“You’ve got excellent hearing for your age,” my audiologist assures me at my annual hearing evaluation. That’s good news, though it leaves me with a nagging question: if my hearing is so good, why do I struggle to hear conversations in noisy environments?

The inconvenient answer falls into a broad clinical category called speech-in-noise processing. It describes me to a T: normal results on pure-tone hearing tests, but disproportionate difficulty in restaurants, bars, and group conversations.

Nuance Audio Hearing Glasses
Product Score: 3.5/5

Pros:

• Hidden hearing aid tech

• Easy to set up and use

• Improves your ability to zero in on voices in noisy settings

Cons:

• Tap gestures can be hit or miss

• Can’t be adjusted to your face by an optician

The equally inconvenient solution has traditionally been hearing aids. Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids — aimed at people with mild-to-moderate loss — can help, but they come with drawbacks: I don’t love the idea of remembering to bring them, or wearing them. It’s funny how differently we treat hearing and seeing. I’ll suffer through a meal without perfect hearing, but my reading glasses always come with me. Reading a menu is non-negotiable.

An invisible fix for a common problem

I must be part of a bigger cohort than I realized, because Nuance Audio’s Hearing Glasses appear to be exactly what I need. They look like the thick-rimmed frames you’d buy from Tom Ford, but they hide an array of microphones and tiny speakers in the limbs, positioned just in front of your ears. In theory, they provide the same hearing enhancement as a traditional set of OTC hearing aids. The FDA recognizes them as an OTC device, and they’re eligible for coverage under many insurance plans. Nuance says they’re perfect for workplace meetings, family gatherings, and, as you’ve probably guessed, restaurants and crowded places.

They come in two styles, three colors, and can be ordered with regular ($699) or prescription lenses ($1,200 and up).

The build quality is good and they’re light. The hinges are sturdy and spring-loaded, flexing outward to accommodate larger heads. They feel a little plasticky, and the piano gloss finish is a fingerprint magnet, but they don’t look cheap — no one I met knew they weren’t regular glasses. I enjoyed the looks on people’s faces when I told them.

Unfortunately, the limbs house electronics, so your optician can’t apply heat to mold them to your head. Mine slid down my nose throughout the day.

The frames use Bluetooth to connect to your phone, but only for calibration and personalization through the Nuance Audio app — a process that takes under five minutes. You can’t stream music, take calls, or make recordings. All sound processing happens onboard in real time, so your phone is entirely optional.

Nuance claims 8 hours of continuous use, though I got closer to 7. In the box: a carry case, lens cloth, and a wireless charging pad. The pad is sleek and USB-C powered — place the glasses upside down and magnets do the rest — but it’s one more thing to pack when traveling. Charging is slow: 5-7 hours from empty. One important warning: don’t run them under water or hit them directly with glasses cleaner. The electronics have no protection from liquids. With only a one-year warranty from Nuance, you’ll want to treat them with care.

You power them on with a long press of the tiny button hidden under the right limb. Once on, that same button cycles volume between low, medium, and high. To power down, long-press again — or just fold the limbs. A double-tap on the right limb switches between two modes: Frontal and All Around.

Frontal mode is an audio spotlight: whatever you’re looking at, that’s what it tries to isolate and enhance. All Around takes a broader 360-degree sample, still targeted at voices. The lines blur in practice — Frontal will pick up surrounding voices, and All Around can lock onto an individual — so it’s up to you to figure out which works best where.

Switching modes can be hit or miss. The accelerometer is tuned to avoid accidental triggers, which means you need to tap the frames with real intent, or nothing happens.

At a recent birthday dinner in a noisy seafood restaurant, I sat at a large square table — eight of us, two per side (you need room for the oyster platter). The furthest person was 5-6 feet away. Normally I’d have missed half of what they said, but the glasses pulled their voice in clearly enough that I caught nearly every word.

I wouldn’t call it “natural.” Between the mics, the processing, and speakers too small to handle low frequencies, the sound is harsher and sharper than I’d like. Sibilance — that exaggerated ess-sound when people get too close to a mic — and a bit of echo are noticeable at times. It definitely takes some getting used to, but that’s true of all hearing enhancement products.

In restaurants, Frontal was usually the right call, especially across from a single companion. Groups were a toss-up — some voices are so hard to ignore, I wanted to turn them down, not up. What you can’t do, without opening the app, is control how much background noise gets amplified.

Some scenarios are more than the system can handle. In one especially loud restaurant, at a table of four, Frontal worked fine for the two people across from me — but to hear the person beside me, I had to twist a full 90 degrees toward him. All Around mode didn’t help; it just amplified the surrounding noise.

I’ve tried a few inexpensive OTC hearing aid products, including the Audien Atom X ($389), HP Hearing Pro ($499.99), and the hearing aid function in the Apple AirPods Pro 3 ($249.95). None of them worked as well or offered as much convenience as the Nuance Audio glasses. But their biggest drawback is that they’re earbuds, with all of the tradeoffs that earbuds require: they’re highly conspicuous, you need to remember to bring them with you, and they aren’t always the most comfortable devices to wear.

And here’s something that’s not so obvious about earbuds: pronounced jaw movements (like the kind we make while eating) have a tendency to dislodge them.

The Nuance Audio glasses aren’t a perfect solution, and at $699 to start, they’re not a casual buy. But for people who hear fine on paper and still struggle when the room gets loud, they offer an effective yet invisible helping hand.

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Searching for a portable Bluetooth speaker will turn up hundreds of options in every shape, size, and color. And I’ve been reviewing them for the better part of a decade — dozens have crossed my desk by now. Some, as you’d rightly suspect, are garbage, but there are also plenty of great products with prices starting from as little as $50.

If you don’t have to spend a fortune for decent sound, why would anyone spend $299 on Sonos’ new Play? It’s the Maglite Flashlight of Bluetooth speakers: powerful, versatile, and built to keep on ticking long after its peers are in the landfill.

Sonos Play (2026)
Product Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Great sound for its size

• Tons of connection choices

• It’s got a big, user-replaceable battery

Cons:

• Not as rugged as other portables

• Needs a powerful charger (not included)

• Pricey, if all you need is sound to go

Check price on Amazon

At home, on-the-go, or anything in between

Sonos is the company that put wireless audio on the map. Since 2005, it has been growing an ecosystem of top-notch speakers, soundbars, and subwoofers that all work together seamlessly and can be controlled from anywhere using the Sonos app on your smartphone.

The Play is Sonos’ third portable, and it sits right in the middle of its lineup. It’s half the weight of the Move 2, a powerful speaker that’s luggable from kitchen to patio, and not much farther. Despite its smaller size, it can run for 24 hours, same as its big brother.

Meanwhile, it boasts much better sound than the ultra-portable Roam 2, a less powerful unit that handily fits in a backpack. Like both its siblings, (and all the best portables on the market) the Play is waterproof, dustproof, and rugged enough to withstand the occasional bump or drop.

These features make it a very capable Bluetooth portable speaker, but they don’t let the Play stand out. The Play is all about the extras.

Wi-Fi connectivity means that when you’re at home, you can stream straight to the Play from apps like Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, and Amazon Music — and the audio won’t stutter or drop the moment you wander too far from your phone. It acts as an Apple AirPlay speaker, and gives you hands-free access to Amazon Alexa. Anyone on your Wi-Fi with the Sonos app can take control — no need to find the phone that started the playlist — and texts, phone calls, and other system sounds won’t interrupt your tunes. Music even sounds better on Wi-Fi, because it has more bandwidth than Bluetooth, and if you own two Plays, they can play together as a stereo pair.

Over Bluetooth, you can link as many as four Play or Move 2 speakers to play in lockstep — so a hang that starts with two friends can scale into a backyard blowout without you ever scrambling for more sound. A USB-C cradle tops it up at home, and for $19 Sonos sells a line-in adapter that wires the Play to a turntable — or any other analog source — an increasingly hard-to-find feature on portable Bluetooth speakers.

You may have heard Sonos customers bemoaning the launch of a major Sonos app update, which was so disastrous the CEO resigned. They weren’t exaggerating: the botched 2024 update rendered many systems unusable. Thankfully, things are now (mostly) back to normal and the Sonos app is still a Swiss Army knife for sound, giving you access to just about every streaming service on the planet in one place. Its universal search and playlist feature makes finding, playing, and favoriting tunes, artists, and albums a breeze. Plus the Play seamlessly integrates with any other Sonos products you own.

Sonos Play: Its best features

Every time I fire up a new Sonos speaker for the first time, I have a moment where I do a double-take. Whether I cued up delicate acoustic recordings, bass-heavy hip-hop, or vintage rock, the Play’s performance outstrips its size. To paraphrase John Mayer, it’s bigger than its body gives it credit for.

Like every Sonos speaker to come before it, it offers truly satisfying sound out of the box. But I’d encourage you to try the equalizer setting in the Sonos app, which can boost or lower both bass and treble if either aren’t quite to your liking.

The app also unlocks a trick I haven’t seen anyone else pull off: Auto Trueplay Tuning. A speaker’s position in a room — and the room’s acoustics — heavily affect what you hear. This is true for all speakers, but especially for smaller units that get moved around a lot. Auto Trueplay uses the Play’s built-in microphone to measure its environment and automatically adjust its tuning to compensate, every time you move it. The improvement isn’t night and day, but it’s audible (particularly if you move it from an open space to a small enclosure like a bookshelf) and you don’t need to do a thing.

Technically speaking, the Play is a stereo speaker, meaning it has two channels, but you’re not going to hear true left and right stereo separation. Instead, think of it as a mono speaker with a wide soundstage. A pair of Plays, however, gives you nearly unlimited options for creating a perfect stereo sweetspot.

While portable Bluetooth speakers often look like toys, the Play is a study in understated elegance, whether you get it in black or white. With its handy, detachable silicone carry loop rotated downward and out of sight, I guarantee no one will guess it’s actually dustproof, waterproof, and impact resistant. The Play is made from recycled plastics, and if you manage to wear down the battery you can replace it yourself -- another rarity in the Bluetooth speaker world.

Sonos Play: Areas for improvement

Given the Play’s killer combo of looks, sound, and practicality, there isn’t much shade to be thrown in its direction. Still, there are a few limitations you should know about.

Powering on the speaker isn’t instant like other portables. The Play seems to need anywhere from three to 10 seconds to “boot up,” depending on how long it’s been since it was last turned on. If you’re using it with Bluetooth (as opposed to Wi-Fi), you’ll need to switch modes each time using the button on the back.

It’s rugged — for a Sonos speaker — but for truly rough duty its wrap-around plastic grille may not survive as well as models built to take a beating.

While the Play includes a charging cradle, you’ll need your own USB-C charger to plug it into. Sonos reckons most folks already own one, so it opted to reduce e-waste. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t faze me, but the Play is fussy about what it’ll draw from: it wants an 18-watt USB-C source at a minimum, and 45 watts if you want fast charging. That bargain 10-watt cube you own won’t cut it and neither, annoyingly, will most laptop USB-C ports. Pack a proper charger if you’re heading out of town. Sonos’ promise of a 24-hour battery life is achievable, but only at 50% volume using Bluetooth. Wi-Fi will reduce this considerably, as will louder playback.

When away from home, it would be awesome to stereo pair a set of Plays (some competitors like the Beats Pill, JBL Charge 6, and Bose SoundLink Flex allow this), but Sonos only supports grouped play via Bluetooth.

For owners of Sonos soundbars like the Beam Gen 2, the Play would make an ideal surround speaker, but Sonos doesn’t let portable speakers fill that role, nor can you add a Sonos subwoofer for 2.1 sound. While it’s great that Sonos lets you connect analog sources to the USB-C port (via the optional adapter), the fact that you can’t connect it to lossless USB Audio sources, like a laptop, is a missed opportunity.

Finally, the powerful Sonos app you’ll come to love at home doesn’t work with the Play when you’re using a Bluetooth connection. You’ll have to rely on your own third-party music apps, just as you would when using wireless headphones.

Sonos Play: Should you buy it?

Sonos doesn’t have a monopoly on great sounding, rugged and portable Bluetooth speakers. If that’s your only requirement, you can find slightly cheaper products in the $180 to $250 range, like the JBL Charge 6, Sony ULT Field 3, or UE Everboom.

However, if you want a portable speaker that might truly be the last you’ll ever need to buy, the Play is unmatched. It works with everything from turntables to Alexa, brings its own best-in-class app, and sounds as good as anything in this size class.

As long as you don’t run over it with your car or drop it off the side of a boat, its rugged design means the internal battery will probably die before you break it – and when it does, you can replace it yourself for a new lease on life.

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Last week, I covered the vintage iPod trend, with a reminder that these devices require you to do something you may not be familiar with (or may have forgotten about): acquiring your own music files. That’s step 1. Step 2 is transferring those tunes to your iPod. And Step 3? That’s about getting the most out of your library once you own it outright — your files, your rules, no subscription that can reprice or revoke them. It’s an idea I keep coming back to; call it music sovereignty. The best tool for that third step is Plex.

Most people who already know about Plex use it to organize and stream their TV shows, movies, and family videos. It can also manage your music, which kinda makes Plex an iTunes on steroids. One of Plex’s most powerful features is a paid upgrade called Plex Pass. It covers a lot of extras; the one that gets most of the attention is remote access.

Remote access lets you, or your friends and family browse and stream your library of content from anywhere. There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in the tech press over the cost of a lifetime Plex Pass membership. On July 1, it will increase to $750, three times more than the $250 it costs today (monthly and annual subscriptions aren’t changing). That’s a whopper of a price bump.

And if you mostly use Plex for music, you can ignore it: Remote access for music doesn’t need Plex Pass. It’s completely free.

Let me stop here for a moment for those who may be new to Plex. If you’re a Plex prodigy, feel free to skip to the “No Plex Pass, no problem — for music, that is” section.

What is Plex?

There are two parts to a Plex setup: the Plex Media Server and Plex clients. Once you’ve installed the free Plex Media Server (PMS) on a Mac, PC, or a variety of compatible network devices like network-attached storage (NAS) hard drives, it can automatically scan and organize all of your videos, photos, and music files. If it helps, you can think of it like Apple’s iTunes, but on steroids.

When you want to watch or listen to those files, you use a Plex client — another free app — which gets installed on your Mac, PC, smartphone, media streamer, smart TV … the list is huge. If you have a network-connected screen or speaker, there’s probably a version of the Plex client it can run.

If your Plex server and client are on the same network, say, in your home, the free features are probably all you need.

What is Plex Pass?

Plex Pass is a collection of upgraded features for your Plex setup that requires a one-time or recurring fee. It includes things like being able to skip the opening and closing credits on movies and shows, the ability to use your Plex server as a digital video recorder (DVR) with your free, over-the-air (OTA) TV tuner, and it turns on something called hardware transcoding — geek speak for turbo-charging your setup to ensure your movies and shows play back at the highest possible quality your gear can deliver.

And then there’s the remote access aspect I mentioned above. Your iTunes on steroids is now your own private Netflix.

No Plex Pass, no problem — for music, that is

Even Plex mavens may not realize that Plex servers treat music and photos differently from videos. To access videos remotely, a valid Plex Pass is required by at least one party (the server owner, or the person running the client). But you can share your photos and music collections without paying a dime — no Plex Pass required.

For music, you can use the general Plex client or the Plex web app, but the power move is to download the free Plexamp app for either Android or iOS. Because Plexamp can only access music (you won’t even see your photos or video libraries), it’s a way better experience for browsing and listening. You aren’t even limited to listening on your phone. On Android, Plexamp works with Google Cast and Android Auto. iOS users get Google Cast too, plus Apple AirPlay and CarPlay.

Power users and nomads may still want to pay

Plex’s free music features give you lots to work with. Gapless playback, loudness leveling, smart playlists and stations, and Siri compatibility are all included. Still, for some users, it may make sense to upgrade.

Plex Pass adds advanced features like artist and album mix builders, sonically similar artists/tracks/albums, related tracks, lyrics, a ten-band equalizer, and, perhaps the biggest draw for those who regularly find themselves beyond the reach of cell networks: downloads for offline playback. Here’s Plex’s full comparison of free vs. paid Plexamp features.

If Plex Pass sounds like what you need, but you don’t want to add another subscription to your wallet (after all, music on Plex should be about freeing yourself from forever payments), the imminent lifetime price increase means the time to decide is right now. $250 may be hard to rationalize, but $750 is much harder. Monthly or annual payments that go on forever and can increase in price at any time? No thanks.

A platform for people who hate platforms

Jumping on the vintage iPod trend is a great way to mindfully leave subscription streaming services and re-assert control over your music. But true music sovereignty means being able to enjoy your music on your terms on any device, not just a retro portable. That’s where Plex shines.

It keeps, organizes, and streams the music you own, from anywhere. It also integrates with products you might already own, like Sonos, Wiim, and Amazon Alexa (via the Plex Skill). And if you already own a machine that can run the Plex server, there’s no additional cost. That sounds like a lifetime commitment most people can live with.

Do you use Plex to manage your music? If so, what do you love/hate about it? Let me know in the comments.

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I love the whole open-ear earbuds category. They’re almost universally more comfortable than their closed, in-ear cousins, they let you hear your surroundings, and they’re perfect for calls. I was a big fan of the first-gen products that used an earhook shape, but since the introduction of the clip style, which wraps around the edge of your ears, I’ve become a convert. Especially for folks who wear glasses, this is the way.

Shokz OpenDots 2

Product Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Very comfy clip-style design

• Great sound quality

• Much improved control customization over first-gen OpenDots One

Cons:

• Still pricey

• No Auracast support

• Call quality not as good as Shokz’s earhook models e.g. OpenFit 2

Check price on Amazon

It was Shokz’s first clip style earbuds, the OpenDots One (introduced in 2025) that made me see the light. They appeared to offer almost every benefit of the earhook style, with improved audio quality, and, if possible, even more forget-that-you’re-wearing-them comfort, which earned them a solid 4/5 in my review.

What's new in the OpenDots 2

The new OpenDots 2, which keep the OpenDots One price of $199.95, continue all of the things I liked about the first-gen: impressive sound quality, wireless charging, two simultaneous connections to devices (Bluetooth Multipoint), strong battery life, wear sensors for auto-music-pause, and my favorite — swappable left/right earbuds (there is no official left or right earbud; just put ‘em on your ears and that’s it).

They’ve also added a feature I didn’t even know I wanted: Drop Alert. If either bud detects that it has fallen, its companion emits an unmistakable warning tone. I think I would probably know immediately if I’d dislodged a bud, but given how easy it is to forget you’re wearing them, it’s a really smart add-on. I did a bunch of sample drops to try it out and the companion bud alerted me every time.

What Shokz didn't fix

The OpenDots 2 don’t, however, fully address my critiques of the first-gen: the price, the controls, no Auracast support, and call quality that isn’t quite as good as the company’s similarly priced OpenFit 2.

Only the controls have been improved. Which is not to say this is the only thing Shokz changed. The second-gen get better dust and water protection (now IP57 vs IP54), and the case now gets its own IP54 rating, whereas the first-gen lacked any official protection for the case.

Fast charging is a teensy bit faster (you can now get an extra two hours after just five minutes of charging instead of 10 minutes). Bluetooth has been upped to 6.1 from 5.4, and Shokz has added both Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. All of these changes are nice-to-haves, but hardly must-haves.

Call quality: still a quiet-room tool

The unimproved call quality is the biggest surprise to me given that Shokz claims it gave the OpenDots 2 three “AI Noise-Canceling Microphones” (two regular mics plus one bone conduction unit), as opposed to the OpenDots One’s two regular AI noise-canceling mics. I couldn’t hear any improvement when I tested them against one another. I’ve embedded recordings from both below so you can decide for yourself.

They remain great for calls in quiet locations, but you’re not going to be fooling anyone if you claim to be sitting in your home office while walking along busy streets. Your callers will know.

Shokz OpenDots 2 (loud environment)

Shokz OpenDots 2 (quiet environment)

Shokz OpenDots Air (loud environment)

Shokz OpenDots Air (quiet environment)

Shokz OpenDots One (loud environment)

Shokz OpenDots One (quiet environment)

How they actually sound

Shokz claims the OpenDots 2 have better bass response and volume, plus significantly less distortion, with an enhanced Dolby Audio mode. But again, much like with call quality, I can’t really hear a difference.

That’s not a knock by any means. I think the OpenDots One/2 are among the best open-ears you can buy for audio quality so there’s an argument to be made that they didn’t need to improve it. They manage to overcome the one big problem with most open-ears: weak bass. And if you pump up the volume, you’ll be able to hear your music even in loud environments. I don’t recommend doing so for prolonged periods (it could lead to noise-induced hearing loss) but it’s nice knowing it’s an option. The optional Dolby Audio mode creates an artificially wider soundstage, which increases the sense of being surrounded, but does so at the expense of precision and detail. Definitely worth trying, but I don’t think it’s a reason to buy either of these models.

Voice-only content like podcasts or phone calls, will still get obliterated by heavy traffic or machinery sounds, however that’s true of all open-ear products, even Shokz’s top-of-the-line OpenFit Pro, which has a built-in active noise reduction feature.

The controls, finally improved

I’m thrilled that Shokz took my comments on the OpenDots One’s controls to heart. The OpenDots 2 are now far more configurable. There are five available gestures on each earbud, for a total of ten: single and double pinches on the barrel of the battery compartment, a pinch-and-hold, plus double and triple taps on the flexible connector. Except for pinch-and-hold, which is restricted to volume changes, each can be set to do any of the supported commands, like playback, volume, track skipping, call answering, and voice assistant access. Contrast that to the OpenDots One, where you only get three: double-tap, double-pinch, and a long pinch, and only the long pinch can be customized. And that’s three total, not per earbud. To be fair, Shokz has since added a fourth gesture via a firmware update — a triple tap — but it can only be used for track skipping.

As with the OpenDots One, I’ve found that the pinch gestures work way better than the taps. The taps require a fair amount of force, even with their sensitivity setting set to maximum in the Shokz app.

So the OpenDots 2 end up with the same rating and recommendation as their predecessor. They’re really good, but still pricey when you consider that neither audio nor call quality has been substantially improved.

Check price on Amazon

The cheaper alternative: OpenDots Air

The new Shokz OpenDots Air, on the other hand, deserve serious consideration if you like the OpenDots formula, but don’t want such a spendy price tag: they’re just $129.95.

The Air capture the key ingredients: super comfy, clip-style shape, great sound, solid battery life, Multipoint connections, swappable left/right earbuds, wear sensors, and multiple, customizable control gestures.

So what’s missing? No wireless charging (just USB-C), one less hour per charge (9 vs. 10), slightly slower fast charging (10 minutes for two extra hours vs. 5 minutes), less water and dust resistance on the buds (IP55 vs. IP57) and no protection for the case, and you get the same mic system as the OpenDots One, which I don’t think makes that much difference (check the samples above). Oh, also, no Dolby Audio.

This leaves buyers with three Shokz options:

• The flagship OpenDots 2, offering small but helpful improvements over the OpenDots One

• The OpenDots One themselves, but this one only makes sense once Shokz starts to discount them (hasn’t happened yet, but will soon, according to Shokz)

• The OpenDots Air, a much more affordable pick that preserves the essential clip-style experience while foregoing features that most people won’t miss

Are you an open-ear earbuds fan? Leave a comment below with which ones you’re using and what you think of the new Shokz models.

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First it was the vinyl resurgence. Then CDs. Lately, cassettes appear to be on the rebound (along with portables and boomboxes that play them). But I just learned of the latest nostalgia-inspired trend: buying vintage iPods, and I think it deserves a look.

There’s always been a strong argument for owning a dedicated Digital Audio Player, or DAP as the whole category is now referred to. Better audio quality, a separate battery that won’t drain your phone, and a built-in headphone jack (sometimes two of them) to replace the one that’s no longer on your phone. The retro iPod trend isn’t about any of this.

It’s part of a larger hunger for a different time. One in which our devices weren’t constantly pinging us with notifications, there were no algorithms deciding what we saw or listened to, and we actually owned the music we listened to. It was a time when we had to actively think about the music we wanted, because there were no on-demand music services and no magic play button that could spoon-feed us content 24/7, endlessly.

If these ideas are resonating with you right now — even if you’re too young to have lived through the golden era of the MP3 player — you may be on the prowl for a vintage Apple iPod.

I don’t want to talk you out of it, because vintage tech can be a blast (my son’s 2002 iMac G4 is like a walk down memory lane). But it does come with potential pitfalls, not to mention a workflow for getting music you may not be prepared for.

Vintage iPods: buyer beware

A non-exhaustive list of things you need to know:

Battery: Depending on the model you’re considering, the internal rechargeable battery could be up to 25 years old. Even if it still holds a charge, it won’t last anywhere close to its original spec.

It can be a real crap shoot: My wife’s 3rd gen Nano, which I bought for her in 2007, still takes a charge. My much more recent 3rd and 4th gen Shuffles won’t charge at all. Replacement is definitely an option, but with a major caveat: All Shuffle, Nano, and Touch iPods use batteries that are soldered into place. Even if you can crack open the case without causing damage, replacing these batteries requires skill and special tools.

Hard-drive: iPod Minis and Classics use tiny, spinning disks for storage, not the solid-state disk (SSD) flash memory used by other models. This gives them way more space for music, but, like any motorized part, it will eventually fail. When they do, most enthusiasts replace them with SSDs, but again, it’s not an easy swap if you aren’t technically inclined. How to know if a used iPod is close to failing.

Headphone jack: This is simultaneously the most likely part to fail (I’ve never owned a portable player that didn’t eventually end up with a janky jack) and the hardest part to verify. A seller can prove an iPod holds a charge, powers on, and lets you navigate using the buttons/wheel. It’s much harder to prove the headphone jack is reliable.

Plus, a few annoying but not deal-breaking realities:

Syncing on Windows: Windows 11 users may find that iTunes won’t let them sync their songs to their iPod.

You need to own your music: You need physical song files on your computer before you can transfer them to your portable and you can’t use the offline files provided by your streaming service. I have some suggestions on this below.

Old tech, old cables: pre-2012 iPods use the 30-pin dock connector. Post-2012 use Lightning. If the iPod you’re buying doesn’t come with one, it’s not a big deal (Amazon sells USB-C versions of both), but without one, your vintage iPod is just a fancy paperweight.

Oh, and a note on the gleaming little silver stick that is the 3rd gen iPod Shuffle: avoid it

Unless the seller includes the original Apple wired earbuds, this thing is a dead end. There are no physical controls for playback or volume (just three-way power switch that also controls playback modes). The only way to operate it is via the inline controls on the earbuds. Even worse, Apple created a special authentication chip just for those earbuds, so even other Apple wired earbuds with a similar looking inline control won’t work.

In theory, the 3rd gen Shuffle will start playing as soon as you plug in any standard wired buds or headphones, but there’s still no way to play/pause/skip tracks or control volume.

If the screenless simplicity of a Shuffle is what you’re after, go for the 4th gen Shuffle (2010–2015). It still needs a proprietary charger and it’s a bit bigger, but it has the same handy built-in clip and actual physical buttons that let it work with any headphones. Again, beware the battery problem.

The 5th gen iPod is the sweet spot

Also known as the Video iPod, It sports all of the features that made the iPod so popular in the first place, with a case and components that are among the easiest to replace when (not if) they die. It also uses a Wolfson digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which produces a warmer, smoother sound than non-Wolfson models, according to some iPod aficionados (take that highly subjective opinion with a grain of salt). Unfortunately, none of this is a secret and these iPods regularly fetch more than $400 on used marketplaces.

You’re going to need some music

If you’re still keen to explore vintage iPod land, don’t forget the one thing that makes an iPod different from a streaming service: you need to own all of the music you want to play (and then organize and transfer it to the iPod). For some folks, this part is actually the crux of why they want to go back to a dedicated music device.

There are two (legal) ways to acquire music files: Rip/convert music you already own on vinyl or CD, or buy and download tracks from online music stores. Unfortunately, you can’t use the offline music files provided by your streaming service. These only work inside their respective app (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and they become inaccessible if you ever let your subscription lapse.

Ripping/converting

If you still have a CD/DVD drive built into your computer, iTunes will let you rip your CDs (copy them) and convert the files to one of the three formats iPods support: MP3, AAC, or (if you have a third-gen or newer iPod), ALAC. If you don’t have a drive, external ones are available on Amazon for about $30.

For vinyl, a USB turntable is perfect — it comes with software that can do the same thing. Ordinary turntables work too, but they need to be connected to an analog-to-digital converter (also known as an audio capture device). Again, these are inexpensive purchases on Amazon.

Where to buy music

The key to downloading music from stores is that the files must be Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free. In other words, they aren’t copy-protected. These online stores all offer DRM-free downloads.

• The iTunes Store is the path of least resistance for the iPod. Purchases download as DRM-free AAC files that play natively on every iPod ever made — no conversion needed. Individual tracks run $1.29; most albums land between $9.99 and $11.99. It’s also the largest major label catalog online. Buying from the iTunes Store is not the same as an Apple Music subscription. As I mentioned above, subscription tracks are rentals that vanish when you stop paying; iTunes Store purchases are yours permanently.

• I didn’t even realize that Amazon Music’s digital store sells DRM-free MP3s when I began this article, and yet, it’s all right here. Three things worth knowing before you dive in: pricing is comparable to the iTunes Store; you buy through a desktop browser or an Android device; and Amazon’s shopping cart sucks (it doesn’t have one). You can still buy a full album in a single transaction, but picking up multiple individual tracks means a separate purchase for each one.

• Bandcamp is the one to use if you’re all about discovering and supporting indie artists. When you buy, you choose the download format — including MP3, FLAC, ALAC, and more. With Bandcamp more of your money goes directly to the artist than with the other options on this list. Pricing is set by the artist, with many offering a “name your price” option that lets you pay what you think it’s worth.

• Qobuz is where to go when you want a step up in quality. Alongside its streaming tier, it runs a download store selling DRM-free files all the way up to hi-res — better-than-CD versions of a surprisingly deep catalog, mainstream included. Pricing tends to be more expensive than with Amazon and Apple. Michael Jackson’s classic Thriller, for instance, is $10 on Amazon/Apple, but starts at $15 for the CD-quality version on Qobuz. Hi-res versions can cost $25 or more.

If you think you’ll buy a lot from Qobuz’s store, it may be worth buying the company’s top-tier Sublime plan subscription ($15 per month), which comes with a permanent 30-60% discount on hi-res purchases from the store.

• HDtracks plays in the same hi-res, audiophile-grade lane as Qobuz, and it’s the longest-running site of its kind. However, individual tracks are rarely available separately — it’s predominantly an album store, and priced accordingly at the premium end of the market (more than $25 for the hi-res version of Thriller). Qobuz and HDtracks catalogs don’t fully overlap. If a particular album in hi-res is what you’re after, check both — one will often have a title the other doesn’t.

A note on file formats

I don’t want to bog you down in details or jargon, but this could affect your listening experience on your iPod and beyond.

As I noted above, the iPod only supports MP3, AAC, and ALAC.

MP3 and AAC are “lossy” which means they trade some audio quality for massive savings in file size. ALAC, on the other hand is “lossless” – essentially CD-quality, with a correspondingly large file size (though still smaller than the files on a CD).

Unless you find a vintage iPod that has been modified with a huge amount of SSD storage, you’ll want to use MP3 and AAC on the iPod itself — Steve Jobs’ famous “a thousand songs in your pocket” slogan was based on AAC storage requirements, not ALAC.

However, if you think you may want to listen to these songs on other devices (like your home hi-fi system), consider acquiring your music in ALAC or FLAC (a more popular lossless format).

These preserve all of the sound quality for when storage isn’t an issue, and they can be easily converted into MP3/AAC for portability.

The same is not true in reverse. If you buy an AAC file from iTunes or an MP3 from Amazon, you’re stuck with the lower-quality version on all of your devices.

Try before you buy

At this point, you may be wondering if you’re actually cut out for the vintage iPod trend. Instead of committing dollars and time right away, consider simulating the iPod experience with gear you already own.

Airplane mode + no Wi-Fi + disable notifications = iPod

It sounds obvious, but it works. When you disconnect your phone from all sources of data, and shut off its notifications, you kill its ability to control you. It’s just you and your music. For the full experience, you can also do the wired earbud/headphone thing (I’ve got some advice on that lower down).

The one thing to keep in mind is that, without any data, you’ll need to decide what you want to listen to before you go full privacy mode.

If you subscribe to a streaming service, you can download as much music for offline listening as you want, up to the amount of storage that’s available on your device, with one exception: Spotify Premium imposes an arbitrary 10,000-track, per-device limit regardless of how much storage you have available.

This route has a lot of benefits. It avoids the inevitable panic when you find yourself away from home and realize that your whole life, including the way you pay for stuff, isn’t in your pocket. It requires almost no additional investment on your part. And because you can choose the music files, the playback app, and the digital-to-analog/amplification portion of the audio chain, it’s almost certainly going to sound better than a vintage iPod.

An old phone

Same concept as above, but this time, it’s a dedicated device.

If you have a retired smartphone kicking around that can still take a charge, it’s effectively an iPod Touch. With no active SIM card, (and if you disable Wi-Fi) you can’t use it to get online. If you wipe the phone clean before starting, you won’t have any unwanted apps either.

If it’s a really old phone — like my beat up iPhone 6 — it might even have a headphone jack!

The key to getting it working like an iPod is to figure out if you want to do the offline-mode for a music subscription service, or go truly old school by transferring songs from your computer.

Believe it or not, if you’re using a Mac/iPhone combo, Apple Music will still let you do this even if you don’t subscribe to the streaming service.

I don’t spend much time with Android, but there are plenty of decent dedicated music playing apps, and file transfers over a USB cable works from both Macs and PCs.

Other Digital Audio Players (DAPs)

Even though Apple nixed the original click-wheel iPod Classic in 2014, other companies in the digital audio player space kept going. Sony, Astell & Kern, Fiio, and iBasso have been churning out new models each year. Like the iPod, they’re dedicated to music listening. Unlike the iPod, some of these players can cost thousands of dollars and most go way beyond the iPod’s rudimentary feature set.

I’m not going to survey the whole category — there are far too many devices — but I do want to highlight three particular models that you can buy for under $100, a totally reasonable investment if you want to try the dedicated player thing before falling down the vintage iPod rabbit hole.

Since I have tried none of these devices personally, this section is purely to give you a sense of what’s out there. These are not recommendations.

Innioasis Y1

In a strange twist of fate, one of the most affordable budget players happens to be a dead-ringer for the iPod Classic: The Innioasis Y1. $70 for the 64GB model

The Y1 may not have the build or sound quality of the iPod (some buyers appear to be a bit disappointed by this), but it’s the closest you can come to Apple’s player in a new product. It also supports Bluetooth headphones, and like almost every modern DAP, it can play almost any audio file you load onto it.

Fiio Echo Mini

The Fiio Echo Mini is tiny, has a 15-hour battery life, 8GB of built-in storage, and is expandable to 256GB with optional SD cards. You can use wired or wireless earbuds, and it plays a vast number of file types. Price: around $60 USD.

The Shanling M0s ($90)

Shanling’s M0s (weird name) looks like another solid option, especially for those who liked the design of the 6th gen iPod Nano (the square, all-screen model with the built-in clip).

One more thing: Earbuds

I want to leave you with one more thing to think about and it’s those iconic, white wired earbuds that shipped with every iPod Apple ever sold. They’re mediocre at best.

The semi-open design, which just sits inside your ear, is comfy, but it lacks any kind of seal to keep outside sounds from messing with your music.

Obviously, if an authentic vintage iPod experience is your goal, these buds are non-negotiable. But if you want to hear just how good an iPod can sound, it’s worth looking into the wide world of wired in-ear monitors (IEMs).

These earbuds have silicone eartips (just like the AirPods Pro) and much better acoustic architectures. You don’t even have to spend a fortune.
Look for brands like Moondrop, Fiio, Final Audio, 1More, and Sennheiser — and don’t forget, you want models with 3.5mm jacks, not USB-C.

If you’ve taken the plunge on a vintage iPod, or maybe you found an old one in a drawer and decided to resuscitate it, let me know in the comments!

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I’ve known for more than a year that Wiim was going to expand its wireless streaming empire into home theater, but I wasn’t prepared for the Wiim Bar’s particular mix of price and features.

The sleek-looking speaker, which debuts in July for $479 USD, features 3.0.2-channel sound, dedicated up-firing height drivers, compatibility with both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and something you’ve probably never seen before on a soundbar: a 2.1-inch circular color touchscreen display.

I don’t think soundbars should call attention to themselves, but I’m also not a big fan of the current trend away from any front-facing displays. Scrolling alphanumeric displays have disappeared in favor of tiny LED indicators. Major soundbar brands like Sonos, Sony, and Bose have come to rely on mobile apps to show users things like volume level, playback format, bass and treble levels, or which source is in use.

This makes the Wiim Bar’s central display a welcome alternative, especially for folks who want a visual confirmation of what their ears are telling them.

The Wiim Bar is expandable to 3.1.2 with the addition of a Wiim Sub Pro ($449), or you can go full 5.1.2 for $1,386 by combining the Bar, the Sub Pro, and a pair of Wiim Sound Lites ($229 each). Wiim doesn’t offer bundles yet, but I’m told it’s looking at doing so in the future.

Familiar but unique

Under the glossy black plastic shell sits three front mid-woofers, three front tweeters, two top full-range height drivers, and four passive radiators. Like a lot of soundbars these days, Wiim includes automatic room correction tuning, and there’s a dedicated dialogue enhancement mode for help with speech.

Its collection of ports is fairly standard: One HDMI e-ARC, optical, 3.5mm analog, USB-A, and 10/100 Ethernet.

Where things start to get interesting are all of the Wiim-specific add-ons. The USB port will be configurable to support USB Audio-in, USB Audio-out, or USB mass storage. The Bar ships with a voice remote, which can turn the soundbar into an Amazon Alexa smart speaker. Like most Wiim devices, it has two-way Bluetooth, so you can stream to the Bar from your phone, or from the Bar to a set of wireless headphones.

And then there’s the touchscreen. As I said earlier, I really like the idea of a big, visible display on a soundbar. I’m a lot less convinced that it should also be a user interface.

Wiim introduced its first touchscreen on the Wiim Ultra, a great network music player add-on to any existing sound system. The rectangular shape and the fact that streaming gear tends to sit on top of other components like amps or receivers, made it accessible and easy to use.

The Wiim Sound wireless speaker incorporated the company’s first circular touchscreen, with a 1.8-inch diameter. Even though it served the same purpose — displaying vibrant album art when playing music, data readouts like volume and format, and access to playback controls, source switching, EQ, Smart Presets, and personalization — it was a little more awkward to use.

As you can see in the attached press photos from Wiim, the Wiim Bar is likely going to end up on a media console, in front of your TV, making it ergonomically awkward. Unless you’re one of those people who mounts their TV (and presumably their soundbar too) above a fireplace (a terrible idea), you’re going to have to crouch in front of the Bar to comfortably access the touchscreen.

If the speaker is placed near the back of the console, you’ll have no choice but to approach it like you would a mouse, with your palm facing down. But then you’ll have to raise a finger to do the swiping and tapping. I can’t see this being a popular activity.

Thankfully, Wiim seems to get this. In addition to the circular screen, the Bar has a set of top-mounted, proximity-sensing playback controls that light up when they’re within reach.

Sneaking up on Sonos

Ever since debuting its ultra-affordable wireless music streamers, the Wiim Mini and Wiim Pro, the company has received non-stop comparisons to Sonos, and for good reason. The Wiim ecosystem of products, which now includes streamers, streaming amplifiers, wireless speakers, a subwoofer, and now a soundbar, are all controlled via the Wiim Home app.

That app looks and works a lot like the Sonos app — prior to the disastrous redesign of 2024 — a fact that did not escape the attention of Sonos customers who began looking for an alternative.

With the addition of the Wiim Bar, that ecosystem now extends to every room in the house. In some ways, Wiim has always one-upped Sonos (and Bose, if we’re being inclusive) with its inclusion of hi-res audio up to 24-bit/192kHz, and its advanced equalization options for those who like to geek out while fiddling with frequencies. The Wiim Bar keeps with that tradition, while also pushing it forward with support for Google Cast, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, and Qobuz Connect, for direct control from dozens of popular streaming apps, plus DLNA and Roon for local network control.

However, one big omission continues to dog Wiim: No Apple AirPlay.

I remain baffled by this situation. Wiim’s first products, the Mini, Pro, Pro Plus, and Wiim Amp are all compatible with Apple’s wireless audio streaming protocol. Then, without explanation, support for AirPlay simply came to an end. Wiim products launched since the Wiim Amp don’t have it.

I expect to get hands- and ears-on with the Wiim Bar soon, and when I do, I’ll report back with a full set of impressions.

As its first soundbar, the Bar hints at Wiim’s ambitions. It ultimately wants to compete with flagships from Sonos, Bose, and Sony. But instead of jumping in the deep end, Wiim is repeating its music streamer strategy that proved so successful: it’s starting with an entry-level option before ramping up to something bigger and pricier.

Even with four passive radiators, with no built-in subwoofer, it’s unlikely the Wiim Bar will deliver the kind of cinematic low-end rumble needed for a strong sense of immersion. Likewise, without any kind of side-firing drivers, it will be tough for the Bar to produce virtualized surround sound from Dolby Atmos or DTS:X content.

My hunch is that by next year, Wiim will follow up with a step-up model that will almost certainly bear a “Pro” or “Ultra” as part of its name. It will be more expensive, and will include a full 5.1.2 or 5.1.4 system to be more of a match for the excellent Sonos Arc Ultra and Bose’s newly released Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar.

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In reply, I typically hedge. I say, “there’s really no such thing as the best wireless earbuds, there’s only the best wireless earbuds for you.” And I stand by that. Everyone has different needs, different budgets, and perhaps most importantly, different ears.

However, if someone were to ask me, “which wireless earbuds have the best sound?” My unequivocal answer as of May 2026, is Devialet’s Gemini II.

Product Score: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Fabulous sound quality

• Excellent active noise cancellation

Cons:

• Very expensive

• Battery life is shorter than most flagship wireless earbuds

Check price on Amazon

Before I go any further, let’s address the elephant in the room. The Gemini II are among the most expensive wireless earbuds you can buy. At $499 USD, they’re double the price of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 ($249). They sell at a considerable premium over flagship models that have been universally praised for their performance, like Sony’s WF-1000XM6 ($330), Technics’ EAH-AZ100 ($300), and Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2 ($299).

A lot of reviewers think the Gemini II are overpriced. On paper, it’s hard to disagree. In terms of features, they offer nothing you can’t get elsewhere for less. Wireless charging, ANC, transparency mode, Bluetooth Multipoint, wear sensors, and app-based adjustments—these are all table stakes. In some cases, the Gemini II fall substantially under the bar: battery life, at five hours per charge and 22 hours total with the case, is at the lowest end of the market. The lack of advanced Bluetooth codecs like aptX Adaptive, LHDC, or LDAC, is a surprise considering that these are supposedly aimed at very discerning listeners.

The buds are IPX4 protected from splashes of water, and though I find them very comfy and stable, they’re nothing special in the fit department. In fact, I can see a lot of folks with small ears having trouble with their size and shape, which fills a lot more of my ear’s concha than say, the AirPods Pro 3 or QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2.

Devialet Gemini II call quality sample recording

In terms of call quality, I’d argue they’re in the lower tier of performance: Fine for casual conversations in relatively quiet spaces, but not the buds you want to use for mission critical calls while walking busy downtown streets.

However, the Gemini II’s noise cancellation is excellent. I’ve used them everywhere — at the gym, on buses and subways, on airplanes — and the amount of hush they can bring to these locations is every bit as good as you’ll get from Sony or Bose.

And then there’s the sound. Wow.

I’m not saying that if you pay 50% more ($170) than the price of the Sony WF-1000XM6, you’ll get 50% better sound quality. But I am saying that if you could swap back and forth between them (as I did) I think you’d hear the difference.

Of all the wireless earbuds I’ve tested, none can match the Gemini II’s sheer clarity and precision. When audiophiles use the term “transparent” they mean that the devices that generate your music (smartphone, DAC, amplifier, speakers, or headphones) seem to disappear, leaving you with just pure sound. It’s a statement about fidelity and realism, too. When new details begin to emerge from recordings you know like the back of your hand, or an instrument seems to occupy its own space — as though it were there in the room with you — that’s a transparent listening experience. It also happens to be what the Gemini II excel at.

The balance of frequencies using Devialet’s default EQ is damn near perfect in my opinion. “Articulate” is a word that’s sometimes used when assessing bass and it’s a fitting description for the Gemini II. They handily avoid the bass trap — where over exuberance leads to a smearing of details — with tightly rendered lows and superb resonance. Whether it’s the haunting groans of a grand piano’s deepest notes or the poetic chaos of Flea’s signature bass lines, you can get lost in the lows.

I know a lot of brands are leaning into spatial audio processing, both with and without head-tracking, but the Gemini II’s soundstage is proof that two-channel stereo can be dazzlingly immersive and even more satisfying when heard through a great set of speakers (or in this case, earbuds). I often joke that a truly precise soundstage — no matter how wide or tall you perceive it to be — makes you feel like you could take a measuring tape and determine the exact distance and direction between you and the musicians. When you want to reach out and touch the Fender Stratocaster that you’re convinced is floating a few feet above and to the right of your head, it’s no joke; it’s sublime.

I could go on to describe vocals, brass, snares, and any number of other elements, but I think that would just belabour the point. Instead, let me say this …

At any given time, I have between 75-100 sets of earbuds and headphones of both wired and wireless varieties in my collection. That’s not a brag, it’s the reality of being a reviewer. Most of the time, when a new product arrives, I use it for a week or two, write about my experience, and put it away. If it comes back out at all, it’s because I need to compare it to a new arrival.

But ever since the Devialet Gemini II showed up, they have become my go-to choice. If I’m not actively reviewing another model, I reach for the Gemini. Of all the wireless earbuds I’ve received for evaluation, few would be truly missed if I had to send them back or they got damaged. If Devialet asked me to return the Gemini II, which it absolutely could do (I offer to return all samples after my evaluation), I would feel a genuine loss, and that’s the biggest compliment I can pay any product that comes across my desk.

Would I like more battery life? Sure. Who has ever said, “no thanks,” to that question? But it’s not a deal-breaker. Am I disappointed (and maybe a little surprised) that Devialet didn’t include LDAC or AptX Adaptive/Lossless codecs? Definitely. These codecs can’t make an OK-sounding set of earbuds great, but they can take a great-sounding set and make them better. Still, the Gemini II demonstrate that even AAC, the lossy, bitrate-limited codec that’s on nearly every phone in the world, can sound awesome. Android users, you get a small bump in overall smoothness, thanks to aptX.

The Devialet Gemini II are pricey, no question. That means they’re not going to be the best wireless earbuds for a lot of people. But for those who are after the best possible sound — even if it’s only a small improvement over earbuds that cost less — the Gemini II are nothing short of spectacular.

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