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Headphone Reviews
Final Sonorous III Headphones
Steve Guttenberg  |  Mar 23, 2017

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $399

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Uber clarity
Titanium drivers
Made in Japan
Minus
Doesn’t fold for compact storage

THE VERDICT
The Final Sonorous III is in a class of its own because it doesn’t sound like anything else, and that’s a good thing.

The Final Audio Design Sonorous III showed up when I was in the midst of working on reviews of some very high-end, very expensive headphones. I usually try to avoid simultaneously working on reviews of products that would put one at a serious disadvantage. No problem this time: The Sonorous III held its own against the new HiFiMan HE1000 V2 ($2,999) and the AKG K872 ($1,495). I’m not saying the Sonorous III was in the same league as those two heavyweights, but I’ve never heard a mid-price dynamic driver headphone as transparent as the Sonorous III.

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Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1981: RCA Unveils the CED Videodisc Player
SV Staff  |  Mar 23, 2017
Thirty-six years ago this month, RCA introduced its long-awaited videodisc player, nine years after it demonstrated that it was possible to store color video on, and play it back from, an LP-like 12-inch disc.
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Audio Video News
Super Mario Run(s) to Android Today
SV Staff  |  Mar 23, 2017
Mario’s iOS honeymoon is over. Nintendo’s iconic videogame character makes his debut on Android devices today in Super Mario Run, more than three months after he first skipped his way onto iOS.
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Ask S&V
Do New Ultra HDTVs Support 3D?
Al Griffin  |  Mar 23, 2017
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Are any of the new Ultra HDTVs coming out 3D-compatible? I don’t want my 3D Blu-ray disc collection to become an unusable relic. —Don Fowler

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Audio Video News
Sublime With Rome Announces Vinyl Exclusive for Record Store Day
SV Staff  |  Mar 23, 2017
Sublime With Rome, a collaboration between Eric Wilson, formerly of the band Sublime, and singer and guitarist Rome Ramirez, has announced that it will release a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl album of recent unreleased demos on April 22 to celebrate with Record Store Day 2017.
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SmartStream
Hands On: Apple’s New Watch Anywhere Feature
Barb Gonzalez  |  Mar 22, 2017
Apple is finally getting around to allowing users to rent a video once and watch it on all devices. I took the new feature for a test drive.
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The S&V Interview
Chilly Gonzales & Jarvis Cocker Request Our Presence in Room 29
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 22, 2017
Chilly Gonzales (seated) and Jarvis Cocker. Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.

Let us now give praise to the power of the almighty song cycle that comprises Room 29, a decidedly thrilling 16-track treatise jointly concocted by vocalist/lyricist Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp fame) and composer/pianist Chilly Gonzales (Feist, Peaches, Daft Punk) in and around a baby grand piano located in the same-numbered room on the second floor of the famed Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Gonzales called in from his room across the Pond to discuss the sonics of Room 29, his and Cocker’s “reverse” song-cycle writing process, and how (yes) Gilligan’s Island fits into the middle of it all.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Denon Unveils Heos Soundbar and Subwoofer
SV Staff  |  Mar 22, 2017
Denon has announced plans to expand its Heos line of wireless multiroom audio products with a soundbar and subwoofer that will be available in April.
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Audio Video News
Underwater Robot/4K Cam “Revolutionizes” Fishing
SV Staff  |  Mar 22, 2017
When does technology go too far? It’s a question that comes up frequently these days. Here’s one potential example.
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Audio Video News
HDR on the Small Screen
SV Staff  |  Mar 22, 2017
The UHD Alliance (UHDA) recently announced the Mobile HDR Premium specification for laptops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones to confirm that a portable device meets UHDA-defined performance criteria for 4K/Ultra HD resolution, dynamic range, color space, and bit depth.
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