The description in the headline above is Klipsch's, not mine. I usually refer to this kind of product as earbuds. But Klipsch is allergic to that term for arcane technical reasons explained in this FAQ. So headphones these wispy transducers are.

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Sonoro is a German audio manufacturer. The company recently commissioned a survey on the listening habits of 560 consumers. Thirty-nine percent of them named FM radio as their number one audio entertainment source, beating iPods and other MP3 players at 23 percent. That was interesting, but when I visited the Sonoro site, I found something even more interesting: the Cubo system.

It's bigger than it looks, at five inches high, 8 wide, and 9.5 deep. Available colors include numerous sedate earthtones, plus red, pink, and the sweet lime green I chose for the review sample. It comes packaged with a pair of white linen gloves to prevent your fingers from marring the glossy surface of the unit or its dock. The front panel includes a large backlit amber liquid crystal display, with tuning buttons to the left and volume buttons to the right. Below the slot-loading CD mechanism are transport keys. On the top is a single full-range speaker surrounded by station presets and other radio-related controls.

The Cubo comes with the best iPod dock every invented—or at least, the one I like the best. It consists of two pieces of transparent plastic that fit together to form a cradle. There's no iPod docking connector, perhaps making this a kind of non-dock. Instead, a mini-plug cable fits underneath into the iPod's headphone jack. True, a line-level connection through the docking connector would be audibly superior to going through the iPod's flea amp. And the Sonoro docking method won't charge the battery or perform other functions enabled by the docking connector. Why, then, do I prefer it?

Because I don't like charging the battery every time I connect one of my iPods to a system. I prefer to run the battery down to at least 25 percent before recharging. Even a lithium ion battery may lose some of its running time if charged constantly after brief uses—this is why Lenovo laptops include software that intelligently charges the battery as needed. If anyone would like to dissent, please do so in the comments field.

Sound is full and rich. With talk radio, there is definitely a bit of tubbiness with both male and female voices. The Cubo is more for music, which it enriches with a meaty rhythm section sound and a slick upper-midrange rolloff that takes the sting out of heavily equalized pop music.

Price: $350 via Saks Fifth Avenue.

Mark Fleischmann is the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater and tastemaster of Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants.

Tivoli Audio has steadily expanded beyond its original retro-style Model One radio into a variety of related products. All of them have killer radio tuners and some, like the iYiYi, have iPod docks. This revision of the briefcase-friendly SongBook radio adds an extension speaker and iPod dock along with some interesting twists.

One of those interesting twists is building the iPod dock into a flip-down apparatus on the left side of the unit. You are free to close it when it is not in use or if you just want to protect the jutting connector from dust. Just as cool is the fact that the extension speaker is detachable, with metal pins that fit into rubber grommets on the righthand side of the unit. An integrated cable can be unspooled to the desired length, or spooled back again on a jog dial.

This compact stereo system—for that's what it is—is not available in the wood finishes of some Tivoli products. But the high-gloss white and black plastic finishes will attract few complaints. The iSongBook is about the size of a sub-notebook PC (maybe twice the thickness).

The main unit includes the left speaker, an unlit liquid crystal display, and various buttons. These include five individual preset buttons, up/down buttons for tuning, and a few more for the alarm, sleep timer, and other functions. You can wake to radio, iPod, or beeper. There are two knobs, for source selection and volume. The volume knob is clickstopped and relay-driven, a better arrangement than the orthodox volume pot on some Tivoli products (which tends to corrode and get noisy over time). A small remote is supplied. Don't worry, there's not much of a learning curve. You can start using the product straight out of the box without having to read the manual.

To power your system, you can use the AC adapter (with large wall wart) or five AA batteries. The unit accepts nickel metal hydride rechargables. Be sure to set the internal battery switch for the type of battery or damage may result. Presumably you'll have a preference and will therefore have to remember to do this only once.

The two full-range speakers measure 2.5 inches and, as always, sound pretty good. Voices are less tubby than on Tivoli's early products, presumably because of the shallower depth of the SongBook/iSongBook and the space occupied in the enclosure by the dock.

Though the iSongBook isn't cheap, it provides a lot of functionality and versatile for the money. And you certainly won't find a competing product with an FM tuner of this quality. If radio is a big deal to you, this is the iPod-savvy compact system you've been dreaming about.

Price: $399 from Tivoli Audio and other online retailers.

Mark Fleischmann is the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater and tastemaster of Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants.

There are lots of wireless ways to get two channels of audio from point A to point B. But which is the right one for you? One of several possible answers is the Audioengine AW1 wireless audio adapter. It takes the form of two shiny black objects. Each one is the size and shape of a box of kitchen matches, with a stubby USB dongle at one end and a stereo mini-jack at the other end.

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Most headphones beam sound directly into the ear canal. Ultrasone takes a different approach with the HFI-2200. With these German-made headphones, sound enters the ear just as it does in real life—bouncing off the complex fleshy surfaces of the outer ear, or pinna. This S-Logic technology has two desirable outcomes. One, according to the manufacturer, is more natural sound with better perception of distance, depth, and imaging. Another benefit is a 40 percent drop in sound pressure level for the same volume. The headphones are also shielded against electromagnetic radiation. See two different videos on the Ultrasone site and Amazon.

These are large full-sized headphones, with open gold-plated diaphragms measuring 40mm (1.73 inches). Their very comfortable fabric cups fit over nearly the entire surface of my average-sized pinnae, touching the bottoms, though so gently that there was literally no pinching. The headband is also upholstered in the same rust-colored velour, so there was no sensation of having a monster sitting on my head.

The HFI-2200 is clearly designed for home, as opposed to mobile, listening. It comes with a single cable nearly 10 feet long and terminated in gold mini-plugs at both ends (a quarter-inch adapter is also provided). Though the cable is detachable, the terminal on the left earcup doesn't lend itself to replacements—the jack is both recessed and threaded. Ultrasone seems to assume you're going to plug into a component system and sit in your favorite armchair some distance from it. These are not the headphones for a walk in the park. If you're more into mobile listening, take a look at the iCans. Ultrasone also offers products designed especially for the needs of DJs.

The HFI-2200 could deliver some high-frequency bite on toppy instruments, allowing Fender Strats and Teles their distinctive attacks. But it also had a fully developed midrange lacking both the lower midrange emphasis of my ancient AKG K240 and the upper midrange emphasis of my first-gen Bose TriPorts. Bass, though not as strongly emphasized as in either the AKG or the Bose, was deep and proportionate. Even with the flea amps of my iPod nano and SanDisk Sansa players, I could hear a string bass navigating the lower end of its range. But the Ultrasone didn't overcompensate for the flea amps—this wasn't a boomy or uncontrolled bass. Rated frequency response is 10-25,000Hz.

Tonal character aside, it was the nature of imaging that came to the fore, especially when I switched back and forth between the Ultrasone and my other reference headphones. Using conventional cans, I had the familiar sensation of sound in my skull, traveling in a straight line between my ears. The more I got used to the Ultrasone, the more objectionable this between-your-ears sensation got with other headphones. With the Ultrasone, the in-head soundstage got deeper, as though my skull had expanded, and at times it even extended outside my head. This wasn't a false, phasey kind of sound—more of a clean spatial expansion. And the more I was exposed to it, the better I liked it.

I regret not having had a chance to test the Ultrasone HFI-2200 with a first-class headphone preamp. If you're interested, you should find a dealer who will let you demo the product with a signal source and preamp you trust.

But there's no doubt in my mind that the Ultrasone HFI-2200 is a great set of headphones. Try A/B-ing it with a familiar set and you'll see what I mean. Price: $299.

Mark Fleischmann is the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater and tastemaster of Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants.

There are a lot of internet radio stations but not many internet radios. Even as smart a player as Tivoli Audio had to pull back on introducing one, after Tom DeVesto and crew discovered how difficult it is to design a compact internet radio that operates with the same plug-and-plug simplicity as the company's other products. Well, the Tivoli NetWorks is finally here. It's the same shape as the PAL radio but comes in a wooden enclosure (walnut, cherry, or wenge) like the Model One and some other Tivolis. It accesses both internet radio stations and the contents of a PC's hard drive via either wi-fi or ethernet connections. The only control is a round button at the top. Pressing and holding it turns the unit on or off; pressing it quickly mutes the radio; rotating it adjusts volume. Hardest thing you'll need to do is input the password for a secured wi-fi connection. The unit is shipped with five of Tom's favorite stations already selected as presets though you can change them. It is available with or without digital FM tuner. At $600 for the tunerless model, NetWorks is not cheap, but the development must have cost a fortune. See video and press release.

I was dozing through a commercial break in the 10 o'clock news when I heard something that woke me right up. It was the "Prelude No. 1 in C Major" from Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, the Rosetta Stone of western music. The experience was akin to finding a fifty dollar bill in the street, which incidentally also happened to me recently. What advertiser would be brilliant enough to feed Johann Sebastian Bach to an unsuspecting TV audience? None other than McDonald's, promoting its Angus Third-Pounder. This über-burger can be purchased in three varieties: with lettuce and tomato, with bacon and cheese, or with Swiss and mushrooms. The ad—which I swear I've seen before, but with a less elevating soundtrack—shows an average guy who takes his first bite of a Third-Pounder and is so transported that he tries to push his chair back from the table, to savor the golden (-arched) moment, only to find the chair's bolted to the floor, so he settles for a sip from his giant drink. I'd have run out into the street and bought an Angus Third-Pounder immediately, just this once, were it not for the seeded bun. I don't eat whole sesame seeds. Anyway, there you have it, an odd alliance between the nation's most notorious gristle pusher and a composer who had a direct line to God. And I have no complaints about this. Far from it. Will wonders never cease.

Oh no. What is that large object sitting on your desk?

Nothing, just Glenn Gould: The Complete Original Jacket Collection. It was released on September 25, 2007 to commemorate Gould's 75th birthday and the 25th anniversary of his death.

It looks bulky. It looks, in fact, more than 10 inches wide. It looks as though we're not making the rent this month. Have you lost your mind? This thing must have cost you a fortune.

But flip open the lid and what do you see?

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Minor Players: One of HD DVD's advantages is that it uses the same method of manufacturing as regular DVD, so the discs cost less to press. This might make HD DVD attractive to small, independent, or foreign labels, or anyone otherwise not associated with the major studios.

Um, Porn: Sony was at least initially cool to producers of erotic content. According to one report, it has relented somewhat, but HD DVD has already staked a strong claim in this area. Historically, adult content was a big factor in growing the videocassette and DVD markets, and there's no reason to suppose high-def discs will be any different.

Rogue Recording: This probably won't happen, and the last thing I want to do is advocate illegal behavior. But, in theory, not having to please the studios might leave Toshiba free to relax the DRM compliance of HD DVD recorders to allow users to burn discs from any source, and I mean any source. True, recording is not yet a feature in black-box machines, but recordable HD DVD drives already exist in PCs. If Toshiba wanted revenge on the studios, this would be the way to get it. All right, all right, forget I said anything about this.

Legal Recording: Of course, some forms of recording are legally permitted under the Supreme Court's Betamax decision—for instance, the time shifting of network TV programming, or copying your wedding video. The rewritable form of HD DVD might easily become an alternative to the crippled DVRs offered by cable and satellite companies. And HD DVD-R or -RW certainly would be a big improvement over standard-def DVD recorders. The key here is cost, and Toshiba has already shown leadership in this area with play-only machines.

So there you have several ways in which HD DVD might still attract consumers. Any one of them could trigger a purchase decision. And the cumulative effect of the legal ones—three out of four—just might give HD DVD a plausible future. Despite all those mean things people are saying about it.

Sometimes it makes me nervous to lift an iPod-compatible compact audio system out of the box. There are plenty of them out there and I want to review only the exceptional ones. From time to time I pull off the wrapping and know I'm looking at a loser before the iPod even touches the docking connector. Flimsy construction usually leads to flimsy sound. On the other hand, some systems also make a fine first impression. The Tannoy i30 is a case in point. It was packed better than most of the surround receivers I reviewed, in charcoal-colored non-disintegrating foam. At a solid eight pounds, it felt good in my hands.

The unit comes packed with adapters for both generations of iPod nano plus the 5G video and 1G mini hard-drive players (iPhone and 3G nano adapters are imminent). They're listed on the carton itself and neatly slotted into a box within the box labeled "the bits." There's also an instruction manual on three-inch CD and a couple of free Tannoy Union Jack badges. I'd never wear them but I appreciate the gesture. Scratch me and you'll find an Anglophile (and I'll scratch you back).

Based on looks alone, the i30 is quite unremarkable, just a nicely streamlined version of a boombox shape. There's a port on top that doubles as a handle. The speakers are tilted slightly upward, not a bad thing if the i30's going to live on a desktop or table. Interestingly, there are two threaded inserts on the back, so you might even wall mount it using an optional bracket. The back panel also includes a USB jack (the squarish B type), composite video jack, auxiliary input for non-iPod infidel sources, and of course the connection for the detachable power cord—which sports a space-saving L-shaped plug. You can use the USB connection to sync the iPod with your computer while it sits in the dock recharging.

Drivers include a one-inch aluminum dome tweeter mounted inside a four-inch woofer (times two) using Tannoy's patented Inductive Coupling Technology (iCT). This is how the company describes the driver array: "The iCT utilizes a wireless electromagnetic tweeter that does not require a crossover and cannot be burned out from heavy or abusive use. The one-inch aluminum high frequency dome has a deep drawn skirt which sits on the inside of the low frequency voice coil in the same magnetic gap. Like a single shorted turn, it is induced with high frequency information generated by the low frequency voice coil, which is fed a full bandwidth signal."

Tannoy rates the system down to 60Hz, which is reasonable for a device of this size, though it omits some of the lower range of a bass guitar. The 50-watt-total BASH amp is a digital type that Tannoy's website says "gives [the] efficiency of Class D, and sound quality of analog Class AB." It powers the output devices only when there's a signal, wasting less power in the form of heat, and using less power when at rest.

The remote control is smaller than a credit card. It includes power, mute, volume up/down, track forward/reverse, and play/pause controls but no menu command to step back through iPod menus.

What's good about the sound—as I discovered within seconds of starting the Every Breath You Take compilation by the Police—is the solidity of the rhythm section. The lower swoops of the bass may not be there but the drums sound pretty good. In a loose test of volume capability, the unit clocked more than 100dB with music three feet away and didn't seem to distort noticeably. You can probably use it by the pool. Not in the pool, but near the pool. Treble is a trifle soft-edged but that's the right way for a portable device to err.

The price is a little high for a product of this description and size, but not outlandish. For a product with this kind of performance and thoughtful design, it is right on target.

Price: $399.

Mark Fleischmann is the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater and tastemaster of Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants.

Long time no Diablog.

This one will more than make up for it.

Uh-oh. What happened?

Oil hit $100 a barrel today.

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Soundbar: What a word. I like it. It implies that audio-for-video can be simplified into an unprepossessing horizontal object. The Boston Acoustics TVee Model Two assumes that you'd rather have one speaker (and sub) than five (and sub). It also assumes you have a certain impatience with cables, and therefore sweetens the deal with a wireless link between soundbar and sub—though it still requires two power cords and two analog channels worth of cable between the soundbar and your signal sources. And it assumes you'll accept not 5.1 but 2.1 honest channels in its 1.1 sleek objects. No virtual-surround pretensions here.

This strains the very definition of home theater, the union of big-screen television and surround sound. But Boston Acoustics knows plenty of casual users will be comfortable with the union of a flat panel or RPTV (any size) and decent sound (any number of channels). So there you have it, the soundbar vision of the world. We'll just ignore the bullet point on the website that says "HDTV-quality sound."

The TVee Model Two is 31 inches wide, 3.75 high, and 4 deep. It contains four 2.5-inch midbass drivers and a pair of half-inch dome tweeters. Soundbar and sub receive a total of 100 watts. The soundbar should fit easily atop an RPTV or even a direct-view TV of 32 inches and up, and comes with a couple of right-angled rubber braces. For wall mounting above or below an LCD or plasma set, it has two keyhole mounts. At 8.4 pounds, it can probably hang on drywall with butterfly bolts—you needn't look for a stud as you would with a heavier product. The complementary sub is 9.4 by 11.5 by 11.5 inches and weighs 11 pounds. Because its six-inch down-firing driver has to produce higher bass than a conventional sub, you'll want to keep it as near the soundbar as possible.

As mentioned above, soundbar and sub talk to one another wirelessly. So installation requires only that you connect power for both devices, run analog cables to the soundbar, and select the wireless transfer frequency using one of four switch positions on the soundbar. I got it on the first try.

Because soundbar and sub are designed to work together, the sub has no controls other than volume and power—no crossover, phase, or bypass controls. And of course no hardwired inputs of any kind. The soundbar's back-panel controls are minimal—four frequencies, three trim settings to adjust for the signal-source output level, and power, plus RCA-type stereo analog-ins. A more accessible set of controls runs along the top of the soundbar. They include power, mute, volume up and down plus an LED indicator that glows red/off, green/on, and orange when the soundbar is learning the IR mute code for your signal source. The TVee does not come with a remote of its own. It can work with any source having two-channel analog outputs whether it's a cable box, TV set, DVD player, or iPod. There's only one set of stereo inputs, so forget about hooking up more than one source component, unless you're using some kind of receiver or preamp or switcher.

I connected my Integra DPS-10.5 universal player and fired up Sonatas with Richter, a collection of Brahms, Haydn, and Mozart violin and piano sonatas with Oleg Kagan on violin and Sviatoslav Richter on piano. It was just what I felt like listening to at the time. The TVee's pragmatically minimal high-frequency response kept the violin sounding silky and unfatiguing while sweetening the midrange with a bit of warmth. I could hear the left side of the piano coming out of the sub, and while it wasn't the most focused bass I've ever heard, it was appropriate and not annoying with the volume control halfway up.

As Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti got started—I was celebrating the reunion—I noticed the tonal balance changing as I moved around. The system was definitely location-dependent, with Robert Plant's voice rolling off noticeably as I moved off-axis. There were also limits to the size of the stereo image: the phase-shifted orchestral majesty of "Kashmir" was only modestly majestic. As you'd expect of a system that has to work with the often excruciating output of a cable box or other TV source, the TVee honorably avoided harshness, but it didn't reward potentially rich music or soundtracks with all the detail they'd muster in a larger system, or all the spatial information they might muster in a true 5.1-channel system.

The Boston Acoustics TVee Model Two is for casual TV watching. It is not intended to be a high-powered home theater system or a primary music listening system. Its goals are modest: to improve over the speakers built into a TV, with a pleasingly minimal form factor, and way fewer wires than a conventional system would require. For what it is, it sounds pretty good, and just may enliven your casual viewing/listening life with a minimum of fuss.

Price: $399.99.

Mark Fleischmann is the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater and tastemaster of Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants.