LATEST ADDITIONS

A/V Veteran
Back to the Movies, Back to LA
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 21, 2016
On a recent visit back to Los Angeles I took in the 2016 Newport, California hi-fi-show, more properly known as T.H.E. (The Home Entertainment) Show Newport (though it’s now actually held in Irvine). You can read my observations on the show, along with those from other Stereophile contributors (I write occasional reports and reviews for Stereophile, though Sound & Vision is my main beat) at Stereophile.com. Like virtually all such events (of which there are several in the U.S. each year under various management), this was a show for 2-channel audiophiles. Count me among them, but no more so than for multichannel music, movies, video, and home theater.

The only show in the U.S. that features video as it relates to home theater is September’s CEDIA Expo...

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Audio Video News
DirecTV to Stream—Free!
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 21, 2016
AT&T-owned DirecTV is launching its own video streaming service. It will use both home and mobile broadband networks to reach smart TVs, tablets, phones, PCs, and streaming devices. Unlike DirecTV satellite service, it won’t require an annual contract, set-top box, or dish installation.
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Headphone Reviews
Tube Amps for Pocket Change
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 21, 2016
Ever browse Amazon late at night? Like, really late at night? Maybe you’re bored. Maybe you need a new pair of socks, and you go down a rabbit hole. Maybe you’ve downed a fifth of Crown Royal Maple whisky because it’s Tuesday in the middle of February and you’ve broken your leg in two places and the Vicodin is finally kicking in, and OMG, I need a vacuum-tube headphone amp! Just an example. Whatever.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Denon Announces $999 Receiver for X Series
SV Staff  |  Jun 21, 2016
Denon has announced plans to add a $999 4K-ready 7.2-channel model to its X Series lineup of AV receivers in July.
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Audio Video News
Emotiva Announces Updates for XMC-1 Processor
SV Staff  |  Jun 21, 2016
Franklin,TN-based Emotiva Audio has announced an HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2 upgrade for its flagship XMC-1 preamp/processor.
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Headphone ReviewsGrace Notes
Optoma NuForce BE6i Bluetooth Earphones
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jun 20, 2016
Every week a new pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones seem to appear on my doorstep. Usually, I have to take a long, hard look to find anything noteworthy to make one pair stand out from the others. The newly updated NuForce BE6i earphones feature aptX technology for better playback quality and that, my friends, is noteworthy enough.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
CE Veteran Tom DeVesto Launches Como Audio
SV Staff  |  Jun 20, 2016
Tom DeVesto, 40 year consumer electronics industry veteran and Hall of Famer who co-founded Cambridge SoundWorks with AV legend Henry Kloss in 1988 and started Tivoli Audio in 2000, has launched a new venture, Como Audio.
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Tech2
HTC Vive Review: Part 2, Games
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 17, 2016
In Part 1 I talked about setting up the HTC Vive VR headset. Here’s what it’s like to play.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Spectre
Chris Chiarella  |  Jun 17, 2016
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After an acclaimed reboot that successfully shed the sillier trappings of the long-running James Bond franchise, the creators of the recent Spectre have now curiously chosen to embrace the clunky clichés and cartoon villains not only of the 007 canon but seemingly every thriller of the past decade. Big Brother has arrived! It’s the death of privacy! “We must stop this doomful technology before it goes online, or it will be too late!” (Not an actual quote, but you get the idea.)
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
In the Heart of the Sea
David Vaughn  |  Jun 17, 2016
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Moby Dick is considered one of the great American novels. Most don’t know—I sure didn’t—that the book was based on the true events that took place in the winter of 1820 when the whaling ship Essex left the port of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and sailed around the tip of South America looking for prey. While in a South American port, they hear a tale of a mammoth whale that can be found in the Pacific, so they venture dangerously far from land and get a lot more than they bargained for when they find that said whale has a vengeance against humanity.
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