LATEST ADDITIONS

Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Wadia 121 Decoding Computer
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 14, 2013

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $1,299 At a Glance: DAC, headphone amp, preamp for digital sources • Asynchronous USB input • Makes your audio files sing

The Wadia 121 calls itself a decoding computer. While the term DAC (digital-to-analog converter) also fits, Wadia understands that nomenclature is destiny. This product just may be destined to change forever the way you hear high-resolution music files, signaling a new chapter in audio history that no audiophile can afford to ignore.

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Audio Video News
Inca Fold-Down and Swivel TV Mount
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 14, 2013
Video projectors that reside in the ceiling have long been a fixture of high-end home theaters and are usually accompanied by a screen that retracts into a wall-mounted sleeve or disappears behind a curtain—everything controlled by remote control. Flat-panel TVs can benefit from the same sort of crafty concealment.
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Vintage Gear
JVC HR-D725 VHS H-Fi VCR
Steve Guttenberg  |  Mar 14, 2013
Life before the first VCRs arrived in the late 1970s was pretty boring. TV watching was limited to whatever meager offerings were available at that moment from broadcast and cable TV stations. VCRs and time shifting changed all that.
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Projection Screen Reviews
Elite Lunette Curved Projection Screen
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 13, 2013

Performance
Setup
Value
Price: $1,600 At A Glance: Outstanding picture at any viewing angle • Cinematic curvature • Excellent value

At one time, two of my favorite Los Angeles–area theaters were in Westwood: the Village and the National. The Village had, and still has, a huge, flat screen. The National (tragically closed and torn down in 2008) had a gently curved one of about the same size. While the Village had the more awesome audio, I always preferred the subtly more immersive visual presentation at the National.

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Projection Screen Reviews
Screen Innovations Black Diamond G2 4K Projection Screen
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 13, 2013

Performance
Setup
Value
Price: $2,899 At A Glance: viewable with ambient lighting • Works best with carefully planned lighting • Image dims significantly from center screen to the side

The best projection quality has always required a completely darkened room. This takes the edge off that Super Bowl party, with guests stumbling around in the dark spilling their buttered popcorn and drinks in your lap.

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Tech2
Review: Torque Audio t103z tunable in-ear headphone Page 2
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 12, 2013

When testing headphones with multiple listeners-our standard practice at S+V-I've learned that perceptions of a headphone's tonal balance can differ among listeners. Of course, individual taste in sound varies, too.

One solution to this problem is a headphone that can be tuned to the user's taste, a feature we've encountered on in-ear monitors from AKG and Phonak. Both have interchangeable filters that can alter the headphone's tonal balance. But the former costs $1,299, and the latter uses extremely tiny filters that require a special tool to change.

A new company named Torque Audio has what looks like a more practical approach.

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This Week
This Week in Movies and TV, March 12th 2013: Hitchcock, Lang, & Buñuel
Josef Krebs  |  Mar 12, 2013

Life of Pi 3D

What do you do when you find yourself adrift alone in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with just the company of an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a majestic but fearsome, nay terrifying 450-pound male Bengal tiger? This is the sticky situation Pi Patel must deal with while trying to survive the elements and discover the meaning of life.

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Headphone Reviews
Torque Audio t103z tunable in-ear headphone
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 12, 2013
When testing headphones with multiple listeners—our standard practice at S+V—I've learned that perceptions of a headphone's tonal balance can differ among listeners. Of course, individual taste in sound varies, too.
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A/V Veteran
Beware the Demo
Tom Norton  |  Mar 12, 2013
In my review of Samsung’s flagship UN75ES9000, 75-inch LCD-LED HDTV, I remark that potential buyers should beware of bad demos of this very expensive set ($9000). Such a demo could make it very difficult to justify the expense.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Chris Chiarella  |  Mar 12, 2013
Picture
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
Within the first few minutes of E.T., old-timers like me who remember seeing it on the big screen 30 years ago can’t help but recall why this movie was a bona fide cultural event, the likes of which we seldom see anymore. Oft copied, never equaled, it is an exquisitely crafted piece of cinema by a virtuoso at the top of his game. E.T. tells the tale of a lost, lonely visitor and his equally lonely host, an ordinary boy named Elliott. It celebrates the universal childhood fantasy of a secret best friend…and that other one about the flying bicycles. Rough around the edges though it may seem by today’s standards, this 1982 original version remains one of the most profoundly moving films most people will ever see.
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