Antec to extend its Bluetooth product range with Pulse, SP1+, SP3 and SPzero (hands-on)
To most people, Antec's probably better known for its desktop-related products, but at Computex, the company made quite a big effort to pimp its A.M.P. (Antec Mobile Products) range of Bluetooth audio devices. You may have already come across the SP1 Bluetooth speaker (pictured above in several colors), but we've been told that an identical-looking SP1+ is coming this October. What's new? Well, the refresh will come with NFC-enabled Bluetooth pairing, as well as CSR's TrueWireless Stereo technology that will let you use one SP1+ as the left channel, and another SP1+ as the right channel (but both drivers in each SP1+ are still active in this case). Do read on to see what else Antec has up its sleeve later this year. %Gallery-191259%
For those seeking something more powerful, Antec will be offering the larger SP3 Bluetooth boombox. This device also comes with NFC, but unlike the SP1+, it lacks stereo streaming as it doesn't use CSR's Bluetooth solution (it uses ISSC's instead), plus there's probably not much need for this feature on such a large speaker. On the bright side, the SP3 scores some brownie points by letting you use NFC to both wake and pair it up simultaneously, whereas the SP1+ needs you to flick on its power switch first. As you can see, you also get a genuine leather strap to carry the speaker around with, and the device will be available in black or white when it arrives in October.
On the other end of the scale there's this small SPzero mono Bluetooth speaker, which is clearly made with portability in mind. The speaker comes with a clip that lets you hook it onto your backpack or anywhere convenient, but its real selling point is that you can daisy-chain multiple units over wire to start your own party, even though it will still be mono playback. Again, expect the SPzero to hit the shelves in October with several color options.
Last but not least, Antec will be bringing its Pulse Bluetooth stereo headphones some time in September. While there's not much detail on the full specs just yet, we do know that the Pulse supports aptX compressed streaming, as well as AUX pass-through when you're out of battery. We tried the headphones on briefly and were surprised by how light they were, and the foldable design should come in handy, too. Our only complaint would be that we wish the Pulse had better noise isolation, but given the nature of the on-ear design, it'd probably require active noise cancellation to achieve this, which would push the headphones out of the affordable market that they're intended for. We'll give the Pulse another try when it's ready. %Gallery-191272%
