Everyone has held a milk carton, which is exactly why CMF’s new speakers are so hard to stop looking at. CMF, the budget sub-brand of Nothing, shaped its first Bluetooth speakers like gable-top cartons, a form that toy manufacturer John Van Wormer of Toledo, Ohio, patented in 1915 as the Pure-Pak. Your brain files that silhouette under breakfast, fridge door, and home before it even registers the grille. Then the colors and a deliberately mismatched knob finish the job. Black cylinders and bricks have run the speaker aisle for a decade, so a carton is practically a plot twist.

The CMF Speaker S ($59) and Speaker M ($109) launched October 12 at nothing.tech and select retailers, in white, dark grey, turquoise, and orange. CMF’s own product pages cite a carton’s sharp geometry as the inspiration, so the resemblance is deliberate. A sloped roof carries the knob where a carton’s screw cap would sit, and the M’s top fin doubles as a carry handle. The front panel and knob pop off, which turns each speaker into a base for swapping or 3D printing. Both are IP68 too, so the carton can sit on a patio table without a worry.

Designer: CMF by Nothing

The carton’s anatomy, rebuilt as a speaker face

A carton has three recognizable parts, and CMF kept all three. The sloped gable roof becomes the top edge of a folded color panel that wraps over from the front face. The sealed top seam becomes the M’s raised fin with a handle cutout, while the S settles for a round cutout in the corner. The screw cap, a carton upgrade Elopak dates to 1991, becomes a knob you press and turn. On the orange and turquoise models, a dark grey body sits behind the panel, so the color reads like printed paperboard around a core.

The grilles do the decorating. On the turquoise model the mesh is a deeper teal, on the orange it turns brick red, and on white and dark grey it goes black, so each face is a flat field with big circles punched in. The M stacks two of them, the S gets one, and a small pixel-style cmf wordmark sits above like a tiny brand stamp. An oval button with a white light bar is the only other mark besides the knob. That is very few elements, all of them deliberate.

Pint-and-quart proportions and a color system with a mismatched knob

The S measures 5.1 by 3.3 by 1.7 inches (130.5 by 85 by 44mm). The M stretches to 8.7 inches (220mm) tall at the same 85mm width, so the pair reads like a pint and a quart of the same product. Helen Sanematsu’s 1999 AIGA Journal essay on milk packaging argued that cartons get their punch from standing in rows, with color separating the varieties. CMF’s launch imagery lines up four colors across two sizes, which plays that exact game. Put them on a shelf together and you get a dairy case designed by someone with great taste.

Each colorway gets its own knob: a black X on orange, a white ring on turquoise, a red paddle on dark grey, and a teal paddle on white. That deliberate mismatch gives every speaker a single accent, like a bright cap on a carton. Pop it off and you can mix freely or 3D print your own, a habit that follows the CMF Phone 1, whose community printed everything from Lego-friendly backs to a foam dart launcher. We once featured a fan concept for a CMF speaker that went retro radio. The carton is the braver call.

Drivers, battery life, and durability behind the carton

The S pairs a 1.8 inch (45mm) driver with two passive radiators, unpowered diaphragms that beef up bass, for 10W. The M adds a 2.8 inch (70mm) woofer and 0.6 inch (16mm) tweeter for 35W RMS, a continuous power rating. Both claim 18 hours at 50 percent volume with Ultra Bass on, enough for a workday and the commute. A 10 minute charge buys an hour while you hunt for your keys. They survive 30 minutes in nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water and passed a 30 inch (0.76 meter) drop test.

The S costs $59 and the M $109, and both are on sale now at nothing.tech and select retailers. That puts a distinctive object within impulse-buy range, which is unusual for a design this committed. It is the rare budget speaker that makes you want to rearrange a shelf. Van Wormer’s carton survived a century by being easy to hold, stack, and carry, and a portable speaker wants the same three traits. Somebody finally noticed a great speaker shape was sitting in your fridge door all along.

The post Why CMF’s New Milk Carton Speakers Are So Irresistible To Look At first appeared on Yanko Design.

Gaming soundbars became popular in the 2017s, but the trend faded; in the last couple of years, this category of audio accessories has seen renewed interest. Razer kicked off the new wave, with several mainstream brands and some offbeat makers releasing their own versions. Creative recently launched their B3 soundbar for gamers at a very affordable price, and now Edifier is upping the ante with an even sweeter deal.

The China-based audio accessories maker, known for high-end bookshelf speakers, has come up with a very cool-looking soundbar for gamers. Dubbed the Hecate G2000 Bar, the desktop audio boomer is all set to be available from 16 October onwards for a price tag of 349 yuan ($52), which is an introductory price slashed from the normal price of 387 yuan ($58).

Designer: Edifier

The G2000 Bar combines a compact footprint with an angular, mecha-inspired design intended to fit into a gaming setup without taking up much desk space. It will be available in black and white, with a built-in five-degree upward tilt that directs sound toward the listener rather than across the desktop. Five interchangeable themed stickers let users customize the front panel, while 12 RGB lighting effects, including rainbow and flowing-light patterns, add some visual flair. Lighting can be adjusted via the Edifier Connect mobile app or Hecate PC software.

Under the hood, the soundbar uses two 56mm full-range drivers with copper-clad aluminum wire voice coils, paired with two 60mm passive radiators. The arrangement is designed to deliver fuller audio and reinforce low frequencies without requiring a separate subwoofer. Output is rated at 3W per channel, or 6W in total, with peak power reaching 12W. The stated frequency response spans 67Hz to 20kHz.

For gaming, the G2000 Bar supports THX 7.1.4 spatial audio processing, which aims to create a more immersive, surround-like listening experience from a desktop soundbar. Six dedicated audio presets cater to different gaming genres, including first-person shooters, role-playing games, and racing titles. These modes give players a way to tailor the sound to different types of gameplay without manually adjusting equalizer settings.

The other notable addition is a detachable microphone mounted on top. It uses AEC 2.0 acoustic echo cancellation, a dedicated digital signal processor, and AI-assisted noise reduction to limit background sounds and reduce audio feedback from the speakers. This could make voice chat more convenient for players who prefer open speakers to a gaming headset, although performance will depend on the surrounding environment.

Connectivity includes Bluetooth 6.0 and USB sound-card input, allowing the soundbar to work with compatible PCs, laptops, mobile devices, and consoles. An independent 9V DC power adapter supplies power, while physical controls on the top metallic panel provide access to volume adjustment, microphone muting, and audio-mode switching.

With its compact design, customizable lighting, spatial audio processing, and integrated voice-chat features, the Hecate G2000 Bar brings several gaming-focused conveniences to an affordable desktop soundbar. Its initial pricing makes it an interesting option for players looking to simplify their setup without committing to a separate speaker system and microphone.

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Desktop speakers usually have a pretty straightforward job and an equally straightforward appearance. That makes sense when all you want is music, but it doesn’t leave much room for personality. Divoom’s Astrotoo takes a different approach, putting a display and oversized physical controls into a speaker that looks like a tiny computer terminal. It definitely gives your desk something playful and personal, and your friends something to be jealous of.

The rounded housing and recessed side panels give Astrotoo the appearance of equipment from an imagined future, albeit one with chunky buttons. White, pink, and green finishes offer different levels of restraint. At roughly 4.2 by 4.3 inches across its base, it won’t need the space of a computer, although its upright screen certainly makes it harder to overlook than a conventional speaker.

Designer: Divoom

Of course, those buttons aren’t simply there to complete the retro disguise. Three raised mechanical keys, a joystick, and an orange Back button handle music and display functions. You can reach over to control playback without opening another app, though customizing the display still involves your phone. It’s a familiar division of labor, with physical controls for everyday actions and software for the changes.

Despite the pixel art theme, Astrotoo doesn’t limit you to blocky characters and low-resolution graphics. Its 3.95-inch IPS display has a 480×480 pixel resolution, accommodating photographs and detailed clock faces as well. That means you can keep a family photo beside your monitor without making room for another frame. Music visualizations are also available, if you’d rather have your speaker put on a show.

The Divoom app lets you change visual content and clock faces, giving the device something to do when the music stops. Weather and stock information bring a more practical side to that small screen. That said, another dashboard isn’t necessarily what a busy desk needs. A favorite picture might be a better companion than financial numbers quietly competing for your attention all afternoon.

Divoom positions the 20W speaker for listening nearby, so the desktop proportions aren’t entirely about appearance. Playing music while answering emails or listening to a podcast during a break fits that purpose. Of course, the power rating doesn’t tell us how balanced the sound will be. The styling is easier to judge than the audio, which needs listening rather than a specification sheet.

Bluetooth 6.0 handles wireless audio, while microSD playback lets you bring a collection of stored music along without keeping a phone connected. Wi-Fi supports the connected display features. There’s also a battery, with Divoom claiming up to six hours of operation. That’s enough to move it between rooms for a while, but don’t expect it to stay unplugged through an entire workday.

The $199.99 US price makes this a considered desk accessory rather than a casual decoration. Divoom lists approximately 3.5 hours for USB-C charging, so it probably makes sense to leave a cable nearby. You can dress the screen as a futuristic control panel, but there’s nothing futuristic about discovering that your tiny computer needs plugging in before the afternoon playlist.

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