What is adb and do I need it?

You hear the phrase “adb” thrown around a lot in Android forums and blogs. We’re guilty of it, too. But what exactly is adb, and why do you need (or not need) to use it?

According to Google — “Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile tool lets you manage the state of an emulator instance or Android-powered device.” That certainly sounds like something Google would say, doesn’t it? To put it simply, adb is two different applications — one running on your computer (Windows, Linux or Mac) and one running on your phone. When your phone is connected, and USB debugging is enabled, you can issue commands and communicate with the phone using your computer screen and keyboard. It’s part of the Android SDK for Windows, Mac or Linux. Sorry OS2/Warp.

Your Android phone uses the Linux kernel and tools as a base. This means that quite a few Linux commands can be sent via the adb server (the one running on your computer) to the adb client (the one running on your phone) and they will be executed. You can see a partial list of them in the picture above.

This can be awfully handy for debugging things that aren’t going right, as well sending those weird commands you need when you’re hacking away in the middle of the night. Chances are, if you aren’t actively debugging something or trying to break hack at your phone, you won’t have much use for adb. And that’s OK — there’s no right way to have fun with an Android device.

If you do have a use for adb, be sure to check out the Android Developer site for the full usage guide. Go forth and debug.

Best heavy duty cases for the LG G5

Get a case designed to handle wear and tear, so your LG G5 doesn’t have to.

No matter how careful you are with your phone, sooner or later you’re gonna drop it or it’s gonna fall. When the inevitable happens, you want to make sure it’s protected from getting scuffed, scratched, cracked, and smashed.

Not all cases are built equal. If you’re an outdoorsy type, you’ll want some added protection and only the most rugged cases can stand up to everything Mother Nature throws your way. Let’s dive right in.

• Otterbox Commuter series
• Supcase Rugged Unicorn Beetle Pro Combo
• Spigen Rugged Armor Case
• Poetic Affinity Series Case
• Lifeproof FRE
• i-Blason Prime

Otterbox Commuter series

Otterbox is well-known for making tough cases that can take a beating. Their Commuter series cases are no exception.

We tried this case out on our G5 and found that it fit perfectly. When on the device, the case forms a lip around it that protects the vulnerable corners from shattering. It also protects the LCD screen from getting scratched when the device is lying facedown.

For an Otterbox case, the Commuter feels quite light. It’s comprised of two pieces: a hard polycarbonate outer shell and an inner silicone liner. The hard plastic shell protects the phone from scratches and dents while the softer inner lining absorbs impacts. The inner lining also has flaps that cover the charging port and audio jack so that dust and debris cannot get in.

You won’t have to fiddle with removing the case to access important features of your device — the case has a triangular cutout in the back for the camera and the fingerprint scanner, cutouts along the bottom edge for the speaker and microphone, and along the top for the microSD card slot.

While not the heaviest-duty case around, the Commuter series is rugged enough to protect your LG G5 from damage from most everyday situations. If you’re taking your phone with you while skydiving, well, maybe this isn’t the case for you.

See at Amazon

Supcase Rugged Unicorn Beetle Pro Combo

If you want a strong combination of solid protection and sporty design, this is the case for you. The Supcase Rugged Unicorn Beetle Pro Combo includes a built-in screen protector and a swiveling belt clip holster so your phone is secure and protected, yet easily accessible if you’re out hiking in the wilderness. With a dual-layer back cover offering shock absorption and port covers to keep dust and debris out, your phone is protected 360 degrees.

It’s available in three distinct colors and, according to one reviewer, is even better when paired with a tempered glass screen protector, in lieu of the one the case provides. It’s worth considering if you trust the protection that tempered glass provides.

See at Amazon

Spigen Rugged Armor Case

This offering from Spigen is sleek and elegant, with a carbon fiber texture that offers a better grip in your hand. Made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU for short), it’s flexible enough to be easy to install your LG G5, while still providing fantastic protection, thanks to military-grade certified air cushion technology to protect when your phone falls and lands on its corner.

When you put your G5 down, your screen and camera is always protected with a 1.2 millimeter lip around the display and 1.5 millimeter of space between your camera lens and the table or ground if you drop it. And, for all the protection Spigen provides, you’ll also retain easy access to all the buttons, ports, and speakers.

See at Amazon

Poetic Affinity Series Case

If you want full-protection but also want to show off the LG G5 design, this is the case for you. Made of clear polycarbonate with TPU accents around the corners, this case is slim and stylish with extra protection provided for those detrimental impact areas. If you’ve found other cases to be slippery and hard to hold, you’re going to love the side grip pattern they’ve included. The extra texture will make your phone easier to hold without adding unnecessary bulk.

The X-form strips of black TPU running down the back aren’t just there for looks — they also provide shock dissipation without sacrificing the thin form factor. With raised bezel protecting your display and the same level of protection for the camera lenses on the back, it’s perfect for protecting your new phone while still allowing you to show off its design.

See at Amazon

Lifeproof FRE for LG G5

If you’ve had a Lifeproof case before, you know what you’re getting here. This case is waterproof, dirt-proof, drop-proof and even snow-proof, making it arguably the best full-protection case you can buy. This is the case for you if you’re constantly out exploring in the wilderness and want to make sure your phone is protected from the elements.

It has received the highest ratings on the Ingress Protection scale, meaning it’s guaranteed for full immersion in up to 6 feet of water for an hour. It also meets the U.S. Military Standard for drop and shock protection. Also included is a headphone adapter, so you can enjoy your music while surfing or snowboarding without worrying about compromising the waterproofness of the phone. All in all, if you never want to worry about your phone being damaged by the elements or drops, this is the case for you.

See at Lifeproof

i-Blason Prime

Combining rugged protection with stylish design, the i-Blason Prime features a dual-layer back cover that includes a convenient kickstand built right in. Featuring a polycarbonate hard shell with carbon fiber patterns on the inlay coupled with a shock absorbing silicone sleeve, your G5 will get a snug fit with maximum protection. And, all the ports are precision-cut with ample space for all your cables and headphones.

It also comes with a side-mount holster that clips onto your belt, and the raised bevel around the display won’t affect your ability to install a screen protector.

See at Amazon

How ’bout you?

Not finding what you’re looking for here? Check out our guide to the best cases for the LG G5. Or, do you have a favorite rugged case for your LG G5 that isn’t on the list? Drop us a line below in the comments!

LG G5

• LG G5 review
• LG 360 CAM review
• LG G5 complete specs
• LG’s G5 Friends modules are a neat idea, but they won’t matter
• LG G5 Hi-Fi Plus w/ B&O
• Join the LG G5 discussion

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Five must-have games for your Oculus Rift

Consider this your Oculus Rift starter kit.

There’s a lot going on in the Oculus Store, which is the primary place you get games for your Rift headset. Titles range wildly when it comes to price and description, due in no small part to Oculus pulling content that was originally made for the Samsung Gear VR into the store so you can experience it in a higher resolution. It’s a lot to take in, and that’s only going to get more interesting when you start playing games for your Oculus Rift that come from Steam instead of the Oculus Store.

To help you get started with your Oculus Rift, we’ve put together a quick lift of titles everyone should have in their library in order to fully appreciate this incredible VR experience.

Ready, go!

Project CARS, for all racing fans

When it comes to racing in VR, you either want the most realistic experience possible or you want something utterly fantastic with weapons and whatnot. Project CARS is the former, and in regular PC form it’s a fantastic racing sim that offers more realism than just about anything else available today. Put that experience in a VR headset, and you include real world head tracking from the driver’s seat to take that immersion one step further.

The cost of admission into this incredible experience is $50 through the Oculus Store. If you’re a fan of driving games, the Project CARS will be well worth it.

Adr1ft, for a disembodied adventure in space

Virtual Reality has created an incredible space for First Person Experiences, or FPX for short. These games create an environment where you experience a story happening all around you. These games are often powerfully emotional without being overly action-packed or requiring an itchy trigger finger.

Adr1ft puts you in a space suit as you float silently through a space station that has just failed catastrophically, and through your Oculus Rift that experience can be downright terrifying if you let it.

This stunning FPX will set you back $20, but is a perfect way to show off VR to someone who doesn’t handle shooters or campy platformers well.

Chronos, to get your RPG on in VR

Most great games are great regardless of where you’re playing. Virtual Reality adds depth and immersion, but the story and the game mechanics still need to be above and beyond to really capture the player. Chronos is an RPG with an interesting twist: every time you “die” in the dungeons your character ages by a year, forcing you to be very careful about the decisions made at every turn.

Through Oculus this game becomes an experience you witness almost from above. Using your head as the ‘camera’ makes finding treasure and lurking enemies a lot more interesting, ultimately leading to an enjoyable and unique experience all around.

Chronos is $50 through the Oculus Store.

The Climb, to experience beautiful immersion

Rarely do you hear the words “achieved with CRYENGINE” and walk away disappointed. With games like FarCry, MechWarrior Online, Crysis, and Ryse: Son of Rome all having been built with the CRYENGINE platform, seeing that brand usually means you’re in for a visual treat. In The Climb, you may not walk away at all. The game is built to make you feel as though you’re climbing massive rock formations. As you look around with your Rift, the environments you’re climbing in are intoxicating and — if you’re afraid of heights — terrifying. You can race your climb against friends if you need co-op in your lift, but clearly the goal here is to solve some cool puzzles and enjoy the remarkable scenery.

Bonus points: this game will almost assuredly be even more incredible when played through Oculus Touch controllers when they are made available later this year. For $50 in the Oculus Store, it’s nice to know you’re getting a game that will be even more fun later on.

Eve: Valkyrie, for intense space combat

If you’re one of the first to order an Oculus Rift, you already own Eve:Valkyrie. If you weren’t so lucky, add this game to your library right now. It’s a futuristic space flying game that puts you in control of an incredible aerial experience. As a fighter pilot, you need to be constantly looking out of your cockpit windows for the enemy, which makes using your Rift headset a ton of fun. Play in squads with friends or in massive groups to take down even bigger ships in some of the classic battles throughout the Eve universe.

There’s no other way to say this, the game is nonstop excitement and well worth the $50 from the Oculus Store.

Best roaming plans: Which is the cheapest network for EU and abroad?

As of the end of last month, April, roaming fees across Europe have dropped dramatically thanks to an EU directive. In addition, the European Commission will scrap roaming data charges in its 28 member countries entirely from June 2017.

Until then though, even with the lower blanket fees, some networks have decided to adopt their own low pricing structure or, even, ditch the fees. That means uploading your holiday snaps to Facebook or Instagram as you go is much more justifiable than it has been in the past.

If you are lucky enough to travel a lot, here is a round up of what the different networks offer in terms of roaming and which give jetsetters the best deals.

New EU roaming charges (as of 30 April 2016)

Before the complete abolishment of roaming charges in EU member states, charges that networks must meet are as follows:

• Outgoing voice calls: domestic charge plus 3p per minute – cannot exceed 15p per minute
• Outgoing texts, per message: domestic charge plus 1p per text – cannot exceed 5p per text
• Data access, per MB: domestic charge plus 3p per MB – cannot exceed 16p per MB

From June 2017 all roaming charges will be scrapped. You will be able to use your existing network price plan throughout Europe without incurring any extra charges. If the UK is still in the EU by then, of course.

There are no caps on roaming fees outside of Europe.

Vodafone

Vodafone has jumped the gun when it comes to offering roaming incentives. It has pre-empted next year’s EU directive by including roaming charges in the majority of its price plans.

All customers taking new or upgrading to Pay Monthly 12 and 24 month Red and Red Value bundles get inclusive data roaming with their monthly fees.

That means they can use their voice minutes, texts and data across 40 countries around Europe, including Spain, France and Germany. Calls to landlines and mobiles in those covered countries will not be charged extra, nor will internet use or SMS messages.

Inclusive data works on all plans with allowances up to 4GB a month.

30 day SIM only or mobile broadband customers do not get inclusive roaming. They, along with customers on PAYG, can either purchase a EuroTraveller pass or pay improved roaming rates of 4p a minute for calls, 1p a text, 4p a picture message or 4p a MB of data.

Alternatively, a EuroTraveller pass covers Europe, as you might have guessed by the name, and it includes all the countries within Vodafone’s Europe Zone. In addition, Vodafone offers a WorldTraveller pass for countries a little further afield such as the US and Australia.

You’ll pay £3 a day for the EuroTraveller option and £5 a day for the WorldTraveller service, you’ll get 4G speeds if you are on a Vodafone 4G contract and visiting one of the 71 specific countries.

The daily flat rate allows you to use your phone in any of the participating countries as you would in the UK, including calling, texting and data usage and you will only be charged on the days you use your phone. The day is calculated according to the capital city of the country you are in and it runs from midnight to midnight.

To see all the countries covered by Vodafone’s EuroTraveller and WorldTraveller options, visit the Vodafone website.

Three

Three takes it one step further than Vodafone in that it gives its Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go customers additional free roaming to countries outside of the EU that are covered by its Feel At Home incentive.

It doesn’t matter what device you are using and like Vodafone, you can use your phone as you would in the UK but Three doesn’t charge you anything for the privilege when you go further afield, such as the US or Australia. What’s more, it works on PAYG plans too.

Sounds a little too good to be true right? Well as long as you are visiting one of the 19 participating countries it’s absolutely genuine. So if Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Lanzarote, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland or the USA are on your holiday list, you are covered.

There is one snag, if you have All-You-Can-Eat data, texts and minutes then only up to 25GB, 5000 texts and 3000 minutes are included in the incentive for no extra charge but that’s still quite a lot.

In countries not covered by Three’s scheme, such as Germany, normal charges will apply. That’s 4.3p a minute for voice calls, 1.8p a text and 4.3p a MB for data, as in all other EU states not covered. You can also opt for a £5 a day EU Internet Pass. Outside of the EU costs will be higher.

It’s also worth noting that to benefit from Feel At Home, you need to have been a Three customer for more than 30 days and if you are a Pay As You Go customer, you need to convert your credit into an Add-on.

For more information, visit the Three website.

O2

For those with O2, you can benefit from the O2 Travel add on, available to Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go customers, but it’s for those travelling to Europe rather than further away.

For Pay Monthly customers, you’ll get unlimited data, calls and texts for £1.99 a day. The inclusive daily allowance lasts 24 hours and includes 120 minutes and 120 texts.

For Pay As You Go customers, you will also be charged £1.99 for data with a limit of 100MB a day, while calls will cost 4p per minute to make and free to receive. Texts cost 1p per message when sent to the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

If you are going further afield than Europe, O2 also offer bolt-ons but it will cost you more than Vodafone and Three’s options. You can find out more information on the O2 website.

EE

EE also offers a range of add-ons that could help you save money while you are abroad, but doesn’t currently offer inclusive roaming for the EU or other countries worldwide.

When in Europe on EE, a Euro Pass costs £4 and offers unlimited calls and texts plus some data. You get 500MB free. Extra data add-ons are also available if you use your limit, which start at £3 for 75MB.

If you have an EE Extra plan however, you get inclusive minutes and texts in over 39 countries so you’ll save on the daily charge but you’ll still need an add-on for data.

EU calls cost 4.4p a minute to make, while text messages cost 1.8p to send. Incoming calls costs a penny per minute.

If you are going further afield then you’ll need a different kind of add on. For example, if you were planning on flying to the States, you can opt for one of the Talk & Text add ons, such as ‘120 Roaming Minutes – Global’, which will allow you to make or receive 120 minutes worth of calls anywhere in the world to the UK for £20 a month rolling contract, or £6 a month for 30 minutes.

Texts will cost you £6 a month rolling contract for 100 roaming texts, or £10 a month for 250 roaming texts and data costs from £3 for 20MB to use within 24 hours, up to £40 for 500MB to use over seven days.

EE’s offers depend on which zone you are travelling in and for how long for so it is worth going on the EE website to work out your best option.

T-Mobile & Orange

Both T-Mobile and Orange offer the same service as EE when it comes to Europe, only cheaper as they are 3G services rather than 4G. It gives you inclusive minutes and texts for £2 a day, while staying online will cost you from £3 depending on the amount of data you select.

Prices outside of add-ons are the same as EE.

For worldwide travel, Orange Pay Monthly customers can add a Talk & Text bundle that will give you 30 per cent off all your calls and texts for £5.10, allowing you to make a call for 84p a minute and send a text for 35p when you’re in the USA for example. You can also add 20MB of data for £3 a day or 100MB for £10 a day.

If you’re with T-Mobile and travelling to America then there are no add ons for calls and texts but you can opt for the Zone A Internet Travel Booster 200MB or 500MB to use for seven days, which will cost you £20 or £40 respectively.

As with EE, it depends on which zone you are travelling in and how long for so visit the EE website for more information. 

iD from Carphone Warehouse

The Carphone Warehouse network, iD, aims to offer great deals to entice customers away from the traditional network offerings. 

The iD network offers a comprehensive list of roaming costs on its site here. A taster of a few:

EU states – calls to UK at 4.7p per minute, texts at 1.8p and data at 4.7p per megabyte. Incoming calls cost 1p a minute. Sending a picture message costs 50p.

USA – calls to UK at £1.40 per minute, texts at 35p and data at 25p per megabyte.

Hong Kong – calls to UK at £2 per minute, texts at 50p and data at £1.25 per megabyte.

There are also what iD calls Takeaway Plans, which allow for roaming at no extra cost. These start at £12.50 per month and cover the US, Australia and all of Europe.

Tesco Mobile

From 23 May until midnight 3 September, Tesco Mobile will scrap its EU roaming charges completely as part of its Home From Home promotion. Customers will be able to call, text and use data in EU member states without any extra cost on top of their existing price plans.

Their minutes, texts and data limits will still apply as at home. That covers both PAYG and pay monthly customers.

Other than that charges for calling other EU members will cost 4p a minute, texts will be 1p a message to send. Picture messages are 25p a text. Data is charged at 4p per MB.

Tesco Mobile caps data usage to 1GB so you cannot exceed £40 of spend while abroad in the EU or 5MB when elsewhere. That’s because it charges £8 per MB if you are outside the EU so be wary of using data anywhere other than in Europe or at a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Call charges from outside the EU can also be very pricey. Calls when you are in the US, for example, cost from 89p a minute to make or receive. Sending texts costs 40p a text.

Warner Music makes most of its money from streaming

The rise of streaming services has definitely changed how we consume music. It’s also changing how record labels make money. In its earnings report for Q1 2016, Warner Music Group, one of three major labels alongside Sony and Universal, revealed that streaming is now its biggest source of revenue in terms of recorded music. It also says it’s the first “major music company” to report this transition. More specifically, Warner’s revenue from streaming rose $72 million during the quarter, putting it ahead of physical sales and digital downloads for the label. Of course, the decline of physical sales has been well-documented both globally and the US.

Warner Music Group, like other labels, aren’t settling for rising streaming revenue. If it’s going to take over records sales, companies want to be adequately compensated for all music that’s being streamed. That includes from so-called “safe harbors” that allow users to upload songs, like YouTube.

During Warner’s earnings call, CEO Stephen Cooper said it’s crucial to “ensure a fairer correlation” between royalties from paid subscriptions and those places where people can listen for free. He went on to say that Warner had made its position known to both the European Commission and the US Copyright Office. As streaming continues to grow and physical sales likely continue to decline, this battle over the “value gap” will certainly heat up.

Via: Recode

Source: Warner Music Group

The best bookshelf speakers for most stereos

By Chris Heinonen

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.

To find the best bookshelf speakers for your stereo system, we considered hundreds of models, narrowed the field to 19 finalists, and then had a three-person listening panel put each through its paces with a wide variety of music. After 90 hours of work, the ELAC Debut B6 speakers came out as our top choice because they sound more like a live performance than anything in this price range.

Who these are for

We brought in 19 pairs of bookshelf speakers for testing.

Bookshelf speakers are great for anyone willing to tolerate a bit more complexity in setup to get better sound and better value than other options provide. For example, Bluetooth speakers offer an easy way to listen to music but can’t produce a real stereo effect and use a compressed signal, but whole-home audio systems can give you true CD-quality streaming but have a limited number of speaker options and often cost more.

Used with a receiver, bookshelf speakers let you listen to your audio sources in full resolution, and because you can connect any device to your receiver’s inputs, you aren’t limited to CD resolution. Although wireless standards will certainly change a lot over the next decade, you can rest assured a pair of passive bookshelf speakers will never become antiquated or useless.

How we picked and tested

For testing, we used a Sonos CONNECT (right) playing TIDAL and lossless local files through an AURALiC VEGA DAC (top left). We also used an ATI AT6012 amplifier (center) to power multiple speakers and a custom active switcher (bottom left) to switch between speaker pairs.

Companies have been making bookshelf speakers for decades, and every year hundreds of new models arrive. Testing every speaker on the market is impossible because of the number that exist. The first thing we did was narrow the field down to two price ranges: speakers priced at $125 a pair or less, and between $250 to $400 a pair. We then looked at all of the reviews we could find (and trust), plus customer reviews, to eliminate models that might have problems in real-world use.

Once we selected our finalists, we assembled them in a listening room for evaluation. To properly compare the speakers with one another, we set them on 30-inch-tall shelves so that the tweeters all stood as close to ear height (seated) as possible, placed the shelves at least one foot away from all walls for sound-quality reasons, and borrowed an ATI AT6012 amplifier to power multiple speakers at a time (though all our picks will work with pretty much all receivers).

We compared speakers in each price range head to head, using however many tracks it took to determine which one sounded best. If the results in a single listening round were too close for us to determine a winner, we rotated other models in and came back to those speakers later until we could make a choice.

Our pick

With detail, soundstage, and bass response that would be impressive at any price point, the ELAC Debut B6 make a great stereo pair.

Out of the 18 speakers we tested, the ELAC Debut B6 won us over with impressive detail, terrific soundstaging, and tight bass. A few of its competitors surpassed the ELAC in certain aspects, but among those priced under $400, nothing else we heard offered the overall balance and performance of the ELAC Debut B6 for the same price.

During our tests, in “Just the Way You Are” from Diana Krall’s Live in Paris, her vocals sounded more natural through the ELAC pair than through most of the competition. It better distinguished small details such as the sound of her mouth opening and closing, and you get no peaked treble here. It also gives music much more depth and realism, thanks to its wide and deep soundstage. Basically, you won’t get closer to the feeling of a live performance without spending a lot more money. These speakers sounded great no matter what we played on them. The openings to “Teardrop” from Massive Attack and The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” show off the extended bass response the ELAC Debut B6 pair offers over the competition.

With optional matching center channel, tower, and Atmos modules, the ELAC speakers will work in both two-channel and multichannel systems. Plus, they’re versatile to set up; secure binding posts make them easy to install with any kind of speaker cable.

The (better-looking) runner-up

If the ELAC Debut B6 set is unavailable, the DALI Zensor 1 is a close runner-up. The sound quality of this pair is virtually the same as the ELAC, and we couldn’t pick one over the other in a direct A-to-B comparison. They’re also much more compact and come in a selection of much nicer finishes than the ELAC pair. However, you’re paying 50 percent more for what amounts to cosmetic improvements.

An upgrade in sound quality

If you want to go for an upgrade, the KEF Q100 speakers cost nearly twice the price of our main pick, but this pair was the clear favorite of our listening panel. We found the sound to be more detailed and clear than what we heard from the other speakers. Like the ELAC Debut B6, the Q100 set has an available matching center channel for home theater. It also comes in four different finishes, and you can even choose larger versions if you want more bass.

Great sound at a bargain price

Finally, the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR set is our budget pick. These speakers were part of Andrew Jones’ last series at Pioneer and sounded better than any of the other under-$200 speakers we tried. But our listening panel said they sounded less detailed compared with speakers in the $300+ range. They’re good for the money, but we recommend you upgrade if you can afford to.

Getting the most from your speakers

An ideal position for bookshelf speakers is on a pair of speaker stands.

Even though they’re called bookshelf speakers, don’t put your speakers on an actual bookshelf—because most bookshelf speakers are rear-ported, some of the bass fires out of the back, and it won’t sound as good. A bookcase amplifies some of the bass and changes its tone.

Instead, try putting each speaker farther out into the open; placing it on top of a table or a stand eight to 12 inches from the wall will make a big improvement. Strive to get the tweeters at roughly ear level when you’re sitting, because that’s the way most speakers are designed to be used.

An ideal position for bookshelf speakers is on a pair of speaker stands. The stands will put the speakers at the correct height for most people when they’re seated—plus, they have carpet spikes to better anchor them to the floor.

It’s important to note that the front grill on a speaker is designed to keep the drivers safe from children and pets, but having it in place is not as good as leaving it off, soundwise. So if you don’t have kids or pets around to damage the grill, don’t feel you have to use it. For more tips on how to get the most from your speakers, check out our full review here.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.