That Top Of The (Gadget) Game Is On

Finding that perfect gadget is like searching for Sasquatch. But here’s a list that will make it easier for you to relieve that bulging wallet. If you can afford any of these, there’s no excuse for living like its 1995…

Sonus Faber SF16
Known for their love of woodworking more than the art of acoustical sciences, Sonus Faber is the audio equivalent of Ferrari. Both ferociously Italian and both excelling in pushing the boundaries of technology. It’s hard to find a dud in their portfolio. With the SF16, Sonus Faber has entered an entirely new product segment and seems to have sent competition scurrying for shelter. In essence, it is a Wi-Fi based multiroom speaker that can also play from eight different sources in eight different rooms! Packed with 1400 watts of power to bring all of its 10 internal drivers to life, the extending motorised swingarms allow you to achieve a wider soundstage or a more personal and intimate listening experience. Either way, there is no doubt that it will make for a cool party trick and make you, a very popular host.
Price: Rs 9 lakh

LG G6 4K OLED
Remember the time when you had to “track” the head of your VHS player to get a clear picture? We don’t either. And televisions like these, help to wipe our slate clean to usher in a new era of ultra high-definition viewing into our homes. The LG G6 is a flagship television that stands out for more reasons than its ginormous price tag. It is a true accomplishment and revolution in the way we watch TV. OLED is a whole new technology that controls each individual pixel and that means it can deliver true black for an infinite contrast ratio, brilliant colours thanks to its Dolby Vision (High Dynamic Range) and of course, the promise of 4K resolution. If that’s not enough to woo you to the blacker side, factor in the WebOS Smart TV interface to access your favourite apps and sound by Harman Kardon and the knees start turning to jelly soon.
Price: Rs 15 lakh

Breitling Exospace B55
Purists will never be seen dead with an Apple Watch or a Samsung Gear S2. They may be the epitome of connected living, but they also reek of someone with no taste for life. Breitling, on the other hand, has given wings to dreams for more than a century and pilots swear by their timepieces. So, why wouldn’t they try their hand at putting some more information on your wrists? So call, email, message and meeting notifications are displayed in two separate single-line scrolling displays and can be tweaked via a partnering smartphone app. The usual flight metrics are delivered by the analog movement in a titanium world, if you really are an aviator behind those Ray Bans. The Exospace can be identified by its bright blue rubber strap but if you want to go discrete, the more traditional military or professional straps can be had too.
Price: Rs 4,69,184

HTC Vive VR
There is a world beyond ours and it’s finally within reach. Virtual reality has been a fringe tech for many years but the HTC Vive makes it real, and available right now! It’s the only system of its kind that allows you to move freely in an earmarked space and its Chaperone guidance system and front facing camera will prevent your face from greeting the wall/floor. The 32 sensors mounted around the headset map your surroundings to give you a ‘Room Scale’ VR experience and the 24 sensors in the handheld controllers can “virtually” convert your hands into any tool required to play a particular game. Two wireless base stations mounted high up in your room talk to the headset and provide freedom to move around 360-degrees, something no other VR headset yet lets you do. Powered by all the requisite hardware and some early, but still captivating VR experiences, this is what all of us will be sporting a few years from now. Until then, you could be the first one to see the future.
Price: Rs 65,000 (approx)

Hasselblad X1D
Even if you aren’t into Nat Geo calibre of photography, there’s no denying that secretly, everyone wishes to own a Hasselblad one day and that day has just come closer. The Scandinavian brand’s latest is also a first for them in many ways. Its medium-format sensor is larger than the largest Canon’s or Nikon’s doing the rounds and packs in 50MP of resolution and an ISO range of a mind-boggling 25,600! To remind you that it’s a Hasselblad from 2016, it now features a touchscreen with pinch and zoom gestures. The electronic viewfinder will do a decent job of showing what you capture, but it’s how it captures it that makes it so special. The twin SD card slots allow users to save a RAW file to one card while a JPG version can be relegated to the other. Talk of convenience! All this old-world charm with next-gen tech isn’t cheap, so we hope you’ll use for more than Instagram selfies…
Price: Rs 6,23,000 (approx)

Focal Utopia headphones
Listening to your favourite bit of Bach, minus the external forces, can be a tough tranquil to find. French specialist brand Focal, known to make loudspeakers that could cost more than a condo, use exotic and rare Beryllium in their tweeters. But when they decided to make a no-holds barred headphone, they put the same material to make music between your head. Encased in a carbon fibre frame and lambskin leather ear cups, this MP3 kryptonite will destroy any evil that resides in your portable device. Designed to emulate the sound of high-end speakers on the go, it distills Focal’s 35 years’ of acoustical experience in one portable product and going by its looks and price tag, it certainly feels like the engineers in St. Etienne deserve a fine toast.
Price: Rs 3,49,999.