SIVGA is a Chinese HiFi audio brand that was founded in 2016. They’re an end-to-end organization, running their own R&D, branding, and manufacturing, in-house. This all-original approach gives SIVGA freedom to experiment and innovate, but also creates a distinct “SVIGA-iness” across their lineup. The company builds both over-ear headphones and in-ear monitors, and its latest release, the Nightingale Pro, revisits the original planar magnetic Nightingale IEM with revised tuning and execution.
The first Nightingale earned a loyal following but never crossed into broad market relevance. The question now is simple and unavoidable: does the Nightingale Pro finally have the balance, refinement, and accessibility to break out of the niche—or is it still speaking mainly to the faithful?
About My Preferences
This review is a subjective assessment, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. I do my best to separate personal taste from performance-based criticism, but bias never fully disappears—it just gets managed. So consider this your calibration point. My ideal sound signature prioritizes competent sub-bass, textured mid-bass, a slightly warm midrange, and extended but controlled treble. I also have mild treble sensitivity, which means I’m quick to notice glare, edge, or artificial sparkle.
Sources, DAPs, and Dongles Used
Listening was split between dedicated digital audio players and dongles to reflect how most people will actually use the Nightingale Pro. DAPs included the HiFiMAN SuperMini, Hidizs AP80 Pro MAX, and the Astell&Kern PD10, covering everything from ultra-portable to genuinely high-end. Dongle testing included the Astell&Kern HC5, Audioengine HXL, Meze Audio Alba Dongle, and the ubiquitous Apple USB-C dongle.
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Testing equipment and standards can be found here.
Build
As is typical for SIVGA, the Nightingale Pro is constructed from a carefully chosen mix of high-quality, tactile materials. The faceplate is carved from polished zebrawood and set into a precisely anodized aluminum chassis, giving the IEM a premium, handcrafted feel that’s immediately apparent in the hand and consistent with the brand’s design ethos.
The Nightingale Pro uses metal nozzles with an integrated debris filter positioned just below the lip, a practical touch that should help with long-term durability and maintenance. At the top of each shell is an extruded 0.78 mm two-pin socket, firmly set into the housing to ensure a secure cable connection and reduce long-term wear from repeated swaps.
Because of the extruded design of the Nightingale Pro’s sockets, the pool of compatible third-party cables is smaller than with a standard flush 0.78 mm connection. Fortunately, that limitation is softened by the fact that the included cable is genuinely solid.
It uses a two-tone twisted braid paired with metal hardware and feels purpose-built rather than disposable. SIVGA also employs a substantial spring as strain relief near the base of the fixed 4.4 mm termination, lending the cable an almost industrial look while adding real-world durability. From a construction and longevity standpoint, there’s nothing here that raises red flags.
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Comfort
Comfort is inherently personal and heavily dependent on individual ear anatomy, so mileage will vary. The Nightingale Pro features a shallow fit profile, with nozzles that are slightly shorter than average. As a result, some experimentation with eartip sizes and shapes is likely required to achieve an optimal seal.
That said, the IEMs themselves are neither heavy nor bulky, and once dialed in, they proved comfortable for multiple consecutive hours of listening. The trade-off is isolation. The shorter nozzle and shallower insertion mean passive noise attenuation is below average, especially compared to deeper-fitting designs. For that reason, the Nightingale Pro isn’t an ideal choice for air travel or consistently noisy environments, where isolation matters as much as comfort.
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Accessories
The Nightingale Pro’s accessory bundle is fairly bare-bones. Inside the box, you’ll find a semi-hard carrying case and six pairs of silicone eartips—and that’s about it. Unfortunately, the included eartips are the weak link here. Paired with the Nightingale Pro’s shallow fit profile, they simply didn’t work well for my ears and made achieving a consistent seal more difficult than it should be.
For an IEM in this price range, the accessory selection feels underwhelming. At a minimum, higher-quality silicone eartips would be a welcome upgrade. Including a pair or two of Comply-style foam tips would also go a long way toward improving comfort, seal, and perceived value out of the box.
The Nightingale Pro’s carrying case is a bright spot in an otherwise modest accessory bundle. It offers enough internal space to comfortably store the IEMs, the attached cable, and even a compact dongle without feeling cramped. With a bit of careful arrangement, you can also fit a few spare pairs of eartips. Protection is solid but not exceptional—best described as average—making the case well suited for static storage and light travel rather than heavy-duty, throw-it-in-a-bag use.
Technical Specifications
The Nightingale Pro is built around a 14.5 mm planar magnetic driver, a relatively large diaphragm for an in-ear monitor. With a 16 ohm impedance and 107 dB sensitivity, it’s an easy IEM to drive and performs well from dongles and portable sources without requiring excessive power.
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Its rated frequency response of 20 Hz to 40 kHz aligns with the Nightingale Pro’s airy top-end and controlled low-frequency extension, while the supplied 1.25 m cable terminates in a 4.4 mm balanced connector, reinforcing its intended use with modern balanced sources. At 14 g, the shells remain light enough for long listening sessions, even with the slightly shallow fit. Overall, the specs point to a planar IEM designed for portable versatility rather than source dependency, with few practical barriers to entry for everyday listening.
Listening
The Nightingale Pro presents a largely linear tuning with a subtle warm tilt. Its low end is well extended and lightly emphasized in the lower registers, while the midrange remains even and neutrally voiced overall. The upper mids receive a modest lift to improve instrumental separation and vocal clarity without pushing the presentation forward.
Treble is expressive but deliberately restrained, never asserting itself as the focal point. By carefully attenuating energy around the 8, 10, and 12 kHz regions, the Nightingale Pro avoids sharpness and metallic timbre. Extension, however, is excellent, reinforcing the point that convincing air and detail don’t require aggressive treble peaks to fully articulate the upper registers.
Glittering, Gleaming, Subtlety
The Nightingale Pro is not an in-your-face IEM, and that restraint is most evident in its treble tuning. While planar drivers are often associated with a boisterous or overly dramatic upper register, that reputation is more a byproduct of inconsistent tuning than an inherent trait of the technology itself. Here, the Nightingale Pro operates firmly in the realm of linearity, delivering strong resolution, texture, and dimensionality while integrating treble information naturally into the soundstage rather than spotlighting it.
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The gentle, muted snares in the background of “Anna Sun” by Walk the Moon peek through the edges of the soundstage during the intro, then open up and sit more forward in the mix during the chorus. The Nightingale Pro’s carefully measured treble makes that kind of finesse easy to follow. A brighter treble would have been more “exciting,” sure—but it also would have been more likely to smear that detail and mask what the track’s mastering is actually doing.
Muted Mids
SIVGA tuned the Nightingale Pro’s midrange to be deliberately linear, resulting in a warm, smooth presentation that stands in clear contrast to the more aggressive upper-midrange peaks often associated with planar IEMs. This predictable, even-handed approach makes the Nightingale Pro a strong candidate for reference-style listening, but it also places it outside the comfort zone of more mainstream tastes. Certain genres and mastering styles can come across as overly warm, which in turn affects the perceived width and scale of the soundstage.
EDM tracks like “Light Up The Sky” by Wooli are largely unaffected by this tuning, retaining their drive and structure. Rock recordings, however, such as “Lost in the Echo” by Linkin Park fare worse. On tracks like these, the soundstage can feel compressed, with vocals and guitars sounding dense and constrained.
Male vocals, while full-bodied and weighty, can lean heavy at times. Female vocals and higher-pitched male vocals are better served by the tuning and tend to sound clearer and more balanced. Even so, lyric intelligibility remains strong, and instrumental layering is consistently well handled. The Nightingale Pro presents music in an intimate, close-up manner, but it avoids sounding muddy thanks to its solid technical performance. Listeners accustomed to a more recessed lower midrange may take issue with this tuning choice, as it meaningfully reshapes how instruments and vocals are positioned within the mix.
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Gentle and Firm Bass
Thanks to its mildly lifted bass shelf, the Nightingale Pro is reasonably well equipped to resolve low-frequency information. Drum hits carry a touch of punch and a hint of rumble, though not to the extent you’d expect from a traditional dynamic-driver design. The lower register isn’t boisterous, but it is clean, quick, and well controlled, which makes the Nightingale Pro a capable partner for fast-moving genres like metal.
Electronic music can also fare well, depending on the mastering. The Nightingale Pro is able to dig into the sub-bass to resolve deep synth lines and will occasionally deliver a convincing sense of rumble. This gives it enough low-end contrast to support tracks like “Swimming in the Sky” by ARMNHMR, helping establish tonal depth without overwhelming the rest of the presentation. It won’t shake your skull, but it also avoids the flat or anemic low-end character that plagues some planar IEMs.
Comparisons
Kiwi Ears Aether
The Kiwi Ears Aether is a $170 planar IEM built around plastic shells with metal nozzles and a thin 0.78 mm two-pin cable. It uses a fixed 3.5 mm termination, rather than the fixed 4.4 mm balanced termination found on the Nightingale Pro. At roughly $130 less, the Aether clearly targets more cost-sensitive buyers—and it looks the part. Build quality and material choices fall short across the board, from the faceplates and nozzles to the cable itself. Nothing about the Aether’s physical execution approaches the Nightingale Pro’s level of refinement.
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Sonically, however, the gap narrows considerably. The Aether ranks among the stronger planar IEMs currently available, offering a well-balanced, natural tuning and solid technical performance at an accessible price. The Nightingale Pro, by contrast, caters more directly to listeners who favor linearity and a flatter, reference-leaning presentation. The Aether brings slightly more mid-bass presence and a less emphasized lower midrange, while its upper mids are marginally more forward. Treble is another point of divergence: the Nightingale Pro is more restrained overall, whereas the Aether’s lower treble is noticeably more forward, making it easier to create a sense of air and openness.
Between the two, the Aether is the easier recommendation for everyday listening. Its broader genre compatibility and less linear tuning make it more forgiving and more enjoyable across a diverse music library. Listeners who are treble-averse or specifically seeking a more reference-oriented presentation, however, will likely find the Nightingale Pro better aligned with their preferences.
7Hz Divine
The Divine is a relatively recent planar IEM from 7Hz, typically priced around $150. It features polished metal shells and a detachable cable that’s noticeably thicker and heavier than the Nightingale Pro’s. That cable terminates in a fixed 3.5 mm plug rather than a 4.4 mm balanced connection. Despite costing roughly half as much as the Nightingale Pro, the Divine ships with a larger carrying case and a more generous selection of eartips.
In terms of tuning, the Nightingale Pro leans more linear and reference-oriented, with a warmer overall balance than the Divine. Both IEMs employ modest bass shelves, but the Divine’s low end comes across drier and more matter-of-fact. The Divine also features a larger upper-midrange lift and a more pronounced upper treble, giving it a cooler, airier presentation. From a technical standpoint, both perform competently, though the Nightingale Pro does a better job of capturing fine vocal inflections that the Divine tends to smooth over. The Divine can surface certain details more readily, but it misses some of the subtler mastering nuances that the Nightingale Pro renders more convincingly.
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Between the two, the Nightingale Pro edges ahead. While the Divine offers broader genre flexibility, the Nightingale Pro’s bass tonality is more satisfying, and its overall presentation is easier to live with over long sessions. Comfort also plays a role: despite its attractive design, the Divine can become fatiguing to wear, whereas the Nightingale Pro proves more accommodating for extended listening.
Juzear Harrier
The Juzear Harrier is a tribrid IEM built with resin shells and metal nozzles, typically priced at $330, though it was available for $300 at the time of writing. It includes a modular 0.78 mm two-pin cable with both 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm terminations. The cable itself is quite good—noticeably thicker than the Nightingale Pro’s—and feels more substantial in hand. In terms of construction, the Nightingale Pro’s metal-and-wood chassis is clearly sturdier than the Harrier’s resin build, though the Harrier does fit my ears more comfortably.
Sonically, the Harrier takes a very different approach. It is the bassier of the two, with a much more pronounced low end and a particularly forward mid-bass. The Nightingale Pro counters with tighter, more controlled mid-bass and sub-bass performance, along with stronger technical discipline. The Harrier leans cooler overall, with a larger upper-midrange lift and greater treble emphasis.
By comparison, the Nightingale Pro sounds more linear and noticeably more cohesive from top to bottom. While the Harrier’s treble is more forward, it can also come across as grainier. The Nightingale Pro generally exhibits superior technicalities, though it can sound congested when directly A/B tested against the Harrier on certain tracks.
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Between the two, the Nightingale Pro takes the nod. Its sturdier build quality, stronger technical performance, and greater tonal cohesion work in its favor. The Harrier is still an appealing option, but it feels like a less fully realized execution of its tuning vision. Listeners who are sensitive to warmth or prefer a more open, brighter midrange and treble balance may gravitate toward the Harrier. Personally, I’m comfortable sticking with the Nightingale Pro.
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The Bottom Line
The Nightingale Pro is a thoughtfully built planar IEM that sticks closely to SIVGA’s established design language and tuning philosophy. Its presentation leans linear and reference-minded, with real sub-bass reach, a touch of warmth through the mids, and a treble response that stays extended without ever tipping into sharpness or sibilance. The craftsmanship is legitimately excellent—shells and faceplates feel premium in a way that’s immediately apparent—but sound quality, not aesthetics, is where buying decisions are made.
And this is where the Nightingale Pro becomes selective rather than universal. The restrained mid-bass and more relaxed treatment of male vocals and electric guitars limit its emotional punch, especially for listeners accustomed to more forward or dynamic presentations. In a price range crowded with strong alternatives, build quality alone isn’t enough to move it to the top of the list.
That said, there is a clear audience here. Listeners chasing a clean, sharpness-free planar sound, engineers looking for balance over excitement, and anyone drawn to a controlled, reference-style tuning will find a lot to respect. Bassheads, V-shaped devotees, and those who want vocals pushed front and center should keep moving. The Nightingale Pro doesn’t try to win everyone over—and that may be its most honest trait.
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Pros:
Sibilance-free tuning that stays composed even on hot recordings
Expressive, nuanced midrange with strong vocal and acoustic texture
Genuine sub-bass extension with reach and control
High-quality craftsmanship that feels deliberate, not mass-produced
Excellent layering and separation, especially in complex mixes
Impressive upper-treble extension that adds air without bite
Cons:
Mid-bass lacks authority, limiting slam and rhythmic weight
Cable feels wiry above the Y-split, detracting from overall ergonomics
Included silicone eartips are sub-par and do the IEM no favors
Shallow shell profile demands careful tip selection to get proper seal
Below-average passive isolation, especially for commuting or travel
Male vocals and electric guitars sound muted on select tracks
Klipsch is returning to Milan Design Week 2026 with something that goes beyond another product launch; it’s a continuation of one of the more interesting collaborations in modern hi-fi. Following the limited-run kO-R1 in 2024, Klipsch and OJAS have officially unveiled the kO-R2, a new loudspeaker created with Devon Turnbull, the artist and acoustic designer behind OJAS, as part of Klipsch’s 80th anniversary.
That matters more than the usual show-floor debut. The first kO-R1 wasn’t just a speaker, it was a statement about where heritage audio could go when handed to someone outside the traditional engineering echo chamber. Turnbull approached Klipsch’s horn-loaded DNA with a minimalist, almost gallery-first mindset, and the result landed somewhere between serious hi-fi and functional art. It sold out quickly and didn’t need a stack of Audio Science Review graphs to justify itself. Turns out art and musical enjoyment still carry more weight than rigid objectivism.
The kO-R2 builds directly on that foundation. Klipsch and OJAS describe it as a blend of minimalist design, advanced acoustic thinking, and bespoke materials, with an emphasis on form that’s meant to live as comfortably in a design exhibition as it does in a listening room. There are no performance specifications or pricing details yet, which feels intentional. This isn’t being positioned as a spec war product; it’s being framed as a continuation of an idea.
Klipsch OJAS kO-R2
And that’s the real story. At a time when much of the industry is chasing incremental upgrades and feature checklists, Klipsch is doubling down on a collaboration that prioritizes identity, experience, and cultural relevance. Bringing the kO-R2 to Milan Design Week instead of a traditional audio show makes that point clear: this is as much about design language and audience expansion as it is about sound.
Whether the kO-R2 ultimately delivers on the acoustic side will come later. For now, Klipsch and OJAS have done something more difficult; they’ve made people outside the usual audiophile bubble pay attention.
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Unveiled at Milan Design Week 2026
Set against the backdrop of the Fondazione Luigi Rovati, in partnership with USM Modular Furniture and Karimoku, Klipsch and OJAS are hosting curated, appointment-only listening sessions during Milan Design Week through April 26, 2026. Those who get access are encouraged to bring their own music, turning the kO-R2 preview into something more personal than the usual show-floor demo.
After its debut in Milan, a broader launch for the kO-R2 is expected in June 2026.
“Working with Klipsch continues to be an exploration of how we can strip audio down to its most essential, emotional core,”said Devon Turnbull. “With the kO-R2, we focused on creating something that feels immediate and human—where the technology disappears, and the listener is left with a pure, physical connection to the music.”
kO-R2 Design Concept
The kO-R2 is a two-way, sectoral horn-loaded loudspeaker positioned as the next step in the Klipsch x OJAS collaboration. It’s handcrafted in Hope, Arkansas, by the same team behind Klipsch’s legacy designs, and features an OJAS-developed multisectoral horn paired with Baltic birch cabinetry. The goal is clear: deliver the dynamic, low-distortion traits horn systems are known for, while presenting something that looks just as considered as it sounds.
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Klipsch OJAS kO-R2 Loudspeaker in Hammertone Silver.
The core of the latest speaker design is the OJAS 1506 multisectoral horn, fabricated from heavy cast aluminum and finished with electrophoresis and a flat black powder coat.
The exponential horn pulls from classic Western Electric and Altec Lansing design cues, but it’s not a straight throwback. The square, isosceles trapezoidal mouth is doing real work here, controlling dispersion in both planes rather than just looking the part. The result should be more even frequency distribution and a wider, more stable listening window, which is exactly what these older horn concepts were chasing in the first place.
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The kO-R2 leans into a restrained, material-first design without skimping on the hardware. It uses a high-quality compression driver, anodized aluminum binding posts, and anti-vibration feet—nothing flashy, just components that make sense for a horn-loaded design like this.
Details like the laser-engraved metal ID plate add a layer of exclusivity without turning it into a gimmick, and the five-step high-frequency attenuator is there for a reason: dialing in top-end energy to match the room and placement, which matters more with horns than most speaker types.
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Calling it a “museum piece” isn’t entirely off base, but the real goal here isn’t to redefine audiophile expectations. It’s to bridge two worlds that don’t usually overlap this cleanly: serious acoustic design and industrial design that people actually want to live with.
“The kO-R2 represents a powerful intersection of heritage and forward-thinking design. Partnering with Devon allows us to honor Klipsch’s 80-year legacy while pushing into new creative territory—delivering a product that is as culturally relevant as it is acoustically exceptional,” said Vinny Bonacorsi, COO of Klipsch.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t a typical brand crossover. Klipsch is working within its core strength—horn-loaded design—while Devon Turnbull brings a different perspective on how these systems look and live in real spaces. The kO-R2 builds on the kO-R1 with a larger, more complex horn and a move to a floorstanding design, which should translate into greater scale and output.
There are still no detailed specifications or pricing, but the context matters. The kO-R1 launched at $8,498 per pair and sold out quickly. For the kO-R2, production is expected to be limited to around 600 pairs, so availability is going to be tight from the start.
It’s aimed at a specific buyer: someone who values both the design and the underlying acoustic approach, and who is comfortable buying into the concept without a full data sheet upfront. Between the prior pricing and limited run, this won’t be a mainstream Klipsch product—and that’s the point.
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Klipsch OJAS kO-R2 Loudspeaker in Red Oak veneer.
Price & Availability
Once released (expected to be June 2026), 600 pairs of the kO-R2 will be available worldwide in either Red Oak veneer or Hammertone Silver with a powder-coated, matte-black horn. Price has yet to be announced.
Two entrepreneurs, Benson Phelps and Carroll Faye, teamed up to open a small coal and wood delivery company in Baltimore in 1907. The business saw success in its early years, expanding rapidly over its first couple of decades. Faye decided to move on to other ventures and sold his stake in the business to Phelps, but the company continued to use Faye’s first name as its brand. The Carroll Independent Fuel Company began selling oil in the 1930s under the guidance of Phelps, and it never stopped. Today, drivers can still buy fuel from the same company, although they’ll now recognize it as Carroll Motor Fuels.
The Carroll network of gas stations might have grown significantly over its century-plus of trading, but its ownership structure has remained consistent. It’s still an independent, family-owned business, with various members of the Phelps family at the helm. John Phelps serves as the company’s CEO and President, while Richard B. Phelps III holds the title of Executive Vice President alongside C. Howard Phelps. Several more Phelps family members hold leadership roles.
Carroll isn’t the only gas station chain that has remained family owned since its inception. The Love’s chain of gas stations is also still owned by members of its founding family, and it has risen to become one of America’s largest privately owned companies.
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The Carroll network operates under multiple brands
Alongside its own-brand gas stations, Carroll Independent Fuel also operates stations under various other names. The East Coast chain’s network includes stations that use Sunoco branding, which is most famously associated with the NASCAR Cup Series. Other locations are branded as BP gas stations, with Carroll working with the British-owned oil company since 2006.
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In 2012, Carroll Independent Fuel also acquired High’s, a Baltimore-based chain of convenience stores. In an interview with the Baltimore Business Journal, Executive Vice President Howard Phelps said that the company realized that “competition on the gasoline retail side was transitioning to convenience,” and that Carroll wanted to “to go toe to toe” with rivals like Sheetz and Wawa.
The Carroll network continues to grow, with the company acquiring seven new sites in 2022. The new locations helped develop its network outside the company’s home state of Maryland, with Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all seeing new Carroll-operated locations launched.
We’ve always been interested in fluidic computers, a technique that uses moving fluids to perform logic operations. Now, Spectrum reports that researchers have developed an electronics-free contact lens that monitors glaucoma and can even help treat it.
The lens is made entirely of polymer and features a microfluidic sensor that can monitor eye pressure in real time. It also has pressure-activated drug reservoirs that dispense medicine when pressure exceeds a fixed threshold. You can see Spectrum’s video on the device below.
This isn’t the first attempt to treat glaucoma, which affects more than 80 million people, with a contact lens. In 2016, Triggerfish took a similar approach, but it used electronic components in the lens, which poses problems for manufacturing and for people wearing them.
Naturally, the device depends on 3D printed molds to create channels and reservoirs in the lens. A special silk sponge in the reservoirs can absorb up to 2,700 times its weight. One sponge holds a red fluid that is forced by pressure into a serpentine microchannel. A phone app uses a neural network to convert the image of the red fluid into a pressure reading.
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Two more sponges hold drugs that release at a given pressure determined by the width of the associated microchannel. This allows the possibility of increasing the dose at a higher pressure or even delivering two drugs at different pressure levels.
Even if you’re 250,000 miles from Earth, sleep is important. However, for all the life-sustaining accoutrements aboard the Orion spacecraft, the capsule lacked bedrooms, leaving the four-person Artemis II crew with a truly bizarre sleeping arrangement.
“I slept really close to an air conditioning vent. And so I’d wake up and I just see this big hunk of metal,” Glover told CNET during a video call. “And it was like, ‘Oh, I’m in space. I am weightless.’”
Sleep wasn’t just a means for the astronauts to recharge; it also grounded them during their historic journey. Glover explained, “What really resonated with me is we’re also humans. It’s like camping, and this is a very important part of this journey.”
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Watch this: Artemis II’s Victor Glover Chats With CNET
Artemis II was the first crewed mission to the moon in over 50 years. It followed Artemis I, a 2022 uncrewed mission that was the first for NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The goal for Artemis II was to have a crew test the spacecraft, life support systems, the SLS rocket and the procedures needed for future lunar missions that will involve landing on the moon and eventually building a base there.
Glover, the Orion’s pilot, along with commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, made up the Artemis II crew. The mission made a lot of history. It’s the first time a woman, a Black man or a Canadian has journeyed to the moon. The four Artemis II astronauts traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, farther than any other human being, surpassing the record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission.
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This image of NASA’s Orion spacecraft was taken with a camera mounted on its solar array wings.
NASA
This wasn’t Glover’s first time in space. In 2020, with a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff, he piloted the Crew Dragon capsule to and from the International Space Station for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission, spending over 167 days in space. But Artemis II gave Glover the opportunity to be the first to fly the Orion, a new vehicle designed for Artemis missions. For the majority of the nearly 10-day journey, Orion was on autopilot. But Glover had several opportunities to take manual control of the spacecraft to test its handling.
“It was such a treat and a joy,” Glover said about flying the Orion. “It was a test pilot’s dream to fly a new spaceship for the first time by hand.”
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Even after spending time training to fly in a simulator back on Earth, he was surprised by how responsive the Orion’s hand controller was and by the clarity of the cameras, used to maneuver the craft around the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that holds the fuel for the upper stage of liftoff. He said the view from the cameras and monitors was like “looking out a window.”
Artemis II astronaut and pilot Victor Glover wears an orange flight suit.
NASA
When I asked Glover if he felt like Han Solo when piloting the Orion, he retorted, “Han Solo wants to be me when he grows up!” Throughout my interview, Glover was gracious, passionate and funny.
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“I get to do stuff that’s cooler than Han Solo. I mean, just the fact that it’s real, it’s better.”
While landing on the moon wasn’t in the cards for this trip, the Orion crew traveled about 4,000 miles beyond the moon, allowing them to see parts of the moon that had never been seen before. For comparison, Apollo missions flew about 70 miles above the moon to make landings, limiting how much of it they could actually see.
Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the moon.
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NASA
The images that Glover and the crew took of the moon were stunning. Shots like the Earthset were a reminder of how beautiful our planet is and our place within the solar system. The astronauts even witnessed a total solar eclipse as they rounded the far side of the moon. But none of the photos they took compares to what they saw, according to Glover.
“I could see the curvature of the moon. Depth is just one aspect that you cannot see in the pictures. But here’s the other thing, the pictures lack scale.”
When the Artemis II flew over the terminator, the crew said that this boundary between day and night was “anything but a straight line,” according to NASA.
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NASA
For the lunar flyby, the Orion was moving fast: 60,863 mph relative to Earth, but only 3,139 mph relative to the moon, according to NASA. The speed meant the shadows across the surface were constantly morphing into different shapes. Glover was particularly enamored with the moon’s terminator, where the light and dark sides of the moon meet. The terminator isn’t fixed and depends on the moon’s position relative to the sun. As Orion moved, it transformed into various shapes that looked like letters of the alphabet.
“People know, I fell in love with the terminator when I got to see the real one up close. I watched the terminator go from a letter C to a letter D, which means there was a point when the moon was half light, half dark. It was pointing right at me.”
The Artemis II astronauts take a selfie of themselves wearing eclipse glasses using an iPhone 17 Pro Max.
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NASA
Artemis II’s lunar flyby was a highlight of the journey for many of us on Earth, in part because we could watch it in real time on streaming services like Netflix. Nearly the entire mission was streamed live on NASA’s website and YouTube channel, making it feel like a reality show. One minute you’re watching the crew eat, work out, take photos of the moon; the next, there’s a random jar of Nutella floating by one of the cameras. I asked Glover whether it felt like he was on a TV show while on the Orion.
“It did not feel like a reality show on my end,” said Glover. “For you to see the science and hear us describing the moon, and to see us flying the spaceship by hand, and to see bedtime and bath time and teeth brush time, that’s what it’s like. The mission was all of those things.”
Glover was ecstatic to hear how I and others felt so connected to the crew during their mission. He said it was important to NASA to let the world in on everything it took to send four people a quarter of a million miles away.
“I think that maybe one of the really, most special things about this mission is how much you were able to see,” Glover said with a smile. “It makes me feel good that you felt like you were there.”
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Watch this: Getting Personal With the Crew of Artemis II | Tech Today
We heard all about GoPro’s new action camera series last week, but the company is now unveiling the pricing across its Mission 1, Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 Pro ILS cameras. The entry-level Mission 1 ($600) features GoPro’s new 50-megapixel 1-inch sensor, which the company says will offer a major leap in image quality and low-light performance over the Hero 13 line. While largely looking the same as the Hero series (and still waterproof), the Mission 1 can record 8K video at 30fps and 4K at 120fps. It lacks the higher frame rates of the other Mission 1 cameras, but supports 10-bit GP-Log2 color and 32-bit float audio.
The Mission 1 Pro ($700) is the flagship fixed-lens model this year, aimed at the professional (or semi-pro) videographer. It has upgraded frame-rate capture to 8K at 60 fps and 4K at 240 fps, along with an extreme “burst” slow-motion mode that hits 960 fps at 1080p. It also captures 4:3 “Open Gate” recordings at 8K/30fps and 4K/120fps, covering the entire sensor area, enabling more versatile editing and cropping across different screen sizes, including vertical video.
Steve Dent for Engadget
Then there’s the beastly Mission 1 Pro ILS (Interchangeable Lens System). It swaps the standard GoPro lens for a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mount lens. It otherwise shares the same 1-inch sensor and high-speed 8K/60fps video specs as the Pro model. It also matches the Pro model’s $700 price, with an additional $100 discount for GoPro subscribers. However, it won’t be launching until Q3 2026.
All of the Mission 1 Series accessories will be available on a rolling basis beginning May 28, with GoPro’s own wireless mic system (take note, Rode and DJI) priced at $160. If you preorder a Mission 1 or Mission 1 Pro directly from GoPro now, you’ll get the point-and-shoot grip bundled for free. The company still doesn’t have an official release date for the cameras.
The rumor mill is still churning on the iPhone 18 Pro colors, with a new leak showing what the colors may be.
Four possible colors of iPhone 18 Pro
The iPhone rumor mill has been on a bit of a color kick lately, with multiple rumors claiming to know which Apple will use in 2028. For the iPhone 18 Pro, it seems that there could be four colors on the way. The image shared by Weibo leaker Ice Universe shows what appear to be rear camera plateaus for the iPhone 18 Pro. It is unclear where they were sourced from, but they may be shots gathered from an accessory maker, rather than the actual Apple supply chain. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Four years on, we revisit the Ryzen 7 5800X3D vs Core i9-12900K with modern games and DDR4 vs DDR5 configs. The result: still neck and neck, but memory choice now makes a real difference.
Stop fighting a losing battle with a grease-spattered stovetop. If you’re buying high-end bacon, you want a perfect crunch without the 20-minute cleanup. The real problem with a frying pan isn’t the taste, though. It’s all that popping and the errant grease spots that mark your skin and kitchen walls.
In an effort to find the best, cleanest way to make bacon for a Sunday brunch or BLT, I tried several methods, including the stovetop, oven and air fryer.
It turns out I’ve been doing it all wrong.
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A frying pan
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Hassle: 8/10
How much bacon: 7-8 strips
I grew up on pan-fried bacon but my test revealed there’s a better way.
Mike Mackinven/Getty Images
This is the way I grew up cooking bacon and it’s perfectly fine. There isn’t much skill needed to fry bacon in a pan, although just about every batch I’ve ever made sends a healthy splatter over the stove. In more unfortunate instances, that infernal grease lands directly on my skin or clothes, presenting two distinct but equally aggravating problems.
Pan-fried bacon soaks up a ton of grease, which is why many turn to paper towels to drain it after cooking. Pan-frying these strips of pork belly also tends to curl them into little bacon balls. While that has no impact on the taste, it can make for a suboptimal presentation.
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I can feel the splatter bombs just looking at this photo.
David Watsky/CNET
Another drawback of cooking bacon in the frying pan is its limited capacity. A 10-inch frying pan can hold only about 7 average-sized strips of bacon at a time, although you can add more as they shrink during cooking.
Then there’s the matter of cleaning said pan after use. It’s not recommended to put most cookware in the dishwasher, so you’ll have to manage that grease-soaked surface yourself.
The oven
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Hassle: 6/10
How much bacon: 10-12 strips
Oven bacon is best for cooking large batches.
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CNET
While it requires more prep, oven-cooked bacon has clear advantages over pan-frying. For one, there is little concern about capacity, as a standard cookie sheet or baking tray can hold nearly a full package of bacon, making the oven ideal for cooking large quantities.
Using a baking tray and rack allows grease to drip off. That makes for crispier, less greasy results, but it does present a headache when it’s time to clean. Cookie sheets and baking trays don’t fit well in the sink, and there’s typically enough grease that you don’t want to run them through your dishwasher.
You can line the baking tray with aluminum foil, but it takes a lot of foil, and most of the time, bacon grease finds its way under or through it anyway.
Oven-cooked bacon takes longer than bacon cooked in a frying pan — about 18 minutes — but if you’re planning to cook a whole package and don’t want to tend to the stove while it cooks, your oven is the best bet.
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The air fryer
Cooking time: 7 minutes
Hassle: 4/10
How much bacon: 6-7 strips
Thanks to its quick cooking time and hassle-free execution, the air fryer is my new go-to for making bacon.
David Watsky/CNET
There’s almost nothing I won’t try to make in the air fryer but, astoundingly, this is my first attempt at bacon. I anticipated a quick cook, because air fryers sizzle most food about 25% faster than a standard oven.
The air fryer proved to be my favorite way to make bacon, with one big caveat (more on that later). My favorite glass-bowl air fryer cooked those strips in about 7 minutes at 375°F — faster than the oven and the frying pan. Because air fryers include a crisping rack, grease naturally drips into the vessel below, so there was no need to nestle it in a paper-towel lasagna.
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The crisping tray drained excess fat while the bacon cooked.
David Watsky/CNET
The bacon turned out perfectly crispy and kept its shape better than when fried in a pan.
And the mess was minimal. Because the air fryer cooking chamber fits easily in my sink, I was able to wash it in seconds with a sponge and soapy water. My glass bowl air fryer chamber is also dishwasher-safe so another option would have been to wipe the grease and stick it all in the dishwasher.
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Air fryer bacon is really crispy, y’all.
David Watsky/CNET
The big caveat: Capacity
I use a modest 4-quart air fryer so I can only fit about six strips in at a time. That’s plenty for my partner and me but if I were making bacon for a group, I would have had to cook in batches or invest in a larger model.
That said…
Not having to keep watch over a sizzling, splattering pan or negotiate a grease-filled baking tray pulled from the oven is worth running it back another time to feed a group. There’s also no preheating needed, unlike with an oven, and the sheer speed and cleanliness gave the air frier the edge over the other methods I’ve tried.
Sky has mastered all things TVs and broadband, and now it’s stepping into the world of smart home with its latest venture, Sky Smart Home — a service that could challenge rivals such as Ring and Blink.
The Smart Home Plan is Sky’s entry-level package, which unlocks advanced features including cloud storage for recordings, Smart Alerts, Activity Zones, and more. There’s also the new Smart Home Plan+ that allows you to add extra devices including the Indoor Camera, Leak Pack, or Motion Pack — taking your smart home ecosystem to the next level.
The main thing we need to address is the price point. Sky’s Smart Home Plan gets you a video doorbell and a chime for an upfront cost of £15, and then requires a £5 monthly subscription fee which gives you access to its slew of additional functions. This is required for a minimum term of 24 months, so if you want to cancel your commitment before the end of your contract you’ll be issued early termination fees.
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As for its rival, a Ring video doorbell subscription will cost you the same amount (Ring Solo covers one device for £4.99 a month, or £49.99 for a year) and there’s no maximum commitment period, but the upfront costs are significantly more expensive. For example, the standard Ring Battery Video Doorbell is priced at £99.99, while its more advanced models such as the Ring Video Doorbell Pro can reach a price point as high as £179.99 but has improved features such as color night vision.
When it comes to the roster of features for both models, there’s a difference in scope and quality for sure, but if you’re a video doorbell newbie or you’re just after a simple model that will do the job, this shouldn’t matter too much.
As mentioned, Sky’s video doorbell package offers just-below surface-level features from 1080p full HD (1920 × 1080) with HDR video recording to clip sharing, to custom Activity Zones and 30 days of cloud storage. Additionally, you can access two-way talk through the Smart Home app and night vision with an infrared sensor of up to 10 metres.
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Its rival does have the upper-hand on the features front, allowing you to access basic features such as live video footage without the need for a subscription. While its best features are locked behind the paywall, but some are slightly better than Sky, such as 1,440 x 1,440 video footage resolution, a staggering 180 days of cloud storage, and color night vision viewing to say the least.
With all things considered, Sky’s video doorbell would cost you £135 (including the £15 up-front cost and £5 monthly fee) if you were to stick out the full 24 months, whereas Ring would be £219.75 once you’ve factored in the £99.99 up-front cost and £4.99 monthly subscription for 24 months. If you were to purchase two annual subscriptions however (£49.99 a year), that would bring the total down to just under £200 for two years.
If you’re sticking to a budget and can live without all the bells and whistles, the Sky Smart Home Plan is the clear winner — if you know you won’t change your mind and are committed to the 24-month agreement.
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