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Lumoid Listen lets you try audio gear at home without commitment
If you spend any amount of time on Sound Guys, you’ve probably noticed that audio gear generally doesn’t come cheap. We do our best to bring you reviews of as much gear as we can, but audio is very subjective. Now, thanks to gadget-rental service Lumoid, you can try out some of the most sought-after gear in your very own home.
The new arm of the service, dubbed Lumoid Listen, lets people rent high-end audio gear from names you’ve probably seen on this site before, like Sonos, Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, Wren, Master & Dynamic, and more. The service isn’t free, but luckily the fee you pay for trial use of a product will go towards its purchase, if you can’t bear to send it back.
Say you’re interested in checking out the Sonos PLAY:1. A trial fee would be $20 for two weeks, and 100 percent of that fee would go towards the purchase. If our review has you wanting to try the Wren V5US, the trial fee is $25 for two weeks. Want to keep it? Again, 100 percent of the trial fee goes toward purchasing the device, and you simply pay the same you’d pay for the speaker at retail.
Lumoid Listen isn’t only about home audio. If you’re looking for a new pair of headphones, Lumoid offers a few different categories that allows users to try out multiple pairs of headphones and in-ears at once. The “Audiophile” category, for example, costs $55 and allows uses to try three different products. Should you want to keep one, $35 of that fee goes toward the purchase.
If you’re the type who can never quite seem to make up their mind, this is a good way to try out prospective purchases without committing yourself right out of the gate. For the full rundown, see the Lumoid website.