The Wirecutter Show Episode 37: Level Up Your Sound System

BRENT: Tracy Chapman Fast Car is generally regarded by audio scientists who have proven this in testing as the best song for evaluating audio equipment.
CHRISTINE: I'm Christine Cyr Clisset.
CAIRA: I'm Caira Blackwell.
ROSIE: I'm Rosie Guerin and you're listening to The Wirecutter Show .
CAIRA: This episode is called Level Up Your Sound System.
ROSIE: Hey, team.
CHRISTINE: Hi.
ROSIE: I've been shopping.
CAIRA: For?
CHRISTINE: Shocking.
ROSIE: No, it is shocking. I have to say since starting to work here, I think I have shopped less, but I've been shopping recently for a new speaker setup in my apartment.
CHRISTINE: Tell us more.
ROSIE: I'm a big, I'm indoctrinating my children in the sense that we dance as often as possible. We dance through the decades, if not evening dance parties, certainly weekly. Their vibes are great. However, we only have one main speaker in our living space, and so I've been thinking about maybe Sonos or maybe some kind of connected system system.
CHRISTINE: Don't do it, don't do the Sonos.
CAIRA: Christine is scared.
CHRISTINE: I have the Sonos and.
ROSIE: Don't be suckered into it?
CHRISTINE: I just find it problematic.
ROSIE: Well, that's the thing. I'm like, I don't quite know what my options are and I know that Wirecutter has done a lot of coverage on speakers and I would like something great, something that is going to sound great in our space, but I also really don't want to spend that much money.
CHRISTINE: But you don't have to.
ROSIE: No.
CHRISTINE: Actually we bought some speakers this year and we got some for under 200. It was really great, a paired set. But yeah, we had gone through this similar situation, Rosie, where we had something in our living room, something in our kitchen, nothing connected, and it was annoying. You want to be able to turn on the music and have it pumping.
ROSIE: Right. I cobbled together or I've collected, maybe, is a better way to put it, these little Bluetooth speakers that I can put around the house, but it's time for an upgrade.
CHRISTINE: Yeah, there's just so many options and sometimes you need a guide, and we do have a guide here at Wirecutter, not just a written guide with recommendations, but a physical person who can actually walk us through this.
ROSIE: A human being.
CHRISTINE: In our little journey through speaker world. So we're going to have Brent Butterworth on the show today. He is our senior writer who covers audio devices and he has literally decades of experience testing speakers specifically in all kinds of audio equipment. And he's also a musician, so he has a very high bar for good audio. And I think what's lovely about this episode today is he has some really great advice about how to find great speakers that won't cost you a lot.
CAIRA: Or almost free things that you can do to upgrade the speaker system that you already have.
CHRISTINE: That's right. So if you've got a couple Bluetooth speakers hanging out in your house, he can give you some hot tips for how to make them better.
CAIRA: Yeah, I'm really excited to talk to Brent.
CHRISTINE: So after the break we will chat with Brent. We'll be right back.
CAIRA: Welcome back. With us now is Brent Butterworth, who's a senior staff writer covering audio devices, musical instruments, and recording gear for Wirecutter. Brent has been reviewing audio gear since the nineties and he worked as a testing consultant for some of the world's largest audio companies. He's a huge music fan who plays upright bass, ukulele, guitar, and records his own music. Brent, welcome.
BRENT: Thank you. It's so nice to be here.
CHRISTINE: Brent, before we jump in, I want you to tell us a little bit about how you test speakers. Paint us a picture of how you do this.
BRENT: As much as possible. I think the standard procedure that we do that me and Lauren Dragon, who's our headphone editor, do is we get in as many products as we can. We give them a listen and weed out the ones that we know people aren't going to like, because going to be some.
CHRISTINE: Duds. There's always duds.
BRENT: Some poor products that just aren't going to make it, and then we narrow it down and then we bring in listeners and get second opinions. Because people have different opinions about audio.
CAIRA: It's very subjective.
CHRISTINE: Yeah.
BRENT: One of the really key things is it's good if it's not people that are really super hardcore audio people, if you have what they call in scientific testing, a low anchor, and that's one that can I say sucks?
CHRISTINE: Yeah, I know I say that.
BRENT: Where people can go, oh, okay, that one's bad, so at least I know that one's bad. And then they relax and they can judge the rest of them.
ROSIE: So what are you asking your listening panel to look for, Brent?
BRENT: The key thing, I think, for most people that's the easiest to evaluate is voice quality because we listen to voices all day long every day. Does the singer sound natural or do they sound excessively boomy or do they sound excessively sibilant or whatever? That's what gets people comfortable is if they can listen to the voice, then they can start listening to the instruments. And then if they're more into audio, if they're musicians, I can start to ask them about distortion, and sometimes they'll bring that up, and distortion is when things start to sound unnatural. We've all heard that if you hear really cheap little speakers and things like that. The classic example is the drive-through speaker at Taco Bell or wherever.
ROSIE: Which sounds like it's underwater.
BRENT: I'm not picking on Taco Bell. They're pretty much all bad.
ROSIE: Are you often going to get distortion at louder volume?
BRENT: Almost always, yeah.
ROSIE: So are you cranking these speakers up when you're testing?
BRENT: I do both. I actually, I crank them all up. There's a ZZ Top track that was produced by Rick Rubin who was notorious for really loud recordings that I play and I measure them with a sound level meter and I crank them up as loud as they'll go, and I measure that sound level. And then for my listening test though, I usually bring it down to a normal level. Yesterday we were just testing record players at Wirecutter, turntables with built-in speakers, and we started with everything at matched levels and normal, moderate listening levels and we did all that, but then we turned everything up full blast to see what it would do, and that changed some people's minds because some of these things would play really loud and some of them wouldn't.
CAIRA: I got to sit in on your record player testing yesterday, which was really fun. I didn't know that you were doing that and I was just in the office, which is great. And you played Beyonce, you played Led Zeppelin, and who was the last? It was a country singer.
BRENT: It was Steve Earle.
CAIRA: Steve Earle, and it was all amazing. You really could hear the difference in the sound qualities, especially based on the genre of music. We were wondering if you have a favorite song to play when you're testing speakers.
BRENT: Tracy Chapman Fast Car is generally regarded by audio scientists who have proven this in testing as the best song for evaluating audio equipment.
CAIRA: So I went to go buy my stereo system that I have now. He only played Bohemian Rhapsody because he said the same thing. He was like, this is the best song to listen to if you're testing the quality of speakers.
BRENT: It's not. Great song. Not so great for testing speakers.
CHRISTINE: Well, what is it about this Tracy Chapman song that makes it so awesome?
BRENT: The more the song fills up the frequency band, the better it is. So it has some bass in it, some bass guitar, and then it has acoustic guitar, which is real, a lot of high frequency and delicate and you can hear if the acoustic guitar sounds bad, it'll sound muffled or it'll sound grating or somewhere in between. And then you can hear her voice, and the way her voice is recorded on that is really clear, but a lot of speakers start to make it sound distant or a little bit like she's singing in a cardboard box or something like that. So I put that on with a speaker and it's just like, nope. Or maybe I get a $30 speaker, I'm like, oh, that was a good speaker. You can tell so much and once you get used to doing this, you can tell so much in about 30 seconds.
ROSIE: All right. So Brent, I'm guessing the majority of people in your professional life are deep into the topic of audio. This episode is not necessarily going to be for them. Today is for the curious novice, so those of us kind of looking to take our indoor or outdoor audio setup to the next level, ideally without breaking the bank. If I come to you for advice, what questions are you going to ask me in order to lead me in the right direction before I make a purchase?
BRENT: I usually ask how much money they want to spend. Then I can, some people are like no more than $30. Okay, I know where I'm at with that. A lot of people are just like, whatever I have to get good sound. And I start to ask them what kind of music they'd listen to because some kind of music, if they're jazz and classical fans, they don't need deep bass. They can get by with some fairly small speakers. If they're listening to a lot of hip hop or EDM or something, they need something with more bass, otherwise, some of the music is just going to disappear completely. And then where are they going to put the speakers? Are they going to put it in a bedroom? Are they going to put it in a big giant living room? Do they want to have dinner parties? Do they want to have, people sometimes have, I can't conceive of this, but sometimes people have dance parties in their homes.
ROSIE: Oh, hell yeah.
CHRISTINE: Come on.
CAIRA: Why is it so inconceivable?
ROSIE: Weekly.
BRENT: We sit at home and close our eyes and listen very intently, seriously. But it depends on do they want to use it outside. A lot of people want to use their stuff outside, in which case it probably needs to be waterproof to some degree. I usually just start talking to them about what they're going to do with the speaker.
ROSIE: If you're thinking about sound systems then, what are the categories that are available?
BRENT: Okay. The big one I think for most people nowadays is a wireless speaker, and that can be a Bluetooth speaker, it can be anything from the little things you buy for $20 up to about $1,500. But usually they're small and they're portable and they're waterproof to some degree, and you hook them up to your phone and you play whatever, and some of them sound great, some of them don't. The next step up from there is going to be probably a pair of stereo speakers, which could be what we call computer speakers that you put on your desktop or maybe on a bookshelf or something. And they're pretty small, but a lot of them sound really, really good.
Then you go up to what we call bookshelf speakers, which is a bigger, probably want to put them on a stand or something because a lot of them are big, and that's when you start to really get into serious high quality sound, and a lot of the bookshelf speakers for, we have a pair in there for 400 bucks. It's been a top pick for probably five years and oh, they sound so good. They're just really, really, you'd have to really spend a lot of money to beat them.
CHRISTINE: And these bookcase speakers and the computer speakers, these are generally ones that are wired, right? You're going to plug them in, they'll have a wire coming out of them, or are there ones like that that are also portable and you can move them around without being plugged in?
BRENT: Yeah, there were usually wired. You plug them into the wall, you Bluetooth into them, you WiFi into them. Some of them you can hook up a record player, some of them you can hook your TV to them, all sorts of stuff. CAIRA::
What is the difference, in your opinion, between a great Bluetooth speaker and a bad one?
BRENT: The fundamental thing is you put it on with Tracy Chapman Fast car and it sounds good. So it's the voice clarity, and a lot of them, they don't have that. Between you and the speaker is a lot of plastic grills sometimes, and sometimes that rattles and there's a lot of electronics. All of these have digital sound processing inside them and they can make bad decisions when tuning that, they can make good decisions. And so it's just how natural it sounds. But then as you get into a lot of the really tiny ones, you've probably heard, they don't have any bass. So there's a tune by Audrey Nuna called Damned Right, that starts with bo bo bo bo, bo bo bo bo, and you play that on those little Bluetooth speakers and it's like the tune hasn't started. You're like, what happened to the tune? Because you cannot hear that bass. It just filters it out because it knows it can't do it.
CAIRA: Right. So when you're playing a song and you're like, I feel like the song started five seconds ago, but I'm not hearing anything, it's probably your speaker.
BRENT: Yes. So with a lot of these things, they just can't do it. And there's one of our top picks called the JBL Go4, it's maybe 40 or $50. It's the size of, if anybody remembers cigarette packs, it's a thick cigarette pack, but they come in cute colors. You could probably throw it across the room and it wouldn't break and you could dunk it in a meter of water and it won't break. And it actually sounds - classical jazz, I put on my jazz stuff in the morning and it sounds good. I listen to it all the time, and a lot of Wirecutter staffers have bought that same speaker and love it. But then you get into the bigger ones and I think we have $100 pick. It's got the Fender logo on it, the people that make the guitars and the guitar amps. It's actually made by a German company called Teufel, and it sounds really good. It's actually got some bass. You can play hip hop stuff on it or something and it's not going to shake your floor, but you won't feel like you're missing the music and it sounds really clean.
CHRISTINE: I think that most people just use one Bluetooth speaker at a time. But you told us something when we were preparing for this episode that surprised and delighted me that you can actually pair Bluetooth speakers, which I later that day told my husband. And we did it. We did it with our budget pick from Tribit and it was great. Tell us more, how do you know if you can pair Bluetooth speakers?
BRENT: Almost all of the ones made in the last four or five years can be paired. That's if you have the same speaker from the same company, there's usually a button on it that allows you to pair it and you have to look in the manual. They all pair a little differently. Some of them you have to go into an app to pair it. You compare them for stereo, so you get a bigger sound. Some of them, you compare them in mono, so they both have the same sound, so you can put one in another room. I like to have sound on my back patio and sound in my kitchen, which is right next to my back patio.
CHRISTINE: And for stereo sound, what would be the difference in what I would hear if I paired these speakers in stereo versus mono?
BRENT: So stereos came out in the late fifties, and you have a separate left speaker and a right speaker, and so the music producers will pan some of the sounds to the left and some of the sounds to the right. Usually the vocals will be in the middle and you might put the guitar a little to the left, and if you have a drum kit, you might spread it from left to right so it sounds more like a drum, a full set of drums in front of you rather than just a bunch of drums crammed into one little tiny space. So it sounds more like an actual band on stage. And mono, everything comes out of one speaker, and so it's the same, even if you have two speakers paired, it's the same in mono, it's the same sound coming out of both speakers and it's fine.It's not like you're going to suddenly hate whatever band you like because they're in mono.
But if you want a big, more exciting, more spacious sounds, you're going to want stereo. And that's one thing that one Bluetooth speaker can't give you. So you pair the two in stereo and you put them six feet apart and you put yourself in between the two so you're getting an equal balance of the two, and then you get this big enveloping sound. If you're in the right place, it sounds like there's a band in the room.
CAIRA: We've covered a solid Bluetooth speaker situation. What happens if you want to graduate beyond that? What do you suggest is the next step up?
BRENT: The computer speakers that we have, they range from little things that you might just plug into your laptop to get louder sound out of your laptop, to things that you would actually use first low-end music production. So a little bit more serious of a speaker, but usually those will have amplifiers, well, I think they all have amplifiers built in, all the ones that we pick now. And so you plug them into your computer, Bluetooth into them from your phone. Some of them you can hook up a record player. Those will have usually a separate woofer for the bass and then a tweeter for the high frequencies. So they'll sound clearer in the cymbals and acoustic guitars and voices will sound clearer, but then those low frequency boom, boom, boom, things will start to sound a lot fuller and more satisfying. And those of us who do brand concealed audio tests have a saying, "bass wins". If your product has more bass, it's probably going to win. If your product's bass-deficient, it's probably going to lose.
ROSIE: Why is that?
BRENT: People like bass.
CAIRA: It's fun.
BRENT: To a point, I don't like it when I'm hearing a lot of bass from my neighbors or when I hear one car going down the road with loud bass. But people like bass because it's visceral, gets you moving a little bit. Nobody dances to a violin, I guess you could, technically. The bass is what gives you the pulse and the rhythm of the tune. So if you don't have any bass, you are missing a big giant chunk of the tune.
CAIRA: So we've talked about the basic Bluetooth and now we've talked about a little bit more complicated speakers. Are wired speakers the next step up, the classic two speaker system, and if so, why would somebody choose to do that to themselves?
BRENT: It will sound better. As they say, you will hear what the artist intended because every record that you've heard was mixed on two stereo speakers like that. And they can be wireless in terms of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. They all plug into the wall. In most cases, you'll have a wire connecting the two speakers. You may have an amplifier for them. There's all sorts of different configurations, but generally speaking, that is going to be the best sound and it's going to be what the artist intended for average use. You can buy our bookshelf speaker picks. So we have a Polk in there, I think it's 230 a pair. They sound really, really, really good.
CAIRA: I want to talk about the amps a little bit more because it's a word that just keeps popping up and a lot of people may not really know what an amp is or what it does. Can you just explain what stereo amps are, what they do, and why people will probably need one for a two speaker system?
BRENT: Basically what an amplifier does is the signal that comes out of your Bluetooth from your phone or maybe your record player or maybe you have a CD player, those are coming back, any of those signals, it's really low voltage. It's a volt or something. It's not much. It's really weak and it's enough maybe to drive a set of headphones, but it's not enough to push speakers back and forth. You got a big cone, you got to move back and forth, and you got to move a lot of air, as they say. So the amplifier just basically boosts that signal that comes out of whatever your source is, your record player or your phone or whatever. And so it boosts it to the point where it can drive a set of speakers. But with normal speakers, like those Polks I talked about, any amp will drive those. You can buy a 20 $30 amp off of Amazon and it will drive those and actually sound okay.
CHRISTINE: Okay. Brent, I just want to pause for a moment because we've talked about a lot of different types of speakers and it would just help me, personally, to be able to run through the options. So if you are wanting to just dip your toes into getting a basic sound system, the most affordable and accessible option would be to start at a Bluetooth speaker. You could get one, you could get two if you want to pair them and do stereo sound. Next go for two speakers.
BRENT: Right.
CHRISTINE: And you have a couple of options there. You could go with small computer speakers, which have a built-in amp, so you don't have to buy an extra amp. They're pretty affordable. They sound pretty good. If you want to go up from there, you would get bigger bookshelf speakers and some of those have an amp built in and some you have to buy a separate amp, right?
BRENT: Yeah, if you're more of a serious music listener, I would definitely go with the two speakers, absolutely positively. But any of the two speaker options is going to be good for you.
CAIRA: We are going to take a quick break and then when we come back we'll talk about the most common mistakes people make with their audio equipment. Be right back.
CHRISTINE: Welcome back. This episode we're talking all about speakers and the things you can do to upgrade the audio equipment in your home. So Brent, you mentioned earlier we were talking about how you can really jump up in quality of sound when you get to speakers, especially if you're getting these wired speakers, maybe they're either computer speakers or bookshelf speakers, these larger ones. I am personally intimidated by shopping for speakers. My brain shuts off a little bit, but I am curious, we talked a little bit about price before, but what do you think people should expect to pay to get something good in the category of wired speakers?
BRENT: Okay, those Polk ones.
CHRISTINE: The Polk ones you mentioned earlier,
BRENT: Those are 230 a pair and then you'll need an amp, but almost any amp will work. We have a budget pick though, from a company called Micca, I think those are about a hundred a pair. And I was just using them the other day with the Wim amplifier and I'm just like, oh, these things sound really good. I was listening to one of my own recordings, too, so I know what it's supposed to sound like and they're shockingly good. So you can do that if you want. I think the Polks are a better place to start. They're going to have more bass, but I would recommend going up to 2 or 300 for your amp and then you're up to 500 bucks.
CHRISTINE: That seems reasonable.
CHRISTINE: Brent, where does something like Sonos fit into this world of speakers? Is it a computer speaker? Is it something else entirely?
BRENT: It's something else entirely. They have the whole category of Wi-Fi speakers to themselves. Lots of other speakers can do that, but they are the ones who really pioneered it. What the Wi-Fi does for you is you can stream music into lots of different rooms of a house. You could put different Sono speakers in different parts of your house and they all synchronize, so they all sound good, and the Sono speakers themselves are actually, by and large, really good speakers.
CHRISTINE: Everyone I know who has a Sonos in the last couple of years has done nothing but complain about their Sonos. They like the sound of it, but the app seems to be pretty glitchy. There seems to have been some quality control issues over the last year or so. What are some other options in this category? Do you have to go with Sonos or if you want this wireless experience where you can have the speakers all over the house, they're all connected, maybe you have one that you can take outside. Is there another option out there besides Sonos?
BRENT: Absolutely. There's Apple Airplay 2, which lets you do more or less the same thing. There's Google Chromecast, which lets you do more or less the same thing. Apple Airplay 2 and Google Chromecast are available in a wide variety of speakers from different brands, which Sonos is not. The Amazon Alexa speakers can do the multi-room thing, too. You can go buy those things for 40 bucks a pop or something like that, 50 bucks a pop, and you can sprinkle six of them around your house for almost nothing, and they'll all talk to each other and their app is pretty easy to use.
ROSIE: And so for these streamers, Sonos, even Alexa, I apologize for anyone listening on a speaker.
BRENT: Oh no.
ROSIE: Are you going to get the option of listening to music in mono and in stereo for all of those?
BRENT: Yes. So you can pair those so you can say, okay, I want one in my bedroom and one in my kitchen or whatever. Or you can say, I want two in my bedroom so I can sit in my bed and listen to stereo and just one in the kitchen. And you can actually configure them all within the apps. Apple has their own thing and different companies like say JBL or a Bowers and Wilkins or somebody will have their own app that lets you configure everything.
ROSIE: So Brent, these two terms, Bluetooth speakers and wireless speakers, talk about the differences and what do we actually mean?
BRENT: So Bluetooth is a wireless technology. I think we've all Bluetoothed our phone into our earbuds or into our car or something, and you don't have a wire connecting them. There are other wireless technologies like Wi-Fi based technologies, like Sonos, where the audio device is streaming wirelessly from your home network or maybe from your phone or your iPad or your whatever. People also sometimes talk about wireless speakers as speakers that don't have any wires attached to them at all. A stereo pair of speakers probably has a wire connecting them so they can talk to each other. And then they have probably a wire somewhere that plugs them into the wall for power. So the only thing that's purely wireless is a portable Bluetooth speaker. There are no wires. And then once you go beyond that, you're going to be running into wires. Sorry.
ROSIE: All Bluetooth is wireless, but not all wireless is referring to Bluetooth. Fair?
BRENT: Correct.
ROSIE: What are the functional differences between connectivity via Bluetooth versus connectivity via Wi-Fi?
BRENT: Wi-Fi requires an app, Bluetooth does not. So Wi-Fi is going to be more complicated, although usually it's not that bad.
ROSIE: But more finicky.
CHRISTINE: And if your network goes down, you can't use it.
BRENT: Yeah.
ROSIE: I'm curious, what is the most common mistake you see people making with their audio equipment, in general?
BRENT: They don't pay attention to where they put the speakers. There's two things you got to worry about with speakers. The first thing is the closer the speaker is to a wall or a desk or a floor, or especially in a corner, the more it's going to reinforce all of the sound, especially the bass. So when you push speakers up against the wall, there's going to be a lot more bass, and that might be good. It might be bad. Big speaker, if you go up against the wall, it's probably going to sound really boomy. With the little speaker, these little Bluetooth speakers, these little portables, they probably will sound better up against the wall. So you have that variable right there. So the more bass you want, move it closer to the wall. Also, with stereo, you need to have left and right to get it to work, and your head needs to be about the same distance from both speakers for it to work right. And I've seen a lot of people have stereos where they put the left speaker on top of the right speaker. Oh,
ROSIE: Because it just looks so damned cool.
BRENT: You really need to put the stereo speakers equidistant from your ears. And also a lot of people will put the stereo speakers, put one in the right place and they'll put one on a different wall, and that's going to sound not good. What we look for is what we call a center image. So if your head is the same distance between those two speakers, it's going to sound like there's a singer coming from between the speakers. We call that imaging. It's actually awesome once you hear it, but if you don't have your speakers placed right, you will not hear it.
ROSIE: The bass and the treble knobs on, what am I meant to be doing with these? Because I noodle around with them based on the song and what I'm trying to get out of it, but I really don't think that, that is what I'm meant to be doing.
BRENT: Okay.
ROSIE: Help me.
BRENT: Oh, boy. This is such a good, I mean, there's the classic example of you get in a rental car and you turn on the stereo and you find the bass and treble are both turned all the way up. That's a common mistake people make. Generally, you should start with the bass and treble controls centered, and that's usually going to be what we call flat response. In other words, you're not boosting anything, you're not cutting anything. It should sound the most natural. So I normally recommend that people just leave those centered all the time. However, if you have speakers that maybe don't have quite enough bass, you can boost the bass a little bit. If you boost the bass too much, it's probably going to distort, but you can boost the bass a little bit. Or maybe your speakers sound too boomy, you turn the bass down a little bit, or maybe they sound dull, as if someone's got a singing through a blanket. You can boost the treble a little bit.
CHRISTINE: And that'll just make it sound almost sharper or something?
BRENT: Something. Yeah, sharper. That's a good word.
CAIRA: So my question is how do you turn the treble and the bass down on your neighbor's speakers when they're too loud?
ROSIE: Is there any technology you're excited about? Any emerging stuff that you're intrigued by?
BRENT: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. There's a new thing coming out called Oracast, and it's a subset of Bluetooth. So what Oracast lets you do is you can stream, normally with your phone, you can stream to one or maybe two Bluetooth speakers. With this, you can stream to an unlimited number as long as they're within range of what we call the host speaker. So you stream from your phone to the host speaker, then you can put 10, 50, 100. Theoretically, they can be of all different brands, so you don't have to match them, and also it works with headphones.
CHRISTINE: So you could have, for my kids, for instance, I am always annoyed because they each have Bluetooth headphones and I want them to be able to listen to the same music. We have to connect a separate phone to each headphone, and that's annoying.
CAIRA: So you want to pair their headphones.
CHRISTINE: I'd love to be able to have them listen to the same songs on both of their headphones.
BRENT: It's happening, and I have experimented with it some, but it's still going to be at a primitive stage for I think another year. But then more people will have it, and I think it's going to be in every hearing aid in another probably two years. All the wireless earbuds, it'll probably be in those in two years, three years. It's going to be in every Bluet ooth speaker in another probably two, three years.
CHRISTINE: Okay, Brent. So sometimes we like to do a really quick paced lightning round at the end of our episodes to just get in those last questions. So I don't want you to overthink any of these, just say what comes to your mind. Indoor concert or outdoor music festival.
BRENT: So hard, but I'm a jazz guy, so indoor.
CHRISTINE: Subwoofer essential or overhyped?
BRENT: Essential. If you are watching movies or you're into hip-hop, maybe heavy rock, EDM, stuff like that.
CHRISTINE: Which sounds better. CD or vinyl?
BRENT: Oh, you got to get me in so much trouble here. CD. I don't listen. I listen to vinyl sometimes because it's fun. But I listen to digital. I listen to MP3s a lot.
CHRISTINE: Oh, I think this was a very controversial answer, but we'll take it. All right. The one speaker brand you wish more people knew about?
BRENT: Micca, the one I talked about. I can't say they're all great, but that one that we have, oh God, it's so good. It's so cheap.
CHRISTINE: Your desert island album?
BRENT: The Yes album by the seventies progressive rock group, Yes.
CAIRA: Before we wrap, we usually ask our guests one final question. What's the last thing you bought that you've really loved?
BRENT: The Wirecutter top pick for screwdrivers. It is really fabulous. It has a whole bunch of bits built into it, so every weird screw that you might want to access, you can pull the bit out and it's really well-built, you can get a lot of torque and really get the screw in tight. And I'm building a new deck on my home right now, and this screwdriver is coming in very, very, very handy.
ROSIE: Brent, thank you so much for joining us. This was really, really fun.
BRENT: Well, thanks for having me on.
CHRISTINE: Thanks, Brent.
BRENT: It's been great.
CHRISTINE: Speakers, Brent. So much information.
CAIRA: He's so good.
ROSIE: We love Brent. Wow.
CHRISTINE: Wow. I feel like I was the one lagging in this conversation.
ROSIE: No.
CHRISTINE: You two were ahead with Brent and I was behind trying to pick up the pieces and figure out all the details because I'm not an audiophile.
CAIRA: No, but you enjoy good music, good sound, and you got there.
CHRISTINE: I do. I just want someone else to think about it for me.
ROSIE: Well, I think Brent is that person. What did you take away?
CHRISTINE: So I really love his tip about pairing Bluetooth speakers. That really blew my mind. So that was very cool, and I will continue to pair my Bluetooth speakers at home to create stereo sound, which now I understand what that means.
CAIRA: That's so good.
ROSIE: They go deep, I love that. For me, I am very grateful for the final explanation of the differences between connectivity via Bluetooth and via Wi-Fi, and why you might opt for a speaker system that could connect via Bluetooth, maybe over Wi-Fi, because Wi-Fi, as we know, can be a little fiddly, and so Bluetooth, at least right now, is more reliable in that sense. So I loved that. I also loved that Brent had the final word on the song to listen to, to check whether your speakers are great. Tracy Chapman, Fast Car.
CAIRA: Love it.
ROSIE: That song truly can do anything.
CAIRA: Yeah, I think my takeaway is that honestly, I got into stereo systems and speakers because of my dad. He really taught me what good sound can be, but I think that I relied a little bit too much on him to tell me what these things do. So I'm going to go back and I'm going to actually read the manuals for all of the devices that I have and see what I've been missing out on.
CHRISTINE: Yeah, the whole world will open up probably.
CAIRA: Yeah.
ROSIE: Also good if you are looking to cure insomnia.
CAIRA: Sure. Yeah.
ROSIE: Well, if you want to find out more about Wirecutter's coverage, any of Brent's reporting, or if you want to check out the products we recommended today, check out our website or you can find a link in the show notes. That is it for us, Christine, Caira, my friends. See you next week.
CHRISTINE: Bye.
CAIRA: Bye.
ROSIE: Peace.
CHRISTINE: The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddy Masiello and Nick Pitman. Episodes are mixed by Catherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Diane Wong. Wirecutter's deputy publisher and general manager is Cliff Levy. Ben Frumin is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief. Hosted by Caira Blackwell and Christine Cyr Clisset. Thanks for listening.
BRENT: Nobody dances to a violin. I guess you could. Technically. I guess they did on the Titanic? In that movie? But that's all they had to work with. And look what happened to them.

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Buzz Feed

4 hours ago

• Buzz Feed

31 Things Probably Designed By Geniuses June 2025

A lightweight Quickflip reversible backpack hoodie because sometimes the day can't decide if it wants to be warm or chilly, and if you're gonna lug around an extra layer just in case — it might as well double as a backpack! Promising review: "One second, I'm wearing a cozy hoodie. The next? Bam! It's a sleek backpack. I've never felt so efficient in my life. It's soft, warm, and makes me feel like a low-key superhero. Perfect for travel, unpredictable weather, or just impressing people with my newfound sorcery. 10/10, would flip again." —JBrownBrainsGet it from Amazon for $44.95 (available in five colors and seven sizes). A phone/tablet stand with a built-in speaker here to revolutionize the way you FaceTime with your fam, watch videos and movies, listen to music and audiobooks, and more! Reviewers love the volume and sound quality of the speaker as well as the sturdiness of the stand. Promising review: "I bought the Bluetooth speaker tablet stand as a gift for my daughter, and it's been perfect for her schoolwork and entertainment! The adjustable tablet stand allows her to find the perfect viewing angle, whether she's taking notes or just watching a video. The built-in Bluetooth speakers provide clear, rich sound, which enhances her experience when watching videos or listening to audio lessons. Now, everyone wants one!" —ShopaholicGet it from Amazon for $26.99+ (available in nine colors). A rechargeable electric flosser starter kit if you hate flossing, but also hate hearing the disappointment in your dentist's voice every time you go in for a cleaning. This device will seriously speed up the process, making it just as easy and comfortable as brushing your teeth, thanks to the sonic vibrations, ergonomic handle, and gentle gliding floss. It's also available with extra-strength floss in case you need ultra-strong cleaning power for your gums. A twist comb for anyone who's tired of curl sponges drying out your hair and wants an easy, painless way to achieve the perfect curls and twists that actually last! Plus, it's reusable, so you won't have to keep buying sponges and struggling to get the results you want. A Kettle Gryp so you can instantaneously turn your dumbbells into kettlebells — without having to actually store both. This handy grip snaps right onto your dumbbell and is easy to move from one weight to another, so you can expand your workout without having to buy more heavy equipment. Plus, the handle is super comfortable to hold, and the device itself is lightweight and compact, so you can toss it into a gym bag or backpack. Moodmatcher's color-changing lipstick — it'll react to your skin's natural pH to instantly give your lips a unique shade that perfectly complements your skin tone and will last for hours! Choose from 10 gorgeous colors — all enhanced with aloe vera and vitamin E to keep your lips hydrated and soft all day long. An outdoor hanging bungee tug toy in case you don't have the time or energy to keep up with your dog's seemingly endless reserves, but wanna give them an engaging toy that'll actually keep them busy. You can hang one end from a tree branch or beam, and let your pup pull on the other end, which will instantly end their boredom! The strong bungee cord will create a force for your dog to tug against without breaking it, making for a long-lasting toy that you and your precious pet will love! A pair of tweezers with a built-in camera that streams live to your phone so you can target hairs, splinters, and more with surgical precision —especially when they're in places you can't quite see with a mirror. Promising review: "I always wanted the ability to have tweezers with a camera attached to be able to see in spots I normally can't see without having to be in front of a mirror. These are my go-to tweezers any time I need help with a splinter removal or want to remove unwanted hair from my ear. They are designed great; the quality is great! They feel good in the hand, not heavy, and the tip is perfectly aligned with the distance from the camera. Only wish they were Bluetooth. My wife uses them all the time. I wish I had bought at least one more. They are totally worth the money." —Giovanni Frank pantojaGet it from Amazon for $39.99 (available in black or white). A salad dressing shaker for anyone who wants to make, serve, and store their dressing all in one container. It has measurements on the side so you can accurately portion your ingredients, a one-handed open/close lever, and a leak-proof seal, making it a breeze to serve as well as keep some of your delicious creation for tomorrow's salad. Promising review: "The small Oxo salad dressing shaker is the perfect size! The design is well thought out — easy to pour, shake, and store. I love making my own dressings, and this makes the process simple and mess-free." —JMCGet it from Amazon for $11.99. A unicorn head squirrel feeder, because if you're gonna provide free food to these famously freeloading critters, you might as well get some entertainment in return. And, I don't know about you, but watching a squirrel that looks like it's wearing a giant unicorn head sounds pretty entertaining to me. A portable campfire if you never feel like dealing with the hassle of building and cleaning up after a fire. Simply light it with a match or lighter and extinguish by covering with the lid. It actually puts out an impressive amount of heat without a bunch of smoke, so you can say goodbye to burning eyes and soot-smelling clothes. Plus, it's reusable, and each fire should last around three to five hours! An expandable book rack designed so you can customize it to work in a variety of spaces, without taking up a huge footprint! Plus, the dividers make it easy to organize your books and magazines by size, giving your collection a clean and tidy look. Promising review: "I needed a way to wrangle our cookbooks and foodie magazines without taking up any cabinet or counter space. This is perfect on top of our refrigerator. Super cute, well-made, adjustable, and great color. It keeps the books accessible while looking neat and decorative." —JillyBeanGet it from Amazon for $37.99 (available in two colors). A pair of air conduction headphones for anyone who hates the feeling of headphones in your ears or worrying about them falling out when you're on the go or at the gym. These use open ear technology to deliver powerful and natural sound at a range of volumes — without being audible to people around you. Now you can stay aware of your surroundings while enjoying clear sound from these lightweight headphones that are designed to sit comfortably on your ears — unlike those pesky earbuds that put pressure on your ears and just looooove to tumble out. A TrayMask disposable tray table cover, because let's face it — while air travel is an amazing feat of humankind, airplanes, on the other hand, are pretty disgusting when you think about how many people pass through them. Instead of putting your snacks, hands, and electronic devices all over a tray table that has surely seen some unspeakable things, cover it with one of these TrayMasks so you won't feel the need to disinfect the bottom of your laptop the second you get to the hotel. A crack weeder tool with an ergonomic handle and L-shaped head designed to fit into tight cracks in your patio, sidewalk, and driveway, allowing it to grab those pesky weeds by the roots that are tough to reach otherwise. Now your outdoor space will look nice and tidy! An insect repellent lotion bar you'll actually like the smell of — despite how much insects hate it — thanks to the blend of beeswax, mango butter, sunflower oil, citronella essential oils, and other helpful ingredients. If you can't stand the aroma of bug sprays, try this instead! A baguette plushie for anyone who loves bread so much that they wish they could snuggle a giant loaf of the stuff — without getting crumbs all of their bed, of course. This thing manages to look delicious while being a seriously soft and cozy cuddle buddy! A reusable duster you can attach to your Swiffer cleaner because it's cheaper in the long run *and* more eco-friendly! The eight layers of durable nonfraying fabric are fantastic at collecting dust, and you can just throw them in the washing machine whenever they need a lil' clean. An outdoor Wi-Fi extender in case your idea of WFH is more like WFY (work-from-yard) when it's nice outside. But, as anyone who has ever tried to take a Zoom call from their back patio will know, sometimes your internet gets a little choppy when you're too far away from your router. Not anymore! This device will extend your Wi-Fi's reach, and has a weatherproof enclosure that can be easily mounted on a wall or pole. A foldable doorstep for those moments when you need to reach the roof of your car without a ladder or step stool. It fits on all vehicles, and reviewers love how sturdy it is. Plus, it's wide enough so you can stand on it with both feet, in case the idea of stepping on your seats and getting mud everywhere (and potentially slipping) doesn't sound all that appealing. A pretty-looking hummingbird feeder that suctions onto your window, giving you a front row seat to the comings and goings of what are quite possibly the cutest lil' birds in existence. It's easy to install and is designed to be bee-proof, so you can ensure that all of the nectar goes to your friendly neighborhood hummingbirds. A pack of Neutrogena makeup remover towelettes so you don't have to worry about carrying around a liquid makeup remover that could decide to leak all over your purse when on the go *or* on your fancy vay-cay wardrobe mid-flight. These do a great job, and come individually wrapped for extra convenience and easy packing! And a TSA-approved Alleyoop portable razor — it includes two triple-blade razors, a moisturizing bar, and a water spray bottle — aka everything you need for quick shaves and touch-ups while traveling, all in a compact case that can be tossed right into your handbag! A PopLite personal popcorn maker for when you don't wanna end up with burnt, oily microwave popcorn with unpopped kernels, but don't feel like going through the trouble of making it on the stove either. This countertop device uses hot air instead of oil to make eight cups of perfectly popped popcorn in two minutes — right in the built-in serving bowl that you can eat from when it's done! A jewelry holder that'll turn the place where you store your rings into a work of art! Choose from six gorgeous colors and give your prized ring collection the fun display it deserves! A swinging animal car mirror accessory here to add an extra dose of cute to your commute! Watching these little frens happily swinging away will make any boring drive much more fun, and now, instead of road raging during traffic, you can pretend you're at a playground with your favorite lil' passenger. A durable, Shark Tank-famous Rumpl outdoor blanket – it's super portable, waterproof, and dirt-resistant so you can use it for backyard picnics or to stay warm and cozy when the nights get a little chilly. And when you're done using it, it folds up to be super compact and fit in a tiny carrying bag! A sloth "breathing partner" that uses soft fade-in, fade-out color prompts to guide you through different breathing techniques for meditation or simply calming and slowing down your mind and body. It's great for both adults and kids, and it also doubles as an adorable night-light! An Uno rug in case you wanna celebrate your favorite card game by displaying two of it's most powerful cards — the Draw 4 and Reverse card — possibly sending a warning to visitors (future Uno opponents) of what fate may befall them should they choose to face you in this game of wits, strategy, and a little luck. An indoor s'mores maker for when you're craving roasted marshmallows but don't have access to a fire. This uses a flameless electric heater and comes with stainless steel forks so you can prepare a classic camping snack — without having to leave your house! It even has special compartments for all the ingredients you need to make the perfect s'mores. Promising review: "I love this S'mores maker! I recently bought s'mores supplies at the store, and wanted to make them without a bonfire... I read online about all of the different s'mores machines and I'm SO happy I chose this one! Right out of the box, it started heating quickly. After it was glowing red, we started toasting marshmallows! I was surprised how brown and toasty it was able to get the marshmallows, and so quickly. After reading some other reviews about the long wait time, I was worried. But in my home, the time to get the marshmallow toasty was just about equivalent to a bonfire (minus the bonfire smell!!). The s'mores do even have that outdoor familiar taste. We love it and will be using it again and again! Great product." —Ashley SchenkelGet it from Amazon for $23.99+ (available in four styles). And finally, a deck of beginner-friendly cat-themed tarot cards to add a feline twist to your future tarot readings that'll make the experience more lighthearted and less... foreboding. They come with a helpful guidebook that's great for beginners, and are the purrr-fect gift for the cat-lover in your life!

Engadget

a day ago

• Engadget

Amazon Prime Day 2025: The best early deals you can shop now, dates and everything else you need to know

Amazon Prime Day 2025 will be here soon on July 8-11, but as to be expected, you can already find some decent sales available now. Amazon always has lead-up sales in the days and weeks before Prime Day, and it's wise to shop early if you're on the hunt for something specific and you see that item at a good discount. Prime Day deals are typically reserved for subscribers, but there are always a few that anyone can shop. We expect this year to be no exception, and we're already starting to see that trend in these early Prime Day deals. These are the best Prime Day deals you can get right now ahead of the event, and we'll update this post with the latest offers as we get closer to the official days of Prime Day. Audible Premium Plus (three months) for $3 ($42 off): New subscribers can get three months of Audible for only $3, which represents a $42 discount. The Premium Plus tier gives you one book credit per month to use on any audiobook the service has, and you can stream any of the included titles for free on top of that. Audible also has members-only sales and discounts that you'll be able to take advantage of, too. The deal runs through July 31. Anker 313 wireless charging stand for $14 (29 percent off): One of our top picks for the best wireless chargers, Anker's 313 stand keeps things simple but effective. Just plop your phone down on its wide stand to get up to 10W of fast-charging power. It supports both portrait and landscape orientation for your phone, and it'll work with cases up to 5mm thick. 8BitDo Micro Bluetooth gamepad for $17 (33 percent off): This cute controller works with Switch, Android and Raspberry Pi devices, and it has 16 buttons that can be customized with mapping using 8BitDo's mobile software. Samsung SmartTag 2 for $18.50 (38 percent off): Samsung users looking to keep track of their stuff need look no further than the SmartTag 2. One of our top picks for the best Bluetooth trackers, this accessory easily attaches to keys, bags and other items and uses Samsung's large finding network to show you their last known location. Anker 633 10K magnetic battery pack for $43 (28 percent off, Prime exclusive): This 10K battery pack attaches magnetically to the backs of iPhones, making it easy to recharge while on the go. It also has a built-in kickstand for easy video watching or FaceTime calling while powering up. Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds for $45 (44 percent off): The Space A40 are some of the best budget wireless earbuds you can get right now, thanks to excellent ANC performance for their price, a pleasant sound profile, a comfortable fit and multi-device connectivity. They also have a solid eight-hour battery life, plus an extra 40 with their charging case. Apple AirPods 4 for $99 at Amazon ($30 off): Apple's wireless earbuds don't have the best sound quality or battery life, and this entry-level model lacks wireless charging, Find My tracking and onboard volume controls. But it still gets you tons of Apple-friendly features — from fast pairing with iCloud devices to spatial audio to hands-free Siri — and its lightweight design should fit most ears better than previous AirPods. Apple iPad (A16) for $299 at Amazon ($50 off): The latest base model iPad comes with a faster A16 chip, 2GB more RAM and 128GB of storage as standard. It earned a score of 84 in our review — if you only need an iPad for roaming the internet, watching shows and doing some lighter productivity tasks, it's a good starter tablet. Apple Mac Mini M4 for $469 ($130 off): If you prefer desktops, the upgraded M4 Mac mini is one that won't take up too much space, but will provide a ton of power at the same time. Not only does it come with an M4 chipset, but it also includes 16GB of RAM in the base model, plus front-facing USB-C and headphone ports for easier access. Apple Watch Series 10 for $329 ($70 off): We consider Apple's flagship wearable to be the best smartwatch you can buy, period. It's a mostly iterative update, with faster charging, a slightly slimmer design and a marginally larger display than the prior Series 9. That said, it's still a comprehensive fitness tracker, and no other smartwatch can integrate as neatly with iPhones and other Apple devices. Ring Doorbell Battery + Indoor Cam 2 for $70 (50 percent off): If you're looking to build out a security system in your home, this bundle is a good place to start, giving you a video doorbell and an indoor security camera. You'll be able to see both live feeds in the Ring app, and they can send you motion alerts and let you speak to people on the other end of the camera when you're not at home. Anker MagGo 3-in-1 charging station for $82 (25 percent off): A top pick in our guide to the best multi-device wireless chargers, this Anker power station can charge a phone, pair of earbuds and smartwatch all at once. It's primarily built for Apple devices, with a built-in Apple Watch charger and a neat space for AirPods. It's a solid option for frequent travelers thanks to the fact that it folds up to roughly the size of a deck of cards when not in use. Levoit LVAC-200 cordless vacuum cleaner for $150 (25 percent off): One of our top picks for the best cordless vacuums, this Levoit machine picks up a good amount of dirt, debris and pet hair considering its size and cost. It's pretty lightweight and has a convenient single-button start, plus it can be quickly disassembled for easy storage. Blink Outdoor 4 security cameras (five-camera system) for $160 (60 percent off): Get enough security cameras to outfit most of your home with this bundle. The Outdoor 4 cams are some of our favorites; you can use them indoors or outdoors, they supports 1080p video, motion alerts, local video storage when you employ a thumb drive with the Sync Module 2 that comes with the pack and they're totally wireless, running on two AA batteries each. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 for $200 ($50 off): The latest Powerbeats Pro earbuds have a comfier design and powerful bass performance that's sure to keep you hyped during a workout. These are Apple's first wireless earbuds with built-in heart rate monitoring, too, but that will likely only appeal to those who intend on using these buds primarily while working out. GoPro Hero 13 Black action camera for $329 ($100 off): Our favorite action camera for most people, the Hero 13 Black now works with a family of module lenses, making it even more versatile than models that came before it, plus it has a larger battery that supports longer capture times. On top of that, it has good digital stabilization, a full-color screen and excellent image quality. Eufy E20 3-in-1 robot vacuum for $380 (42 percent off): One of Eufy's latest machines and a top pick of ours for the best robot vacuums, the E20 can putter around your home automatically, sucking up dirt and debris in its path. But then it can quickly transform into a cordless or handheld vacuum, allowing you to clean hard-to-reach spots manually. Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones + $30 Amazon gift card for $448 ($30 off): Sony's newest pair of premium cans just came out not too long ago, and they promptly took the top spot in our best wireless headphones guide. The company managed to improve sound quality and ANC this time around, plus they have an even comfier design and loads of extra features like multi-device connectivity, Speak-to-Chat and more. LG 42-inch C4 evo OLED smart TV for $700 (20 percent off): This 2024 OLED TV has over eight million self-lit pixels, a 144Hz refresh rate and support for NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium and VRR for gaming. It's powered by LG's a9 AI processor Gen7, and it has Alexa built in as well. Prime Day is Amazon's members-only shopping event, which means you'll have to be a Prime subscriber on Prime Day to take advantage of most of the savings. Amazon still offers a 30-day free trial to new Prime subscribers, so you can start your free trial closer to July and participate in the event. Amazon Prime Day 2025 will be back this year on July 8 through July 11. Amazon Prime Day typically comes around annually in July. In the last few years, Amazon has also had its "Big Deal Days" in October, which is effectively a second Prime Day and the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Prime subscribers can go to Amazon's site on Prime Day to see all of the exclusive deals they have access to. Prime subscribers do not have to do anything additional to get Prime Day sales: the discounts you see on product pages will show up in your cart automatically. If you're not a Prime subscriber and you go to Amazon to shop on Prime Day, you'll likely see tons of items on sale but only "with Prime;" those discounts will not be available to those who are not active Prime subscribers. Technically yes, but even if you do not pay for a Prime membership, you should still check out Amazon on Prime Day. While most Prime Day deals will be exclusively available to subscribers, there are always a handful of sales available to all shoppers. Amazon distinguishes between them very clearly: you'll see "Prime exclusive" on product pages near the deal pricing on the discounts that are only available to paying members. Separately, it's very likely that other retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy will have their own competing Prime Day sales during that time frame, too. So if you're not keen on shopping at Amazon at all, it's worth checking out other retailers during the week of Prime Day to see if they are matching Prime Day deal prices.

Yahoo

2 days ago

• Yahoo

Magnificent 7 May Need to Make Room for Broadcom

Broadcom joined the trillion-dollar club late last year, and its market value has continued to climb since. The software and chip company has been riding the AI wave as companies like Alphabet and Meta place orders for its custom AI chips. The tech giant's stock doubled in each of the past two years, climbing more than 350% from the start of 2023 to yesterday's close. With a $1.2 trillion market cap, Broadcom is the S&P 500's seventh-most-valuable company, worth more than either Walmart or Berkshire Hathaway. Broadcom's skyrocketing value has some Wall Streeters wondering whether it's time for a shakeup of the Magnificent Seven, which currently includes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. READ ALSO: OpenAI Careens Toward Messy Divorce From Microsoft and Drones Steal the Paris Air Show Analysts expect Broadcom's sales to soar 22% this fiscal year and 21% in 2026. Broadcom reported earnings earlier this month that topped analysts' estimates after raking in $15 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter. Nvidia is the only company in the Magnificent Seven whose sales growth surpasses Broadcom's. In contrast, Tesla's revenue has contracted 1% this year, and its shares have tanked. The automaker's market cap is just above the $1 trillion mark. Four of the companies in the Magnificent Seven have seen their shares fall this year. Meanwhile, Broadcom's business is booming, especially its AI arm: Broadcom has a sprawling empire of technology that ranges from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips to cybersecurity software, but its custom AI chips now make up nearly a third of its revenue. The tech company made $4.4 billion of its revenue from AI in the second quarter (a 60% annual uptick) and expects $5.1 billion next quarter as cloud providers like Alphabet place more orders. The company predicts AI growth will continue next year. Name Games: The Magnificent Seven is a way of grouping together some of the S&P 500's most influential companies, similar to its predecessor FAANG (made up of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google before Facebook and Google changed their names). But some experts say the purpose of these groupings is to track trends, not just the most valuable companies. If the trend investors are eyeing now is AI, then swapping Tesla out for Broadcom may not make sense since Tesla is also leveraging AI (for robotaxis and humanoid robots). Another option might be to simply expand the Magnificent 7 to a Magnificent 8. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Sign in to access your portfolio