Meze Audio has introduced the ASTRU ($899), a new top of the line single dynamic driver in-ear monitor (IEM) created for listeners who want true high end performance without venturing into the stratospheric pricing that now defines many flagship IEMs. Built around a focused design philosophy, ASTRU relies on a single dynamic driver to deliver a visceral, full bodied presentation that Meze says can rival the layering, imaging, and resolution typically associated with complex multi driver designs.
The new model will make its first public appearance at CanJam NYC 2026 this weekend. Meze says ASTRU will be available starting March 20 through mezeaudio.com, mezeaudio.eu, and selected retailers worldwide.
While Meze Audio is widely known for its award winning headphones such as the Empyrean II, 99 Classics 2nd Generation, 109 Pro, and the recently introduced STRADA, the Romanian brand has also shown it can build compelling in ear monitors as well. Its ADVAR IEM, which we reviewed favorably, stood out for its musical balance, solid build quality, and distinctive industrial design. With ASTRU, Meze appears ready to push further into the high end IEM space while sticking with a simpler single driver approach rather than joining the industry’s escalating multi driver arms race.
Meze Audio ASTRU
Advanced Multilayer Dynamic Driver Architecture
At the center of the ASTRU is a custom multilayer composite 10 mm dynamic driver designed to balance speed, control, and tonal weight. The diaphragm dome is constructed using more than 80 ultra thin layers of gold, applied through a 48 hour physical vacuum DC magnetron sputtering process. This technique allows extremely thin metallic layers to be deposited with high precision, helping maintain diaphragm rigidity while keeping mass low.
The gold layered dome is bonded to a titanium layer and mounted on a PEEK base, materials chosen for their strength, stability, and resistance to unwanted resonance. The result is a driver structure intended to deliver fast transient response, extended treble, and the fuller low frequency presence that dynamic drivers are known for, while maintaining clarity and control across the frequency range.
Advertisement
Titanium Construction, Accessories, and Specifications
ASTRU’s housing reflects Meze Audio’s focus on durability, precision manufacturing, and long term comfort. The shell geometry has been carefully shaped to provide a secure and stable fit during extended listening sessions. Each earpiece is CNC machined from a single block of pure titanium and finished through a multi stage electroplating process that results in a smooth satin surface. According to Meze, producing each matched pair of shells requires up to seven days of precision machining and finishing, highlighting the level of manufacturing detail behind the design.
ASTRU is delivered as a complete listening package designed for portable high end audio use. The IEM includes a premium balanced cable equipped with CNC anodized aluminum hardware and a gold plated 4.4 mm balanced termination. This type of connection is commonly used with modern digital audio players and portable amplifiers because it offers improved channel separation and lower noise compared to standard single ended outputs. A 4.4 mm to 3.5 mm adapter is also included for compatibility with more traditional headphone outputs on Dongle DACs that may not offer a balanced output.
Additional accessories include five sizes of ear tips ranging from XS to XL to help users achieve a secure seal and proper acoustic performance. Meze also includes two carrying solutions: a protective pouch for everyday transport and a soft PU leather envelope designed for additional protection during travel or storage.
In terms of specifications, ASTRU offers a frequency range of 5 Hz to 35 kHz with a nominal impedance of 32 ohms and a sensitivity rating of 111dB SPL per milliwatt at 1 kHz. Total harmonic distortion is specified at less than 0.1 percent at 1 kHz. The IEM uses a standard 2-pin connector for cable attachment and weighs 13.4 grams (0.47 oz). These specifications indicate that ASTRU should be easy to drive with most modern digital audio players, portable DACs, and headphone amplifiers while still benefiting from higher quality source components.
Advertisement
The Bottom Line
The Meze Audio ASTRU arrives at an interesting moment for the high end IEM market. With Empire Ears recently shutting down operations, one of the category’s most recognizable boutique brands has exited the stage, leaving more room for companies like Campfire Audio, Noble Audio, 64 Audio, and Astell&Kern to battle it out in the upper tier of the segment. Most of those competitors lean heavily into complex driver arrays, packing multiple balanced armatures, electrostatics, or hybrid configurations into increasingly elaborate designs.
Meze is taking a different path. Rather than joining the escalating multi driver arms race, ASTRU sticks with a single dynamic driver architecture and focuses on materials, diaphragm engineering, and acoustic tuning. The titanium housing, multilayer gold coated diaphragm, and balanced cable package suggest a product built with the same attention to industrial design and materials that has defined Meze’s headphone lineup.
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
What ASTRU offers is a simpler approach to high end IEM performance aimed at listeners who prefer the coherence, bass weight, and natural timbre that dynamic drivers are known for. What it does not offer is the kind of driver count marketing that dominates much of the $800 to $1500 IEM category. At $899, that places it in direct competition with multi driver models from several established brands. Whether buyers prioritize driver complexity or the sonic character of a well executed dynamic design will ultimately determine where ASTRU lands in this crowded field.
Advertisement
Price & Availability
ASTRU will be available for purchase starting March 20, 2026, on mezeaudio.com, mezeaudio.eu and in selected retailers worldwide, with a suggested retail price of $899.
Acer is one of the top largest PC manufacturers in the world, perhaps best known for its gaming line and budget-friendly options. If you’ve already got your eye on an Acer product like a laptop or monitor, and are shopping at the company’s online storefront, you should be using one of these Acer promo codes and coupons to save some cash on your purchase.
Save 40% on Accessories When You Build an Acer Bundle
If you’re buying from Acer, you’re most likely shopping for either a desktop PC or laptop. With this discount, you can get a really solid deal on accessories if you bundle it with a mouse, laptop bag, or headset. When you go to purchase a PC, just click “Build Bundle” and you’ll see some of the eligible options, all of which are reduced by 40%. The Nitro Mechanical Keyboard, for example, goes from $50 to just $30. That 40% is a real discount, too, as that same keyboard costs $50 on Amazon when I checked.
Beyond peripheral add-ons, you can also save 10% off Acer Care Plus extended service plans or McAfee LiveSafe antivirus subscriptions. You can bundle up to five products together to save the most money. If you’re headed off to college (or have a kid in the family), a bundle like this can get you everything you need for a gaming or studying setup on the go.
Shop Rotating Weekly Deals on Monitors and Gaming Gear
Acer’s PC gaming offerings come in either the flagship Predator brand or the budget-tier Nitro. Acer offers rotating weekly deals on everything from monitors to gaming laptops, some of which are my favorites that I’ve tested in their given category. The Acer Nitro V 16, for example, was a budget gaming laptop that I recommended quite a lot last year because of its incredible price. The one I tested was the entry-level version with an Nvidia RTX 5050 inside, but Acer has the RTX 5060 model in its own storefront. It’s $100 off right now at $1,200, which comes with 16 GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage. In fact, it’s only $30 more than the RTX 5050 model, despite offering a significant jump in gaming performance. These discounts are reflected right on the product pages, so there’s no promo code, discount code, or coupon code required.
Advertisement
Acer has a wide selection of monitors available, too, whether that’s a massive 49-incher or a more modest 27-inch gaming workhorse. One of my favorite discounts I saw right now was the Acer Nitro XV2, a 27-inch 1440p display with a 300 Hz refresh rate. It’s 44% off at the time of writing, bringing the price down to just $250. Because these discounts are swapped out on a weekly basis, it’s worth checking back to see if the product you’re eyeing has a new discount.
Select Customers Can Get 15% Off Their Purchase
Acer also offers a number of added discounts at checkout, including 15% off for students. Students will need to verify through Student Beans or SheerID. Because a lot of the devices Acer offers are budget-friendly, they can be attractive for students, and the extra 15% off is the icing on the cake.
We tested the Acer Swift 16 AI last year and really enjoyed the high-resolution, OLED screen and impressively quiet performance. Acer has the smaller version of this same laptop available, the Swift 14 AI, which is currently $150 off. You also might check out the Acer Chromebook Plus 514, a laptop we liked quite a bit when we reviewed it in 2024.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I didn’t get off to a good start, as 1-Across stumped me. But once I filled in some other answers, it all came together. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
TeamPCP hackers compromised the Telnyx package on the Python Package Index today, uploading malicious versions that deliver credential-stealing malware hidden inside a WAV file.
The supply-chain attack was observed by modern application security Aikido, Socket, and Endor Labs, and was attributed to TeamPCP based on the same exfiltration pattern and RSA key seen in previous incidents caused by the same actor.
TeamPCP is responsible for multiple recent supply-chain (e.g., Aqua Security’s Trivy vulnerability scanner, the open-source Python library LiteLLM) and wiper attacks targeting Iranian systems.
Earlier today, the threat actor published backdoored versions of the Telnyx package 4.87.1 and 4.87.2. On Linux and macOS, the malicious version drops malware that steals SSH keys, credentials, cloud tokens, cryptocurrency wallets, environment variables, and other types of secrets.
Advertisement
On Windows, the malware is dropped for persistence in the startup folder, running on every login.
The Telnyx PyPI package is the official Python software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to integrate Telnyx communication services like VoIP, messaging (SMS, MMS, WhatsApp), fax, and IoT connectivity into their applications.
The package is very popular, having over 740,000 downloads per month on PyPI.
Security researchers believe that the hackers breached the project using stolen credentials for the publishing account on the PyPI registry.
Advertisement
Initially, TeamPCP published Telnyx version 4.87.1 at 03:51 UTC, but the package had a malicious yet non-functioning payload. The threat actor corrected the error about an hour later at 04:07 UTC by publishing Telnyx version 4.87.2.
The malicious code is contained in the ‘telnyx/_client.py’ file, which triggers automatically at import, while allowing the legitimate SDK classes to function as expected.
On Linux and macOS systems, the payload spawns a detached process that downloads a second-stage disguised as a WAV audio file (ringtone.wav) from a remote command-and-control (C2) server.
Function handling the steganographic file Source: Endor Labs
By using steganography, the threat actor embedded malicious code in the file’s data frames without altering the audio. The payload is extracted using a simple XOR-based decryption routine and executes in memory to harvest sensitive data from the infected host.
If Kubernetes is running on the machine, the malware enumerates cluster secrets and deploys privileged pods across nodes, attempting to access the underlying host systems.
Advertisement
On Windows systems, the malware downloads a different WAV file (hangup.wav) that extracts an executable named msbuild.exe.
The executable is placed in the Startup folder for persistence across system reboots, while a lock file limits repeated execution within 12-hour windows.
The researchers warn that Telnyx SDK version 4.87.0 is the clean variant that includes the legitimate Telnyx code with no alterations. Developers are strongly advised to roll back to this release if they find Telnyx version 4.87.1 and 4.87.2 in their environments.
Any system that imported the malicious package versions should be treated as fully compromised, as the payload executes at runtime and may have already exfiltrated sensitive data. In such occurrences, it is recommended to rotate all secrets as soon as possible.
Advertisement
Automated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the other.
This whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic questions for any tool evaluation.
After a brief introduction when it revealed its SQD-Mini LED TVs at CES 2026 in Vegas, we’ve got more details on TCL’s flagship TV for this year.
The SQD-Mini LED line-up, SQD standing for “Super Quantum Dot”, will be coming to the UK market, with the X11L leading the charge (from 75-inches and above), followed by the C8L and C7L models, with TCL stating that each TV is “designed to make viewing feel bigger, brighter, and more immersive.” It looks as if these models replace the C8K and C7K from 2025.
The X11L SQD-Mini LED is stacked with high performance numbers. TCL claims that it has up to 20,736 precise dimming zones, and can produce up to 10,000 nits of peak brightness, with support 100% BT.2020 colour gamut to deliver both vibrant and accurate, cinema-grade colour.
There has been slight controversy with the last point with a pre-review asserting the X11L did not meet those colour benchmarks (but there’s a suggestion this was measured in a mode that’s not the optimal picture mode).
Advertisement
The screen is a native 144Hz which should help with motion and gaming, while there’s HDR support in the form of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, though arguably the brightness this TV offers means dynamic HDR formats aren’t the most necessary.
Advertisement
The X11L packs TCL’s WHVA 2.0 Ultra panel to ensure consistent colours, contrast, and brightness at wide viewing angles, and audio is once again supplied by Danish audio brand Bang & Olufsen.
The step-down C8L sees the number count fall from the highs of the X11L, with just the 4032 dimming zones and 6000 nits of peak brightness to rely upon.
Advertisement
Image Credit (TCL)
It keeps the 144Hz native refresh rate, and the sound system is built by Bang & Olufsen with Dolby Atmos support.
The specs fall again with the C7L, though the performance on paper still stretches past most other Mini LEDs on the market. There are 2176 dimming zones, 3000 nits of peak brightness; while the screen is 144Hz, there’s HDMI 2.1 support as well as Dolby Atmos on the sound side.
The C7L will be available in sizes that range from 55- to 98-inches. The C8L covers the same sizes while the X11L is available in 75-, 85- and 98-inch sizes.
Advertisement
There’s been no mention of price but we expect the SQD-Mini LED series to be available to buy from May 2026 onwards.
from the more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same dept
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that warrants were needed to obtain cell site location info (CSLI). That decision dealt with law enforcement’s warrantless acquisition of 127 days of location data from a cell service provider. As the court saw it, the government was leveraging access to this data to turn cell phones (which has been given heightened protections with the 2014 Riley decision) into government tracking devices, all without having to bother with warrants or deploying government-crafted tracking tech.
The rationale for this 4th Amendment bypass was this: location data slurped up by websites and downloaded apps wasn’t exactly the same thing as cell tower location data. Therefore, it could be had without a warrant. In fact, it could be had without bothering the courts at all with a subpoena or any other lighter-weight legal paperwork. The government could just buy this data and sort through it to find what it was looking for. Some third parties were even willing to do the sorting for the right price, freeing the government up to pursue other rights violations.
This option obviously experienced a jump in popularity following the Supreme Court’s Carpenter ruling. While the spokespeople constantly stated the agencies they represented (which was pretty much all of them when it came to buying data from data brokers) were super-interested in respecting constitutional rights, they never took the time to explain their “respect” meant constantly testing (or breaking!) the boundaries until court precedent forced them to do otherwise.
In 2023, anti-encryption zealot Christopher Wray was heading the FBI. During the last years of his tenure, he admitted to Congress (or, more specifically, privacy hawk Senator Ron Wyden) that the FBI was — like CBP, ICE, US Secret Service, IRS, and federal prisons — buying up as much location data as it could purchase. Wray insisted this process was “court-authorized,” but somehow couldn’t find any court documents laying around that would support his claims of authorization.
Advertisement
The government is still buying this data. And it’s even more problematic than it was a few years ago, when federal agencies weren’t being run by MAGA loyalists and outright racists. Now there’s a new wrinkle: the government is delving into ad markets to siphon off RTB (real-time bidding) data that’s capable of tying location data to specific devices, even if those hawking the data pretend it’s been anonymized.
When asked by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, if the FBI would commit to not buying Americans’ location data, Patel said that the agency “uses all tools … to do our mission.”
“We do purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act — and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel testified Wednesday.
First, there’s the obviously false insistence that this is all very constitutional. Buying location data from data brokers doesn’t just violate the spirit of the Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision, it’s only a letter or three off from violating the letter of the law. When the only difference is where you’re obtaining long-term location tracking data, you’re just exploiting loopholes rather than actually trying to be “consistent with the Constitution.”
Advertisement
The second part is even stupider. When you claim that legally-questionable efforts have “led to some valuable intelligence,” you’re just saying that the ends justify the means. And if that’s the low bar you’ve set for yourself, you’re going to be violating rights regularly because you prefer harvesting data to respecting rights.
This sums up the government’s stance concisely:
The FBI claims it does not need a warrant to use this information for federal investigations; though this legal theory has not yet been tested in court.
The government — especially this one — will never err on the side of restraint. It would rather explore the outer edges of legal theory, sacrificing our rights in exchange for more government power. At some point, this legal theory will be tested. But until it is, the government is going to continue to pretend the implications of Carpenter don’t apply to anything that hasn’t been specifically ruled unconstitutional.
A hacking group called Handala has gained access to FBI Director Kash Patel’s email account, Reuters reports. The group published content from Patel’s email on their website as proof, including photos of Patel “sniffing and smoking cigars” and “making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a large bottle of rum.”
TechCrunch was able to independently confirm that at least some of the emails Handala stole were from Patel’s account by checking information used by mail delivery systems that’s stored in an email’s header. Several stolen emails included a cryptographic signature that linked them to Patel’s account. The FBI has also separately confirmed that the Director’s account was hacked. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity,” the Bureau told TechCrunch. “The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
The FBI is offering up to $10 million in rewards for more information about the hackers who targeted Patel’s account. Handala presents as a pro-Palestinian hacking group online, but is believed to be one of several aliases used by cyberintelligence units working for the Iranian government, Reuters writes. Groups affiliated with Iran have targeted officials in the US before. In August 2024, the FBI shared that a separate group, APT42, was trying to gain access to both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Three men associated with APT42 were later charged that September.
Handala has appeared to become more active during the current conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. According to Reuters, the group claimed to be behind a cyber attack on Stryker, a medical devices company, earlier in March. Handala also said it accessed and published personal data from Lockheed Martin employees stationed in the Middle East.
The roles will be available in areas such as engineering, research and development, and customer service.
Data management and cloud data platform provider Qumulo officially launched its new European software R&D hub in Cork today (27 March), amid a plan for expansion that will also create 50 new jobs in the area over the next three years.
The project is supported by IDA Ireland and aims to address challenges for data management at scale and scope.
New roles will include opportunities in engineering, R&D and customer service, and the Cork-based team will be responsible for researching and developing solutions to enable the secure, frictionless and instantaneous transfer of “exabyte-scale” workloads globally, the company said.
Advertisement
Established in 2012, US company Qumulo is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and has a significant global presence across the US, the Middle East and Europe.
Qumulo’s CTO Kiran Bhageshpur explained Cork was chosen as the location for its second R&D centre in part because of the access to “stellar third-level institutions in the south-west” and a “deep talent pool in Cork”.
He added, “Additionally, the excellent support infrastructure for companies like Qumulo provided by IDA Ireland made Cork the obvious choice for us to build a team focused on leveraging AI to help businesses manage global-scale data infrastructure.”
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD said, “Qumulo’s decision to establish a new European software R&D hub in Cork is a strong endorsement of Cork as a location where cutting-edge engineering and global ambition meet.
Advertisement
“It highlights the depth of talent emerging from our universities, the strength of the region’s technology ecosystem and Ireland’s ability to support companies delivering pioneering innovation on a global scale.”
Cork’s R&D ecosystem has experienced a boost as of late, with global semiconductor, power systems and IoT company Infineon Technologies also officially opening a new Cork-based R&D centre earlier this month. The new location focuses on Infineon’s innovations in the automotive and consumer microelectronics space, in areas such as battery management, motor control and touchscreens.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
Apple has snatched up Lilian Rincon, a nearly decade-long Google veteran, as it continues to retool its Apple Intelligence team.
Apple Intelligence continues to undergo changes
Before working at Apple, Rincon served as Vice President of Product Management at Google since 2024. However, before that she held various product management roles in the company since 2017. According to9to5Mac, Rincon will lead product marketing and product management for its AI platforms, including Apple Intelligence and Siri. In the role, she’ll report directly to Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Once the premium option for data transfers and remote control for high-end audiovisual and other devices, FireWire (IEEE 1394) has been dying a slow death ever since Apple and Sony switched over to USB. Recently Apple correspondingly dropped support for it in MacOS 26, and Linux will follow in 2029. The bright side of this when you’re someone like [Jeff Geerling] is that this means three more years of Linux support for one’s FireWire gear, including on the Raspberry Pi with prosumer gear from 1999.
If you’re not concerned about running the latest and greatest – and supported – software, then using an old or modern Mac or PC is of course an option, but with Linux support still available [Jeff] really wanted to get it working on Linux. Particularly on a Raspberry Pi in order to stay on brand.
Adding a FireWire port to a Raspberry Pi SBC is easy enough with an RPi 5 board as you can put a Mini PCIe HAT on it into which you slot a mini PCIe to Firewire adapter. At this point lspci shows the new device, but to use it you need to recompile the Linux kernel with Firewire support. On the Raspberry Pi you then also need to enable it in the device tree overlay, as shown in the article.
With this you now have FireWire 400 support right off the bat, but to use the FireWire 800 port you need to also connect external power to the adapter, which [Jeff]’s Canon GL1 video camera with its FW400 port does not require, so he didn’t bother with that.
Advertisement
Capturing the video from the GL1 via FW400 was done using the DVgrab utility, with a subsequent capture attempt successful. This means that at least until 2029 [Jeff] will be happily using his GL1 camera this way.
Meanwhile over on the Dark Side, you can still happily install FireWire drivers made for older Windows versions on Windows 10 and 11, which is great news for e.g. people who have expensive DAW gear kicking around. Perhaps the demise of FireWire is still a long while off as long as you’re not too picky about the OS you’re running.
Looking for an all-in-one soundbar that sounds as big as it looks? Sennheiser’s Ambeo Max uses its oversized body to produce beefy, enveloping sound, and right now you can grab it for just $2,000 at Best Buy, a sizable $1,000 markdown from the usual list price. It’s one of our favorite stand-alone premium soundbars, particularly if you don’t want to deal with an exterior subwoofer but still want bigger bass than you’re likely to find on smaller options.
While it might be a bit larger than your average soundbar, Sennheiser uses the space well, packing a ton of functionality and drivers into the less-than-compact body. There are both full-range and 1-inch tweeters combined in every conceivable direction, and the result is an impressive reproduction of true spatial audio, something few other stand-alone bars can claim. As a result, it also has an impressive low-end, with bass that doesn’t rival dedicated subwoofers, but comes really close for how much simpler the setup process will be.
The larger footprint also allows for a huge number of inputs, more than you’re likely to find on those tiny soundbars that slide under your screen. In addition to an HDMI 2.1 output with eARC, you’ll get three HDMI inputs with 4K pass-through at 60Hz, USB, Ethernet, and optical audio. There are even RCA ports in case you want to hook this up to your turntable. There’s also a dedicated subwoofer output, in case you decide you want to add one to your setup down the road, giving you a ton of options should you decide to put the Ambeo Max at the center of your home audio setup.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login