LATEST ADDITIONS

Viewing fantasy epics turns out, unsurprisingly, to be a fine way to pass time while social distancing. Over the past few weeks I’ve binged both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies and am now working my way once again through Game of Thrones. What to view next? Some good news today for Star Wars fans seeking to ingest the full suite of films based on George Lucas’ original space opera: Disney+ has added 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the latest entry in the series, to the list of titles available to stream on the service in 4K with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound. May the Fourth be with you!

To help make the best of at-home entertainment, we offer up a handful of very different Sound & Vision-vetted products for your consideration: from a unique set of earphones made of wood to a reference-caliber screen that promises to propel video projection to new heights. As usual, all are recipients of our Top Pick rating.

Who says they no longer make Compact Disc players? Exhibit A: Japanese audio component maker Luxman just announced the availability of its new D-03X, a fully loaded digital player that handles CD playback along with MQA CDs, MQA files, and up to 11.28 MHz DSD and 32-bit/384 kHz PCM files via USB input.

PRICE $1,484 (material only, as tested)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent Image Uniformity
Dramatic reduction in artifacts over previous generation
Exceptional build quality and ease of installation
Minus
Minor artifacts on images with vertical camera motion

THE VERDICT
With dramatically improved performance over the previous generation StudioTek 130 material, Stewart Filmscreen's new ST130 G4 establishes a new reference standard for a gain screen.

I often feel that the screen is the most overlooked component of a video projection system. That's because the screen material itself lacks "wow" factor, and it typically doesn't get tagged with the sexy marketing buzzwords associated with other home theater gear. But selecting the right screen for a video system is crucial since the screen ultimately will serve to either enhance or reduce your projector's performance.