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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Almost Famous
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 15, 2021
Picture
Sound
Extras
As someone nicknamed "Almost Famous" by the road crew of a band I've been embedded with on scores of their North American tours over the past two decades, I can attest firsthand to the accuracy of every backstage moment seen on unadulterated display in director/screenwriter Cameron Crowe's film of the same name. Indeed, Almost Famous is Crowe's love-letter depiction of his early/ mid-1970s zeitgeist years spent as a geeky teenage scribe desperately trying to act cool while seeking to chronicle the true essence of rock & roll and life on the road.
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The S&V Interview
WiSA: We Work to Keep Wireless Sound Simple
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 14, 2021

A conversation with Tony Ostrom, president of the Wireless Speaker & Audio Association.

We’ve tracked the progress of the Wireless Speaker & Audio Association (WiSA) since its humble beginnings many years ago. A lot has changed since those early days when the Association showed up in a CES hotel room to demonstrate a home theater system devoid of speaker cables. It was a remarkable demo, not just because it worked, but because the enabling technology made it possible to send uncompressed 24-bit/96-kHz audio signals through the air from an AV receiver to seven speakers and a subwoofer. Today, wireless music is everywhere and better than ever but in those days transmitting hi-res audio wirelessly was a daunting task. It’s been a few years since we checked in with the Association so we caught up with WiSA president Tony Ostrom to get an update on the technology and the products it enables.

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Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
THX Onyx DAC/Headphone Amplifier Review
Al Griffin  |  Oct 13, 2021

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $199

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Clean, clear, powerful sound
Extensive format support
Compatible with a wide range of headphones
Minus
Requires extra-cost adapter for iOS devices

THE VERDICT
THX's portable DAC/amp delivers dynamic and spatially precise sound. Paired with the right headphones, it's a compelling option for portable high-res playback

Home theater enthusiasts know THX for its certification program, an initiative responsible for the familiar logo emblazoned on all manner of gear for nearly three decades, along with the Deep Note trailer heard in certified movie theaters and on home video releases. Surprisingly, the company never released its own "THX" product, a situation that now changes with the arrival of the THX Onyx portable DAC/headphone amplifier.

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Stream On
Why It’s Time for an Apple Music Refresh
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 13, 2021
Now that Apple has upgraded its vast music library to lossless audio, is it time to refresh your music library?
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A/V Veteran
Loudspeakers, Your Room, and You
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 12, 2021
A reader recently responded to a loudspeaker review complaining that, as set up for the review, the speakers were positioned 4-feet out from the wall behind them. Impractical, the poster commented, as he didn't have the space in his room to do that. But I always position speakers that way and suspect that most reviewers do so as well—though not all of them specifically state it. But I can't help myself; I cut my teeth writing for our sister publication Stereophile. While dubious "truths" abound in audiophilia, this one has a real basis in "the science."
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Wide Angle
Sonus Faber Design Lab and Factory Tour
Al Griffin  |  Oct 11, 2021
Veneto, a region in the North of Italy—the easternmost top of the boot—is most famous for its canal-lined capital city of Venice, but it’s also home base to Sonus faber, a speaker manufacturer known for unique, elegant designs that regularly incorporate natural materials such as wood, leather, and marble.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Trinnov Updates Altitude Processor, Unveils Super Amp
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 11, 2021
Trinnov Audio, the French designer and manufacturer of high-end A/V processors, has announced upgrades for its award-winning Altitude16 surround processor and plans to ship a new 16-channel power amplifier to go with it.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
A Quiet Place Part II
Chris Chiarella  |  Oct 08, 2021
Picture
Sound
Extras
Anyone seeking to make a horror sequel would do well to study writer/ director John Krasinski's A Quiet Place Part II. A magnificent expansion of the established characters and story, this film wastes nary a second, framing the narrative with a bit of new backstory before picking up immediately after the events of the 2018 original and taking us in bold, terrifying new directions.
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Editor's Eye
Spatial Is the Place
Al Griffin  |  Oct 08, 2021
A regular complaint aired in Sound & Vision’s Letters section is that the 5.1 surround discs covered in our Remaster Class column are 1) out of print, and 2) too expensive to buy on e-commerce and collector sites like eBay and Discogs. And while I commiserate, the reality is that disc releases, be they LP, CD, SACD, Blu-ray, or whatever, don’t remain eternally in print. That’s why there’s a thriving market for vintage vinyl, and why albums and movies are regularly remastered and reissued on disc.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
News and Gear for Fall 2021
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 07, 2021
Ready for a high-end, THX certified speaker you can mount in the wall or a portable video projector with built-in streaming capability? Or how about a turntable shelf designed to mount on the wall? These are a few of the more interesting new products we’ve learned about in recent weeks.
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