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Replacing your phone's operating system with an aftermarket alternative has always come with compromises, but it used to feel like a hacky solution. That has changed. You can now install the latest version of custom ROMs like LineageOS and walk away with a phone that looks and feels as high-end as any other—without any AI gimmicks to boot.

If you’re like me, you’ve turned nearly everything in your house into a smart device. Whether it’s through a smart plug, a smart USB adapter, or replacing an appliance with its smart equivalent, almost everything in your home can be controlled remotely or with your voice.

When people are looking to take on a home improvement project, many are concerned about their return on investment (ROI). Do you want to invest in new windows, a bathroom remodel, or a kitchen project? Which one will add the most value to your home?

If you're using your Samsung Galaxy Watch for notifications, health tracking, and calling it a day, you're missing out on a lot of what it can do. That said, I don't necessarily blame you—many of these features are buried deep in accessibility menus, hidden behind obscure toggles, or tucked away in your phone's settings, making them genuinely hard to find. That's why I've rounded up five underrated Galaxy Watch features that deserve far more attention.

Proxmox VE has earned its reputation by bringing enterprise virtualization features into the homelab. You get KVM virtual machines, LXC containers, snapshots, clustering, and support for filesystems like ZFS. On paper, it looks like the perfect foundation for every self-hosted setup.

While my first experience of home audio was via vinyl records, the miraculous CD, or Compact Disc, was the gold standard music format of my childhood. I never liked how vinyl sounded or how annoying it was to operate. The first time I put on a pair of headphones and listened to a CD blew my mind. Crystal-clear stereo audio like I'd never heard it before practically suffused my soul.

Spinning hard drives have to spin those platters at some sort of speed, measured in RPM or Revolutions Per Minute, but they all seem to have standardized to a small group of specific numbers: 4,200 RPM, 5,400 RPM, 7,200 RPM, 10,000 RPM, and 15,000 RPM(!).

It's hard to believe it, but the Google Pixel series has been around for nearly 10 years now. The Pixel 11 is just around the corner—and unfortunately for Google, early impressions aren't looking great.

While every 3D printer owner loves the “fun” projects, it’s the ones that make your life easier that have the most impact. These range from repairing household items and making chores easier, to providing cost-effective bespoke storage to help keep your house tidy.

Bear Grylls has a gift that few possess. The popular survivalist knows how to push people beyond what they think is possible. What's even more impressive is that those same people then open up to Grylls with complete honesty, revealing their most vulnerable selves.

Amazon's Kindle dominates the market, but that doesn’t mean that they are the best eReaders. There are other companies who are free to experiment with their products in ways that Amazon will not. The DuRoBo Krono is one of the more intriguing options to come out in the past year, and there is enough uniqueness here to capture even the most devout Kindle reader’s eye.

The days of every Android phone including a microSD card slot are ancient history. Of course, it’s possible to plug external storage into your phone’s USB-C port, and portable SSDs are becoming more common. However, they have one fatal flaw that people love to point out. I wanted to solve it.

When I first picked up a 5070 Ti, I did so with gaming in mind. I didn't anticipate constantly running into the VRAM ceiling.

Home Assistant is packed with so many features that it can be hard to keep track of them all. Some features work smoothly in the background so that you never think about them until you need to use them, or until something goes wrong. That's exactly what happened with one of Home Assistant's best features, and it brought my whole smart home down.

I used to think that buying cheaper filament was a compromise to print quality. After testing both first- and third-party filaments, my stance has changed. Here’s why I stopped buying name-brand filament and what I do instead.

I love having a vintage CRT to watch older content and play retro video games. I love it so much, apparently, that I now have six of the darn things taking up space.

You can’t just stick a Canon lens on a Sony body, nor can you use a lot of the old glass that predates your modern camera. Doing so requires a lens adapter—one for every lens mount and camera body combination you own—which can get expensive fairly quickly.

Security cameras are great at recording what's happening inside and outside your home, but on the whole, you still need to look at the video yourself to understand what's going on. Some cameras have object recognition that can detect people, animals, cars, or packages, but there's an open-source tool that can do a whole lot more.

When I started reviewing Sony's most expensive consumer headphones yet, I naturally expected them to offer an elevated experience. I didn't expect to hear the best spatial audio I've ever encountered. I say this, too, as someone who has been left completely unimpressed by spatial audio features time and time again.

Be forewarned, though: the Sony 1000X the Collexion headphones clock in at a whopping $649.99 — putting them nearly $200 higher than the WH-1000XM6. The reason for the fanfare? The Collexions are the 10th anniversary celebration of the 1000X line (hence the...creative name).

The brand certainly delivers on some of its best features in the Collexion headphones, but really, the experience for the high price point is only likely to appeal to a select few who prioritize sound and looks above all else.

The Sony 1000X the Collexion at a glance These aren't the 1000X headphones you're used to. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

What I liked: These are the best sounding headphones Sony's made, and the spatial audio with the 360 Upmix tech really highlights that. The lack of hard plastic usually found on Sony's headphones makes the look more sleek and luxe, and the wear feels plush and comfortable. The noise cancellation is still solid, too.

What I didn't like: The fancy metal hinges mean no more folding ear cups, which was one of my favorite features on the XM6 headphones. The looser fit also means less passive noise cancellation, so the older headphones win out there as well. Finally, I expected the $190 price jump between the XM6 and Collexion headphones to mean upgrades across the board in the user experience, but beyond the improved sound and design, other features on the headphones went basically untouched.

Specs

• Drivers: Bespoke 30mm driver

• Spatial audio: Yes

• Noise cancellation: Active noise cancellation powered by V3 and QN3 processors

• Battery life: 24 hours with active noise cancellation

• Microphones: 12

• IP rating: None

• Connection: Bluetooth 5.3

• Codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3

• Inputs: USB-C, 3.5mm audio jack

• Weight: 320 grams

• Colors: Black and platinum

Pricing and availability

At $649.99, the Collexion headphones are undeniably on the high end of the consumer headphones market. They're not the most expensive we've seen — that honor belongs to the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 headphones — but they're still $100 more than the Apple AirPods Max 2 and $200 more than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd gen) headphones.

Sony 1000X the Collexion $648 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Shop Now at Best Buy Shop Now at Sony Sony 1000X the Collexion performanceSound quality

As these are Sony headphones, they sounded excellent, but the real star of the audio show was the spatial audio.

To be clear, I usually feel neutral about spatial audio at best, finding that it often makes music sound hollow and unbalanced in an effort to make it sound live. With the Sony Collexion headphones, I could make some peace with the fact I didn't grab Olivia Rodrigo tickets because her entire album sounded legitimately live and immersive with the 360 Upmix spatial audio tech, whether I was listening to the Cure-inspired (and Robert Smith featuring) "what's wrong with me" or the pared down piano ballad "less."

For the first time, I found myself actually preferring to toggle on the spatial audio. For gamers and movie lovers, there are also modes specific to both formats. The non-spatial audio still stunned, lending music gorgeous balance and clarity, with Sony's classic slate of equalizer settings and custom options to fine-tune the sound just so.

Noise cancellation

In the press briefing for these headphones, Sony's team made it clear that they focused on comfort over noise cancellation with these headphones compared to the XM6s. They do feature the exact same tech as the XM6s, but the slightly looser fit means less passive ANC. In practice, I found that it did mean working in cafes was slightly more distracting, reducing chatter and the radio to a dull hum instead of fully immersing me in my own private listening bubble.

SEE ALSO: The 11 best noise-cancelling headphones we use, love, and recommend

By no means is it subpar ANC — it's still some of the best, but I would have liked Sony to work a little more magic for $650.

The Sony 1000X the Collexion design and build quality The metal accents gave the headphones an elevated look, but I was looking for more functionality. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

The Collexion headphones look and feel notably elevated, with metal accents and faux leather wrapping the exterior of the headphones (as opposed to the hard plastic shell found on the rest of the 1000X line).

They feel built to last, but again, for their price point, I wasn't too thrilled about the finished result. Yes, the metal buttons were a nice touch, and the wider headband did add more comfort. However, I missed the folding ear cups from the XM6 headphones, which do legitimately help with toting them around town, and I didn't find them more comfortable than the Bose QC Ultra 2s (the single most comfortable headphones I've ever worn).

I can acknowledge that I'm being nitpicky, but I must mention the price again. For $650, I want the headphones to look impressive and also be oozing functionality in every aspect of the design. I found these more of a statement fashion piece than an ultra-functional pair of headphones — and if that's the vibe that Sony's going for, I want them to offer more than two colorways.

Who should get the Sony the Collexion headphones?

The Sony Collexion headphones have a weird name, a pretty design that doesn't always rise to the occasion, and the best sound quality I've encountered on a pair of headphones. Truly, they feel like the very first to have finally unlocked undeniably good spatial audio.

With that said, the price point will make them hard to stomach for most. If you've been dying for spatial audio and love that live sound, shelling out on these will get you the best version of it. That said, these headphones should be the best in category in more areas if they're to be priced the way they are. A $550 or even $600 price point would have been far more stomachable, but maybe this one is ultimately for the super fans who want the anniversary edition headphones more than they want the best headphones available.

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