announcer: the thrill of living well is in the pursuit. the pursuit of the rarest experiences. the pursuit of the finest products. the pursuit of quality in everything you do. and in all of these pursuits, you need the best intelligence to make the best decisions. >> we know that she sells for a lot, but what makes her important? >> it isn't easy. it's difficult work. announcer: welcome to "bloomberg pursuits," where you find information that helps you follow your inspiration. in this edition, utility meets luxury in three new suv's. hannah: immediate power. immediate response. announcer: master the offbeat etiquette of eating ramen. ivan: it's totally cool to just pick up the bowl and drink from

it. announcer: and find out how one in master craftsman turns wood and stone into state-of-the-art sound. jonathan: this is a very difficult, time consuming, expensive process. announcer: but first, nikki eckstein has a guide to making the most of london. ♪ nikki: london is one of the most dynamic cities in the world. for all its iconic sites, it is also full of hidden treasures. and now with brexit looming, the city is on the verge of a total reinvention. i'm nikki eckstein, travel editor for "bloomberg pursuits," and i'll show you how to make the most of london. ♪ nikki: out of london's 37 million visitors each year, a whopping 9 million come here on business, making it one of the biggest business travel markets in the world.

and that means busy airports. dodge the crowds by flying into london city, a small, under-the-radar hub in the middle of town. landing here means short immigration lines and zero traffic, shrinking your travel time by an hour or more. ♪ nikki: until recently, business travelers had a tough choice -- booking a bland hotel in the boring financial district, or staying further away in the heart of the action. not anymore. the city, london's financial hub, is suddenly cool with two glamorous places to stay. the first is the ned, a hotel and private members club designed by the ultracool soho house group. insiders say it cost more than $200 million to convert this 1920's bank. walk through the front doors and it hits you. 252 rooms, nine restaurants. this is the place to see and be seen, to impress and be

impressed. ♪ nikki: but if you want to escape the hustle, head to the rooftop. this view of st. paul's cathedral is instagram gold for london's work hard, play harder set, and it's only accessible to hotel guests and private members. ♪ nikki: if the party, work, repeat lifestyle is a bit too much, the antidote is just one mile away. the new four seasons 10 trinity is the epitome of an urban oasis. indulging here means afternoon tea in the 1920's rotunda, or an after work massage in the glimmering spa. even hanging out in your room feels like a treat. you can order your favorite type of pillow from an ipad or soak in a gorgeous gilded bathtub.

londoners are punctual, so getting on their time zone is key. luckily for you, great coffee shops are everywhere in london. these days, they're more ubiquitous than a proper english breakfast. workshop, which roasts its own beans, is my personal favorite. order their filter coffee. it's like a pour over with a built-in refill, and you can feel free to bring your laptop. head to the east end for a work lunch at lyle's. it's worth the short walk. no mushy peas here, these are fresh from the farm in a salad with locally produced cheese. order it with a mutton broth, a clear, delicate version of a heavy classic. here's a little psa. don't be afraid to order a glass of wine during the workday. abstaining is actually seen as an overly conservative move. ♪ nikki: with so much entertaining, you will want to

squeeze in a workout. in london, it's hard to find a good boutique gym that allow membership-free drop-ins, but one rebel is a real exception. everything from the music to the lighting to the moves will make you feel like a total rockstar. ♪ nikki: take that high into your most important meeting, a deal-closing dinner. this russian inspired spot in soho is a no holds barred ode to decadence. watching this juicy beef wellington get carved tableside? it's the best kind of dinner theater. and whenever you are ready to toast your success, there is a champagne button built into every booth. >> cheers. nikki: by now, you've earned a day off. this is redchurch street, in the heart of shoreditch. stop by modern society for indie jewelry and clothing, or monologue for great home wares and desk accessories.

then round the corner to house of hackney for giftable notebooks and travel sets, all in custom patterns. ♪ nikki: when it comes to british food, i can't leave without trying the real national dish, curry. >> fabulous. nikki: at madame d's, the menu focuses on the himalayas. the talented indian chef is making excellent rifts on these samosas and amazing lamb noodles spiced with powerful thai red chiles, dishes you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. ♪ nikki: it's all proof that in this fast-paced city, things are always in a state of evolution. ♪ announcer: from this great destination, we shift our focus to the journey. up next, hannah elliott takes a drive in three of the best suv's money can buy. one of them is sure to be right

for you. this is "bloomberg pursuits." ♪

♪ announcer: ramen, the japanese staple, has gone global with dedicated joints opening in cities around the world. so, it's a good time for a short course on the rules of ramen. ivan: hi, my name is ivan orkin, and this is my shop. we are going to talk about the best ways to eat a bowl of ramen. the most important thing is to eat the ramen while it's hot. any good ramen shop will serve you a bowl of ramen while it is smoking hot, and you need to eat it right away because the noodles are overcooking. it's a lot like pizza. if you're a real new yorker, you know that you do not wait for the pizza to cool down. you eat it while it is hot, and you risk burning your mouth. ramen is absolutely the same. ♪

ivan: you need to slurp. what it does is it cools down the noodles. don't fight the noodles. take a little less than you think you want to eat. you want to pull them out from the pile because otherwise you will never be able to slurp. easy on the toppings if you are a first timer. so, when you order your first bowl of ramen ever, just get it simple. taste it, see if you really like ramen, and then you can start dumping on the toppings and specials of the day. don't forget to hydrate. i've been to ramen shops in tokyo where afterwards my whole face is swollen with salt. it's just the nature of the beast, so drink up. ramen comes with a terrible spoon, chinese in origin. it's a great way to be able to dip it into the bowl, but in japan, it is totally cool to pick up the bowl and drink from it. and remember, there are no real rules at the end of the day. you are letting your hair down.

you want to have fun. get splashy, get noisy, get messy, but most importantly, enjoy yourself. announcer: choosing the best suv is a complex task. you have to consider size, power, and of course, value. hannah elliott weighs all the elements in this review of three suv's. hannah: with suv's growing in popularity, it only made sense to get some on this show. so, in this review, we are going to compare three of the best-rated luxury suv's on the market. ♪ hannah: this isn't going to be easy. ♪ hannah: we've got our hands on an audi q5, a porsche cayenne gts, and a bmw x5. i've decided to spend a day in the hamptons with each of them to get an in-depth look. now, this is the q5. it's audi's midsize suv, and it is starts at about $41,000, which is way more affordable than the other two cars that we are looking at. this is kind of like the iphone

of luxury suv's. it's designed so well, but also it is affordable within the segment. this is a four-cylinder, all-wheel-drive, seven speed automatic with paddle shifters, 252 horsepower, and there is no lag. immediate power. immediate response. the minute you step on the gas, you're there. ♪ hannah: q5 has by far the most futuristic interior of the three cars. it's minimal. it's clean. the sunroof spans the entire width of the ceiling. it's really cool. there's plenty of room for five adults, lots of headroom. but this is the smallest car of the ones that we are testing. the trunk is 29 cubic feet, which is in the middle of our range. a family on a trip might have trouble fitting everything in. there are other cars that are more powerful, that look more distinct, but it's also really affordable, and audi has really kind of hit a sweet spot. ♪

hannah: so, how did it add up? the immediate response really made me feel in control. the horsepower was a little weaker at 252, and the 22 miles per gallon means that this is in the middle of the road. looks-wise, it was a bit conservative. it's the smallest of the three, but with a sleek interior. and pricing is the best at $41,000. ♪ hannah: now this is the bmw x5 hybrid. that means it gets 56 miles per gallon combined between the electric motor and conventional engine. this car starts at $62,000, so it's right in the middle of our group. the electric motor and the engine switch off depending on what drive mode, how fast you are going, all of that. what you won't find out from the stats on the website is how big this car feels when you sit in it, and how small it drives. it is a nice balance. so the interior is not as futuristic. it's not as clean and modern feeling, but it is also a little

less full of buttons and levers and gauges. this does feel like it's the roomiest of the three. i think a lot of it has to do with the natural light. the most visibility for sure. and with the seats in use, the trunk still comes up with nearly 36 cubic feet, which is massive. ♪ hannah: to recap, the handling was exceptional. 308 horsepower is in the middle of our range. and an amazing 56 miles per gallon with the combined electric motor, it was sporty without being overaggressive. the roomiest, but with a toned down interior. and at $62,000, it's midrange for our selections. ♪ hannah: now the third car in our group is the porsche cayenne gts. this is a higher-tuned version of porsche's cayenne, and it starts, fittingly, at $97,000. that's by far the most expensive of any car of our group.

and it's also the most powerful. porsche was among the first of the luxury carmakers to introduce an suv. it really sets the standard for a lot of things. the engine here is a 3.6 liter, v6, twin-turbocharged engine, 440 horsepower. that's almost double the horsepower of the audi. 443 foot pounds of torque, and you definitely feel it when you push the gas pedal. the thing that you notice are the buttons and levers and knobs and vents. so if you're someone that likes cockpit stuff to play with, you are going to love this car. this trunk was actually the smallest at 24 cubic feet, but after you put the seats down, you'll get by. it drives fast. it feels really luxurious inside. it's really striking to look at. just costs a lot of money. okay, this car was the most powerful. 440 horsepower, 434 foot pounds of torque. unfortunately, only 19 miles per gallon combined.

this is a true sports car in suv form. it had decent space, and the interior was loaded with gadgets. but the downside i would say is price. $97,000 means this car will dig deep into your wallet. the luxury suv segment is a competitive field. there are a lot of really competent players, and these three are all excellent vehicles. however, after three days of driving, i felt the bmw checked the most boxes in terms of performance, agility, style, and value. was it the fastest or the most powerful? no, but it was the most versatile while moderately priced for a luxury suv. with the largest interior, the most visibility, and the fact that it's a hybrid with a 56 miles per gallon rating, that just pushes it over the edge. this car has a great value, and anyone would be happy to have it. ♪ announcer: coming up, the best in high-end audio equipment. headphones that feel as gorgeous as they sound. chris: the cup pads are incredibly squishy and marshmallowy.

they feel really great alongside of your head. announcer: and speakers crafted from ancient materials for the ultimate in modern audio quality. jonathan: none of this stuff is convenient, small, or cheap, but it does represent the best sound that's really ever been made. announcer: this is "bloomberg pursuits." ♪

♪ chris: picking the right pair of headphones for you can be tough. you have to think about how much they cost, what they look like, how they sit on your head. and obviously, you care about the sound. plus, there are tons of brands that make them. a pair of wireless headphones that checks the most boxes for me, are the sennheiser hd 1 wireless over ear. the sound quality is wonderful. bass beats feel full and satisfyingly funky.

middle notes are clean and bright, and scratchy sounds or whispers have a very satisfying texture. the materials are excellent. all of the soft parts are sheathed in this creamy dark leather. the cup pads are incredibly squishy and marshmallowy. they feel really great alongside of your head, and they don't have that super firm grip that some headphones have. the bluetooth is totally seamless and totally easy. it just takes one touch to link it with your phone. once you're listening to music, the volume button also is the pause button and the skip ahead button. and you can feel it very easily without looking. the set remains charged for up to 22 hours. the bluetooth range is remarkable. i actually tested it out, and i walked an entire city block away from my phone, and i had no disruption in any of the noise. it'll skip a little bit, that is how you know you are at the end of your range, but a whole city block worth of bluetooth range is pretty good. fair warning -- all of this quality comes at a price. if you're looking for a good pair of wireless headphones, it is going to run you between $120

and $500. the hd 1's are $499.95. they are right at the tippy top of the range. but, for the build quality, the easy technology, the great sound, and i think the overall handsomeness, these are worth the investment. announcer: to close out "bloomberg pursuits," a regular series we call "made." because to truly appreciate an object of luxury, you need to go back to the beginning and see how it came to be. ♪ jonathan: my name is jonathan weiss. i am the founder and ceo of oswalds mill audio, known as oma, and we're in our dumbo, brooklyn showroom surrounded by all of our products. ♪ jonathan: we're really an outlier in the high-end audio

world. we make everything from the signal source in terms of analog. that is record players, which we make out of solid slate. we make our own line of tube amplifiers. and we're the only company in the world that makes conical, horn-moded loudspeakers for high-end home use. we make everything so that we have total control over the sound. one of the first phases to our products is coring the slate. and this is a very special slate, because it's actually very soft, which, from an acoustic standpoint, is really desirable. it dissipates vibrations and resonances extremely well, much better than harder slate. so, when they are quarrying the slate, then they'll literally use hand tools to cleave off sheets, which break off and then

are placed on a truck or taken with a gondola into the main fabrication part of the quarry, where a huge diamond saw with water is used to cut these cleaved-off irregular pieces of slate. the last stage is honing and putting a very fine edge, or bevel, so that it doesn't chip. we use cast metal in a lot of different products. old foundries, they have a furnace. the metal is put in a solid form into this vat and it becomes molten, like just out of the movie "terminator." it's poured into a sand mold, it goes in, hardens. the sand is blasted away, and you have a rough casting, which then goes to the various finishing processes. ♪

jonathan: then it has to be welded, edge treatment. after that, that is accomplished, then it goes to be powder coated, where it literally is baked and cured like into this super hard, durable finish, much better than paint. all of our loudspeakers have steel stands or infrastructure, and all of those elements are powder coated. ♪ jonathan: the mill is essentially our laboratory. it's our reference listening space. it's where we can put elements, new and old, together, listen to them, evaluate them, and decide what direction we want to take with new products, new technologies. there are things that were never surpassed in terms of sound quality. the industry has moved in ways that are not about the ultimate sound quality, but about size, convenience, and cost.

and none of this stuff is convenient, small, or cheap, but it does represent the best sound that's really ever been made. ♪ jonathan: all of our loudspeakers are made out of pennsylvania hardwoods. and these are all woods which martin guitar, which is the world's best acoustic guitar company -- they are right across the valley. they use the same woods that we do. i know that they are tonally great woods. at that point, it comes into our woodworking shop where it gets cut down further into boards of varying thickness and width, which will be joined together to create loud speaker enclosures, amplifier enclosures, horns, all using meticulous, hand-done joinery that allows the wood to expand and contract in your home. it's like a living thing.

this is a very difficult, time consuming, expensive process. we're the only company in the world that does this. nobody else makes loudspeakers using solid wood joinery construction, not today, not that i know ever. at a certain point, the parts come from the wood shop, metalworking shop, powder coat. they come to our central facility where we do the final assembly. most of our equipment is very big, and it's very big because it has to be. sound waves can't be miniaturized. it's physics. it is very old-school. it is not mass production. ♪ jonathan: and the components that we use are simply the highest grade possible, aerospace level stuff.

the last phase is really our installation of the equipment in our client's homes or wherever they're going. if you have an amazing system, and you put elvis on, it's frightening. it's like he's right there. what the system is doing is, it's taking the energy that came out of elvis, literally. sound waves are energy. so it is taking that energy, and it's reproducing it so perfectly that you have this uncanny feeling that somebody is there that's been dead a long time. that's what amazing sound quality is. ♪ announcer: you can find more films from our "made" series as well as many more pursuits stories and videos at bloomberg.com/pursuits. thanks for watching "pursuits." this is bloomberg. ♪

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♪ jonathan: from new york city, i am jonathan ferro. with 30 minutes dedicated to fixed income, this is "bloomberg real yield." ♪ jonathan: coming up, janet yellen brushes aside plans to -- brushes aside the low-inflation story and plans to unwind the balance sheet and entities up another rate hike before year's end. geo politics fuels the bid as north korea threatens to deliver a hard-line response to president trump. and beyond toys "r" us filing for bankruptcy, heavy debt loads continue to haunt retailers. we start with a big issue. why unwinding a $4.5 trillion balance sheet is apparently nothing to worry about.