Ten One Passive Sound Enhancer

Neo-Fight gives detailed tech product reviews for the not so geeky. This video will focus on the Ten One Passive Sound Enhancer.

Ben Freedman: Hi there and welcome to Neo-Fight.TV, the technology show for the not-so-geeky. My name is Ben Freedman and we are very lucky today to be joined by my friend, Andi Barness. Andi Barness: Hi! Ben Freedman: Andi, thank you for joining us. Andi Barness: Thank you for having me. I am really excited. Ben Freedman: I am very excited to be here for the next few weeks while Tiffany is off. Andi and I worked together on many video projects and she is a consummate professional all the way from broadcast television. Andi Barness: I try to be a professional. Ben Freedman: She made me say that. I had to say that or she wasn’t going to show up. Andi Barness: I am hoping to get a gig out of this, that’s why I am here. Ben Freedman: Yeah. So there you go. So if you want a real life presenter, call Andi and here’s her cell phone number. Andi Barness: No. Ben Freedman: Just kidding. Andi Barness: How about my website? Can you give that? Ben Freedman: Yeah. Go ahead, please. Andi Barness: AndiBarness.com. Let me know if you need anything. Ben Freedman: AndiBarness.com. Yeah and you’re involved in some very cool products; very cool, exciting video products. Andi Barness: Lots of infomercials I have been doing and hosting. I host some things for you when you need me and you have a great time. Ben Freedman: Yeah. That is right and it’s great. Anyway, so, thanks for watching and we’ll see you next week. Andi Barness: No, wait. Ben Freedman: Oh, okay we got a show. Andi Barness: Why am I here? Ben Freedman: Sorry. So, we got a couple of little small, little gadgets. I thought I’d break in slowly, you see. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: And the first one— Andi Barness: Nothing too techy. Ben Freedman: So, you are familiar with the iPhone. You’ve seen my iPhone. I know you don’t have an iPhone but I have an iPhone and a big problem with the iPhone is that is not very loud. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Allow me to demonstrate. I am going to play a song. If we ever have to use it again here. Here we go. I’ll hold the mic here. Andi Barness: Good song, by the way. Ben Freedman: Thank you. Bare Naked Ladies. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Volume wise, what would you give that on a scale of 1 to 10, I mean that’s— Andi Barness: I mean it’s definitely by your personal space, so— Ben Freedman: Yeah. I mean you can’t hear this in a car while you are driving. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: It’s not— Andi Barness: You’d have to put it up to your ear. Ben Freedman: Right. Andi Barness: How that can be? Ben Freedman: Okay. So this is a product by a company called Ten One. Hold that up so I hold somewhere here. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: See it’s again— Andi Barness: I was expecting it to be more than just this but it’s just a little piece of plastic. Ben Freedman: Well it only cost $8.00. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: It’s an $8.00 little piece of plastic. Andi Barness: Piece of plastic. Ben Freedman: That is right. Andi Barness: High cost ten cents to make. Ben Freedman: Well exactly. You know it looks like the bit that you would throw away from something from Nokia, you know? Andi Barness: Right. It came in the packaging. Ben Freedman: Like if you get it from Nokia that came with the packaging and that is the bit you throw away. Here is what you do. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: They call this a passive; meaning no batteries. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Passive Audio Amplifier. It’s very simple. You see that little cap section there? I don’t know if you can see a little cappy area and— Andi Barness: You got an e-mail by the way. Ben Freedman: Thank you. Did you hear that? What do you do is you put this on the bottom here and it caps over the little speaker here, thereby being a third hand for you capping it and making it louder. Andi Barness: Okay, let’s see. Ben Freedman: Is it louder? How about now? Andi Barness: You know I think it is louder. Ben Freedman: It is louder. Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: Okay. I am going to let it play and remove it. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: So, now I know you can’t hear it too well here but here we go. Listen. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Here I am taking it off. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Okay, I am going to put it back on. Hold on. A little louder? Maybe a bit. Andi Barness: Like $8.00 louder. Ben Freedman: $8.00 louder. Andi Barness: I pay $16.00 to have it twice as loud. Ben Freedman: Yup, there we go. Perfect. Let’s get one for $16.00 that plays that loud. I don’t know. Andi Barness: I would be disappointed. I mean if I spend $8.00 on it, I don’t know if I’d return it for $8.00 because it is just $8.00. Ben Freedman: Because it’s $8.00 even worth returning it. Andi Barness: Right. Exactly, by the time you spend it out— Ben Freedman: All right, so, well—so we thought— Andi Barness: What do you think? Ben Freedman: Well, I thought it was a little—you know it’s psychosomatic, if you think something is a little louder, isn’t that a little louder? Andi Barness: Well I thought it was louder the first time. Ben Freedman: Right. Andi Barness: And then when you took it off and then you put it back on. I thought, oh that was not loud at all. Ben Freedman: Well and here is the thing, I do find myself capping my hand over here when I am trying to hear something. Like if I’m in the car or something and I want to hear, I will like put my hand over here like this but I don’t know that this is— Andi Barness: It may need a bigger cap. Ben Freedman: Well, don’t we all. You know, so I don’t know. Okay. Andi Barness: It’s just $8.00. Ben Freedman: It’s just $8.00. That is the Ten One SoundClip. Let’s move on to the other product from Ten One. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: And this one I think you will like better. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: So a big problem that people have had with the iPhone is that you use your finger to move around here. As you see I am scrolling left and right but you are aptly suited to show this product because you have finger nails. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: So try moving that with your finger nails and you will notice that— Andi Barness: It does not work. Ben Freedman: It does not work. So you could be sitting there trying to answer the call. Trying to make phone, you’re like, ‘I can’t answer the phone,’ right? Andi Barness: And if I could not use my cellular phone, I would— Ben Freedman: You would die so— Andi Barness: You’d see me go in ballistic. Ben Freedman: That is right. Now this is the Pogo Sketch and Pogo made it. It makes a smaller one called the Stylus that we’ve seen before but this is the Pogo Sketch. It’s a very lightweight. Just slip in your purse pen. Andi Barness: Totally. Ben Freedman: But it’s not a pen. It is just designed for writing. Try to write that backwards. Check that out. Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: So even if you have finger nails, you can now— Andi Barness: It just sort of grabs it like you can feel it grabbing and moving it. Ben Freedman: Can you really feel like grabbing it? Andi Barness: Yeah. I mean because it’s not sliding. Ben Freedman: It’s kind of like foamy on the bottom. Andi Barness: Exactly. It’s foamy on the bottom. Ben Freedman: Yeah. Andi Barness: But you know what, I would be afraid, I would lose my pen. Ben Freedman: Well, I think you could like duct tape it to the phone or something. Andi Barness: Okay and you know we all have little fingertips that work just fine but you I think people are used to doing certain things. Ben Freedman: Well let me. Well fingertips do work fine for what you are doing but let me pull up here a screen where you have to type something. Andi Barness: Oh yeah. Forget it. Ben Freedman: Okay. So, yeah here is the keyboard. Andi Barness: Oh, forget it. Ben Freedman: Okay, now try using your fingers. All right, can you do it? Andi Barness: No, it made me mental. I got the wrong thing already. Ben Freedman: Okay but now try using the Pogo. Andi Barness: Okay. Oh yeah. Ben Freedman: Now what do you think of that? Andi Barness: Oh yeah. I am happy. Ben Freedman: Is that going to go faster? You’re going to go a lot faster than that. Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: Because it’s easy when you just swipe in something. But I don’t think even with you know, trying to get these little keys to get hidden right there. Andi Barness: No, I like it, great to mention. Ben Freedman: $13.00. What do you think? Is it worth it? Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: Would you buy one of those for $13.00? Andi Barness: I totally would buy it for $13.00. Ben Freedman: Yeah. Well there you go. So, two products from Ten One; the iPhone SoundClip here. I can even see that, iPhone SoundClip. Andi Barness: Put it in the purple. Put it right here. Ben Freedman: Right here. Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: There it is. Andi Barness: There you go. Ben Freedman: Purple area. Andi Barness: Yeah. I would say yeah Ben Freedman: So that’s it. We’ve got one and yeah and one yeah getting from Andi over there. Well, that is great. Well that is our first two. We’ve got two more products to look at this week. So please, stay tuned. And we are back and in the second spotlight today. We’re going to be looking at this little pair which looks very unassuming. You know if you look at these, you probably can't figure out. What the heck does this do? Andi Barness: And I had no idea. Ben Freedman: So there you go. I love your honesty. Andi Barness: Thanks. I am not a gadget girl. I am learning. Ben Freedman: You’re learning. That is good. So, you know a lot of times, you will have like a speakers or a home stereo at home and you have all your music on your iPod and if you have one of those docks, you can do it but what if you want to walk around the house with your iPod, your iPhone, you know and be able to control it from wherever you are. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: But your speakers are over there on the wall. It’s kind of like what this is for. This is a remote audio solution for the iPod. Not the iPhone but iPod. Andi Barness: The iPod. Ben Freedman: Any of your iPods that have a dock connector. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: You have an iPod, right? Andi Barness: I do. Ben Freedman: You have the video one. This would work equally well for the video but I have an iPod Touch right here. Let me show you what you do. Andi Barness: You’re like the king of iPod stuff. Ben Freedman: Thanks. Don’t tell me I had this hanging out. Andi Barness: Oh sorry. Ben Freedman: Here we go. Andi Barness: I am not checking you out. I am just making sure I look good. Ben Freedman: Just checking my cell phone here. You always look good. All right, so you plug this in here to the iPod. Now you can walk around with this, keep it with you, put it in your pocket, whatever you want. The other side goes into your speakers or you stereo. I have actually by the same company, Audioengine. This is the Audioengine W2. This is the Audioengine A5 speakers and so what you do is you plug this into any USB or USB powered jack that goes in your wall like that to give it power and then you plug it into your speakers with the wire that comes with it. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: So there it is, plugged in. Then this could go up on your book shelf. It could go in your kitchen. It can go wherever you want and you are just carrying this bit around. So here we are—no wires. Andi Barness: I love that. Ben Freedman: Okay. I'm going to hit play here. Andi Barness: You could bring this outside. Ben Freedman: You could totally. Yeah. Andi Barness: You know if you are having a backyard party. Ben Freedman: Or you could leave this out inside and you could put in out the window and you could go outside with this. Andi Barness: Right, perfect, okay. Ben Freedman: So here I am. We’ll hit play here. Barry Manilow. Andi Barness: I love Barry Manilow. Ben Freedman: Really? Andi Barness: I think he just lost half of his viewers. Ben Freedman: Loud speaker. Andi Barness: Come on, give me a little song. I’ve been alive forever, come on. Ben Freedman: And I wrote the very first song. Okay I'm embarrassed. Okay, didn’t happen often. Andi Barness: Barry is cool. Barry rocks. Ben Freedman: Okay. So you see here now, there are no wires. You can grab that and walk around with it and pause it, play, whatever you want to do without this being near. Andi Barness: I am impressed with two things. I am impressed with the speaker. Ben Freedman: Yeah, these are great speakers. Andi Barness: We’re not reviewing the speakers I know but. Ben Freedman: We’re not trying to look at the speakers today. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: But these are by the same company, Audioengine but this will work with any speaker. Andi Barness: You know sometimes you don’t know what you need until you see it. So, all of a sudden, I think I need this. Ben Freedman: I said that to my wife when I met her and now we are married, we’re going on eight years. Andi Barness: That is so sweet. Ben Freedman: And that is right. Yeah. Andi Barness: Lucky girl. Ben Freedman: Thank you, thank you very much. Now let me ask you, how much do you think something like this would cost just the transmitter part? Andi Barness: Okay, yeah, not the speaker. Ben Freedman: Not the speaker. Andi Barness: I don’t know, $100.00? Ben Freedman: $170.00 is what they are going for this which is a little pricey but at the same time, I mean, there is no static. These are no dropouts so that you get pretty good range here and the fidelity is very good. Andi Barness: Right. I would pay a $170.00. Ben Freedman: You would pay a $170.00? Andi Barness: Yeah, I mean I especially liked the fact that you can— Ben Freedman: Do you have a credit card? Andi Barness: No and I don’t even own speakers for my iPod so now that I know what I could get. Ben Freedman: Yeah. Andi Barness: I think that is not a lot. Ben Freedman: Okay. Well there you go. So now that is the Audioengine W2. It is a great little solution for sound if you want wireless sound. Andi Barness: I like it. Ben Freedman: But for a woman who does not own— Andi Barness: Many gadgets? Ben Freedman: Well, who does not own speakers. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: Let me ask you, so you use the headphones on your iPod? Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: Do you use the headphones that came with your iPod? Andi Barness: You know for the longest time, I was using those and I have discovered, there are some that are a little more comfortable on the ears. Ben Freedman: You don’t find them very comfortable? Andi Barness: No, they are hard. Ben Freedman: They are hard. Andi Barness: I didn’t even know how bad is this? I didn’t even know that they made better, what do you call them, ear plugs? Ben Freedman: Headphones? Earbuds. Andi Barness: Earbuds, yeah. Ben Freedman: Well, so here we’re going to look at another pair of earbuds here. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: These are—let me hold this up here and they are kind of angled, kind of flaky. These are the kind of earbuds that go inside your ear by a company called Radius, a company out of Japan I think. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: And these are not the cheapest you can get. They are about $49.00 or $50.00 but I am going to plug this into— Andi Barness: You do get what you paid for. Ben Freedman: Yeah. Andi Barness: I mean I believe that you spend the money— Ben Freedman: So that is your left and that is your right. Andi Barness: Left, right. Ben Freedman: Yeah. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Tell me how comfortable do you think they are? Can you hear me? Andi Barness: What? Ben Freedman: They block out a lot of the sound? Andi Barness: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Am I talking loud? Ben Freedman: You are shouting a little bit. Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: There is a little shouting going on here. Andi Barness: Hey this works. I’ve got a couple of kids. This is perfect. Ben Freedman: Not only that but on the left hand side here, there is a button and a microphone so they will work with any iPod but if you hook them up to an iPhone, you can use that to answer the phone and it’s a microphone to talk to the person. Andi Barness: You know I love this because when you are driving in your car or just listening to your radio or with your iPod, I am really yelling, I feel. I am. Ben Freedman: Keep them in. I am going to play some music and you tell me what you think about. Andi Barness: Okay but I like the fact that you don’t need different headphones for different things. Ben Freedman: Right. So I am going to play— Andi Barness: Okay. Ben Freedman: Yeah the Barry Manilow—let me throw on something that is a little bit— Andi Barness: More up beat? Ben Freedman: A little bit more up beat here. Oh let’s see, go Copacabana. Andi Barness: Oh, okay. Wow. Ben Freedman: Loud? Too loud? Andi Barness: Well we can’t adjust anything. Ben Freedman: Just the volume. Andi Barness: I wish you guys could hear what I am hearing. It is music. But first I am going to try stopping it because you said I could. Ben Freedman: Okay, that is not the switch. Andi Barness: Wait, this one. Am I doing it wrong? Ben Freedman: No, but it’s not on the iPhone. Andi Barness: I can’t hear you. Wait. Ben Freedman: You’re not doing wrong but that only works with the iPhone. Andi Barness: With the phone, okay. Ben Freedman: This is not the iPhone, this is an iPod. Andi Barness: When I first heard it, I thought, oh my gosh, like surround sound but it’s really bassey. Ben Freedman: Too bassey? Andi Barness: Too bassey. Ben Freedman: Bassier than you would like. Andi Barness: It’s like I wanted to adjust it and be able to fix it. Ben Freedman: You’re not the Acer bass. You are not the bass master. Andi Barness: Right. Ben Freedman: You don’t like so much bass. Andi Barness: Right and you know I just said you get what you paid for. Ben Freedman: And this is Barry Manilow, yeah. Well these aren’t $200.00 headphones but you can buy. Andi Barness: Well I would never buy $200.00 headphones but— Ben Freedman: No? Andi Barness: And that is because I am just cheap. Ben Freedman: Would you buy a $170 wireless phone sort of thing. Andi Barness: I would because that is really me. $50.00 I don’t know. Ben Freedman: Well the neatest factors are important. I don’t know so, little bassey for you? Andi Barness: For $50.00, it’s too bassey. Ben Freedman: $50.00 is too bassey. Okay. Andi Barness: I think I have some at home that are $13.00 and they sound great. Ben Freedman: But the comfort level? Andi Barness: Yeah, they are really comfortable. Ben Freedman: So comfort good. Andi Barness: Comfort good. Ben Freedman: Bassey, bad. Andi Barness: Bassey, bad. Ben Freedman: Comfort good? Andi Barness: And they angle and I think that made a big difference. Ben Freedman: They angle? Andi Barness: Yeah. They just sort of stick right into your ear. Ben Freedman: They just go straight into your ear canal and of course, for people with different size ear canals, they do come with a little bag of different size; smaller and larger whatever pieces. Andi Barness: Yeah, if I bought this unfortunately, I would be taking it back. Ben Freedman: Oh, wow. Okay, well, that is not good. Andi Barness: Yeah. Ben Freedman: Well, so that is one yeah and one yeah again for the Audioengine W2 wireless transmitter and the Radius iPhone headphones. Again, designed for the iPhone, it works with anything what worked with a laptop, whatever but it is kind of designed for the iPhone. Andi Barness: And I really like that factor, so that is thumbs up. Ben Freedman: Yeah, that is thumbs up. Andi Barness: I just wish it sounded better. Ben Freedman: All right. Well, that is all the time we have for this week but if you have any comments on what you have seen, if you thought that was too expensive, the W2 or if you like this kind of headphones with a lot of bass, drop us a comment at www.neo-fight.tv. That is where you can leave a comment for everyone to read. Andi Barness: Sounds good. Ben Freedman: That is where you’re going to get comments about how wonderful you are Andi. Andi Barness: Yeah, don’t send any mean things. Ben Freedman: No one ever writes mean comments. No, no, they save that for YouTube. Andi Barness: Okay, good. Ben Freedman: Yeah and if you happen to have an extra 30 seconds, take a look at this. Hey I am Andy Walker. You just bought a new computer with Windows Vista on it or maybe you got an old XP computer that you’ve upgraded. Well we’ve just created an amazing new DVD. It will teach you everything you need to know about the new operating system from Microsoft, it’s called Getting Started with Windows Vista. In this DVD, there are three sections, one is out of the box, what you need to do as soon as you startup Vista. Number two is Vista Essentials, things you need to know everyday to make your computer experience amazing. Anti virus, security, all kinds of new features that Vista offers and finally, deep tips and tricks, things you need to know that nobody else would have told you to make you a Vista guru. For more information, check out our website at GettingStartedVideo.com.