LATEST ADDITIONS

Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol UHD
David Vaughn  |  Sep 28, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
When an IMF agent gets killed in the line of duty, critical files containing Russian nuclear launch codes that he was carrying fall into the wrong hands. With the help of two IMF colleagues, agent Ethan Hunt penetrates the Kremlin to find out the identity of “Cobalt,” a terrorist who wants the codes to start a nuclear war. Things go awry when Cobalt plants explosives in the fortress-like complex, and Hunt and his team get blamed for the resulting carnage. As tensions rise between the U.S. and Russia, the President is forced to disavow the IMF, leaving it up to Hunt and his team to solve the crisis.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Sol Republic Upgrades its Top Selling Wireless Earbuds
SV Staff  |  Sep 28, 2018
Sol Republic, a Los Angeles-based maker of lifestyle music products, has updated its best-selling wireless earbuds to improve performance across the board.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Pangea Courts Vinyl Enthusiasts with New Accessories
SV Staff  |  Sep 28, 2018
Audio accessory specialist Pangea Audio will showcase three new products for vinyl enthusiasts at next week’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which runs October 5-7 in Denver.
Continue Reading »
Stream On
Streams People Play
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 28, 2018
Who wins in the streaming war between Apple Music and Spotify? You do, of course.

Last month, you and I made a pact, right here in this space. What, you don’t remember? (Apparently, even audiophiles have ADD.) Well, our agreement was essentially this: We the golden-ear people wholly accept streaming as another worthwhile delivery system for receiving and listening to our music, especially given the strides some of the services have been making in providing higher-quality, higher-resolution streams. (Coming back to you now?)

Continue Reading »
Soundbar Reviews
Polk Audio Command Bar Soundbar Review
Rob Sabin  |  Sep 27, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $300

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Alexa voice control
Flexible connectivity
Good sound quality
Great value
Minus
No multiroom music functions

THE VERDICT
Polk’s feature-packed soundbar offers Alexa voice control and above-average sound quality. For $300, there’s plenty here to like.

A couple of Consumer Electronics Shows ago I was visiting the booth of Sound United, the parent of Polk Audio, when a friendly executive invited me up a narrow staircase to a private meeting room. Once I was sworn to secrecy, a long, thin, black travel case was brought out and laid on the ground, and its buckles were snapped open for the big reveal. I half expected it to house a bazooka of some sort. Instead, what popped out was the prototype of a thin spear of a soundbar that appeared to have an Amazon Echo Dot sunk into its middle. Polk’s team was rightfully excited about their new project. The smart speaker was just beginning its explosive push into people’s homes, and no one had yet combined Amazon’s increasingly popular Alexa voice control technology with a soundbar. It seemed liked a perfect fit for the emerging market. So, in a way, it really was Polk’s new secret weapon.

Continue Reading »
Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1996: WebTV Aims to Televise the Internet
SV Staff  |  Sep 27, 2018
Twenty-two years ago this month, Silicon Valley startup WebTV made a noble effort to bring the internet to the big screen with the launch of a set-top box that connected any TV to the internet. Noble because the World Wide Web was a wide-open frontier with only 36 million users worldwide. (Today, more than 4 billion people are online.) A good 92% of the American public had yet to even experience the internet let alone think about searching the web on their TV. Oh, and internet access in those days was via a “dial-up” phone connection.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Amazon Expands Echo/Alexa Portfolio by 9 in Pre-Holiday Push
SV Staff  |  Sep 27, 2018
The we-sell-everything-everywhere behemoth otherwise known as Amazon is determined to remain the Big Kahuna in Smart-Speakerville.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
TiVo Bolt OTA: Bring Your Own Antenna
Michael Antonoff  |  Sep 27, 2018
Members of the cord-cutter's club are glad to save $100 or more each month by weaning themselves off cable TV or not signing up at all. Still, some cutters suffer remorse. They miss the convenience of a set-top DVR with its sleek onscreen guides, search facility, ability to amass recordings of their favorite series and navigational shortcuts. Suddenly, they're looking at apps across devices to fill the gaps.
Continue Reading »
Bluetooth Speaker Reviews
Kanto SYD Bluetooth Speaker Review
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 26, 2018

Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $330

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent sound quality
Compact and well-built
Easy to set up and use
Great value
Minus
No Wi-Fi streaming
No visual feedback
No grille cover

THE VERDICT
Kanto’s SYD is a simple, high-performance Bluetooth speaker that will wow you with rich, powerful sound that belies its size.

I could tell SYD was a serious speaker the moment I heard Joni Mitchell singing “A Case of You” from 1971’s Blue. Her angelic voice was mesmerizing in a way I didn’t expect from a speaker this size, not to mention a 47-year-old recording — and I was streaming from my phone.

Continue Reading »
The S&V Interview
Tommy Shaw on Mixing Styx’s ‘The Mission’ in 5.1
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 26, 2018
Some long-gestating sonic missions are simply worth the wait. Case in point: Styx’s June 2017 studio concept album The Mission (Alpha Dog 2T/UMe), which recently entered into the 5.1 stratosphere via the 24-bit/96kHz surround sound mix found on the just-released two-disc CD + Blu-ray Edition of the album. As good and enveloping as The Mission sounds in stereo, it sounds even better in its hi-res 5.1 mix — and that’s due in no small part to the creative synergy between the record’s three chief sonic architects: Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, producer/guitarist/vocalist Will Evankovich (Shaw-Blades, The Guess Who), and producer/engineer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco, Dixie Chicks). I spoke with Shaw and Evankovich to delve into the making of the surround sound mix of The Mission.
Continue Reading »

Pages

X