GRACE NOTES

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Grace Notes
Step Aside, David Guetta: Hands On with Braven's Fuse Pocket Mixer
Leslie Shapiro  |  Mar 16, 2015
It’s Saturday night! And you know what that means! Once again, you can be the life of the party, creating killer mashups from your killer playlist. The problem, of course, is Ted, who delusionally thinks his killer mashups are more killer than yours. But now you can resolve that issue once and for all. You can whip out your Braven Fuse portable mixer and show him who’s da bomb.

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Grace Notes
Steve Jobs: Fallen Giant
Leslie Shapiro  |  Oct 06, 2011

The death of Steve Jobs was covered by the media in a manner usually reserved for heads of state. But, the truth is that he probably affected your life more deeply than most presidents or prime ministers. If you use Apple products, you hold the contours, colors, buttons, and menus that Mr. Jobs personally obsessed over and approved.

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Grace Notes
Super Bowl Madness XLVI
Leslie Shapiro  |  Feb 02, 2012

Super Bowl Sunday, in many people's minds, is a national holiday. And, as with any holiday in this country, that means sales. Big sales.  Now, while you might think instantly that we're gonna talk about TV sales, let's hold off on that for a minute.

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Grace Notes
Surf’s Up: Hercules WAE Outdoor Rush Bluetooth Speaker Review
Leslie Shapiro  |  Apr 04, 2016
Summer’s almost here and the time is right for dancing in the streets. Yup. I went there. While there are plenty of great-sounding Bluetooth speakers, sometimes you need one that you can really take anywhere and subject it to rigors you wouldn’t dream of with other speakers. The Hercules WAE Outdoor Rush ($129) is a water-proof, dust-proof speaker that is so rugged it will even float. Best part—it also has a built-in FM tuner. Bring on the beach party!

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Grace Notes
Tempow Makes Any Smartphone Smarter with Multi-Device Bluetooth Software
Leslie Shapiro  |  Oct 09, 2017
Ah, the freedom and flexibility of wireless Bluetooth speakers. Some companies let you connect several of their speakers together to create a whole-home solution. However, one company has developed a way to potentially connect any and all Bluetooth speakers together, speakers from any company, as well as Bluetooth headphones. Your jogging group can all run to the beat of the same drum. Tempow, a French tech company is making this possible.

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Grace Notes
Test Drive: BMW 650i Gran Coupe with Bang & Olufsen Sound System
Leslie Shapiro  |  May 25, 2016
Deciding whether to spring for an expensive sound-system upgrade when shopping for a new car can be a frustrating experience when you have no idea what you’ll actually be getting for your hard-earned money. Looking at pictures of a speaker grille is hardly convincing when the price tag for an upgraded system can be upwards of $6000. How often do you get the opportunity to spend literally hours in a potential car listening to and evaluating the sound system before you order your build? Recently, I did just that in the 2016 BMW 650i xDrive Gran Coupe with the upgraded Bang & Olufsen sound system. Here's what I heard.

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Grace Notes
The Apple HomePod: The Coup D'état to Home Stereo
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jun 19, 2017
Last week Apple released its own Siri-powered speaker, the voice-assisted HomePod. It’s Apple’s attempt to muscle its way into a market already dominated by Amazon’s Echo with Alexa, and the Google Home. The HomePod is touted as an audiophile-grade speaker with excellent performance. Sound quality? Really? Let’s do a quick reality check on this.

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Grace Notes
The Day the Music (in Atlanta) Died
Leslie Shapiro  |  Oct 09, 2012

For fans of good adult alternative rock in the Atlanta market, September 29th was a very sad day. Somewhat ironically for 9/29, 92.9 DaveFM ceased live broadcasts. For the next few weeks, it will be on autopilot as CBS gets ready to transition it to all-sports-talk radio.

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Grace Notes
The Hobbit: An Unexpectedly High Frame Rate
Leslie Shapiro  |  Dec 03, 2012

Audiences around the world are already purchasing tickets for the premiere of Peter Jackson’s vision of the predecessor to J.R.R. Tolkien’ the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In a departure from the single-volume original, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will also be a trilogy, but perhaps more noteworthy is Jackson’s decision to shoot these films in 48 fps HFR (High Frame Rate) 3D. Specifically, Jackson is using high-resolution RED Epic cameras running at 48 frames per second with 5120-by-2700-pixel resolution. While Peter Jackson defends the format, critics worry that that instead of being a cinematic visual treat, the films will have the familiar look of a TV soap opera.

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Grace Notes
The Last Blockbuster
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jul 16, 2018
And then there was one. Once as ubiquitous as McDonalds, with seemingly one on every block, the once-mighty Blockbuster has been reduced to a solitary store. Our heart goes out to the millions of high-school kids who lost their jobs. If only we had done as they asked, and rewound our tapes.

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Grace Notes
The Last Concert Hall
Leslie Shapiro  |  Sep 25, 2017
Picture your dream living room. We close our eyes and listen to the subtle nuances of our favorite recording. Luxurious speakers line the walls, a subwoofer discretely positioned in the sonically perfect corner. There’s nothing better than leaning back in a comfortable chair, spending hours listening to music. But the sad reality is that we don’t.

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Grace Notes
The Pyle BlueReach PBTR70 Bluetooth Adapter
Leslie Shapiro  |  May 09, 2013

Dust off your recently-obsoleted 30-pin Apple docks – Pyle Audio has come to the rescue. Just when you thought you were reduced to connecting to your collection of Apple-ready speaker docks by a lowly audio cable, Pyle has released the BlueReach PBTR70, an adapter plugs into any 30-pin speaker dock to receive Bluetooth from any Bluetooth-enabled audio device.

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Grace Notes
The Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ Takes Aim at the Audiophile Market
Leslie Shapiro  |  Aug 28, 2017
It seems clear that phones have become the end-all/be-all product for most people. It’s a phone, computer, GPS, camera and music player — an essential part of everyday life. However, one group remained somewhat disconnected, until, perhaps, now. The new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ both have features that many serious music listeners are getting excited about.

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Grace Notes
The Sennheisers: Shaping the Future
Leslie Shapiro  |  Dec 12, 2016
Amid the glitz and glamour of the 2016 Art Basel show in Miami, Florida, Sennheiser, the historic headphone and microphone manufacturer was showcasing for the glitterati in attendance a display of their AMBEO technology with a concert recording utilizing over 120 microphones in a 3D array played back over a 9.1 system featuring Neumann speakers. They were also auditioning the stunning $55,000 HE 1 headphone and amplifier, with a solid Carrerra marble chassis and vacuum tubes that dramatically rise up out of the unit as they warm up. Sound & Vision sat down with the delightful co-CEO’s of Sennheiser, Daniel and Andreas Sennheiser to talk about where they see the company founded by their grandfather 75 years ago heading into the future.

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Grace Notes
The Sounds of Silence
Leslie Shapiro  |  Feb 16, 2015
I was recently working in an anechoic chamber for a few days and the ambience in there (actually, the lack of any) really got me thinking about ambient sounds. Anechoic chambers aren't just silent—it's the absence of any return energy that makes them so unnatural, and after a few hours, downright uncomfortable. You become aware of sounds your own body makes, especially your heart beat in your ears. It’s such an unusual space because it doesn’t really occur in the natural world. Standing on the sandy plain of a desert comes close, but even there, one would hear the movement of air over the ground, and distant ambience. A true anechoic experience almost never happens in our daily lives.

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