The conceit behind Baby Driver – a getaway driver uses his iPod playlists to drown out his tinnitus, thereby providing the soundtrack to his car chases – is really smart, and works incredibly well: the film sounds as good as it looks, and it looks amazing. If you’re in the mood for an action-packed event with spectacular stunt work, effective CGI, and lots of thrills and spills, it’s a five-star experience – and it’s on Netflix.
Ansel Elgort is the Baby of the title, and while he’s tired of the life he has no choice but to take on one more job from criminal Doc, played by Kevin Spacey. As you’d expect, things promptly go off the rails – it wouldn’t be much of a movie otherwise – and the result was what RogerEbert.com described as “as much fun as you’re going to have in a movie theater this year.” And now you can have the same fun from the comfort of your couch.
Is Baby Driver worth streaming?
Definitely. It’s hard to describe the film without making it sound like an extended movie video, but while it has all the visual flair and excitement of the very best music videos there’s a proper film here too: RogerEbert.com says that “trust me when I say that [director Edgar] Wright doesn’t skimp” on the substance; “there’s enough story and action here to satisfy without the music that drives the film-making… at its core, Baby Driver recalls decades of movies that anchored their narratives on criminals and the art of the car chase.”
But “it’s not just the action sequences that strike a chord,” the Guardian says. “At times the songs serve as an on-the-nose Greek chorus, telling us that Baby has “nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide” as he’s trapped in an arms deal. But it’s when the horns and drums of the Button Down Brass’s Tequila become gunfire, or the madness of Hocus Pocus by Focus drives a breathless chase, that Wright really puts his foot down, with exhilarating results.”
Empire gave the film the full five stars, with Terri White calling it “an awe-inspiring piece of filmmaking… that plays out as a musical through the lens of an action thriller. Sweet, funny and utterly original – you won’t see a film like it this year.”
You might also like
Get the hottest deals available in your inbox plus news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more from the TechRadar team.
Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly in the process of planning a groundbreaking data center project which would include an AI supercomputer named “Stargate”.
A report by Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati in The Information claims the goal of the project, which would be financed by Microsoft to the tune of over $100 billion, and which reportedly has a launch date set for 2028, is to reduce the two companies’ reliance on Nvidia, something that a lot of the tech giants involved in AI are increasingly looking to try to do.
Microsoft and OpenAI’s plan reportedly involves five phases, with Stargate being the fifth and most ambitious one.
The data center will be the supercomputer
The cost of the project is attributed to the age-old “sources familiar with the plans” (The Information says these are “a person who spoke to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about it and a person who has viewed some of Microsoft’s initial cost estimates”), but neither Microsoft nor OpenAI have yet commented on the specifics of the project.
The new data center project is expected to push the boundaries of AI capability and could potentially exceed $115 billion in expenses. This is more than triple the amount Microsoft spent on capital expenditures for servers and equipment last year. Microsoft is currently working on a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI that is expected to launch around 2026, The Information claims.
Shedding more light on the report, The Next Platform says, “The first thing to note about the rumored “Stargate” system that Microsoft is planning to build to support the computational needs of its large language model partner, OpenAI, is that the people doing the talking – reportedly OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman – are talking about a data center, not a supercomputer. And that is because the data center – and perhaps multiple data centers within a region with perhaps as many as 1 million XPU computational devices – will be the supercomputer.”
The Next Platform also says if Stargate does come to fruition it will be “based on future generations of Cobalt Arm server processors and Maia XPUs, with Ethernet scaling to hundreds of thousands to 1 million XPUs in a single machine,” and it definitely won’t be based on Nvidia GPUs and interconnects, which seems like a safe bet if the rumors are to be believed.
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
If you’re looking for a massive display on a budget, you aren’t going to get much better than today’s deal on the TCL S4 Series TV. Best Buy just launched a 3-day sale that’s dropped this 85-inch model to a stunning price of just $799.99 (was $899.99). That’s the lowest price we’ve seen for the TCL 4K smart TV and an incredible deal for a display of this size.
While the TCL S4 Series TV isn’t the best TV in the world, it’s still packed with premium features at an extremely affordable price. These include a stunning display thanks to the 4K HDR coupled with HDR Pro, which delivers crisp images with bright, brilliant colors. You’re also getting Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual: X for premium sound, three HDMI inputs, and smart capabilities with the Google Assistant and Chromecast built-in.
Keep in mind that Best Buy’s 3-day sale ends on Sunday at Midnight, and this might be the best price you’ll find for a feature-packed 85-inch 4K TV. I’ve listed more of today’s best TV deals from Best Buy below if you’re looking to shop for more budget displays.
Massive TV deal at Best Buy
More of today’s best TV deals at Best Buy
Shop more TV offers with our list of the best TV deals, and if you’re looking for a more premium display, see the best OLED TV deals.
The Series 9 is Apple’s latest and greatest smartwatch, and Amazon just dropped the price to $299 (it was $399) – an incredible deal. That’s a $100 discount and the lowest price we’ve ever seen, beating Black Friday’s offer by $30. You could say you’d be a fool not to buy it.
The Apple Watch 9 is one of the best smartwatches you can buy, thanks to the all-new S9 SiP chip, which delivers increased performance and a long-lasting 18 hours of battery life. Apple’s new chip also brings new capabilities to the Apple Watch, such as the double-tap gesture, which allows you to control your smartwatch by simply tapping your index and thumb together twice. You also get a brighter display and watchOS 10 with redesigned apps. Plus, for the first time, Siri requests can now be processed from your smartwatch.
Today’s Apple Watch 9 deal from Amazon applies to the Midnight aluminum case with a Midnight sport loop and as mentioned above, it’s a record-low price and incredible value for money. I’ve listed more of today’s best deals from Amazon below, all of which represent outstanding offers that are no joke.
The smartphone market is not competitive. Whether or not Apple holds an anti-competitive monopoly is a matter for the courts to decide, but it seems clear that the smartphone market is designed to lock buyers into one brand, and that is bad for everyone.
Take a look at the list of the best phones published by many tech websites, like CNET. There is usually a best iPhone and a best Android phone, and never the two shall meet. Our own TechRadar list of the best phones you can buy in the US includes a best overall phone, but we may not bother with that superlative for much longer.
After all, if you have an iPhone now and you come to our list of best phones, would you really consider switching to a Samsung phone just because I said it was the best? Would you drop-kick your Apple Watch and your Apple AirPods Pro and trade in your iPhone 14 Pro Max for a Galaxy S24 Ultra? Probably not.
Apple doesn’t want your Samsung phones, switcher! (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Apple doesn’t think anybody is switching, that’s for sure. If you try to buy a new Apple iPhone 15 Pro and trade in your old Samsung phone, the latest Samsung phone that Apple includes on its drop-down trade-in list is the Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G. That phone is two years old. Apple hasn’t felt the need to update its trade-in list for two years. There is not a single Galaxy Z Fold or Galaxy Z Flip on Apple’s list, not even the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Measuring competition in the US smartphone market
The market is entrenched. While Apple can make disclaimers about holding only a small portion of the global market, in fact, the way an economist measures market competition, Apple is excruciatingly dominant.
When the US government is considering whether or not to allow a corporate merger, it looks at the HHI
When economists measure market competition, they start with a simple measure called the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). The HHI gives every market a score. To find that score, you take the market players and you square their market share. Then you add them all together.
If there is only one company in a market, that company has a 100% share of the market. The square of 100% is 10,000, and therefore a 10,000 score on the HHI is the absolute maximum.
If there are ten companies and each company has an equal 10% market share, that means each company adds 100 to the HHI, and the total HHI for the market is 10 X 100 = 1,000.
When the US government is considering whether or not to allow a corporate merger, it looks at the HHI for the competitive market. If the HHI for a market is 1,500 or lower, it is considered competitive. A market with ten companies that each held an equal share would be very competitive.
If the HHI reaches 2,500, the market is considered highly concentrated. In a highly concentrated market, the government is more likely to challenge a corporate merger, especially if that merger would move the HHI score by 200 points or more.
General Motors, the #1 car brand, has the same market share as Samsung (Image credit: Chevrolet)
Look at the US car market. General Motors has the top spot with 17% of the market, and among the top ten automakers, Volkswagen lands near the bottom with just under four percent of the market. The HHI for the total US auto market is approximately 1,100, making it a competitive market.
The US smartphone market? A very different picture. Apple holds more than 60% of the market, while the number two phone maker, Samsung, sits at around 17%. Computing the HHI for US smartphones gives us an index of more than 4,200. This is not a competitive market in any way. Apple controls the US smartphone market.
To be fair, Apple argues that its share of the global market is much more competitive, and this is absolutely true. Accounting for the top ten global smartphone makers, the entire market scores around 1,700 on the HHI. The problem is that list includes phone makers like Xiaomi, Oppo (apart from OnePlus), Realme, and Huawei, which don’t sell phones in the US.
More importantly, though, the US Department of Justice is responsible for the US market, not the global market.
A monopoly is about power, not percentage
Is Apple a monopoly? That’s a tough question, but before you can answer it, you must understand how the Department of Justice defines a monopoly.
A company approaches monopoly status when it holds “substantial market power that is durable rather than fleeting,” according to the DoJ. Market power means “the ability to raise prices profitability above those that would be charged in a competitive market.”
In other words, the DoJ says that if a company is so powerful in a market that it can charge whatever it wants, knowing you won’t ever leave and go to a competitor, it is a monopoly. In a healthy market, we have competition. New things get better. Old things get cheaper.
As the Department of Justice states, “competition spurs companies to reduce costs, improve the quality of their products, invent new products, educate consumers, and engage in a wide range of other activity that benefits consumer welfare.”
In a competitive market, this iPhone 13 should be much cheaper by now (Image credit: TechRadar)
It is hard to look at the current smartphone market and believe that all of this is happening. We are not seeing cost reductions in smartphones, even on older phones that remain on sale after the newer model is launched. The prices just don’t drop as much as they should.
We’re not seeing major cost reductions. If we were, I’d be able to buy an old iPhone right now at a reduced price. In a normal market, I would expect a one-year-old phone to cost 10% less than a brand-new phone, and a two-year-old phone should be even cheaper. If I buy a TV, or a car, or other major appliances, that’s the savings I will get for buying leftover older models.
A two-year-old leftover phone should cost 20% less than a new phone. But look at the iPhone. Apple sells the iPhone 13, from 2021, for $599, when it originally cost $799 brand new. That means Apple only cuts prices by less than 8% every year. That’s not competitive. That’s control over the market.
In a competitive market, not every phone would copy the iPhone
If a phone veers too far from the iPhone formula, it won’t find space on carrier store shelves
We aren’t seeing consumer education about new phone technologies. With cars, people are learning about hybrid versus electric options. In home appliances, people are learning about the differences between heat pumps and air conditioning. Where is the education in phones? We aren’t seeing that wide range of activity that you’d expect from a mature market.
We have so many different types of cars, from the type of internal powertrain and the fuel it uses, to the body size and shape, to the levels of luxury. In the phone market we have the iPhone, and phones that try to imitate the iPhone. If a phone veers too far from the iPhone formula, it won’t find space on carrier store shelves. It won’t find developers to support its platform.
I wish I could use Check In with my family, but they use Galaxy phones (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
It won’t be compatible with the phone all of your friends use, because Apple has made sure that other phones don’t work properly with the iPhone. Apple has a great safety check in feature that lets my Dad know I’ve gotten home safely after my long drive home. Except I can’t use it with my Dad because he has an Android phone, not an iPhone.
Apple does not have an obligation to help its competitors or lose its competitive advantage. The US government, on the other hand, has an obligation to recognize when a market is no longer competitive, and one company is using its dominance to stifle evolution. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. A company doesn’t win by holding back the market, it wins by making its own products better and more affordable.
A docking stations has become particularly useful – essential even – in office settings where users often need to switch between laptops and desktops.
JCH462 Wormhole Switch, from j5create, takes this convenience a notch higher. The multi-function docking station lets you connect two Windows devices via USB-C (there’s an attached USB-A adapter if required) and duplicate or extend their displays.
The Wormhole Switch lets users control the connected devices using a single keyboard and mouse, great news for anyone who routinely gets confused by which peripheral belongs to which computer. The keyboard works on whichever PC the mouse pointer is active on, or you can use the Alt+S keyboard shortcut or mouse wheel to swap manually between devices. If you have a touchscreen laptop, you can turn its display into a graphics tablet for your desktop.
Quick copy and paste
You will need to install the driver on both connected computers for this trickery to work, and doing so will display a control bar that will let you manage your screens, switching between extend and duplicate modes, and shifting displays left and right (or up and down, depending on how your computers are arranged).
Users can effortlessly drag and drop files from one computer to another, eliminating the need for external storage devices or cloud-based solutions, and also cut/copy and paste clipboard content between PCs.
It’s worth pointing out that if one computer goes into sleep mode you won’t be able to use the other one to wake it, but that’s a small inconvenience.
Wormhole Switch comes with two USB Type-A ports and one USB-C 5Gbps port on the side, so you can connect any compatible peripherals, including a mouse, keyboard, external drives, and webcams, although this only works with the PC1 host. If, for example, you want to work on files from an external flash drive on PC2, you’ll need to copy them via PC1 first.
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Wormhole Switch is an incredibly handy piece of kit and surprisingly affordable too. You can currently buy it on Amazon priced at $69.99.
Brane Audio’s Brane X has managed to achieve the unthinkable in the mostly mundane realm of the best wireless speakers, which – to be clear – is full of models that don’t leave much of an impression. Some are good, some are okay, and many are bad. But the Brane X makes an impression.
The main way the Brane X impresses is by delivering bass output extending into the sub-bass range. That’s unheard of for a portable speaker. Still, the Brane X isn’t an ordinary portable speaker, but one with proprietary Repel-Attract-Driver (R.A.D.) technology that uses a magnet array to cancel out air pressure within the speaker’s enclosure. This allows big bass to be generated from a small woofer in a highly compact box, and it needs to be heard to be believed.
Aside from its sub-bass output capability, the Brane X comes off as a normal-looking portable wireless speaker. It has a lunchbox-like form, complete with a carrying handle, and an unassuming design. Its built-in battery carries a charge for up to 12 hours of playback time and requires three hours to fully recharge. The IP57-rated speaker is dust and waterproof, making it ideal for both indoor and outdoor use.
Wireless streaming support includes Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth 5.1. An app lets you configure bass and custom EQ settings, and it can also be used to group multiple Brane X speakers for multi-room playback. Controls to adjust volume and bass level are located on the speaker’s top surface, and there are built-in mics for Alexa voice control.
Sound quality is where the Brane X makes its mark by delivering a notably dynamic and detailed sound for a portable speaker. Hip-hop, techno, rock, and even classical music are equally well served, with the speaker’s deep bass providing a strong foundation for other layers in music mixes. Voices, in particular, sound natural – something that benefits both music and podcasts – and the Brane X also manages to convey a sense of stereo separation and depth.
The catch with the Brane X, and you probably saw this coming, is that its performance comes at a price. At $599 (around £475 / AU$915), it’s more expensive than other premium portable speakers such as the Sonos Move 2 ($449 / £449 / AU$799). That factor makes the Brane X a tough sell if you simply want a portable speaker for casual outdoor and indoor listening, but if you’re looking for one with best-in-class sound quality, the Brane X is it.
Brane X review: Price and release date
The Brane X has a lunchbox-like design with a carrying strap for toting it around (Image credit: Future)
Released December 2023
Currently available only in US
Priced at $599 (around £475 / AU$915)
The Brane X is currently sold exclusively through Brane Audio and is only available for shipment in the US. International shipments will start in late 2024 according to the company’s website.
At $599 (around £475 / AU$915) the Brane X is very much on the pricey side for a portable wireless speaker, though it has sonic tricks up its sleeve that the competition lacks. To put it in context, you can buy a Sonos Move 2 for $449 / £449 / AU$799, which gets you a portable wireless speaker with a similar feature set plus twice the battery life. You can also spend quite a bit more on the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 ($1,099 / £899 / AU$1,950), a portable wireless speaker that generally looks similar to the Brane X, but has a more attractive design that’s typical for that brand.
Brane X review: Specs
Capacitive touch controls are located on the speaker’s top surface (Image credit: Future)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 – Cell 0
Row 0 – Cell 1
Weight
7.7 lb. (3.5 kg)
Dimensions
6.1 x 9.3 x 7 inches (155 x 237 x 177 mm)
Battery life (quoted)
12 hours
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1
Speaker drivers
2 x 0.75-inch tweeters, 2 x 2-inch midrange drivers, 6.5 x 9-inch woofer
Streaming support
AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect
Aux-in
Yes, 3.5mm
Charger port
Power in
Microphone
Yes
Waterproof rating
IP67
Brane X review: Features
The Sonos Move 2 (at left) was used for a comparison in our Brane X (at right) listening tests (Image credit: Future)
Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth support
Voice control using Amazon Alexa
Built-in battery provides 12 hours playback time
Brane Audio’s Brane X streams music wirelessly via Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and also supports Bluetooth 5.1. A Brane app is available and can be used to select low, medium, and high Bass presets for best sound (most likely dependent on where the speaker is located), create a custom 5-band EQ setting, and store speaker groups for multi-room playback on multiple Brane X speakers. There are four built-in microphones for voice control, which is carried out using the Alexa voice assistant.
The driver array of the Brane X consists of two 0.75-inch tweeters, two 2-inch mid-range drivers, and a 6.5 by 9-inch (165 x 229mm) woofer. Four class-D amplifiers are packed into the compact speaker, for a total of 200 watts of power. A built-in battery allows 12 hours of playback at a reasonable volume level, and it can be fully recharged in 3 hours.
I would be amiss to describe the bass driver in the Brane X simply as a “woofer,” since the company applies unique technology to it to achieve extended bass. Woofers in conventional speakers generate bass by moving forward and back in an enclosure. That movement is driven by the passage of magnets on the woofer’s voice coil through a magnetic field, and it affects the air pressure within the speaker.
Brane Audio’s Repel-Attract-Driver operates similarly to a regular woofer, but in this instance, additional magnets are used to cancel out air pressure within the speaker. The cancellation effect allows for the use of a smaller woofer, along with a smaller enclosure, enabling Brane Audio to generate powerful sub-bass from a lunchbox-size speaker.
Brane X review: Sound quality
The speaker’s rear panel features a power on/off button and 3.5mm audio input (Image credit: Future)
Excellent bass extension and substantial output
Well-balanced sound with natural voice reproduction
Can play cleanly at party-like volume levels
The Brane X may be compact, but there’s nothing small about its sound. After reading about this portable speaker that’s capable of not just substantial bass extension, but also substantial sub-bass output, I was ready for something different and upon first listen I got that.
Getting straight down to business, I streamed Boom by Tiësto, Sevenn, and Gucci Mane to the speaker from Tidal HiFi via AirPlay. This is a track with bass to spare, and if the Brane X could handle that, it would pass the test. I’m not exaggerating when I say that my mouth flapped open when I heard the deep, pounding bass put out by the Brane X, which wasn’t far off from what I expect to hear from a hi-fi system with a capable subwoofer. The speaker’s extended dynamic range also allowed other elements in the mix to come through clearly, especially vocals, which had a natural, unstrained quality. Pushing up the volume to, naturally, satisfy my curiosity about how loud the Brane X could play, it went up to party-like levels without distorting or sounding congested.
Radiohead’s Desert Island Disks features a spare acoustic guitar that’s played over a low, pulsing beat. On my regular portable speaker, the Sonos Move 2, that beat comes across as more of a tap. When I played the song on the Brane X, however, it had a surprising low and full quality that dynamically anchored the sound and allowed for details in vocals along with the song’s more subtle ambient elements to come across clearly.
Even classical symphonic music fared well on the Brane X. When I streamed Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition – The Great Gate of Kiev, as played by the Cleveland Orchestra, on Tidal HiFi, the tympani rolls were conveyed in an appropriately thunderous manner and the volume sweeps of strings sounded smooth and convincing. Comparing the Brane X’s performance here again to my reference Sonos speaker, the Sonos came across as comparatively flat-sounding, with no sense of low-end muscle in the percussion and double basses.
Given the Brane X’s hi-fi prowess, it seemed almost weird to set it up in my kitchen in the spot normally occupied by my Sonos Move, where it is used mainly for listening to news and podcasts. When I did, I found I needed to dial down the bass in the app for best sound in the new spot. That done, the Brane X made voices sound completely natural, with none of the strained quality that can typically be heard when listening with low-cost Bluetooth speakers. Brane Audio’s portable may have been overkill in this setting, but I certainly wasn’t eager to swap it out.
The only sonic quirk I encountered when using the Brane X was a faint level of noise when the speaker was turned on but not being used for playback. This didn’t exactly bother me, and in most cases when I had the speaker turned on it was streaming audio, which fully masked the noise, but it was there nonetheless.
Brane X review: Design
The Brane X’s bottom-mounted woofer (Image credit: Future)
Basic, unassuming design
Carrying strap for portable use
1P57-rated dust and waterproof
There’s nothing particularly fancy about the Brane X’s design. As noted in the Features section of this review, it’s about the size and shape of a lunchbox. A rubber carrying strap is attached for toting the speaker around, and the black plastic top surface contains capacitive touch controls to adjust volume and bass level, as well as toggle the microphones on and off and set up Bluetooth and Wi-Fi pairing mode. A black mesh grille covers the speaker’s full front surface and sturdy rubber feet are provided to secure the speaker and allow clearance for the bottom-mounted Repel-Attract-Driver.
The Brane X’s back panel features a power on/off button and a 3.5mm aux input for connecting sources like a disc player or turntable. You’ll also find an input here for the speaker’s large, bulky external power supply and a QR code to access the Brane Audio website. With an IP57 rating, the Brane X is both dust and waterproof, making it a solid option for a workshop and a pool party.
Brane X review: Value
(Image credit: Future)
Expensive compared to the competition
Unique among portable wireless speakers
Has sound quality to back up the high price
With a $599 (around £475 / AU$915) price tag, the Brane X is undoubtedly expensive, making other premium portable wireless speakers such as the Sonos Move 2 look like a bargain in comparison. But the Brane X sounds better and certainly delivers better bass than the Sonos Move 2, which is its top competition. There is nothing quite like it on the market, a factor that enhances its value.
Suppose you’re looking for a compact portable wireless speaker that doesn’t sound like a compact portable wireless speaker, but a regular stereo system with a subwoofer instead. In that case, the Brane X is your only option. Yes, it’s expensive, but it has the sound quality to back up the high price.
Should you buy the Brane X?
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Features
Wi-Fi, Airplay 2, and Bluetooth streaming plus built-in battery and Alexa voice control
4.5/5
Sound quality
Exceptional sound quality and strikingly deep bass for a portable speaker
5/5
Design
Basic, unassuming design, but with carrying strap for portablility
4/5
Value
Pricey for a portable speaker, but it’s no ordinary portable
3.5/5
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Brane X review: Also consider
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Brane X smart speaker competitors
Brane X
Sonos Move 2
Sonos Roam
Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5
Price
$599 (around £475 / AU$915)
$449 / £449 / AU$799
$179 / £179 / AU$299
$1,099 / £899 / AU$1,950
Weight
7.7lbs. / 3.5kg
6.6 lbs / 3kg
0.95lbs / 0.43kg
8.4lbs / 3.8kg
Dimensions
6.1 x 9.3 x 7 inches (155 x 237 x
160 x 241 x 127mm / 6.3 x 9.5 x 5 inches
2.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches
187 x 285 x 130 mm (h,w,d)
Battery life (quoted):
12 hours
24 hours
10 hours
12 hours
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth 5.1, Spotify Connect
Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, USB-C
Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.3, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Chromecast
Speaker drivers
2 x 0.75-inch tweeters, 2 x 2-inch midrange drivers, 6.5 x 9-inch woofer
2x angled tweeters, 1x midwoofer
N/A
1 x woofer; 2 x midrange ; 1 x tweeter
Aux-in
Yes, 3.5mm line-in
Yes (via USB-C adapter)
No
No
Charger port
Power in
Sonos charging base or USB-C
USB-C or optional Sonos Charger
USB-C, Qi wireless
Microphone
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Waterproof rating
IP57
IP56
IP67
IP65
Brane X smart speaker review: How I tested
(Image credit: Future)
Tested with music streamed from Tidal HiFi and Apple Music via AirPlay
Used Sonos Move 2 for comparison during listening tests
Tested over several weeks of both casual and critical listening
I tested the Brane X using a range of different music genres from hip-hop to classical and also used it for everyday listening to news internet radio stations and podcasts. During my testing, which lasted for several weeks, I moved it around to different rooms in my home and also gave it a listen outdoors.
I used a Bluetooth wireless connection from my iPhone for casual listening but switched to AirPlay 2 for critical listening during my review. Most music tracks played during my test were sourced from Tidal HiFi, with some played from Apple Music. For a direct comparison with a competitive speaker, I used a Sonos Move 2, switching between both speakers using the same music tracks to make a subjective listening comparison.
My audio reviewing experience extends back over two decades, and during that time I have tested everything from full surround sound speaker systems to subwoofers and soundbars.
The Mixtral 8X7B AI Agent is making waves with its state-of-the-art technology, which is poised to enhance the way we interact with AI systems. This new AI model is not just another iteration in the field; it’s a sophisticated tool that promises to deliver high performance and efficiency, making it a noteworthy competitor to existing models like GPT3.5.
The Mixtral 8X7B is built on the sparse mixture of experts model (SMoE), which is a cutting-edge approach in AI development. This allows the AI to excel in tasks that require a deep understanding of context, thanks to its impressive 32k token context capacity. Such a feature is indispensable for applications that demand extensive text processing, from language translation to content creation. Moreover, its ability to support multiple languages, including English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish, makes it a versatile tool for global use.
Mixtral 8X7B vs Llama2
One of the standout features of the Mixtral 8X7B is its code generation performance. This is particularly beneficial for developers and programmers who are looking to streamline their workflow. The AI’s ability to automate coding tasks can lead to increased productivity and a reduction in errors. Its fine-tuning capabilities are also noteworthy, as they allow the AI to follow instructions with exceptional accuracy, a fact that is reflected in its high scores on specialized benchmarks like MT-Bench.
Mixtral 8X7B AI model performance
James Briggs has put together a fantastic overview testing the performance of the Mixtral 8X7B AI model. When it comes to practical applications, the inference speed of Mixtral 8X7B is a game-changer. It operates six times faster than similar models, which is a critical advantage for integrating AI into time-sensitive tasks. This swift response time gives businesses and developers a leg up in a competitive market, where every second counts.
Here are some other articles you may find of interest on the subject of Mistral AI models :
Cost is a significant factor when it comes to adopting new technologies, and the Mixtral 8X7B scores high in this regard as well. It offers an impressive cost-performance ratio, ensuring that users get an efficient AI solution without compromising on quality or functionality. This makes the Mixtral 8X7B a smart choice for those looking to invest in AI technologies without breaking the bank.
Mixtral 8X7B vs LLaMA 2 70B vs GPT-3.5
The Mixtral 8X7B also stands out for its open-weight model, which is licensed under the permissive Apache 2.0 license. This encourages a broad range of use and adaptation in various projects, which is invaluable for researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs. The flexibility afforded by this licensing model fosters innovation and creative applications of the AI agent, further solidifying its position in the market.
The AI Agent a robust and cost-efficient solution that caters to a wide array of applications. Mixtral 8X7B offers a combination of speed, high performance, and adaptability, along with a flexible licensing model, making it an attractive option for those looking to harness the potential of AI. As industries continue to be transformed by artificial intelligence advancements, the Mixtral 8X7B is set to play a significant role in this ongoing transformation. For more information jump over to the official Mistral AI website for more details and comparison figures.
Filed Under: Guides, Top News
Latest timeswonderful Deals
Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, timeswonderful may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
