LATEST ADDITIONS

Ask S&V
What’s the Problem with HDMI Audio Return Channel?
Al Griffin  |  Sep 01, 2017
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

A What’s the problem with HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC)? I’ve heard that most people simply give up on ARC and use an optical digital audio connection from their TV to their receiver instead because they can rarely get it to work between devices, especially ones from different manufacturers. What can the HDMI Forum do to improve the situation? —Phis Tomaskovic / via e-mail

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Ears On
CD Rot, Rack, and Ruin
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 01, 2017
It started with Thelonious Monk. I was playing Thelonious Alone in San Francisco when a rhythmic swishing sound began to make itself heard. It was not present at the beginning of the disc, but it faded up slowly toward the middle and became an excruciating noise by the end. This was the first audible manifestation in my music library of something I'd been dreading for some time: CD rot.

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Audio Video News
Dirac Announces 'Friendly' Room Correction Tool
SV Staff  |  Sep 01, 2017
Dirac Research, the Swedish developer of the digital sound optimization technology, has announced a mobile app for optimizing home theater audio.
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Headphone Reviews
MrSpeakers Aeon Headphones Review
Steve Guttenberg  |  Aug 31, 2017

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $799

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Closed-back, planar magnetic design
Made in San Diego, California
Beautifully balanced sound
Minus
Non-standard connectors on the earcups

THE VERDICT
The Aeon are a game changer for MrSpeakers. Their least expensive headphones might be their most accomplished design.

I meet a lot of audiophiles who flat out refuse to give headphones a chance. They go on about the headphones they bought in college when Michael Jackson released Thriller and won’t even try the new breed of ’phones. This one here, the MrSpeakers Aeon, might be the headphones that turn them around. The complete package—the sound, the shape, the smooth feel of the carbon fiber earcups, the luxuriously thick earpads, and best of all, the price—might win over even the most curmudgeonly of resistors.

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Audio Video News
DTS Play-Fi-enabled Speakers Get Alexa Voice Control
SV Staff  |  Aug 31, 2017
DTS today announced that the first DTS Play-Fi-enabled multiroom wireless speakers to incorporate Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service are slated to hit the market in the coming weeks.
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Signals
Ode to MP3
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 31, 2017
The message on the Fraunhofer website was concise: “On April 23, 2017, Technicolor’s MP3 licensing program for certain MP3- related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS has been terminated. We thank all of our licensees for their great support in making MP3 the de facto audio codec in the world during the past two decades.” And just like that, it was over.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Parasound Reprises Popular 5-Ch Amp, Boosts Power
SV Staff  |  Aug 30, 2017
Parasound will unveil a revamped version of its popular five-channel A 52 amplifier next week in San Diego at CEDIA 2017.
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New Products
October 2017 New Gear Part 1
SV Staff  |  Aug 30, 2017
Polk Audio MagniFi Max SR Soundbar System
Polk takes on the typical soundbar-plus-sub competition in the new MagniFi Max SR with two weapons. First, there’s the included pair of wireless rear surround speakers that ensure a room-filling 5.1-channel experience. But the “big” news is the inclusion of Polk’s Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) tech- nology, the same secret sauce that makes the tiny MagniFi Mini compact soundbar stand out with a giant soundstage.
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Audio Video News
Bang & Olufsen Teams with LG on OLED TV
SV Staff  |  Aug 30, 2017
LG and Bang & Olufsen today unveiled an OLED TV at IFA in Berlin that is the result of a new collaborative effort between the companies.
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In-Wall Speaker Reviews
Origin Acoustics/Bang & Olufsen BOC106 In-Ceiling Speaker Review
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 29, 2017

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,595/each ($7,975 as reviewed)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Zip-Cliq mount for easy install
IPX6 rated for use in high-moisture locations
10-inch woofer
Optional billet aluminum Advanced Grille
Minus
Expensive

THE VERDICT
The overhead fruit of Bang & Olufsen’s partnership with Origin Acoustics combines superior, finessed sound quality with remarkably refined looks for any ceiling.

Although the story of its beginning may sound like it, Bang & Olufsen isn’t one of those up-and-coming startups that briefly create a lot of noise and then are never heard from again. B&O’s is a classic tale, though. Two engineers, Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, tinkering in the Olufsen family’s attic (not garage) in Struer, Denmark, start building and selling radios. They didn’t do a Kickstarter campaign because, well, it was 1925, and Kickstarter hadn’t been kickstarted yet. The fledgling company’s first “commercially viable” product was the ominous-sounding B&O Eliminator, a device that allowed a radio to run off of AC (alternating current) from a wall outlet instead of DC (direct current) from expensive batteries. This early innovation set the tone for Bang & Olufsen ever since: be innovative, use quality materials, and above all (some would argue), do things your own (e.g., the Bang & Olufsen) way.

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