Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i Sound & Vision

It always seems odd to be writing my editorial for an April issue during the post-CES, mid-January winter lull. But I feel lucky to still be working at a print magazine in this digital age, so I won’t complain about the long lead times. Tat feeling—of being a little dated—is also not unlike how I feel these days walking around CES, a show that was once strictly about audio/video and has grown into an enormous and wild Mardi Gras of tech. But I feel lucky to still be there even though I’m not covering drones, hoverboards, smartphones, or digital health wearables. So I won’t complain about my sore feet or having to wade through all that to get to the A/V stuff. With that wind-up, here’s my takeaway from the…

Smart Watches Will Control smart homes—including lights, thermostats, and garage doors—according to one out of five consumers surveyed by Parks Associates. Nearly 20 home automation companies have created Apple Watch apps... The Vatican Is Going UHD with new Sony mobile cameras and other gear. The first event to be taped in UHD/HDR is the opening of the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica... TV Networks Are Reducing Ad loads as streaming chips away at ratings. Viacom (which owns CBS) and Turner Broadcasting are among them... TWC Will Test a Streaming service for its broadband subscribers in New York City. The Starter package would go for $10/month, a Showtime and Starz bundle for $20, and the full Standard tier for $50, with a free Roku 3 streaming box... Charter’s Spectrum TV…

Lirpa Labs Mob Cam VR App AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Eliminates airfare, hotel, and dry-cleaning bills ■ Diffuses “line rage” caused by waiting in too many lines for too long ■ Lets you bypass prickly security checks - Minus ■ Vertically held camera phones result in narrow, picket-fence-like view on widescreen ■ Surge pricing and data overage charges passed onto consumer quickly add up ■ Lacks 4K video and 7.1-channel audio support MIMICKING BUSINESS PLANS pioneered by Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit in which anyone with a car, room, or broom can offer transportation, a bed, or cleaning service to strangers, the Lirpa Labs Mob Cam VR is a new app that empowers smartphone owners everywhere to work as on-location cameramen for one or more distant viewers willing to…

Exclusive: Insider Tour of Lirpa Labs! Every audio and video gearhead is familiar with the world-famous Lirpa Labs. We can count, using many of the fingers on our hands, the number of wonderful Lirpa products we have owned over the years. Whether you have an average IQ allowing you to recite the alphabet from A to Z, or a super IQ and can recite it from Z to A, only a few people can truly comprehend the genius of Lirpa. Yes, indeed. Obviously, many Lirpa products are puzzling. Some are clearly devoid of functionality. And, of course, a good many of them are unsafe. But leading scientists tell us that men, and I am speaking of those among us with both an X and a Y chromosome, are inherently attracted…

As iconic as it remains a full halfcentury later, when Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back was being shot by director D.A. Pennebaker during the Bard’s whirlwind acoustic tour of England in May 1965, there were literally no rules to follow. “It’s the idea of the home movie, the kind of movie that was always made by one person,” says Pennebaker, still as sharp as ever at age 90. “I had gotten the notion in my head not to make a pure music film. I decided to make it about him, right at the time he was trying to figure out who he was.” It’s beyond understatement to say Dont Look Back (apostrophe very deliberately missing) set the bar for rock and pop-culture documentaries, a style that’s still very much followed…

Many people spend as much or more time listening to music in their cars as they do at home. Between a demanding job and a busy family life, the drive to and from work may be the easiest or even the only time to immerse yourself in music. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The best OEM (original equipment manufacturer) audio systems supplied with luxury automobiles these days are designed by well-respected home audio brands, and the car environment, despite a few caveats, allows engineers to factor in the known acoustics of the vehicle and the location of the listeners’ ears to create a highly controlled sonic experience. With this in mind, I excitedly traveled to Detroit last fall to assist our sister publication Automobile in a comparison of…

A Refreshing Refresh AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Native 4K imaging chips ■ HDR10 compatible - Minus ■ Lacks full HDMI v2.0a capabilities ■ Less than perfect focus uniformity ■ Careful setup needed for best results HERE WE ARE NOW A FULL FOUR years beyond Sony’s debut of the VPL-VW1000ES, the first consumerlevel native 4K projector. And yet the bounty of 4K content that was promised at that time is really now just coming to fruition with an assortment of streaming options and a new Blu-ray format springing forth. In late 2015, Sony did what I’d call a mid-cycle refresh on one of our previous Top Picks, the VPLVW600ES (May 2014; review at soundandvision.com), adding a few new features like HDR capabilities and improved contrast and brightness. But is…

The Diamond Age AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Superb sound for price ■ Botom port cuts unwanted noise ■ Dressy cosmetics - Minus ■ Odd binding-post layout WHEN A VENERABLE AUDIO brand leaves its founders behind, sometimes it loses its way. But sometimes it gets a whole new lease on life. That’s what happened when the International Audio Group (IAG, originally of Taiwan, now of mainland China) acquired a handful of British brands, including Wharfedale, Mission, and Quad. When I visited IAG’s design and manufacturing facility in Shenzhen a dozen years ago, I was surprised at how self-reliant it was. The resident speaker designer could have a custom part made and tested in 24 hours, rather than having to outsource it and wait for months, as Wharfedale’s British forebears…

MEASUREMENTS were made in a totally dark room. All measurements were taken at a distance of 10 feet from the 90-inch-wide screen surface. Instrumentation included a Minolta CS-200 color meter (NIST certified 12/2014) with a Quantum Data 780 generator and SpectraCal CalMAN 4 software. THE projector used was Epson’s PowerLite Home Cinema 3500, with 383 lamp-operating hours registered prior to the measurement session. SCREEN luminance and color temperature were measured at the screen center and several target points across the screen, as shown in the chart. For each screen target, the meter was a linear distance of 10 feet away, directly head-on and perpendicular to the target point and then moved off axis in the direction indicated, first at 15° and then 30° using a Bosch electronic angle finder. LUMINANCE…

Highly Dynamic AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Very good brightness for the price ■ Excellent contrast ■ Fully motorized lens controls - Minus ■ Slight enhancement artifacts MOST PROJECTOR MANUFACturers refresh their product lines every fall like clockwork, but JVC opted to sit things out for 2014. The main reason (I suspect) was the state of flux surrounding the HDMI standard, which at that point was evolving to a new 18-gigabit-persecond version designed to accommodate a full range of 4K/Ultra HD bells and whistles, including 60-hertz frame rate, 4:4:4 color sampling, and high dynamic range. Released at the tail end of last year, the DLA-X550R ($3,999) is the entry-level model in JVC’s 2015-16 lineup. Along with having the latest and greatest HDMI connections (HDMI 2.0a), it has a 265-watt…

Revisionist history is just as much a part of rock & roll as guitars, cars, and odes to love and lust are. Some albums initially looked upon as noble but failed experiments more ofen than not semi-mysteriously improve with age and hindsight when viewed through the prism of time, wherein listeners finally catch up to the scope of the artists’ originally over-their-heads intentions. And thus we find our audio crosshairs directly focused on Tusk, the double album Fleetwood Mac released in October 1979 as the follow-up to 1977’s multizillion-selling—and undeniably stellarsounding— juggernaut, Rumours. Ting is, Tusk was instantly decried by many as, well, a grand disappointment. Tat said, those of us who ignored the condescending cognoscenti viewpoint instead found the four sides and 75 minutes of Tusk to be a…

PRICE $699 B&W Zeppelin Wireless Sound System AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ AirPlay, Bluetooth, analog input ■ Redesign reduces cabinet resonance ■ Unique cosmetics - Minus ■ No iPhone/iPod dock THE DEBUT OF THE IPOD WAS SO cataclysmic that it nearly hurled the planet out of orbit. “1,000 songs in your pocket” was a revolution on par with “perfect sound forever.” And now it seems just as archaic. In fact, Apple no longer offers the iPod classic, and Bowers & Wilkins has quietly eliminated the iPhone/iPod dock from its formidable Zeppelin one-piece audio system. If you want to plug a wired device into the new Zeppelin Wireless, it’ll have to go into the analog minijack in back—the servants’ entrance, as it were. Only your wireless AirPlay and Bluetooth sources…

AVR Pioneers I own a Sony BDP-BX57 Blu-ray player that can play SACDs. I also own a Pioneer VSX-820-K A/V receiver that can only decode two-channel DSD signals from SACDs via its HDMI inputs. To get the best performance when playing multichannel SACDs, should I set the HDMI output on the Sony Blu-ray player to bitstream? Also, which of the following listening modes on the AVR should I choose: Auto Surround, Direct, or Pure Direct? Chris Murphy / via e-mail Since your Pioneer receiver only handles two-channel DSD signals via HDMI, getting multichannel audio from SACDs means you’ll need to first set the DSD Output Mode in the Sony player’s Audio settings menu to Off. Tis will let the player convert the DSD signal on SACDs to multichannel PCM for…

Binge On is the name of T-Mobile’s new streaming service for mobile devices, which delivers major channels and platforms with no data caps or overage fees. Te service is available to Simple Choice plan subscribers. Content includes Netflix, HBO Go, Showtime, Hulu, Sling TV, Vudu, and sports channels like Major League Baseball, Fox Sports, and NBC sports, among others (subscription charges may apply). T-Mobile even managed to get rights to Verizon’s go90—with primetime shows, live music, and sports—and DirecTV video apps. Resolution is “DVD or better.” Te service costs $14/month for the first 12 months, which includes a 30-percent discount, plus a free seven-day trial of Sling TV.…

The Apps of My Eye Apps are ofen referred to as “mobile,” which an Apple TV decidedly is not. Fixed to a big-screen TV, the media receiver (Gen 4) and Apple TV App Store offerings are meant to be enjoyed from the sofa, though there are some games and workouts best deployed off the couch. Te store has seven departments: Games, Education, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, News, and Sports. Here are my favorite apps, several of which you’ve probably never heard of. Surround Speaker Check On previous versions of Apple TV, you’d use this handy utility via Airplay from an iPad or iPhone to test your 5.1 system. An onscreen animation lets you verify that your speakers are working discretely and in concert. I was ashamed to discover that…

Black Is Back AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Blacks are truly black ■ Fine detail ■ Near-perfect off-axis viewing - Minus ■ Pricey ■ Annoying calibration menus WHILE OLED (ORGANIC light-emitting diode) technology offers most of the benefits of the now sadly departed plasma sets (and in some ways, more benefits), it’s been difficult to manufacture at commercially viable prices. So far, only LG is actively marketing OLED in the U.S. (though we hope others will follow). A recent drop in LG’s prices for OLED sets has rendered them more affordable, though still far from generating “Attention, Shoppers” announcements at K-Mart. Like plasma, OLEDs are selfemissive; each pixel provides its own illumination. LCD pixels, on the other hand, can form the image but produce no light of their own.…

FULL-ON/FULL-OFF contrast ratio: 108,000:1 ALL measurements were taken with the projector in the Reference preset and Low lamp mode. All calibration measurements were taken with a Colorimetry Research CR-100 profiled to a Jeti Specbos 1211 Spectroradiometer. The gamma correction preset was 2.4, which measured nearly perfect. All calibration was done with the Advanced Iris in Off; contrast ratio measurements were done in a variety of different modes for the iris as noted. The lamp had 120 hours on it during the calibration. All viewing and measurements were done on a 120-inch-diagonal Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 100 screen (1.0 gain). FULL-ON/FULL-OFF contrast was measured with a Minolta T-10 meter from 8 inches away from the lens face. I tested various configurations in Low lamp mode with the Advanced Iris in various conditions.…

Micromirror Magic AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Excellent, Rec. 709 color palete for long-term, fuss-free accuracy ■ High-grade optics provide edge-to-edge sharpness ■ Precision calibration controls for hobbyists; ISF modes for the pros - Minus ■ Short throw ratio and limited vertical offset require careful planning for permanent installation ■ Not stealth fighter quiet (but not “arrest me!” loud, either) ■ 3D glasses optional BEGINNING IN 2009 AND YEARLY thereafter, Taiwan-based BenQ Corporation has claimed the distinction of being the best-selling brand for DLP projectors worldwide. While models designated for the business and education markets bolster the overall sales figure, the company has enjoyed a strong presence in consumer home theater as well. BenQ aims to retain that No. 1 status, aided by their new HT series of home…

See soundandvisionmag.com for full lab results and technical definitions DIAMOND 220 (purple) +1.44/–4.56 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 99 Hz, –6 dB @ 76 Hz; impedance minimum 4.35 ohms @ 224 Hz, phase angle –35.10º @ 120 Hz; sensitivity 87 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz. DIAMOND 220C (green) +2.71/–3.73 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 83 Hz, –6 dB @ 70 Hz; impedance minimum 4.26 ohms @ 213 Hz, phase angle –43.44º @ 3.6 kHz; sensitivity 87 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz. WH-D10 (blue) Close-miked response, normalized to level @ 80 Hz: lower –3 dB @ 37 Hz, –6 dB @ 34 Hz, upper –3 dB @ 553 Hz using LFE input. SPECS 220: 5 in Kevlar-cone woofer, 1 in sof-dome…

Punchy Perfect AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Great brightness for the price ■ Dynamic iris control enhances contrast ■ Very good 3D performance - Minus ■ Low Lamp Control setting greatly diminishes brightness ■ Manual focus, zoom, and lens shift controls THE LAST TIME I HAD MY HANDS on a Sony product, it was a 4K projector priced at ten grand. That model, the VPL-VW350ES (May 2015 issue and at soundandvision.com), had many positive attributes (I gave it a Top Pick stamp, after all), along with one weakness: somewhat lackluster contrast compared with that of projectors that provide a dynamic iris control. Video geeks know that picture contrast can have a dramatic effect on image quality. Sure, the detail boost that 4K provides is nice, but in the grand…

FULL-ON/FULL-OFF Contrast Ratio: 24,500:1 PRE-CALIBRATION measurements were made in the Cinema preset at the default settings. Post-calibration measurements were made in the User 1 mode. Maximum contrast measurements were made with the Manual Lens Aperture setting at –11, Clear Black at Low, and Lamp Power at Low. With these settings, the JVC’s black level measured 0.001 ft-L and peak white 24.5 ft-L, for a contrast ratio of 24,500:1. HIGHEST peak brightness was delivered by the default settings in the Anime mode: 56.2 ft-L. Fan noise in this and other modes with Lamp Power set to High was notably louder, making Low the better option. BEFORE calibration, the JVC’s 6,500-K color temperature preset displayed a reddish bias at all IRE levels. The Delta E of its pre-cal grayscale averaged out to…

NEW GEAR, TOP NEWS, HOW TO, AND MORE... Few have done more to advance the state of the art in audio reproduction than J. Robert Stuart, co-founder, chairman, and technical director of England’s prestigious Meridian Group, Life Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), and recipient of the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. In a recent video commemorating the honor, Meridian co-founder and longtime collaborator, Allen Boothroyd—the man responsible for the brand’s elegant designs—observed: “I never realized when I set up business with Bob that the guy’s a genius.” Genius, indeed. The soft-spoken pioneer is known the world over for developing the first digital active speaker, the first audiophile CD player, and the first digital surround processor in addition to inventing MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing)…

The Annual Big Clean For most of its life, your audio gear probably just sits there, quietly doing its thing, providing (hopefully) years of quality entertainment. But all the while, a silent killer lurks in your house: dust. And unless your listening room is like some kind of Silicon Valley clean space or you have a hermetically sealed audio rack—in which case you’ve probably got some ventilation issues to address—your gear is under constant attack from dust particles that could shorten its life. It’s no secret that heat kills electronics, but it isn’t a sudden, Chuck Norris neck-snap kind of killing, but more a slow, methodical, and diabolical David Fincher death, making it easier to neglect. However, besides lack of ventilation, the number-one contributor to your equipment’s untimely thermal demise…

NAD Viso HP30 Headphone AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ A crisply styled, downright elegant design ■ Sweet balance takes edge off harsh recordings ■ Hinged headband allows for compact storage - Minus ■ Highish ear pad pressure, comfort issues NAD ROCKED THE AUDIOPHILE world in the late 1970s when it introduced its astonishing 3020 integrated amp. That amp eventually became one of the best-selling of all time and established NAD as the brand that prioritized performance over superfluous features and glitzy styling, at affordable prices. That “sound quality first” ethos continued over the decades, and NAD recently scored another direct hit with its Viso HP50 over-the-ear headphones. So, I was eager to check out their new Viso HP30 on-ear model. Looking at the two NADs side by side, the…

Ultra HDTVs and associated technologies are the next chapter in video history. But they also use an average of 30 percent more energy than regular HDTVs. According to a report from the National Resources Defense Council, this may add $1 billion to U.S. consumers’ energy bills. Te good news is that UHDTVs are not all created equal. “Tere is a huge range in the efficiency of the UHD models on the market,” says Noah Horowitz, director of NRDC’s Center for Energy Efficiency. “We found an almost threefold difference in energy consumption between the best and worst, with some models using little or no more energy than their HD predecessors.” But others suck up as much power as a fridge. What can a conscientious (or just plain thrify) consumer do? First,…

FOR the picture settings used in this review, go to soundandvision.com. MEASUREMENTS were made using SpectraCal CalMAN measurement software, Photo Research PR-650 and Klein K-10A color meters, and AVFoundry VideoForge 2K and DVDO 4K pattern generators. All calibrations were performed in 1080p and Rec. 709. FULL-ON/FULL-OFF Contrast Ratio: Unmeasurable AT a peak white light output of 50 ft-L (Expert1 Picture Mode, LED Light at 50, Contrast at 75, Brightness at 49), the black level couldn’t be measured (in effect, it was totally black). ON a white window test pattern, the peak available light output I measured in the Expert1 Picture Mode, with both the OLED Light and Contrast controls set to 100 (maximum), was 113 ft-L (387 nits) on both 2% and 18% white window patterns and 36 ft-L (123…

Flagship Class AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Equipped with Dolby Atmos, primed for DTS:X ■ Abundant clean, dynamic power ■ AirPlay, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi all on board ■ Versatile, usable, hi-resready streaming options - Minus ■ Only two height channels, whether powered or line ■ Failed to stream DSD recordings PRODUCING A TEST REPORT ON a “flagship” A/V receiver is always a bit of a high-wire act. On one hand, the receiver represents the top of the line: Maximum power, maximum features, and maximum performance are all expected—and generally delivered. On the other hand, cruiser-class designs rarely offer much of real importance that a model two or three jumps down any given maker’s line doesn’t also do quite competently—and for roughly half the price, which means it’s the model that…

FULLL-ON/FULL-OFF Contrast Ratio: 1,358:1 CALIBRATED peak white light output: 27.7 ft-L. Calibrated black level: 0.0204 ft-L MEASUREMENTS were made with a Quantum Data 780 generator, Minolta CS-200 color meter, and SpectraCal CalMAN 4 software. PRE-CALIBRATION measurements were taken in the Cinema (Rec. 709) mode, which defaults to the Normal color temperature. Post-calibration was in the same mode, with Warm as the selected color temperature. Lamp mode was Smart Eco. The machine does not have an adjustable iris. The screen was an 87-inch-wide Stewart StudioTek 130 G3 (1.78:1 aspect ratio), though the HT4050 produces more than adequate light output for larger screens (above 96 inches wide). PRE-CALIBRATION, but with Contrast properly adjusted for peak white, the HT4050 put out 48.33 ft-L of light. I throttled it back to 20.6 using Smart…

Field of Screens AT A GLANCE + Plus ■ Uncanny ability to make any projection technology look exemplary ■ Greatly enhances contrast and black level, even with budget projectors ■ Easy assembly with superb fit and finish ■ Performance enhancement that would be banned if projection video were a sport - Minus ■ Slightly pearlescent sheen with some highbrightness, fully saturated, high-motion scenes ■ That it has appeared only recently “IS THIS HEAVEN?” JOHN Kinsella unwittingly asks his son, Ray, in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. “It’s Iowa,” Ray answers. Turning slowly to walk away, John halts, replying, “Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.” Nearly three hours west of Dyersville, Iowa, the movie-location site of that fantasy baseball field, is the town of Ames, where a bit…

FULL-ON/FULL-OFF Contrast Ratio: 22,950:1 PRE-CALIBRATION measurements were made in Cinema Film 1 preset at the default settings. Post-calibration measurements were made in the User mode. Maximum contrast measurements were made with Advanced Iris on, Dynamic Control at Full, and Lamp Control set to High. With these settings, and on my 90-inch-diagonal, 1.1-gain Stewart Filmscreen Cima Neve projection screen, the Sony’s black level measured 0.001 footlamberts and peak white 22.95 ft-L for a contrast ratio of 22,950:1. HIGHEST peak brightness was delivered by the default settings in the Game mode: 70.4 ft-L. Fan noise in this and other modes with Lamp Control set to High was reasonably low, though it was nearly nonexistent in Low Lamp Control mode. Selecting Low Lamp Control caused picture brightness to drop by nearly 50%, however,…

GIVEN THE UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE of having two brand-new and highly competitive $4,000 projectors in house at the same time, it makes sense to offer some additional comparative comments. To begin, while Sony’s VPL-HW65ES and JVC’s DLA-X550R aren’t entry-level projectors, each provides a level of performance you would typically expect from pricier models. Both deliver impressive brightness, powerful contrast (courtesy of a dynamic iris feature), and video processing that can increase picture clarity without making images look over-enhanced. Both models also do a fine job of handling 3D content. After spending a substantial amount of time watching with the Sony and JVC—including a shoot-out session where I was able to quickly switch between them—I started to get a sense of each projector’s relative strengths. The Sony delivers a brighter image than…