New York, NY (December 15, 2023)—It’s halfway through December and you still haven’t gone shopping for that audio pro in your life. Back at Thanksgiving, we shared the Mix 2023 Holiday Gift Guide and even the Mix 2023 Gift Guide Addendum, but if all those great ideas didn’t pass muster for you, here’s yet a few more to sift through.
JBL EON One MK2 Column P.A.: We gave this the Real-World Review treatment back in March, finding “The JBL EON ONE MK2 does a lot of things well, answering the needs of a varied user base that will use it for an equally broad number of applications. Setting up and tearing down is simple and quick, and the design is durable but still stylish. The built-in mixer and DSP options will be relatively intuitive for pros, but novices will want to dig in and get to know their new system before putting it in front of an audience.”
K-Tek Stingray BackPack X: This bag is tailored for a one-person-band or traveling news reporter to carry all their recording needs, providing storage space for a mixer bag, extra audio gear, laptop, and other supplies. It features an adjustable, integrated front-facing harness for a fully packed audio mixer bag. Conveniently built-in, it allows an operator to easily move the mixer bag from the storage pouch directly into the operating position, by snap-hooking it to the front of the pack. The pack features three zippered sections including a padded pocket for a 17” laptop, smaller mesh pockets, a fold-away boom cup holder, and multiple MOLLE straps for a range of gear and accessories. The Stingray Front Pouch (sold separately) attaches to the BackPack X’s MOLLE straps for increased storage space.
Solodome Personal Audio Chair: Ever walk through an antique shop and find one of those giant egg stereo chairs from the 1970s? If you find one, they’re beat to hell and don’t work, and even if they do, you know the technology inside is 50-plus years old. That’s where Solodome comes in, having reinvented that venerable classic for the 2020s’ music, film, gaming and wellness fanatic. Built with natural sound-cancelling properties and no parallel surfaces to cause standing waves, it’s a throwback immersive audio experience that’s as cutting-edge as ever.
Harbinger RoadTrip 25 Battery-Powered Speaker: Sometimes you need a massive P.A. to fill an arena—and sometimes you just need a simple utility speaker and mic setup for a community meeting. In those later cases, here’s Harbinger’s answer—a compact 8” speaker with internal battery for 12 hours of continuous use, Bluetooth so you can send music from your phone, a mic, built-in echo, and a very attainable price tag of $70.
Earasers Musicians Plugs: They fit in a stocking perfectly, and every audio pro always needs some new ear plugs, making this a safe bet for virtually anyone on your list, whether they’re an audio pro, musician or just someone who loves to go to shows.
Earasers use an attenuation “V filter” to provide an overall 5 dB EPA rating of protection, and they’re extremely low profile, perfect for those who are a little shy about the fact that they care about protecting their hearing.
Palmer PWT 08 MK2 Pedalboard Power Supply: Your guitarist has more pedals than he has brain cells? And he only has eight pedals? You’re in luck if you have to get him a present, because Palmer has expanded its PWT Series of universal 9-volt power supplies for pedalboard effects with its new PWT 08 MK2 model, providing a total output of 2,000 mA across eight outputs, each with an isolated transformer. With two of the outputs offering variable voltage switching, the PWT 08 MK2 ensures quiet pedalboard operation even when using power-hungry pedals.
Lake People MC100 Monitor Controller: If you’re a studio pro, this one’s for yourself—as the 1,799.90 Euro price tag assures you’re not buying it for anyone else. The Lake People MC100 monitor controller is a central listening station wiht two balanced XLR inputs, one unbalanced RCA input, a 3.5-mm input jack for mobile devices and a digital USB input for PCM with up to 384 kHz at 32 bit or DSD 256. Three pairs of monitor speakers can be connected via XLR outputs; an additional subwoofer out is available separately. Both inputs and outputs can be set up to work mutually exclusive or be active at the same time. A high-end headphone amplifier with X-Feed circuitry is also onboard.