Audio Video News

Along with warmer spring weather that couldn’t come soon enough for those of us who live in the Northeast, the early months of 2024 brought a treasure trove of new gear with a decided audio slant — all bona fide Sound & Vision Top Picks ranging in price from $200 to $7,200. Here we present a dozen great AV products, including one of the best and brightest OLED TVs we have ever reviewed, and a host of audio options ranging from a set of a killer studio monitors that can be had for 200 bucks (!) to an integrated amplifier that will get you into the hi-rez streaming game for $700 and an AV receiver guaranteed to make any audiophile drool. Capsules are organized by price, least to most expensive. Let’s take a closer look...

OSD NERO AB5 Active Studio Monitor: $200/pair

It’s remarkable to think that you can get kick-ass sound from a speaker that stands less than a foot tall and sells for $200 a pair, but that’s exactly what you get with OSD’s Nero AB5. Reviewer Dennis Young calls the AB5 the best speaker of any size or shape he’s heard for the money, an assertion he backs up with Sound & Vision’s Top Value designation. Never heard of OSD? The letters stand for Outdoor Speaker Depot, a 20-year-old California-based company that sells a variety of speakers and other audio products you can peruse at osdaudio.com. Among them you’ll find the XA7180, which was our 2023 Top Pick of the Year in power amplifiers.

The AB5 is a powered two-way system, meaning the 5.25-inch woofer and 1-inch soft-dome tweeter in each speaker are powered by an onboard amplifier that delivers 75 watts to the woofers and 25 watts to the tweeters. All of the electronics, controls, and connections reside in one of the speakers — call it the main or master speaker. The system is not wireless, so there is no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth streaming capability, but it is built using quality components and the main speaker houses an active crossover and digital signal processor alongside the power amplifier. With a decided pro monitor bent, the speaker is promoted as a desktop monitor suitable for production applications and, as such, boasts a balanced XLR input (something you never find on speakers at this price level) and a horn-like waveguide to control tweeter directivity. Listening tests revealed a soundstage Young described as “nice and wide, with sharply focused central images…It’s one of those speakers that will steal your attention.” For the money you really can’t go wrong.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Best speaker of any size, shape, or configuration I've heard for the money
Small, easy to place
Minus
Needs wall power and a signal wire feed

Full Review Here (posted 2/28/24)

Starke Sound SW15 Subwoofer: $699

Never heard of Starke Sound? You’re probably not alone but the LA-based company has been around for 15 years and specializes in high-end speakers and amplifiers, including the stately IC-H5 tower speaker, which goes for a cool 14 grand a pair. Starke also offers a half-dozen subwoofers, most of which are decidedly not high end at prices ranging from $499 to $999. Coming in at $699, the SW15 isn’t much to look at, but boy does it deliver. The sub mates a menacing, DSP-controlled 15-inch glass-fiber woofer with a 450-watt (RMS) amplifier in a pedestrian matt-black cabinet with a removable fabric-mesh grille that measures roughly 17 x 16.5 x 19 inches — about as small as you can get with a 15-inch driver. There’s no app and the controls are super basic with just three dials for adjusting the crossover point (50-200 Hz), phase (0-180°), and volume. Connections include RCA stereo line-in, subwoofer line-in, and a balanced XLR input and output, and there’s an auto on/off power switch. That’s it.

The SW15 is non-assuming, perhaps even boring, but it is bold. Put two of them in a room, as reviewer Jim Wilson did, and prepare to hunker down. 13 Hours, the story of the siege on a CIA outpost in Libya, was one of several movies he chose to give the sub a proper workout. “The firefight at the compound starts halfway through scene 15…rumbling undertones lent a foreboding sense of what was about to happen. As the combatants open fire on each other their weapons had a sharp, crisp sound with a lot of intensity. Mortars hit with force, exploding with a resounding thud. Every weapon and different type of ordnance was distinct, each having its own sound signature.” Music was equally as riveting with well-defined bass coming through on the medley from Hans Zimmer’s Live in Prague and “Time” from the Pink Floyd masterstroke Dark Side of the Moon. The SW-15 can play loud and deep without missing a beat.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Great value
Small for 15-inch subwoofer
Deep, rich sound
Minus
Generic appearance
Takes prodding to wake from standby mode

Full Review Here (posted 3/13/24)

SVS Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase Streaming Amplifier: $700

Whether you’re a casual listener or a die-hard aficionado, there’s no shortage of hardware to facilitate your streaming desires. SVS’s compact Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase stands out, putting a variety of high-quality listening options at your fingers tips and delivering enough clean power to make your music really sing. You can listen over a single pair of speakers or use the DTS Play-Fi app or Apple’s AirPlay 2 to spread music around the house. The streamer supports aptX-enabled Bluetooth and is equipped with analog and digital inputs, including optical and eARC-enabled HDMI.

As a bonus, a Wi-Fi Critical Listening mode optimized for high-resolution streaming is available through the DTS Play-Fi app. And to help you get to your favorite music sources fast, there are six preset buttons just below the OLED display — a window that makes it easy to see what’s playing. With the SoundBase, streaming becomes a serious pursuit at a price that is quite reasonable. Its high-quality amplifier, which puts out 2 x 150 watts RMS into 4 ohms, gives music a level of clarity and presence with textured and nuanced bass you simply don’t get with many streaming amps. If you’re ready to elevate your streaming experience without breaking the bank, the SVS Prime Wireless Pro SoundBase deserves consideration.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Robust power amplifier
Supports hi-rez audio up to 24 bits/192 kHz
Handles a wide variety of music sources
Clean design with easy-to-read front display
Minus
DTS Play-Fi app is clunky
No tone controls or equalizer

Full Review Here (posted 1/24/24)

Hisense 65” 65U8K mini-LED 4K TV: $900

Hisense, a Chinese TV brand that was virtually unknown in the U.S. a decade ago, has spent the last several years making a name for itself in the “laser TV” space with products like the PX1-Pro ultra-short-throw (UST) projector. The company was one of the first to bring a UST projector to market but in recent years has also come on strong with an impressive lineup of TVs. A recent example is the 65-inch 65U8K 4K LCD model that came out in 2023. Built around the Google TV smart platform, the set uses mini-LED backlighting to increase brightness and supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range (HDR) in addition to offering a surprisingly rich palette of features that includes Dolby Atmos sound and a number of image enhancing modes including Filmmaker, IMAX Enhanced, and Game Mode Pro, which supports refresh rates up to 144 Hz.

The 65U8K isn’t a perfect TV but it delivers excellent picture quality for $900. It has some ergonomic shortcomings that make it a challenge to access adjustment menus, but the biggest bugaboo is limited off-center viewing: The image begins to fade when you move more than 20-30 degrees off center, which in all fairness is an issue with most LCD-based televisions. As part of his evaluation, Tom Norton watched Oblivion and was taken with the “crisp but not overdone detail, believable colors, particularly in its flesh tones (with rare exceptions this movie's colors are mostly subdued shades of gray and brown) and HDR highlights,” all of which caused him to proclaim that Oblivion never looked as good as what he saw on the Hisense 65U8K. For a guy who has been reviewing TVs for a couple decades, that’s saying a lot.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Wide range of features
Affordable price
Impressive picture quality for the money
Comprehensive connectivity
High refresh rate for gaming
Minus
Limited off-center viewing angles
Calibration and ergonomic challenges
Intrusive pop-up ads on smart platform

Full Review Here (posted 2/7/24)

Samsung HW-Q990D 11.1.4-Channel Atmos Soundbar: $2,000

Samsung’s newest soundbar system, the HW-Q990D, belongs to the still-emerging elite class of simplified home theater speaker systems: Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar-based setups that deliver exceptional audio performance. Examples that come immediately to mind include all-in-one soundbars such Sony’s HT-A5000 (which, like the Sonos Arc, can be used with an optional subwoofer and surround speakers) and Devaliet’s Dione (which is not expandable beyond the bar itself). Then you have soundbar-based systems that include a separate subwoofer and surround speakers, such as Samsung’s HW-Q990B, predecessor to the HW-Q990D.

The Q990D is a remarkably well-thought-out and designed system that builds on the success of its already awesome predecessor. With only four pieces — soundbar, subwoofer, and two rear-surround speakers — it’s a breeze to set up and guaranteed to wow you with an immersive 11.1.4-channel (!) Dolby Atmos/DTS:X surround experience that comes shockingly close to what you expect from an AVR-centric home theater setup with 10 or more speakers. Of course, the soundbar alone is anything but ordinary with 15 strategically arranged drivers firing every which way.

“What constantly stood out to me was the spaciousness of the sound,” observed AV veteran John Sciacca, who played an eclectic selection of music and movie soundtracks ranging from Miles Davis to King Kong to evaluate the Q990D. “It just seemed to open the room up, with a big front presentation that was thoroughly wrapped around the sides and back of the room and a wonderful canopy of sound that spread overhead. On numerous occasions, the bar would clearly place distinct sounds exactly in a place where there wasn’t a speaker for 8 feet in any direction, creating a sense of height and action overhead that was entertaining and convincing.” The Samsung HW-Q990D system is a perfect solution for anyone who wants a simple path to theater-like surround sound at home. The system retails for $2,000 but, as of this writing, is on sale for $1,800.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Supports Dolby Atmos/DTS:X up to 11.1.4
Immersive surround sound
Impressive subwoofer performance
Lots of adjustment options
Minus
Limited front panel display
No on-screen display
No room correction/test tones
Adjustments with remote are cumbersome

Full Review Here (posted 3/21/24)

Arcam ST5 Streamer ($799) and A25 Integrated Amp ($1,499): $2,298 (as tested)

Streaming is often relegated to a tiny, incidental speaker in the kitchen, but it doesn’t have to be that way, especially if you have a beloved set of speakers sitting idle in the room where you used to play records and CDs back in the day. It might be time to get back to listening but this time with high-resolution tunes arriving over the air. When you put Arcam’s A25 integrated amplifier and versatile ST5 streamer together, as we did for this review, you have a winning combination ready to bring any serious set of speakers to life with pristine, high-resolution sound delivered over Wi-Fi or aptX Adaptive Bluetooth, or through the A25’s generous selection of analog and digital inputs.

The ST5 is a certified Roon Ready player with MQA decoding that supports AirPlay 2 and Google Chromecast over Wi-Fi or Ethernet and facilitates direct connection to Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect in addition to making it easy to access Qobuz, Amazon Music, internet radio, and UPnP and connected USB media through the Arcam Radia app. The A25 accommodates wired and wireless headphones, the latter via that aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connection, and brings 100 watts of continuous power into the fold along with an impressive array of analog and digital connections, including a moving-magnet phono input and preamp output. Both components can be controlled via the app or a single remote control.

Listening through a pair of beloved Polk tower speakers, recording-engineer-turned-reviewer Leslie Shapiro listened to a variety of music before declaring the Arcam dynamic duo to be absolutely transparent. “I could discern no appreciable artifacts or coloration. Higher-resolution file formats and higher-resolution streaming content were consistently clean.” Exactly what you want in a streaming setup.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Gorgeous matching components
Streamlined integration
Excellent sound quality
Minus
Identical remotes
App lacks direct access to Tidal and Spotify

Full Review Here (posted 3/6/24)

Bowers & Wilkins DB3D Subwoofer: $3,499 (as tested)

The DB3D is one of the newest subwoofers from the venerable British speaker maker Bowers & Wilkins, whose bragging rights include an ongoing residency for its flagship 800 Series speakers at London’s world-famous Abbey Road Studios. A perfect complement to 700 Series S3 speakers, the DB3D is easy to set up, thanks to a dedicated app that provides automated room tuning and all the controls you need. It mates a pair of 8-inch drivers with a 1,000-watt (peak) Class D Hypex amplifier in a simple yet elegant cabinet that’s 14 inches tall and occupies just over one-square-foot of floor space. The drivers are configured in a dual-opposed, force-canceling alignment with one driver firing from either side of the sealed enclosure, an arrangement designed to minimize distortion while maximizing cone surface in a tight space. Connections go beyond what’s typical — as they well should considering the price — with balanced XLR inputs joining a set of standard RCA connections.

Though the DB3D is the smallest of three models in the series, it is more than capable of delivering deep, powerful bass with music and movies. The sub is rated down to a tooth-rattling 10 Hz, a spec verified by reviewer Mark Henninger, who wrote: “The DB3D plays cleanly and with ease to 16 Hz, so even one sub legitimately turns a pair of good speakers into a true full-range system.” Watching Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein conducting Mahler’s Second Symphony in Maestro was a standout moment: “The crescendo pushed the system (and my neighbor’s patience) to its limits — limits I rarely test, where there’s a feeling the entire room’s air mass is moving in unison.” B&W’s DB3D never fails to impress with its ability to convey power, finesse, depth, and texture without breaking a sweat.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Compact size
Deep, clean bass
Easy to set up and adjust
Available in three finishes
Minus
High price
One sub might not be powerful enough for large rooms

Full Review Here (posted 2/14/24)

Samsung 77" S95D 4K Quantum Dot OLED TV: $3,500

If you like OLED picture quality — and who doesn’t — you’re going to love the Samsung S95D, which brings state-of-the-art quantum-dot OLED display technology to a 77-inch anti-glare screen that all but eradicates image-destroying reflections during daytime viewing. In technical terms, the TV uses microscopic quantum dots to change blue OLED light to red and green light for its RGB pixels. In practical terms, the result is one of the brightest OLED screens on the market from a TV that uses cutting-edge "Neural Quantum" processing and artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically adjust the picture according to ambient light and the type of program you’re watching to optimize color and brightness. This, of course, is in addition to the near-perfect black levels for which OLED is known.

An outboard One Connect box you can hide away allows the thin-framed screen to hug the wall or sit out in the open on its stand without unsightly cables dangling from its back panel. And in addition to supporting HDR10+ high dynamic range (HDR) and providing a video-purist Filmmaker Mode, the S95D boasts a 144 Hz refresh rate on all four of its HDMI 2.1 inputs and an arsenal of advanced gaming features to ensure smooth, lag-free gameplay. (The TV doesn’t support the dominant Dolby Vision HDR format due to politics: Samsung spearheaded development of the rival HDR10+ format, which continues to gain ground in streaming and physical media.) Bottom line: The better the content, the brighter the S95D shines, delivering sharp, vivid images with realistic color whether you’re watching sports or enjoying a blockbuster movie.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ultra bright picture for an OLED display
Wide color gamut coverage
Impressive anti-reflective screen
Low input lag and high refresh rate for gaming
Minus
No ATSC 3.0 “NextGen” TV tuner
Slight blooming from anti-glare technology
No Dolby Vision HDR
No Google Assistant voice support

Full Review Here (posted 3/28/24)

Teac UD-701n Network Player & AP-701B Power Amplifier: $4,300 (UD-701N), $3,800 (AP-701B)

Teac, the Japanese brand that was known in the 1960s and ‘70s for its affordable open-reel and cassette-based tape recorders, ultimately morphed into the high-end, audiophile brand we know today. High-resolution streaming is one of its specialties, exemplified here by what we might call the dynamic duo pairing of its UD-701N network player and AP-701B stereo power amplifier, each of which features top-performing hardware componentry and impeccable build quality with excellent fit and finish.

The 701B brings together everything you want in an amplifier, including balanced and unbalanced inputs and one of the world’s best examples of Class D power — the famous nCore power modules from Hypex of the Netherlands (in this case rated to deliver 2 x 125 watts into 8 ohms). The 701N continues the balanced theme and brings analog and digital (optical, coaxial, and USB) inputs into the mix along with a dedicated (and quite excellent sounding) headphone section featuring two jacks. And then there’s Teac’s super-refined digital-to-analog conversion system, touted for its ability to, among other things, decode DSD files. The player is Roon Ready and facilitates streaming through the Teac HR Streamer app, which also supports the convenience of aptX Bluetooth.

Put these two components together and you have a streaming combo that is hard to beat. Streaming in high resolution over Qobuz and Tidal, reviewer Dan Kumin listened to a variety of music, stopping to marvel at the “hypnotic immediacy” and subtle nuances of Barbra Streisand voice on Live at the Bon Soir, traits he attributed to the Teac duo’s ability to resolve an amazing level of fine detail. Now that’s resolution.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Faultless sound quality
Superb headphone amp
Outstanding build, finish quality
Minus
Less-than elegant app, interface
Expensive

Full Review Here (posted 1/17/24)

Samsung 75” QN900D 8K OLED TV: $6,300

If you crave the ultimate video experience and like living on the leading edge, we have just the TV for you: the Samsung QN900D employs the company’s top quantum-dot-infused, mini-LED-backed Neo QLED display technology to deliver lifelike images with resolutions up to 8K, twice that of the ubiquitous 4K content we enjoy every day. Add to that the set’s ability to transform viewing experiences by using sophisticated AI-powered processing to elevate picture quality to unprecedented levels. Okay, 8K is still far from being widely available from content providers, but with a robust network connection you can stream thrilling user-generated 8K video through YouTube and Vimeo and, if you’re a video pro, even record and watch your own 8K masterpieces. One thing’s for sure, this is not a TV you buy to watch cable TV.

The QN900D supports HDR10+ high dynamic range (HDR) and is packed with videophile features such as Filmmaker mode and state-of-the-art image processing for upscaling 4K images to impressively bright 8K images and boosting detail in fast-moving scenes. Speaking of fast-moving scenes, the TV caters to gamers with AI Auto Game Mode and other advanced features in addition to supporting 144-Hz refresh rates (the panel itself offers a native refresh rate of 240 Hz). You can also take advantage of Samsung’s OneConnect box, which moves the electronics and connections outside of the TV to facilitate a tidy installation, whether the TV is hugging the wall or sitting on its stand.

The TV deploys a mini-LED backlight with 1,000 local dimming zones to reveal fine shadow detail while elevating peak HDR luminance — we measured 2,400 nits! — and is a master at presenting realistic specular highlights without disturbing color detail; it also excels at displaying the P3 wide color gamut Hollywood studios use to master movies in HDR. Celebrating the Q990D’s ability to deliver a brilliantly bright, colorful, and detailed picture, reviewer Greg Tarr’s wrote: “If you can afford this top-tier 8K model, you're unlikely to be disappointed. It stands out as one of the premier 8K TVs of 2024.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Significantly brighter HDR peak luminance than 2023
Great gaming features
Attractive design, nearly invisible bezel border
ATSC 3.0 over-the-air tuning
Attractive and snappy smart TV interface
Minus
Screen picks up room reflections when using the stand
No Dolby Vision support
Lacks codecs like VVC likely to be used with future 8K content
Continued dearth of native 8K content

Full Review Here (posted 4/9/24)

Marantz AV 10 15.4-Channel AV Preamp/Processor: $7,000

If you’re paying seven grand for an AV preamp/processor you expect an engineering marvel and that’s exactly what you get with the AV 10, the flagship model in Marantz’s AV separates lineup. Add the 16-channel Amp 10 (or another high-caliber home theater power amp) and a suite of reference-level speakers and get ready to enter a world of immersion so real you’ll forget you’re at home. The AV 10 leaves little to the imagination, ready to process up to 15.4 channels in any surround-sound format you could want and make sure everything looks and sounds just right with the help of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range processing and Audyssey’s proven MultiEQ XT32 room-calibration system (Dirac Live is also available as a paid option). High-resolution multiroom streaming is expertly handled by the versatile and robust HEOS platform and Roon compatibility, and there are enough digital and analog inputs to handle whatever you need to connect, including a turntable. You’ll even find unexpected perks like Roon Directional Bass for a more engaging experience.

Reviewer Mark Henninger gave the AV 10 a serious workout in extended listening sessions that paired it with Marantz’s Amp 10 and three sets of speakers in succession. What he experienced led him to dub the AV 10 a “dream machine,” versatile enough to tame three completely different speaker systems. “This ability to sort through the issues and deliver the best each system has to offer is a sign of a great processor.” If the ultimate is what you seek, you can most certainly spend even more of your hard-earned dollars. But do you need to?

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Balanced outputs for all channels
Supports four subwoofers
Audyssey MultEQ XT32 with Directional Bass
Dirac Live Bass Control
Easy on-screen setup
Minus
Antiquated front panel interface
Remote not backlit and hard to read
Dirac Live costs extra

Full Review Here (posted 1/31/24)

GoldenEar T66 Tower Speaker: $7,200/pair

The statuesque T66 tower is the first speaker designed by GoldenEar since the brand was acquired by the Quest Group in 2020, and it is a hands-down winner that embraces and builds on the proven concepts central to the critically acclaimed Triton Series launched in 2010 under the guiding hand of audio legend and GoldenEar founder Sandy Gross. “Exquisite” is how Mark Henninger described the spacious, room-filling sound and definitive bass produced by the carefully selected complement of drivers that inhabit the T66’s slender enclosure: a folded-ribbon AMT tweeter, a pair of 4.5-inch cast-basket midbass drivers (one above and one below), and a formidable subwoofer section featuring a pair of long-throw 5 x 9-inch woofers, two of bass-boosting 8 x 12-inch passive radiators (one on each side), and a DSP-controlled 500-watt amplifier.

Taking in a variety of music and movie soundtracks, ranging from The Beastie Boys Hello Nasty to the soundtracks of Napoleon and The Marvels Henninger was captivated by the speakers’ holographic presentation. “In its marketing, GoldenEar emphasizes the excellent soundstage and imaging capabilities of its speakers. This is not mere spin. It was clearly observable every second I listen to this pair of speakers in my living room…The most impressive quality is the stability of the soundstage. You get a proper floating stereo image, even if you’re not seated in the sweet spot.” Congratulations to AudioQuest for delivering everything you could want in a speaker that looks as good as it sounds.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Exquisite detail rendering
Cohesive soundstage projection
Deep bass extension
Elegant aesthetic design
Minus
Pricey investment
Grille not removable
Requires power cord and speaker cable connection

Full Review Here (posted 3/20/24)

To browse all Sound & Vision-recommended AV gear, broken out by category, visit our Top Picks page.

Also see 2023 Top Picks of the Year.