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Adobe After Effects 2022 review
5:59 pm | May 24, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Looking for the latest version? Check out our 2024 Adobe After Effects review 


Adobe After Effects is the grade-A, pro-level, industry-standard for visual effects software. Used by countless professional editors, artists, and compositors to bring stellar VFX to the screen. 

It's not hard to see why it's one of the best VFX software tools on the market: After Effects is a feature-rich, intuitive special effects powerhouse. 

When we last reviewed Adobe’s video effects tool, the focus for improvement was on performance and time-saving features - something it delivered with aplomb. 

A lot of new tools have been added over the last two years, and we’ll be taking a look at some of the ones that impressed us the most through the course of this review.

Explore our round-up of the best Adobe After Effects alternatives 

Apple silicon 

Mac users will be delighted to find that, just like Adobe’s Premiere Pro, After Effects 2022 (version 22.3), offers native support for Apple’s new M1 family of processors. 

It’s extremely reassuring for those who prefer the Mac platform, that their software of choice is migrating to the new architecture. Users will experience shorter launch times, improved UI responsiveness, and faster rendering, thanks to this support.

Frame.io

Perhaps one of the biggest improvements to After Effects (and Premiere Pro), is the inclusion of Frame.io. You need to be logged into your Creative Cloud account in order to take advantage of these features, and Frame.io includes 100GB of storage in addition to your usual Creative Cloud allowance. 

You’re able to share up to 5 projects with 2 users and an unlimited number of reviewers. It can be accessed from a web browser, or directly within After Effects.

There’s an enhanced version of this service (which you can try free for 30 days), called the Frame.io Team Plan, which includes additional storage, and the ability to share an unlimited number of projects with up to 15 users.

As you can tell by what’s on offer, this service allows you to share projects and get real-time timecode-accurate feedback on the work in progress. This is an ideal and extremely useful tool when discussing work with colleagues and clients, and controlling exactly what and where changes should be made on a collaborative project.

Screenshot of Adobe After Effects VFX software

Need to review your work with colleagues or clients? Then the inclusion of Frame.io inside After Effects will be a boon for you (Image credit: Adobe)

Media swapping 

Media replacement is another impressive new feature. The way it works is really simple: use After Effects to create a template, just as you would normally. Once done, drag various elements to the Essential Graphics panel, select their editable properties, export it, and you’re pretty much done. 

Do note however, that not all properties of an item can be manipulated and altered from Premiere Pro, but the list is large enough to satisfy most, if not all, needs.

Objects such as text, images and video clips, can be made swappable turning your templates into highly useful and versatile tools, with as numerous editing options as are required. Creating various versions (depending on your needs) is also possible, further increasing your possibilities.

This is a great way to get a designer to create a template, while allowing a Premiere Pro editor the flexibility they need to make alterations without having to contact said designer for every needed change. It’s the sort of emphasis on efficient workflows that’s bound to increase post-production productivity.

Screenshot of Adobe After Effects VFX software

Create templates and allow Premiere Pro editors to customise them with ease (Image credit: Adobe)

Working in 3D

Creating 3D modelling designs can be tricky, especially when it’s all done via a 2D interface, so Adobe’s designers have worked to help ease this process.

One of the recent improvements is the inclusion of an optional 3D Ground Plane. With it activated, you’ll get a horizontal plane vanishing to infinity which can be used as a frame of reference when creating your scene. 

This is something that can be quickly toggled on or off so it never gets in the way, and is only there when you need it. The more complex a creation, the easier it is to get lost in it, so this is a most welcome addition to help you find your bearings.

Another great new feature is Draft Preview. Prior to it, you could access a ‘fast draft’ by drilling down a bunch of menus. Now, it’s a button located in the toolbar. Toggling it is highly useful if you have an older computer, or your project is getting very complex. 

Depending on the prowess of your video editing computer, and intricacy of your work, when activated, the quality will likely be reduced. But you’ll be able to manipulate objects more quickly and easily, saving you a lot of time, and going back to full quality is but a click away. 

Screenshot of Adobe After Effects VFX software

The 3D workspace has been improved with the addition of a few highly useful new features (Image credit: Adobe)

Under the hood enhancements

But it’s not all big tentpole features. After Effects has seen a lot of subtle alterations designed to improve your workflow.

For instance, a lot of work has been done to optimise the visual effects software. After Effects now takes advantage of multiple cores in your computer or video editing laptop when previewing and rendering, taking over power at the expense of other processes and other running software.

This functionality may not be on by default, but you can find it After Effects’ Preferences. You’ll also notice that you can choose just how much of your computer’s CPUs are reserved for other apps (the default is 10%).

Also, if you work with the HEVC video format, new hardware-accelerated decoding is used to improve playback and editing, especially with 10-bit files, whether you’re working on a Mac or PC.

Screenshot of Adobe After Effects VFX software

Want to control how much power to dedicate to After Effects (at the expense of other apps)? Well now you can (Image credit: Adobe)

Flexible languages

One of the great advantages of the Adobe suite is the cross pollination of features from one app to another, and this is perfectly showcased with their new Universal Text Engine. 

We raved about this feature in our Premiere Pro review. It allows you to work with multiple languages much more easily, without having to constantly travel to the preferences to switch from one to another. 

There’s support for multiple languages, the latest addition being Cantonese, with left-to-right and right-to-left settings being accessible directly from the Essential Graphics panel. You can even apply different scripts inside the same graphic element. How’s that for flexibility?

Final verdict

All this is actually just scratching the surface of what’s been improved since we last took a look at Adobe After Effects. 

AE version 22.3 is highly impressive. It builds on strong foundations, offering a wealth of new features designed to make VFX quicker and easier. It’s no wonder After Effects is seen as the go-to video compositor. 

And Adobe are far from resting on their laurels, offering new features on a regular basis, making their subscription model an attractive one indeed if you’re a professional designer and editor.

Adobe Premiere Pro vs Adobe After Effects: what’s the difference?

Premiere Pro and After Effects are Adobe’s flagship post-production tools for video editors, designers, and motion graphic artists. 

When it comes to similarities and differences between Premiere Pro and After Effects, the biggest is this: Adobe Premiere Pro is video editing software and Adobe After Effects is VFX software. 

You can still cut videos and add basic effects with either program. Both deliver the familiar, effortless Adobe user experience that makes their tools accessible to beginners and professionals alike. And we awarded both 5 stars in our reviews for each tool for setting the industry standard and offering genuine powerhouse tools for content creators and creatives in film & TV. 

When you compare Premiere Pro and After Effects, it’s not quite accurate to think in terms of a face-off. It’s not really a case of Adobe Premiere Pro vs Adobe After Effects. The two tools are built for different parts of the process, seamlessly working together to deliver an efficient post-production workflow and professional results. 

For more help finding the video editor best apps for you, check out our guide to the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro.  

Corsair HS65 Surround review
11:06 pm | May 13, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computer Gaming Accessories Computers Computing Gadgets Gaming Computers | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• No new version out
• Launch price: $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$119
• Official price now: $69.99 / £79.99 / AU$119

Updated: January 2024. The Corsair HS65 Surround may be almost two years old, but it remains one of the best PC gaming headsets in our opinion. Despite all the new rivals that came after its release, this wired headset remains the best value out of all, delivering that exceptional 7.1 surround sound you would not expect at its price point. It also ticks one of the most important factors when choosing a gaming headset - comfort. You can game with it for hours without needing a break. What's more, it's slightly cheaper now in the US at just $69.99. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

Corsair HS65 Surround: One-minute review

The Corsair HS65 Surround gaming headset is the company's new high-powered  and cost-conscious gaming headset that delivers exceptional 7.1 surround sound performance for PC gamers. 

The 50mm Neodymium audio drivers provide exceptionally clear stereo audio and 7.1 Surround sound virtualized audio, and with the audio in the best PC games becoming increasingly sophisticated, this headset will let you hear battlefield carnage exactly the way that the developers intended.

The headset microphone offers an incredibly crystal clear response with an omni-directional polar mic pattern.  Anyone who knows microphone polar patterns might be worried that the omni-directional pattern (as opposed to a cardioid pattern) would pick up too much ambient noise while you’re using the mic.  Thankfully this hasn’t been an issue during Counter Strike: Global Offensive sessions or chatting over Zoom.

The surround sound capability of the headset requires you to download Corsair's iCue software off the company's website. Once installed, simply plug your headset into the USB to 3.5 mm adapter and connect it to a USB port on your PC or Mac. 

There are sure to be other 7.1 Surround Sound gaming headsets hitting the market over the next few months, but keep the Corsair HS65 Surround gaming headset at the top of your wishlist. It is a fantastic, versatile headset that will please any serious gamer on a budget and is easily one of the best PC gaming headsets around for 7.1 surround sound audio.

A Corsair HS65 Surround on a reflective black table

(Image credit: Future)

Corsair HS65 Surround: Price and availability

  • How much is it? MSRP is $79/£79/AU$119
  • When can you get it? The Corsair HS65 Surround is available now
  • Where can you buy it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The Corsair HS65 Surround gaming headset comes in at $79/£79/AU$119, and is available globally. This is a good bit cheaper than some competing gaming headsets like the Razer Kracken V3, which is about 20% more expensive, while still offering the same audio quality.

A Corsair HS65 Surround on a reflective black table

(Image credit: Future)

Corsair HS65 Surround: Design and features

  • Outstanding comfort
  • Adjustable mic

 The Corsair HS65 Surround is exceptionally built, featuring an adjustable headband that fits comfortably on any gamer’s head. 

The ear pads and the head cushion both feature soft and comfortable memory foam underneath breathable leatherette material. Even after wearing this headset during ten hours of continuous game playing and then three more hours of intense FPS play after a break, the HS65 Surround stayed comfortable throughout.

The headset looks great, stays comfortable, and the closed ear headphones reject distracting noise. The frame is machined out of high quality aluminum and other materials to provide a strong and robust device that will last you for years. A volume control wheel is positioned on the left ear cup for quick volume level adjustments as well.

The microphone boom arm is adjustable and can bend to suit your face. It stays in place once you have set it to your liking. A quick flip up on the boom arm mutes the microphone and a quick flip down unmutes the mic, making muting and unmuting incredibly intuitive in the heat of the moment.

A Corsair HS65 Surround on a reflective black table

(Image credit: Future)

The iCue software itself has three functions to play around with: Equalizer, SoundID Personalization and Device Settings. The Equalizer function allows you to choose between five EQ presets as well as create your own. Unless you know what you’re looking for, set the EQ to “Pure Direct”, as this preset suits everything well.

If you are curious about the EQ presets, the presets are self-explanatory and very intuitive to work with. Presets such as “FPS Competition” will sound great for your competitive shooters like Counter Strike: Global Offensive or Valorant, while “Clear Chat” sounds exceptional during Zoom or Teams meetings.

Corsair HS65 Surround: Specs

The only real criticism here is that the SoundID function is underwhelming. The SoundID technology attempts to create a customized EQ setting for the user based on how the user rates their enjoyment of certain sound clips. Once you go through the SoundID setup process, you should have a customized EQ preset for your optimized listening preferences.

However, multiple attempts – including a full reinstall with the latest iCue software – resulted in EQ presets that often made the audio worse. Audio for games will usually be recorded and mixed by professional sound engineers anyway, so all the EQ and volume levels should already be optimized for the user’s experience. Fortunately, this isn't something you really need to dabble with. The safest bet is to just choose “Pure Direct” under the Equalizer function in the iCue software and jump right into the action, which otherwise sounds amazing.

The final function in the iCue software would be the Device settings. This is where you can enable Voice prompts, boost microphone response and change the Case color of your headphones within the iCue software. The only option that is useful here is “Mic Boost”, which gives your microphone some added sensitivity. Otherwise, this rounds out the features of the iCue software.

A close up of the earcup of the Corsair HS65 Surround

(Image credit: Future)

Corsair HS65 Surround: Performance

  • 7.1 Surround Sound is outstanding
  • Great bass response
  • Great mic performance

These drivers on the Corsair HS65 Surround have no problem pushing sound through the 20hz-20khz audio range while its bass frequencies carry real weight. The mids and highs of dialogue and various sound effects come through incredibly clear.

The headset mic captures frequencies from 100Hz to 10 kHz, and while this seems like a limited range of frequency response, it is tailored specifically to capture the human voice really well.

The 7.1 Surround Sound capability is accessible through Corsair's iCue software with Windows Spatial Sound active, found under the properties menu of your output device in Windows' sound settings. 

Any media that was recorded and mixed for 7.1 Surround will play exceptionally well over the HS6 Surround. Thankfully, most games and shows presently record for 7.1 Surround Sound, but keep in mind that not all games or media are or have. With these older games and media, the headphones themselves won’t turn a game recorded in 5.1 surround into 7.1 surround, but it will still sound stunning.

Since the iCue program itself is what creates the 7.1 Surround Sound virtualization for the headset, you can't access that feature on PC or Mac without it. 

The Corsair HS65 Surround stands up well against competitors like the Razer Kraken V3 Hypersense and the HyperX Cloud Alpha. Many competing headsets offer options which you don’t really need, like detachable mics or the Kraken V3 Hypersense's haptic functionality. These options aren't high on the list of necessities with gamers, so why pay more for options you don’t need?

Older devices, monitors, and gaming consoles almost always have a 3.5mm input jack, but not every gaming headset does. With the HS Surround, you can plug in and at the very least get crystal clear stereo audio, even if you have to skip the surround sound feature. 

There are exceptions, though, where you can get 7.1 Surround Sound with modern next-gen gaming consoles. The XBox Series X utilizes Dolby Atmos and the Sony PS5’s Tempest 3D Audio virtualizes the sound of 7.1 Surround Sound through the gaming console itself, and the Corsair HS65 Surround easily supports the audio capabilities of both of these consoles, making it a winner for PC gamers and beyond.

A Corsair HS65 Surround on a reflective black table

(Image credit: Future)

Should you buy a Corsair HS65 Surround?

Buy it if...

Don't buy if...

Corsair HS65 Surround: Also consider

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Headphones review
7:00 pm | May 12, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Gadgets Headphones Wireless Headphones | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• Still Sony's flagship headphones
• Launch price: $399 / £380 / AU$649
• Regular price now: $329 / £319 / AU$549

Update: February 2024. The Sony WH-1000XM5 remain as Sony's best-ever headphones in terms of what they can do: rich and detailed sound, superb active noise cancellation, great smart features and a comfortable fit. However, their competition has grown more fierce over time, and while they've had a general price cut that helps keep them competitive, they're no longer our absolute first choice among the best noise-cancelling headphones in their range. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless offer better sound quality, double the battery life, great noise cancellation, some some even smarter app-based features, usually for a cheaper price than the Sony. If noise cancellation is your priority, spend a little more on the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, which are the best in class for this, and also sound clearly better than the Sony. To be clear, we love the Sony WH-1000XM5, and if you like to stick with Sony cans, as many do, we recommend them – but they've been pipped in the headphones race. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones have one of the most revered family trees in modern audio history. Following two best-in-class over ear noise cancelling predecessors, the WH-1000XM5 land with a level of anticipation that is unusual in the world of personal audio.

TechRadar deservedly awarded the Sony WH-1000XM3 and Sony WH-1000XM4 top marks in their respective reviews, and so the expectation is that the WH-1000XM5 will follow in those perfect audio footsteps. 

In terms of specs and performance, they mostly do follow in their predecessors' footsteps (a little too closely) but in terms of design, the Sony WH-1000XM5 cans represent the biggest departure that the line has seen since its conception. Still, we enjoyed reviewing them, which is why they're one of our top picks in our best wireless headphones guide. 

So are the differences in design enough to raise the already-high bar Sony has set for itself? Read on for our full Sony WH-1000XM5 review.

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Price and release date

  • Price: $399 in the US
  • Price: £380 in the UK
  • Price: AU$649 in Australia
  • Released in May 2022

On sale now, the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones will begin to ship from May 20, 2022, priced at £380 / $399 / AU$649 – a significant step up above the £350 / $349 / AU$549 asking price of the previous-generation Sony WH-1000XM4. 

At launch, you’re looking at around a £30 / $50 savings by choosing the older – and still very good – Sony WH-1000XM4. It’s a sizable chunk of change and, more importantly, it’s a gap that could widen as the year goes on and we drift towards the big shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. At some point in the future, we’re likely to see the Sony WH-1000XM4 dip below the $300 mark before plummeting to half-price – and, at that price, the Sony WH-1000XM4 is a no-brainer.

They're still a fair sight cheaper than Apple’s alternative though, with the AirPods Max still commanding a $549 / £549 / AU$899 price tag when bought direct from Apple.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Design

  • All-new design
  • Comfortable for long listening sessions
  • Design prevents wind distortion – but no longer folds into a compact shape
  • Still no water resistance

After two generations of largely-identical over-ear headphone designs, the WH-1000XM5 headphones are a significant departure from their predecessors.

The best way to quickly describe the WH-1000XM5 headphones is that they’re a bit curvier than their predecessors. It’s all a bit tidier, a bit sleeker – there are fewer visible points of articulation, more discreet noise-cancelling mic ports, and a slimmer headband with additional leather-look covering to hide away its joins and extension points. The cavity for your ears to sit in is a slightly different shape too – a more squat ovoid than the oval of the WH-1000XM3 and WH-1000XM4. Though we’ve not stress tested them to their absolute limits, the slide-out extension points feel sturdier than earlier designs too, with fewer pressure points that could snap away – a complaint of well-used previous models.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

The XM5 headphones on the left, and the older XM3 headphones (which have a near-identical design to the XM4 headphones) on the right. (Image credit: Future)

But there are some changes that may not be so welcome. Frustratingly, there’s still no water resistance of any kind featured here. As the headphones can no longer fold in on themselves, they’re not quite as portable as they once were. And while the headband is better hidden and integrated into the overall design aesthetic, it feels as if it has less padding than previous Sony headphones in the line. 

That may be a slightly moot point though – in our experience, they’re no less comfortable as a result, and will happily sit on your head for long listening sessions. There’s ample padding around the ears, and the cups twist and pivot to suit all sizes, with just the right amount of clamp pressure exerted from the band to keep them in place without squeezing your brain out through your ears. That headband now smoothly extends too, rather than using the stepped extension of earlier versions.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Controls are largely the same as the 1000XM4 headphones. Smart context-aware auto controls aside (which we’ll discuss in the ‘Features’ section of this review), there are two physical buttons on the left ear cup edge. The first cycles between noise cancelling and ambient awareness settings, and you can now use a couple or trio of taps of the ANC button to activate Spotify Tap, letting you fire up and play from the music streamer without getting your phone out of your pocket. The second is the power button, which you can keep held down to activate Bluetooth pairing mode. You’ll also find the exterior to the right ear cup is touch sensitive: swipe up and down on it to change the volume, double tap it to pause audio and answer calls, and cover it with your palm to instantly jump to an ambient awareness mode that funnels in exterior sound. There’s also still a USB-C charging port on the right cup, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left cup.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

So, of the obvious exterior changes and additions, what’s going on and why? 

First up, that curvier design is intended to reduce wind-drag across the headphones, which can cause that annoying distortion in noise-cancelling performance when out and about on a windy day. A more aerodynamic design here should help reduce that effect, and while we’ve not run head on into the path of a hurricane, that claim held up on a breezy London day exploring Greenwich park.

The second obvious addition is a doubling of the amount of microphone points housed on the headphones. This provides the onboard noise cancelling processors (yes, there's two inside the headphones) more audio data to to anaylze and improve active noise cancelling performance with, as well as doubling the amount of beamforming mics near a user’s mouth for calls up from two on the WH-1000XM4s to four on the WH-1000XM5s. Call quality, according to our critical buddies, was crystal clear.

Despite these additions, the headphones are actually lighter than the previous model, weighing just 250g – 4 grams lighter than the last version. On top of this, they use ABS plastics in their construction (as does the packaging), made of recycled car parts to up their green credentials.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Again, there’s a much-welcome included carry case with these latest Sony over-ears. Made of a grey fabric, it’s somewhat collapsible, offering a little more bag space when you’re using your headphones. Just don’t expect it to flatten down to a paper-thin size, as an inner pocket for cable storage keeps it a little beefier. It’s not a like-for-like assessment, but the surface area of the new case is larger than that of the earlier models, even if you can squeeze its cubic area down.

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Features

  • The best active noise-cancelling in the business
  • Smart ambient awareness options
  • Allows a connection to two devices at once
  • App has features to protect your hearing

Active noise-cancellation features have long been the hallmark of the Sony WH range, and the WH-1000XM5 headphones continue in that fine tradition. It must have been difficult to top the superb performance of previous generations and, admittedly, it’s not a world apart from the WH-1000XM4 model. But there is a definite, if slight, improvement.

The WH-1000XM4 already effectively wiped out low-frequency sounds (the din of public transport, or a plane’s rumbling engines), but the XM5s work harder at the higher frequency zone. That’s in part thanks to the new 30mm driver design that, while smaller than the 40mm design of old, makes use of a high rigidity dome and soft edge to take some of the bite off of higher-pitched sounds. Indeed, walking through London’s Paddington Station, a hive of scum and villainy (and sounds of all kinds), I could barely hear a thing, even with the volume of my music dialled back to a minimum. It was very impressive.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Active noise cancellation is the headline act among a whole bunch of smart features Sony includes with the WH-1000XM5 headphones, many of which automatically kick in without you needing to do anything, improving the overall listening experience without you having to lift a finger.

First up is location awareness. By pairing with your smartphone, the WH-1000XM5 headphones can learn your daily routine, and adjust Ambient Sound Control settings according to your location. If the headphones spot that you’re sat still at home, they might jump to a less intense level of noise cancellation compared to while you’re sat in the office, based on your preferences. And if you’re out for a walk, it may pipe in more exterior audio to keep you safe while crossing the street.

Speak-to-Chat is another handy feature. As its name suggests, if you begin talking while listening to the headphones, they’ll halt playback and pump in ambient sound so you can have a conversation without taking the cans off. But like the WH-1000XM4s before them, they come with an unfortunate side effect – it’ll stop playback if you begin singing when the feature is switched on. Thankfully, it’s an optional feature, so if you too are a wannabe Pavarotti, you’ll still be able to stretch those lungs when listening.

A more immediately useful and intuitive feature is the fact the WH-1000XM5s will automatically pause audio when removed from your head, thanks to a hidden sensor in the ear cup. Leave them off for a little longer, and they’ll automatically switch off completely, saving your battery life. You’ve also got the option of connecting to two devices at once, switching between the two depending on what’s happening on each, such as to prioritise a notification.

Finally, there’s better support for voice assistants and their wake words. Alexa and Google Assistant can be activated hands-free by their respective trigger commands, and can then be used to do everything from place and answer calls to reading incoming text messages and notifications, as well as controlling music.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Lots of these features can be tweaked an customised by the accompanying app, which is far more useful than similar supporting software of this ilk. There’s a responsive EQ, with a bass boosting function, that makes a genuine impact on the sound profile of the headphones (though we were very happy with the default tuning), an ear analyzer for optimising the effect of Sony’s proprietary 360 reality audio spatial sound format), and lots of options when it comes to customising noise cancelling levels and the location-aware settings that the app can be set to automatically configure based on your usage and surroundings.

A nice touch which I never realised I’d appreciate before having it presented to me was the “Safe Listening” section of the app. The headphones are constantly logging the decibel level and sound pressure of your listening sessions and lets you know how close you’re coming to the recommended weekly loud noises allowance as defined by WHO. For someone who regularly enjoys drowning out the world at ear-blistering levels, it was a wake up call to have the potential damage I was doing to my ears visualised. The app also tracks the amount of time you’ve spent listening to the headphones too, which is a nice touch for life-loggers, and awards gamified for badges for using the different features of the headphones over time. It’s a shame then that it seems only possible to log time used when connected to a device with the app running, rather than keeping this data onboard the headphones – you won’t get a log of time spent listening to a connected laptop, for instance. 

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Audio quality

  • Spacious soundstage
  • Spatial audio support
  • LDAC and DSEE Extreme perform well
  • Well balanced, with powerful bass and eye-opening detail 

The jump from a 40mm driver in the WH-1000XM4 headphones to the new 30mm driver in the latest WH-1000XM5 headphones had us initially raise our eyebrows – would the signature dynamism and space of the WH line be lost with the smaller driver? Thankfully those fears were unfounded – they sound pretty much just as good as the exemplary XM4s, though we must admit they don’t sound dramatically better, either.

Sony’s again leaning on a one-two punch of both LDAC codec and DSEE Extreme support here to offer the best possible sound quality from your connected devices. LDAC is your hi-resolution audio option, compressing and decompressing tracks on the fly to deliver much greater wireless bandwidth than a standard Bluetooth connection could conjure. But even if you’re on a lowly standard-resolution streaming service over Bluetooth, DSEE Extreme ekes out a little more detail by using AI upscaling techniques to restore some of the audio data which would otherwise be lost. Both do a great job.  

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Even with the driver change, the soundstage remains spacious and capable of giving all elements of a mix room to breathe and shine. Take the mighty solo section of Metallica’s classic One, for instance – all thrash metal riffing and double bass drum madness, but Kirk Hammett’s blistering high-register finger tapping cuts through and shines. In a more sedate but layered tune like Jeff Buckley’s Grace, the acoustic strum percussively rattles below the harmonised vocals and chorus-pedal guitar line, but there’s room for a walking bassline to sit alongside soaring strings too. Everything finds its place with the Sony WH-1000XM5s, and the effect is a wonderful enveloping of sound, even outside of the 360 Reality Audio spatial settings.

If you’re looking for a test of the tightness of the bass, there’s little better than Rage Against the Machine’s Bullet in the Head, where the bass work of Tim Commerford runs like a… well a piston-powered machine through the track. The WH-1000XM5s let the bassline kick behind the trebley guitar riff with real power without flattening everything else. If you want to see how low the cans can go without losing definition, Massive Attack’s brooding Angel sees the WH-1000XM5s retain musicality and detail at even the lowest frequencies.

At the other end of the mood spectrum, jumping into Prince’s joyous Raspberry Beret revealed details previously missed. It’s Prince’s 80s “more-is-more” production at its pomp, with snapping snares and hand claps piercing the wizard-like mix of synths, strings and guitars. I may be mistaken, but is that a harpsichord sitting beneath it all? If it is, it’s the first time I’ve noticed it in my 35 years of listening to the song.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

And, if you want to listen to the clarity of a wonderfully realised vocal performance while having a good cry, pop on the Prince-penned, Sinead O’Connor-performed Nothing Compares 2 U – she might as well be in the room with you, from forceful chorus to trembling bridge, O’Connor runs the gamut from anger to heartbreak, with the Sony cans picking up each inflection and sibilant cry with wondrous effect.

There’s very little sound leakage too. Sat in the office next to a colleague, they didn’t register any sound even with the volume ramped up to its highest setting, which is an improvement over last year’s version based on what those around me said at the time.

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Battery life

There weren’t many areas that the Sony WH-1000XM5s could have improved over their 1000XM4 predecessors, so many had hoped that one area that could have seen a jump in performance was battery life. Sony is claiming a slight improvement here – while the 30 hours with noise cancelling activated matches the predecessor, 40 hours with noise cancelling switched off is a two hour improvement over the WH-1000XM4s. That may be a little disappointing for some readers, as competitors are beginning to squeeze out more battery life per charge. But the quality of the other features offset any loss to the competition here, particularly in terms of noise-cancelling abilities, and 30-40 hours of playback is more than respectable enough regardless.

Do Sony’s playback estimates hold true? From our experience, we’d say they’re broadly true – we appeared not to quite reach the advertised 30 hours with ANC switched on, but also tend to crank the volume up louder than the average person would (or the recommended safe level is, even), and thus would expect to see the battery drain faster in line with the high volume.

Sony’s definitely put effort into the charging experience generally though – using the USB-PD standard, you’ll get three hours of playback from just a three minute charge of the headphones, getting you out the door and into your tunes as quickly as possible.

The noise-cancelling Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones

(Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Sony WH-1000XM5?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Sony WH-1000XM5 review: Also consider

First reviewed: May 2022

How we test

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Read more about how we test

Lenco LS-410 review
1:37 pm | May 5, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Gadgets Hi-Fi Turntables | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• Launch price: $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

• Target price: $230 / £200 (approx. AU$300)

Update: February 2024. The Lenco LS-410 is still one of the best turntables on the market owing to its particular mix of usefulness and wallet-friendly appeal. The ace up its sleeve is a surprisingly beefy four-driver speaker array (it's actually under the platter, but you knew that), which will also accept music sent over Bluetooth, making it a viable option for anyone dipping into vinyl without losing their beloved music streaming services. Although it was released in March 2022, this is the world of analog audio and the physical music product, so technological advancements are… incremental. That said, in January 2024 a Victrola record turntable with a repeat function made its debut, while the 2023 Victrola Stream Carbon will also work with your Sonos wireless speaker setup, so there is competition when it comes to marrying old with new in record players these days. Our advice? It's still a good gateway vinyl spinner, as long as top notch audio quality isn't top of your list. The rest of this review remains as previously published.


Lenco LS-410: two-minute review

The Lenco LS-410 combines the retro joys of vinyl with up-to-the-minute wireless streaming technology, adds a loudspeaker array and plenty of amplification, and packages it all in a box that looks and feels nicer than it really has any right to at the price.

It’s painless to set up, can be connected to an external system and has an input for yet another source of music. And it has a dust-cover too. Really what more could you ask for from a record player?

It would be churlish to ask for more where Bluetooth sound is concerned. The Lenco sounds quite expansive, muscular and detailed when streaming wirelessly - it’s not the most practical $260 / £220 Bluetooth speaker around, but it’s far from the least enjoyable.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

But it all falls to pieces when playing vinyl. The tonearm and its associated controls feel insubstantial - and that’s the way the Lenco sounds when it’s playing records, too. And it’s further undermined by a slight, but undeniable, tendency to wander a little bit where rotational speed is concerned.

It’s a great pity, because in principle the Lenco LS-410 is a fine idea. We would have happily accepted a higher priced device if the engineering was more robust - that would make the LS-410 a genuine contender. Read on for our full Lenco LS-410 review.

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Price and release date

  • Available now
  • $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

The Lenco LS-410 is on sale now for $259 / £219 - while there’s no official Australian price just yet, that works out at about AU$360.

There’s an awful lot of tech packed into the LS-410 for that modest price - if you’ve got access to an outlet, a smartphone and a vinyl record, you’ve a multi-source all-in-one system ready to go. But, of course, offering features and functionality is only half the battle… 

the lenco ls-410 record player control buttons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Design and features

  • 33.3 and 45rpm for vinyl
  • Bluetooth 5 for wireless streaming 
  • 50 watts powering four speaker drivers 

The Lenco LS-410 is functional rather than luxurious where materials are concerned, but the combination of metal, plastic and wood is nicely constructed and properly finished. There’s really nothing to find fault with where build quality is concerned, certainly not as far as the cabinet goes.

Key specs

Dimensions: 192 x 425 x 360mm
Motor: Belt drive
Platter: Aluminum
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45rpm
Stylus: Audio-Technica moving magnet

Beneath the aluminum platter (which comes with a felt mat) there’s a fairly substantial box in which the record player keeps 50 watts of amplification, a four-strong speaker driver array (each firing out through the criss-cross metal grille at the front), a switchable phono stage and Bluetooth reception-related circuitry. It stands on four pliant feet that are designed to isolate the cabinet from vibration and ook a lot like the classic ‘half a squash ball’ isolation solution so beloved of hi-fi tweekers.

On top, there’s a sturdy plastic dust-cover. Lift it up and you’ve got access to the turntable itself. This is a belt-drive design, and there’s a straight tonearm pre-fitted with an Audio-Technica cartridge - all you need to do to set it up is fit and adjust the counter-weight. Beneath the tonearm, there’s a little control-panel: an on/off/input selection button, play/pause, a 33.3 or 45rpm speed control and a dial to regulate volume. 

the tonearm on the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As much as we like the way the cabinet is constructed and finished, we have to be a fair bit more qualified about some of the fixtures and fittings. The tonearm itself doesn’t feel all that substantial, the mechanical lift that raises or lowers it feels flimsier still, and the clip to keep it secure in its cradle feels flimsiest of all. 

The rubbery control buttons move around beneath your finger more than we’d like. The entire tonearm mechanism and drive motor are attached to a suspended plate that has a (perfectly acceptable) degree of movement in it, but there’s more movement in the tonearm assembly itself than is either expected or sensible. 

the connectivity options on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

At the back of the cabinet there’s an input for mains power, a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off, and stereo RCA outputs - the LS-410 is a self-contained system, but if you want to run it into a bigger system or more powerful amplifier, the option is there. There’s also a 3.5mm analogue input for auxiliary equipment.

As we said, your $259 / £219 buys plenty. Good luck finding many other self-contained vinyl/Bluetooth system with speakers at this sort of money.

the speaker grille on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: audio performance

  • Spirited, enjoyable Bluetooth sound 
  • Vinyl sounds bland and uncertain by comparison
  • Rotational speed isn’t consistent 

 You’re not short of choice for wireless speakers at this price, but the Lenco LS-410 is among the better ones. Admittedly the fact that it’s outlet-powered and fitted with a turntable make it a lot less portable than most other Bluetooth speakers at this sort of money, but the fact remains: give the LS-410 a half-decent digital audio stream to deal with and it does very decent work.

Bluetooth 5 proves more than capable of getting a nice big hi-res TIDAL Masters file of Robert Wyatt’s Old Rottenhat on board, and once it’s there the Lenco gives a full account of it. It has impressive low frequency presence, but doesn’t let bass sounds get carried away or overstay their welcome. Instead they’re properly controlled, reasonably detailed and give the midrange plenty of space to do its thing. 

‘Its thing’ in this instance turns out to be a communicative and detailed delivery of the characterful vocals. The voice is nicely isolated but nevertheless integrated into the rest of the performance, and the LS-410 creates a big enough soundstage for a singer to stretch out a little. At the top end things are played pretty safe, with treble sounding just slightly blunt when compared to the rest of the frequency range - which, while not ideal, is preferable to overt hardness or harshness.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

This isn’t the most dynamic sound you ever heard, for sure, but neither is it the most inhibited. And when it’s put into proper context, the LS-410 is a perfectly likable and periodically quite impressive Bluetooth speaker. 

Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case when listening to vinyl. The solidity of its low-end presence is undermined when listening to a copy of Devo’s Are We Not Men? and is replaced by a less positive and less detailed version. The midrange is still quite spacious, but it sounds slightly phasey - and that’s the case at the top of the frequency range too. Much of the certainty the LS-410 exhibits as a Bluetooth speaker falls away, and the result is a sound that’s undemonstrative and rather pedestrian.

Most unhappily, though, is the relative lack of rotational stability the turntable exhibits. Even tiny discrepancies in what should be 33.3rpm are audible, and once you’ve heard them they’re impossible to un-hear. For whatever reason, the Lenco doesn’t maintain speed perfectly - and the sonic results are deeply off-putting. 

Lenco LS-410 review: should you buy it?

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Lenco LS-410 review: Also consider

Not convinced by our Lenco Ls-410 review? Here are three more record players we think you should consider.

First reviewed: May 2022

Lenco LS-410 review
1:37 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Gadgets Hi-Fi Turntables | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2022
• Launch price: $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

• Target price: $230 / £200 (approx. AU$300)

Update: February 2024. The Lenco LS-410 is still one of the best turntables on the market owing to its particular mix of usefulness and wallet-friendly appeal. The ace up its sleeve is a surprisingly beefy four-driver speaker array (it's actually under the platter, but you knew that), which will also accept music sent over Bluetooth, making it a viable option for anyone dipping into vinyl without losing their beloved music streaming services. Although it was released in March 2022, this is the world of analog audio and the physical music product, so technological advancements are… incremental. That said, in January 2024 a Victrola record turntable with a repeat function made its debut, while the 2023 Victrola Stream Carbon will also work with your Sonos wireless speaker setup, so there is competition when it comes to marrying old with new in record players these days. Our advice? It's still a good gateway vinyl spinner, as long as top notch audio quality isn't top of your list. The rest of this review remains as previously published.


Lenco LS-410: two-minute review

The Lenco LS-410 combines the retro joys of vinyl with up-to-the-minute wireless streaming technology, adds a loudspeaker array and plenty of amplification, and packages it all in a box that looks and feels nicer than it really has any right to at the price.

It’s painless to set up, can be connected to an external system and has an input for yet another source of music. And it has a dust-cover too. Really what more could you ask for from a record player?

It would be churlish to ask for more where Bluetooth sound is concerned. The Lenco sounds quite expansive, muscular and detailed when streaming wirelessly - it’s not the most practical $260 / £220 Bluetooth speaker around, but it’s far from the least enjoyable.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

But it all falls to pieces when playing vinyl. The tonearm and its associated controls feel insubstantial - and that’s the way the Lenco sounds when it’s playing records, too. And it’s further undermined by a slight, but undeniable, tendency to wander a little bit where rotational speed is concerned.

It’s a great pity, because in principle the Lenco LS-410 is a fine idea. We would have happily accepted a higher priced device if the engineering was more robust - that would make the LS-410 a genuine contender. Read on for our full Lenco LS-410 review.

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Price and release date

  • Available now
  • $259 / £219 (about AU$360)

The Lenco LS-410 is on sale now for $259 / £219 - while there’s no official Australian price just yet, that works out at about AU$360.

There’s an awful lot of tech packed into the LS-410 for that modest price - if you’ve got access to an outlet, a smartphone and a vinyl record, you’ve a multi-source all-in-one system ready to go. But, of course, offering features and functionality is only half the battle… 

the lenco ls-410 record player control buttons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: Design and features

  • 33.3 and 45rpm for vinyl
  • Bluetooth 5 for wireless streaming 
  • 50 watts powering four speaker drivers 

The Lenco LS-410 is functional rather than luxurious where materials are concerned, but the combination of metal, plastic and wood is nicely constructed and properly finished. There’s really nothing to find fault with where build quality is concerned, certainly not as far as the cabinet goes.

Key specs

Dimensions: 192 x 425 x 360mm
Motor: Belt drive
Platter: Aluminum
Phono preamp: Yes
USB: No
Speeds: 33 ⅓, 45rpm
Stylus: Audio-Technica moving magnet

Beneath the aluminum platter (which comes with a felt mat) there’s a fairly substantial box in which the record player keeps 50 watts of amplification, a four-strong speaker driver array (each firing out through the criss-cross metal grille at the front), a switchable phono stage and Bluetooth reception-related circuitry. It stands on four pliant feet that are designed to isolate the cabinet from vibration and ook a lot like the classic ‘half a squash ball’ isolation solution so beloved of hi-fi tweekers.

On top, there’s a sturdy plastic dust-cover. Lift it up and you’ve got access to the turntable itself. This is a belt-drive design, and there’s a straight tonearm pre-fitted with an Audio-Technica cartridge - all you need to do to set it up is fit and adjust the counter-weight. Beneath the tonearm, there’s a little control-panel: an on/off/input selection button, play/pause, a 33.3 or 45rpm speed control and a dial to regulate volume. 

the tonearm on the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

As much as we like the way the cabinet is constructed and finished, we have to be a fair bit more qualified about some of the fixtures and fittings. The tonearm itself doesn’t feel all that substantial, the mechanical lift that raises or lowers it feels flimsier still, and the clip to keep it secure in its cradle feels flimsiest of all. 

The rubbery control buttons move around beneath your finger more than we’d like. The entire tonearm mechanism and drive motor are attached to a suspended plate that has a (perfectly acceptable) degree of movement in it, but there’s more movement in the tonearm assembly itself than is either expected or sensible. 

the connectivity options on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

At the back of the cabinet there’s an input for mains power, a switch to turn the integrated phono stage on or off, and stereo RCA outputs - the LS-410 is a self-contained system, but if you want to run it into a bigger system or more powerful amplifier, the option is there. There’s also a 3.5mm analogue input for auxiliary equipment.

As we said, your $259 / £219 buys plenty. Good luck finding many other self-contained vinyl/Bluetooth system with speakers at this sort of money.

the speaker grille on the lenco ls-410 turntable

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Lenco LS-410 review: audio performance

  • Spirited, enjoyable Bluetooth sound 
  • Vinyl sounds bland and uncertain by comparison
  • Rotational speed isn’t consistent 

 You’re not short of choice for wireless speakers at this price, but the Lenco LS-410 is among the better ones. Admittedly the fact that it’s outlet-powered and fitted with a turntable make it a lot less portable than most other Bluetooth speakers at this sort of money, but the fact remains: give the LS-410 a half-decent digital audio stream to deal with and it does very decent work.

Bluetooth 5 proves more than capable of getting a nice big hi-res TIDAL Masters file of Robert Wyatt’s Old Rottenhat on board, and once it’s there the Lenco gives a full account of it. It has impressive low frequency presence, but doesn’t let bass sounds get carried away or overstay their welcome. Instead they’re properly controlled, reasonably detailed and give the midrange plenty of space to do its thing. 

‘Its thing’ in this instance turns out to be a communicative and detailed delivery of the characterful vocals. The voice is nicely isolated but nevertheless integrated into the rest of the performance, and the LS-410 creates a big enough soundstage for a singer to stretch out a little. At the top end things are played pretty safe, with treble sounding just slightly blunt when compared to the rest of the frequency range - which, while not ideal, is preferable to overt hardness or harshness.

a closeup of the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

This isn’t the most dynamic sound you ever heard, for sure, but neither is it the most inhibited. And when it’s put into proper context, the LS-410 is a perfectly likable and periodically quite impressive Bluetooth speaker. 

Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case when listening to vinyl. The solidity of its low-end presence is undermined when listening to a copy of Devo’s Are We Not Men? and is replaced by a less positive and less detailed version. The midrange is still quite spacious, but it sounds slightly phasey - and that’s the case at the top of the frequency range too. Much of the certainty the LS-410 exhibits as a Bluetooth speaker falls away, and the result is a sound that’s undemonstrative and rather pedestrian.

Most unhappily, though, is the relative lack of rotational stability the turntable exhibits. Even tiny discrepancies in what should be 33.3rpm are audible, and once you’ve heard them they’re impossible to un-hear. For whatever reason, the Lenco doesn’t maintain speed perfectly - and the sonic results are deeply off-putting. 

Lenco LS-410 review: should you buy it?

the lenco ls-410 record player

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Lenco LS-410 review: Also consider

Not convinced by our Lenco Ls-410 review? Here are three more record players we think you should consider.

First reviewed: May 2022

Kobo Plus review: a Kindle Unlimited competitor with potentially more value
7:19 am | May 3, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Comments: Off

One-minute review

Kobo Plus is a relative newcomer to the ebook subscription market, following a similar model to Kindle Unlimited. It’s great for Kobo ereader users, although its availability is very limited at the time of writing. At present, it’s only available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. There's no word yet on whether it will be rolled out to other markets, but if you live in any of the aforementioned countries and own a Bluetooth-enabled Kobo ereader, it's a more cost-effective way to scratch your reading itch than buying ebooks, particularly if you're a voracious reader.

There are some notable differences between Amazon's ebook subscription service and Rakuten's Kobo Plus. For starters, where Kindle Unlimited cycles through over a million titles as a ‘library’ of sorts, where you can ‘borrow’ up to 10 titles, Kobo Plus has no such limitations. You can download as many titles at once as you wish from the entire library, and you don’t need to ‘return’ any in order to add more at a future date. That said, you won't 'own' the ebooks as they're not being purchased outright. Meaning, if you cancel your Kobo Plus subscription, you will lose access to the titles you've downloaded.

Kobo Plus’ limitation, as compared to Kindle Unlimited, is in its catalog. When it launched in Australia and New Zealand in 2021, it had about 580,000 titles, but it seems to have grown a little since then... at least we're seeing a few more popular titles than when it first started. That said, it’s still a lot less than what’s available on Kindle Unlimited. 

When it first launched, there were no audiobooks available as part of Kobo Plus, but that's been rectified. In fact, Kobo Plus gives you the freedom to sign up for just reading ebooks or just listening to audiobooks. And if you want both, there's an option for that too, but these individual tiers are currently only available for subscribers in the US, UK and Canada. Either way, a Kobo Plus subscription is cheaper than Kindle Unlimited or Audible, making it better value.

Its other limitations aren’t unique to it: like Kindle Unlimited, you won’t see new releases on Kobo Plus and neither will you see a lot of mainstream authors. That said, we’ve seen the library improve since its launch – at least in Australia – and we’re hoping a few more of the bigger publishing houses (and their authors) sign up as we go along.

Dune graphic novel available on Kobo Plus

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus: price and availability

  • Three subscription tiers in some regions
  • Full Kobo Plus cost: monthly $9.99 / £11.99 / CA$12.99 / AU$13.99 / NZ$14.99
  • 30-day free trial

Where Kindle Unlimited has far more reach, Kobo Plus is only available in a few regions. It launched first in Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal in 2020, then arrived in Australia and New Zealand in 2021. As of April 2023, it's now expanded to the US and the UK.

With this expansion, Kobo has divided its subscription service into three different tiers: Kobo Plus Read for just ebooks, Kobo Plus Listen if you want only audiobooks and the full Kobo Plus platform that gets you access to both.

These three tiers are only available in the US, UK and Canada for a monthly price of

• Kobo Plus Read: $7.99 / £8.99 / CA$9.99
• Kobo Plus Listen: $7.99 / £8.99 / CA$9.99
• Kobo Plus: $9.99 / £11.99 / CA$12.99

In Australia and New Zealand, Kobo Plus remains primarily an ebook-only subscription platform that will set you back AU$13.99 / NZ$14.99 a month. The audiobook-only option – not called Listen in the ANZ markets – will set you back AU$12.99 / NZ$13.99 and there is now way to opt in for a plan that offers both reading and listening.

While the individual Read and Listen plans are priced competitively, particularly in the US (with Kindle Unlimited costing $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$13.99), we think it's the full-fat Kobo Plus that's cost effective when compared to other subscriptions. Considering you're getting both ebooks and audiobooks together in the US, UK and Canada, it easily beats out having to get both a Kindle Unlimited and Audible subscription to satisfy your need for good stories.

In comparison, Scribd might be better value if you don't own an ereader of any kind, giving you plenty of ebooks, audiobooks, recipes, sheet music and so much more for $9.99 / £10.99 / AU$14.99.

All Kobo Plus plans come with a 30-day trial and you can sign up for the service via the Kobo website, app or an ereader. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you can also do so via the Booktopia app.

Adding an ebook on the Kobo Plus iOS app

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus library

  • Limited catalogue of ebooks and audiobooks
  • No magazines

The Kobo Plus ebook library is going to vary from country to country. In Australia, for example, where we reviewed the service, there were no more 600,000 titles available at launch, but that does seem to be improving slowly but steadily.

While that really is very limited as compared to Kindle Unlimited, which has over a million ebooks (and some audiobooks of some of those titles), Kobo Plus has one major advantage over its rival. Unlike Kindle Unlimited, which cycles through selections of its one million titles, every single ebook on the Kobo Plus platform is available to you to download. And where the Amazon alternative limits you to borrowing only up to 10 titles at a time, there's no such restriction on Kobo Plus.

Titles are spread across every genre, but browsing these are best done on a web browser or the Kobo mobile app, both of which offer a list of genres that you can use to filter the catalogue. If you’re trying to browse via a Kobo ereader, you’re limited to five categories of ‘most popular’, ‘new’, ‘page turners’, ‘hidden gems’ and ‘crime, mystery and thrillers’, each with just 20 titles listed. 

If you’re looking for something specific, you can use the Kobo Store’s search bar on the ereader under the Discover tab and then filter by ‘Kobo Plus’ from the dropdown menu. During our testing of the service, we used the Kobo smartphone app to add books to our Kobo Plus library and then read on the Libra H2O and the Kobo Sage tablets. This issue is not limited to Kobo’s platform; we had a similar problem with Kindle Unlimited, where it was easier to peruse the full library on a desktop web browser than on a Kindle ereader.

Browsing Kobo Plus bestsellers on a Kobo Sage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

When we first started using Kobo Plus in 2021, we found the platform flooded with romance and erotica, just like Kindle Unlimited. While that hasn’t changed, we’ve started seeing more well-known authors appearing on the catalog. 

For example, fantasy fans will be glad to see some Terry Goodkind and SA Chakraborty’s The Daevabad Trilogy available, alongside Lady Colin Campbell’s Meghan And Harry and The Real Diana in the biography section for fans of the royal family. You’ll also find James SA Corey’s The Expanse books, Jeff Kinney’s Diary Of A Wimpy Kid plus a few more popular titles like that.

There’s a decent collection of history books, plus an impressive selection of manga too, including Attack On Titan.

Anyone fond of the classics will enjoy Kobo Plus. From George Orwell’s 1984 to lots of CS Lewis, plus Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Aldous Huxley and so much more, there really is plenty to keep you occupied for a long time.

Kobo Plus on mobile and a Kobo ereader

(Image credit: TechRadar)

From what we can tell, the platform seems to be growing. We’ve been keeping an eye on it for a few months and the library is certainly looking better than what it was in 2021 – specifically, we can see more mainstream/popular authors listed now but they are still few and far between. That said, Kobo can't add any title to its subscription service unless the publishing house allows it.

Which explains the significant overlap on popular titles available on both Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus, but the latter trumps Amazon's ebook subscription service by offering all books in an entire series on Kobo Plus. For example, all three books in Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past (of The Three-Body Problem fame) are available on Kobo Plus (in fact, the extended series is), while Kindle Unlimited just offered two when we tested Amazon's platform... at least in Australia. 

As mentioned, audiobooks are also part of the service and, like Audible, you get a credit each month to put towards any of the titles on offer. Kobo says there are about 100,000 audiobooks in its catalog and we can see all the popular ones up for grabs. Fantasy fanatics will find the likes of Terry Pratchett to Brandon Sanderson, while fans of the actor Sam Neill will find his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? narrated by himself, for example.

While you lose access to the ebooks if you cancel your subscription (like Kindle Unlimited), you get to hold on to the audiobooks you 'purchase' with your monthly credit (again, like Audible) even after you decide to stop paying for Kobo Plus.

Kobo Plus on a Kobo ereader

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus user experience

  • Ereader support
  • Well designed Kobo app

Kobo Plus is remarkably easy to sign up for on desktop, via the mobile app or on a Kobo ereader. During our testing, the best overall experience of using Kobo Plus was via the app, but that was only because of how limiting it is to find your next read on a Kobo ereader. But the fact that you can use it on Kobo hardware makes it a lot more tempting than Scribd (which has no ereader support). The flipside to that is that the latter has a truly vast and varied library that includes podcasts, audiobooks, sheet music and more, something you won’t get on any other ebook subscription service.

For anyone using the Kobo app on a smartphone or tablet, the subscription service is easily accessible as a tab on the homepage itself, as is the case on the Kobo website. On a Kobo ereader, on the other hand, you’ll find it under the Discover tab on the homescreen. 

If you’re switching devices while reading or listening, say from a phone to your ereader or vice versa, your library is synced almost instantly, as do pages of ebooks. When we read a little on the iOS app and then moved on to the Kobo Sage, we got a popup on the ereader letting us know the correct page to start from, which is very handy indeed.

Our only negative user experience was when browsing Kobo Plus. While there are several genres to check out, book categorization under each is very mixed up. You’ll find a whole load of fiction sitting under nonfiction subgenres, and this is particularly evident under History, where a lot of historical fiction and romance can be found. We found erotica listed under Comics, Graphics Novels and Manga, which also had The Expanse listed as well. It really does require some patience when browsing.

OverDrive setup screen on Kobo Sage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Kobo Plus vs OverDrive

Amazon Kindle users in the US are able to borrow ebooks from a local library, but this option isn't available anywhere else. For those living elsewhere, Kobo's ereaders could be the better, more cost effective tablet – as long as your local public library has OverDrive support, you can borrow ebooks as you would a physical one, and from the comfort of your own home.

Every single Kobo ereader comes with OverDrive baked in, so if you aren't too fussed about owning the titles you read, then borrowing them from a local library is a great way to save some cash. It should be noted that while the OverDrive app is being retired to make Libby the main go-to mobile platform for borrowing library books, OverDrive support will remain on Kobo's devices... at least for the foreseeable future.

Joining a public library is usually free (or subsidised in some countries) and setting it up on a Kobo ereader costs nothing. Borrowing also costs nothing... you get where we're going with this.

Not only is OverDrive a free alternative, it might also be a better option in the choice of titles. It's likely that your local library has a better collection of digital books that you would like to read as compared to the unknown authors you'll find on Kobo Plus. 

That said, the catalog on the subscription platform is a treasure trove of undiscovered gems, so the choice between OverDrive and Kobo Plus will depend on what your personal reading preferences are.

If, however, your local library also offers audiobooks, these won't play on Kobo's own Bluetooth-enabled devices. This is because Kobo has closed off this bit of its rather open ecosystem and only those purchased from the Kobo Store will play.

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[First reviewed May 2022]