LATEST ADDITIONS

In the wake of announcements that the commercial surround technology is making its way to home gear, we asked readers if they would upgrade to Atmos. Nearly a third (30 percent) said they would have to wait to hear a demo and read reviews before deciding, while one in five indicated that they would upgrade to an Atmos setup but only with properly installed ceiling speakers.

Another third dismissed Atmos as either too much of a hassle to install or too expensive. Only 6 percent of survey respondents said they would upgrade to Atmos with speakers designed to reflect sound off the ceiling—a percentage that we expect to grow once people hear live demonstrations.

Here’s the complete breakdown of the results:

Audio Performance
Video Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2-compliant
Solid amplifier performance
Fine Qdeo video processing on tap
Upgradeable for Dolby Atmos
Minus
Some menu layouts a bit unintuitive
Cramped, non-illuminated remote

THE VERDICT
Onkyo’s latest high-value offering arrives in an up-to-the-minute HDMI 2.0 flavor.

Want to know what next year’s $700 AV receivers will offer? Just take a look at this year’s $1,000 models. With every spring season, a whole new crop of receivers sprouts up, offering more for less. Competitive pressures and the relentless march of HDMI standards are the likely catalysts, but whatever the reasons, all the major brands roll out whole phalanxes of new AVRs. And with each iteration, last year’s step-up features seem to move one place lower on the price grid.

Only the eldest among Sound & Vision readers would know that the use of the term high-performance to define a better class of headphones is a relatively new development. Back in the day, high performance headphones were the only kind you could buy. Classics like the Koss Pro4AA (born in 1970 and still available in a slightly revised form for $99) and the Sennheiser HD414 (pictured here) were the first crossover ’phones that found popularity with both engineers and consumers. They brought a new kind of private and intimate listening experience to ’70s and ’80s audiophiles.