The Evolution of Smart Home Technology: What’s Next?
Smart home technology has evolved dramatically over the last decade, transforming how we interact with our living spaces. Initially, home automation was seen as a luxury—an area for early adopters. The first wave included simple systems like programmable thermostats and lighting controls. These basic innovations were designed to increase convenience, save energy, and offer greater control over household environments. But today, the landscape of Top Smart Home Devices has expanded far beyond those humble beginnings. The rise of voice-activated assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri helped fuel the revolution. These devices became the central hub for an entire ecosystem of interconnected gadgets, enabling homeowners to control everything from lights and thermostats to security systems and home entertainment with simple voice commands. The ease of integration between devices has made smart homes more accessible and user-friendly, marking a...
Feb 11, 2025
LCD 2C closed is kind of terrible (especially considering price). Bass is boomy, bleeds into mids, kind of muddy. LCD XC I auditioned a long time ago only briefly. It was too heavy, and flopped around when I turned my head (slowly). I remember liking the sound, though I didn't have anything useful on hand to compare it to.
MrSpeakers stuff I think has a lot of variance? The samples I've heard have no bass, including a pair of aeon closed that I own. The filters take out too much trebel (relative to the mids) for my liking, so there's basically no sparkle when using them. Some people seem to have units with bass, though, so I might just be unlucky. They also seem to be very seal-dependent. They are super comfortable, though, and very well-built.
Z1R is ok, but not for the price. It's very comfortable, but it has a typical Sony v-shaped signature with too much bass (which also happens to be slow).
I didn't like the trebel/upper mids on the ZMF stuff, but it's hard to put my finger on what's wrong. Comfort is fine on them, but I find them too heavy, so that if I look down they fall off. LCDs also suffer from this. Also, I think they are super ugly, but that's neither here nor there.
T5p.2 is ok. Very comfortable, very light, good isolation, good soundstage. Too much bass that bleeds into the mids, though it's not slow like the Z1R. Trebel around 8kHz and higher is a bit hot, like most Beyers. Build quality does not seem as high as the price indicates, but that helps with comfort, so....
I really liked the HD 820 for the brief time I listened to them, but the trebel might be a little hot? It can take a long time to notice fatigue from trebel (longer than an audition, anyway) so I couldn't tell. Soundstage is great, obviously, and tonal balance is better than a lot of closed headphones I've heard, though it tends towards the bright side, like the HD 800S.