MEDIA INVITE
Listen up, audiophiles!
CD galore!
If you’ve been to places like the Yankee Stadium and the iconic Beijing National Stadium for concerts, chances are you would have been awed by the incredibly high-quality sound system. But unknown to many, such superior sound quality can also be heard in enclosed places like in cars especially if you’re riding in an Audi, a BMW, Subaru, Hyundai or Chrysler, just to name a few. They may sound slightly different from one another due to the disparity in location size but ultimately they still sound insanely good to the ears.
That’s because all these venues and automobile manufacturers use HARMAN, the mastermind behind leading audio brands including JBL, AKG and Harman Kardon which are also used by international artistes like Kanye West, Maroon 5, Paul McCartney, Black Eyed Peas, Linkin Park (MY LUV!) and Kelly Clarkson in the studio and on stage.
In fact, if you have never heard of HARMAN (and the 7 highly-acclaimed audio brands under its belt), then you have not heard everything, literally. Apart from the voice of the artiste playing in your ears, the song lyrics and the main instrumental melody in the background, can you hear each and every bass and rhythmic note with your current headphones? Does it give you crisp and natural-sounding music that makes you feel like you’re at a live performance? And does it produce acoustic music that sounds so soulful and surreal, it serenades your soul and sends chills down your spine? If none of the above resonates with you, boy are you losing out a lot!
(Sadly, I was subconsciously describing what my earpiece can’t do too, boohoo)
With Harman Kardon, AKG and JBL, you get only the best sounds, so good that even Mozart would be proud.
Of course, I wouldn’t dare say that every product under Harman Kardon, AKG and JBL is rave-worthy (don’t want to risk getting slaughtered by you tech-geeks). But have you seen their latest range of portable speakers? I had the heaven-sent opportunity (since I’ve been on a lookout for better speakers as my current ones are spoiling and very unfortunately I fall into the stereotype of females who are completely clueless about technology) to experience them for myself at the recent HARMAN media event by IMS Marketing and wow, I was totally blown away by the loud-crystal clear sound projected by these small, innocuous-looking things that left my jaw hanging throughout the demo!
Here’s what I saw:
JBL (Smart Series III)
Charge it, flip it, clip it. Fuel your passion for music!
JBL Clip Plus (RRP S$99)
Small but powerful – these disc-like speakers can project sounds SO loud, it puts my home speakers to shame. It’s meant to be “clipped” onto your bicycle so that you cyclists can enjoy good music on the move for up to 5 hours!
JBL FLIP 3 (RRP S$179) – full-featured splashproof portable speaker with powerful sound in a compact form. It fits perfectly into the bottle cage attached to your bicycle! 🙂
It actually means this…
HELLLLLL NOOO how cool is this?! (featuring JBL Xtreme, S$439)
JBL Charge 2+ (RRP S$279) – another splashproof portable speaker but with 6000mAH rechargeable battery!
My Dad was gifted a JBL Charge 2+ recently and judging from his incessant music playbacks (kinda irritated by his poor choice of music but aiya, what to do?), I can vouch how long-lasting the battery life is! And the sound is just flawless.
JBL Pulse II (RRP S$329) – 10-hour battery with custom LED light show that acts like a visualiser and changes according to the music tempo
So preeetzz! I think ABBA’s Dancing Queen was playing 😀
All the products above come with Social Mode which you can use to connect up to 3 music sources so that everyone in your clique gets a chance to play their favourite tunes. All JBL portable speakers can also be wirelessly connected via Bluetooth to one another so as to amplify the volume of the music played.
Harman Kardon
While it’s quite obvious that JBL exudes energetic and youthful vibes, Harman Kardon takes on a different personality and goes for the elegant and sophisticated feel.
Esquire Mini (RRP S$269) – an sleek and chic speaker that doubles as a conference phone system with dual-microphone and built-in echo and noise cancellation technology for superb sound and USB access to recharge your favourite devices. This all-in-one (speaker/phone system/microphone/portable charger) speaker has battery that can last for up to 8 hours
This product wasn’t showcased at the event so I didn’t get to see or test it out myself. But people who are well-versed in the audiomotive market should know that Harman Kardon (and other brands of HARMAN as a matter of fact) would never compromise on quality. After all, Harman Kardon had bagged quite a number of awards, including some iF Design Awards for its Esquire Mini 🙂
AKG
I’d think that AKG is a hybrid of JBL and Harman Kardon because some of the products under its line can be both stylish and sporty at the same time, like this stunner:
AKG N90Q (RRP S$2199, yup it’s 贵的咯) – gold headphones that listen to your ears. It has sound so realistic, the only barrier is the headphone itself
Inspired by the Grammy Award winning producer Quincy Jones, this state-of-the-art, flagship level headphone represents the pinnacle in acoustic performance and audio customisation. It features TruNote technology, Tone Control (full control of adjustment sound signature). Stage Control (three spatial listening modes), Patented ergonomic design, USB and HD audio and a built-in DAC.
Enjoying 5 seconds of premium sound with dual foam cushions and ear cup mounted controls (I swear my ears felt so comfortable) as well as active noise cancelling technologies. Love it so much leh. Why is it so goddamn expensive? 😦
And also not forgetting the hand-selected audio gift set I received from the event organisers:
AKG Y23 ear headphone and Y40 mini headset
Thank you so much, IMS Marketing! Boyfriend has been eyeing on the headset ever since. -_-
And that’s about it from HARMAN! 🙂 Did anything catch your eye? I’ll most probably be getting one of those JBL speakers to replace my current ones. Which one would you recommend? Leave me a comment below!
Thanks for reading! ❤
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