Amazon's Prime Day has come and gone. Microsoft had its big Windows 11 event. And Apple continued its fight against sideloading apps to the iPhone's App Store. There were a bunch of cool new gadgets announced, too.
Naim Audio Solstice Special Edition
Naim Audio, the high-end British audio company that's best known for its beautiful wireless speaker systems, announced its first-ever turntable. It's called the Solstice and it's more of turntable package, consisting of a turntable, phono stage and a dedicated power supply to power it all. The Solstice is very much a turntable designed for serious audiophiles. It's built with a high-mass aluminum platter, multiple levels of mechanical decoupling and a self-calibrating motor drive system. It's also more expensive than most cars.
Naim is going to release 500 of these limited edition Solstice turntable systems. They're available for preorder now, and will be released in late July.
Price: $20,000
Xbox Gaming Monitors
Microsoft announced three upcoming gaming monitors from its 'Designed for Xbox' program that, as you might've guessed, as optimized for the Xbox Series X console (as well as the Xbox Series S). The three monitors are from from Acer, Asus and Philips (in the photo), and they all support HDMI 2.1 technology, which enables them to play 4K games with a 120Hz refresh rate. All three of these monitors will be available to preorder later this summer. You can learn about specific pricing in the link below.
Price: $950 — $1,600
Wyze Sense Climate Sensor + Leak Sensor
Wyze announced new smart home sensors that are designed to work with its budget DIY security system. There's a Climate Sensor (pictured) that Wyze sells in three-packs, each of which tracks the temperature and humidity of a certain room. And there's a Leak Sensor that Wyze also sells in three-packs, each of which is meant to be positioned underneath a sink, dishwasher or washer machine and will notify you if there's a leak in your home. (You must already have Wyze's Home Monitoring System for these new sensors to work.)
Price: $30 (3-pack)
Sumiko RS78 Stylus
Sumiko announced three new phono cartridges and one new stylus this week, each of which are positioned as audiophile upgrades for people who already have a turntable system. There's the Blue Point No. 3 High ($499) and Blue Point No. 3 Low ($499) phono cartridges, which are replacing the company's previous Blue Point No. 2. There's a limited-edition phono cartridge to celebrate Sumiko’s 40th anniversary, called the Celebration 40 ($2,799). And there's the RS78 stylus ($129), which is the company's first 78 RPM stylus that's geared for vintage recording enthusiasts.
Price: $129
Alpha Bike Mount for AirTag
This is one of the first AirTag mounts we've seen that's specifically designed for a bike. It fits under the bike's standard water bottle cages, so it doesn't look weird or add much extra bulk. It also has a very low profile so there's a good chance, if your bike gets stolen, the thief won't even notice it.
Price: $40
