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Audio Video News
Is a 4K Apple TV Just Around the Corner?
SV Staff  |  Feb 24, 2017
Apple is testing a fifth-generation Apple TV capable of streaming in 4K/Ultra HD (UHD), according to a recent BloombergTechnology report. The news comes weeks after Apple hired away the executive who had been running Amazon’s Fire TV division.
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Audio Video News
LG Announces 2017 OLED/Super UHD TV Pricing
SV Staff  |  Feb 23, 2017
LG today announced pricing and availability for many of the OLED and Super UHD TVs unveiled at CES in January.
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Headphone Reviews
HiFiMan Edition S Headphones
Steve Guttenberg  |  Feb 23, 2017
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $249

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Open- or closed-back design
Lightweight
Super easy to drive
Minus
A tad bright on some recordings

THE VERDICT
With its open- or closed-back design, the Edition S provides unusual flexibility at affordable cost.

HiFiMan is a hard one to pin down. True, they’re best known for their high-end, advanced-technology planar-magnetic headphones like the $2,999 HE1000 I reviewed in the November, 2015 issue of Sound & Vision. Most HiFiMan headphones are planar designs, but this new one, Edition S, is a more conventional dynamic headphone, albeit one with a rather unusual feature: It’s an open- or closed-back design. Say what? Let me explain.

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Ask S&V
Should I Do Speaker Setup in My Player or Receiver?
Al Griffin  |  Feb 23, 2017
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Both of my universal disc players allow me to adjust for speaker size and distance in the audio setup menu. The receivers I’m using them with provide the same functionality, but one has manual setup (Arcam Diva AVR-350) and the other has Audyssey auto setup (Marantz SR7010). Which component should I use in each system to configure speaker size and distance: the player or the receiver? —Jan Nieuweboer / via email

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SmartStream
Alexa Finds More Ways to Say 'Your Wish Is My Command'
Barb Gonzalez  |  Feb 23, 2017
Voice control is getting smarter and smarter every day and Alexa is leading the way.
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The S&V Interview
Simon Kirke’s Sonics Are in Good Company on New Solo Album
 |  Feb 22, 2017
“Give the drummer some” is a phrase you hear a lot in this business of ours, and it often refers to shining the spotlight on a band’s timekeeper during a specific drum break or extended solo section. In the case of Free and Bad Company founding drummer Simon Kirke, however, it’s time to give the man different kind of spotlight as steps out on his third solo album, All Because of You (BMG/The End). Kirke and I sat down in an open-air lounge to discuss the making of You, how music can connect you with your kids, streaming, and loving Ringo. The sun and moon are definitely shinin’ on this skinsman.
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Integrated Amp Reviews
Elac Element EA101EQ-G Integrated Amplifier/DAC Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Feb 22, 2017

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $699

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Good power in compact form
Outstanding app-enabled subwoofer auto-setup
Onboard 192/24 USB DAC
Minus
No line outputs for external amp
Small display

THE VERDICT
Elac’s Element EA101EQ-G amp/DAC nails the sweet spot of price, performance, and worthwhile features with surprisingly audiophile sound and the added value of auto-EQ and app-enabled subwoofer crossover/blending.

It’s an amplifier. It’s a USB DAC. It’s a room/subwoofer equalizer. It’s a headphone amp. It’s an app-enabled Bluetooth receiver. It’s all of these, and it’s only $699—and it’s from the revived German brand Elac, whose latest Andrew Jones–designed loudspeakers have won acclaim in these pages and elsewhere. Ultimately, Elac’s Element EA101EQ-G may be best characterized as what the stereo receiver is morphing into for the 21st century.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Bryston Unveils ‘Lightning Fast’ Digital Music Player
SV Staff  |  Feb 22, 2017
Bryston today announced a digital music player/entertainment hub that supports “virtually all” digital file formats and resolutions including DSD 128 and high-resolution PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz.
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Audio Video News
LG Smart TV Platform Certified for Cybersecurity
SV Staff  |  Feb 22, 2017
LG’s webOS has become the first smart TV platform to be cybersecurity-certified by UL, the independent safety testing company.
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A/V Veteran
Evaluating High Frame Rates: Billy Lynn's 60fps Walk
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 21, 2017
Before the era of sound movies the frame rates for silent films varied considerably due to the hand-cranked cameras of the time. When picture and sound became the future of movies in the late 1920s, however, the industry settled on 24Hz (24 frames per second) for both production and display standards. But 24fps alone would have produced significant jitter. For acceptably smooth motion, each film frame was flashed on the screen twice, using a two-bladed shutter in the projector (or, more rarely, three times with a triple blade shutter). This rate was also chosen, rather than an even higher one, to keep film costs manageable.

Even though the digital bits that now convey our films from the studio to the screen are far cheaper than celluloid, 24fps still dominates the films we see in both the multiplex and at home. But occasional efforts have tried to break the mold...

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