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Ultimate Ears: An Inside Look at the Making of In-Ear Monitors
Lauren Dragan  |  Nov 07, 2014
In-ear custom monitors are generally considered the gold standard for performers and audio professionals. And it makes sense; monitors are one of the only pieces of equipment that are made just for your anatomy and nobody else’s. The process of going from fitting to final product has remained largely unchanged for years: a painstaking, labor-intensive process.Ultimate Ears is working on streamlining their workflow with the addition of 3D scanning, editing and printing. It’s working: what used to take three weeks, now can be done in one. But monitors at Ultimate Ears  still take a shocking amount of craftsmanship and skill to make, and I got to take a tour of their facility in southern California to see just how it’s all done. Wanna see? Check this out!
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Ears On
Meet the New Dolby Surround
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 07, 2014
Dolby Atmos is hitting surround audiophiles like a succession of giant waves crashing on the beach. The first wave is Dolby Atmos in movie theaters. The second wave is Atmos in Atmos-enabled speakers and surround receivers. But what about that third wave, the one nobody's discussing? That's the quiet incorporation of another totally new technology into the Atmos technology bundle. I'm talking about Dolby Surround.

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Headphone Reviews
V-Moda XS Headphone
Steve Guttenberg  |  Nov 06, 2014

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $199

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Wowie-zowie style
Nearly indestructible
High-impact sound
Minus
Over-40 crowd might feel awkward wearing something as hip as the XS

THE VERDICT
With the XS, V-Moda somehow made a bassy headphone even an audiophile could love.

Val Kolton started V-Moda ten years ago, but I didn’t meet the man until 2011. I thought he was their sales guy; he definitely didn’t look like an owner of an audio company, at least not like any I’ve met before. He’s a young, skinny, rock-star type, decked out in black leather and long, jet-black hair. Get him started, and Kolton will talk a mile a minute about music and headphones, but then again, so do I.

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SmartStream
First Look at CBS All Access and CBSN Live Streaming News Channel
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 06, 2014
CBS is offering a stand-alone streaming service for network TV programming and launching a 24/7 streaming live news service. Here are the details and a first look at how the streaming website and apps work.
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Audio Video News
Elite Offers Two Versions of Motorized Screen
SV Staff  |  Nov 06, 2014
Elite Screens has announced that that its Saker motorized projection screen is now available in two versions: with side tension cords or with a fiberglass backing, both designed to provide a flat projection surface.
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Ask S&V
Should I Put a Bias Light Behind My Flat Panel TV?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 06, 2014
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Is there any benefit to using a bias light behind a flat-panel HDTV? —Mike Hassold

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Under the Skin
David Vaughn  |  Nov 05, 2014
Picture
Sound
Extras
An alien being comes to Earth and assumes the form of a gorgeous and seductive young woman and proceeds to drive around Scotland in a cargo van trying to lure unsuspecting male victims back to her lair. Once there, she begins to strip onto an inky-black floor walking backwards into the room. Hypnotized by her beauty, the men strip as they slowly sink into a black pool of death so their bodies can be harvested for some unexplained nefarious purpose. As the film progresses, our alien vixen begins to change and wants to explore what being human is about and is introduced to an Earthly phenomenon known as karma.
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Audio Video News
RIP: Crestron Founder George Feldstein
SV Staff  |  Nov 05, 2014
George Feldstein, chairman and founder of home automation powerhouse Crestron, has died. He was 73.
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The Connected Life
Easy Does It: Home Automation For All
John Sciacca  |  Nov 05, 2014
The biggest annual event on a custom installer’s calendar is the CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) Expo, which took place September in Denver. This year’s Expo was brimming with new technology, namely the overwhelming rollout of Dolby Atmos, a new surround format that I discussed in my previous column, along with several other exciting introductions like a new laser-powered projector from Epson and several very cool new wireless music system such as Denon’s HEOS and DTS’s Play-Fi.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Sabotage
Anthony Chiarella  |  Nov 04, 2014
Picture
Sound
Extras
Legendary DEA agent John “Breacher” Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his task force infiltrate a drug cartel and confiscate $10 million, which immediately disappears. Caught between suspicious Feds and vengeful drug lords, members of Arnold’s team start turning up dead…but who’s killing them? Schwarzenegger excels as both hero and anti-hero in one of the most complex and demanding roles of his career. David Ayer’s directorial style—war correspondent realism with a Michael Mann vibe—is highly flattering to both stars and subject matter.
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