LATEST ADDITIONS

New Products
Bowers & Wilkins Launches Panorama 3 Soundbar
SV Staff  |  Mar 03, 2022
The latest soundbar to come from Britain’s Bowers & Wilkins is a gen-3 version of its Panorama model that adds Dolby Atmos processing plus upfiring drivers for a 3.1.2 configuration. The $999 bar is an all-in-one immersive audio solution that the company says will deliver “room-filling, powerful sound no one-box rival can match.”
Continue Reading »
SmartStream
NBC Shows May Leave Hulu
Barb Gonzalez  |  Mar 02, 2022
Fans of NBC’s TV shows may soon need to subscribe to Peacock to stream current episodes. In February, Comcast had a window to get out of a content licensing agreement with Hulu that would allow them to remove NBC shows from the service.
Continue Reading »
Projector Reviews
Sony VPL-VW325ES 4K LCOS Projector Review
Al Griffin  |  Mar 02, 2022

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $5,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent detail
Vivid color reproduction
Motorized focus, zoom, lens shift
Minus
Relatively limited light output
No dynamic iris
Basic HDR tone-mapping adjustment

THE VERDICT
Sony's entry-level full 4K projector delivers detailed, seamless images and is a great option for dedicated home movie theaters.

Sony's projector lineup is notable for its use of the company's full 4K-resolution (4,096 x 2,160-pixel) SXRD (Sony-speak for LCOS) chips. It's also been notable for featuring a 5K model—5K as in $5,000, the price for the line's entry-level projector. Back in 2021, the company replaced that model, the VPL-VW295ES, with the VPL-VW325ES, an updated version offering a few new features, though at a higher $5,499 price. Are the updates worth the extra coin? Let's find out.

Continue Reading »
Music Reviews
R.E.M.: New Adventures in Hi-Fi: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 25, 2022
Performance
Sound
R.E.M. were the undisputed kings of American-bred alt-rock by the time the mid-1990s rolled around. Emerging from the college-town kudzu of Athens, Georgia, with the game-changing jangle of July 1981's "Radio Free Europe" single and August 1982's subsequent Chronic Town EP, the underground quartet perfected a more fully realized signature sound on their April 1983 full-length debut, Murmur.
Continue Reading »
Spatial Audio File
Spatial Audio in the Sky, With Diamonds
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 25, 2022
The phrase “immersive audio” and the name of producer Giles Martin are practically synonymous terms these days, and his magic Atmos touch is out in full force on “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds (Remix),” an updated Spatial Audio take on this most head-trippy of tracks from The Beatles’ truly seminal June 1967 masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Best Gear of Late Winter 2022
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 24, 2022
Looking back at Sound & Vision’s Top Picks so far in 2022, speakers figure prominently into the mix, starting with a tower-based home theater ensemble that delivers the goods without draining your wallet. The lineup also includes a stately set of towers from a prominent German brand hoping to make a comeback in the U.S. and high performance subwoofers in two price categories — one from a well-known brand, the other from a name you probably don’t know. The odd man out is a new mid-priced AV receiver from Onkyo that can do just about everything you need it to do…except pop the popcorn.
Continue Reading »
AV Receiver Reviews
Onkyo TX-NR7100 9.2-Channel A/V Receiver Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Feb 23, 2022

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,099

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Onboard Dirac Live room/speaker correction
Nine amp channels for a full Atmos/DTS:X experience
Multiple HDMI 2.1 connections with 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz support
Minus
Small remote control a bit cramped
Somewhat light-duty casing and speaker outputs

THE VERDICT
This affordable Onkyo AVR renders powerful Dolby Atmos and DTS:X sound via its nine built-in amp channels, and it brings the considerable benefits of Dirac Live room EQ as well.

The arrival of yet another A/V receiver doesn't usually engender much excitement here at S&V's currently sub-arctic regional headquarters in New England. But Onkyo's new TX-NR7100 is not "just another" receiver. First, the TX-NR7100 features a true nine-channel-power layout, which makes possible a full 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos system without supplemental amplification within hollerin' distance of the magical ten-Benjamins line. Just as notably, it's among the first affordably priced AVRs to incorporate Dirac Live, the eponymous Swedish tech firm's widely praised room/speaker-correction software system, at no extra cost.

Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
What’s the Difference Between HDMI ARC and eARC?
Al Griffin  |  Feb 23, 2022
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I want to get the highest possible audio quality from my home theater system when using the streaming apps on my new Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K smart TV. Is the TV’s eARC port compatible with my Denon receiver’s ARC port? By compatible, I mean will the Denon “understand” the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream coming from the apps and just ignore any Atmos metadata? —George Perkins / Madison, WI

Continue Reading »
A/V Veteran
The Human Visual System: Digital Cinema
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 22, 2022
The human visual system is a lot more complicated than we might imagine. A recent paper published in the journal Science Advances (January 12, 2022), Illusion of visual stability through active perceptual serial dependence, by researchers Mauro Manassi (University of Aberdeen, UK) and David Whitney (UC Berkeley), takes this idea a step further. I can't pretend to have slogged through the bulk of this article. The text is dense with the sort of science-speak common to experts in their field of expertise but nearly incomprehensible to the layman (a worldwide issue over the past two years, but I digress!)
Continue Reading »
Audio Video NewsNew Products
Sonus Faber Promises 3D Sound from New All-In-One Music System
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 22, 2022
Sonus faber, the Italian speaker maker known for its unique and elegant designs, today announced a stylish all-in-one wireless music system that uses digital signal processing (DSP) and an array of seven speakers to deliver “mesmerizing three-dimensional sound.”
Continue Reading »

Pages

X