Harmony Evans's Blog, page 9
November 23, 2025
JBL’s soundbars offer bang for buck, but there’s one area they could do better
When I went to JBL’s European launch for its soundbars in Copenhagen earlier this year, one thing stuck out that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
All of its soundbars should be have a modular design.
You’re probably reading this thinking, “what is this person babbling on about?” but stick with me and I think that you might agree.
We live in an immersive world… sort ofWhat soundbar manufacturers often do is set their designs for pricing levels or for the audience they’re attempting to attract.
That often means that the cheapest model loses all the frills and features of more expensive models, it’s a single bar unit that’s compact and it’s for those who want to improve their sound. While the most expensive model comes with all the frills, features and best specs.
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That makes sense, right? Offer a more complete experience as you go up the range, while the cheaper models focus on improving the sound of your TV at an affordable price.
I think soundbar brands should shift their position a little bit.
Audio brands would have everyone thinking that immersive audio is everywhere and the best way to enjoy films, TV series and music. Except many of the devices that we use don’t utilise the potential of surround sound. In a lot of cases, they’re just compromises.
Image Credit (JBL)There’s no way that you can get a surround sound experience from a single bar, no matter how brands may try to convince you. Surround sound is all about have speakers positioned around you to create that sense of immersion.
Having a soundbar in front of you only creates a sound… in front of you. It may fire audio at you well enough, but to make sound arrive at your ear as if it were coming from behind? That’s practically impossible.
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My solution? Make all soundbars a modular design.
What do I mean by this? Well JBL’s more expensive models have detachable speakers that connect to the main bar. You can clip them off and then put them around your room (they’re battery powered) and they’ll turn into surround sound speakers, creating the immersion you need from Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and soon-to-be Eclipsa Audio.
What gave me more clarity on this issue was the Majority Everest 5.1 surround sound system. Like the more expensive JBL surround sound systems, this comes with detachable speakers that connect to the main bar. But the price for the Majority system is £299.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)While the Majority Everest doesn’t support true immersive audio in Atmos and DTS:X – imagine if it did? A soundbar system that’s modular, which you could place the speakers in your room to fit wherever you had space for them. That’s convenience with a capital ‘C’.
Why don’t more soundbar brands do this? Your guess is as good as mine, but my assumption is that they might think if you gave them all the frills with cheaper models, they wouldn’t plump for the more expensive models.
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If that’s the case, that thinking is incorrect. These potential customers were never really going to go for the most expensive models simply because they wouldn’t be able to afford them anyway.
Rather than harvesting the best features for the most expensive models, the modular design should be available on all them rather than some. That’s the convenience, and hopefully performance, that home cinema fans are looking for. Bring immersive audio down to a convenient price so everyone can it. Let’s move past the compromised version from a single bar and enjoy spatial audio as it was meant to be enjoyed.
November 22, 2025
Bedrock Data, which has debuted ArgusAI to show enterprises what data their AI models access during training and to prevent data leakage, raised a $25M Series A (Chris Metinko/Axios)
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Deblock, an app that lets users manage fiat and digital assets in one place by linking a bank account with a self-owned crypto wallet, raised a €30M Series A (Tamara Djurickovic/Tech.eu)
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Israel-based Chargeflow, whose AI tech automates chargeback disputes for online merchants, raised a $25M Series A led by Viola Growth, and a $10M debt round (Meir Orbach/CTech)
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Arbiter, which is using AI to automate healthcare administrative tasks, emerges from stealth with a $52M seed from multiple family offices at a $400M valuation (Rebecca Torrence/Business Insider)
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We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
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The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
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Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
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X starts rolling out About This Account globally, letting users see the country or region where an X account is based by tapping the signup date on the profile (Nikita Bier/@nikitabier)
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Google Pushes OpenAI, Bezos Returns, AI’s No. 1 Hit
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We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
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The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
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Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
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A US bankruptcy judge ordered Indian edtech startup Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran on Nov. 20 to pay $1B+ to US lenders, over missing funds from Byju’s US unit (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
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Google Pushes OpenAI, Bezos Returns, AI’s No. 1 Hit
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Decoder with Nilay Patel:
The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
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Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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How a semiconductor investment boom is turning Arizona into “America’s Semiconductor HQ”, attracting more than $200B in investments in the last five years (Justine Calma/The Verge)
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‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles
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Big Technology Podcast:
Google Pushes OpenAI, Bezos Returns, AI’s No. 1 Hit
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Decoder with Nilay Patel:
The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
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Lenny’s Podcast:
Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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While the AI bubble feels like the internet bubble of 1999, it may actually be larger and scarier with an unstable US economy and greater exposure for Big Tech (Fred Vogelstein/Crazy Stupid Tech)
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles
The director’s commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Google Pushes OpenAI, Bezos Returns, AI’s No. 1 Hit
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vlad Tenev from Robinhood
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How the launch of Gemini 3, which surged ahead of models from OpenAI and other competitors on benchmark tests, has pushed Google ahead in the AI race (Katherine Blunt/Wall Street Journal)
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
‘Lincoln Bio Services’, With Stephen Robles
The director’s commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
Google Pushes OpenAI, Bezos Returns, AI’s No. 1 Hit
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
The DoorDash Problem: How AI browsers are a huge threat to Amazon
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Slack founder: Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny’s Podcast.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vlad Tenev from Robinhood
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