Sound & Vision June 2018

Our so-called “flashback” feature this issue, offered as part of the ongoing celebration of our 60th year, is a juicy tidbit from 1983 that proved one of the most controversial articles in our predecessor Stereo Review’s history. The subject? Premium speaker cables. More to the point, whether they really make a difference or are just a waste of money. I won’t be a spoiler here (see page 28), but the piece embraced with full gusto what was then just a smoldering debate and rocketed it into a bona fide firefight—with the “subjective” high-end audio community on one side and the mainstream objectivists and measurement freaks, represented by SR, on the other. There’s a great back-story behind the story, which you’ll read about. But what struck me as I stumbled on the…

I. Lirpa I have been following the exploits of Lirpa ever since I read what I believe was his first-ever appearance, in Audio. As you can see, I’m a bit hazy in regard to time and place, but I remember clearly in regard to his name: It was I. Lirpa. I was not aware of any name change to Loof Lirpa or Lirpa Loof. I am aware of his eldest son, Eno Lirpa, and a daughter, Lirpa Lirpa (of whom you may not have heard because I invented them both). Could you please look into, and straighten out, this matter—and quickly. (I’m 92 years old and don’t have a lot of time to wait for answers.) Paul Alter Pittsburgh, PA If I were in a generous spirit, I might consider Rob Sabin’s “History of Lirpa…

YOU CAN’T SEE the Internet of Things, but trust me, it’s there—and growing rapidly as every imaginable kind of “thing” becomes (or at least tries to become) net savvy. But what exactly does IoT mean? And if we move beyond the quaint Jetson-esque vision of the future, what are IoT’s real-world implications? To get a handle on where our increasingly interconnected world is heading, we tracked down Dave Evans, former chief futurist for Cisco and co-founder of the Silicon Valley IoT startup, Stringify. —Bob Ankosko S&V: Let’s start with the basics. We’ve been hearing a lot about IoT—the Internet of Things—over the past couple of years. It’s so all encompassing. How do you define it? DE: In the simplest sense, the Internet of Things is about everyday objects connecting to the internet—things such…

Ads on Alexa? So far, the only ads on the voice platform are those incorporated into supported streaming services. But Amazon is talking to Proctor & Gamble and other companies about product placement… Dish Added Google Assistant to all generations of its Hopper DVR and Wally receiver. Use it to navigate or search content… Pay-TV Rate Hikes are rampant this year, with Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, and Dish Network continuing to gouge consumers (and Charter expected to follow) at rates that usually far exceed inflation. Cox, where increases are from one to five bucks, attributes them to “the rising cost of programming content” and “new features and functions” such as voice remote and TV Everywhere… Dish’s Hopper Duo is a two-tuner HD DVR with a 500-GB hard drive, which can store up to 125…

PRICE $499 HIFIMAN ROCKED MY WORLD back in 2009 with its revelatory HE-5 headphones. These were the first planar magnetic headphones I’d ever heard, and the sound was so clear and sweet, I’m pretty sure you’ll feel the same way about HiFiMan’s latest planar, the Sundara. Before we go any further, you might be wondering how planar magnetic designs work. They use thin-film, flat diaphragms with a printed “voice coil” across most of their surface area, with magnets arrayed on the front and/or rear of the diaphragm. That’s radically different than standard dynamic headphones’ moving-coil drivers that are energized only from the edge of the diaphragm. When the signal’s current passes through a planar headphone’s flat conductors, it interacts with the magnets, which makes the diaphragm move. Unlike electrostatic headphones that must…

Who uttered that famous declaration? Was it: a) Confucius, b) Friedrich Nietzsche, c) Vin Diesel, d) Dominic Toretto? Of course, that is a trick question because both c) and d) are correct. The movie was The Fast and the Furious, a cinematic masterpiece about street racing and skid marks. Which brings us to the bar graph. It shows total music album sales (physical and download) in the U.S. from 2000 to 2017. Album sales were once the revenue champion of the music business. Not anymore. We bought 785 million albums in 2000 and a mere 169 million in 2017. If you’re in the business of selling albums, right about now you’re downsizing and sending out your résumé. Oh, hang on, someone just texted me. Anyway, album sales are down. There are lots…