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Norton has long been a household name for antivirus software, yet despite launching its first VPN, Norton WiFi Privacy, in 2017, it's never achieved the same pedigree status in the space. Its original iteration, Norton Secure VPN, offered little to shout about, though a recent revamp seems to have set the service on a much more promising path.

Although not yet rivaling the likes of NordVPN, Norton VPN offers surprisingly quick speeds, a super-friendly interface, and a great array of features you’d expect from a top VPN service. While some gaps in the service remain, it’s clear the Norton VPN team is striving to bring the same security pedigree seen on its antivirus software to its VPN, and pretty quickly, too.

We’ve put this new and improved service to the test. Both in day-to-day scenarios and more rigorous, proprietary tests, we’ve uncovered where the service has made great strides, and where it should look next to ensure it reaches the heights it's aiming for, all to help you decide whether Norton VPN is the choice for you.

Features

Norton VPN’s recent revamp has seen a host of expectable but mightily important features arrive across several platforms. Plus, it continues to improve its fundamentals – even if some areas still have some work to do.

As far as VPN protocols go, Norton offers OpenVPN, WireGuard, IPSec, and Mimic, its proprietary protocol designed for obfuscation.

iOS and Mac users had previously been limited to only IPSec and Mimic, which was disappointing given OpenVPN and WireGuard’s improved capabilities. Luckily, Norton has now announced that WireGuard is available across all Apple platforms. This is a huge win for iOS users, since although IPSec can be fast, WireGuard offers a faster, less device-intensive experience.

Commenting on the addition, Paul De Lange, Lead VPN Engineer, said:

"WireGuard was a highly requested addition, and we’re excited to deliver it on Apple platforms. This upgrade brings faster performance and modern security, while continuing to support key Norton VPN features like Pause VPN and Advanced servers, ensuring customers never have to choose between speed and protection.”

Users on iOS and macOS had previously been limited to only IPSec and Mimic protocols — making WireGuard a more than welcome addition (Image credit: Future)

As for extra features built into Norton VPN, there aren’t any particularly unique choices, though each is beneficial and often seen among top VPNs. Wi-Fi detection allows you to auto-connect to the VPN when connecting to public Wi-Fi. On macOS, it also auto-connects on “compromised networks”. It’s unclear how Norton decides if a network is compromised, but all wireless networks are considered public by default.

Norton also offers ad and tracker blocking. Tracking is blocked at a DNS level to reduce the risk of your data being used for targeted ads while you browse online, and can be turned on by simply toggling the option. Although the tracker appeared to work, its ‘Trackers Blocked’ counter seems to run on a delay, rather than in real time, so while we know 50 trackers were blocked across a period of our testing time, we don’t have any indication of when each was blocked.

Ad blocking is undertaken by a browser extension. Although this means another download and sign-in process, we did find the ad blocker to be effective – even if not quite as effective as dedicated ad-blocker services. Scoring 77% in our tests, it is definitely worth turning on should you use Norton VPN, though don’t expect a flawless display. NordVPN and Surfshark only achieved 84% in our latest tests, and ExpressVPN only achieved 90%, so there isn’t far for Norton VPN to go before leading VPNs in this field.

A key area of improvement has been in Norton VPN’s security-focused features. Firstly, Norton VPN offers a simple-to-use kill switch, ensuring your internet traffic stops immediately when you lose connection to the VPN, preventing you from broadcasting unencrypted traffic over public Wi-Fi networks. If you’d prefer, you can choose whether you’d like to keep your access to local devices over a LAN even when the kill switch is active. The kill switch isn’t enabled by default and requires you to dig through a few menus to set it up, but if you’re on macOS, Norton gives you an easy set of guidelines to follow so you can quickly set it up.

The new Norton VPN app houses all of its improved features in an easy-to-use design resemblant of other Norton products (Image credit: Future)

Outside the kill switch, Norton VPN has added an array of features. In April 2025 alone, Norton VPN gained Double VPN, IP Rotation, Pause VPN capabilities, and the ad-blocking browser extension mentioned above.

Double VPN is available across 8 servers. While your connection options are fixed, for example, USA via Canada, they are bi-directional, and give you access to Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While it’s not completely customizable, like Surfshark’s Nexus technology allows, its 8 locations put it only two behind NordVPN, which offers 10.

IP rotation also features, something not even NordVPN can say. Only Surfshark also offers IP rotation among the best VPNs. While Norton’s offering isn’t quite as expansive, it does offer servers in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany to use. What’s more, Norton’s offering is much simpler to access and connects in almost no time at all, no matter the server you pick. In our testing, our IP seemed to change every few seconds, meaning it should be good enough to give you a new IP for every website you visit.

Pause VPN is the final feature worth mentioning. Overlooked by the likes of PIA and ExpressVPN, pause VPN gives you the choice to temporarily end your VPN connection for a set time, with the VPN reactivating once the time ends. This is a great tool should you briefly wish to search for something or use an app outside of the connection without risking forgetting to turn your VPN back on. Norton VPN’s implementation is extremely simple to use, and is easily accessed, though it’d be great to see a minimum pause time shorter than 15 minutes as, frankly, most times when we’ve needed it we’ve been finished in five minutes rather comfortably.

Features score: 7/10

Server Network

Norton VPN’s server network isn’t up there with the very best VPNs quite yet, but it’s seen massive expansion in recent months. Since our last review, Norton VPN has expanded from servers in 29 countries to servers in 65, with 104 total locations. For comparison, Norton VPN now has more locations than Mullvad, which offers 89, and only a few less than Windscribe, which offers 112.

What’s good is the spread Norton VPN offers. 25 locations in the US are great for streaming enthusiasts, plus 6 countries in South America and 5 countries in Africa is superb given the lack of coverage these areas traditionally recieve. Asian coverage is weaker, with only 12 countries, though the most popular locations are included among these.

Given Norton VPN’s rate of increase, it wouldn’t surprise me if its country spread increased further over the coming months. If so, it’d be good to see the service fill the various gaps left in Asia and, since it already has a strong presence in South America and Africa, bulk out its presence in Europe and the US to account for key sites and services located in currently omitted regions.

Server network score: 7/10

Norton VPN's global coverage is especially impressive in South America and Africa, though its Asian coverage could be better (Image credit: Future)Apps

Norton’s VPN app is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It’s also available on Apple TV and Android-based smart TVs. For Android TVs, you need version 10 or later, whereas Apple tvOS requires version 17 or later.

Notably, there’s Linux support, so if you need to cover your Ubuntu or Linux Mint install, Norton won’t cut it quite yet - there’s not even support for a command-line VPN. Norton does not offer configuration files for OpenVPN or WireGuard either, so there’s no way to use Norton with an unsupported device.

Thankfully, Norton VPN has recently announced support for Fire TV devices (running FireOS 8 or later). This was previously another hole in Norton's app support. Speaking on the addition, Himmat Baines, Norton VPN Product Lead, said:

“Supporting Fire TV is about meeting our customers where they stream. With Norton VPN on Fire TV, we’re extending trusted privacy and security into the living room — without compromising performance or simplicity.”

It’s worth mentioning that Norton VPN’s apps have several instances of feature disparity. As highlighted already, iOS and macOS users already lack OpenVPN, but these platforms also lack split tunneling and some auto-connect functionality.

Otherwise, there’s nothing really to dislike about Norton VPN’s apps on any platform. They’re simple to look at, easy to navigate, and look so unapologetically Norton-like that anyone new to VPNs who’s familiar with its antivirus tools will quickly gain the sense of security often felt when using other Norton tools.

Apps score: 8/10

Ease of use

Norton VPN is a breeze to install, likely thanks to the years of experience Norton has with its other products in making complex systems simple to introduce.

Once you’re in, the experience is impressively simple, though at the expense of a couple of handy extra tools. The menus aren’t overcomplicated with features, settings, and data – though the option to set favorites or see the best servers at any time would be nice – the settings are all explained in simple enough terms for beginners, and there’s easy access to any extra tools you might have in your plan, or guides you may need to help set up your VPN connection how you’d like it.

In true Norton fashion, the experience you have is as close to identical as possible across any device you might have, too. This makes Norton VPN a superb choice should you be new to VPNs and looking for easy, quick access to the settings you need, without worrying that your usual server, connection type, or setting may be hiding somewhere new.

Even Norton VPN’s Advanced Servers, meaning its P2P-optimized, double VPN, and IP rotation optimized servers, are easily accessed. With dropdown menus giving you the information you need to understand where you’re connecting to, and any additional routing your connection might take.

Ease of use score: 9/10

Speed and performance

Norton’s speeds are its biggest area of improvement since our last round of testing. Starting with the headlines, we recorded an average speed of 909Mbps download using WireGuard from our testing server in the UK, rivalling the likes of NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Proton VPN as a result.

Our connection to the US wasn’t quite as impressive, as we only recorded speeds of 463Mbps, which is around the middle of the pack. It’s still more than enough to watch multiple 4K streams simultaneously, but it’s a sizeable dropoff compared to our initial UK tests.

How we perform speed tests

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US. We’re expecting big things out of NordVPN, as both of these servers have a 1 Gbs connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.

As for OpenVPN performance, Norton didn’t do as well. Our average speeds were around 260-275Mbps, whether connecting to the UK or US, which is also more than enough for most internet activities, but pales in comparison to the speeds we’ve seen elsewhere.

Our latency recordings were roughly what we’d expect for a top-tier VPN connecting to UK servers. In Norton’s case, 3.5ms. Most of the providers we’ve tested clock in around the 2-5ms mark, which is barely perceivable. One or two milliseconds' difference won’t make a difference to most internet apps or online gaming sessions.

As for the US connection, Norton tops our list in terms of low latency at 66.6ms, just barely beating out NordVPN to take the top spot. If you’re gaming or running a video call and want your connection to be as responsive as possible while connected to the US, Norton is the ideal solution.

Speed and performance score: 8/10

Unblocking

We’ve tested Norton VPN works with them with loads of your favorite streaming services, and it worked with them all! Netflix is cracking down on VPNs, but we were able to watch Netflix US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan all from our local testing centers. The same goes for Amazon Prime and Disney+; however, we weren’t able to access US YouTube.

As for regional providers, it’s a mixed bag but mostly positive results. We were able to access BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4, 7Plus, and 9Now, but TVNZ+ intermittently failed, and we couldn’t access 10Play at all.

Norton VPN does have P2P capabilities, and our testing showed it works reasonably well. It’s worth mentioning that Norton doesn’t support port forwarding, which means that you won’t get incoming requests for sharing when torrenting, limiting your connectivity.

Norton only has two P2P servers, one in the Netherlands and one in Dallas. It’s a far cry away from the full P2P connectivity of a provider like PIA, but even Avast’s competing SecureLine VPN offers eight P2P servers.

On the plus side, Norton does allow you to connect automatically when you boot up a supported P2P app, but you’ll have to enable this option from the settings menu first.

Unblocking score: 8/10

Privacy and security

Norton is clearly taking the necessary steps to ensure its VPN is secure and private. Its no-logs policy is extensive yet clear, outlining the data collected by the VPN app at any instance, your browsing data is never stored on their servers, including DNS requests, which are instead served by a private DNS server run by Norton, preventing ISP spying, and it’s had its no-logs policy audited to ensure trust.

In August 2024, VerSprite audited Norton’s policy, noting two issues that could result in sensitive user information being disclosed. Norton took the necessary steps to address these issues, and once remedied, VerSprite agreed that the no logs policy was both accurate and implemented correctly.

However, Norton does collect some anonymized information from the VPN client. This includes connection timestamps, platform details such as OS and timezone, and crash logs. They also aggregate overall data transmission for network planning. So, if you’re extremely concerned about your privacy, Norton might collect slightly too much information for comfort. As it stands, Norton’s acceptable for day-to-day browsing, but you might consider Proton VPN instead if you need rock-solid privacy guarantees.

Norton is clearly taking the necessary steps to ensuring its VPN is secure and private."

Rob Dunne - VPN Editor, TechRadar

Something that may ease some privacy concerns would be if Norton VPN implemented RAM-only servers. These servers wipe when rebooted, meaning you cannot store any data on them, thus eradicating the risk of any user data being available should a data request be submitted by authorities. Not having RAM-only servers isn’t an issue as such, though it adds a layer of trust for users, and is becoming increasingly common among top VPNs.

Given its privacy focus, we wanted to know more about Norton VPN’s proprietary Mimic protocol. In addition to offering obfuscation, Mimic is powered by TLS 1.3 ciphers (AES-256 and ChaCha20), as well as CRYSTAL-Kyber-512 for post-quantum cryptography. It’s good to hear that Norton is already thinking ahead when it comes to quantum security, which puts them significantly in front of most of the VPN industry.

Meanwhile, Norton's standard VPN protocols, OpenVPN and WireGuard, use AES-256-GCM and ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption, respectively. These are considered the top encryption methods used by all of the best VPNs, a strong demonstration, therefore, of Norton’s intent to found its service on strong privacy staples.

Privacy and security score: 8/10

Track record

Gen Digital, Norton’s parent company, is headquartered in the USA and the Czech Republic. It’s the result of a merger between Avast and Norton in 2022, and now owns other big-name brands, including Avira, AVG, and CCleaner.

Despite the merger, Norton continues to be run as a separate company with their own range of products. Norton has decades of experience in providing digital security products, but until now, the VPN offering has lagged behind the industry standard.

The merger with Avast seems to have been a kickstarter to the impressive changes we’ve seen in the product in recent months. Norton claims the merger has prompted progress that “combines our ‘best of breed’ technologies to provide safer, faster, and more reliable performance for the customer,” with Norton VPN being the first product to benefit from this work.

The current iteration of Norton VPN is a substantial upgrade from versions we’ve seen in the past."

Rob Dunne - VPN Editor, TechRadar

In the past, Norton VPN had suffered from DNS leaks and a nearly non-existent feature set, both of which have been fixed since. The current iteration of Norton VPN is a substantial upgrade from versions we’ve seen in the past, but it still has some way to go.

It should be noted that the service has now also undergone a no-logs audit, and users can read the in-depth executive summary report at their leisure. Plus, if you’re concerned about the kinds of requests no-logs policies help protect against, Norton now publishes transparency reports. These reports, updated twice per year, outline all the requests Norton receives from authorities for user data, and explain why Norton is unable to comply with them since its no-logs policy means there’s nothing to provide.

Track record score: 9/10

Customer Support

Norton’s customer support staff are very helpful. There’s a community forum where you can post issues you’re having with Norton VPN, where other members and support staff can pitch in with their own advice. From the interactions we’ve had, they’re very knowledgeable and quite prompt in returning with information.

However, the support materials on the site are a different matter. When you search for help topics on Norton’s website, you’re immediately given an AI prompt for your search, which looks like it’s powered by Gemini. It’s not totally useful when you’re trying to find specific help on a topic, and you have to scroll past it to get to the actual results.

As for the knowledge base, it’s not particularly in-depth - most of the articles consist of bullet point lists and some are thinly-disguised marketing material. If you want help with Norton, we’d stick to contacting their customer support directly through the forum or over the phone. There’s also a 24/7 helpdesk upgrade if you need around-the-clock customer service.

Customer support score: 7/10

Pricing and plans

Norton offers three tiers of pricing. The standard VPN package starts at $39.99 for the first year, which works out at roughly $3.33 per month. After the introductory offer is over, it renews at $79.99 per year. That makes Norton one of the cheapest VPNs we’ve see.

However, there’s one major limitation: you’re only allowed five device connections (or worse, only one if you’re in some regions, including the UK), significantly under the 8-10 you’ll find from most other providers. Surfshark and PIA both go even further, offering unlimited device connections on their cheapest subscription plans. It should also be clarified that Norton’s device limit isn’t a traditional simultaneous connections limit. Instead, Norton’s five-device limit refers to the number of devices with the VPN installed. Should you wish to install on a sixth device, you’d instead be asked to remove one of the previous five devices, rather than merely disconnecting from the VPN.

Upgrading your subscription costs an extra $10 per year, making your subscription cost $4.17 per month initially and $109.99 every year after that. There’s no meaningful change to the VPN, but you get extra features from Norton’s security suite, including virus protection, password management, dark-web scanning, 10GB encrypted cloud storage, and AI-powered scam detection.

The Ultimate subscription package will set you back an extra $20 per year, making it $5 per month initially and $129.99 per year after the first. In addition to extra family-safety features for monitoring your child’s devices, the device count is bumped up to 10, so you can take full advantage of Norton’s security features on most of your household’s devices, and you get 50GB of secure storage (or 150GB should you activate auto-renewal).

To its credit, Norton offers an above-average 60-day money-back guarantee and a true 7-day free trial when you sign up. We love 7-day free trials as an entry point into VPNs, as they offer a ‘try before you buy’ solution, without some of the hassles caused by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Seeing Norton VPN be one of the first to offer this, then, puts it in good standing to be among the best VPNs for beginners in the future.

Switching from its current install-based device limit also seems like an easy win that Norton VPN could take advantage of. While increasing the device limit with more premium plans does help this slightly, removing the confusion of registering and removing devices is an easy way to make the service more accessible to newer users and takes away the sting of the small device limit on the standard plan.

Pricing and plans score: 7/10

Should you use Norton VPN?

Norton VPN is a rapidly improving VPN. In the space of a few months, it’s brought in a spread of features you’d expect to see in a top VPN, alongside some features some top VPNs don’t think to include. Its performance has risen to a point where it can rival top VPNs like Surfshark and NordVPN, it has apps simple enough for anyone to use, and it brings Norton-pedigree security to make anyone trust its privacy guarantees.

That said, there are several areas it still needs to address. Primarily, sorting the device install limit will add to its already high-value package by reducing connection roadblocks for users. Outside of this, expanding the feature pool, adding Linux support, and eradicating the feature disparities for macOS and iOS users will quickly put Norton VPN among the best value VPNs available if done right.

For many, now might not be the right time to pick up Norton VPN due to any one of the limitations mentioned. That said, it’d be wise to keep an eye on Norton VPN over the coming year or so, as, from what we’ve seen already in 2025, it looks as though the provider could quickly become a high-value, high-security VPN from a name renowned for its security capabilities.

Total score: 78/100

Norton VPN alternatives

1. NordVPN – The best VPN overall
NordVPN combines security, speed, and usability in a single VPN package that can’t be beat on value. In addition to lightning-fast servers, NordVPN offers some unique features like Threat Protection Pro, which integrates anti-virus, anti-phishing, and ad-blocking capabilities into a single product. Try it today with a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

2. Surfshark – get the 7-day free trial
When you buy a Surfshark subscription, you get unlimited simultaneous device connections, 100+ countries to connect to, and advanced IP rotation features powered by their own Nexus software-defined network. It's perfect if you need to cover a household full of devices. Try Surfshark risk free with a 30-day money-back guarantee or a 7-day free trial.View Deal

3. ExpressVPN – The best secure VPN
ExpressVPN consistently ranks as our most secure VPN thanks to its forward-thinking security features, like quantum-resistant encryption. It's all thanks to their proprietary Lightway VPN protocol, designed from the ground up for mobile-first support. The ExpressVPN app is perfect for beginners with a simple interface across all platforms, plus 24/7 support on hand to walk you through setting it up. Express also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal

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GMKtec NucBox K16: 30-second review

GMKtec has been on something of a roll lately, churning out mini PCs with genuine gusto. Where some of its stablemates have leaned on older or obscure silicon, the NucBox K16 takes a different approach, reaching for the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS. This chip has been quietly powering a decent slice of the mini PC market since 2023, and it also made an appearance in some laptops.

The 7735HS is essentially a Rembrandt Refresh, which is a Zen 3+ architecture part built on TSMC's 6nm node. It is not, let us be clear, a cutting-edge processor. AMD has since moved on to Zen 4 and is now very pleased with itself about Zen 5. Yet the 7735HS remains a competent and well-understood chip, and crucially, one that GMKtec has used before in the K2 model.

Here it's connected to 32GB of DDR5 memory, not its fastest possible option, but enough to feed its Radeon 680M GPU, and dual 2.5GbE LAN ports.

The chassis is a step up from the plasticky boxes that characterised this segment not long ago. A CNC-machined aluminium C-frame with a sandblasted anodised finish gives the K16 a premium, almost Zen-like quality on the desk.

As NUCs go, this one is extremely compact, being 107 x 111 x 56 mm and yet packs an astonishing amount of connectivity into its footprint.

The headline connectivity act is the combination of OcuLink and USB4, both of which can be used to attach external graphics. OcuLink, running at 64 Gbps over PCIe 4.0 x4, is the faster of the two and the better choice for an eGPU enclosure. USB4 at 40 Gbps provides a more broadly compatible, if slightly slower, alternative. The dual 2.5 GbE LAN ports and Wi-Fi 6E round out a networking suite that would embarrass many a budget desktop.

The main caveat, and it is a rather substantial one, is the price. At launch, the K16 starts at $679.99 (£541) for the 32 GB + 512 GB configuration, with the 1 TB variant pushing to $729.99. For a machine built on a Zen 3+ platform, that is an assertive number, particularly when newer Ryzen 8000-series mini PCs are circling at similar or occasionally lower prices. Those later designs, like the 8040, have an integrated NPU, which this chip can’t match.

Due to the age of the hardware and the choice to use regular DDR5 rather than LPDDR5X, this design is not among the best mini PC systems we've tested, but it's perfectly serviceable for less demanding roles.

GMKtec NucBox K16: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? From $680/£540/€620
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Direct from GMKtec and via online retailers

The K16 is available direct from the GMKtec website, alongside online retailers like Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

There are two configurations available, both with 32 GB of soldered DDR5 RAM. The base model ships with a 512 GB SSD at $679.99, whilst the 1 TB variant commands $729.99. Both launched at a discount from their listed MSRPs of $899.99 and $949.99.

Normally, MSRPs should be ignored, but for those buying via Amazon.com, that’s about the price you are expected to pay, worryingly. UK Amazon.co.uk prices are equally outrageous, starting at £809.96.

Because of this discrepancy, I’d recommend buying directly from GMKtec, and there is another reason for doing this. GMKtec is bundling a 8-in-1 USB Hub Dockign station with every purchase, which is a thoughtful touch..

The increased cost of DDR5 memory is impacting all pre-built systems, altering the competitive landscape. This is impacting new products coming to market, like the K16, that must contend with cheaper units built before the recent price hikes for components.

The Bosgame M4 (see my review here) in a comparable 32 GB + 1 TB configuration was available for around $579.99 at launch. Rival mini PCs based on the Ryzen 7 8845HS, a Zen 4 part with meaningfully superior iGPU performance, hover in a similar or only modestly higher bracket. GMKtec's counter-argument is the premium chassis quality and the OcuLink port, which not every competitor offers at this price point.

However, on Amazon.com, I found the Minisforum UM880, which uses the Ryzen 7 8845HS, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage for just $749, and it also has OCuLink.

As in my previous review of the K13, there are questions here about the cost of this equipment and how the rising cost of memory and storage is distorting the pre-built PC market.

• Value: 3 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GMKtec NucBox K16: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS (8C/16T, up to 4.75 GHz, Zen 3+)

GPU

AMD Radeon 680M (RDNA 2, 12 CUs, up to 2200 MHz)

NPU

None

RAM

32 GB LPDDR5 6400 MT/s (soldered, non-upgradeable)

Storage

512 GB or 1 TB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 (default)

M.2 Expansion

1x additional M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 (up to 8 TB per slot; 16 TB total)

Display Outputs

1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB4 (DP 1.4) — triple display support

Front Ports

1x OcuLink, 1x USB4 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 3.5mm audio, power button

Rear Ports

2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 2x 2.5 GbE RJ-45, DC power

Networking

Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, 2x 2.5 GbE LAN

Performance Modes

Silent 35W / Balanced 45W / Performance 50W

OS

Windows 11 Pro (pre-installed); Linux supported

Dimensions

107 x 111 x 56 mm

Weight

Approx. 0.65 kg

Included Accessories

30W USB-C PD adaptor, VESA mount bracket, HDMI cable, power brick, manual

GMKtec NucBox K16: Design

• Premium aluminium chassis
• Dual-fan active cooling
• Easy access

The NucBox K16 marks a notable step forward in build quality from the broader GMKtec catalogue. The CNC-machined aluminium C-frame chassis, finished with a sandblasted anodised treatment, lends the machine a solidity that others lack.

At 4.21 x 4.37 x 2.20 in (107 x 111 x 56 mm), the K16 is compact without veering into the sort of extreme miniaturisation that sacrifices sensible port placement. The front panel is well considered: the OcuLink port and USB4 Type-C sit alongside two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and the 3.5mm audio jack, with the power button tucked neatly at one end. The logic of placing OcuLink at the front is debatable, but it is a cosmetically minor quibble.

The rear panel is rather busier, accommodating dual 2.5 GbE LAN ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, two more USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and the DC power input. Hot air exits through the rear vents, which is a tidier thermal arrangement than some competitors that exhaust downwards or sideways across connected cables.

If you didn’t notice, there has been a trade-off here. This machine only has one USB4, with the bandwidth that might have provided another is used for the OCuLink presumably.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Cooling is handled by a dual-fan arrangement with copper heat pipes that’s a more serious thermal solution than the single-fan setups found in cheaper mini PCs. GMKtec has also included three selectable performance modes: Silent at 35W, Balanced at 45W, and Performance at 50W.

These can be toggled via the BIOS or a dedicated utility, which is the kind of user-facing flexibility that working professionals will appreciate when they need to dial back noise during a video call or unleash full performance for a render job.

As with most of GMKtec's recent output, the K16 ships with a VESA mounting bracket, allowing it to be affixed to the rear of a compatible monitor. There is also a Kensington lock slot for environments where the temptation to pocket a small, premium-looking PC might prove too strong for some colleagues.

Access to the inside is extremely easy. The four feet unscrew to release the silver shroud, and then four small screws are revealed that hold a fan bracket in place before you can get to the storage layer.

One of the two M.2 2280 slots is occupied by the provided SSD, leaving the other entirely free. Both slots are PCIe 4.0, enabling up to 7500 MB/s with appropriate drives.

What there isn’t any sign of is the memory, since this is soldered to the other side of the mainboard. That’s one of the disappointments of this design, but in most respects, it's nicely engineered and easy to upgrade.

• Design: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)GMKtec NucBox K16: Hardware

• AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
• 32 GB DDR5 6400 MT/s
• Lacks an NPU

The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U is a mobile processor featuring eight cores, launched in April 2022 as an offshoot of the Ryzen 6000 series. And, the closest silicon from the core series is the Ryzen 7 6800H, a Zen 3+ (Rembrandt) architecture chip made for Socket FP7.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS requires a little context. It is a mobile processor built on AMD's Zen 3+ architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 6nm process node. It debuted in 2022 as part of the Rembrandt Refresh family, and is in most practical respects extremely close to the Ryzen 7 6800H that preceded it. Eight cores, sixteen threads, a base clock of 3.2 GHz and a boost up to 4.75 GHz, entirely respectable numbers for a mini PC that is not attempting to position itself at the extreme budget end of the market.

The integrated graphics are Radeon 680M, based on the RDNA 2 architecture with 12 Compute Units running up to 2200 MHz. AMD's Radeon 680M is well understood at this point: it is meaningfully ahead of the older Vega-based iGPUs, broadly comparable to a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti in rasterised tasks.

The issue, as I’ll talk about more in the performance section, is the memory chosen and its configuration. Reading the GMKtec promotional material, it talks about LPDDR5 at 6400 MT/s. But this NUC doesn’t have LPDDR5X, it's just a low-power version of DDR5, and that means less memory bandwidth. LPDDR5X offers up to 33% higher data rates (up to 8,533+ MT/s vs 6,400 MT/s), and roughly 24% better power efficiency, but the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS doesn’t support it.

There is also an issue with the use of memory channels in this design that I’ll discuss in the performance section.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The storage situation is worth examining carefully. The K16 features two M.2 2280 slots, both of which support PCIe 4.0 x4. This is a meaningful specification advantage over mini PCs that top out at PCIe 3.0 on their secondary slot. Combined capacity is rated up to 16 TB with 8 TB per slot, a generous amount even for a creative professional workload.

The default shipped SSD is, however, a PCIe 3.0 drive. This is a slight disconnect: GMKtec has fitted PCIe 4.0-capable slots and then shipped a PCIe 3.0 drive installed, presumably to manage the retail price. Aftermarket upgrades to a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive are straightforward given the accessible design.

The OcuLink port runs at 64 Gbps via PCIe 4.0 x4, which is the fastest external GPU interface available on a mini PC at this price point. Thunderbolt 4 eGPU connections are limited by the PCIe 3.0 x4 tunnel that Intel imposes; OcuLink sidesteps this entirely. Paired with GMKtec's own AD-GP1 eGPU dock, the K16 can act as a credible light gaming or GPU-compute machine when equipped with a suitable discrete card.

Memory is the one area that gives pause. The 32 GB of LPDDR5 is soldered directly to the motherboard, making it entirely non-upgradeable. For the majority of users, 32 GB will be more than adequate; for those running large language models locally or editing 8K video, it is a ceiling that cannot be raised.

• Hardware: 3.5 / 5

GMKtec NucBox K16: Performance

Mini PC

GMKtec NucBox K16

GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS

AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U

Cores/Threads

8C 16T

8C 16T

RAM

32GB LPDDR5 (2x16GB)

16GB DDR5 (2x8GB)

SSD

1TB TWSC TE3420F1TO NVMe

512GB AirDisk SSD

Graphics

Radeon 680M

Radeon 680M

3DMark

WildLife

10320

9846

FireStrike

4508

4149

TimeSpy

1813

1495

S.Nomad

1634

1420

Cine24

Single

84

90

Multi

595

401

Ratio

7.08

4.47

GeekBench 6

Single

1957

2096

Multi

7170

8582

OpenCL

24105

22656

Vulkan

22401

21484

CrystalDisk

Read MB/s

3549

3558

Write MB/s

2649

2520

PCMark 10

Office

6785

6973

WEI

Score

8.1

8

Logically, the system should be compared to the GMKtec K2, since it uses exactly the same AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS. And, I have reviewed that exact hardware.

Unfortunately, I don’t have that machine to hand, and the data I have from it pre-dates the use of the CineBench24 and GeekBench6. But I will come back to the K2, I promise.

What I did have was recent data from the GMKtec NucBox M7 Ultra, which uses the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U. That’s a Zen3+ Ryzen 6000 series chip from 2022, whereas the K16 uses a 2023 Ryzen 7000 CPU that also uses the Zen3+ architecture.

As you can see from the numbers, the results are remarkably close, partly because these chips both have the same number of cores/threads, and the Radeon 680M GPU, and these limiting factors.

However, when I tested this system, something didn’t seem right. Because while I didn’t have much comparison data from the older K2, I did have 3DMark scores, and they told an entirely different story.

The Wildlife score on the K2 was 16647, whereas on the K16 it's only 9846. How?

What made this doubly odd was that, because the K16 uses LPDDR5, it should have slightly more bandwidth than the standard DDR5 used in the K2.

Digging back into my review files, I discovered that the K2 had a DDR5 memory arrangement where it used two SODIMMs of DDR5 4800 MHz, and these were 64-bit modules, used by the system as eight 32-bit channels.

So what has the K16 got? Well, it has two 16GB modules at 6400MHz, but disturbingly, these are just 32-bit LPDDR5.

The K2 with two 64-bit modules could effectively run as quad channel, where the K16 is only dual channel, thus the performance discrepancy between them.

If this arrangement had been quad channel, it would have represented roughly a 33% bandwidth increase over DDR5 4800MT/s, but because it’s only dual channel, that’s not the case.

Another interesting aspect of this system, which I discovered in the CPU-Z analysis, is that this CPU can be run with a 50W TDP, and the TDP limit is confirmed at 45W from the CPU-Z data, with PL1, PL2 and PPT all locked at 50W. Therefore, GMKtec has set this unit running at its maximum performance configuration by default.

Another takeaway from the benchmarking is that this machine has M.2 PCIe 4x4 slots, but GMKtec only used a Gen 3x4 drive, which lowered performance.

Despite these points, for general productivity such as office applications, web browsing, video conferencing, and code compilation, the K16 will feel snappy and capable. The 32 GB of RAM, even in its soldered form, is generous enough to support heavy multitasking without complaint.

Light gaming at 1080p on older titles or less-demanding current games is entirely achievable with the 680M; do not expect to push anything particularly modern at high settings without using that OcuLink port.

The three performance modes are a useful feature. Silent mode at 35W keeps the fans barely audible whilst still delivering perfectly adequate desktop performance. The full 50W mode delivers tangible improvements for sustained workloads, but at the cost of more noticeable fan noise. Balanced mode at 45W will be the sensible default for most users.

For those curious, all my benchmarks were done in Performance mode to show you what the best possible numbers look like.

While not poor, the results from the K16 reveal yet another mini PC that never reached its full potential due to some creative choices made by the makers.

• Performance: 3.5 / 5

GMKtec NucBox K16: Final verdict

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The GMKtec NucBox K16 is a machine that rewards scrutiny, though not always in the ways its marketing materials might suggest.

On paper, the specification reads impressively: a capable Ryzen 7 7735HS, 32 GB of fast memory, dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, OcuLink, USB4, and dual 2.5 GbE LAN in a premium CNC aluminium chassis. In practice, the way the memory is organised and the use of a PCIe 3.0 SSD don’t make the most of this Ryzen platform.

What the data also confirms is that GMKtec has set the K16's power limits aggressively, with PL1, PL2 and PPT all fixed at 50W. There are no conservative defaults to contend with here; instead, this machine ships running flat out, which will flatter benchmark results whilst also keeping the fans busier than a more gently tuned configuration might.

None of this makes the K16 a bad machine. The connectivity story remains excellent, OcuLink is still a class-leading feature at this price point, and the build quality is genuinely above average for the segment. But the memory specification warrants a footnote in any purchasing decision, particularly at a price point where honesty in the small print matters.

The biggest issue here is undoubtedly the price, and that might be something we’ll need to accept given the huge hole in memory and storage supplies AI has created. But with so many alternatives in the channel made before memory became stupidly expensive, new designs like the K16 might find the competitive market even more of a problem than it typically is.

Should I buy a GMKtec NucBox K16?

Value

Premium price for a Zen 3+ platform

3/5

Design

Excellent CNC aluminium chassis, well-placed ports

4/5

Hardware

OcuLink, USB4, dual 2.5 GbE, PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots

4/5

Performance

Not as quick as it should be on paper

3.5/5

Overalls

A premium mini PC let down by memory choices and its asking price

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You need OcuLink for eGPU expansion
If a discrete GPU is in your future for gaming, video transcoding, or GPU compute workloads, then the K16's OcuLink port provides the fastest external GPU interconnect available at this price point, well ahead of what USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 can typically deliver.View Deal

Dual 2.5 GbE LAN is a priority
For network-attached storage, virtualisation, or environments requiring high-bandwidth networking, the dual 2.5 GbE ports make the K16 a genuinely useful headless server or home lab node in addition to a desktop machine.View Deal

Don't buy it if...

Upgradeable RAM matters to you
The soldered LPDDR5 means you are permanently fixed at 32 GB. For most users, this is fine today, but if you expect your requirements to grow, a machine with socketed SODIMM slots provides more flexibility for the long term.View Deal

You want the latest silicon
Zen 3+ is a solid architecture, but AMD's Zen 4 and Zen 5 derivatives offer meaningfully improved CPU and GPU performance, NPU capabilities, and more modern feature support. At the K16's asking price, alternatives built on newer platforms deserve careful consideration. View Deal

Also consider

GMKtec NucBox K8 Plus 
Built on the Ryzen 7 8845HS with Zen 4 architecture and a Radeon 780M GPU, the K8 Plus offers a more modern platform at a comparable price point. It sacrifices OcuLink but gains a more powerful integrated GPU and NPU support.

Check out my GMKtec NucBox K8 Plus review View Deal

GMKtec NucBox K6
The older K6 uses the Ryzen 7 7840HS in a similar form factor to the K16 and is typically available at meaningfully lower prices. A sensible alternative if the K16's premium pricing seems hard to justify for your specific use case.

Check out my GMKtec NucBox K6 review View Deal

The GMKtec NucBox K16 uses an older AMD Ryzen 7 architecture but remains an effective mini PC.

The Apple iPad Air (M4) is coming soon and we've spotted a fantastic preorder deal at Best Buy. Here's what you need to know.

Cambridge L/R S: Two-minute review

The Cambridge L/R S is the first out of the gate of the British audio brand's new ‘L/R’ wireless range to attack the best stereo speaker systems market. It's also the most affordable: this L/R S sells for Ruark MR1 Mk3-adjacent money, which seems less than accidental.

The money buys a crisply accomplished standard of build and finish, as well as some proper specification highlights — not least of which is that this is an active, rather than a powered, speaker system with a dedicated block of amplification for each of its drivers and an active DSP crossover. A choice of five quite fetching colors doesn’t do any harm, and neither does the option of a real walnut veneer alternative — even if the latter comes at additional cost. Support for aptX HD Bluetooth connectivity, along with line-level analog, USB-C and digital optical inputs, means the L/R S can support a reasonably diverse and expansive set of sources. The provision of a pre-out for a subwoofer is a nice touch, too, although (as we shall directly see) not super-necessary.

No matter the source of the music it’s playing, the L/R S is a big, bold and quite assertive listen; but that’s not the same as saying it’s unsubtle. There’s plenty of detail retrieved to go along with the attack, good insight to complement the dynamism, and a fairly natural and neutral way with frequency response and tonality. Or, at least, there is until you reach the bottom of the frequency range — here the L/R S is rather too confident, and gives a little too much weighting to bass information. This isn’t at the expense of rhythmic expression or forward drive, though.

All of which means the Cambridge L/R S is immediately one of the very best pound-for-pound desktop stereo systems around, and one that demands very careful consideration indeed.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Price & release date

• $549 / £399 / AU$949
• Released April 1, 2026 (in US/Europe)
• Originally announced in January 2026

The Cambridge L/R S wireless active stereo speaker system is on sale from April 1, 2026 in Europe and the USA — in APAC (Asia-Pacific) countries it’s already available.

In the United States it will cost $549. Or, at least, it will in any of the five colors in which it will be available — if you fancy the real walnut veneer you're looking at $599. In the United Kingdom it's going to go for £399/£449, while in Australia it is already selling for AU$949/AU$1049.

So the price, as well as the basic configuration, is very close indeed to Ruark’s class-leading MR1 Mk3. Coincidence? Hmm…

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Features

• 100 watts of Class D amplification
• 21mm tweeter, 76mm mid/bass driver
• Wired and wireless input options

First things first: this is a genuinely active, rather than a powered, stereo speaker system. Any rival product at this sort of money uses one powered speaker to deal with inputs, outputs, amplification, decoding and all the rest of it, and then sends amplified analog information to a passive partner.

With the L/R S, though, Cambridge has gone another, more complex and inevitably more expensive way: although only the primary speaker receives mains power, there are two channels of amplification for each speaker, and a full DSP crossover which serves a PWM (pulse-width modulation) signal to each of the amplifiers. A bespoke four-conductor cable connects the primary speaker to the secondary, along which all power and digital audio signals travel. I don’t think I can be criticized if I use the word ‘over-engineered’ here, so I will – but I am also quite happy to use the word ‘admirable’.

The rear of the secondary speaker features a screw-down socket for connecting that inter-speaker cable, and a bass-reflex slot along the top. The primary speaker has these features too, but it also includes USB-C, line-level stereo RCA and digital optical inputs, plus a pre-out for a subwoofer, and Bluetooth wireless reception (with aptX HD codec compatibility). The optical and USB-C inputs support resolutions of up to 24bit/96kHz PCM – every incoming signal is resampled to 24bit/48kHz in the DSP before its delivery in PWM form to the amplifiers.

Power, incidentally, is of the Class D variety, and there’s 100 watts of it. Each driver gets 25 watts to play with — there’s a 21mm hard-dome tweeter behind a waveguide and phase cap above a 76mm mid/bass driver in each speaker. Cambridge suggests this layout results in a frequency response of 55Hz - 24kHz. The rear of the primary speaker also includes a button that operates as both a power on/off switch and as an input selector. It also features three toggle switches: one to let the speaker know if it’s the left or the right channel, one to tell it if the system is being used on a desktop or not, and one to let it know if it’s in free space or near a wall. And there’s a figure-of-eight socket for mains power, too.

• Features score: 5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Sound quality

• Expansive, detailed and upfront sound
• Direct and positive sonic attitude
• Slightly overplays its low-end hand

Yes, the L/R S is on the larger side for a desktop system but the sound it delivers is appreciably larger than that. Connected via USB-C and with a 24bit/44.1kHz FLAC file of Cate Le Bon’s Are You With Me Now? incoming, the scale and spaciousness of the presentation is initially quite startling.

The overall sense of scale is complemented nicely by the Cambridge’s ability to generate an organized, convincing soundstage and to focus well. There’s a fair amount of separation to the overall presentation, but at the same time a decent sense of singularity that prevents even complex recordings from sounding disjointed or untogether. Add in sufficient dynamic headroom for when the going gets especially loud or intense, and the Cambridge system sounds both bigger and more confident than its physical dimensions might suggest.

The tonal balance is fairly neutral despite a suggestion of heat at the bottom end, and frequency response once you get above the lowest of the low frequencies is smooth and even – the crossover between the two drive units is all-but imperceptible. The top of the frequency range balances attack against substance nicely, while the midrange communicates in a manner easily described as ‘lavish’. The system’s ability to reveal detail of any significance and give it appropriate weighting means voices are delivered with plenty of character and attitude.

There’s a little issue at the bottom of the frequency range. Basically, the Cambridge is slightly too pleased with the amount of low-frequency presence it’s able to liberate from recordings and just fractionally overplays its hand. There’s a little too much emphasis on the bottom end in the context of the overall frequency response available here, a minor bloom at the very bottom of the extension that can make bass sound just a touch too prominent and therefore slightly too remote from everything that’s going on above it.

Despite this, the L/R S controls its low-end activity carefully enough to ensure rhythms are expressed convincingly and momentum levels never dip below where they should be. And besides, I know perfectly well that if it comes to a straight choice, there are plenty of listeners who would choose ‘a little too much bass’ over ‘not quite enough bass’ every time.

All of the above applies if you choose to listen at volume levels somewhere between ‘background’ and ‘really quite loud’. Go beyond that and the L/R S loses a little of its admirable composure and its previously nicely open stage starts to sound a little flat and two-dimensional. It’s hardly a fatal flaw, though, and besides… it’s easily fixed. Just turn it down a touch.

• Sound quality score: 5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Design

• 226 x 134 x 180mm (HxWxD)
• Choice of six finishes, including a (cost-option) real wood veneer
• No grilles supplied

It is, admittedly, a little larger than the Ruark MR1 Mk3 that would appear its primary target, but the Cambridge L/R S is nonetheless compact enough at 226 x 134 x 180mm (HxWxD) to sit happily on even a modestly sized desk (as long as it’s reasonably tidy). At the same time, it’s just about big enough to not look too lost on a pair of regular speaker stands.

No matter where you want to position it, though, there are lightly rubberized little feet integrated into the bottom of the recessed plinth on which the main body of the speaker sits (which is why, from some angles, it seems to float), and there will be the option of a pair of angled ‘tilt’ stands to help aim the tweeters more overtly at your ears if the system is on your desk. These stands, of course, are a cost option.

There’s not even the option of any grilles, though. Having said that, there’s a hint of visual interest thanks to the identically sized black circles on the front baffle inside which the drivers are positioned which wouldn’t be available if grilles were fitted. Nor is there much to be gained in aesthetic terms by hiding away the orange tweeter or its waveguide, either.

The standard of construction is beyond reproach. The cabinet edges and corners are crisp rather than pointy, the recently updated brand logo at the rear of the top surface looks confident, and the sort-of kind-of matte finish feels as good as it looks in any of the five colors that are available. Take your pick from the white of my review sample, black, a bright orange, a fairly dark green or an unarguably dark blue — or if you don’t object to some extra expenditure, you can choose a real walnut veneer that tackles the L/R S even further into Ruark MR1 Mk3 territory.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Usability & setup

• Bluetooth LE remote control
• Selection of EQ presets
• ‘DynamEQ’ technology included

First of all, of course, the primary speaker must be plugged into the mains. Then use the supplied 2m length of cable to join the two speakers together (Cambridge is readying a 5m alternative, for which it will naturally want some more money). After that, it’s just a question of establishing the physical or wireless connections you need to make.

There is no control app here, of course — this is not a networked system, after all. Nor are there any physical controls on either of the speakers (except that trio of toggle switches that help orientate the system before it’s running, the on/off power button or to cycle through the inputs), which could be considered an oversight. The only way to control the L/R S is by using the remote control handset that’s supplied in the packaging.

The handset itself is small, made of quite hard plastic and is not backlit but it covers off every function, and because it’s a Bluetooth rather than an RF device it’s far less reliant on having line of sight to the ‘primary’ speaker. It also gives access to a trio of EQ presets: they’re designated ‘normal’, ‘movie’ and ‘voice’.

Cambridge has included its ‘DynamEQ’ technology here, which is a gesture towards automated usability. It’s described as ‘intelligent optimization’, and makes bass and treble adjustments in response to any changes in volume you might indulge in.

• Usability & setup score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Cambridge L/R S review: Value

• Excellent sound for the price
• Lots of colorways, even if you have to pay extra for the walnut finish
• Expansive specification

Judge it in terms of engineering excellence, obvious competence where construction and finish are concerned, and the useful and reasonably expansive nature of its specification, and it’s hard to suggest the Cambridge L/R S doesn’t represent decent value for money.

And when you factor in the sound it’s capable of producing, well, it then starts to put it squarely in the 'market leaders' bracket for active speaker systems.

• Value score: 5 / 5

Should I buy Cambridge L/R S?Cambridge L/R S scorecard

Attribute

Notes

Score

Features

Active system, with USB-C, line-level stereo RCA and digital optical inputs; Bluetooth wireless (with aptX HD codec compatibility).

5 / 5

Sound quality

Expansive, detailed and upfront, but slightly overplays its low-end hand.

5 / 5

Design

Very solid build; six finishes, but walnut is a cost option; no grilles supplied.

4.5 / 5

Setup & usability

Bluetooth LE remote control; trio of EQ presets; no control app.

4.5 / 5

Value

Engineering excellence, plus superb sound, make it a pound-for-pound contender at the price.

5 / 5

Buy them if…

You want a desktop system that can nevertheless fill a room with sound
The L/R S sounds significantly larger than it looks.

You want a full-on system that can sit on a desktop if needs be
See above, but in reverse: despite the scale of its presentation, the physical dimensions of the L/R S make it fine for desktop use.

You’re (almost) all ‘bout that bass
The L/R S is no one-trick pony, but it does like a bit of low-frequency action.

Don’t buy them if…

There are inquisitive people in your home
A lack of grilles can sometimes be an invitation to prying fingers.

You like to turn it up to ‘11’
The Cambridge will play loud, but it’s not at its best this way.

You prefer your speakers in a wood finish
Real walnut is available, but it will cost you.

Cambridge Audio L/R S review: Also consider

Ruark MR1 Mk3
The most obvious alternative to the Cambridge L/R S, it features a phono stage for use with a turntable, it’s available in a real wood veneer at no extra cost, it’s even more compact and desktop-friendly and, most importantly of all, it’s got loads to recommend it where sound quality is concerned. As a powered speaker system of the more common type it’s not quite the Cambridge's technological tour de force, though, and the fixed-grille design could conceivably look a little frumpy next to the crisp minimalism of the L/R S. Here's our full Ruark MR1 Mk3 review.View Deal

How I tested the Cambridge L/R S

I tested the L/R S on a desktop, where it was wired via USB-C to an Apple MacBook Pro running Colibri software.

It was also connected wirelessly to an Apple iPhone 14 Pro (via the AAC codec) and a FiiO M15S (using aptX). It was also tested when positioned on a pair of Custom Design speaker stands and with a (pre-amplified) Technics SL-1300G turntable and Rega Apollo CD player connected to the analog RCAs and the digital optical socket respectively.

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• First reviewed: March 2026