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Mark Levinson on Daniel Hertz: One More Time
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 18, 2012

The name Mark Levinson is familiar even to those who couldn’t care less about audio. It’s been mentioned in numerous Lexus commercials, because Mark Levinson audio systems are an option in the higher-end models. Audio enthusiasts know Levinson as the founder of the company that still bears his name, and that 40 years later still makes some of world’s finest audio electronics, although under different ownership.

Levinson has been a prominent figure in the audio biz since 1972, but he’s been fairly low-key for the last 10 years. Now he’s coming back with what he says will be his last audio company and his last audio system. A couple of weeks ago, I got to be one of the first in the U.S. to give it a lengthy audition.

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Max Richter's Sleep: Not Meant to be Enjoyed While Awake
Lauren Dragan  |  Sep 04, 2015
Sleep. On average, we spend a third of our day asleep. It’s a large portion of our lives, and one that British composer Max Richter wants to consider. In addition to several albums, Richter has composed for movies, television, and now for an audience that is (he hopes, anyway) asleep. Richter’s most recent project, the recording of which is available today, is eight hours long, and composed specifically for a listener who is in a somnambulant state. And later this month, Sleep will become the longest single continuous piece of music ever broadcast live on the BBC.
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Meet Master and Dynamic's MH40, High End Headphones with Styling to Match
Lauren Dragan  |  Jun 13, 2014
Master and Dynamic are relatively new in the headphone community, but they sure know how to leave a memorable first impression. Due out later this month, the MH40 are retro-modern without trying too hard; that effortless kind of organic cool that you know probably took countless hours to design, but look as easy and sexy as bed head on a rock star. The chassis is crafted of durable goods: forged aluminum with stainless steel accents, and the headband and earcups have calfskin leather on the outside, lambskin on the inside. (Sorry, fellow vegans… maybe one day they’ll make a protein leather version just for us.) So, after a good lovesick sigh over the design came the moment of truth: was the beauty skin deep?
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Microsoft Surface: to iPad or not to iPad, that is the Question
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 22, 2012

To a surprising amount of excitement, Microsoft announced the a pair of new tablets this week. Web reactions to the new Surface — as you’d expect — were split down party lines: “It’s not an iPad! It’s stupid!” and “It’s not an iPad! It’s the second coming!”

Reality, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. It’s possible the Surface is a worthy iPad competitor something that, so far, we have not seen.

It all comes down to one, seemingly simple, thing...

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Mo-Fi Review: The Quirky and Wonderful First-Ever Headphones from Blue
Lauren Dragan  |  Aug 29, 2014
Blue may be the last major microphone company to take the plunge into the headphone business, but they’ll tell you this was a conscious choice. Known for solid mic products with funky designs, Blue says they didn’t want to release just standard-issue headphones. One glance at the design of Mo-Fi, and you’ll see that in the quest for individuality they succeeded. Mo-Fi are simultaneously retro and modern looking with a unique hinged headband and adjustable tension knob. They also feature a built-in 240mW amp that the folks at Blue say is specifically matched to the drivers. For folks like me, who just can’t bear the idea of having to carry around one more thing, not needing a separate headphone amp is a welcome addition. Sounds great on paper. But how successful are Mo-Fi in practice?
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Movie Price Determined by Screen Size?
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 27, 2014
Instead of paying for a movie based on its resolution or picture quality, how would you like to pay based on your screen size?

This is what Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg wants you to do.

Of all the bone headed…

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Movie Review: Godzilla
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 11, 2014
GODZILLA!!!! I’m going to admit something here: I’ve never seen a Godzilla movie. Not all the way through. My knowledge (or lack thereof) has only ever existed as what I absorbed through the zeitgeist.

The pieces I saw of the most recent American incarnation seemed right terrible, and best avoided. How dare you do that to Jean Reno. He was Leon FFS.

But the trailer for this one looked really cool, and a friend who is into Godzilla seemed excited. Lucky me, then, I got invited to the premiere.

Don’t worry, no spoilers, I promise.

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My Favorite Games of All Time
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 15, 2012

A few days ago, via Twitter, S+V EiC Mike Mettler posed a question on behalf of his nephew (allegedly) asking what was my favorite game of all time. I couldn’t pick just one, so I rattled off a few of my favorites.

But the creation of that short list got me thinking: Why were these games my favorites? What about them has stood the test of time (in my mind) over countless other titles over the years?

In other words, what makes a great game immortal?

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NERVANA Headphones: "I'm gonna get you high today, 'cause it's Friday."
Lauren Dragan  |  Mar 11, 2016
After CES, about a dozen people forwarded me some version of this story concerning a pair of headphones that claim to make you feel psychologically and physically better just by listening to them. Okay, technically, most of the articles stated the headphones “get you high,” but that’s more or less the same concept. Needless to say, I was initially convinced that Lirpa Labs was somehow involved.
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Netflix: Dumb as a Rock?
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Sep 20, 2011

Netflix announced this week that they were splitting their business, DVD/BD rentals on one side, streaming on the other. 

By all accounts, this seems like a perfectly crafted way to auger the company into the ground. Everyone hates it, customers are fleeing, there's no way it can work.

But. . . what if that's the point?

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New Epson 2030 and 730HD Projectors
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Aug 28, 2013

We’ve reviewed a bunch of Epson projectors over the past year or so. The 5020, for example, was an excellent projector. Lots of light output, decent contrast ratio.

The 750HD, on the other hand, offered ridiculous light output (and a not-so-great contrast ratio).

Two new models, just announced, aim to fill some gaps in the sub-$1,000 price range.

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New Format News: Dolby TrueHD with Advanced 96K Upsampling
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 17, 2012

Announced today, Dolby has added a new trick to their TrueHD encoding. It allows studios and authoring houses a way to upconvert standard 48 kHz content (the sampling rate of most movies) to 96 kHz for Blu-ray.

At an event at Dolby headquarters in San Francisco, I got a chance to hear the results. Interestingly, it was quite... interesting.

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News from NAMM: Custom Headphones Minus the Goo
Lauren Dragan  |  Jan 24, 2015
In-ear headphone fans rejoice: the custom monitor is now available without the goo. This week at the NAMM show in Anaheim, Ultimate Ears showed off its partnership with United Sciences, which has come up with a way to use a laser 3D scanner to take a virtual “impression” of your ear canal. It’s all very sci-fi, and could change the entire face of headphones as we know it. How does it work?
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No Add App Takes Art Literally Underground
Lauren Dragan  |  Sep 25, 2014
After attending the phenomenal David Bowie exhibit at the Chicago MCA last week, I’m finding myself acutely aware of how much I miss regular access to art. As a college student studying music, and even as a high schooler fortunate enough to attend fantastic humanities classes, every day had some form of exposure to artistic endeavors. But once out of school, if we want to experience art, we have to seek it out. While we have plenty of access to media, one could argue that art is a bit tougher to come by. Of course, there are galleries to visit, which is wonderful and needs to be preserved, but unlike school, art no longer comes to you. A few artists have come together to try to change all that. They took two things New Yorkers have encounters with daily: technology and advertisements, and created an innovative augmented reality art space...the NY subway station.
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No More Rabbit Ears: The Leaf Antenna by Mohu
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Nov 18, 2011

 

I'll be honest, I can think of few things less sexy to review than an antenna. This isn't because they're not useful, it's just without a lot of specialized equipment, there isn't much I can say about them.

I live in The Valley, with a direct line of sight to the HDTV transmitters that cover all of Los Angeles. On the clear day each year, I can see Mt. Wilson from my front door. TV reception is so good, I could stick my finger in a TV's antenna input and my dome could probably pull in a signal. Picture that for a second.

But The Leaf by Mohu is actually kinda cool, and looks very different from any antenna I've seen.

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