LATEST ADDITIONS

Music Reviews
The Beatles: 1+ Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 18, 2016
Performance
Sound
How do you improve upon perfection? That is the central question at the very core of the 1+ collection—emphasis very much on the plus—the latest must-have Deluxe Edition to emerge from The Beatles’ empiric vaults. Fifty Beatles classics—all of The Fab Four’s 27 #1 hits, plus 23 additional cuts that include alternate versions of some of those aforementioned moptop chart-toppers—are presented here on two Blu-ray Discs in filmed form, all accompanied by stunning 5.1 mixes done by Giles Martin with Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. (The CD is a stereo remaster of the original 1 disc released in 2000, which has sold 31 million copies internationally to date.)
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New Products
February 2016 New Gear
SV Staff  |  Feb 18, 2016
Klipsch Reference R6 Headphone
A reference headphone without the reference price is one way to look at the R6, an on-ear design that weighs just over a third of a pound and costs less than a hundred bucks. Its generous 1.5-inch custom-tuned drivers are ensconced in swiveling ear cups to ensure a good fit, and they’re voiced to emulate the sound of Klipsch’s Reference Series speakers. A pretty tall order. Travel Buddy: The headphone folds flat, making it an excellent travel companion, and it has an adjustable leather headband and padded memory foam cushions for noise isolation and comfort. A carrying case is included. Price: $79 ($99 for the R6i, which adds an iPhone-compatible in-line remote and microphone)
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Throwback Thursday
Flashback: Coleco & the Era of Game Cartridges
SV Staff  |  Feb 18, 2016
The original ColecoVision console (left) and the forthcoming Coleco Chameleon.

If you lived through (and survived) the decade of hair bands (aka the Eighties), you probably remember videogame stalwarts Atari, Nintendo, and Coleco and may have spent countless hours playing now-classic games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man.

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SmartStream
How to Stream “Out of Africa” While in Africa
Barb Gonzalez  |  Feb 18, 2016
On a trip to Kenya, I discovered the best way to stream my movies and music while traveling outside the U.S.
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Audio Video News
Watch Sunday’s Daytona 500 in VR
SV Staff  |  Feb 18, 2016
If you’ve ever wished you could drive the track at Daytona you might want to strap on a Samsung Gear VR headset and tune into the Daytona 500 on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
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Ask S&V
Seeking Guidance on Vintage Amps and Receivers
Al Griffin  |  Feb 18, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I’m on a vinyl kick. I recently purchased an Audio-Technica LP120 USB turntable and am converting a few of my old LPs. I have it connected to a Sony AVR and am listening through my Klipsch Reference RB-5II bookshelf speakers. Now I’m thinking about searching for a vintage amp or receiver. I’ve read good things about the Marantz 1060 integrated amp (circa 1975), which is rated at 30 watts per channel. I also hear good things about some of the old Pioneer gear. I want to crank old classic rock, and I know the RB-5IIs can handle it. Any suggestions on what I should set my sights on? — Lew Collins/Via e-mail

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Soundbar Reviews
Definitive Technology W Studio Micro Soundbar System Review
John Sciacca  |  Feb 17, 2016

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $899

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ultra-thin form factor
Triple-threat with movies, music, and wholehouse audio
Great sound
Minus
Awkward handling of network media

THE VERDICT
The W Studio Micro’s strong performance and tons of streaming music features make it an easy recommendation.

The soundbar is one of the fastest-growing market segments in recent years, and that’s no surprise. As consumer demand grows for ultra-thin TVs with virtually zero bezel, display manufacturers are in the quandary of where to put the built-in speakers. The answer for most has been placing shallow speakers behind the screen, firing away from listeners. Obviously, these sonic compromises make it increasingly difficult to understand dialogue— let alone actually enjoy the wider dynamics of movies or music— and the simple solution is adding a soundbar.

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Audio Video News
Get Ready for the Age of Eternal Data Archiving
SV Staff  |  Feb 17, 2016
‘Superman Memory Crystal’ 5D Discs Can Store Data for Billions of Years

Scientists at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have made a major step forward in the development of digital data storage that is capable of surviving for billions of years.

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Audio Video News
Is the TV-Centric Living Room a Myth?
SV Staff  |  Feb 17, 2016
Television has been a fixture of the living room for well over half a century but a new report out of the UK is challenging the notion that TV is still the focal point of activity there.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Tut
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 16, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
Egyptian history is astonishingly long by modern standards. The pharaoh Tutankhamun lived roughly 13 centuries after the pyramids were built, and another 13 centuries would pass before Cleopatra friended an asp.

The plot of this two-disc, 4.5-hour miniseries is centered on the limited facts we know about Tut. He was the son of Akhenaten, whose worship of the sun god Aton and rejection of Egypt’s traditional deities nearly tore the country apart. Tut became pharaoh around age nine and eventually restored the old gods and stabilized the kingdom. But by the time of his death at a young 19, he had failed to produce an heir by his wife and half-sister Ankhesenamun.

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