The writing may be on the wall for the CD and for physical media in general; but we're still seeing interesting disc players emerge as we enter the format's end times (of course, we could be totally wrong about that; vinyl certainly hasn't gone away, and nor has innovation in the turntable arena). But simple CD-playback devices may be a thing of the past.
As we've been saying for a while now, 7.1's coming of age - and, with increasing frequency and utility, it's coming to home theaters.
With a growing list of releases taking advantage of those extra channels, why not take a chance with us and get yourself a copy of Puss in Boots on Blu-ray.
If you're a Boxee Box owner, you probably noticed the revamped and streamlined main menu in the latest iteration of the OS, Boxee 1.5. The company's new USB stick goes that one better, adding live TV to the do-it-all streamer's ever-expanding repertoire.
When Sound+Vision looked at Klipsch's LightSpeakers in the summer of 2010, we'd hardly have guessed such devices were more than novelties. Looks like we were wrong.
British firm Monitor Audio has introduced the new CWT series - a line of in-wall and ceiling speakers featuring not just an audiophile pedigree, but a low-profile grille design perfect for stealthy custom installations.
It seems that every few weeks Onkyo rolls out another round of upgrades and apps for their AVR line, but today the company announced four new receivers for 2012: two 5.1 models (the $299 TX-NR313 and $499 414), and two 7.2 models (the $599 TX-NR515 and $699 616).
Designed specifically as a companion to the M60 floorstanders we looked at a year ago, Axiom's new VP160 Center Channel is a 43-pound behemoth aimed at solidifying the reproduction of speech and anything else that might be in the center channel
Way back in July of last year, Rdio was the first of the streaming services to debut a native iPad app. Since then, they've continued to build their mobile offerings, and today they've debuted a completely revamped Android application, mirroring most of the functionality of their desktop and browser-based interfaces in a pocket-friendly package. And it'll even run under Ice Cream Sandwich.
It's pretty clear that TVs are going to keep getting thinner - the hot sets at CES this year were downright wraithlike, measuring mere millimeters in thickness (Bose has been bucking the trend with their Videowave, but that's another kettle of fish entirely). That doesn't leave much room for amps and speakers, so built-in audio can't help but suffer. Sure you can add a full system, but what if you're challenged for space in the first place, or looking to outfit a secondary viewing room? Audio Solutions has a new all-in-one wall mount and sound system that might fit your needs.
The months of online speculation have been resolved today with Shure's official announcement (at the 2012 NAMM show) of the SRH1440 ($399) and SRH1840 ($699) full-sized, over-the-ear, open-back headphones.