Epinions Recent Reviews for monoblocks

Big headphones, good performance, tidy price

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:40:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - In truth I had never been much of a fan of Sony's earlier stand-alone headphone offerings, mostly because I haven't had much luck with their sonic capabilities or found that their comfort was less than satisfactory or--worse yet--both aspects were...

Solely supreme audio at a price point sadly crying for convergence.

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 15:41:48 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Another month, another MP3 player making it into Monoblocks Manor.Sony's latest foray into the iPod fighter abyss--the highly anticipated X-series portable media player (particularly by the anti-iPod crowd)--has been a wonderfully enticing if...

A small remote that works...just not that well.

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:27:56 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The Chamberlain 956D keychain remote--at least in concept--is the perfect device for people who have multiple cars like our family, particularly since we've never opted for the Homelink systems in any of our rides. Rather than be saddled with buying and...

The Sennheiser IE-8: turning the earphone marketplace on its, um, 'ear' yet again.

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 06:01:38 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - (Note: at the time of my posting of this review, the picture that is shown for the Sennheiser IE-8 here on Epinions is incorrect. The IE-8 is in-ear headset, not a full-sized headphones set like the illustration shows.)Why is it that every...

Style without much in the way of sonic substance

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:36:40 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - As we're tumbling down the abyss of the latest economic down cycle--apparently with no end in sight--it's become frightfully hard to get very excited about running down to the gadget store to splurge on the latest or coolest electronics. Even for...

A tidy & neat solution for charging your iPod/iPhone

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:41:13 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The latest generation iPod USB Adapter came as something of a revelation to me, but then again most Apple products seem to do that. Considering how large most power adapters for electronics are--including the first generation units used by Apple...

Hefty price for only fair audio quality; no miracle on a rope here

Sat, 7 Feb 2009 15:22:36 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The best thing about Apple's latest upgrade set of in-ear headphones is that they function so well with many of the latest generation of iPods and iPhones from Cupertino. No surprise that, since Apple has added a lot of features to their latest round of...

The Sony NWZ-A829: supreme sound quality at the cost of a few irritating flaws.

Sat, 7 Feb 2009 13:42:25 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Old habits do indeed die hard. I’m the quintessential basket case.Sane individuals probably would believe that all any one person might need is a single, solitary MP3 player, with a purchase of a new one only when the older device’s...

Seemingly great wheel, but flawed once the surface is scratched

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:39:43 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Designed as a compliment to the PS3 and the game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (GT5P), the Logitech Driving Force GT is a generally capable wheel that is a benefit to gameplay of GT5P, particularly at its current online price point. It enhances my gaming...

Sedan as appliance? Not on your life, bucko...

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:03:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - (late summer, 2006) When we bought our then-new Mazda 6 Grand Sport sedan in the summer of 2006 it had proved to be something of a relief. We had gone through an agonizing, extended, on-and-off search over the past 3 1/2 years, looking...

Extremely useful, if only in a limited capacity

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:56:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - I just used my recently acquired Royal Dirt Devil Detailer for a bit of hobby cleanup and maintenance, notably with a number of built-up scale model plastic and resin kits that had been left neglected and languishing on a forgotten, high bedroom shelf...

A showcase (albeit imperfect) for your Apple iPod nano

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:42:38 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Our household are iPod junkies; we freely admit it. And as much as we cherish the silly things, we like to keep them in as pristine shape as possible. However, we generally dislike most of the case solutions available, since the dominant theme with so...

Music as caricature. Or is it karaoke?

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 07:25:14 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - I admit I like swing music as much as the next guy. Perhaps even more so than most. But Paul Anka's latest, Rock Swings, goes well beyond the limits of taste, be it good, bad or absolutely putrid. Rock music has more often than not been about...

Nokia N73 Smartphone: A minor miracle (on a rope, at that).

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:01:33 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Okay, so it's not Pope on a Rope (sorry, John Paul). Once I became a card-carrying, full entrenched member of the Apple iPod universe, I had often longed for a simple flash player capable of handling AAC files for those times the bigger iPods...

Cheap (sonic) thrills, but comes at a price.

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 07:57:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The MX-500 earbuds are so much like the quintessential low-end Sennheiser product: good spatially with a well-detailed open-air sound, but painfully soft on outside noise isolation and weak in the knees in the mid-bass ranges and below. Sonically, I've...

Proving Hi-Fi is indeed portable

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 06:57:31 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The Sennheiser PX-100 has been in my stable of portable headphones for about a year now, and have proven to me on many occasions that they were indeed a worthy addition. They offer much more than acceptable sound quality for their size and their...

Honoring and following the standard-bearer.

Sat, 20 Sep 2003 08:34:51 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Though Pasty Cline left this earth long before I became old enough to have understood the power and sway of popular music, her reverberations are still very much felt to this day. This collection of some of Cline's most well-known works by some of today'...

Death of the guitar hero or, how to formaldehyde a rock legend

Wed, 6 Nov 2002 06:47:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - sha·man (shä m n, sh-)

n.

A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control...

This is country??? Well, depends on which country you mean...

Fri, 18 Oct 2002 19:24:38 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - Let see...hip hop beats, blue-eyed soul, '70s pop rock, country rock, Gen-Y (or is it 'Z' by now?) pop, countrified pop ballads, pop-laced country ballads (yes, there is a difference), '80s hair-bandesque balladering that would've made Bon Jovi or...

PC recording has NEVER been this good (updated 1/27/03).

Fri, 9 Aug 2002 14:20:35 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The number 1500 holds a hallowed place among the audio products in Denon’s history. Their early audiophile CD player, the DCD-1500 from the early 1980s, was often considered THE first CD player from any manufacturer that was good enough to...

When technology is not a help (and right when it counted the most)

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 05:38:34 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - We had known the end was coming for some time, but the speed at which it was nearing was still appalling. As with any loss of a loved one, it’s difficult resolving the letting go; logical thinking often goes awry. I felt I had to try my best to somehow...

Xtant 650W x 3 Amplifier X603: A different sort of 'X' box, with comparable flaws to boot (updated 7/5/02).

Sun, 23 Jun 2002 04:15:40 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - For some time I've been particularly fond of Xtant amplifiers, if for no reason other than they tend to do their job exceedingly well. The X-series amps in particular have been in the periphery of my mobile audio want list for some time, but they stayed...

There's no getting better than this (but does it have to be SO expensive?)

Mon, 20 May 2002 05:12:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - (Note: Focal's own website has no such reference to a 7" speaker system. The large driver is officially only a 6 1/2" sized unit; where epinions gets their info...)

'Utopia' is actually a very appropriate name for this line of...

Boston Acoustics ProSeries 12.5LF Car Subwoofer Driver: Musical mastership for the low end.

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 19:30:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - The best thing about mobile subwoofers is:

a) being able to crack plaster from 100 yards away,

b) impressing onlookers with the massive thumps to disguise the fact that your car's sorry excuse of an engine couldn't overtake a paraplegic...

This husband's point of view

Tue, 29 Jan 2002 04:14:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author monoblocks - A unidentified husband and wife enter into their garage as they prepare to leave for a day of shopping. They climb into the wife's car (a problematic '98 Passat GLS which by coincidence is described on a web site called 'epinsomethingorother', if you...