December 2020/January 2021

Sound & Vision

Authoritative information on entertainment technologies and products.

Sound & Vision3 min readTechnology & Engineering
Track One
Customer Service And Subscriptions soundandvision@emailcustomerservice.com Call (800) 666-3746 (international calls: 386-447-6383) or write to: Sound & Vision, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 Please include your full name, address, and pho
Sound & Vision1 min read
Sound & Vision
EDITOR: Al Griffin SENIOR EDITOR, TECHNICAL EDITOR: Tom Norton EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Bob Ankosko CONTRIBUTING TECHNICAL EDITORS: Kris Deering, Barb Gonzalez, Michael P. Hamilton, Daniel Kumin, Rob Sabin, John Sciacca, Michael Trei, David Vaughn CONTRIBUTO
Sound & Vision7 min readTechnology & Engineering
Letters
The more I read Mike Mettler’s music disc reviews and Remaster Class columns, the more interested I become in re-exploring my favorite music, the more I look into remastered classic and newer albums, the more I end up buying remastered and higher-res
Sound & Vision3 min readTechnology & Engineering
JBL Bar 9.1 Soundbar
The JBL Bar 9.1 soundbar system provides one of the easiest ways to get a realistic Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio experience. JBL’s secret? The Bar 9.1 uses detachable wireless, battery-powered surround speakers that can be situated anyplace
Sound & Vision4 min readTechnology & Engineering
Polk Audio MagniFi 2 Soundbar System
Polk Audio’s new MagniFi 2 soundbar hits a sweet spot of affordability, performance, and convenience. It features Polk’s patented SDA Stereo Dimensional Array technology to enhance stereo imaging, a 3D Mode that adds virtual height and surround effec
Sound & Vision3 min readTechnology & Engineering
The Rapture Of The Rumble
Let us begin with the facts, which are indisputable. Fact: Theologians unanimously agree that God intended that cars should be powered by internal combustion engines (ICE). Any other means of automotive power is heresy. I’ve written before about how
Sound & Vision3 min read
Virtually There
Picture yourself in a boat on a river. Floating downstream, you eventually arrive at a beautiful island locale, where upon its shores awaits your favorite band. After you disembark, the band shows you a potential setlist that you approve, albeit with
Sound & Vision3 min readTechnology & Engineering
Buy Once, Cry Once
Sure, if you’re in the 1% who can drop six-figures-plus on home entertainment without thinking twice, then you absolutely should pursue the best available gear, since splurging on a top-notch system can deliver daily joy that’s hard to put a price on
Sound & Vision4 min readComputers
Ditching DLNA
Q I have over 9,000 songs in various audio formats on a hard drive hooked to my computer. Most of these have been ripped from CDs or captured from vinyl over the years. To listen to the music, I stream it over my home network to a Samsung TV connecte
Sound & Vision10 min read
John Lennon Reimagined
WHEN YOKO ONO AND SEAN Lennon set out to create a music collection to honor the late John Lennon’s 80th birthday, they knew that another greatest hits collection wasn’t something fans needed or wanted. Instead, together with the core team that crafte
Sound & Vision7 min read
Blu Cheer
EACH AUTUMN, I fret that we won’t be able to find ten worthy entries for this gotta-have-‘em list, and every year am genuinely surprised at the bounty that has somehow remained heretofore unreleased. I guess there will always be anniversaries and res
Sound & Vision6 min readTechnology & Engineering
A/v Tech Gifts To Give—and Get
Who doesn’t love the iconic game hero Mario? A fun gift for gamers and nongamers alike, Nintendo’s micro “console” is a modern update of the hugely popular Game & Watch series that dates back to 1980. The self-contained system celebrates the enduring
Sound & Vision2 min readComputers
Stocking Stuffers
With 1More’s Bluetooth adapter you can give the gift of wireless without having to buy a new set of headphones—provided the recipient already owns a kick-ass set of wired earbuds or headphones. Plug ’em into this tiny device and, like magic, they bec
Sound & Vision10 min readPerforming Arts
Meet the New Boss
THREE YEARS AGO, Sony introduced the VPL-VW885ES, a 4K LCOS projector with a laser light engine. I found the 885ES to be capable of throwing high-quality images when I reviewed it, but in the end wasn’t fully enamored with the new projector. Basicall
Sound & Vision2 min readScience & Mathematics
Test Bench
Measurements were taken in a variety of conditions with the bulk made using the projector’s Reference preset. The selected gamma preset was 2.2. All calibration was done with the dynamic laser/iris disabled and the contrast ratio measurements taken i
Sound & Vision10 min readComputers
Turn It up To 11.2
DENON’S AVR-X6700H, made in Japan, is one of four new models in the company’s X-Series A/V receiver family. The new models start at $849 for the AVR-X2700H and extend up to $2,499 for the AVR-X6700H under review here. (The company’s current $4,000 AV
Sound & Vision8 min readComputers
Sweet 16-Channel Surround Sound
IT’S BEEN interesting to watch the evolution of Monoprice in the home theater market following the introduction of its Monolith product line. Monolith encompasses a broad range of components, including speakers, subwoofers, and amplifiers, all produc
Sound & Vision10 min readTechnology & Engineering
Stream Dream
BOY, has NAD come a long way. Back in 1978, the Canadian/American/Euro multinational’s first product was an unassuming but great-sounding little 20-watt integrated amplifier in a plain gray sheetmetal box, with controls that had all the sophisticated
Sound & Vision8 min read
The Road to Utopia
SOME MAY see France’s Focal as a maker of $100,000-plus speakers and $4,000 headphones. But while the company does maintain a high profile in the high-end through products like its Utopia towers, the reality is that Focal makes speakers—and headphone
Sound & Vision5 min read
High-Definition Sound
WHEN I FIRST ran across JBL’s HDI series loudspeakers at the 2019 CEDIA Expo, I was struck by the line’s upscale looks and substantial build quality. The brand’s new speakers seemed more akin to the Revel models also being shown in parentcompany Harm
Sound & Vision9 min readComputers
JVC Projector Theater Optimizer Function
AT THE LAST CEDIA Expo in September 2019, JVC announced a firmware update for its native 4K D-ILA projectors that delivered true frame adaptive HDR tone mapping to the lineup. For CEDIA Expo Virtual 2020, the company’s key announcement was an improve
Sound & Vision3 min read
300
Inspired by the 1962 Cinemascope epic The 300 Spartans that he saw as a lad, writer/artist Frank Miller would go on to create the five-issue graphic novel 300, a wildly stylized, heavily fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae. In his tell
Sound & Vision2 min read
District 9
DISTRICT 9 rises above its disparate components—there are multiple strong influences, everything from Alien Nation to the faux-documentary feel of The Office—to deliver a socially resonant story that’s even more relevant a decade after its release. L
Sound & Vision2 min read
Ghost In The Shell
MAMORO OSHII’S beautiful and unsettling anime film, Ghost in the Shell, has been released on Ultra HD Blu-ray to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Based on Masamune Shirow’s cyberpunk manga, the film explores themes of existence and of humanity in a te
Sound & Vision2 min read
Pitch Black
Vin Diesel came smashing into the collective popular consciousness in 2000 with Pitch Black, a futuristic sci-fi/horror film that kicked off the Riddick franchise. Diesel plays an escaped prisoner locked up on a commercial transport ship that crash-l
Sound & Vision2 min read
The Elephant Man
DIRECTOR David Lynch’s film tells the story of Joseph Merrick, whose terrible deformities to head, limbs, and skin led to him being called the Elephant Man. It begins with Merrick’s nightmare of his mother being attacked by elephants—supposedly the c
Sound & Vision2 min read
First Cow
“IT’S THE getting started that’s the puzzle—no way for a poor man to start. You need capital. Or you need some kind of miracle. Or a crime.” These words, uttered by King-Lu, a Chinese immigrant seeking fortune in the mid-19th century Oregon Territory
Sound & Vision2 min read
Roger Waters: Us + Them
ROGER WATERS may be a polarizing figure, but there’s no denying the former Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist knows how to put on one helluva live show. Following his extensive, groundbreaking brick-by-brick-building 2010-13 The Wall Live tour, Waters revam
Sound & Vision4 min read
Pleased To Meet Me – Deluxe Edition
The Rhino family have undertaken a finely detailed refresh of The Replacements catalog, having started in September 2019 by revamping, remixing, and greatly adding to February 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul by way of a 3CD/1LP deluxe box set redubbed as De
Sound & Vision4 min read
Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Remixes – Deluxe Edition
I ALWAYS viewed John Lennon as an inveterate seeker—an artist forever searching to find both his ballast and his balance. While in The Beatles, Lennon was able to connect with listeners on an interpersonal level (“In My Life”) while he also remained
Sound & Vision4 min read
Let It Roll, All Night Long
THE DOORS needed a win. Badly. After the, shall we say, appendage-related kerfuffle at a chaotic March 1969 show in Miami, the band was sidelined with legal troubles and limited performance options. Solace was found within the friendly studio confine

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