122 TECHNOLOGY
Design
Divas of
Resembling a Lego block, the new Switch bluetooth speakers from Native Union might be the perfect travel buddy for music lovers who like to create a bit of ambiance in their hotel rooms. Simplistic yet stylish, these powerful, award-winning little speakers offer optimal clarity throughout the frequency range, perfect for all genres of music, and feature an intuitive volume control wheel. The speakers boast a battery which acts as a portable power bank for USB devices, and can double as a professional conference call centre thanks to a full-Duplex microphone. www. nativeunion. com
From cutting edge headphones and speakers to cameras which change the way we view and review images, these are the travel devices on technology’ s cutting edge this season.
Parrot, best known for its quad-rotor drones, has created the Parrot Zik telephony headphones. Ideal for longhaul travellers looking to zone out on the road, these wireless Philippe Starckdesigned headphones host state-of-theart technology, including a“ spatialised” musical image, a touch panel that enables sensual movements, and a powerful digital signal processor. The‘ Parrot Concert Hall’ algorithm‘ places’ music in front of the listener, recreating the acoustics of a concert hall, while Parrot-patented active noise cancelling ensures you’ re not disturbed by ambient noise. What’ s more you can take calls hands-free thanks to five microphones and bone conducting senors which help extract and separate speech from the surrounding noise. www. parrot. com
By Nick Walton
The speaker gods at Bowers & Wilkins have created two new AirPlay speakers dedicated to getting the most out of your Apple products’ music collections. The A7 and A5 feature outstanding audio performance, employing simple to set-up and use AirPlay technology, which allows you to stream music wirelessly from your iPhone or iPad. The more affordable A5( pictured) is ideally suited for people looking for great wireless audio combined with minimal visual impact and boasts Bowers & Wilkins’ remarkably rich and detailed acoustic performance. www. bowers-wilkins. com www. jetsetter. hk