It looks unassuming, but the sound is big and brash. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Audyssey Laboratories has been around for a decade, making audio hardware and signal-processing software for a wide range of consumer goods — phones, TVs, anything with speakers.

You’d be forgiven if you’ve never heard the name before, as the Los Angeles-based company mostly operates behind the scenes, developing audio tech for big-name partners like Marantz, Toshiba, IMAX, Sharp and Volvo.

But the company recently moved into the daylight by releasing several inexpensive home audio devices for consumers, each bearing the Audyssey name.

Its latest creation is the Audyssey Audio Dock Air. The “Air” in the name is a tip-off that it supports AirPlay, Apple’s platform for streaming audio over your home Wi-Fi connection. AirPlay speakers like this one can be controlled from any computer or iOS device on your network. Browsing your iTunes library and cueing up tracks is dead simple. And while AirPlay devices tend to be more costly than other wireless speakers that use Bluetooth or DLNA, the platform has produced some attractive wireless speaker options.

An austere, black, five-pound square, the Audio Dock Air doesn’t immediately betray itself as a speaker. It fits on shelves and dressers, and even tables if can hide the power supply brick. Speaker cloth on both sides hide an array of active speakers — two 3-inch woofers and two 0.75-inch tweeters — as well as dual 4-inch passive radiators. The speakers fire in both directions, so while the room will fill with sound, the stereo image isn’t as strong as a set of speakers that fire directly toward you. There’s an aux-in jack for Android phones (or whatever) and a headphone out. On top, there’s a big volume knob and a pair of LEDs that flash to alert you to changes in your network status.

The sound overall is pretty good, with clear details and surprisingly ample bass, even at lower volumes. It’s a speaker with personality — up-front and not at all subtle.

How you feel about this will depend entirely on where you rank yourself on the Linn-Genelec Scale of Audio Snobbery. If you’re at the high end — the type of person who owns seven pairs of headphones and can identify vintage McIntosh equipment at 20 paces, complete with model numbers and eBay resale value estimates — then this is not the speaker for you.

There’s quite a bit of digital signal processing going on. This is Audyssey’s bread and butter, and the company isn’t shy about showing it off. The resulting audio isn’t natural or transparent. At moderate volumes, it’s slightly compressed, and displays kind of brash, punchy character that may not suit your chosen playlist. Turn it up past about 60 percent and it gets even more compressed. It was too much for my tastes. It really does kick out some huge low end with very little distortion, thanks in part to the DSP and in part to the passive radiators.

If you’re on the other end of the scale, however — in the not-snobby, not-picky group, which is a full two-thirds of the population — then it’s a fine piece of equipment. It sounded great in the office, where I kept it turned down to background-music levels, but it was also loud and clear enough to fill the room during a small gathering of chatty beer-drinkers.

On the top are two LEDs and a volume knob — simple. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

That bass really is something else, so while you’d be tempted to stick it on a shelf sitting parallel to a wall, it sounds much better if it sits perpendicular to the wall, speakers facing sideways, and at least a foot of clearance on all sides.

While the sound can’t compete with higher-end AirPlay devices like the B&W Zeppelin Air ($600), or the receiver units from Denon and Pioneer that let you hook up your own speakers, it’s an attractive mid-level option, especially if you can find it for sale under the $350 street price.

The weak point in the chain here isn’t the price or the sound, it’s AirPlay.

We’re well over a year into the AirPlay game now, and I’d expect Apple’s streaming ecosystem to have all the kinks ironed out. But getting the Audyssey set up on my network was an ordeal filled with frustrating, inexplicable errors. And once the speaker was connected, it wouldn’t stay connected for long. I experienced drop-outs at least once every couple of hours. Sometimes my iOS apps would freeze, causing either dead silence or, worse, a stuttering, sputtering audio stream that I was powerless to pause or shut off without walking over to the speaker and pulling the plug.

Setup appears to be mostly painless when you study the included Quick Start guide — Click the “Pair” button, connect any computer or phone to the Audyssey’s ad hoc Wi-Fi network and point your browser to its web-based configuration tool. Tell it how to join your network, give it a minute to connect, then crank up the Purple Rain.

In reality, I had to do this routine several times to get it to stick. I tried three different mobiles and two notebooks before finding success (on a Chromebook, no less). Including wait times, flashing LEDs, and device resets, it took around 45 minutes. And once set up, the Audyssey only made it halfway through the new Walkmen album before crashing and requiring a restart.

The next few days were filled with “is it or isn’t it?” hiccups and dropouts. Rely on this thing to rock a party? You may as well piss in the punchbowl.

I doubt this is purely a hardware issue (based on the flakiness of other AirPlay devices I’ve tested, this is par for the course), but for a device that promises a seamless, easy-to-use solution for multi-room wireless audio, the holes need to be plugged quickly. Network instability is something that can probably be fixed with firmware updates and AirPlay updates, but I’d recommend approaching with caution.

WIRED Great design — clean lines, quality materials, impressive finish. Sound is big. Punchy mids and bass for days. AirPlay offers wireless access to your iTunes library and various streaming apps from any iOS device on your Wi-Fi network. Looks hot on a shelf or a dresser.

TIRED Sound is processed and aggressive. Too big for a kitchen or smaller room. AirPlay weaknesses are still a bother — your mileage may vary based on network strength, interference, location, hardware type, eye color and birth sign.

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

My normal process for reviewing audio gear is about a two-week routine: Listen to a wide range of music, take notes along the way, and then bang out a pithy review. When I put the Beyerdynamic T5p headphones on, I knew that the normal routine wouldn’t suffice. Give these cans back after a mere two weeks? Fugetaboutit. One summer and fall later….

The T5ps reek of quality right out of the box. There’s the high-grade, sturdy aluminum frame with slick design details throughout. The cables are perfectly supple. The super-cush leather earpads and headband feature intricate stitching that’s done by hand in Germany. Did Mercedes-Benz start a headphone factory?

In a nutshell, the T5p is a luxurious full-size, high-quality headphone that can handle portable music devices such as iPods and iPhones, but also performs great as an everyday headphone for home or office use.

The T5p comfort factor is as good as any headphone I’ve put on, and the pressure is perfect — enough to give you a tight seal, but not too much that it causes fatigue. With the closed-back design, the T5p also minimizes audio leakage, and helps filter out ambient sounds. It won’t compare to a noise-canceling rig, but does the job in most cafes and outdoor spaces. The accessories include a compact felt storage case, gold-plated mini stereo jack plug (3.5 mm), a ¼-inch adapter, and a 10-foot extension cable.

With just about any type of music you put on, the first thing you notice about the T5p is the outstanding midrange clarity. In particular with acoustic music, the separation between instruments and transparency is remarkable, even when an iPod is providing the power. When you throw on something more demanding — say a Radiohead or TV On the Radio album — the T5p is able to perfectly control the balance between instruments so that nothing is overemphasized or lost in the mix.

If you want to nitpick, the T5p might a touch bright for some tastes, favoring the treble and high end. But this clarity and transparency is also an attribute — it helps bring out the depth and detail in music, and adds to the vividness that these cans have in spades. The bass is good or great, depending on the source — hooked into my home amp, the T5p produced some deep, tight bass response, whereas with the iPod it was solid, but not quite as impressive.

In short, you will be hard-pressed to find a better all-around headphone than the T5p. Hooked into your home system, it brings out the full expression in most any type of music, and makes it sound more realistic and compelling with its convincing soundstage. On the road, you get high-quality sound, comfort, and the feeling of being awfully spoiled when you’re surrounded by earbud nation.

Now here’s the rub: The T5p will set you back a cool $1,300. I know, I know, you’re saying, “For 1,300 bills, I could buy a used El Camino, possibly one with a cassette deck.” True enough. But serious hi-fi gear never comes cheap, friends, and the Beyerdynamic T5p is most definitely a serious set of cans. Given the build quality, it wouldn’t surprise me if this set of T5ps lasted a good 10 to 15 years before showing its age, whereas most cans start to fall apart after five years of use. And given the state of the stock market these days, maybe investing in high-end stereo gear isn’t such a crazy idea after all.

WIRED In a class of its own for portable cans. Build quality is top notch — these will be durable for decades, not just years. 32 ohms of impedance makes them plenty loud on portable rigs, so there’s no need for a headphone amp.

TIRED Errrrm, uh, the carrying case isn’t gold-plated?

Photos by Jim Merithew/Wired

Armed with one of Apple’s video-out adapters, you can connect your iDevice to any projector and cobble together a poor-man’s home theater. Or you can connect your iDevice to Epson’s MegaPlex MG-850HD and enjoy an awesome-man’s home theater.

This 720p projector turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into the hub of your entertainment center, plastering movies, YouTube videos, photo slideshows and other visual content onto the nearest screen or wall.

Sound familiar? You might be thinking of the Optoma Neo-I and Wowwee Cinemin Slice pico projectors that debuted earlier this year. But the MegaPlex is no wussy pico; it cranks out 2,800 lumens worth of brightness using a 3LCD light engine. It also comes with a surprisingly robust pair of 10-watt speakers. This is a big-boy projector.

But not necessarily a business one. The MG-850HD stands 4.6 inches tall and weighs 8.6 pounds, so it’s not carry-on-friendly. No, this is a mobile cinema for the home, one that can easily take turns between sleepovers in the basement, movie night in the living room and Californication marathons in the bedroom.

Like many projectors, this one sports top-accessible focus and zoom wheels, plus a manual keystone correction control. And it supplies inputs aplenty, including HDMI and component video, so you can feed it anything from a cable box to a Roku box to an Xbox. But the big attraction is the iThing dock, which conveniently recharges your device while sucking the sweet, sweet videos from it.

Keep in mind, however, that the rear-facing dock leads to a rear-facing touchscreen, which can make it difficult to interact with your device, depending on where you place the projector. The included remote, which drives Epson’s simplistic menu system, obviates the need for some screen interaction, but if you’re running an app like Netflix, the menus and remote are as ineffectual as Congress before a vacation break.

Speaking of Netflix, that’s currently the only non-iTunes app that can play video on the MegaPlex. Crackle, HBO Go, Hulu Plus — they’re all unwilling to share. It’s the app developers’ fault, not Epson’s, but it’s still a disappointment. On the flip side, you can use the MegaPlex as a speaker dock with apps like Pandora and Slacker, as well as with your own music library.

Of course, a projector is made for projecting, and the MG-850HD does a stellar job of it. On my review unit, colors looked rich without a trace of oversaturation, and dark and brightly lit scenes alike demonstrated strong black and white levels, respectively. And audio? It booms. No, it’s not 5.1-channel surround, but it gets the job done.

For not much more than the price of a typical 720p projector, the MegaPlex MG-850HD provides a complete and satisfying home theater experience powered by your favorite iDevice.

WIRED Docks Apple devices and plays all the media within. Movies sound great and look even better. Simple controls on both the projector and its onscreen menus. Clever “coffee break” button pauses the video but turns the image white so you can find your way in the dark. Carrying handle makes for easy transport between rooms.

TIRED iPad use requires a clunky plastic bracket. Remote doesn’t work with apps like Netflix, and only some of its buttons are backlit. Some of the best third-party video apps aren’t compatible.