Pipeline Review: Razer Tiamat 7.1
What is it?
Razer’s Tiamat 7.1, the first headset to feature 10 discrete drivers for true 7.1 surround sound.How much?
$179.99 from Razer’s webstore or Amazon.comWhat does it do?
The Tiamat is a desktop headset, with very long cables, a large volume control unit (which features a toggle between headphones and an audio system), and a reliance on USB power. It has five 3.5mm jacks, four for different audio channels and one for mic, along with a USB used exclusively for power. Each circumaural cup has five drivers: one for front, rear, and surround, along with a center channel and a subwoofer in each ear. Razer’s other 7.1 headset, the Megalodon, makes do with two drivers and virtual surround, so this is a significant step up on paper. Compared to other large headsets, the Tiamat appears to have smaller drivers overall with a mix of 30mm (front, center) and 20mm (rear, surround) drivers to complement the 40mm subwoofer drivers. For example, the lower-end Tiamat 2.2 has two 40mm drivers for mid/high range frequencies to go with the two 40mm sub drivers, while Corsair goes with two 50mm drivers and virtual surround in its Vengeance 1500 headset.Is it any good?
The design and aesthetic of the Tiamat is pretty stunning. Razer has traditionally put a lot of effort into the industrial design and packaging of their products, so this comes as no surprise. The external cover of the circumaural cups is translucent, so you can actually see the individual drivers. It’s awesome to see how the smaller mid/high drivers are dwarfed by the sub, and overall, it’s just a cool aesthetic. The Razer logos on each side light up in green when you plug it in, and the headband on top features matching green stitching. The mic is on the left side, and slides out of the way to stay hidden when you don’t need it. They’re pretty large headphones, to say the least, but they wear comfortably, with padded leatherette ear cups and a headband that fits well.
The audio performance depends on your use cases. In gaming situations (assuming the game supports surround), the Tiamat shines. It’s pretty helpful in placing opponents (especially in racing and FPS games), and the overall experience is pretty stellar. This holds true for well sound-engineered action movies, too. Razer has done a good job optimizing the directionality of the speakers, so you really get a sense of the surround effect. Unfortunately, in music-heavy usage, it leaves a bit to be desired, with sound that’s clearly being made by smaller drivers. This is especially noticeable at the high end, where the sound was pretty thin, maybe even a bit tinny. An audiophile would probably be better served by a mid-priced set of cans like the Sony MDR-V6 or something similar.
Razer has always been a company that has prioritized gaming over any other use case, and the Tiamat is certainly no different. But given the pricepoint, I’d like to see a bit more versatility and better audio quality for music.
Should I buy one?
Regardless of my recommendation here, I’m not sure it’s possible to find the Tiamat in stock anywhere. Razer’s store shows 4-8 weeks for delivery, while Amazon quotes 1-3 months. The Tiamat has garned enough interest that even three months after launch, Razer is having trouble manufacturing enough Tiamat units to meet demand. As with many of Razer’s products, the Tiamat is very premium in terms of quality and design and offers some unique and attractive features. It’s seriously pricey though, and if you listen to a lot of music, you’re probably not going to be thrilled with the audio fidelity. But if you’re really into gaming, this is one of the more desirable headset options out there, and that's just how Razer wants it.Read More ...
TI Demos Windows RT UI Performance on OMAP 4470
Last week at Computex, TI showed Anand Windows RT running on one of their own reference tablets. While performance was good according to Anand, Microsoft has instructed partners to not show off anything but the start screen for Windows RT and not much more in the way of video. Today, at TI's Media day, I was given a video (in addition to shooting some of my own, which is the second one below) of Windows RT performance being demonstrated on one of Toshiba's upcoming Windows RT devices. This runs on an OMAP 4470 SoC (which consists of two ARM Cortex A9s and PowerVR SGX544MP1) at final clocks. I'm told that Windows RT will not utilize the 2D composition engine on OMAP 4470 at launch, but may at a later date.
The last I saw Windows RT running on OMAP 4 was on an OMAP4460 at MS Build, where the platform was emulating Direct3D 9_3. Today's implementation on OMAP4470 runs native Direct3D 9_3 on a PowerVR SGX544, and is obviously much, much smoother. There were a few capacitive touch calibration issues on the tablet I played with, but overall smoothness was impressive on the Start screen and browsing the AnandTech homepage. This is a definite positive departure from Microsoft's previous rules passed onto partners which forbade showing much beyond still photography of the home screen.
I've uploaded my own video of the demonstration as well, which was on TI's own OMAP4470 development tablet.
Source: Texas Instruments
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Western Digital Enters Router Market with My Net Series
We recently had the opportunity to take a meeting with Western Digital in San Francisco, California while a good chunk of the press were out in Taipei for Computex. It's difficult to get excited about new announcements from mechanical hard drive companies these days, especially with the way prices on the drives themselves haven't dipped much since the floods hit (with Western Digital being particularly guilty of maintaining those inflated prices), and with SSDs having become substantially cheaper over the past few months.
Which is what made our meeting with Western Digital so surprising. Western Digital is no stranger to networking and cloud-based products, but a full on line of routers? That's something else entirely. Western Digital is releasing four routers in their brand new My Net series, starting from the $79 My Net N600 all the way up to the exceedingly fancy $349 2TB My Net N900 Central, a combination router and NAS. Each router, top-to-bottom, is based on 802.11n and capable of running in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
From there, we have two versions of the My Net N900 router: one with built-in network attached storage (the My Net N900 Central), and one without. Both feature full 450Mbps throughput on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands (or a cumulative 900Mbps on both), high-range antennae, gigabit connectivity, and DLNA certification. The standard N900 features a whopping seven gigabit ethernet ports in addition to the WAN (the N900 Central offers only four) along with two USB 2.0 ports (one on the Central), and retails for $179. If you want internal storage, the 1TB model runs for $299 while the 2TB model runs for $349.
There's also Western Digital's secret sauce, their FasTrack Streaming technology. FasTrack is essentially traffic prioritization technology implemented in the core SoC that can be customized by the end user to allow for simultaneous gaming, downloading, and video streaming over the network with minimal interruptions or hiccups. Standard FasTrack supports up to 21 open queues and comes with six services pre-identified, and allows the end user to add and configure more services as needed. More interesting is the FasTrack Plus technology, available exclusively on the N900 routers (standard FasTrack is available only on the N600 and N750), which uses a dedicated chip for the QoS implementation. It supports unlimited open queues and actually dynamically analyzes sessions to intelligently route data.
Ganesh actually has an N900 in house for review as I write this post. We believe the routers are based on Qualcomm Atheros chipsets, and will be confirming it in our review.
At the $179.99 price point, it is the same as that of the 802.11ac routers already in the market. However, WD touts the QoS implementation (FasTrack / FasTrack Plus) and three extra GbE ports on the router as
the differentiation points. Depending on how much of an early adopter the consumer is, it might make sense to go with WD's implementations as 802.11ac capable equipment is not widespread yet. Also worth noting is that the N900 is actively cooled. Note also that despite having a blue USB port, Western Digital's routers do not support USB 3.0.
All of these routers, along with a basic My Net Switch featuring eight gigabit ethernet connections for $69, should be available today from retailers and online at www.wdstore.com. Ganesh's exhaustive review of the My Net N900 is forthcoming.
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Stanford Univ. Overcomes Big Hurdles, Makes Efficient Nanotube Circuits
Researchers demonstrate CNT circuits built on common manufacturing processes
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Rumor: Amazon May Release New Fire Tablets in Late 2012/Early 2013, Cut Original Fire's Price
The original Kindle Fire's price will supposedly be cut to $150
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Stephen Hawking Gets First Unit of New Supercomputer, Plans to Blow Minds
New "Big Brain Computer" starts at only $30K, but can pack up to 4,096 cores, 64 TB of memory
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6/15/2012 Daily Hardware Reviews
DailyTech's roundup of hardware reviews from around the web for Friday
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Déjà vu? Microsoft Reportedly Making Its Own First Party Tablet
A special event has been scheduled -- is Microsoft indeed preparing to unleash its try at an "iPad-killer"
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Boeing to Begin Building Components for First KC-46A Tanker This Fall
Boeing hopes to start building first plane next year
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Quick Note: Apple May Sell 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Apple is looking to launch the 13-inch Retina MacBook either this September or early October
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Report: Microsoft to Buy Yammer for $1.2 Billion
Yammer is a social network intended for businesses
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Western Digital Releases New Series of "My Net" Wireless Routers
All models except the My Net N900 Central are available now
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Quick Note: Logitech Launches New MMO Gaming Mouse
Logitech didn't mention a price or release date at this time
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Sony Shows Off New Xperia ion Smartphone
The Xperia ion will hit stores June 24
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Apple Looks to Bully HTC With Third ITC Complaint, HTC Abandons Offense
Android phonemaker refocuses on playing defense to try to avoid more painful bans
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President Obama Orders Gov't Agencies to Make Broadband Cheaper
The POTUS claims effort to reduce gov't broadband spending will stimulate growth, jobs
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Samsung Unveils "TecTiles" for NFC-Enabled Smartphones
TecTiles will be available through the four major U.S. carriers Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile
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Nokia to Answer the Question "How Low Can You Go" With New WinPhones
Upcoming models look to take wind out of Android's sails
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Windows 8 Desktop's Metro UI Makeover Leaks
Change may be less extreme than some expected, but may leave some unhappy campers
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Ford Debuts New iPhone, Android App for Electric Vehicles
App will save Focus Electric owners money
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Available Tags:Windows , Western Digital , Router , Amazon , Hardware , Microsoft , Tablet , Apple , MacBook , Western Digital , Wireless , Logitech , Gaming , Sony , Smartphone , HTC , HTC , Samsung , Nokia , Windows 8 , Ford , Android ,
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