Week 45, 2015: Sending huge files, Axiom Air wireless speaker
Sound Advice
By Don Lindich
Week 45, 2016
Q. I want to send a high-def home movie of a vacation to someone overseas so they can have it on their computer. At 7.5 GB, it is too big too email. How can I do this?
-N.T., Chicago, IL
A. You can always save it to a thumb drive and send it via snail mail. I’ve done this myself sometimes when sending a lot of data. There are also a few ways to do it over the web. Here are two techniques that have worked for me.
There are lots of file transfer services available and I expect readers will contact me with suggestions and their favorites. I have come to favor Dropsend, at dropsend.com. It is only $5 per month and very easy to use at both ends. Dropsend will send the recipient an email with a direct download link, and you are notified when the file is downloaded.
If the recipient is someone you know and trust you can set up a Google Drive account (separate from your email) and upload the file. Provide the recipient the password and login, and they can login and download the file there.
Axiom Air Wireless Speaker: I very seldom recommend wireless speakers that sell for over $500 because you hit rapidly diminishing returns above $300. This week’s holiday product highlight, the Axiom Air, breaks though that ceiling convincingly.
The $799 Axiom Air uses drivers similar to those found in Axiom’s award-winning bookshelf speakers, driven by 75 watts of clean power per channel. This means it can play loudly without effort or fill large rooms with undistorted, great-sounding music. It uses WiFi instead of Bluetooth to preserve sound quality, and if no network is available the speaker creates its own WiFi hotspot. You can also use USB and line inputs. The Air can be ordered with built-in battery power for use anywhere, as well as with microphone inputs for use in Karaoke or as a portable public address system. The finish can even be customized to match room décor.
Experimenting with the Axiom Air showed me why it uses WiFi instead of Bluetooth. The best speakers and audio systems reveal the shortcomings in electronics and recordings, and the Air is good enough to clearly reveal the differences between compressed music streamed via Bluetooth and uncompressed or high-resolution music files. I used AirPlay and Apple’s Remote app to stream full quality recordings from my computer’s iTunes collection and was rewarded with very impressive sound. I have a tutorial on my website at http://tinyurl.com/axiomairplay to show you how to do this yourself.
Each Axiom Air is handmade to order and individually tested for sonic accuracy at Axiom’s Ontario factory. It comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a 5-year warranty. A five year warranty is pretty much unheard of in this product class, and adds to the Air’s value equation.
The Air has been selling briskly and there is currently a 20 day wait between order and shipping. Keep this in mind if you are buying one as a gift. Axiom has a 10% off holiday coupon code Gift10 (good for all Axiom products) that expires December 15th .The $799 price includes shipping and taxes, so if you take that into account along with the coupon code it compares even better to both higher and lower priced competitors.
Visit http://tinyurl.com/axiomair (direct product link) or axiomaudio.com to learn more. There is a video there that captures the essence of the Air much better than I can in print.
