LATEST ADDITIONS

SmartStream
Spotify Expands Services to Include Video, More
Barb Gonzalez  |  May 21, 2015
Spotify adds video, original content, and an advanced running feature that ties music to a runner's pace.
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Editor's EyeTrack One
Upgradeitis: Is It Worth It?
Rob Sabin  |  May 21, 2015
I received an e-mail recently from reader Francesco Tenti in Huntington, NY, politely complaining about the speed with which AV technology seems to be progressing...
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Audio Video News
Ultra HD Alliance: Taking TV to the Next Level
Bob Ankosko  |  May 20, 2015
Introducing the Ultra High Definition Alliance

When we first heard about the Ultra High Definition Alliance, an industry coalition that has set its sights on establishing new standards that raise the bar on video quality, we were eager to learn more, especially after perusing the “who’s who” list of member companies: DIRECTV, Dolby, LG, Netflix, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Technicolor, Walt Disney Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Bros. We caught up with Vince Pizzica, senior executive vice president of strategy at Technicolor, to find out what makes the UHD Alliance tick.

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Signals
Saving Hi-Res Audio
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 19, 2015
Hi-res audio is having problems. Not your garden-variety problems. These are the life threateningproblems. Where do I begin? Well, Neil Young used Kickstarter to raise $6 million to fund his Pono project and deliver it into the hands of music enthusiasts. Good for him. Good for music. Good for hi-res playback. Of course, nothing is ever that simple.

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A/V Veteran
Atmos Musings and Shelf Life
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 19, 2015
A bit of an eclectic mix this time around with two topics, the first somewhat controversial, the second a useful (I hope) tip.

Elsewhere on this site, and in our June Q&A column, we recommended using the same amplifier power for the front, surround and height speakers in an Atmos setup. I don’t entirely agree, though my personal experience with Atmos is limited so far to trade demos and theatrical presentations. Most Atmos-ready AVRs will, of course, have matched power—that’s just the nature of the beasts. But if you have a pre-pro and, say, 200Wpc amps driving the front speakers, do you really need 200Wpc on the other six (for 5.1.4 Atmos) “full range” surround and height channels?

One consideration here is the sensitivity of the surround and height speakers...

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Headphone Reviews
Focal Spirit One S Headphone Review
Steve Guttenberg  |  May 18, 2015

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $249

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Smooth tonal balance
Euro design flair
Minus
High-ish head-clamping pressure

THE VERDICT
Focal’s latest-generation headphone strikes a keen balance of resolution and a sweet tonal balance.

Here we go again. That’s what I remember thinking when I heard that Focal, France’s largest speaker manufacturer, was going to start making headphones. After Beats by Dre opened the floodgates, a number of speaker and electronics companies that never made headphones started jumping into the market. We all know about Bower & Wilkins and Klipsch, but then there was KEF, NAD, Polk, PSB, RBH, and more—so when Focal joined the pack a few years ago, it wasn’t a shocker. Thing is, making great speakers is a completely different skill set than crafting headphones. After all, speakers “play” the room; headphones only have to make your ears happy. Apparently, that’s harder than it seems.

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Audio Video News
Poll Recap: Tower Speakers Rule
Bob Ankosko  |  May 18, 2015
Proving once again that size does matter, a home theater setup based on floorstanding tower speakers—like the ones featured in our recent “Top 10 Tower Speakers: Under $3,000” list—was the hands-down favorite in last week’s poll.
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Grace NotesAudio Video News
Rdio Launches $3.99 Streaming Plan — With a Catch
Leslie Shapiro  |  May 18, 2015
Rdio isn’t new to the highly competitive streaming music market, but they just announced a new price structure that’s garnering some big interest in the music industry. Aiming for the cost-conscious consumer, Rdio has initiated a plan that’s just $3.99 per month, Rdio Select, for an ad-free experience with unlimited skips and 25 downloads. This makes it the cheapest commercial-free subscription streaming service. How does that compare to what they’ve offered before, and why should we care?

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Tech2
Mad Max: Fury Road Review
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 15, 2015
I have seen Mad Max, and I have an opinion on it.

I also don’t like to give away anything in movie reviews. So if you click to the next page, the first part will be a spoiler free paragraph on what I think. Then the trailer. Below the trailer THERE BE SPOILERS. You are warned!

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Surround Sound System ReviewsBookshelf Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Paradigm Prestige 15B Speaker System Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  May 14, 2015

Prestige 15B Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

Seismic 110 Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $6,145

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Advanced driver designs
Fine-grained, transparent, dynamic playback
Compact but powerful subwoofer
Minus
Boxy, non-curved enclosures

THE VERDICT
Paradigm’s Prestige series speakers and Seismic 110 sub employ unusual driver design to achieve remarkable transparency and punch.

As I sat down to write this review of the Paradigm Prestige speaker system, I couldn’t get a seemingly unrelated subject—the Pono hate—out of my head. No joke, folks: I sat at the keyboard for hours mulling it over. What chance did I have to convince readers that a $6,145 speaker system is worth hearing when a $400 music player is greeted with language like “don’t buy” and “snake oil”?

OK, I know I’m preaching to the converted. You probably wouldn’t be reading Sound & Vision if you weren’t open to the idea that a well-designed speaker system has the power to bring you closer to music. That’s what the Paradigms did for me when I informally played a few recent additions to my high-resolution music library (more on them later). I felt as if a curtain had been lifted and music was in the room with me—not just recorded music, but music.

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