Sound & Vision

On The Web Log on to soundandvision.com and sign up for our free monthly enewsletter. You’ll get exclusive tips, news, trends, and reviews from your favorite S&V writers. Shifting Gears AS WE WERE gearing up to produce this issue, my long-time colleague Al Griffin announced he was leaving Sound & Vision to pursue a new opportunity and asked if I would consider taking up the reins. I was honored and, after some discussion with the management team at AVTech Media, agreed to serve as interim editor for this issue. This is my second time around as editor of S&V, the magazine I helped launch 23 years ago and have been affiliated with as editor at large for the past decade. Shepherding this issue through the production cycle brought back fond memories of working…

Go Big or Go Home When I see a review of a projector with a screen smaller than 100 inches (diagonal), I scratch my head and say, “What’s the point?” You recently reviewed a Sony VPL-VW325ES with a 92-inch screen (April/May). I’m sure it was bright and looked great. But if you’re using a screen that small in this day and age, why buy a projector? It offers nothing that you can’t get in a flat-panel display. It’s like reviewing a Ferrari and using it to pick up groceries at the local market. It’ll get you there quickly and hold enough groceries for two, but that’s not what it was designed for. I would think the minimum screen size for a review should be 110-120 inches, especially with some of the…

Features and Setup The E2 earbuds look ordinary and, apart from Virtuo, offer a fairly common set of features that includes active noise cancellation (ANC), a charging case with a magnetic lid, and IPX4-level resistance to rain, sweat, and even direct splashes. Wireless connections are made through Bluetooth 5.2 and the E2 uses six microphones—three per earbud—to handle calls and suppress noise. Feedback and feedforward ANC with a microphone on the inside and outside of each earbud is used to reduce noise across a “wider [than usual] range of frequencies.” You can turn ANC on and off and activate a Transparency mode that is effective at allowing ambient sound to come through when you need to be aware of your surroundings. Two of the six microphones are reserved for phone calls and…

Why on earth would Sony do such a thing? Spider-Man: No Way Home cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make and to market, and I am guessing Sony would appreciate a certain ROI (Return on Investment). Yes, the film has already grossed $1.9 billion and counting, was the highest-grossing film of 2021, and is the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time. But still—why walk away from those extra hundreds of millions? As you might guess, the reason has to do with China. As you might also guess, the reason is censorship. Receiving permission to show a movie in China is hardly a fait accompli. In this case, reportedly, Chinese authorities did not approve of the film’s finale. In particular, the final extended scene takes place on and around the Statue of…

Longtime readers of this column will recall that, back in October/November 2020, I discussed the many benefits of nugs.net, a top-shelf streaming site offering multiple-thousands of soundboard-quality streams and downloads from a horde of name artists. I admired how nugs.net had been able to bring live-show listening (and viewing!) into the hi-res arena where it rightly belongs. Don’t get me wrong—I love my bootleg collection to no end, but if I can a) get better-SQ versions of live gigs that are directly artist-approved, and b) obtain them in such a way that benefits those artists more directly financially, even better. And that’s where nugs.net shines like practically no other site can. Since that 2020 column, I’ve continued enjoying the scope of nugs.net offerings whenever I can—perhaps even more exponentially so of…

When I began this series of columns earlier this year, I had no idea it would turn into a four-part, treatise on the evolution and current state of choosing a big screen TV for your media room or theater. For those who have hung with me, a sincere thank you, and I hope you found the journey worthwhile! For the rest, here’s a lightning recap of those previous columns to catch you up. Part one, “Big Screen Decisions,” dealt with the emergence of larger and more affordable big-screen displays and recent advances in performance that have resulted in 85-inch-and-larger sets being not only affordable but commonplace. Part two, “Big Screen Design,” discussed ways to incorporate these new giant flat-panel displays into your room and offered tips on how to avoid having…