ButtKicker LFE Review

By Ian Bell Updated November 28, 2004

Quote from the review:

What is it?
The ButtKicker, in simplest terms, is a bass shaker, but it can’t accurately be described in words. It has to be felt to be believed. It literally rocks your couch at just the right times during explosions, crashes, jet fights, or battle scenes in movies.

Does it work?
I was initially skeptical the ButtKicker would shake at the wrong times or be distracting. But the ButtKicker intelligently shuts itself off when no bass signal is present, which prevents unrelated vibrations and also saves energy. The ButtKicker remained off during most regular TV shows or news programs, which contain little or no bass. When it’s movie time, you will be pleasantly surprised how the ButtKicker jumps into action as soon as you pop in a DVD.

I had no clue that they made things like this. It might be some fun for when you have friends over.

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Publisher

I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?

Audio / Video

NuraTrue Pro hands-on review: A sneak peek at the lossless future of wireless audio

NuraTrue Pro earbuds held in hand.

Nura — the Australian company behind the innovative Nuraphone headphones, which measure your ears' unique architecture in order to customize the sound — is working on new first-of-its-kind tech for its upcoming NuraTrue Pro wireless earbuds. The new buds debut today as a Kickstarter campaign. The company says the NuraTrue Pro will be the first wireless audio device (headphones or earbuds) to use Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless codec, the first codec to promise true CD-quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Digital Trends was offered an advanced look at the NuraTrue Pro. And while not all of the puzzle pieces are in place just yet, the picture that is coming together looks very promising. Here’s a taste of what’s to come.
Why go lossless?

Audio / Video

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Sonos One review front top

Sonos has launched its own voice assistant, known as Sonos Voice Control, and you can enable it on any voice-capable Sonos product in your home. It's not the first time Sonos users have been able to issue voice commands to their speakers -- Alexa has been available since 2017 when Sonos launched its first true smart speaker, the Sonos One.

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Adding Sonos Voice Control

Computing

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A glowing blue and purple on the LG C2 OLED.

We're nearing developer conference season, but before we get there, we've been busy reviewing our little hearts out this past month.

We've found the gems among the many tech products we've given a try this month. They span all the most important established product categories, but also include those tech products that are more off the beaten path. Everything below is stuff we've personally used and reviewed ourselves -- and these ones certainly got our attention this month.