I take a first look at the Areal SR1 — a groundbreaking set of immersive headphones from Belgium that uses multiple physical drivers per ear cup to reproduce spatial audio through your own ear geometry, bypassing software-based HRTF simulation entirely. In this video I walk through the hardware, the audio interface, the setup process, and give my honest verdict on whether the SR1 lives up to its fascinating concept.

In this video, I review the IK Multimedia ARC On-Ear, a portable studio simulation device that promises to solve my biggest frustration with the Qudelix 5K—the difficulty of switching between different headphones. I'll show you how this compact, battery-powered device works, demonstrate its on-device headphone correction and studio simulation features, and share whether it lives up to my hopes for a more user-friendly alternative.

In this review, I examine the Nomono Sound Capsule, a portable spatial audio recording solution that combines a 360-degree ambisonics microphone with wireless lavalier microphones, offering podcasters and content creators an accessible way to record immersive Dolby Atmos audio. While testing the device with my PhD student Nicolas Losada, we found it excels in ease of use and spatial positioning accuracy, despite some limitations in monitoring capability and music recording quality, making it an attractive option for creators looking to enhance their productions with spatial audio without specialized technical knowledge.