Sound & Vision April/May 2022

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. Customer Service And Subscriptions soundandvision@email-customerservice.com Call (800) 666-3746 (international calls: 386-447-6383) or write to: Sound & Vision, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 Please include your full name, address, and phone number on any inquiries. ATTENDING THE annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has always been accompanied by a certain level of stress—I’ve been going since 1995—but the 2022 version was the most stressful one yet. This time, the stress had nothing to do with getting around the show, which was fairly empty compared to a typical year. The stressors came before the show. A primary one was the Omicron wave, which peaked in the U.S. in January…

Have you visited our magazine’s official website, soundandvision.com, lately? If so, you may have noticed the addition of a new column called Spatial Audio File. Written by Sound & Vision’s music editor, Mike Mettler, Spatial Audio File reviews select releases of music both new and old mixed in Dolby Atmos that are added to the Apple Music streaming service each week. From rock to jazz to K-pop, it's all there. We’re bullish on Dolby Atmos music here at Sound & Vision and have enjoyed many of the great Spatial Audio additions made to the Apple Music streaming library over the past year. As I write this, I’m listening to The Beatles’ 1, a 27-track compilation of the band’s number one hit singles that was first released in 2000 and just…

It’s All Music, Just Different When I first started reading Karen Amrhein’s letter about “Children’s Music” in the December 2021/January 2022 issue of Sound & Vision, I became confused. I remember a few children’s movie titles being reviewed, but children’s music?” Then I saw the mention of new wave, and I realized that this reader apparently views anything not classical as “children’s music.” It’s attitudes like this that do no service to the wider acceptance of classical music. I started playing cello at 10 and joined the city youth symphony in Springfield, Ohio at age 12. I gained an appreciation of classical music through this experience. We played well-known pieces which I became a fan of, such as Handel’s Royal Fireworks and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as well as pieces that I disliked,…

Smooth Operator My first stereo system was a full-on Technics rig, right down to the turntable and cassette deck, so I’ve always harbored a fondness for the brand. And while the recent comeback of Technics to the hi-fi scene has had a decidedly high-end spin—its SU-R1000 Digital Integrated Amplifier costs $9,499—they’ve also branched out into accessible gear like wireless all-in-one speakers and headphones. The company’s new EAH-AZ60 noise-canceling true wireless earbuds are part of this accessible branch. At $230, they are priced less than the Sony’s $280 flagship WF-1000XM4, a Sound & Vision Top Pick, and just above the Jabra Elite 85t model that triumphed in our 2021 noise-canceling true wireless earbuds face-off test. Feature-wise, they bring a similar amount of stuff to the table as both those models, including app-based setup…

Man, oh, man. Can this really be happening? Over these many years, I have purchased all manner of excellent Sony products: radios, televisions, tape recorders, receivers, amplifiers, turntables, Betamax, CD, DVD, Blu-ray, Mini-disc, headphones, boomboxes, speakers, soundbars, videogame consoles, phones, camcorders, cameras — you name it. But will my next Sony purchase be…a car? Yes, as you’ve probably heard, Sony has announced that it is exploring the idea of developing an electric vehicle. There is no shortage of companies, both legacy car makers and start-ups, scrambling to build EVs. Sony stands somewhere in the middle. While previously not a car maker, the company is certainly not a newcomer, having built quality products for almost 70 years. As with other companies, Sony is probably looking at the global success, and valuation, of Tesla…

Tidal has literally rolled with the changes over the course of its 7.5 years (and counting) being nestled in our collective streaming consciousness. In recent years, the streaming giant has doubled down on the ways it offers a multi-genre cornucopia of streaming content in a number of hi-res-friendly ways. Seeing how we’ve yet to devote an entire Stream On column to this uber-popular platform, we felt it was high time to dive headfirst into the Tidal streaming pool. Like pretty much every streaming service these days, Tidal offers a number of listeningoption tiers. Yes, there is a Free level that provides, in their words, “Good Sound Quality” for 80 million songs—but only at a most basic 16-bit/44.1kHz, mind you. An ad-free HiFi level adds 350,000 videos to the pot and runs…