Audio Video News

If you’ve been paying attention you will notice something about January’s batch of top-rated AV products: All were deemed worthy of Sound & Vision’s Top Pick of the Year accolades. So here you have it: The return of an iconic turntable, two exemplary Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker systems at compelling price points, a set of in-ear monitors designed by the guy who invented the category for a price that will surprise you, and an ambient-light-rejecting screen made for the new breed of ultra-short-throw projectors that are giving big-screen TVs a run for their money.

Focal Sib Evo Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 Speaker System: $1,299

Focal of France demonstrates with this compact and reasonably priced set of home theater speakers that you can have your cake and eat it too. The Sib Evo system looks and sounds great, which goes a long way toward explaining why we selected it as one of our 2017 Top Picks of the Year. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that its subwoofer rocks and two of its five satellites have an upward firing driver designed specifically to convey ambience and overhead effects in Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Reviewer Dan Kumin summed it up like this: “The Sib Evo is a winner, soup to nuts: elegantly designed, acoustically excellent, and a conspicuous value.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent sound quality
Great subwoofer/satellite integration
Plays louder, cleaner than some similarly sized systems
Atmos on board
Minus
Spring-loaded push connectors can be irritating
No prepackaged 5.1.4-channel option

Full Review Here

 

Definitive Technology Demand Series D11 Speaker System: $3,196

The Demand Series lives up to Definitive Technology’s pedigree with satisfying, well-balanced sound — just what you’d expect from the brand audio luminary Sandy Gross created 28 (!) years ago. It further distinguishes itself as one of only two Dolby Atmos-enabled speaker systems on our 2017 Top Picks of the Year list. Challenging the system with an eclectic mix of music and movies — ranging from Debussy and King Crimson to Alien: Covenant and Logan — Mark Fleischmann commended Def Tech for a “brilliantly unorthodox design that makes good on its rhetoric and aspirations with deeply satisfying sound.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Appealing neutral voicing
Laterally offset tweeter
Active 8-inch sub integrated in center speaker
Minus
D11 top radiators complicate placement of Atmos add-ons

Full Review Here

 

Astell&Kern Michelle Limited Headphones: $399

Astell&Kern’s Michelle Limited is, indeed, a belle, offering superb comfort and vibrant sound at an affordable price — the brand’s lowest ever. Designed by audio wiz Jerry Harvey — pioneer of in-ear stage monitors used by touring musicians — the ’phones use three balanced armature drivers in each earpiece to paint a beautiful sonic picture that reviewer Steve Guttenberg hailed for transparency, precise imaging, and ample bass. Icing on the cake: Michelle is one of Sound & Vision’s 2017 Top Headphone Picks of the Year.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Most affordable ever three-way from designer Jerry Harvey
Uber comfy
Vivacious sound
Minus
The voluptuous bass might be too much of a good thing

Full Review Here