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Review: HTC One

A smartphone review, Sound & Vision style.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted May 5, 2013
- 5
This is not your typical cell phone review. Mostly because I don’t understand most cell phone reviews. It’s a phone. You get a new one every few years. The fervor and intensity of Internet discussions about what phone is best is beyond my realm of understanding.
So what is this? Well, by most accounts the HTC One is, ahem, one of the top smartphones available right now (the others being the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S IV) and I was curious, how good is it? Not just from the dime-a-dozen subjective point a view, but an actual look at the hardware.
So I guess you could consider this a look at the HTC One mostly as an LCD TV and portable media player, judged as such, plus a bit of the other subjective crap because why not. Plus, we went ahead and did full video and audio measurements on it. Because why not.

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Val Kolton on “Need You Tonight/Mediate” by INXS

The V-MODA founder picks a Song from his Soundtrack
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted May 4, 2013
Val Kolton is the CEO and founder of the headphone and portable audio company V-MODA. As a DJ and producer, he has toured the globe playing among the top DJs and musicians as well as held the residency at Hollywood's most elite clubs. Here he picks a Song from his Soundtrack.

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Review: AudioTechnica ATH-AD900X

One of the best budget audiophile headphones gets an update.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted May 3, 2013
- 1
When I’m asked to pick my favorite headphones for S&V’s Editor’s Choice awards, it’s always easy. I just make a list of the ones I kept using after the review was done—the ones I listened to even when I didn’t have to. After our test of affordable audiophile headphones last year, the headphone I kept on using afterward was the AudioTechnica ATH-AD900. It’s a big, comfortable, spacious-sounding, tonally neutral open-back headphone. Just the thing for streaming Internet radio for hours while I’m writing, or to use for an all-night-long Netflix binge.
That’s why I was so happy to find a successor to the ATH-AD900 at the January CES show. The ATH-AD900X has the same list price, pretty much the same specs, and similar looks.

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This Week in Headphones: April 29, 2013

Four new models priced from $25 to $2,289
- By S&v Staff
- Posted April 29, 2013
$2,289 for a set of headphones? Sure, we've seen big, clunky audiophile headphones selling for prices in that range, but never a mainstream product priced so high.

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Review: Meridian Explorer

The high-end audio legend unleashes one for the masses
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
[*Note: After sending me an Explorer, Meridian quietly introduced a running change into its production.

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Review: High Resolution Technologies microStreamer

Big performance and value in a small, solid-aluminum package
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
Housed in a billet-like slab of aluminum, the HRT microStreamer’s clean, utilitarian design tips you off right away that it means business. In this case, that biz is performing the same basic tasks as the Dragonfly, including decoding files with up to 96 kHz/24-bit resolution. And at a mere 2.5 inches, it checks in for work in a similarly compact form factor.

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Review: Audioquest DragonFly

The game-changing, insect-named DAC abides
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 5, 2013
I’ve had a DragonFly revolving in and out of my desktop setup ever since I first checked one out for S&V’s 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, so I was already very familiar with its capabilities.

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Review: V-Moda Vamp Verza

A super-stylish, high-end headphone amp/DAC that clips onto a Samsung GS3 smartphone.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted April 4, 2013
As an Android fan, it's been frustrating to me to see how many audio accessories have been made for the iPhone, but almost none for my phone of choice. As a Samsung Galaxy S III owner, it's been even more frustrating, because the GS3 has sold more than 40 million units to date, with the GS4 coming in a couple of weeks to keep the trend going. Finally, though, someone's come up with an audio accessory for the GS3. Not some tacky little plastic dock, either. It's actually the coolest portable headphone amp I've ever seen: the V-Moda Vamp Verza.

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Review: Battle of the DACs

Three portable, affordable USB DACs duke it out
- By Al Griffin
- Posted April 4, 2013
- 4
When Audioquest released its DragonFly USB Digital-Audio Converter back in 2012, the tiny USB-stick DAC quickly found a niche with audiophiles seeking to improve the sound quality of music played on their laptop computers and listened to via headphones or desktop speakers.

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Review: Velodyne vTrue Studio Headphones

A high-class, full-size 'phone from the big-bass experts, with a few twists.
- By Michael Berk
- Posted March 28, 2013
As Brent Butterworth reminded everyone earlier in the week, subwoofer specialists Velodyne impressed us quite a bit last year with their first headphone effort, the in-ear vPulse.

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Review: 808 headphones

These $89 cans promise a Beats-like experience at less than a third the price
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 27, 2013
The 808 headphones prove I’m way hipper than any of our West Coast headphone testing panel, who range from 10 to almost 20 years younger than me. “You can tell from the name it’s targeted to hip-hop fans,” I told them.

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Review: Velodyne vFree Bluetooth headphones

Can the masters of big bass keep their balance in the wireless world?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 24, 2013
With the vPulse in-ear monitor, Velodyne managed a trick most other headphone brands haven’t—it created a big-bass headphone that didn’t sound dull. Now the company has launched two over-ear models: the $399 vTrue, a large, audiophile-oriented model, and the $299 vFree, a relatively compact headphone equipped with Bluetooth wireless. S&V’s Michael Berk reviewed the vTrue, while I’m taking on the vFree.

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