Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent EHD

So far this portable EHD has been excellent.  I bought it so that I could have my music and so on in an easily portable form and it is doing the job very well.

The drive is compact and surprisingly light.  To me it has a slightly flimsy feel, but seems to be standing up well to being moved around pretty constantly.  It's a neat little thing with just a short USB3.0 lead (about 40cm) to plug in and a discreet blue LED which is lit when plugged in and flashes to indicate data transfer.

It is genuinely plug-and-play on Windows 10; it was recognised and ready to use within a very few seconds on all three devices I've tried it with.  Transfer speeds are good; I only have USB2.0 but I get around 15-20MB/s write speed for normal music files, which is very similar to the powered desktop EHDs (also Seagate) which I have been using for getting on for 5 years now.  I'm impressed; so far it's just quietly and efficiently doing the job I wanted.  It is too early to comment on durability and reliability but my existing Seagate drives have been trouble-free and I will be surprised if this is any different.  I will update this review if I have any problems.

In short, this is a good drive which just does the job without any fuss.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE

Sony SRS-XB30 Speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very good but a little expensive
 

This is a good speaker.  Sony have a reputation for quality and this is a very well-made, well-performing speaker.  I think it's a bit expensive compared to some in its class, but it does have features which you may find useful.

It comes well packaged and the speaker itself is splash-proof and very well made. I'm not that keen on the styling, but that's just personal taste.  There are good push-panel controls on the top and a well sealed input/output panel at the back.  Here you can connect an AUX jack (supplied) to non-Bluetooth devices, a power lead (also supplied) to charge the speaker, and there's also a USB port which acts as a power bank to charge a phone or similar.

It all works very well.  Bluetooth pairing is simple both conventionally and via NFC and the signal is very solid up to at least 8 metres.  Battery life is good; I haven't run it to exhaustion so I can't vouch for the advertised 24 hours' life, but it will certainly last a good long time between charges.  If you have two (or more) of these you can connect them up in a cascade to give a multi-speaker output, which may be handy – although at 150 quid a go, I'm not sure how many you'd want to buy.  It also has a light display which (thank heavens!) is easy to turn off.  It seems to be a pretty randomly changing colour display with the occasional strobe flash, which isn't something I'll ever use, but it may be an addition to a party.

The sound quality is impressive.  The top and middles are very crisp and well-articulated, and the bass is powerful from such a small unit, with a bass-boost feature which really blasts it out.    Classical music sounds rich and full, with cellos ringing beautifully and orchestral music articulated with real crispness. Rock is great, and even the deep sub-bass in London Grammar's Hey Now comes through beautifully.  I've played a lot of music through this speaker, from 16th century choral music to modern, high-production rocky stuff, and everything sounds great: Nigel North's lute, Eric Clapton's guitar, Rachel Podger's violin, Danny Thompson's bass, full orchestras, Wolf Alice, a string quartet and the voices of Emma Kirkby, Roger Daltrey, Leonard Cohen, Thea Gilmore, The Tallis Scholars…and so on.  I have given this a thorough workout and I haven't really found a weakness.

It's a very impressive speaker.  For sound and build quality, both the ADX Pulse V4 the Vava Voom 20 are as good, I think, and only cost around half the price so they would be a preferred option for me, and the August WS300 is also excellent and has wi-fi connectivity, too.  However, if you want the cascade feature or lights, or just trust the Sony name, this is a very good-sounding, durable speaker which I can recommend.

(Amazon page HERE )

Leef iBridge 3 32GB memory stick

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good but expensive

This is a good, neatly designed flash drive which will work with Apple devices using Lightning connector and with anything else via USB3.0.

It's dead simple to use on an iPhone or iPad, where it plugs in and sits snugly against the back of the phone, so it's very neat and convenient.  The app works fine.  With a Windows 10 PC it's just plug and play: after just a few seconds it was ready to go.   Transfer speeds are what I'd expect from such a device; it's just a good, well made drive and an excellent way of transferring data from a PC to an iPhone or iPad.  You also get a little neoprene cover to protect it.

I have to say that at a cost of sixty quid at the time of writing, this is a very expensive 32GB flash drive, Lightning connector or no.  It is very elegantly designed and smartly packaged (in my view it's over-packaged), but with perfectly decent USB drives available for around a tenner, this is an awful lot to pay for a fairly modest amount of storage.

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice, I guess.  This is costly, but it's good quality, nicely designed and works very well so if you do decide it's worth it, you won't be disappointed with it. 

Amazon page HERE

Mymahdi mp3/media player

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent basic media player

This is a very decent basic media player, which I was sent for review.  It works well, it looks good and the sound is perfectly acceptable.  It has its limitations, but for the price I think it's good.

The first thing to be aware of is that there is no internal memory, so the player won't work at all without a micro-SD card.  This isn't supplied, so make sure you have one available.  It will take up to 64GB; I've been using a 32GB card which works fine.

Once the card is in you can play pre-loaded files or load them via the supplied mini-USB lead.  (Note this is not the more common micro-USB!)  Once you have navigated to the file you want (more of this later), playing is fine and sound isn't bad at all.  It's not hi-fi but even through some good HD headphones it's perfectly adequate.  Video (in a limited range of formats) plays OK, too.  It's not a great picture and it jerks a little but it's usable.  On a tiny screen like this it's not something I'll use much, so minor flaws won't bother me.  Other functions work well.

However…the controls are a nightmare to figure out and the manual is hopeless.  I spent at least half an hour just managing to select and play albums reliably and there was a good deal of reprehensible language involved.  Once you've worked out and can remember that the "Menu" button often serves as "Select" (very counter-intuitive) and that to navigate files you need to be in Pause mode, it's not too bad, but you do need a lot of patience to get there.

So, for a cheap and cheerful media player this is pretty good.  Once you've figured out how to use it, it's perfectly acceptable as something you might use if you don't want to take a more expensive item or you just need a small, light media player.  For under twelve quid at the time of writing this is good value and I can recommend it.

Amazon page Here 

Sony-Ericsson MH410 earphones

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very decent basic earphones

These are perfectly decent basic earphones.  They're not hi-fi, but for the current price (well under three quid!) they are very good.

The earphones are decently made with an in-line control panel which works OK with my Android phone.  The sound is really pretty good; the bass lacks much punch, but they don't sound tinny to me so for basic earphones for casual listening, especially for speech, I like them.  The cable is about 1m long, but with an extension lead I find them fine for TV watching.

So, these are pretty basic; for high quality music listening you'll need to look elsewhere, but they're not at all bad and for earphones which cost next to nothing I think they offer very good value.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE

V-MODA Forza Metallo IEMs

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Outstanding sound

I think these Forza Metallo IEMs are excellent.  I was a little dubious before I opened them because the packaging is so flashily designed that I thought this may be a case of style over substance, but I was quite wrong.  They are very well made and the sound quality is outstanding.

The IEMs are plainly a high-quality product, with machined aluminium bodies, a good cable and high-quality strain relief.  There is a nice little carry-pouch and good range of silicone tips, ear hooks and so on so you'll be able to make them comfortable for whatever you need them for.  (Please be aware that these are wired-only IEMs so if you need Bluetooth, these won't be for you.)

The sound is the most important thing for me and I think it is excellent in all genres.  It is extremely sharp and accurate; articulation is crisp and very clear over the whole range and there's a very good balance.  The bass is superb, I think; it is very solid and gives a full depth to instruments like a theorbo or viola da gamba (which really test bass) and in rock it is powerful but never boomy or over-dominant.  Tracks with a really deep bass like Chvrches' Leave a Trace or London Grammar's Hey Now sound the best I have ever heard through IEMs and classic rock like the Stones or The Who is fantastic.  Middles are lovely, tops are sparklingly clear without any harshness and the sheer detail audible through such small units is remarkable.  

I find these a real pleasure to listen to. I have listened to a lot of music through them now including my Test Playlist which I use to compare audio products. This runs from 16th-Century choral music to London Grammar and covers most things in between and I think everything sounds really good. Articulation of individual orchestral instruments is excellent, chamber music sounds superb and crystal-clear, acoustic music has lots of light and air, rock really rocks, and so on. I the clarity, richness, depth and balance. 

 
I have used a much-loved pair of RHA MA600 for many years and more recently I have also been using HifiMan RE-400s, both if which are very good indeed. I prefer these to either; they cost significantly more but if you care about sound I'd say they're worth every penny.  I'm delighted with them and can recommend them very warmly.

Amazon page HERE

Amazon Basics USB-C to micro-USB lead, 6"

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good quality lead

This is a perfectly good quality lead at a reasonable price.  It's short (6" or so), slim and pretty flexible and will connect a USB Type-C phone or other device to a micro-USB port.  It's well made, with robust plugs, decent strain relief and so on and the plugs fit fine. 

There's not much more to say about a lead.  If you need one like this for charging and/or data transfer, it will do you very nicely and should last.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE