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Headphone Week, Day 6: SOL Republic Master Tracks

With this headphone's sound stand up to its sleek, customizable look?

This Week in Music: 5-14-13

Ken Richardson listens to the latest from Vampire Weekend, ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog, and more.

Headphone Week, Day 5: MrSpeakers Mad Dog Alpha

Can a tiny company tweak a popular pro headphone and make it better?

Baetis launches multichannel-oriented media server

New Baetis XR server rips and plays CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs.

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Review: SOL Republic Master Tracks

With a sleek, minimalistic and customizable look, will the sound stand up to the style?

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted May 17, 2013

Two years ago, not a soul had heard of SOL Republic. Last summer, that all changed as everyone watching the Summer Olympics frantically googled to see what brand of headphones were seemingly permanently attached to swimmer Michael Phelps’ head whenever he was out of the water. Overnight, SOL Republic went from “what’s that?” to “must have.” Can their latest design keep up with the hype?

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Review: MrSpeakers Mad Dog Alpha

Can a tiny company “tune” a popular pro headphone for better sound?

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 15, 2013

“So this is a tuner headphone,” our frequent West Coast listening panelist Will Huff commented when I showed him the Mad Dog Alpha. “Like tuner cars?” he suggested when he saw my quizzical look. “Like in Fast and Furious?” he asked when I gave him a shrug. Ah, finally I got it.

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ADL H118 with travel case

Review: Alpha Design Labs ADL H118

A closed-back audiophile portable? The cable-and-connector specialists at ADL take on the challenge.

By Michael Berk
Posted May 14, 2013

When Furutech launched their consumer-oriented Alpha Design Labs line in 2011 with the GT40 USB DAC/phono stage, it was clear that the company — which has long had a solid reputation among old-school audiophiles as a manufacturer of interconnects, power supply components, and connectors — was making a serious commitment t

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Review: Harman Kardon NC

We travel halfway around the world with HK’s retro-look, radically designed noise-canceller

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 12, 2013

I’m not much of a businessman. (If I were, would I be writing audio reviews for a living?) Still, after years of experience in marketing and advertising, I can’t help but admire a good business strategy. That’s partly why I like the Harman Kardon NC.

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Entertainment

Movie Premiere: Star Trek Into Darkness

Going where many Star Treks have gone before, this newest installment tries to both honor the legacy and keep it relevant.

By Leslie Shapiro And Ken C. Pohlmann
Posted May 16, 2013

In addition to innumerable television episodes, Paramount has produced no fewer than 12 Star Trek feature films. The canon is vast, and the core characters and their relationships are familiar to many moviegoers. The dilemma is this: How to make a film that satisfies both hardcore Trekkies as well as more casually invested international movie audiences. Does this latest installment boldly reinvigorate the franchise, or merely recycle it?

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Entertainment

This Week in Movies & TV, May 14, 2013: Eastern Thoughts Go West

Also, Cloud Atlas, 10 Movies Mastered in 4K, Jubal, 3:10 to Yuma, The Bletchley Circle

By Josef Krebs
Posted May 14, 2013

Cloud Atlas

Written and directed by Andy and Lana (formerly Larry) Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), Cloud Atlas takes you on a mind-boggling odyssey through many ages and places that come together to make up the six-story tapestry of lives and previous lives, allowing many of the best actors in Hollywood and England to play multipl

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Entertainment

This Week in Music, May 14, 2013: Vampire Weekend’s sonic getaway

Also: ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog, the resurrection of the Del-Lords, and much more. Plus: R.E.M.’s “Green” turns 25.

By Ken Richardson
Posted May 14, 2013

Vampire Modern cover

Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City

New release (XL; tour dates)
Photo by Alex John Beck

“Much of the overall sound and approach to the album was [the outcome of] being able to record the drums to tape on an old Ampex machine at Vox Recording Studios. That put us in a different world. There’s a quality that happens with tape; it lets you really crunch and compress the drums, and they don’t get harsh or painful. It has to do with the transients hitting the tape; something changes. Once the drums have been passed through tape to Pro Tools, you can really mangle them and go crazy with them.”

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Can Your Phone Do This?

Can your TV do this? Your receiver? Your speakers? Your turntable? I don’t think so.

By Ken C. Pohlmann
Posted May 10, 2013

Would you dunk your entertainment electronics toys in water? Probably not, unless you’re running some kind of insurance scam. Don’t worry. Most of my gear doesn’t like being underwater either. Trust me, if you try to play an LP record at the bottom of your pool, bad things happen. Really bad things. The jacuzzi isn’t good either.

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Gear

Review: Klipsch Image One Bluetooth

Klipsch’s Image One on-ear goes wireless.

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 9, 2013

It’s not so easy to convert a headphone to Bluetooth. You’ve got to find space for the amplifier, processing circuitry, radio transceiver, and battery—and all that stuff taking up space inside the earpieces can change the sound a lot. Plus you kinda have to have a cabled mode, because you can’t use Bluetooth on airplanes.

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News

The Pyle BlueReach PBTR70 Bluetooth Adapter

Got an obsolete 30-pin speaker dock? Pyle comes to the rescue transforming that dock into a wireless Bluetooth speaker.

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted May 9, 2013

Dust off your recently-obsoleted 30-pin Apple docks – Pyle Audio has come to the rescue. Just when you thought you were reduced to connecting to your collection of Apple-ready speaker docks by a lowly audio cable, Pyle has released the BlueReach PBTR70, an adapter plugs into any 30-pin speaker dock to receive Bluetooth from any Bluetooth-enabled audio device.

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Review: B&W Z2 AirPlay dock

How does the Lightning-equipped little brother to the A7 sound?

By Michael Trei
Posted May 9, 2013

Most of us who write about technology tend to become the go-to guy when friends and family seek gear recommendations. Last Christmas, my 16 year old niece wanted to know about speakers to use with her iPod Touch. When I asked whether she wanted a dock or something that used a cable to connect, the look she shot back told me that I might as well have asked if she wanted 8-Track or cassette.

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