Q I am in the market for a new home theater receiver and have a dilemma. My wife is hearing impaired and has trouble hearing the TV sound. We have tried a few infrared wireless headphone solutions and have been very disappointed by the poor sound
quality. I am looking for a system that will allow me to hook up a separate set of
headphones to run simultaneously with the TV sound. Is this possible? —John Bott / via e-mail
Q I am in the market for a new home theater receiver and have a dilemma. My wife is hearing impaired and has trouble hearing the TV sound. We have tried a few infrared wireless headphone solutions and have been very disappointed by the poor sound
quality. I am looking for a system that will allow me to hook up a separate set of
headphones to run simultaneously with the TV sound. Is this possible? —John Bott / via e-mail
Q If I use an Apple TV 4K with an AV receiver, is it possible to route the surround sound to headphones? I ask because I’m viewing using a computer monitor and the only way I can get sound is through headphones. —H.G. Fernand, via email
Q Do you know of a good solution for streaming audio from a Windows PC to B&W P7 wireless headphones using Bluetooth? Is there some kind of USB adapter? —Robert Prinz
Q I have tried streaming Amazon Music HD to my Marantz SR7015 receiver over Bluetooth from my iPad using the receiver’s HEOS app. The app shows resolutions all the way up to 24 bit/192kHz — something I didn’t think was possible with Bluetooth! Will I get the same resolutions if I make a hardwired connection from iPad to AVR using an AudioQuest DragonFly Red USB DAC? —Paul Giovino, via email
Q I’ve always been interested in streaming high-resolution audio through my Denon AVR-4300H receiver, but don’t know if that’s possible. Although I mainly listen to music on Spotify and Pandora, I tried Tidal and Amazon Music HD but couldn’t figure out how to stream the tracks in high resolution. What options do I have, if any? —Mark Levesque, via email
Q My LG V30 smartphone has a high-performance Quad-DAC audio system capable of decoding hi-res files encoded with MQA. I want to use the LG phone as a source to stream Masters-quality music from Tidal via Bluetooth (aptX HD) to my new NAD integrated amplifier. Will this work for MQA, or do I need an external digital-to-analog converter to “unfold” the MQA-encoded files? —Joel Johnson, via email
Q I'm looking for a way to play two-channel music via iTunes AirPlay streaming through my Pioneer SC-57 receiver while watching muted sports on my plasma TV, which doesn’t have ARC. All my HDMI sources currently go into the receiver, with a single HDMI output to the TV. Is there a way to set up a second zone on the SC-57? Some other simple solution that I'm missing? —Jason Karley / via email
Q I own a Roku streamer plus a Blu-ray player and TV with streaming apps. I'm also aware of websites for downloading "Hi-Res" audio to computers and portable players. Here’s my question: Which of these sources support surround sound music?
If you put together the thousands of SACD releases, plus releases on the DVD-Audio and Blu-Ray Audio formats, you’d think somebody should be offering streaming surround by now. I sent a question to Roku support and the answer I got was that basically "all"
Roku apps support surround sound. But that sounds like a“technical capability” answer; I haven't found any content yet. —Wayne Erfling
Q For years, I used iTunes to rip my CDs in the Apple Lossless Audio Compression (ALAC) format and load them onto a 160-gigabyte iPod classic. Now that iPods are no more, I would like to switch to one of the new hi-res-capable portable players but want to avoid having to rip all of my CDs again. Do any of the new players support ALAC so I can continue using iTunes? Also, is there some way to use iTunes to load files from my computer to a new portable player? —Mark Hoornstra / Maryland
Q I'm slow to bite on buying an Ultra HDTV because I’m waiting to see which high dynamic range format will stick. If I buy an HDR10-only set and Dolby Vision wins, can support for that format be added through a future software update? —Ray Blackburn
Q Would audio upmixing solutions like Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro Logic IIz be able to convert stereo sound for a 5.1.2 speaker setup? —Osama Ashoor, via email
Q I’ve been bouncing around the idea of upgrading my current gear and going digital because my wife and I want the convenience of being able to cue up any piece of music using our iPhones.
Q I own a Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi receiver that I’m using in a bedroom system because it lacks HDMI connections. My plan is to upgrade the Onkyo receiver in my theater room with a Marantz pre-pro plus a power amp. Here’s my question: Could I use the Pioneer receiver purely as a power amp connected to the Marantz pre-pro? —Rick Jennings, Hollister, CA
Q I’m shopping for an outdoor speaker to use on my back patio and was leaning toward Sonos. Here are my questions: Can I stream audio to Sonos speakers via Bluetooth from my iPhone? Also, are Sonos speakers able to both play tracks from my computer’s iTunes library and stream them from Apple Music? —Jim Flynn