LATEST ADDITIONS

Audio Video News
Best Buy Knocks $50 Off Tablo Dual DVR
SV Staff  |  Jul 24, 2017
Nuvyyo today announced that Best Buy is offering a limited-time $50 discount on its new “cord-cutter” Tablo Dual DVR.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
James Unveils High-Performance Tower Speakers
SV Staff  |  Jul 24, 2017
James Loudspeaker today introduced a series of high-performance floorstanding speakers that leverages technology used in its flagship BE-Series of in-wall speakers.
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Grace Notes
Sit Down and Shut Up!
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jul 24, 2017
Summer’s here and the time is right…for summer concerts, of course! There’s something magical about sitting under the stars serenaded by your favorite artist that only happens in the summer. But in actuality, there’s another side to the midsummer night’s dream of lovely music. What is it about outdoor concerts that brings out the worst in an audience? Who’s attending these concerts, and why are they making them so miserable for the rest of us? Nowhere else could the outrageous behavior seen under the summer sky be tolerated.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Optoma Mini LED Projector Boasts Media Player
SV Staff  |  Jul 21, 2017
Optoma has introduced an Android-based, plug-and-play projector with a built-in media player, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity, and a 20,000-hour LED light source.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Passengers
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 21, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
Onboard the starship Avalon, thousands of passengers and crew are bound for a new colony on a distant planet. They’re in suspended animation for the 120-year journey. But passengers Jim Preston and, later, Aurora Lane are awakened 90 years too soon—and the pods can’t be reconfigured to put them back to sleep.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Nocturnal Animals
Josef Krebs  |  Jul 21, 2017
Picture
Sound
Extras
In screenwriter-director Tom Ford’s (A Single Man) adaptation of Austin Wright’s multi-reality novel, we discover Susan’s emotionally drained existence, disillusioned with marriage and her career in blue-chip art curating. It’s an expensive life of high-end fashion and cutting-edge contemporary paintings, antiseptic interiors in fancy galleries and elegant homes.
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Audio Video News
GoldenEar’s Triton Reference Arrives in Stores
SV Staff  |  Jul 21, 2017
GoldenEar Technology’s Top Pick-designated Triton Reference speaker has shipped to more than 100 of the brand’s authorized dealers in North America and pre-order customers, announced Sandy Gross, company president and co-founder.

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Apptitude
Will You Read or Watch TV in Your Self-Driving Car?
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 21, 2017
In three years there will be some 10 million cars on the road with self-driving features. What will people do in a car that drives itself?
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Headphone Reviews
Beyerdynamic Xelento Remote In-Ear Headphones
Steve Guttenberg  |  Jul 20, 2017

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Handmade in Germany
Stunning good looks
Best-in-class sound
Minus
Tangle-prone cable

THE VERDICT
The Beyerdynamic Xelento Remotes look, feel, and sound like a true luxury design.

It’s a stunningly beautiful design: The Beyerdynamic Xelento Remotes are most definitely a looker. Better yet, their ergonomically balanced design made for a perfect fit in the concha of my ears; these are some of the most comfortable in-ears I’ve ever worn. As for the sound, it was spectacular!

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AV Receiver Reviews
Sony STR-DN1080 A/V Receiver Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Jul 20, 2017

Audio Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $600

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Fine amplifier sonics and power
Excellent, quick-responding home-network streaming plays most formats, including HRA and DSD
Speaker Relocation & Phantom Surround feature
Minus
Scales only 1080p/24 video to 4K

THE VERDICT
Excellent audio performance and a unique feature set counterbalance a somewhat quirky and (in a few cases) slow user interface.

It’s been several years since I’ve had a Sony AV receiver in my rack, so when the STR-DN1080 arrived on my porch, I was eager to see what the foundational brand’s 7.1-channel Dolby Atmos/DTS:X model had to offer. Sony has been synonymous with consumer electronics for so long that today—in the more specialized corners of the field, such as home theater—it’s easy to overlook the company that was such an early player in the game. But Sony still has an enviable market position, as well as design and engineering firepower aplenty to compete in any sphere they choose.

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