Tag: bass

  • iFixit publishes 15-inch MacBook Air teardown, highlights upgraded speaker system, larger battery

    iFixit publishes 15-inch MacBook Air teardown, highlights upgraded speaker system, larger battery

    Apple put some interesting stuff in its new 15-inch MacBook Air notebook.

    According to the cool cats at iFixit, who completed their usual reardown of the new hardware and posted video of the process, the 15-inch MacBook Air has a similar internal design as the 13-inch model, with the only notable difference being two extra speakers.

    “The new 15-inch MacBook Air also features a phenomenal new six-speaker sound system with two tweeters and two sets of force-cancelling woofers,” said Apple. “The new speakers deliver twice the bass depth for fuller sound, and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos provides immersive experiences whether listening to music or watching movies.”

    The teardown also revealed a larger battery, although Apple has stated that the 15-inch model’s battery life is equal to the 13-inch model. As with the 13-inch model, the battery cells have adhesive pull tabs for easier removal, but the battery can only be accessed after several other components are disassembled.

    Other components inside the notebook include MacBook Air’s logic board with the M2 chip and a single NAND chip for the 256GB model, which can result in slower SSD read and write speeds compared to 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB models.

    iFixit rated the new MacBook Air as very difficult to repair, and cited that neither the unit’s RAM or storage can be upgraded after purchase.

    If you’ve snagged the new 15-inch MacBook Air, please let us know about your experience in the comments.

    Via MacRumors and iFixit

  • Recent AirPods Pro firmware update sacrificed noise cancellation quality for bass, quickly pulled by Apple

    Apple’s recent AirPods Pro firmware update may have backfired a bit.

    The version 2C54 firmware update, which Apple released on December 16th, 2019, was meant to improve the audio quality overall, but seems to have reduced the ability to block some ambient noise at lower frequencies.

    Per audio review site Rtins, a new round of tests designed to evaluate the AirPods with the 2C54 firmware update installed found the following complaint:

    “After updating to Firmware [2C54], we retested the headphones and our results showed a fairly significant drop in isolation performance, primarily in the bass-range. This means that with ANC turned on, these headphones won’t do nearly as good a job blocking out the low engine rumbles of planes or buses as they did before this update. This review reflects these changes.”

    The reduction in isolation has been directly attributed in Apple’s attempt to increase audio quality, and more specifically bass accuracy. Rtings also reflected this change saying that the result “showed a fairly significant improvement to bass accuracy.”

    2C54 update was pulled quickly after release for reasons that have yet to be made public, but followed a number of user complaints about the different in the Active Noise Cancellation system (ANC). It’s unknown how many users were affected by the update.

    The AirPods Pro select the high end of Apple’s truly wireless earphones. Released in September 2019, they debuted as an upgrade path from the existing second generation AirPods, rather than acting as a replacement. AirPods Pro offered Active Noise Cancelling and changeable ear tips for a premium $250 price tag.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and Rtings

  • Apple releases Music Memos app for musicians/songwriters on the go

    musicmemosappicon

    This is kind of a neat thing.

    Apple on Wednesday unveiled a new Music Memos app designed to help musicians and songwriters store ideas on the go.

    The app uses the iPhone’s built-in microphone can be used to record instruments in a lossless format, and the resulting recordings can be analyzed for rhythm and chords.

    (more…)