Innehållsförteckning för July - August 2015 från Sound & Vision

Sound & Vision has traditionally dedicated one of its summer issues to gear you can enjoy outdoors or on the road. In the old days, back when the magazine was still Stereo Review, that might have meant a review of a portable CD player or, going back further, even a classic Sony Walkman cassette player. It might even have included a test report for a car head unit. Maybe they’d try out a pair of premium headphones, but probably not—in those days, “good” headphones meant big, heavy cans that were at home in a living room (something like the Koss Pro 4A) rather than something lightweight, compact, and easily driven by a handheld music player. There was no discussion of portable movie watching in these pages; not only did the…

TiVo’s Network Comedy Collection is a new DVR feature that “curates” and automatically records comedy programming from CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox. It may prove especially useful to users of the Roamio broadcast tuner-based DVR, though it works with any TiVo model... HBO Now, the new $15/month streaming service, has launched with the season five premiere of Game of Thrones. Cable operators have been responding by offering their version of HBO at reduced prices or bundled with other products... Xbox One’s First News App is ABC News. It offers up to five streams with morning, evening, and weekend editions... Hulu’s Got CSI, the first such deal for the 15-season CBS series. The first 14 seasons are now available for streaming... Local NBC Stations are now available on the network’s TV…

PRICE $150 KOSS WAS FOUNDED IN 1958, SO it’s as old-school American hi-fias you can get, and I’d bet lots of older audiophiles have fond memories of their Pro4AA headphones from back in the day. Koss still makes that headphone, and sound-wise, it’s about as subtle as a 1970 Chevelle SS 396 muscle car. As for this new Pro4S, it’s closer to a new Camaro—the sound is far more refined. The sharply sculpted, cast-aluminum ear cups are the first clues; the handsome design has a contemporary look and feel. The sound balance was just a tad warm, but the Pro4S wasn’t lacking in resolution as I played familiar tunes. The sound was right on the money. Not only did my audiophile tracks from Reference Recordings, MA Recordings, and Chesky sound open…

PRICE $399 I WAS IN FOR A BIG SURPRISE when I opened the Ultimate Ears UE900s box. The headphone not only comes with a generous selection of sizes and types of ear tips, UE’s color-coded, systematic fitting process makes it easier than ever to achieve the perfect ft. This ensures maximum isolation from external noise and the full bass potential of the UE900s. Instead of a plastic bag with a jumble of tips, the top layer of the UE900s box has nine pair of silicone and Comply ear tips neatly displayed with the size in millimeters clearly indicated, and each tip is mounted on a plastic fitting handle that makes it easy to quickly insert and remove a succession of tips from your ears. These tips are provided to aid in…

Comcast’s NBCUniversal is preparing to build a video streaming service around its prestigious comedy franchises, including Saturday Night Live and Te Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Yes, you’ll still be able to watch the shows for free via antenna or basic cable—but those media are waning while streaming gains strength, and the new service is expected to attract cord-cutters. Te more desirable shows may have a window of exclusivity on NBC’s streaming service before heading of to Google’s YouTube, which attracts millions of views with Tonight Show clips but hasn’t come to a revenue-sharing agreement with the network. Te service would cost $2.50 to $3 per month and would feature original programming as well as full episodes of existing shows.…

How does he do it? How does the eternal Beach Boy Brian Wilson keep composing all-new harmonically gorgeous and sonically seductive pocket symphonies (as he likes to call them), 50-plus years into his career? Te answer, he says, is quite simple: “I know in my head—in my brain—how to do it.” Wilson’s marvelous brain has dreamt up scores of timeless classics, such as the instantly hummable sing-alongs “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “California Girls,” and “Love and Mercy” (to name but a few), and he’s just added 16 more gems to his storied canon on the Deluxe Edition of his 11th solo album, No Pier Pressure (Capitol). Te angelic choral joy of “This Beautiful Day,” the pop confection perfection of “Saturday Night”—which features Wilson blissfully trading…

Many agree the secret sauce of Te Doors’ sound resided firmly in the hands of late keyboardist Ray Manzarek—especially his left one, which mainly handled the band’s lowend needs. “They were touched by a kind of magic at the beginning,” says Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman, “but what most impressed me was Ray Manzarek—the concept of piano bass instead of a bass player. He had such total and independent control, and I was totally enamored by him.” Agrees drummer John Densmore, “It’s about Ray’s lef hand being the bass player. Bass players and drummers are brothers cooking up the groove, and if Ray and I hadn’t felt the rhythm of Jim [Morrison]’s lyrics the same, Te Doors wouldn’t have happened. Here’s a guy who managed to split his brain into…

PRICE $149 THE AUDIOQUEST DRAGONFLY v1.2 is a second-generation revision of the original DragonFly, which made a big splash with a DAC design by the distinguished Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio. Improvements include a more direct analog signal path and a fortified power supply. AudioQuest says they are audible as smoother and more open sound with greater dynamic contrast. AudioQuest recommends 24 hours of break-in for best performance. The original sold for $249 and is now marked down to $99—an incredible bargain. The new one sells for $149. DragonFly’s enclosure is black matte plastic and flyweight in a shirt pocket. It has a headphone jack at one end and a USB A plug at the other, and it’s powered by the computer’s USB jack. The sole indicator (and most endearing trait)…

PRICE $1,000 THE PHA-3 IS ONE OF SEVERAL amp/DACs offered by Sony in the U.S. It’s the most expensive product here, as well as the only one with a balanced headphone output, a Toslink optical input, and a dedicated DSD indicator. In black aluminum, the look is utilitarian but thoughtful, with rounded sides and rubber runners on top and bottom—great for anchoring the unit on a desktop or protecting source components strapped on with supplied silicone belts. The pleasingly oversized volume knob and brightly brass-ringed headphone outputs (balanced and conventional) are protected in a recess on the front. In back are the inputs. There are two USB Micro-B jacks, one for charging, the other for sources including computers, Sony’s Walkman music players, and Sony’s Xperia smartphones (other non-iOS phones must go…

PRICE $2,499 TALAR DU SVENSKA? EMOTIVA does. Enough Swedish, at any rate, for the Tennessee tenderer of direct-to-consumer A/V gear to bake Swedish firm Dirac’s speaker/room-correction DSP into its new preamp/processor, the long-awaited XMC-1. If you’ll forgive a Miller analogy, Dirac is to Uppsala University as Audyssey is to USC: Dirac, too, evolved out of original academic electroacoustics research—although USC’s weather is beter, and I’m prety sure the Trojans could take the Swedes on the gridiron. Of Dirac’s several scalable DSP technologies for mobile, personal, and in-room audio playback, Dirac Live is the one inhabiting the XMC-1. Its conceptual architecture is quite similar to that of Audyssey’s MultEQ XT, with a couple of important distinctions. First, Dirac Live runs on an external computer to perform the initial number-crunching, ultimately downloading…

E-mail them to HTLetters@sorc.com. Please note: Questions about the features and functions of a particular product are best directed to the manufacturer. Questions about what product you should buy are best directed to a dealer who knows all the details of your system, your preferences, and your personal habits. All submissions are considered the exclusive property of Sound & Vision magazine and TEN: The Enthusiast Network. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity. Due to the volume of mail that we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to every letter. The Good Ol’ Days Before Hi-Res I am writing in regard to the part of your editorial about hi-res audio (Track One, May). It’s the first time I can remember in over 35 years that your magazine…

PRICE $350 THERE’S A MULTITUDE OF portable Bluetooth speakers on the market today. Every form of novelty is covered: They’re splash-proof, they have disco light displays, some literally dance. Standing out in a field of hundreds takes a little something extra that’s truly special. How novel is it, then, when a small Bluetooth speaker’s claim to fame is that it actually sounds fantastic? Enter the Riva Turbo X, a seven-driver, 45-watt (RMS) little dynamo that is smaller than a loaf of bread and yet easily fills a medium-sized living room with high-quality sound. The Turbo X’s array includes three 2.4-inch drivers and four flat-piston passive bass radiators (two each on the front and rear), which together are remarkable at reproducing crisp high frequencies, lush mids, and even deeper low-end frequencies than…

The Last and Greatest Frontier Many of the age-old audio problems have been solved, or at least beaten into submission. Ever since Edison recited “Mary had a little lamb,” countless audio engineers have poked and prodded, pulled all-nighters, made minor adjustments, had genius-caliber brainstorms, and generally worked far above their pay grade to lift audio technology to a very high state of the art. Microphones can capture signals with a fat response and tremendous dynamic range. Similarly, given enough bits, analog-to-digital converters can encode, and digital-to-analog converters can decode, an audio signal with a response and range that far surpasses that of the human ear. Once the Achilles’ heel of audio, storage is now trivial: 8 terabytes of storage costs $300 at Best Buy. Amplifiers can boost volume levels while…

Arguably the leading premium channel for movies and original series, HBO adds $23.24 to my monthly cable bill. I get six HBO channels, though they mostly repeat the same shows ad nauseam. Linear redundancy has been a waste of cable bandwidth since the DVR landed, but it’s become even more outmoded in the age of high-def broadband and ondemand viewing. Refusing to pony up for unbreakable packages to get the few programs they’d watch, younger viewers have been cutting the cord on cable TV. They’ve been voting with their eyeballs, turning away from TVs in favor of computer and mobile screens. This generational shiff in the way Americans consume “TV” hasn’t been lost on HBO. HBO Go enables you to watch virtually anything available on HBO whenever you want as…

IT IS REMARKABLE that people who pay atention to what they feed themselves— fussing about calories, cholesterol, and gluten—can be so cavalier about what they feed their headphones. True, you can get used to anything, including the fea-sized amplifIer in your smartphone and the messy output of your computer’s soundcard. But for those who are willing to step up to a new normal, products that combine a USB digitalto-analog converter with a headphone amp can make good headphones sound beter—and allow beter headphones to fulfIll their destiny, which is to bring listeners to a higher plane of audio existence. Last year, we reviewed a trio of headphone amp/DAC combos from Audioengine, NAD, and Essence (“Can Openers,” July/August 2014 and soundandvision.com), though only one, the Audioengine D3 USB stick DAC, was…

PRICE $299 OPPO’S BLU-RAY PLAYERS ARE reference-quality, and the company’s planar headphones are winning positive reviews. The HA-2 is the more portable of their two amp/DACs. To handle this slim leathersheathed beauty is to love it. About the size of a smartphone, it’s just a half-inch thick, not terribly heavy, and shirt-pocket-friendly. A cylindrical knob for power and volume is at top left. Headphone and combination line in/out jacks are on top. On the right side are pinpoint power indicators and switches for bass boost and headphone gain. The bottom includes USB A and Micro-B ports plus a three-way input switch that selects either of the two USB digital inputs or the analog input. AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Slim shirt-pocket form factor ■ Phone-friendly ■ Resolution up to 394/32…

PRICE $549 NOT EVERYONE IS AS KEEN ON outdoor televisions as I am. In fact, most people with whom I’ve discussed the subject have walked away convinced that I was a blithering idiot—or, at least, more of a blithering idiot than I’d previously proven myself to be. On the other hand, the folks who’ve had the chance to watch a movie or a playoff game on one of the outdoor TVs I’ve tested over the years have invariably come away from the experience with a totally different (ahem) outlook. For those of us who have watched TV au naturel, there is nothing ridiculous, extravagant, or abnormal about it. It’s just one heck of a good time. There’s something about the nature of an outdoor TV setup that gives watching one a…

Announcing DTS:X In early April—a full nine months after Dolby Atmos had its comingout party in New York—DTS officially announced DTS:X, an “object-based, multi-dimensional audio technology” for commercial cinema and home theater. We spoke with Dave Casey, senior director of program management for DTS:X to learn more about the new format and find out how it differs from Atmos. S&V: Why does the world need another surround format? What does DTS:X bring to the home theater experience? DC: DTS wants to bring immersive sound to as many people as possible. DTS:X provides fexibility and customization that will allow more people to experience incredible sound in their home. S&V: How does DTS:X difer from Dolby Atmos? DC: As DTS:X is based on audio objects versus channels, people with DTS:X-equipped home theaters…

A lot has been written over the past few months about Dolby’s new home theater surround format, Atmos. It was certainly the buzz of this past CEDIA Expo, with virtually every receiver manufacturer and many speaker companies showing their take on Atmos-capable systems, both with in-ceiling and Atmos-enabled module speakers. One of the perks of working at a custom installation firm with a showroom is having a playground to install and experience the latest technologies first hand before installing them into someone’s home. Our showroom’s main demo theater offered the perfect Atmos test bed with dimensions of roughly 17 x 24 feet, with a 10-foot-high drop tile ceiling that allowed for positioning of all the speakers perfectly to Dolby’s recommendations. We made the Atmos upgrade this past November to include…

You’ve read all the hype about Dolby’s object-based Atmos surround format, but have you heard it for yourself in a home theater environment? If not, you’re not alone: In a recent poll on soundandvision.com, 46 percent of respondents said they’d never heard Dolby Atmos. But a visit to your local Magnolia Design Center may cure that. These 60 or so specialized stores-within-a-store found inside select Best Buy outlets are a cut above the standard Magnolia Home Theater sections offered at many of the chain’s locations. Seek out a Design Center, and you’ll find premium audio brands including McIntosh, B&W, and MartinLogan, shown of in acoustically treated demo rooms for stereo and home theater. You may also find a working Dolby Atmos demo, as did Sound & Vision editor-at-large Bob Ankosko…

How ofen do you get a chance to buy high-end ear buds and make the world a better place at the same time? Te Sir George Martin Signature Custom Earphones are endorsed by the legendary producer of the Beatles and will benefit a hearing-related charity. These very special in-ear monitors feature technology from Meridian, Britain’s leading digital audio company; Advanced Communication Solutions, which specializes in hearing conservation products; and Asprey, the jeweler and luxury goods house. Only 1,000 pairs will be made. Te design features three drivers per side and silver-plated copper wire. Te package includes a Meridian Explorer2 USB DAC and an HDMPro hearing-dose management unit, which keeps output within EU-specified limits. Te price is £2,250 including a £250 donation to the nonprofit group Action on Hearing Loss. For…

If the advent of Dolby Atmos in home surround gear has pricked up your ears, you may be interested to hear that object-oriented surround will also be part of the forthcoming ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV standard. Tat doesn’t mean Atmos itself is hitting the airwaves. Instead, other surround encoding systems will be tested this summer from Dolby, DTS, and a consortium of other companies. All support High-Order Ambisonics, a “scene-based” format that maps encoded objects onto whatever speakers are available, as well as speaker layouts up to 7.1.4 (an established Atmos configuration with four height channels) and 22.2 (the surround standard of Japan’s Super Hi-Vision, adding numerous height and center channels). Dolby’s AC-4 would travel from TV to A/V receiver through the HDMI Audio Return Channel. Initially the TV would…

PRICE $79 AT $79, THE SCHITT FULLA—I’LL spare you the jokes—is the least expensive product in this roundup, one of the two smallest, and the only stick amp/DAC to include a volume knob. Its 2.5-inch-long aluminumwrapped steel chassis appears indestructible but is light as a feather. Pop it in your shirt pocket, and you won’t even feel it. Mini-USB and headphone jacks are at either end, and a supplied 4-inch cable prevents stress on your computer’s USB jack. There are no samplingrate or other indicators, but do you really need them? Fulla handles files up to 96 kHz and 24 bits. For Windows users, this makes driver installation automatic and trouble-free. In OS and playback software, the driver identifies itself as “I’m Fulla Schiit.” The device is powered directly by USB…

PRICE $595 CELSUS SOUND’S COMPANION One is the only product here that streams wirelessly from other devices. It uses Wi-Fi, with AirPlay for iOS devices and Macs and DLNA for Android and Windows. It supports streaming up to 192/24 and wired connections up to 384/32. The Companion is about the height and width of a large smartphone, but twice the thickness, and quite hefty due to the machinedaluminum chassis. Headphone, line, and S/PDIF minijacks are on top, and separate USB jacks for charging and signal connections are on bottom, with power and volume buttons on the right side. On the left side are three more buttons: headphone gain, Wi-Fi/USB switch, and connection mode. That last one allows streaming devices to connect through either your Wi-Finetwork or the Companion’s built-in Wi-Fiaccess point.…

PRICE $70 I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED when my audition of the Swimbuds Sport Waterproof headphone began with a familiar voice. After discarding multiple plastic baggies and opening the mesh pouch and zipper case, I was greeted by a card with an access code for a downloadable 30-minute swim workout guided by Rebecca Soni. Her staggering career accomplishments—including eight world records and, for Team U.S.A. at the Olympics, three gold medals and three silver—were severely understated here with a title that read: Olympic Medalist. I trained with Rebecca at the Scarlet Aquatics Club in New Jersey from the late 1990s through 2005, and so welcomed the excuse to pick up the phone and call an old friend. But getting back to the matter at hand: The Swimbuds Sport Waterproof headphone ($70), a…