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For the past decade, multi-room smart speakers have been dominated by the same companies that sell us our phones, tablets and cloud services. Somewhere along the way, music became a secondary feature rather than the focus of the device playing it. Traditional hi-fi brands have struggled to compete, usually leaning on sound quality alone as their advantage with limited mainstream success.

There's an emerging trend of hi-fi speakers combining the convenience of streaming and multi-room connectivity with their premium audio performance and physical connectivity. The iQ2 from PSB ($1,399) is one such product. It promises the acoustic benefits of bookshelf speakers, packs in almost every input you could need and stirs in many of the everyday conveniences listeners now expect. The emphasis is less on "smart" and more on "speaker," positioning the absence of voice assistants and daily briefings as a feature, not a compromise. At least, that's the idea.

Design

Make no mistake, the iQ2 looks like a pair of conventional shelf speakers, albeit modern, minimalist ones. They have a sleek aesthetic that doesn't call your attention, that adds a gentle stylish detail to a room. At about 9 x 6 inches, they're on the smaller side for speakers and should fit neatly on most TV stands or even desks. The units I tested came in white, but there's a total of seven hues to choose from — ranging from cautious beige to bold red. Personally, I love how they look and I think there's a good balance of grown-up style, without tipping over into serious hi-fi territory.

The design makes it clear that they're "here to play music" rather than the "I might be an air purifier" vibe of some home assistant-style smart speakers. Though it's fair to say that the form-factor isn't suitable for all parts of the home. In smaller rooms, and in practical spaces like a kitchen, these speakers might feel a little out of place.

Never say never, though. The iQ2 speakers don't need a cable to join them together, even though they're a stereo pair. This makes room placement much tidier and easier. Both speakers will, however, need a wall outlet for power. One of the speakers acts as a primary with all the input ports, so it doesn't matter, for example, which side of the TV your HDMI port is on — your speakers can match. The primary also has touch-sensitive buttons on top for basic media and volume controls.

Inputs and connectivity

James Trew for Engadget

I already gave you a hint, but there's a comprehensive selection of inputs available on the iQ2. There are physical connections for HDMI (with eARC), phono/line, optical and two USB ports (Type-A and Type-C). For wireless connectivity, there's Bluetooth (aptX Adaptive) and AirPlay. You can also configure network sharing, if that's your thing. Wherever your music lives — on disc or as data — there's likely a way to play it through the iQ2 with little effort. I say little, as there's no 3.5mm connection, so you might need an RCA adapter for an old phone or portable CD player. But that's the only friction point for adding music sources.

BluOS controller app

As Sonos learned at great expense, users won't tolerate a bad app experience for long — no matter how good the hardware or sound. PSB has a quiet strength here, as it's part of the same family of companies that makes the BluOS controller app. The app is compatible with a number of streaming speakers from different brands, but the iQ2 benefits from what feels like near native integration.

Setup involves little more than plugging the speakers in, searching for them in the app and then a few basic configuration steps (like deciding which side the primary is on). In less than two minutes, I was streaming my Spotify playlists.

It's here in the app that you swap music sources, add any local libraries and control any playing media. For these essential tasks, BluOS is intuitive and easy to navigate. Scratch a little bit deeper and you'll find plenty of customization and advanced configuration options so that your preferred inputs, services and listening preferences are within reach. If you own multiple BluOS-compatible speakers, you can group them in the app for multi-room listening and control.

If you plan on using these speakers in place of a soundbar, be sure to find the Auto Sense option. Each input has its own settings outside of the global configuration, so if you want sound to automatically switch to the TV when you turn it on, you'll need to set that manually in the app. The only minor complaint I have with BluOS is that the sources you use the most show-up on the home screen. That itself is fine, but I spent a while looking for the way to toggle from Line input to phono, without any luck. It was because the phono input didn't immediately show up in the "Most Used" section. When it did, I finally found the way to enter specific settings for that input. It didn't take long, but long enough for me to start Googling around for a solution.

Sound quality

James Trew for Engadget

My current living room setup has a Sonos Arc pulling double duty as a soundbar and primary music player. Switching to the iQ2 revealed an immediate sonic difference: Things sounded relaxed, in a good way. I enjoy the Sonos, but I didn't realize how dominant it was, even at lower volumes. For TV and movies, the iQ2 speakers deliver a natural sound with a present but controlled low end. It passed my preferred boomy-bass test — watching a few trailers for Michael Bay movies — with flying colors. It's clear that PSB has tuned the iQ2 in a way that avoids sounding thin, but without calling attention to itself, even during high-action climatic scenes that usually have me reaching to lower the volume.

For music, the experience is similar. With electronic music in particular, the benefit of true, separate stereo speakers becomes clear, with even frantic hard techno and other "dense" genres sounding more open. Acoustic and rock genres are easy listens with pleasant mid-high frequencies that don't sound too sharp or exaggerated.

The only audio source that sounded notably different was vinyl via the phono input. As the only non-digital source, it makes sense that it shows the most variation. The built-in preamp is perfectly capable of raising my 50-year-old turntable to enjoyable audio levels, but there's a slightly narrower sound. It's still an enjoyable listen, and allows me to remove my current preamp from my living room. As it happens, PSB issued a statement during this review that it would be making changes to the phono preamp "after early feedback on that feature," so things may well improve soon.

It's worth mentioning that the iQ2 speakers are fairly compact. This makes them fit well in smaller living spaces and/or busy media centers, but it also means they're not wall-shakingly loud. I never found myself mashing the volume button for more, but if you are looking to fill larger spaces with party-level sound, then the iQ2 might not scratch that itch.

The competition

For multi-room audio, you can take your pick from multiple options, most of which will cost less than the $1,399 iQ2. Few, if any, come with the range of inputs here though, and luxuries like HDMI are rare. Phono/line in support is basically non-existent. Sonos has a few models such as the Arc Ultra and Beam that have HDMI, but you'll have to upgrade to the company's Amp if you want a line in and a phono preamp.

PSB isn't alone in the smart hi-fi space, though. KEF's LSX II is a direct rival with near-identical inputs, a more striking design and, at $1,500, a slightly higher entry point. It also doesn't have a phono preamp, but does offer a 3.5mm input. If you already have a set of speakers or don't mind adding an extra link in the chain, the Wiim Ultra audio streamer matches the iQ2's connectivity for just $329. That's obviously just for the hub, though, so you'll have to add in the cost of your speakers for a true comparison.

Wrap-up

James Trew for Engadget

The decision here is simple. Do you need more connectivity and wider , hi-fi sound? Or are streaming services and Bluetooth enough? If it's the former, there's another hurdle to pass: your budget. The iQ2 is competent at everything it claims to do. It modernizes your home hi-fi and theater easily and elegantly. BluOS does a good job at combining multiple inputs into a modern hub, but if extra bells and whistles, like smart assistants, alarms and briefings matter, you might find it restrictive. Not least of all, $1,399 is not a casual purchase. But if you've already accepted that great sound costs money, the iQ2 makes a compelling case for its place in your media center. %!s()

The heat in central and western Europe this summer has been unrelenting. Last week’s weather tracker highlighted record-breaking temperatures for the month of July in Austria. However, only a few days later, on 4 August, the all-time record was shattered with 41.0C achieved in Stammersdorf, north-east of the capital, Vienna. This comfortably broke the previous all-time record set in August 2003 by 0.7C. Unbelievably, that record was broken again the following day when 41.2C was recorded in Deutsch-Altenburg. Slovakia also set an all-time record on the same day, of 41.4C. The continuing European heatwave, associated with a vertically extensive anticyclone, raised the freezing level above 4,000 metres across much of the Alpine region. This represents a level in the atmosphere well above many Alpine glaciers, accelerating the seasonal melting process. On the opposite side of the Atlantic, 51.8C was recorded in Badwater, California, the highest temperature in the US for 2026 so far.

Although south-eastern parts of Europe have eluded the worst of the summer heat, wildfires have ignited in recent days. Extremely strong northerly wind gusts in excess of 70mph ripped through the Greek Islands on 29 July, causing medium-voltage power lines to sway and produce sparks that set fire to vegetation below. Part of the palm forest at Preveli beach, Crete, was damaged by a wildfire but the centre of the forest was spared from the worst of the destruction. %!s()

That's changing with WoW's next patch, Curse of Ula'tek, as world bosses are shifting to a "lair" format. Essentially, they'll function like one-boss delves with larger groups—that also gives them the benefit of having scaling difficulties, all the way up to 15-25 man Mythic. You can queue up for them like you would any other dungeon.

I got to speak with lead encounter designer Taylor Sanders about plans for patch 12.1 about why Blizzard's chosen to experiment with world bosses in particular: "So historically, world bosses go all the way back, right, to like the green dragons and the Lord Kazzaks and stuff that many players know and love from Classic and beyond.

"Lately, we found in recent updates and recent expansions that these experiences have really been a little bit lackluster… A lot of players just cluster into a boss. It drops in a few moments. In the worst case, you might have to hop between servers to find a group where maybe the boss is up or the boss is attackable."

I can't say I disagree with Sanders, here—while there's a simple joy in joining an ongoing zerg rush, it's not as though I'm engaging with the games' systems beyond just pushing my buttons when I'm whacking one of these things. There might, on occasion, be an AoE I need to dodge or something, but I couldn't tell you one modern world bosses' mechanics from another.

That's mostly because of changing assumptions about difficulty. Some of those classic world bosses are iconic because they were allowed to be tough, or have punishing mechanics that required coordination to avoid—but because world content in WoW has now become part of casual play, those mechanics just wouldn't work for folks trying to get their dailies.

Imagine if, for instance, a world boss in retail had Lord Kazzak's "Capture Soul" ability, wherein if he kills anybody he heals for 70,000 HP—around 10% of his health. You'd never kill the dang thing.

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"Going into the Curse of Ula'tek update," Sanders adds, "We really wanted to reimagine what a world boss could really be and try to make sure that if you are engaging with a world boss, you're having—not only an accessible experience, but you're also having a reasonable combat experience and you have a fun time fighting a boss."

The experience of finding a group itself has changed, too—again, back in the day, you'd meticulously recruit folks from either your guild or general chat. Your average non-Classic MMO player doesn't have the appetite for that sort of thing anymore, so modern WoW uses a streamlined looking for group interface where you can register for groups.

Only, the depersonalisation of that means, as Sanders points out, you can join just as a world boss is dying, or when it's at 5% HP, or something—it does, admittedly, feel janky: "We're hoping that this can get players out of the interface of trying to find a different group … To help players through that process, so they can just get in and get fighting the creature and get their loot faster."

Not that it doesn't have trade-offs. Again, there's something pleasingly chaotic and distinctly MMO about joining a mess of particle effects, or stumbling across a group already doing a raid boss—and that'll be lost if lairs become the way of doing things: "It's very rare that when you're designing something new, or trying to create a new experience for players, that you don't have trade-offs. One of the trade-offs is that sense of coming upon something where you're in the midst of the action, right? Or you're coming upon an event that is in progress.

"But we really felt like that was a good trade-off for us to make, to lose that aspect of it, if players are going to have a better combat experience against the encounter."

It's always a fascinating bit of tension, to me—MMOs are in their nature an evolving genre, mostly in how their playerbases evolve with them. The rigid hardcore/casual divide is a thing of the past, and it seems to me that the state of WoW's world bosses were a symptom of that—an attempt to make something that was for ambitious raiders part of casual content. Now it's all on a sliding scale.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. %!s()

Instead of paying the usual $59.99 for a boxed copy, you can preorder Nintendo Switch Sports Resort for $49.94 at Amazon, matching the game's digital MSRP.

October 22, 2026

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort (Physical Edition)

It's a small but welcome saving, especially as Nintendo has introduced higher prices for physical Switch 2 releases, with many games now costing $10 more than their digital counterparts.

The deal also comes at an interesting time for the games industry, as Nintendo continues to fully support boxed releases on Switch 2.

While Sony has recently raised some eyebrows with its announcement that no new PlayStation 5 games would ship on disc from January 2028 onwards

That comes in contrast to Nintendo, which has recently said that boxed games still account for 38.5% of the Mario maker's software sales, suggesting that it has no desire to kill physical media anytime soon.

Is Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Good?

For many Nintendo fans, Wuhu Island is one of the most iconic locations from the Wii era. After debuting in Wii Sports Resort, the tropical island became a fan-favourite Nintendo destination, appearing in games like Pilotwings Resort, Mario Kart 7, and Super Smash Bros. before disappearing for years.

During a hands-on preview at San Diego Comic Con, IGN's Logan Plant returned to Wuhu Island in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort and tried four of the game's 12 sports: archery, bowling, power cruising, and thumb wrestling.

The early signs are promising, with Resort already looking like it could fix some of the issues that held back Nintendo Switch Sports.

The game launches with a much larger lineup of activities, while the upgraded Joy-Con 2 controllers make each sport feel more distinct, from aiming a bow in archery to gripping handlebars while racing across the island.

While much of the appeal comes from nostalgia, it's great to see Wuhu Island return as a place Nintendo fans can visit again.

Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky. %!s()

For many inside Iran, inflicting meaningful revenge on Trump is a legitimate and self-standing war aim, reflected in the mood of those attending the funeral of the supreme leader Ali Khamenei where demands for retribution were ubiquitous.

While Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution have never trusted the US, that animus is now also directed personally towards Trump. He not only tore up the painfully negotiated nuclear deal in 2018, but he sanctioned the assassination of the military leader Qassem Suleimani and twice involved Iran in negotiations on its nuclear programme only to launch wars against it. He shows no remorse for the killing of the country’s supreme leader, or for the attempt on the life of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

As the countdown to November’s midterms begins, what could be Trump’s political demise has become a subject of obsessive speculation in Tehran. Iranian media track the US president’s waning ratings, attributing the decline to the war’s unpopularity and high oil prices. The changing politics of the Democrats is minutely examined.

But the focus on the midterms became more obvious this week when the deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, told the official IRNA news agency that after agreeing a route for commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz, it would take two to four months to reach the second phase of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. The original plan – to commence the nuclear phase of the talks within 30 days of signing June’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US – had been jettisoned by the Trump administration, Gharibabadi said.

To get to that second stage, he laid out an obstacle course including the lifting of sanctions, the end of the US blockade of Iranian ports, the unfreezing of Iranian assets and new commitments on non-belligerence in a process that could last well beyond the midterms.

If Tehran gets its way on this timetable, Trump will be going to the polls with no Iranian commitment on nuclear weapons, only a hefty economic bill for a failed war. “This raises the very likely scenario of continued cycles of conflict between the US and Tehran over the strait,” said Jason Brodsky from United against a Nuclear Iran, an advocate of the war. “There won’t be any true quiet before the midterm elections – Tehran has no interest in giving this to the Trump administration … It will continue to play games.”

Mehr News, an agency close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, published a piece saying Iran had given Trump a major dilemma. “Continuing the war could increase political and economic pressure on the government and exacerbate the decline in his popularity. On the other hand, backing down, or moving towards reducing tensions, could also be interpreted by some of Trump’s supporters as a retreat from his campaign slogans,” it said.

From this perspective, the outcome of this war will not be played out on the battlefield, but at the ballot box. The agency suggested the outcome could affect the course of American domestic and foreign policy for years to come.

Few in Iran take Trump’s statements at face value. But his denials that the midterms affect his Iran strategy are treated with special scepticism. Iranian media point to comments from Marc Zell, chair of Republicans Overseas Israel, who has said: “It’s all about the midterms … the American public simply is tired of war and the administration is navigating the pre-election waters adroitly in order to avoid a Democratic takeover of Congress.”

Such remarks fuel the debate inside Iran about how much the midterms should be part of Iran’s calculus. Some believe the loss of Congress will inhibit Trump or lead to his impeachment; at the very least, it may mark the end of the war’s funding. Mostafa Zahrani, a former Iranian diplomat, argued electoral defeat “will make it inevitable that Trump will not be able to go back to war and will take the negotiations seriously”.

Others such as Nasser Hadian, a professor of international relations at Tehran University, disagree, advocating cashing in on Iran’s victories now rather than waiting for Trump to become weaker. “If he loses, he’ll have less incentive to reach an agreement with Iran, because in that case he’ll be weakened, and Israel and others will find it much easier to attack him – something they don’t dare do now,” he said. “Those who say we should wait for the midterm elections have no understanding of politics in America.”

Iran’s pleasure in seeing Trump defeated would indeed be reduced if he felt he had nothing left to lose, but its diplomats overall believe the US president’s freedom to act will be constrained by the unpopularity of more conflict and by Republican presidential candidates’ anxiety to wrap this up. Trump would also be at risk of seeing his whole second term consumed by a disastrous war.

The bigger question is what Iran itself wants to achieve. Agreeing to keep the dispute simmering until November is not an answer to that question – one that Iranians are better at debating than resolving.

Pezeshkian, working in alliance with Mohammad Ghalibaf, the chief negotiator, repeatedly says he does not want endless war, and insists that almost all the supreme national security council concur. He still has faith in the MoU, saying it should be the cornerstone of Iran’s foreign policy.

But the conservative newspaper Kayhan describes the memorandum as worthless since the US always breaks its commitments. “Accordingly, officials should know that the strait of Hormuz is not a bargaining chip and should not be opened as a passage for America,” it said.

Both hardliners and moderates envision the war leading to a new regional security architecture. But the hardliners put the emphasis on America’s expulsion and see this as something less to be negotiated and more to be enforced using control of the entry points to the strait of Hormuz as a lever to close US bases.

Pezeshkian says he sees a place for legitimate US investment in Iran, while the former foreign minister Javad Zarif, in an essay this week, argued Iran in “a post-polar era would benefit from not depending solely on Russia and China in future”.

If Iran developed “a balanced and multifaceted foreign policy”, Tehran would not be forced into relationships based on necessity, he wrote. “Continuing uncontrolled tensions with the United States not only imposes direct costs on Iran, but also makes it more difficult for other countries, even close partners such as China and Russia, to cooperate with Iran.”

Just as Trump cannot resolve from one sentence to the next what he thinks of Iran, nor can Iran agree what it thinks it can get from America. %!s()