending technology for its extreme low friction sound capabilities. But their latest sustainability initiative takes all the features you love from the P1 model (including a brand-new, A-grade Carbon cartridge), and combines them with flawed parts Rega receives from its network of 650 suppliers to repurpose them into the flawless Green Grade version of the Planar 1.
This Eco Deck version is made with a cosmetically-altered plinth, as well as a few other “green grade” components. Since these were parts are only damaged cosmetically, it won’t sacrifice sound performance for sustainability. Not to mention that reusing old parts also slashes the price of one of the best record players out there right now.
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Best-Desgined Record Player: Pro-Ject Debut PRO Turntable
Image Credit: Amazon Sleek and sophisticated, the Pro-Ject Debut PRO turntable is perfect for the stylish audio crew. It’s equipped with a fully adjustable Azimuth & VTA, an aluminum tonearm for perfect tracking, and a heavy aluminum platter with a TPE ring to dampen all resonances and minimize flutter. If you’re looking for the sexiest record player out there, look no further.
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Best Smart Phone Speaker Audio: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Image Credit: Samsung When you just want to listen to your tunes or play a video on your phone without relying on headphones, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s smartphone speakers are better than ever, proving that stellar audio quality can come in small packages. It’s leaps and bounds louder than the iPhone with little to no distortion from the down-firing speaker, even on the highest setting. While you won’t get the biggest bass boom (it’s still a smartphone, after all), vocals and intrumentals in the treble range are impressively crystal clear.
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Best Car Audio System: Acura ELS Studio 3D Sound System
Image Credit: Acura Acura has been working with ELS for its ELS Studio 3D sound system for a while now, and we can confidently say their hard work payed off. We experienced the sound system in two of Acura’s latest cars (the 2024 Integra Type S and 2024 MDX Type S) and we were blown away. Where some other high-end sound systems simply up the bass or introduce gimmicks, the ELS Studio 3D system creates a massive and immersive soundstage with some of the best separation we’ve found on the market today.