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Audio Video NewsNew Products
McIntosh Product Flow Continues with SACD Transport
SV Staff  |  Feb 27, 2018
McIntosh is on a roll with new products. The latest is aimed at audiophiles who prefer their hi-res audio in physical form.
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Signals
Why Is Tesla Killing AM Radio?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 27, 2018
You just bought a Tesla. Congratulations! You, my friend, are driving the wave of the future. While everyone else is burning dinosaur droppings, you are propelled ever onward by the magical energy of the sun and the wind. Gaia, the primal Mother Earth Goddess, loves you.
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Premiere Design
Jukebox Hero: Sgt. Pepper's Limited-Edition Vinyl 45
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 26, 2018
Sound Leisure made headlines in 2016 when it introduced the ’50s-inspired Vinyl Rocket Jukebox, its first 45-rpm-record-playing jukebox in 20 years and, at the time, the only new vinyl-playing jukebox in the world. Last year, the U.K.-based company—one of two remaining jukebox manufacturers, the other being jukebox pioneer Rock-Ola—partnered with Apple Corps to build an “analog dream machine” that would memorialize the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ 1967 masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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Audio Video News
Samsung Cuts OLED Production (for iPhones, not TVs)
SV Staff  |  Feb 26, 2018
Did you buy an iPhone X, Apple’s new end-all, be-all phone? We didn’t think so.
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Ask S&V
Can New TVs Display a Constant Aspect Ratio?
Al Griffin  |  Feb 26, 2018
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I’ve owned my Panasonic plasma TV for seven years but am now wondering about its life expectancy. Refresh rate, viewing angle, and, in particular, aspect ratio control are major concerns for my next TV. Can any of the latest TVs display a constant aspect ratio regardless of signal source? —Joe Nagy / via e-mail

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Audio Video News
THX Announces New Spatial Audio Platform
SV Staff  |  Feb 26, 2018
THX today announced a new end-to-end “positional audio solution” said to be flexible enough to support emerging immersive audio formats, open standards, and legacy content across mobile, PC, and consumer electronics devices.
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Audio Video News
Meet Tipron, the Robo-Projector
SV Staff  |  Feb 23, 2018
We’re now officially living in the future. That was our first thought when we heard about Tipron, the roving video projector. Roving, as in a small Star Wars-like robot that tools around the house on a perpetual entertainment mission.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Cars 3
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 23, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
In the original Cars, from 2006, hotshot racecar Lightning McQueen learned to be a gracious winner but a winner nonetheless. In Cars 2, Pixar learned that they could produce a less than sparkling sequel. Now, in Cars 3, the second Disney-Pixar property to produce a threequel (after Toy Story 3), McQueen is getting older, losing his edge, and suffering both losses and trash talk from newer, sleeker, faster racers. But he goes back into training, gets up to speed (so to speak), and is on the verge of motoring back to the top when….OK, you don’t expect spoilers, do you?
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Hitman's Bodyguard
David Vaughn  |  Feb 23, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
Being a bodyguard is a tough business, but Michael Bryce was at one time considered the best, earning him the distinction of being a triple-A executive protection agent. Unfortunately, if you lose a client, your life will take a turn for the worse, which is exactly what happened to Bryce when he wasn’t able to successfully protect a distinguished Japanese client. Two years have gone by, and in order to make a living, he’s resorted to protecting second-class clients—like lawyers.
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Portable Player Reviews
Astell & Kern KANN Music Player Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 22, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Normal or high-gain output
Full and microSD card slots
Native 384/32 PCM and DSD support
Minus
Bulky
Not as pretty as some other A&K players
USB charger not included

THE VERDICT
Astell & Kern’s KANN is not only a subtly gorgeous-sounding performer loaded with features. It’s also a great value.

Astell & Kern’s KANN (along with the recently announced AK70 MK II) makes its debut at a time when the dedicated music player is looking more and more like the passenger pigeon. Apple has just killed the innovative, shape-shifting iPod nano and the puny iPod shuffle, leaving only the now unprecedentedly cheap iPod touch, basically an iPhone without the phone, at $199. With Apple uncharacteristically catering to the middle of the market (let’s not even contemplate the $20 nano knockoffs on Amazon), that leaves the high-resolution musicplayer carriage trade to companies like Astell & Kern, FiiO, and HiFiMan, as well as newly hi-res-conscious big brands like Sony, Onkyo, and Pioneer.

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