Capernaum

Picture
Sound
Extras

For my money, Capernaum was the best film of 2018—similar to Roma (slice of life, untrained actors), not as cinematically breathtaking (though still impressive), but emotionally more gripping (fuller characters, deeper drama). The title is an Arab word meaning Godforsaken chaos (taken from a Biblical tale of a city literally forsaken by God), and that's a fair description of the impoverished section of Beirut where the film takes place.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/capernaum

Poll: S&V Readers Weigh In on HDR

Just over half (51%) of those who participated in our recent poll asking “how often do you watch HDR content” said they cue up 4K HDR (high dynamic range) movies and TV shows as much as they can (29%) or between one to four times a week (22%).

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/poll-sv-readers-weigh-hdr

Jamo Updates Stylish Concert Series Speakers

Jamo, the Klipsch-owned Danish speaker company known for its stylish speaker designs, has updated the acoustic and aesthetic design of its flagship Concert speaker series.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/jamo-updates-stylish-concert-series-speakers

Best Gear of May 2019

Sound & Vision Top Picks for the month of May include a high-performance 4K Blu-ray player that will delight AV enthusiasts, home theater speakers that deliver strikingly good sound for a reasonable price, and a set of powered bookshelf speakers that puts today’s smart speakers to shame. Rounding things out are two topnotch audio components — a surround processor/preamp from a venerable audio brand and an integrated amp/DAC from a lesser known company that has been favored by in-the-know audiophiles for years.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/best-gear-may-2019

Onkyo’s New Mid-Priced AVRs Boast IMAX and THX

Onkyo is covering the home theater bases with two mid-priced AV receivers that boast THX Select certification, processing for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive surround sound, and the company’s first implementation of IMAX Enhanced technology.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/onkyo-s-new-mid-priced-avrs-boast-imax-and-thx

Primare Prisma I15 Integrated Amplifier/Dac Review

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $1,999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Unimpeachable sound quality
Impressive power and dynamic ability
Chromecast built-in, AirPlay, and Spotify Connect support
Minus
No phono input or headphone output
No native streaming (requires smartphone, tablet or similar)

THE VERDICT
Flexible streaming options enhance the appeal of this sleek-looking integrated amplifier/DAC with serious audiophile pedigree and performance.

Primare is a small audio component manufacturer in Sweden founded by an industrial designer from Denmark. The Malmö-based firm's quirky high-end electronics have found favor among in-the-know audiophiles for nearly thirty years. Recently, a new line of streaming-centric components was introduced that appear custom-made to broaden Primare's appeal, and if the entry-level Prisma I15 integrated amplifier/DAC ("streamplifier," as I like to call them) they've supplied us for review here is any indication, the move will succeed.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/primare-prisma-i15-integrated-amplifierdac-review

Poll: How Often Do You Watch HDR Content?

Not to take anything away from the benefits of 4K Ultra HD over standard HD, but increased resolution alone pales in comparison with high dynamic range). Simply put, HDR is a game-changing technology that increases brightness to make TV images more life-like. With that in mind, we’d like to know how often you watch movies and TV shows in 4K HDR. And, as always, we encourage you to leave a comment to share your impressions and experiences with HDR.

Poll: How Often Do You Watch HDR Content?

Choices

Never. My TV doesn’t support HDR and that’s fine with me.

Never. My TV doesn’t support HDR but I wish it did.

Every now and then but not very often.

Once or twice a week.

Three or four times a week.

I watch as much HDR content as I can find.

Leave this field blank

Show Promo Image

SV Staff

no

Sound & Vision Poll: How Often Do You Watch HDR Content?

Category: 

Vote

Primary Category: 

VOTE

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/how-often-do-you-watch-hdr-content-0

Keyboard Maestro Howard Jones Transforms Once Again

Keyboard maestro Howard Jones got on the line with us from his homebase in Somerset, England to discuss the genesis and evolution of his new studio album Transform, his love of vintage gear and surround sound, and why he’s all-in when it comes to mastering his music for vinyl.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/keyboard-maestro-howard-jones-transforms-once-again

Virgin Media Makes History with 4K HDR Broadcast

Virgin Media became the first UK TV platform to broadcast in 4K/Ultra HD with high dynamic range (HDR) with its Sunday coverage of the French Open tennis tournament that runs through June 9th in Paris.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/virgin-media-makes-history-4k-hdr-broadcast

iPod Comeback? Apple Updates its Iconic Music Player

The iPod touch was the last man standing when Apple phased out the nano and shuffle in 2017. Yesterday, Apple announced an updated iPod touch featuring a faster processor and two iPod firsts — Group FaceTime video chatting and support for augmented reality (AR) gaming.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/ipod-comeback-apple-updates-its-iconic-music-player

Control4’s MQA Support a First for Home Automation

Control4’s adoption of MQA technology in its just released OS 3 smart-home operating system marks the debut of the high-resolution MQA format in the world of custom home automation.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/control4-s-mqa-support-first-home-automation

Your Smart Speaker is a Dunce

You can use your smart speaker to play music, tell you a joke, and even make phone calls. But you can't use it to call 911. That's not so smart, is it?

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/your-smart-speaker-dunce

New High-End Smartphone Boasts DTS:X Ultra Audio

Last week DTS announced the integration of DTS:X Ultra audio processing into a high-end smartphone you might not have heard of: the Zenfone 6 Taiwanese computer maker ASUS is planning to release in the U.S.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/new-high-end-smartphone-boasts-dtsx-ultra-audio

NJ Startup to Crowd-Fund Retro-Cool Internet Radio

New Jersey-based startup Voiz has unveiled a retro-styled internet radio it hopes to bring to market this fall.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/nj-startup-crowd-fund-retro-cool-internet-radio

Remaster Clase: Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery

Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's grand progressive opus of November 1973, was the one LP I knew I could play for my fraternal grandparents to show them rock music was as legitimate an aural artform as classical or jazz. When I first cued up the original Manticore/Atlantic vinyl on their stereo console during an early-1980s visit, I began with the one-two tandem of ELP's reimagining

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/remaster-clase-emerson-lake-palmer-brain-salad-surgery

Control4 ‘Sets New Standard’ in Smart Home Control

Smart-home specialist Control4 has launched a new smart home operating system with more than a thousand new capabilities across lighting, whole-home music and video, security, comfort, and more.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/control4-sets-new-standard-smart-home-control

Elac Navis ARB-51 Powered Loudspeaker Review

Performance
Build Quality
Value

PRICE $2,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Top-tier tonal accuracy and dynamic ability
Amazingly compact for performance level
On-board EQ offers flexible placement options
Minus
Relatively tight sweet spot
No on-board streaming, digital inputs, or DSP

THE VERDICT
Elac's powered-speaker is highly compact, yet capable enough to satisfy serious listeners.

Active loudspeakers, or speakers with built-in amplification, have long been box-office poison in the U.S. market. That's because we Americans like our big receivers, choosing them based on power ratings, and then hooking them up to conventional, passive speakers using garden-hose speaker wire. When you add up the market segments that simply won't consider active speakers, including owners of receivers lacking preamp outputs and those who simply cannot get their heads around the whole powered-speaker concept, the issue becomes a non-starter.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/elac-navis-arb-51-powered-loudspeaker-review

Audio Time Machine: Revox Reel-to-Reel Recorder

With its latest audio offering, New Jersey-based vintage audio specialist SkyFi Audio steps back in time but adds a modern twist.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/audio-time-machine-revox-reel-reel-recorder

LG Adds Alexa Voice Control to 2019 TVs

LG today announced the addition of Amazon Alexa voice control to 2019 TVs featuring its ThinQ artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/lg-adds-alexa-voice-control-2019-tvs

Should I Invest in IMAX Enhanced AV Gear?

Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Is there any reason why I should invest in IMAX Enhanced AV gear and discs? Do you think this technology can survive against the established Dolby and DTS competition? —David Riley, via email

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/should-i-invest-imax-enhanced-av-gear

The Rising Prices of Streaming Live TV Mean Cutting the Cord Is No Bargain

Over the past year, the price of streaming live TV has been on the rise. It’s time to question whether cutting the cord — canceling the subscription to your cable/satellite/telecom provider — will really save money.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/rising-prices-streaming-live-tv-mean-cutting-cord-no-bargain

How to Train Your Drogon

If you don’t understand the pun above, don’t be confused. Even though 30 million viewers in the U.S., and untold millions more around the world, watched every one of the over 70 episodes of HBO’s remarkable series Game of Thrones, most of the world remains oblivious to this noteworthy achievement — or perhaps actively avoiding it…

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/how-train-your-drogon

Star Wars: A Home Theater Adventure

Most of us remember the first time as a kid that seeing a movie had a profound impact on our young mind. For plenty of kids who came of age in the 1970s, that movie was the first episode of the original Star Wars trilogy, which was released in 1977. For Kelly Sterne of Flower Mound, Texas, a fascination with Star Wars led to an obsession with action figures based on the movies, his regular trips to the local Toys-R-Us eventually yielding a collection of 200 original, unopened figures.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/star-wars-home-theater-adventure

Discovering New Music on Bandcamp

If you enjoy discovering new music, you need to check out Bandcamp.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/discovering-new-music-bandcamp

CTA: Latest China Tariffs Akin to 25% Tax on Tech

The latest round of proposed tariffs on goods made in China would impact an additional $300 billion worth of imports, including TVs, wireless headphones, smart speakers, laptops, and smartphones.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/cta-latest-china-tariffs-akin-25-tax-tech

Bose Adds Google Assistant to Speakers, Soundbars

Thanks to the magic of an overnight software update, Bose smart speakers and soundbars can now be controlled by simply saying, “Hey Google.”

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/bose-adds-google-assistant-speakers-soundbars

New McIntosh Preamp Boasts Digital Upgrade Module

McIntosh today introduced a stereo preamplifier that features a removable module that enables it to be easily upgraded to new audio formats and technologies as they become available.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/new-mcintosh-preamp-boasts-digital-upgrade-module

Denon’s New Midline AVRs Boast eARC, AirPlay 2

Denon today announced the addition of two lower priced, feature-rich AV receivers to its X-Series.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/denon-s-new-midline-avrs-boast-earc-airplay-2

Vizio's New 4K TV Lineup Has 10 Quantum-Dot Models

Vizio today rolled out a new 4K Ultra HDTV line that offers more models with wide-color-gamut quantum-dot technology, raises color gamut to up to 84% of the Rec. 2020 standard, and boosts peak brightness levels to up to 3,000 nits.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/vizios-new-4k-tv-lineup-has-10-quantum-dot-models

Origin Acoustics Brings Artnovion Room Acoustics Solutions to U.S.

Custom installation specialist Origin Acoustics has announced the availability of new diffuser panels from Portugal’s Artnovion that are designed to enhance room acoustics.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/origin-acoustics-brings-artnovion-room-acoustics-solutions-us

Origin Acoustics Launches Artnovion Room Acoustics Products

Custom installation specialist Origin Acoustics has announced the availability of new diffuser panels from Portugal’s Artnovion that are designed to enhance room acoustics.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/origin-acoustics-launches-artnovion-room-acoustics-products

Kubrick Classic ‘The Shining’ Headed for 4K Blu-ray

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror masterpiece, The Shining, will be released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray this fall.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/kubrick-classic-shining-headed-4k-blu-ray

Hands On: Jabra Elite 85h Wireless ANC Headphones

I’ve got an insanely long airplane trip coming up and, no surprise, my very first thought was, which noise-cancelling headphones should I bring for the flight? Great news for me; Jabra just released the Elite 85h. Besides having a sound that competes with the best ANC headphones out there, they’re the only ones with enough battery life to last for my entire journey. Let’s see if they sound good enough to stay on my packing list.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/hands-jabra-elite-85h-wireless-anc-headphones

Green Book

Picture
Sound
Extras

If your crystal ball predicted that someday the writer/director of There's Something About Mary would take home an Academy Award for Best Picture, let's hope you bet big and didn't smash the thing. Peter Farrelly's Green Book is an emotional smorgasbord, one that would no doubt be appreciated by its ever-famished "hero," Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen). He's a gleefully ignorant yet strangely lovable tough guy (what my people would call a cavone), albeit one who needs to learn a thing or two about race relations. Tony gets his chance when, on a hiatus from his job as a bouncer at The Copacabana, he's hired to chauffeur piano virtuoso Dr. Don Shirley (two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali)—a black man—on a concert tour of the Deep South in 1962.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/green-book

Americans Falling in Love with Smart Speakers

Americans are falling in love with smart speakers. One in three U.S. households (31%) now own one, up from 8% three years ago, according to a new Consumer Technology Association (CTA) study.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/americans-falling-love-smart-speakers

New Hisense 4K Android TVs All Priced Under $1,000

China’s Hisense is rolling out a new line of feature-packed 4K Ultra HD Android TVs priced between $400 and $1,000 in an aggressive effort to gain a bigger foothold in the U.S. market.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/new-hisense-4k-android-tvs-all-priced-under-1000

Triad Covers the Bases with In-Wall/Ceiling Speakers

Triad today introduced a new line of in-wall/ceiling speakers designed to bring installation flexibility to “any budget.”

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/triad-covers-bases-wallceiling-speakers

McIntosh and Arcam Get AirPlay 2 Via DTS Play-Fi

DTS today announced that its Play-Fi multiroom streaming platform now supports AirPlay 2 in products from McIntosh and Arcam.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/mcintosh-and-arcam-get-airplay-2-dts-play-fi

‘Wizard of Oz’ 80th Anniversary 4K Blu-ray in Works

To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of one of the most beloved movies of all time, Warner Bros. staged a series of screenings of the Wizard of Oz in theaters around the country earlier this year. Now word on the street has it that an 80th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition is in the works...

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/wizard-oz-80th-anniversary-4k-blu-ray-works

NAD M17 V2 Surround Preamp/ Processor Review

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $6,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Exceptional flexibility First-rate build quality Superb sound
Minus
Complex ergonomics Inadequate owner's manual

THE VERDICT
This NAD preamp-processor can accommodate nearly every system requirement and then some. While pricey, it's hard to imagine a better-sounding hub for your home theater.

NAD (New Acoustic Dimensions) gained considerable attention soon after its founding in 1972 by offering impressive sound quality at fair prices. Today, most of NAD's more affordable products still proudly bear the unique, workpants cosmetics of its early days. But that definitely doesn't apply to the upscale Masters series, which includes the M17 V2 surround preamp-processor. As with all current NAD products, the M17 V2 is manufactured in China but designed in Canada, where the company is headquartered.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/nad-m17-v2-surround-preamp-processor-review

Kiefer Sutherland Plays It Reckless & Free

Kiefer Sutherland called us before heading out to a band rehearsal to discuss the songwriting process for his fine new album Reckless & Me, his love of vinyl, how playing music live has informed his subsequent acting choices, and what kind of music Jack Bauer and Tom Kirkman might have on their personal playlists.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/kiefer-sutherland-plays-it-reckless-free

1More Brings High Style to $100 Wireless Earbuds

China-based headphone specialist 1More today introduced a compact set of wireless earbuds that offers high style, noise-canceling for improved phone communication, and expert sound tuning at the “disruptive price” of $100.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/1more-brings-high-style-100-wireless-earbuds

Report: Americans Skeptical About 5G

An American public that is largely satisfied with the performance of 4G cellular networks remains skeptical about the benefits of next-generation 5G technology that is just now starting to get off the ground, according to a new report from the User Experience Strategies (UXS) group at Strategy Analytics.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/report-americans-skeptical-about-5g

Sound United to Add Onkyo to Stable of Audio Brands

Sound United has entered into a preliminary agreement to acquire Onkyo Corporation’s consumer audio division, which includes the Pioneer, Pioneer Elite, and Integra brands.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sound-united-add-onkyo-stable-audio-brands

Sharp to Re-Enter TV Business in U.S.

Japan-based Sharp confirmed in a terse statement posted on its website that the brand will re-enter the TV business in the U.S. during the second half of the year under a partnership with Hong Kong-based Hisense.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sharp-re-enter-tv-business-us

Paradigm Co-Founder Buys Paradigm, Anthem, and MartinLogan

Scott Bagby, audio industry veteran and co-founder of the respected Canadian speaker brand Paradigm, has announced the purchase of Paradigm Electronics, Anthem Electronics, and MartinLogan Loudspeakers from Shoreview Industries, the Minneapolis-based private equity firm that acquired a controlling interest in Paradigm in 2005.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/paradigm-co-founder-buys-paradigm-anthem-and-martinlogan

A Visit to Danish Speaker Manufacturer DALI

DALI (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) was founded in 1983 by Peter Lyngdorf, who is also the founder and owner of high-end audio company Steinway Lyngdorf. The company currently employs 300 people, with the bulk of its manufacturing carried out in a 2,220-square-foot factory located in farm country midway between Aarhus and Aalborg. DALI produced 250,000 speakers in 2018, and exported products to 70 countries.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/visit-danish-speaker-manufacturer-dali

Sonos Gets Google Assistant (Finally)

Sonos today announced a long-awaited software update that adds Google Assistant voice control to its Sonos One wireless smart speaker and Sonos Beam wireless soundbar — both Sound & Vision Top Picks.

from
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/sonos-gets-google-assistant-finally