Schiit Audio is taking a more practical swing at tubes with the $99 Buf. It’s a compact tube buffer designed to sit in your signal chain, not take it over.

Buf isn’t a preamp and it’s not a DAC. There are no inputs for sources beyond basic line level, no volume control, and no system control duties. You place it between components; typically between a DAC and amplifier, or between a source and powered speakers, and it inserts a tube stage into the chain. If you don’t want that, it can be switched out and used as a straight pass through.

That makes it easy to experiment without committing to a full tube setup. It can be used to slightly reshape a solid state system, take the edge off a brighter chain, or add some variation to a desktop or headphone rig. It’s also flexible enough to move around depending on the system or use case, which fits Schiit’s usual modular approach.

At $99, Buf is less about replacing components and more about giving users a simple way to try a tube stage in different setups and decide if it works for them.

Tubes Anywhere Without Rebuilding Your System

Schiit Audio isn’t pretending the $99 Buf is neutral. In fact, they’re leaning in the opposite direction.

“Buf is a tube buffer. It adds a ton of low-order harmonic distortion, without adding a bunch of noise. It destroys the big perfect of ‘measurement gear.’ At the same time, lots of people, including those who use Audio Precisions all day, think it sounds better. So we figured we’d make this thing and let you find out for yourself,” said Jason Stoddard.

That’s the pitch. Not accuracy in the lab sense, but a different presentation that some listeners may prefer, especially in systems that lean hard into ultra-low distortion solid state performance.

Despite the price, this isn’t a stripped-down implementation. The Schiit Buf runs a 100V plate voltage, uses a linear power supply, and incorporates higher-grade parts including Panasonic film capacitors. Schiit’s Coherence topology is also in play, maintaining absolute phase and offering selectable gain; either 0dB or 12dB from a front panel switch.

Stoddard is also clear that this isn’t a generic design.

“It’s not just another cathode follower,” he explained. “It’s more akin to our Lyr and Vali tube amps, but it’s different than both—a simple Class A stage optimized for line level use, rather than driving headphones.”

That last part matters. Buf isn’t trying to power anything. It’s there to sit in the chain and influence it, subtly or not, depending on the system and gain setting.

Connectivity is simple: RCA in, RCA out. It will work in most two-channel or desktop setups without much thought. And because it can be fully bypassed, it’s easy to evaluate in real time without pulling cables.

Schiit Buf Specifications

• Gain Modes
  • Low Gain (0dB): 20Hz–20kHz ±1dB, THD <0.5%, IMD <0.6%, SNR >106dB, Crosstalk -90dB
  • High Gain (12dB): 20Hz–20kHz ±1dB, THD <0.2%, IMD <0.4%, SNR >97dB, Crosstalk -80dB
• Performance & Design
  • Output Impedance: 75 ohms
  • Input Impedance: 470k ohms
  • Maximum Output: 8.2V RMS
  • Topology: Coherence tube gain with BJT inverter, Class A
  • Protection: Delayed start, fast shutdown, muting relay
• Power & Build
  • Power Supply: External 24VAC and 6VAC wall adapter, linear regulated rails, 6V AC heater
  • Power Consumption: 6W
  • Dimensions: 5 x 3.5 x 2.75 inches
  • Weight: 1 lbs

Schiit Buf Setup, Tube Use, and Basics

Buf can be added to a system in two straightforward ways. You can place it between a preamp and power amplifier, which allows it to affect every source connected to the preamp. Alternatively, you can insert it between a single source such as a DAC and an integrated amplifier, preamp, or headphone amplifier. In that setup, Buf only influences that specific source.

Tube lifespan is typically around 5,000 hours of use. That figure reflects active operating time, so it’s best to turn the unit off when it’s not in use to extend tube life.

Buf is compatible with tubes that use a standard 6922 pinout, with heater current up to 600mA. Supported types include 6N1P, 6922, ECC88, and 6DJ8. For simplicity and consistency, using the included tube is the most straightforward option.

Like the rest of Schiit’s lineup, Buf is built in the USA, with assembly in Texas and chassis work in California. It carries a 3-year warranty, with the tube itself covered for 90 days.

The Bottom Line

The $99 Schiit Buf is a simple way to add a tube stage to almost any system without changing your core components and you can bypass it when you don’t want it. What’s unique is the price, true tube implementation, and flexibility. What’s missing is everything else: no volume control, no inputs beyond basic RCA switching, no DAC, no remote. This is for users who already have a system and want to experiment with tube character without committing to a full tube preamp or amplifier.

Where to buy: $99 at Schiit

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LG has secured the first True Wireless Lossless Vision certification from testing body TÜV Rheinland for its premium wireless TVs, independently verifying that the OLED evo W6 and Mini RGB evo MRGB9M deliver visually lossless 4K picture quality over a wireless connection.

The certification addresses a longstanding concern with wireless TV technology, where the absence of a physical cable connection has introduced compromises with colour accuracy, HDR tone reproduction and image detail that made wireless displays a harder recommendation against wired equivalents at the same price point.

TÜV Rheinland’s evaluation confirmed that both LG models maintain colour reproduction, image detail, and HDR tone performance within defined tolerance levels relative to the input signal, with the OLED evo W6 additionally certified for wireless transmission at refresh rates up to 165Hz, a figure relevant to gaming use cases where motion clarity and input lag are primary concerns.

The OLED evo W6 sits at the centre of LG’s certified lineup as the company’s Wallpaper TV, a 9mm panel that ships with a separate Zero Connect Box housing all physical inputs, which can be positioned up to 10 metres from the screen to eliminate visible cable runs between source devices and the display itself.

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Extending the certification beyond OLED, the Mini RGB evo MRGB9M brings TÜV-verified wireless performance to LCD technology. Available in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 86-inch screen sizes, the panel applies image processing techniques more commonly associated with OLED-class displays to provide better colour accuracy and contrast management at larger scales.

The True Wireless Lossless Vision standard itself was developed by TÜV Rheinland to evaluate wireless display products against factors including input lag, colour accuracy and gamma tracking, establishing a repeatable test framework against which future wireless TV products from any manufacturer can be assessed.

Neither pricing nor regional availability for the LG OLED evo W6 or LG Mini RGB evo MRGB9M has been confirmed, with LG stating only that availability may vary by market.

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• SpaceX admits orbital AI data centers may never become commercially viable
• SpaceX S-1 filing reveals unproven technologies behind space-based computing infrastructure
• Harsh space conditions threaten the reliability of sensitive AI hardware systems

SpaceX has warned potential investors its ambitious plans to build AI data centers in orbit may never become commercially viable due to unproven technologies and the harsh realities of space.

The company disclosed these risks in its pre-IPO S-1 filing, which US securities law requires to inform investors of potential pitfalls while shielding the company from future legal liability.

Nicolas Cage stars in the new live-action series Spider-Noir, based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. The show marks Cage’s first leading role in a TV series. In it, he plays Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York who was once a superhero known as “The Spider.” When he’s offered a new case, Ben assumes his old alter ego one more time. 

While we’re excited to see what Cage can do in this role, we’re also looking forward to the choose-your-own-viewing-experience aspect of the show. The series will be available to stream two ways: “Authentic Black & White” for an especially noir feel, or in “True-Hue Full Color,” a stylized, color-saturated option. Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola and Jack Huston all co-star. The series will debut on MGM Plus’s broadcast channel on May 25 and arrives on streaming on Prime Video on May 27 as a binge release.

The discussions, triggered by a visit from Nvidia’s Madison Huang, would deepen LG’s physical AI ambitions and give Nvidia another major consumer electronics partner at a moment when physical AI is moving from lab to factory floor.

LG Electronics confirmed on Wednesday that it has been in discussions with Nvidia over potential cooperation in three areas: robotics, AI data centres, and mobility.

The announcement, reported by Reuters, came after Madison Huang, Nvidia’s senior director for physical AI platforms, and the eldest daughter of CEO Jensen Huang, visited LG Electronics’ headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, along with several other major South Korean technology companies. LG CEO Ryu Jae-cheol attended the meeting directly.

No formal agreement has been announced. The talks are at an exploratory stage, and no specific products, investment amounts, or timelines have been confirmed. But the three areas under discussion map precisely onto both companies’ most publicised strategic priorities, and the breadth of the conversation signals this is more than a courtesy call.

What each side brings to the table?

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For LG, the strategic logic is straightforward. The company is one of the world’s largest home appliance manufacturers, but its growth thesis has shifted decisively towards AI-powered physical systems.

At CES 2026 in January, LG unveiled CLOiD, a home robot with two articulated arms, seven degrees of freedom per arm, and five individually actuated fingers per hand, the physical expression of what the company calls its ‘Zero Labor Home’ vision, in which connected robots and appliances automate the manual and cognitive load of household tasks.

LG’s broader CES presentation framed its AI strategy around three pillars: device excellence, an orchestrated smart home ecosystem, and expansion into AI-defined vehicles and AI data centre HVAC solutions.

The CLOiD robot runs on LG’s own ‘Affectionate Intelligence’ platform, which handles contextual awareness, natural interaction, and continuous learning from the home environment.

What it does not have is Nvidia’s Isaac robotics stack: the simulation environment, the pre-trained manipulation models, the Omniverse-based digital twin infrastructure, and the GPU compute optimised for real-time physical AI inference that Nvidia has been building out over the past two years.

Integrating Nvidia’s physical AI platform with CLOiD would give LG what every other serious robotics company is currently racing to access: a proven development-to-deployment pipeline that can compress the time between prototype and production.

For Nvidia, the attraction is consumer scale. Its existing robotics partnerships, including the Siemens factory trial, where a Humanoid HMND 01 Alpha running on Nvidia’s physical AI stack completed eight hours of live logistics operations at a factory in Erlangen, are concentrated in industrial and enterprise settings.

LG would represent a different category entirely: a company with mass-market distribution, a global installed base of connected home appliances through its ThinQ ecosystem, and specific plans to put a robot in people’s homes.

If Nvidia’s Isaac platform becomes the AI stack inside CLOiD, it gains access to one of the most data-rich training environments imaginable: real homes, real tasks, real variability.

The robotics thread is the most visible, but the data centre and mobility conversations are arguably of greater near-term commercial significance.

On data centres: LG’s CES presentation explicitly positioned the company as a provider of high-efficiency HVAC and thermal management solutions for AI data centres, a product category that is exploding in relevance as the power density of GPU clusters makes conventional cooling infrastructure inadequate.

Nvidia’s data centre business, which accounted for the overwhelming majority of its record revenues over the past two years, is the most important AI infrastructure deployment context in the world.

A partnership on data centre thermal management would position LG as a hardware supplier inside Nvidia’s ecosystem at the infrastructure level, complementing the AI compute layer rather than competing with it.

On mobility: both companies have well-established automotive AI programmes that are logical fits for collaboration. Nvidia’s DRIVE platform is among the most widely deployed AI computing systems in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.

LG’s automotive components division, which produces in-vehicle infotainment, camera systems, EV components, and what it calls ‘AI-powered in-vehicle solutions’ including gaze-tracking, adaptive displays, and multimodal generative AI platforms, is one of the company’s fastest-growing segments.

The two companies are already operating in adjacent layers of the same vehicle; a formal collaboration would potentially integrate LG’s in-cabin AI experience layer with Nvidia’s DRIVE compute platform.

Wednesday’s announcement is the latest signal that the physical AI race, the deployment of AI in robots and autonomous systems operating in the real world, as distinct from software models running in the cloud, is accelerating beyond the controlled trials of the past two years into commercial partnership structures.

For example, Sereact raised $110 million to scale AI that makes any robot adaptable, underscoring how capital is flowing into the intelligence layer of the robotics stack. The Siemens–Nvidia factory deployment demonstrated that physical AI can run in live production environments; the LG talks suggest it is now extending into the consumer home.

For Nvidia, the expansion of physical AI partnerships beyond purely industrial settings into consumer electronics is strategically significant. The company’s Omniverse and Isaac platforms are designed to be the universal development infrastructure for physical AI, in the same way its GPU architecture became the universal infrastructure for cloud AI.

Every major robotics company that adopts the Nvidia stack strengthens that position. LG, with its scale in home appliances and its explicit commitment to bringing robots into the home, is a materially different kind of partner than a German factory or a logistics warehouse, and potentially a much larger one.

Just days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote a public apology to people of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia in the aftermath of the town’s deadly February 10 school shooting, the families of the victims of the traumatic event are suing OpenAI for negligence.

The mass shooting, one of the deadliest in Canadian history, saw the alleged shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, enter the town’s local high school and kill five students and one teacher, as well as critically injure two others, before taking her own life. Local police later discovered Van Rootselaar had also killed her mother and 11-year-old half-brother before entering the school.

Per NPR, lawyers representing some of the families of Tumbler Ridge filed six different suits on Wednesday in a federal court in San Francisco. One of the complaints, filed on behalf of Maya Gebala, a survivor of the shooting, alleges OpenAI’s automated safety systems flagged Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT conversations in June 2025, more than half a year before she entered the town’s high school with a long gun and modified rifle, for “gun violence activity and planning.” It further claims OpenAI’s safety team urged management to contact authorities, but that the company chose instead to deactivate Van Rootselaar account. She later created a second account and continued her conversations with ChatGPT.

“The events in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy. We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Engadget. “As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat violators.”

On late Tuesday, OpenAI published a blog post outlining its safety policies. “As part of this ongoing work, we’ve continued expanding our safeguards to help ChatGPT better recognize subtle signs of risk of harm across different contexts. Some safety risks only become clear over time: a single message may seem harmless on its own, but a broader pattern within a long conversation — or across conversations — can suggest something more concerning,” the company wrote.

The suits filed on Wednesday are the latest attempt to use the legal system to hold OpenAI accountable for the design of its products. Last summer, the parents of Adam Raine, a teen who committed suicide in 2025, filed the first known wrongful death suit against an AI company, alleging ChatGPT was aware of four previous attempts by Raine to take his own life before he was ultimately successful.

So far, the organisation has already hired for 100 of the previously announced 125 new roles, the remainder of which are to be filled by the end of the year.

Datavant, a data collaboration platform for the healthcare space, has officially opened its new global R&D centre at Bonham Quay in Galway city.  

The new location is a 15,000 sq ft office, across two floors and can accommodate up to 160 workspaces. There are also facilities for company-wide town hall meetings, team meet ups and recreational activities. 

The team at the Bonham Quay facility will focus on a number of goals, such as the advancement of platform enhancements, automated record retrieval, security and privacy practices, and product development. 

Headquartered in New York, Datavant employs nearly 10,000 people. The organisation announced the availability of 125 new roles last year, 100 of which have been filled to date, with the final roles to be filled by the end of the year. Datavant has also stated that the company is actively looking to recruit for a range of engineering positions, with a particular focus on experienced software professionals. 

Commenting on the launch, Minister of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD said: “Datavant’s decision to expand and officially open its new global R&D centre in Galway is a strong endorsement of Ireland’s ability to attract and support innovation-led investment. 

“It speaks to the depth of our talent pool, the quality of our research and engineering capability and the pro-enterprise environment we have built. I wish all the team at Datavant the very best as they take the next exciting step on their growth journey.”

Minister of Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton, TD added: “This is a fantastic milestone for Galway and for the wider west region. The official opening of Datavant’s new R&D centre at Bonham Quay, combined with the announcement that 100 roles have already been filled, demonstrates the momentum that exists in the west region and the confidence international companies have in Galway as a place to grow.”

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