LATEST ADDITIONS

Audio Video News
Crowdfund Watch: Min7 Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Speaker
SV Staff  |  Mar 18, 2016
Minfort’s crowdfunded Min7 wireless speaker is off and running, having exceeded its $15,000 goal by nearly $68,000 with two months left on the Kickstarter funding clock.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Pioneer Announces Affordable Network AVRs
SV Staff  |  Mar 18, 2016
Two affordable 7.1-channel network AV receivers will join Pioneer’s Elite series lineup in April.
Continue Reading »
AV Receiver Reviews
Onkyo TX-RZ900 A/V Receiver Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Mar 17, 2016

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Equipped with Dolby Atmos, primed for DTS:X
Abundant clean, dynamic power
AirPlay, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi all on board
Versatile, usable, hi-res-ready streaming options
Minus
Only two height channels, whether powered or line
Failed to stream DSD recordings

THE VERDICT
Plenty of performance and features, and solid human factors, with an emphasis on core audio quality, at fair “flagship” pricing.

Producing a test report on a “flagship” A/V receiver is always a bit of a high-wire act. On one hand, the receiver represents the top of the line: Maximum power, maximum features, and maximum performance are all expected—and generally delivered. On the other hand, cruiser-class designs rarely offer much of real importance that a model two or three jumps down any given maker’s line doesn’t also do quite competently—and for roughly half the price, which means it’s the model that most folks eventually buy. This leaves the hapless reviewer with the unenviable choice of either damning with faint praise or condemning excellence for its expense.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
New Pioneer Headphone Includes Balanced Cable
SV Staff  |  Mar 17, 2016
Pioneer’s latest headphone has an unusual twist. The “Hi-Res-capable” SE-MHR5 ($300) includes a four-pole balanced 2.5mm cable in addition to a standard 3.5mm cable. The cable is designed to provide greater signal separation when used with an amplifier that has a balanced output.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Zvox “Full Metal Jacket” Soundbars Now Available
SV Staff  |  Mar 17, 2016
Soundbar pioneer Zvox has announced that the super-slim SB400 and SB500 soundbars it previewed in January are now available at bestbuy.com, amazon.com, crutchfield.com, and zvox.com.

Continue Reading »
Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1998: First Feature Film Webcast
SV Staff  |  Mar 17, 2016
The 1994 independent film Walls of Sand became the first feature film to be streamed over the Internet 18 years ago this week.

Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
What’s New for AV Receivers in 2016?
Al Griffin  |  Mar 16, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q What new features are coming to AV receivers in 2016? I guess my question is more about what features might be missing from 2015 models, which already have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth aptX, Airplay, High-res FLAC and DSD support, 4K pass-through, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X processing. I am interested in the latest Marantz receivers, specifically the NR-1506 and SR-5010, but noticed that those models were announced back in June 2015. Should I wait for new 2016 models? —Jason York

Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie ReviewsReference Tracks
50 Years Later: Bob Dylan's Dont Look Back on Blu-Ray
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 16, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
As iconic as it remains a full half-century later, when Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back was being shot by director D.A. Pennebaker during the Bard’s whirlwind acoustic tour of England in May 1965, there were literally no rules to follow. “It’s the idea of the home movie, the kind of movie that was always made by one person,” says Pennebaker, still as sharp as ever at age 90. “I had gotten the notion in my head not to make a pure music film. I decided to make it about him, right at the time he was trying to figure out who he was.”
Continue Reading »
New Products
March 2016 New Gear
SV Staff  |  Mar 16, 2016
Legacy Audio Powerblock² Amplifier
“Incredible performance in a small package…at a fair price” is how Legacy Audio describes the Powerblock², the company’s first amplifier in more than a decade. Assembled in Legacy’s Springfield, Illinois factory, the amp is a dual-mono design boasting an ultra-wide 1.5-Hz to 70-kHz bandwidth and healthy power output of 2 x 325 watts into 8 ohms (or a rip-roaring 2 x 650 into 4 ohms). Ice Ice Baby: The low-profile Powerblock² is built around ICEpower Class D technology featuring self-oscillating closed-loop architecture and a robust power supply capable of supplying peak current of 30 amps per channel. High damping factor (1,000
Continue Reading »
The Connected Life
Are You Ready for Your Annual AV Spring Cleaning?
John Sciacca  |  Mar 16, 2016
For most of its life, your audio gear probably just sits there, quietly doing its thing, providing (hopefully) years of quality entertainment. But all the while, a silent killer lurks in your house: dust. And unless your listening room is like some kind of Silicon Valley clean space or you have a hermetically sealed audio rack—in which case you’ve probably got some ventilation issues to address—your gear is under constant attack from dust particles that could shorten its life.
Continue Reading »

Pages

X