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Streaming Device ReviewsSmartStream
Roku 4 Streaming Media Player Review
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 04, 2015

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $130

AT A GLANCE
Plus
4K streaming to UHDTV
Agnostic search finds titles in multiple services
Notifications when specific movies become available

Minus
Remote mic is inaccurate
Search can’t find specific episodes of specific seasons

THE VERDICT
If you own a 4K TV, this is a slam-dunk. If not, the advances in hardware are still enough to step up from a Roku 2.

One must wonder if Roku waited to release its fourth-generation media streamer until the aptly named Roku 4 was capable of streaming 4K content. The newest Roku box can connect to compatible UHDTVs to stream 4K movies, TV shows, and videos from Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, M-Go, and a growing number of 4K streaming sources. And though 4K streaming is the Roku 4’s main appeal, improvements in hardware and the software interface make it the best Roku box yet.

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Ask S&V
Can a Receiver Send 5.1 Surround to a 2nd Zone?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 04, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I am in the market to buy a high-end Dolby Atmos AV Receiver for my basement home theater and have shortlisted the following receivers: Yamaha RX-A3050, Denon AVR-X5200W, and Marantz SR 7010. I also have a Sony receiver that powers a KEF 5.1 speaker system in my living room.

I was looking at the manuals for these receivers online and they all have second-zone HDMI and preamp outputs. Would it possible to use the new receiver’s Zone 2 HDMI or preamp outputs to send surround to my 5.1 system upstairs? —Bhaskar Vooradi

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Audio Video News
Klipsch to Live Stream Smokey Robinson Tribute
SV Staff  |  Nov 04, 2015
The 20th annual Music Masters series honoring Motown legend Smokey Robinson will be streamed live at klipsch.com at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 7.
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Audio Video News
Stop That or I’ll Make You Watch TV
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 04, 2015
Second-screen use is “creating a generation of kids for whom TV is punishment,” says Miner & Co. Studio.
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The Connected Life
Taking My System to the Next Level
John Sciacca  |  Nov 04, 2015
We A/V writers and reviewers rarely talk about our own systems here at Sound & Vision. This is partly due to the nature of review gear coming and going into our systems, as the gear we live with is almost always changing. Another reason is we frequently aren’t in a position to own and enjoy the top-shelf stuff in our own homes. (Insert comment about the cobbler’s kids here.) But I’ve been talking about next generation, immersive audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X quite a bit lately, and I thought I’d share what I’m doing with my own personal system to make sure it stays up to date, relevant and reference.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Sennheiser Revisits Orpheus, its $55k Headphone
SV Staff  |  Nov 04, 2015
In 1991 German headphone maker Sennheiser introduced what it considered to be the “best headphone in the world” and named it after the Greek musician and poet Orpheus. Only 300 units were made. The company has resurrected Orpheus and updated it with state-of-the-art technology to create the “first electrostatic headphone with a Cool Class A MOS-FET high voltage amplifier integrated into the ear cups.”
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New Products
Sonic Flashlight: HyperSound Clear Audio Beaming
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 03, 2015
Imagine if you could focus sound the same way you beam light from a flashlight. Think of the possibilities. You could direct sound to Bill, and Betty, who’s sitting right next to him, wouldn’t hear a thing. Sort of like headphones without…uh… the ’phones.
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Signals
Millennials: Your Soundbars Are Killing Us
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Nov 03, 2015
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are defined as the demographic with birth years ranging from the early 80s to the early 00s. In other words, Millennials are about 15 to 35 years old. I am appealing to you. You account for almost half of all audio hardware sales. More than any other single group, you are the ones responsible for screwing it up for the rest of us.

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The S&V InterviewAudio Video News
Man on a Mission: Speaker Designer Andrew Jones
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 03, 2015
Andrew Jones has an impressive history in loudspeakers, having served as the chief speaker engineer at KEF, Infinity, Technical Audio Devices Laboratories (TAD), and Pioneer, where he established a reputation for designing budget speakers that sound shockingly good. In May, following the merger of Pioneer and Onkyo, Germany’s ELAC announced that Jones had not only joined the company as vice president of engineering but was already working on a new line of speakers.
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Audio Video News
“Ultimate Battery” in the Works
SV Staff  |  Nov 03, 2015
Working laboratory prototype of a lithium-oxygen battery.

From the University of Cambridge:

Scientists have developed a working laboratory demonstrator of a lithium-oxygen battery which has very high energy density, is more than 90 percent efficient, and, to date, can be recharged more than 2,000 times, showing how several of the problems holding back the development of these devices could be solved.

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