Sound and Vision Magazine | Home Theater and Stereo Reviews, Best HDTVs, Music, Blu-ray

Review: Eton Rugged Rukus Bluetooth speaker

Okay, tough guy. Here’s your lean, mean, music machine.

Review: Braven BRV-1

A Bluetooth speaker built to take a pounding ... or a drenching.

Review: Primus in 5.1

Mike Mettler checks out the 5.1 Blu-ray Disc version of Sailing the Seas of Cheese.

Headphone Week Wrap-Up

Six new headphones. Six in-depth reviews. Read 'em all here.

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Eton Rugged Rukus Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Okay, tough guy. Here’s your lean, mean, music machine.

By Ken C. Pohlmann
Posted May 22, 2013

Sometimes, even during the most secret of covert ops, you need to unwind a little. You know - put your weapons aside (but still placed within easy reach) and relax with The Duffel Blog. But what kind of music playback system is best? You sure can’t pack a big boombox into your knapsack, and when the batteries run out, where are you going to find a Radio Shack in Tora Bora? What you need is a small, rugged music player that can recharge on solar power. With carabiner attach points, of course. What you need is an Eton Rugged Rukus.

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Review: Braven BRV-1

A Bluetooth speaker built to take a pounding ... or a drenching.

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 22, 2013

Compact Bluetooth speakers are all small enough to toss into a suitcase—but they’re not all tough enough to survive the trip. But I knew the Braven BRV-1 was different when I first pulled it out of its package.

With rubber bumpers covering most of its surface, rubber control buttons, and a bolted-on perfed metal grille, it looked tough enough that I could toss it onto the wooden floor of my office. So I did. Not necessarily a smart thing to do with a review sample, but when I went to mate my Samsung G3S phone with the BRV-1, everything worked just fine. I repeated the demo for my fellow Tech^2 blogger Geoff Morrison and frequent West Coast headphone tester Will Huff, and the BRV-1’s still working, still not showing a scratch.

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Headphone Week Wrap-Up

Six new headphones. Six in-depth reviews. Read 'em all here.

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 20, 2013
1

Last week was Headphone Week on soundandvisionmag.com. Six headphones, ranging from noise-cancellers to Bluetooth 'phones to hip-hop-ish cans to tweaked-out audiophile models. Every one of them done up S&V style, with full lab measurements and opinions from multiple listeners.

In case you missed any of them, here they are:

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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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Expertise

Primus: Sailing the Seas of Surround

Give a hand to Primus’s Les Claypool, who dives into the 5.1 arena and emerges as a captain of all channels.

By Mike Mettler
Posted May 21, 2013

Primus does 5.1 proud.

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Entertainment

This Week in Movies & TV, May 21, 2013: Mad, Bad, & Dangerous

Also, Side Effects, Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics: The Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, Little Caesar, White Heat, True Bloods: Season 5, Beautiful Creatures, Parker, The Last Stand, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle.

By Josef Krebs
Posted May 21, 2013

Side Effects

When her husband, Martin (Channing Tatum) gets out of stint in prison for insider trading, Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) falls into a deep depression and attempts suicide leading to her being put on an experimental new medication that has complicated side effects — such as stabbing your husband while you’re sleep walking.

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Entertainment

This Week in Music, May 21, 2013: Techno trousers shed by Daft Punk

Also: The National, Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke, Audra McDonald, “Women of Brazil,” and more. Plus: notable historical items from the Rolling Stones, Primus, and Captain Beyond.

By Ken Richardson
Posted May 20, 2013

Daft Random cover

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

New release (Daft Life/Columbia)
Photo by David Black

In this era of electronic dance music, you might think the pioneering French duo Daft Punk would be eager to trump the upstarts. But you’d be thinking wrong.

As Thomas Bangalter told Rolling Stone, “We wanted to do what we used to do with machines and samplers but with people.” And as Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo said, “It’s not that we can’t make crazy, futuristic-sounding stuff, but we wanted to play with the past.”

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News

Panasonic announces pricing and dates for ZT60 plasmas

The year's most eagerly awaited new TV hits the stores.

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 20, 2013

Ever since Geoff Morrison got a preview of Panasonic's new top-of-the-line ZT60 plasma TV at the January CES

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Expertise

R.I.P. — Ray Manzarek of The Doors

Remembering the late keyboard whiz who helped open the doors of perception in the '60s, now riding on the storm with Brother Jim.

By Mike Mettler
Posted May 20, 2013

The Doors’ keyboard whiz Ray Manzarek died in Rosenheim, Germany on May 20, age 74.

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News

GoldenEar launches HT-centric in-wall/in-ceiling speakers

New models include an in-ceiling LCR and a multipolar in-wall.

By Brent Butterworth
Posted May 20, 2013

If there's anyone who writes about audio who hasn't raved about GoldenEar Technology speakers, we don't know 'em.

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New Gear

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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