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Audio Video News
LG Announces “Best Price Ever” 4K OLED Deals
SV Staff  |  Nov 19, 2016
LG has announced limited-time “best ever pricing” for its B6 55- and 65-inch 4K OLED TVs.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Mermaid
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 18, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
In cinema, would-be cautionary tales of our current environmental crisis tend to be heavy-handed, and they frequently fall flat as a result. Maybe the secret to an effective global wakeup call is to tuck it neatly into a slapstick romantic comedy about modern-day merpeople.
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Subwoofer Reviews
PSB SubSeries 450 Subwoofer Review
David Vaughn  |  Nov 18, 2016
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Very powerful on music
Outstanding build quality
Small size
Minus
Tepid output at the very bottom

THE VERDICT
One of the most musical subwoofers I’ve ever auditioned, and it’s damn pretty, too!

Founded in 1972 in Ontario, PSB Speakers has grown from one man’s passion for audio into an international speaker company with more than 50 distributors and approximately 1,000 dealers. Paul Barton got his start in audio when he was just 11 years old, making speakers with his father. As he became more confident with his designs when he was in high school, he started to sell his speakers to college students at the nearby University of Waterloo. From the beginning, Barton’s goal was to create high-performance, highvalue loudspeakers for music and, eventually, for home cinema applications.

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The S&V Interview
The Wonder of Elvis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 18, 2016
Elvis Presley would have loved to have taken advantage of today’s meticulous recording standards. Fact is, The King was very much a stickler in the studio. Elvis also had an affinity for orchestral arrangements, something his estate was able to realize last year with If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RCA/Legacy), which has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide to date. A worthy sequel, The Wonder of You: Elvis Presley With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has just been released. I reached out across The Pond to get album producers Don Reedman and Nick Patrick’s takes on the sonic differences between the two albums, how a certain mantra guided their respective hands and ears, and what aspects of modern recording Elvis would have embraced.
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Audio Video News
AirMode Makes Wired Headphones Wireless
SV Staff  |  Nov 18, 2016
U.K.-based Audio Nation has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Bluetooth adapter that makes headphones and earphones with detachable cables wireless.
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Audio Video News
Oppo’s Sonica Speaker Now Supports Spotify
SV Staff  |  Nov 18, 2016
Oppo Digital has announced that the Sonica wireless speaker it introduced in May now supports Spotify Connect.
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Audio Video News
Netflix Integrated into Comcast’s X1 Platform
SV Staff  |  Nov 18, 2016
Netflix is being integrated into millions of Comcast X1 devices across the country this week, according to a joint announcement from Comcast and Netflix.
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Bluetooth Speaker ReviewsWireless Multiroom Speaker Reviews
Oppo Sonica Wireless Speaker
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 17, 2016

Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $299

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Elegant styling
Top-notch build quality
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi streaming up to 192 kHz/24 bit
Remarkably full sound from a compact speaker
Minus
Can sound a tad bright
Not battery-powered
Rudimentary app

THE VERDICT
Oppo’s Sonica is an elegant and versatile wireless speaker whose superb sound belies its small footprint.

As I waited in anticipation for Sonica to arrive, I was reminded of an old ad slogan: “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” It’s kinda that way with Oppo. Over the past 12 years, the Silicon Valley–based company has built a stellar reputation with its best-in-class Blu-ray players and Top Pick–designated headphones and amp/DACs. I couldn’t wait to see if Oppo had extended its golden touch to wireless speakers—a category with more than its fair share of duds. My expectations were high.

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Ask S&V
Can I Transfer ALAC Files from iTunes to a Portable Player?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 17, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q For years, I used iTunes to rip my CDs in the Apple Lossless Audio Compression (ALAC) format and load them onto a 160-gigabyte iPod classic. Now that iPods are no more, I would like to switch to one of the new hi-res-capable portable players but want to avoid having to rip all of my CDs again. Do any of the new players support ALAC so I can continue using iTunes? Also, is there some way to use iTunes to load files from my computer to a new portable player? —Mark Hoornstra / Maryland

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Audio Video News
CES 2017 Tech Trends to Watch
SV Staff  |  Nov 17, 2016
At a recent CES Unveiled press event in New York, Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), singled out five tech trends to keep an eye on at the upcoming CES 2017 show, which opens in Las Vegas on January 5.
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