LATEST ADDITIONS

Shinola, the Detroit-based industrial design and manufacturing company named after the long defunct shoe-polish company, has partnered with Barefoot Sound, the Portland, Oregon-based maker of high-end professional studio monitors, to create its first Bluetooth speaker.

A group of kids discover an old video game console in the basement of their school with an unknown game called Jumanji. After choosing their avatars, the foursome is transported into the game’s jungle setting and assume their roles. They soon discover that not only have they taken on the look of the characters, but have inherited their strengths and weaknesses. To survive the game and get back home, all must work together to pass the obstacles placed in front of them, but the stakes are higher than they could have ever imagined.

Sennheiser’s latest partnership with the community-driven commerce platform Massdrop has yielded a set of headphones that pay tribute to a popular model it introduced 25 years ago — the HD 580 Jubilee, which helped pave the way for a number of well-known audiophile headphones, including the HD 600 and the HD 650.

PRICE $399

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Affordable price
Alexa voice control
Links with other Sonos speakers
Minus
More optimized for TV sound than music
Requires HDMI ARC for voice control of TV

THE VERDICT
Sonos’ compact, Alexa-enabled soundbar offers impressive performance for the price. All in all, a smart value.

Without knowing history, you might dismiss the Sonos Beam as just another budget soundbar dropped into a largely undistinguished field. But as with most things Sonos, this attractive yet intentionally non-descript oval is significant both for the company and the audio business. Sonos execs have long seen the living room television as the most logical gateway for their wireless multiroom music system.