Audio Video News

Miscellaneous: Under $500

Record Doctor VI Record Cleaning Machine: $300

For the best possible vinyl listening experience, you need a good turntable that’s property set up but you also need to engage in the time-honored ritual of handling records with care and keeping dust, dirt, and grime out of those grooves. Enter Record Doctor VI, a specialized yet affordable cleaning system that uses a wet vacuum to remove gunk in minutes. “I was able to get excellent results even with its fully manual, hands-on approach,” wrote reviewer and longtime vinyl enthusiast Michael Trei. “Records that were plagued with fingerprints and other dirt came out looking shiny and bright, and surface noise was substantially diminished in listening tests while the clarity of the music itself was enhanced.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Digs deep to leave records sparkling
Far more effective than brush cleaners
Affordable
Minus
Hands-on manual operation
Loud vacuum motor

Full Review Here

JVC HA-FW01 In-Ear Headphones: $330

Beauty is more than skin deep in the case of the elegantly appointed HA-FW01 earbuds. If you were to pop open one of its wood-encased buds, you’d find a 0.4-inch driver also made from wood but in this case shaved down to the thickness of a human hair and mated with an “acoustic purifier” that disperses the sound. All just a gimmick? Not according to reviewer Leslie Shapiro who described the sound as balanced with “pleasant treble and an open, spacious soundstage,” especially on acoustic recordings. She also found the silicon ear tips to provide a comfortable fit and improved sound quality over the foam tips JVC also provides. All in all, the FW01 earbuds are a “solid, reliable choice.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Solid build quality
Spacious imaging
Natural treble response
Minus
Bass could be smoother
Heavy
No inline controls on cable

Full Review Here

TiVo EDGE DVR: $400 (plus service fees)

TiVo didn’t invent the digital video recorder category — it was actually one of two companies (the other ReplayTV) that unveiled the world’s first DVRs back in in 1999 — but it perfected the DVR and became famous for revolutionizing the category the same way Apple revolutionized personal music with the iPod. In addition to a 2 terabyte (TB) hard drive that holds around 300 hours of HD content, the Edge offers improved voice search, automatic commercial skip, and multiroom capability in addition to supporting Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) and Dolby Atmos surround sound. Though he lamented the lack of direct access to Disney+ and Apple TV+, long-time TiVo user David Vaughn loved using the six-tuner CableCard model he reviewed (a $350 version with an over-air TV tuner is also available). “TiVo hasn't reinvented the TV-watching experience like it did 20 years ago, but its software is still best-in-class and the user experience has been made even better through the outstanding OneSearch option.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Supports 4K/HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos
Voice-activated search
Terrific program guide
Minus
High up-front cost
No Disney+ or Apple TV+ support
TiVo+ Network is a work in progress

Full Review Here

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