It’s Prime Day my friends, which means you can justify buying silly gadgets because they’re even slightly sell. This is what it means to be an American.
In my case, that gadget is the Neohipo ET30, a retro-looking VU meter whose needle moves from side to side when you listen to music. I hooked one up between my Sonos Amp and the speaker for maximum accuracy, but you don’t need to: it has a built-in mic, and if you play music through the same old speaker, the needle will pop rise. Room. It also glows in 34 colors. I’m in love.
I want to clarify: these meters have scales printed on them, but that means Literally nothing Because you can adjust their sensitivity at will. They were just there for show, and the show was enjoyable. You can also use the switching function in the ET30 to A/B test two sets of speakers and two different amplifiers, but that’s secondary to the meter and I’m not even going to finish this sentence. In the worst crime against USB, the ET30 has a fake USB-C port on the back that only gets 5V from a USB-A to USB-C cable – plugging in a real USB-C cable does nothing. If it wasn’t so beautiful, I would have called the police.
There are other similar VU meters – the Fosi Audio LC30 is also on sale on Prime Day, which looks cooler, but various reviews say these meters are not sensitive enough. The Douk Audio Little Bear is also on sale, but some reviews say that if you connect it directly to a speaker you might get some extra noise, which I don’t want. Plus, the ET30 is bigger and the whole point of the situation is to have big old-school gauges, you know?
Anyway, the ET30 normally sells for $160, but today it’s on sale for $127. You don’t need an app, it doesn’t collect any data, and it can never be bricked by firmware updates or private equity acquisitions. What else do you want from a gadget?
