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KICK Unveils Refreshed Design Inspiring Creators to Livestream ‘From Every Angle’
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KICK Unveils Refreshed Design Inspiring Creators to Livestream ‘From Every Angle’

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September 28, 2025 — KICK, the world’s fastest-growing livestreaming platform, today debuted an all-new, maximalist-inspired design that embodies the unfiltered creativity that has propelled the platform to more than 1.5 billion Hours Watched this quarter, nearly triple last year’s number. 

“At its core, KICK is about live human-generated content and interactivity, from every angle”, said Ryan Webb, Head of KICK Operations. “The new design captures the bold authenticity of KICK’s creator-first community, emphasizing real-time human connection and infinite content possibilities.”

The refreshed design will be on full display next month at the annual gaming and esports festival DreamHack Atlanta, where KICK is an official partner. Visitors will find a custom KICK booth, immersive gameplay experiences, and limited-edition merchandise.

“We want streamers to tap into their originality and pursue fearless self-expression,” said Webb. “KICK is the home of unrivalled creativity, and our maximalist design reflects that.”
The design refresh arrives on the heels of a surge in KICK growth. Some highlights:

  • Over 75 million users, almost double the figure a year ago
  • Hosted MrBeast’s charity event, raising $12 million for clean water and setting a Guinness World Record for a charity livestream

Since its launch three years ago, KICK has disrupted the livestreaming industry, tilting the landscape in favor of creators. Its equitable 95/5 subscription-revenue split and early adoption of multistreaming monetization have fueled its expansion and drawn some of the world’s most-watched streamers to the platform. They include Asmongold and NinaDrama of the U.S., Gaules of Brazil, and Korekore from Japan.


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Are Magic The Gathering Players Tired Of Universes Beyond? Mark Rosewater And The Spider-Man Design Team Weigh In
Game Updates

Are Magic The Gathering Players Tired Of Universes Beyond? Mark Rosewater And The Spider-Man Design Team Weigh In

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As I entered Wizards of the Coast’s Seattle headquarters, I was greeted not only by the Wizards’ team, but by an astoundingly large statue of a magnificent copper dragon. The statue, of course, was none other than the beloved beast Mitzy, one of Magic: The Gathering’s iconic mascots. After spending a sufficiently long amount of time gazing at both Mitzy and a wall covered in unopened booster packs, a surreal catalog of Magic’s three decades of history, I was led to the studio’s dining hall. Yet to call that room a dining hall feels almost inaccurate, as the majority of what graced those tabletops was–you guessed it–Magic cards.

Throughout the day, I watched as folks rummaged through their bags for cards, or sauntered over to dig through the studio’s boxes of bulk, then holed up at a table for a game or three. And while most of the folks I saw playing were, like me, giddy members of the press, it was plain to see that this level of excitement–this enthusiasm for play–was not an incidental or momentary thing, but rather a part of the studio’s culture.

It’s invigorating, finding yourself around people who make something you care deeply about and discovering their love for that creation is as genuine as you’d hoped it was–that there is a palpable reverence for it. And yet, something bit at me as we delved into conversations about the main reason I had come to the studio: Magic: The Gathering’s Spider-Man collaboration.

Here I was, among the minds who helped build my favorite planes and stories–among images and statues of Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Shivan dragons–and yet, discussions were largely about Spider-Man. And I get it. It makes perfect sense to want to discuss your show-stopping collaboration with Marvel that is, as of today, officially released. At the same time, what about, well, Magic?

Spider-Man swings through the air in an illustration by artist Javier Charro

I’ll admit that some of my feeling this way comes from my own growing hesitations toward Universes Beyond–the side of Magic: The Gathering in which various properties (like Final Fantasy, Fallout, Assassin’s Creed, Doctor Who, and Spider-Man, to name a few) are turned into Magic cards. In 2025, three of the seven sets scheduled for release are Universes Beyond sets. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, their presence has certainly led to some tension in the community, with some levying complaints about being priced out of the hobby by collectors and others expressing frustration over the way that some original sets–like Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Edge of Eternities–have been overshadowed.

Magic: The Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater, lead designer Cory Bowen, and senior art director Sarah Wassell were all receptive when it came to answering questions regarding these issues. But beyond that, they also reassured me that Universes Beyond–the upcoming Spider-Man set included–are labors of love, and serve as a way for them to express their deep appreciation for fandoms outside of Magic: The Gathering, while also trying to grow and appease their own widespread community. Though it remains to be seen how Magic: The Gathering will change in the coming years, the following conversation reaffirmed that passion for the game and flexibility are leading the charge.

While Universes Beyond sets seem to be doing well commercially, it feels safe to say that there has been some criticism leveled against how often these sets are appearing. Does the team find this to be a legitimate issue? Are there plans to address this going forward?

Rosewater: Essentially, the way we function in Magic–and this has been true since Magic’s beginning–is we try something new to see what the players like. If the players like something, we make more of it. If they don’t like it, we make less of it. That’s the nature of how we make Magic since Magic began.

Universes Beyond was the same thing. When we tried originally, we did a little bit of it to see what people liked. They liked it, so we did a little bit more. The reason there’s so much Universes Beyond is because the players are overwhelmingly excited by it. Final Fantasy, which came out earlier in the year, is the best-selling set of all time. It defeated the previous best-selling set of all time, which was the Lord of the Rings.

We provide what the player base wants. The fact that the Universes Beyond sets are doing well says there’s an audience–that people are excited by this. We’re just meeting the needs of the players. If the players weren’t excited, if they weren’t happy, if they weren’t buying lots of it, we wouldn’t make lots of it. But that’s not what’s happening, so that is why we’re doing more.

Wassell: Another thing, too, is that Magic is a physical thing. This is an analog process. The cards are made by big, loud, noisy machines and it’s a little bit hard to pivot really quickly on things when something’s already at a certain point in production.

Cory Bowen: But we’re always using feedback. We’re always going to keep doing what people want. Right now, people want Universes Beyond, people want magical worlds, and we’re going to keep doing that as long as they want them. And we’re going to react as quickly as our printing process allows.

I would guess too, with utilizing intellectual properties, that creating Universes Beyond sets is an extremely lengthy process. I remember talking to folks about the Final Fantasy set and hearing it took over five years to realize. Once that’s started, you are on that course. Does this incentivize you to lean more into Secret Lair or other avenues rather than keeping Universes Beyond at the current size?

Rosewater: When we look at properties, Magic has a lot of different options. There’s a large set, there’s Secret Lair, and then there’s things in between. We’ve done Commander Decks. We try to establish what size the property is, then what’s the best way to make Magic with that.

Some things make perfect sense as a small number of cards in a Secret Lair. Some are an entire set. And for some, like Marvel, one set is not enough. They have so much material that it’s multiple sets. We are very flexible to try to meet the demands of the property. But as you can see, we’ve been interacting with lots and lots of properties.

Do you find it at all limiting to work within the confines of an IP or the real world?

Bowen: There’s a lot of fun with it. There’s freedom in making stuff up, but there’s real fun in taking stuff that people know and trying to express it through Magic. I love City Pigeon. I think City Pigeon is emblematic of the most fun I’ve had making this set.

Rosewater: In general, I like doing things that I don’t always do just because it changes things up. It was fun to have a set where there’s a real world to compare it to. I like bouncing back and forth. I wouldn’t always want to do that, but it was very refreshing when that’s not what we normally do.

When I think of artists who’ve helped shape pop culture, I think of Kirby, McFarlane, Romita Sr., and other iconic comic book illustrators. What was it like getting to use the moments they created and their illustrations?

Wassell: It was mind-blowing. Getting to have their names on a Magic card, getting to look at their work up close and trying to figure out how to honor it and yet adapt it for a new use … I think it really gave us all a feeling of responsibility. With great art comes great responsibility. We were so excited to use it and to work with it, but we also really wanted to make sure that we were honoring it.

Rosewater: One of the neat things about Universes Beyond is that, eventually, we get to what I call your passion property; that property that means something to you. It affected you as you grew up, and it’s something that defines who you are as a person. I grew up reading comics. I mean, I wear superhero shirts constantly. It’s a big part of my identity. So the chance to finally get to make these cards, and to make them for people who like me? It’s just been lots and lots of fun–endlessly fun. I could go through Spider-Man and make notes on it to the end of time just because it’s so much fun to ask ourselves, “Can we capture those little tiny moments?”

I remember I was doing flavor text and one of the cards talked about how Spider-Man’s web dissolves in 30 minutes. And I’m like, “No, no. Actually … ” And we changed it. It maps in the comics how long it takes Spider-Man’s spider webs to dissolve. I care and I know the people that will care. So we want to put that time and energy into making sure that we’re making the best possible Magic set, but also the best possible Spider-Man set for all the Spider-Man fans.

The cards Savage Beating, Peter Parker, and Ponder, all which feature artwork from iconic comic artists.

How was it melding together the artists that you commissioned for original pieces for the set, and these pre-established works? Was there an effort to keep things in line with the tone of these previous artists or were you more adventurous with it?

Wassell: One of the things we were excited to do–and how we approached this from the beginning from a visual perspective–was with respect to comic books’ very distinct visual eras. We went into the project with that in mind. We were very deliberate about, “Okay, now we’re going really into the Golden Era,” “Oh, now we’re going to go into the Dark Ages,” or “Now we’re going to work with someone who’s making really exciting Marvel art now–how does that look different from the way it used to look?” We were pretty deliberate about where we deployed those visual styles.

While Spider-Man does have more fantastical elements, and other sets, like Doctor Who, have had some more grounded elements–funny as it is to call Doctor Who “grounded”–I feel like this is the first one that is very realistic. It largely has a New York setting, for example. What were the challenges in making cards that are set inside what is essentially a different version of our universe, and making them feel at home among these other planes?

Bowen: Design-wise, it’s challenging. There’s a few things that were easier. It’s easy to make a bird in Magic, so the pigeon was easy. We have food tokens, so it was easy to make food stuff that happens to resonate. But Taxi Driver being a creature … it’s a little bit of an odd concept.

It seems challenging, but doing vehicles, food, locations with lands, and certain creatures … it sounds difficult but the more you do, the more that Magic actually has the language to express those things. I think it was almost easier to express [all of that] design-wise than it was to do Spider-Man stuff. Spider-Man punching or doing his flips or whatever, those were harder to express with language. But with the environment stuff, Magic just actually has a bunch of tools to express the world because its best quality is world-building.

Rosewater: Magic is 32 years old this year, and because we’ve been making the game for 32 years, we have a lot of tools. Really it’s just a matter of adapting the tools for whatever world we’re doing. We’re constantly making new worlds. This was a little different, you’re right. This was more “Our World” than most Magic sets tend to be, but we do have the tools to capture it. It just feels a little bit different because Magic tends to be more fantastical. A hot dog card is a little less fantastical than the average thing we do.

Wassell: There were moments that were a little bit easier in that way, though. I’ve been to New York City. I know things about it. So when we’re doing a card that has a bodega on it, or there’s a scene with the back of a rental truck in it, those are those moments where, when we get the sketch in from the artist and the rental truck is all clean on the back, I can be like, “There’s no way that truck would be untapped in New York, driving on those city streets.” Those moments are, to me, the most fun–when we get into the world building of the in-world experience of these objects, vehicles, animals … stuff like that.

Bowen: Those details help a lot to immerse you in this world. This world is New York, and there’s a lot to love about New York. We’re immersing you in it in a similar way that we immerse you into a new plane we’ve created.

Rosewater: The big difference is, let’s say we make a brand-new plane, we can do whatever we want. I mean, we’re making the world, so we can make choices that we think makes the world make sense. No one’s going to say, “Oh no, that’s not how that looks in that world.” Because nobody knows that. But in New York, you have the sense that you know what it should look like. That’s probably the trickier thing, we’re used to making our own worlds so no one can question, “Hey, that’s not how it looked.” We don’t get to make up New York. New York is New York.

The Soul Stone, Spectacular Spider-Man variants, and the set’s comic book cover-inspired full-art cards are among the most sought after.

How was it designing mechanics that are based on superheroes? These are inherently overpowered characters, and I’m sure you want these figures to be extremely powerful. At the same time, I’m sure you don’t want them to be game-breaking and overly powerful. How do you tread that?

Bowen: Magic gives a lot of room for both really abstract expression and really specific expression. Yes, these characters are larger-than-life, but we do need them to play well. Gameplay ultimately is the king here, and not every Spidey character is going to be a 10/10 or an 8/8, if that’s the proportional strength of a Spider. They all need to play well in the environments.

Things like rarity are a really good way to express that these are the Spider-characters we think are really cool. Like, Cosmic Spider-Man’s got to be a mythic–he just feels like he has a step above. And there’s a relative expression among the spider-characters.

Is it a little weird that a taxi driver and Spider-Man can take each other out in combat? It’s a little weird, but again, Magic is an abstract game. Fifteen squirrels can kill an Elder God. There’s a little bit of suspension of disbelief, which helps out a lot.

Rosewater: When you’re making Magic cards, mostly what you want to do is make exciting things that do something. Marvel is about superheroes and supervillains with magical powers, and costumes that are designed to look really cool when you see them. Marvel has actually been perfect for making just really awesome Magic cards. They do fantastical things, and fantastical things make fun cards.

Last year, Wizards of the Coast announced the return of MSRP, and I know people were super excited about it. But obviously that is a suggested price, not an enforced price. Since then, however, prices have never been as high as they are now, which seems a result of the increase of Universes Beyond production. Do you have any plans on addressing these issues, or is that something that’s more out of your hands?

Rosewater: As you said, we have no control. That’s how capitalism works. People can charge whatever they want, so it’s a tricky question. It’s just outside of our control.

Bowen: People in this room are not in the conversations of pricing, I’ll say that.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity, clarity, and readability.



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How a 2020 Rolex Collection Changed the Face of Watch Design
Gaming Gear

How a 2020 Rolex Collection Changed the Face of Watch Design

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As the company that either invented or popularized the dive watch, the GMT watch, the first water-resistant watch, the first automatic watches, and much more besides, you could hardly downplay Rolex’s influence on watchmaking history. But while its iconic sports watches, like the Submariner, Daytona and GMT-Master are endlessly imitated, Rolex is not seen as a trendsetter, preferring to ignore passing horological fashions. It does its own thing, iterating carefully and minimally on its age-old templates.

Five years ago, however, Rolex introduced a collection so avant-garde that is still influencing creative decisions across the entire watch industry, and it did so in one of its least-heralded models: the Oyster Perpetual. The idea was so simple that we’ve barely noticed it become the industry norm: Instead of slowly rolling out new dial colours one at a time over a period of years—which was standard watch world behavior until that point—Rolex launched a whole set of colored dials in a complementary palette all at once.

The 2020 multi-color Oyster Perpetual collection that started the wave of watch-world bright dials.

COURTESY OF ROLEX

They were bright, bold and almost childlike in their purity: coral red, green, turquoise, pink and yellow. Rolex-watchers immediately hailed them as a tribute to the so-called Stella dial Day-Date watches of the late 1970s and 1980s—equally bright and unexpected, and evocative of a louche, sybaritic age. But there was something more basic, more essential and, at least theoretically, more attainable about the Oyster Perpetual collection.

It sparked imitators left, right and center—and still does. At last week’s Geneva Watch Days 2025, Zenith’s collaboration with Swiss furniture-maker USM would qualify as a textbook example: a full set of bold, block-colour dials in otherwise traditional stainless steel sports watches.

Earlier this year, Oris’s Big Crown Pointer Date hit a similar note. In 2023, arch-rival Omega debuted a collection of Seamaster Aqua Terra models with similar hues to Rolex’s opening salvo; other mid-level brands including Breitling and TAG Heuer have all created multi-colored families of stainless steel, time-only round watches in a similar mold.



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The iPhone 17 Series Gets the Biggest iPhone Design Refresh in Years
Gaming Gear

The iPhone 17 Series Gets the Biggest iPhone Design Refresh in Years

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Apple has largely stuck with the same iPhone design since the iPhone 11 debuted in 2019, but change is afoot in Cupertino. While the iPhone 17 may resemble iPhones of the past few years, there’s an entirely new camera layout for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Also, there’s a brand-new iPhone! The iPhone Air replaces what was supposed to be the iPhone 17 Plus. It, too, features a new look, and it’s the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made.

The changes on the standard iPhone 17—typically Apple’s most popular iPhone model—aren’t as drastic. The company announced the new handsets alongside new Apple Watches and AirPods Pro at its annual September event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California.

Preorders are available on Friday, with the iPhone 17 starting at $799, the iPhone Air costing $999, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max seeing an increase to $1,099 and $1,199. Here’s everything you need to know.

The iPhone Air

Apple’s iPhone Air is joining a slew of other phones that launched in 2025, which tout incredible thinness, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and the Honor Magic V5. It’s 5.6 mm thick—an incredible feat, as that’s even thinner than Samsung’s handset, and a 2.65 mm drop from the iPhone 16 Pro.

iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone ever made.

Courtesy of Apple

That’s about seven credit cards stacked on top of each other. With it comes weight savings of 24 grams compared with the regular iPhone 16, and this combo can dramatically alter how the phone feels in your hand, especially considering it sports a large 6.5-inch screen. It’s also the only iPhone this year employing titanium to help with the durability of the frame. Speaking of which, Apple says this phone uses its new Ceramic Shield 2 material on the front for 3x better scratch resistance and 4x better drop protection. The back glass uses the original Ceramic Shield glass mixture.

There’s still a camera bump, except it’s now horizontal (ahem, like a certain Google phone), but as you’ll see, there are compromises: You only get one camera. It can simulate a 2X optical zoom like most iPhones today, but unlike Samsung’s thin phone, there’s no ultrawide camera, making it less versatile for shutterbugs.

This phone debuts Apple’s C1X modem, which allows for sub-6 5G but no millimeter wave 5G, and it also features the first-ever Apple N1 wireless networking chip. The N1 has Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support, which can improve local smart home controls with supported devices.

It still maintains features from previous iPhones, like the Dynamic Island, which takes up less space on the front, the Action Button, and Camera Control. The selfie camera has been upgraded to 24 megapixels and supports Apple’s Center Stage technology, which keeps you in the frame. The selfie camera has a square sensor, so you can take selfies in landscape or portrait orientation without having to switch the phone into landscape orientation. Apple has also added the ability to shoot videos with both the front and rear cameras at the same time.

The internals of the iPhone Air have been designed to maximize battery space.

Courtesy of Apple

Apple says inside is a “high-density battery,” which likely alludes to silicon-carbon battery technology to achieve this level of thinness. The phone is powered by the new A19 Pro chip, features Apple’s ProMotion 120-Hz refresh rate for the display, and has magnetic Qi2 25W wireless charging. It’s available in black, white, light gold, and light blue.

You might think this super-thin iPhone will have limited battery life, but Apple is still claiming the same video playback numbers as the iPhone 16 Plus: 27 hours. This is likely why Apple is selling a new low-profile MagSafe power bank to help users keep their slim phone topped up. Let’s just see how often you need to use it.

The iPhone 17 Pro

The first thing you’ll notice about the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the redesigned camera array on the back, which Apple calls the “Camera Plateau.” Gone is the square-shaped camera module in favor of a long, horizontal camera bar. Maybe it means the iPhone finally won’t rock on a table. There’s also a slightly different color tone below, indicating the split between the new aluminum chassis and the glass.

The forged plateau creates extra space for components, like a larger battery.

Courtesy of Apple

You heard that right, Apple’s priciest models are reverting to aluminum instead of the titanium of yesteryear. Aluminum handles heat better and is cheaper and lighter, not to mention a better carbon footprint (it’s 100 percent recycled aluminum). Now the only titanium model in the company’s lineup is the iPhone Air. You’d think this would bring a price drop, but alas.

Apple is also debuting a vapor chamber cooling system on these phones, helping them keep cool under load. This is something Android phones have used for years, so it’ll be interesting to see how it impacts performance across the board, whether you’re shooting 4K video or playing a graphically demanding game.



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Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 portable music player on a white surface
Product Reviews

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 portable music player review: a brilliant step on the journey but not “the peak of performance and design” promised.

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Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000: Two-minute review

The Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 is the brand’s newest flagship digital audio player, and it is priced accordingly. If you measure the worth of a product by how relatively heavy and remarkably shiny it is, though, you won’t be able to argue with the $3,999 asking price.

The SP4000 goes a distance towards justifying its cost in the way it’s specified to perform, too. Numerous technological highlights abound, none of them in any way ‘affordable’, and between the sheer heft of the physical item and the lengthy list of technologies Astell & Kern has brought to bear, the SP4000 seems about as purposeful as these things ever get.

And in action, it is an uncomplicated pleasure to listen to, fully befitting a place in the best MP3 players around. In every meaningful way, the SP4000 is an extremely accomplished device, able to combine brute muscularity with deft insight, rhythmic positivity with outright scale. No matter what you choose to listen to, the Astell & Kern seems to enjoy it just as much as you do – and it’s not about to sit in judgement on your choice of headphones either.

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

  • Priced at $3,999 / £3,799 / AU$6,599

The Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 is on sale now, and in the United States it sells for $3,999. In the United Kingdom the asking price is £3,799, and in Australia you’ll have to part with AU$6,599.

Not cheap, is it? Anyone who takes an interest in this sort of thing will know Astell & Kern has no problem in pitching its products as uber-high-end propositions, but no matter how many times I see one of its products priced this way, it remains difficult not to do a double-take…

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Features

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

  • 4 x AKM4191 and 4 x AKM4499EX DACs in 1:1 architecture
  • 4 x opamps per analogue output
  • Snapdragon 6125 octa-core processor

Something would seem amiss, wouldn’t it, if a digital audio player costing very nearly four thousand of your US dollars wasn’t groaning under the weight of its specification? Well, when you consider the extensive nature of the SP4000, it’s a wonder it’s not even bigger and even heavier than it actually is.

It follows that I should try to be reasonably brief, otherwise we’ll be here all day.

At its most fundamental, the SP4000 is built around ‘octa’ audio architecture. The digital-to-analogue signal processing is in a 1:1 structure, with one AKM4191 digital processor paired with one AKM4499EX DAC. This allows digital signals to be delivered to a single DAC, four times over – this is a true quad-DAC design, with the aim of allowing precise signal transfer with a vanishingly low signal-to-noise ratio. The ability to deal with PCM resolutions of up to 32bit/768kHz and DSD512 means any realistic digital audio file is catered for.

There are eight opamps deployed, four attending to the unbalanced 3.5mm analogue output and four dealing with the 4.4mm balanced equivalent. The intention is to increase dynamic range and enhance detail retrieval – Astell & Kern calls this arrangement ‘high driving mode’ and suggests it provides powerful and stable signal output.

A newly developed LDO (‘low drop-out’) regulator in the power supply stabilizes battery voltage in an effort to suppress noise. Proprietary ESA (‘enhanced signal alignment’) technology is designed to improve the alignment of frequency signals (sometimes opaquely referred to as ‘timing’) to minimize distortion and enhance clarity. The PCB is a high-end ‘Any Layer HDI’ design that allows for extremely complex circuitry to be laid out in a very small space, minimizing signal loss.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

What else? The audio block sits behind a 99.9% pure copper shielding can, offering significant shielding from electromagnetic interference. The audio block itself is Astell & Kern’s ‘Teraton X’ design, which incorporates HEXA-Audio circuitry along with power-efficient amplification and considerable power noise cancellation, to deliver what the company suggests is the ‘ultimate sound solution’.

The entire show is run by a Snapdragon 6125 Octa-core processor that features a high-performance CPU and 8GB of DDR4. CPU, memory and wireless comms circuitry are configured as a single module, and with the digital circuit components arranged in the same area it’s effectively a system on a chip.

I could go on. There are six digital filters available to allow the user to, in a small way, design their own sound. The ‘crossfeed’ feature allows a little of the left-channel mix into the right channel (and vice versa) and, in conjunction with some adjustment options, tries to replicate the effect of listening to speakers when listening to headphones. The second generation of Astell & Kern’s DAR (‘digital audio remaster’) technology, dubbed ‘Advanced DAR’, uses a ‘virtual sound extender’ as part of a two-stage upsampling process that can convert PCM signals of up to 48kHz to 385kHz or to DSD128, and signals of greater than 96kHz to DSD256, for playback.

Surely, though, the broad point is made by now. Astell & Kern didn’t leave space for the kitchen sink, but it has thrown pretty much everything else at the A&ultima SP4000.

Features score: 5 / 5

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Sound quality

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

  • Epic levels of insight and detail
  • Rhythmic and dynamic positivity
  • Sounds simultaneously open and unified

Yes, you can fiddle around the edges of the way the A&ultima SP4000 sounds – investigate filters, fool around with EQs, you name it – but what you can’t do is alter its overarching sonic character. Which is just as well, because this Astell & Kern digital audio player is a staggeringly direct, informative and, ultimately, complete listen. Few are the sources of audio information, of any type and at any price, that can match its powers of communication – and I have heard plenty.

No matter if you’re listening to a 16bit/44.1kHz FLAC file of Ride’s Leave Them All Behind, a 24bit/48kHz FLAC file of James Holden’s Common Land or a DSD64 file of The Band’s I Shall Be Released: it’s all the same to the SP4000. In every circumstance it’s a profoundly detailed, rhythmically positive, articulate and energetic listen. There really isn’t an aspect of music-making at which it doesn’t prove itself masterful.

And it’s not as if I can offer a “yes, but…” or two in the name of balance. The longer I listen to the SP4000, the more beguiled I become.

Tonal balance? It’s basically impeccable. Frequency response? Smooth and even from way down at the low frequencies to the vertiginous top end. The Astell & Kern sounds naturalistic and unforced, and it’s completely even-handed in the way it presents the frequency range. And at every point, it’s absolutely alive with detail both broad and fine. The minutiae of tone, timbre and texture are made absolutely apparent, and the player loads all of this information onto the listener without being in any way showy or uptight about it. This fanatical attention to detail is simply a way of ensuring you get as complete a rendition of your digital audio files as possible.

The presentation is spacious and well-defined at the same time, and no matter if it’s a large ensemble all packing the stage or just one voice with a single guitar as accompaniment, the SP4000 lays it all out in confident and coherent fashion.

It deals with rhythm and tempo with similar authority, keeping momentum levels high and observing the attack and decay of bass sounds (in particular) with obvious care. It can ease back if necessary, though – nothing gets hurried along, but rather is allowed to proceed at its own chosen speed. Dynamic headroom is, to all intents and purposes, limitless. From the smallest, quietest event in a recording to the last almighty crescendo, the SP4000 is on top of things – the distance between these two states is prodigious. And the smaller, but no less crucial, dynamics of harmonic variation, the attention to the over- and undertones that surround the fundamental when listening to a solo instrument, are given very judicious weighting. Context is everything, and the SP4000 seems to almost instinctively understand it.

And the Astell & Kern even has the decency not to be sniffy either about the music you listen to or the headphones via which you access it. Obviously it does better work (or, rather, its potential is best exploited) by hi-res files and high-end headphones – but if you want to connect your bog-standard true wireless in-ear via Bluetooth and listen to Spotify’s free tier the SP4000 won’t judge you. Not too badly, anyway.

Sound quality score: 5 / 5

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Design

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

  • Polished 904L stainless steel and PVD-coated ceramic
  • 150 x 85 x 20mm
  • 615g

Ordinarily, a digital audio player is designed to be reasonably compact, and light enough to be slipped into a pocket. Of course, Astell & Kern sets out for its digital audio players to be anything but ordinary.

So the SP4000 is a fairly large (150 x 85 x 20mm) device that weighs a considerable 615g. Too big and heavy, in other words, to be comfortably carried in any pocket smaller and less robust than that of a military greatcoat. This is its naked weight, too. If you add one of the included screen protectors (which is, admittedly, going to make negligible difference to the weight) and slip the player into its supplied Perlinger leather* protective case, it becomes heavier still. At least that case prevents the player’s sharp, pointy corners from digging into hands or pocket linings, mind you.

(*I’m not a vegetarian. I know people who are, though, and some of them are just as interested in high-quality audio as I am. So once again I find myself wondering why companies like Astell & Kern imagine real leather – in this instance, leather made from “the soft, delicate hide of calves under one year old” – to be the untouchable height of luxury. Surely it’s possible to offer a protective case for the SP4000 that looks and feels upmarket but that isn’t going to alienate who knows how many prospective customers? Or is that just me?)

The four sides of the SP4000 are built of 904L stainless steel (the same stuff the likes of Rolex uses, on the basis that it will accept an extremely high polish), and feature some of the angularity and asymmetry that Astell & Kern established as part of its design vocabulary a good while ago. The front is of toughened glass, 152mm on the diagonal, and is almost entirely touchscreen. The rear panel, meanwhile, is finished in PVD-coated ceramic.

It really goes without saying that the standard of build and finish on display here is flawless. With the design of the SP4000, Astell & Kern has set out to deliver a product that blurs the line between ‘electrical hardware’ and ‘luxury accessory’. Or, as the company’s website rather feverishly has it, “a work of art where technology, design, intuition and performance converge”. You may feel that Astell & Kern has done exactly what it set out to do, you may find the design rather self-consciously opulent. Taste is a very personal thing, after all.

It’s worth noting the grandeur of SP4000 ownership starts well before you peel the protective covering off the player itself. It arrives in a branded box that’s a similar size to that which contained a pair of size 10 Tricker’s boots I bought the other day. Inside there is another, branded, clasp-fastening box covered in what I strongly suspect is a further quantity of leather.

Inside that you’ll find the SP4000, along with compartments that contain that Perlinger leather cover, a case with a flap covering into which the player (in its cover) can be slipped (more leather, I presume), various guides and warranty documents, a congratulatory note from the company, and a reasonably heavyweight, branded USB-C to USB-C cable. I am pretty sure this all comes under the heading of ‘the experience’.

Design score: 4 / 5

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Usability and setup

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

  • 2160 x 1080 touchscreen
  • Supports Full Android OS
  • Qualcomm QC3.0 fast charging

The SP4000 represents the first time an Astell & Kern product has supported full Android OS. The convenience and all-around common sense of the operating system is intended to help the SP4000 be as flexible and convenient as possible, while some of the Snapdragon 6125 octa-core processor’s responsibilities center around rapidity of the OS response and the smooth, comfortable user interface motion.

Happily, it all works very well. The big 2K (2160 x 1080) touchscreen is responsive and swift, smooth-scrolling and consistent. The operating system will be mercifully familiar to anyone whose smartphone isn’t an iOS device, and it’s just as wide-ranging and usable here as it is in its most successful smartphone applications.

Setting up the SP4000 is no kind of hardship. It’s simply a question of connecting it to your local network (its dual-band Wi-Fi is tenacious when it comes to making and maintaining a connection to your router or tethering to your smartphone if you’re out and about), and from there it’s simple to load the apps you require. The ‘AK File Drop’ function makes transferring files from a PC, smartphone or FTP program on a common network faster and easier than before, too.

The Astell & Kern also supports Qualcomm QC 3.0 fast charging, which means it can be charged more rapidly (and more efficiently) than previous flagship A&ultima models. Mind you, ‘fast’ and ‘rapid’ are definitely relative terms in this instance. From ‘flat’ to ‘full’ takes around five hours, which is about half the time it takes for the SP4000 to flatten its battery if you’re listening to ordinary files at ordinary volume levels.

There are a few physical controls arranged around the edges of the SP4000. As you look at its touchscreen, there’s an elaborate volume control/power on/off on the top-right edge – it’s pleasantly shaped and knurled, and a light behind it glows in one of a variety of different colors to indicate the resolution of the audio file it’s currently playing.

On the opposite side there are three buttons that deal with skip backwards/rewind (accessible via ‘press’ or ‘press and hold’ respectively), skip forwards/fast-forward (same) and play/pause. There’s a ‘button lock’ switch on the top edge, to the right of the 3.5mm hybrid optical/unbalanced analogue and 4.4mm balanced analogue outputs, and on the bottom edge you’ll find a USB-C socket and a microSD card slot, which will accept cards of up to 1.5TB.

Usability and setup score: 4.5 / 5

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Value

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

First things first: you don’t contemplate ownership of the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 because you’re in any way concerned about value for money. Is it the best-sounding DAP out there? Sure. Is it twice as good as alternatives from the likes of FiiO or Astell & Kern itself that cost comfortably less than $2k? Not a chance.

No, the value in the SP4000 comes from its status as the shiny flagship of the Astell & Kern range. It comes from the knowledge that no one you bump into when in the First Class Lounge has a more expensive DAP than you. It comes from the ability to add ‘DAP’ to the list of ‘madly luxurious accessories I own’.

Should I buy the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000?

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

Buy it if… 

Don’t buy it if… 

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000 review: Also consider

How I tested the Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000

  • Tested for over a week
  • Tested with streamed and downloaded content
  • Tested with wired and wireless headphones

I slotted a microSD card filled with hi-res content (up to 24bit/192kHz and DSD64, anyway) into the SP4000, and I downloaded the Tidal and Presto music streaming apps while I was at it.

I used Sennheiser IE900 IEMs connected via the 4.4mm balanced output, Austrian Audio The Composer over-ears via the 3.5mm unbalanced alternative, and tried out the Technics EAH-AZ100 true wireless in-ears and Bowers & Wilkins Px8 wireless over-ears too.

I listened to lots of different types of music, via lots of different file types and sizes – and I did so indoors and (with some trepidation, I don’t mind telling you) outdoors too.

  • First reviewed in September 2025

Astell & Kern A&ultima SP4000: Price Comparison



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The Concept C Is the All-Electric Sports Car Kick-Starting Audi’s Design Future
Gaming Gear

The Concept C Is the All-Electric Sports Car Kick-Starting Audi’s Design Future

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Car companies love a mission statement. With the arrival of the Concept C, Audi’s new one is crystal clear: “radical simplicity.” An all-electric two-seater with a retractable folding hard top, the Concept C is a “progressive interpretation” of the company’s legacy, says Audi—and it’s not hard to see that the TT has factored pretty heavily in that.

But as you pick your way through the messaging—key words here are precision and clarity, as well as a reemphasis on our old friend “Vorsprung durch Technik”—this feels like a substantial reset after a period of aesthetic drift. This isn’t just a piece of conceptual eye candy, then: It’s Audi engaging combat mode in an industry currently beset with challenges.

“Our vision is a call to action for the whole company—and is essential for making our brand truly distinctive once again,” Audi chief creative officer Massimo Frascella explains. “It is the philosophy behind every decision we make, and we aim to apply its principles across the entire organization. We call it ‘the Radical Next.’”

Let’s start with the car itself. Although the e-tron GT set the bar high, Audi’s model range has been light on coherence and drama. The Concept C isn’t quite a first-principles machine, but it definitely strips things back and seeks to stoke some good old-fashioned flames of desire. It’s a terrific looking thing in the flesh: stocky, solid, and charismatic. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner, in charge for exactly two years, personally pushed for a new sports car; Frascella used it to push the boundaries in terms of design creativity and manufacturing technique.

Courtesy of Audi

It’s also one for marque historians: Although there’s nothing explicitly retro here, the 1930s Auto Union Type C Grand Prix car, the early-noughties Rosemeyer concept, and more pertinently the original TT are all in the mix, as is Bauhaus and German modernism.

Frascella, it should be noted, is an Italian who rose to prominence as head of design at Jaguar Land Rover, and he is credited with the current Range Rover, a universally admired vehicle (though he also worked on the rather more polarizing Jaguar Type 00.) A lack of adornment and commitment to what car designers are wont to call “monolithic” surfaces are evidently two of his trademarks.

That much is certainly apparent here. The Concept C’s taut, machined look suggests something carved from a giant billet of aluminum, and there’s a strong new vertical front-grille shape with a slim but powerful light signature that echoes the four-ring logo. We reckon it’s best appreciated from an elevated position above the rear three-quarters, though. There’s no rear window, minimal decoration, and slender LED taillights, with three slats in the rear deck to suggest a more emotionally charged, mid-engined configuration. We’re told the windowless, slatted look will make production, and the new car is slated to arrive in 2027.

Courtesy of Audi



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Floppy disk SD card holder concept
Gaming Gear

The floppy disk returns as a design concept for SD cards, bridging eras of storage from megabytes to terabytes

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  • The iconic floppy disk is reborn as a storage case for today’s terabyte-packing SD cards
  • From 1.44MB past to terabyte present, the new design bridges eras creatively
  • Fun artwork references glitch aesthetics and retro computing

Floppy disks are unquestionably a relic from the past, although they still keep resurfacing in unusual places – most recently, surfacing in the American prison service, and an enterprising YouTuber set out to build a floppy disk from scratch.

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll no doubt still remember the feeling of sliding a floppy disk into a computer, hearing that quiet click, and waiting as files loaded bit by bit. That memory will come rushing back with the Floppy Disk-Inspired SD Card Packaging, a design concept created by Indian industrial designer Ayushmaan Singh Jodha for SanDisk.

It takes the iconic 3.5-inch floppy and reimagines it as a different kind of storage device – as a case for today’s SD cards.


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(Image credit: Ayushmaan Singh Jodha)

From megabytes to terabytes

Where a floppy once held 1.44MB, this design protects cards that now carry gigabytes or even terabytes.

The idea bridges eras of technology in a fun way, but with a serious practical purpose.

SD cards can easily get lost, slipping out of pockets during a shoot, hiding beneath clutter in a busy studio, or disappearing into the depths of a travel bag. I’ve lost a good number of them over the years.

The floppy case provides a larger, sturdier object to hold onto, making it easier to keep track of the tiny cards that store important work.

The packaging keeps the same square profile and iconic shutter, transforming an obsolete form into a fresh, modern tool.

The design showcases artwork that references early computer culture, glitchy error screens, and retro sci-fi themes. The idea is turn the cases into collectible pieces that creatives may want to keep on display, not tucked away in drawers.

The sliding shutter reveals the hidden compartment where the SD card is stored, adding a small sense of interaction to an otherwise simple task.

Is it truly practical? No, but it’s fun and something I’d love to own.

Via Yanko Design

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CRKD’s Vortex is a twist on a Peak Design backpack, but for gaming
Gaming Gear

CRKD’s Vortex is a twist on a Peak Design backpack, but for gaming

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Embracer Group-owned CRKD recently launched a backpack, the $99.99 Vortex 1.0. During a recent vacation, I swapped it in place of my go-to for the past eight or so years, the 20-liter Peak Design Everyday backpack, which CRKD has thoroughly cribbed the look of. However, the Vortex has handheld gaming pockets, which helps it stand out, especially at this price.

I generally like using the Peak Design backpack, except that bringing it on vacations means that I have to leave my handheld(s) at home. It’s not wide enough to accommodate even the original Switch once things are stuffed into its side pockets. The Vortex 1.0, on the other hand, let me bring both my Switch 2 and Steam Deck, thanks to its two dedicated handheld sleeves. It’s also wider and taller, which means its top zipper compartment can hold a 16-inch laptop and a tablet.

Despite its similarities with the Peak Design Everyday backpack, there are little details the Vortex should have (but didn’t) attempt to duplicate, like having multiple handles that let you carry it either vertically or horizontally, or having velcro-equipped shelves that let you tweak the height and width of each compartment.

The Vortex 1.0 is a third of the cost of the 30-liter Everyday backpack, making it a good value for gamers who don’t want to turn packing into a game of Tetris. But its materials and shoulder strap padding don’t feel as durable or breathable compared to my Peak Design bag, which still looks and operates in like-new condition after nearly a decade. In other words, the Vortex can’t compete toe-to-toe in some of the most important ways with the backpack that it’s trying to clone.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge



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A screenshot of Microsoft's Copilot Gaming technology demo
Product Reviews

87% of game developers are already using AI agents and over a third use AI for creative elements like level design and dialogue according to a new Google survey

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Fully 87% of game developers are already using AI agents. That’s according to a new survey from Google Cloud and The Harris Poll of 615 game developers in the United States, South Korea, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. It’s also just the tip of the AI-berg.

Some of the tasks completed by AI aren’t immediately worrisome and you’d think will speed up development and reduce costs. The report says AI is proving useful for automating “cumbersome and repetitive tasks”, freeing developers to focus more on creative elements.

For instance, 47% of developers reported that AI is, “speeding up playtesting and balancing of mechanics, 45% say it is assisting in localization and translation of game content, and 44% cite it for improving code generation and scripting support.” Overall, 94% of developers surveyed, “expect AI to reduce overall development costs in the long term (3+ years).”


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That could help keep smaller developers in business, it might mean niche game titles are more viable, and so on. But it’s only part of the picture. Arguably one of the great fears among gamers is that game design, stories and dialogue will be replaced with the sort of AI slop that’s now bunging up YouTube and social media.

Well, slop or not, AI is increasingly being used for those purposes. Google’s survey found that 36% of respondents are using AI for dynamic level design, animation and rigging, and dialogue writing, while 37% of developers report they have, “enhanced experimentation with new gameplay or narrative concepts.”

Will today’s games be among the last to be coded, written and voiced by humans? (Image credit: rmk1234, CD Projekt Red)

The report is pretty granular about many aspects of game design and development and makes for an intriguing read. Overall, Google is nothing if not upbeat about the implications of all this. Of course it would be, considering it is one of the largest AI researchers on the planet. It has skin in the game, and it’s trying to sell AI to the world.

“Overall, the research found widespread adoption of gen AI in the games industry—and a surprising level of optimism for it. AI is already making a big difference in developer workflows, including productivity and creative tasks.

“Developers also see promising possibilities with AI agents and other emerging AI tools to accelerate game development and enhance player experiences,” the report says.

Of course, the end game, pun very much intended, of all this is presumably games fully AI generated in response to user prompts. “I want to play a first person shooter set in ancient Rome, but with modern weapons, procedural crime elements and Disney characters,” or whatever. And off you go.

Of course, except the one bit that almost definitely won’t be doable is the Disney characters due to IP ownership. Unless you pay extra for the Disney AI gaming subscription or similar. But you get the idea.

If that puts the burden on users to come up with game narratives, semi-curated games where the basic premise is tweaked by user prompts might make more sense for most mainstream gamers. But the main point is that it might all be AI generated one day. At which point will there be a submarket for “artisanal” hand-coded games with human-written narratives, real voices and the rest? All of this is to come, much is to be decided. But the the direction of travel looks pretty unambiguous, and a little icky.

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