Rob Sabin

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Wireless Multiroom Speaker ReviewsDesktop Speaker ReviewsPortable Player Reviews
B&W Zeppelin Air iPod Music System
Rob Sabin  |  Oct 02, 2011
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $600 At A Glance: Excellent tonality • Good imaging • Cumbersome WiFi setup

I've never been a big fan of paying for brand names for their own sake. Build quality? Yes. Performance? Absolutely. Aesthetics? Sure. Ease of use? Certainly. Each of those has value, and it often makes sense to pay more, even a lot more, for any one of them. But sometimes, in the course of shopping for whatever, you encounter an entry from a well-respected or even elite brand that at first glance seems so outlandishly priced you have stop and wonder: what am I really paying for here?

Suffice to say that was me when Bowers & Wilkins first suggested I take a little ride with the Zeppelin Air, the company's $600 iPod dock...

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Editor's Eye
Been Throttled?
Rob Sabin  |  Aug 25, 2011
Have you been throttled lately? If you have, Home Theater wants to hear about it.

Okay, I'll explain.

In this brave new world where streaming media from the likes of Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu have virtually eliminated video rental stores and threaten to carry away our beloved reference-qualty Blu-rays on a river of rushing bits, the notion of "internet access" takes on new meaning. The capacity of the data pipeline running into our homes affects both the quality and quantity of the video content we can download, not to mention our ability to upload, store, and share our personal media in the Cloud.

And on this front, I'm afraid all is not well in Streamville...

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Editor's Eye
Behind The Scenes at the Grammys
Rob Sabin  |  Feb 10, 2013
Thanks to a kind invitation from The Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing, I was lucky enough this week to get a backstage tour of the Staples Center in Los Angeles just as rehearsals for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were getting underway. This was Thursday afternoon around 2pm, a little more than three days before tonight’s broadcast of what’s become known as “Music’s Biggest Night.”

It was quite the scene over there and the energy level was already pretty high...

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Other Tech
Blu-ray to Debut May 23
Rob Sabin  |  Mar 06, 2006

March 6 - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) now says it will release its first Blu-ray high-definition discs on May 23 - the same day the first Blu-ray player goes on sale.

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CEDIA 2016
Bluesound Soundbar Offers Hi-Res TV Solution
Rob Sabin  |  Sep 16, 2016
Bluesound, the hi-res compliant multiroom audio platform from Lenbrook, the makers of NAD audio electronics and PSB speakers, has added a critical new product at CEDIA in its first soundbar. Priced at $999 and available later this month, the Pulse Soundbar is designed for screens 42-inches or larger, and offers up a number of features that should please audiophiles who want to start building a Bluesound system or extend an existing system into the TV room.

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Audio Video News
Bluesound Unveils $299 Hi-Res Multiroom Speaker
Rob Sabin  |  Aug 26, 2015
Bluesound, the high-performance, hi-res audio-centric multiroom audio system, introduced its Gen 2 model line in New York this week and included something budget-minded audiophiles can rally around: a $299 standalone speaker designed by PSB celebrity speaker designer Paul Barton.
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Other Tech
Bose QuietComfort 3 Noise-Canceling Headphones
Rob Sabin  |  Oct 04, 2006

Noise-canceling headphones - once a luxury reserved for hard-core business travelers living on jets - have gone mainstream. Though fancy models still cost north of $200, today you'll find name-brand phones for as little as $50. That's clearly within reach of iPod-toting everyday Joes.

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Soundbar Reviews
Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3 Atmos Soundbar Review
Rob Sabin  |  Jun 23, 2022

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Audiophile sound for music and movies
Atmos height effects
Good bass
Integrated high-res music streaming
Minus
No expandability for surrounds or sub
No voice-boost or height-channel adjustments

THE VERDICT
B&W's Atmos-enabled Panorama 3 delivers audiophile-quality music and excellent movie sound without a subwoofer or surround speakers.

Bowers & Wilkins has developed a solid name in the soundbar category for premium products that reflect the brand's longstanding philosophy of putting respect for the music above all else. This doesn't mean their soundbars don't make sonic compromises, only that those compromises tend to be more careful and measured than we see elsewhere. As B&W's first soundbar to offer Dolby Atmos playback and its least expensive soundbar to date at $999, the Panorama 3 is a perfect example of this philosophy.

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Smart Speaker Reviews
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Wireless Smart Speaker Review
Rob Sabin  |  Mar 30, 2022

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $799

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Impressive Imaging
Excellent timbre
Well-controlled dynamics
Alexa voice-control
Minus
Limited bass output
No wired inputs

THE VERDICT
The Zeppelin remains expensive as always, but the new 4th generation still delivers uncanny imaging and superb timbre from a small desktop speaker design.

The loudspeaker landscape is dotted with so-called classics. Legends like the Klipschorn, the Quad ESL, and the JBL L100 have remained in production for decades or enjoyed successful reboots not just because they appeal to our nostalgia, but because they remain bonafide audiophile-grade products.

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CEDIA 2011
Bryston HDMI Processor Debuts at CEDIA
Rob Sabin  |  Sep 11, 2011  |  Published: Sep 12, 2011
Canadian audio manufacturer Bryston Ltd. was showing off its soon to be released SP3 surround processor at CEDIA 2011. Taking a purist approach, there's no video processing to potentially muck up the audio signal, but the unit provides convenient HDMI v1.4 video pass through from each of seven HDMI inputs, and should a higher HDMI version ever be required, modular construction insures that a factory upgrade can do the trick. The prototype on display was a 7.1-channel model that decodes all the latest Blu-ray codecs and steers the audio to either balanced or RCA outputs. There's also a pair of AES/EBU inputs and a USB input along with the usual mix of analog and digital stereo inputs. Bryston sales VP James Tanner said the SP3 uses all discreet Class A circuitry in its analog stages for optimal sound quality, and great care was taken in the circuit topology to keep incoming video signals away from the audio, including dedicated power supplies for the video and audio circuits with no shared common grounds. Price is expected to be $9,500 when the SP3 ships at the end of September.

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