Expertise

The kit I carried
9 countries. 5 weeks. 3000+ photos. Lot’s o’gear.
The Connected Car: 2013 Edition
New in-dash receivers play nice with smartphones. Plus: Sync and MyLink app updates.
HTC One Video and Audio Measurements
A serious piece of hardware... mostly.

What's New

Tron: Re-Entering the Grid

Tron created the template for extensive computer-generated imagery in movies. Three decades later, you can experience Tron: Legacy on Blu-ray 3D.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted April 3, 2011
GREETINGS, PROGRAMS!

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Tommy Shaw: The Next Right-Sounding Thing

Why the Styx guitarist's bluegrass masterpiece The Great Divide will reward your ears again and again.
- By Mike Mettler
- Posted March 22, 2011
Good is good. It’s a simple adage, but one that’s especially true when it comes to music. Genre and predetermined preferences should be secondary if you’re truly interested in having your ears entertained, challenged, and enriched.

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Subwoofers: 4, 2, or 1?

Everybody knows that four subwoofers are better than one...or are they?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 1, 2011
- 2
Everybody knows that four subwoofers are better than one. But are four little subs better than a single big one or two midsizers? Only a blind test could tell.

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A Classic S+V Interview with Oscar Winner Trent Reznor

The former NIN frontman and The Social Network scoresman looks at his pioneering surround-sound work.
- By Mike Mettler
- Posted February 28, 2011
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Social Network, and it's a modern and adventurous film score if ever I've heard one. It's haunting, of-the-moment, and immersive — and, best of all for us S+V types, it's available in surround sound. Go here to get yours.

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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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The S+V Interview: Billy Corgan

For the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, quality is job one.
- By Mike Mettler
- Posted February 17, 2011
Some things you know right away in your rock & roll bones. When I first met Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins in 1991, we bonded over the contents of a suitcase he carried with him wherever he went: an ever-growing mountain of live Jimi Hendrix cassettes (some authorized, some not).

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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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Death of the Remote

Will it be outsmarted by the smartphone?
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted January 26, 2011
Ah, the remote control. The gizmo that gets no respect. Lost under the sofa cushions, berated when its batteries are dead, made into a chew toy by the dog, cursed at for having too many buttons, cursed at for having too few. And now the poor thing seems destined to become yet another fine piece of technological roadkill.

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The S+V Interview: John McCrea of Cake

The frontman behind the No. 1 album in the country, Showroom of Compassion, on the art of stereo separation, the club experience, and avoiding "atomization."
- By Mike Mettler
- Posted January 20, 2011
So I've been basking in the sounds of Cake's new chart-topping album Showroom of Compassion (Upbeat Records; cakemusic.com), and have to say that I'm really loving it.
Oh good. That would be horrible if it was a nightmare for you. [chuckles]

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Control Your Remote

The most important component in your system is often the smallest.
- By John Sciacca
- Posted January 14, 2011
- 3
There are so many Pow! Bang! Ka-chow! buzzwords thrown out by the consumer electronics industry's marketing war chariots that smaller, more important things often get lost or completely overwhelmed in the ground clutter.

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CES 2011: Wrap-Up

Keep track of all of our show coverage in one place.
- Posted January 11, 2011
CES 2011 is a wrap, but the new products will live on — at least until they're made obsolete by new stuff at next year's show. Here's a hand collection of all the news you need from the floor and beyond.

CES 2011: The Wild World of the High-End Audio Rooms

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The Analog Sunset

The New Year brings the death of analog content; don’t get caught short.
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted December 30, 2010
Blu-ray players are changing — and your HDTV might not like it. However, if your TV has an HDMI input, and it’s HDCP-compliant, you don’t need to read any further. You have nothing to worry about. This article doesn’t concern you. Put down the magazine and do something else just as constructive, like, oh, I don’t know — how about you go check your car’s windshield-washer fluid. . .?

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