Audio

What's New

The "mad scientist" of Sony audio

The engineer who guides development of Sony audio electronics—right down to the choice of solder
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 19, 2013
- 3
When we think about how electronics products are developed, we might imagine huge teams of faceless engineers, executives embroiled in endless discussions in elaborate conference rooms, and an almost Kafkaesque process that no one person really understands or controls.

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CES 2013: Wrapup

All 24 articles we wrote about CES, in one neat bundle.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted January 18, 2013
We're pretty much concluded S+V's extensive coverage of CES 2013, so we thought it'd be nice to collect all the articles we wrote in one place for easy browsing.

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CES 2013: New audio gear

The latest speakers, amplifiers, turntables, and more from the Vegas show
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted January 14, 2013
Even with so many new headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and other new personal/portable audio products debuting at last week's CES, there was still plenty of room for new introductions in traditional audio products. In fact, the Venetian Hotel was full of 'em, with exhibits spanning five floors plus some of the convention space downstairs.

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CES 2013: It’s Alive! It’s Alive!

I have seen the future of audio. It is pretty neat.
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted January 9, 2013
The future of audio. That is a significant statement – the fact that audio actually has a future. There has been much handwringing by people (including me) wondering whether the awesomeness of screens big and small has forever eclipsed the coolness of audio. We feared that much like the tiny speakers in flat-screen TVs, audio would become something trivial. After walking the CES floor and taking to people, I can confidently state that rumors of audio’s demise are greatly exaggerated, and in fact they are not true.

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Dynamic Range Day 2011
- By Michael Berk
- Posted March 22, 2011
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7.1 From Day 1

Dolby celebrates the first movie released in 7.1 theatrically and on Blu-ray Disc.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 1, 2011
Home theater enthusiasts have had seven speakers in their systems for a decade now, but only now is Hollywood finally catching up. Last Saturday, Dolby Laboratories feted the release of the Megamind Blu-ray Disc, which it says is the first movie released in 7.1-channel sound in theaters and on Blu-ray.

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Are 24-Bit Downloads Good for Digital Music?

Will the rumored shift to high-resolution 24-bit downloads make for a difference you can hear?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 24, 2011
- 7
The Internet has come alive with cheers of audiophiles and jeers of audiophobes since CNN.com reported unconfirmed rumors that download services such as iTunes and Amazon MP3 would soon begin offering music files with 24-bit resolution.

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Going Ultra: Klang Ultrasonic Speakers

Industrial designer Adam Moller'concept speakers are cut from a different billet.
- Posted February 18, 2011
Going Ultra: Klang Ultrasonic speakers Industrial designer Adam Moller'concept speakers are cut from a different billet. The idea behind the Klang Ultrasonic speakers came from an invention by Lemelson-MIT Prize-winner Woody Norris.

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Test Report: Hsu Research VTF-15H Subwoofer

Can you get a true supersub for less than a grand?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 10, 2011
- 5
I have a confession to make: I've been a woofer wuss for most of my career as an audio journalist. When I started 21 years ago, there weren't many good subwoofers, and the little ones were usually less bad than the big ones, so I stuck mostly with smaller subs for my personal systems.

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How To: DIY Audio Measurement

Tweak your system like a pro using only a few cheap tools.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 9, 2011
- 3
Do you trust your ears? I don’t. By that I mean I don’t trust my ears. Frankly, though, I don’t trust anybody’s. I’ve heard laymen enthuse about systems that had little more to offer than a few notes of booming bass. I’ve heard audio veterans trash impeccably engineered speakers — and praise speakers that showed glaring technical flaws.

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Test Report: GoldenEar Technology Triton Two Tower Speakers

There is some serious industry experience behind these very impressive speakers.
- By Al Griffin
- Posted January 27, 2011
- 2
The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there are no second acts in American lives. But what about third acts? Speaker impresario Sandy Gross is a cofounder of two of the best-known companies in the home theater/audio biz: Polk Audio and Definitive Technology.

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Review: Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8

We put the latest design-forward audio set up from B&O to the test.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted January 20, 2011
It might just be my eyes, but the BeoSound 8 has a certain visual resemblance to a Fiat 500, or maybe a Frogeye Sprite.

Or Peter Lorre.

There's just something visually arresting about the two connected discs. To be honest, I'm not sure if I like it. Then again, what do I know? My idea of high style is putting on shoes.

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