surround

Surround Video 1.0 Review

Surround Video is not an app in the sense that you can actually do anything with it. There are no buttons to create your own videos and no way to edit or add content to the existing videos. The content that is provided is almost entirely technical demos of what Surround Video can do, but it is still an interesting experience. As more of these videos are added it will be interesting to see what filmmakers choose to do with Surround Video.

When you open this app, you will find four technical demos of what Surround Video does. The technology … Read more

Do separate components sound better than AV receivers, Part 2

Back in February I first posed the question, "Do separate components sound better than AV receivers?" when I checked out the Outlaw Audio 975 surround processor and 7125 power amp and compared their sound with a Denon AVR-1912 AV receiver. The Outlaws handily trumped the receiver.

I ran another comparison with the Denon, this time with the Emotiva UMC-200 seven-channel surround processor ($599) and UPA-500 five-channel amplifier ($399). If you just go by the numbers, the AVR-1912's 90 watts per channel might appear to be slightly ahead of the Emotiva UPA-500 amp, which has 80 watts per … Read more

Do separate components sound better than AV receivers?

There's no doubt that the best of today's receivers sound great and come jam-packed with a vast range of features. Even entry-level models paired with a decent 5.1 speaker/subwoofer system can do a fine job, but some buyers aim higher. They may have invested in a 65-inch or larger display, or maybe a video projector and a 120-inch screen. They crave a sound that matches the grandeur of the picture, and they can get that only with separate components like the Outlaw Audio Model 975 Surround Processor and Model 7125 Power Amp.

The Model 975 Surround … Read more

Monoprice 9774 review: A discount clone of our favorite speakers

Monoprice wants to disrupt the home theater industry. The company got its start selling cheap HDMI cables, and has recently expanded to full-fledged consumer electronics, with a bold mission of rolling out new products only when it can charge about half the price of traditional retailers.

The Monoprice 9774 ($249, plus shipping) 5.1 speaker set is the company's most audacious effort yet: a clone of the outstanding Energy Take Classic 5.1 ($394 street) speaker system for nearly $150 less. And "clone" is barely an exaggeration. The 9774 system performs and looks almost exactly like Energy'… Read more

DTS headphone surround-sound technology

DTS demonstrated its new Headphone:X surround processing system at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. The system is capable of reproducing up to 11 channels of surround sound over conventional stereo headphones. I didn't hear it, but a few friends at the show who heard the Headphone:X demo came away impressed with its ability to project a sound field well outside the confines of the headphones. DTS is promoting Headphone:X technology as HTiP -- Home Theater in Pocket, and claims that the system can emulate the DTS reference listening room or a … Read more

CNET Exclusives: A chance to win a PS3 and much more

Liza Maloy isn't a CNET editor, but she has a pretty fun job: she's the CNET Marketplace associate partnership manager, which means she hunts high and low for tech bargains to bring to the CNET audience. Each week, she blogs about deep discounts she brokers. Whenever she can, she gets discounts on products CNET editors love.

Picture this -- you are sitting down with a bowl of popcorn to watch your favorite movie on a home entertainment system, hand-selected for you by the CNET editors. I know it sounds too good to be true, but for one lucky … Read more

The Audiophiliac's Top 13 music Blu-ray discs

I wrote a Top 10 music Blu-ray list late last year, so it's time for an update.

Patricia Barber, "Modern Cool"

Sultry jazz singer Patricia Barber's "Modern Cool" album was a hit with the audiophile crowd soon after its release in 1998, so I was surprised to see it come out on Blu-ray with a new 5.1-channel DTS Master Audio mix. Even more surprised that the surround mix totally works. You're in the middle of the band, which I usually don't care for, but it clicks here. Barber wrote a lot … Read more

High-end audio amplifiers, born in the U.S.A.

I have fond memories of the original Aragon 4004 power amplifier from my days when I worked as a high-end audio salesman. That was in the late 1980s and the big 200 watt amp sold for a lot less money than the reigning high-end amps of the period. The distinctive styling, with a "V" cutout in the 4004's chassis, made it stand out from rows of lookalike designs at the store. While the Aragon amps sold for a couple of thousand dollars, they were more affordable than most high-end amps. A few years after the 4004 arrived … Read more

Get a refurbished Vizio sound bar for $59.99 shipped

HDTVs have notoriously bad speakers. That's understandable, if only because there's just not a lot of room for cones and whatnot inside those skinny LCD and plasma panels. It's also disappointing: here you spend all this money for a beautiful screen, and your ears pay the price.

The best way to improve the audio situation is to invest in a surround-sound system or a good set of stereo speakers plus receiver -- but that gets expensive.

A more affordable option: a sound bar, which is a speaker/receiver combo that sits above or below the screen and … Read more