Sound & Vision

Sound & Vision is at the forefront of the ever-changing, always dynamic world of electronic entertainment. Authoritative and accessible, written with insight and humor, Sound & Vision is the preeminent source for consumers of home theater, audio, video, and multimedia products.

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Sudio E2 Noise-Canceling Wireless Earbuds • We get pitched on new “true wireless earbuds” every few days from brands we know and don’t know. In a sea of sameness, it’s a category that begs for differentiation so our ears perked up when Dirac, the Swedish company known for its high level of expertise in audio processing, reached out with an offer to review earbuds from Sudio, a Swedish brand we never heard of. Turns out the Sudio E2 earphones are among the first to include Dirac Virtuo, a new type of spatial processing that aims to create “an immersive sound experience with enhanced sound quality.”

Sony, Spider-Man, and the Statue of Liberty • Spider-Man is a comic-book character that was created in 1962. The inaugural issue sold for 12 cents. Sony Pictures, which now owns the screen rights to the character, decided not to release the latest Spider-Man movie in the world’s biggest movie market. That decision might cost Sony as much as $340 million.

Nugs Redug • Revisiting nugs.net, the concert streaming site that continues to provide new and vintage hi-res live recordings from a wide swath of name artists.

Big Screen Duality

Surround Strategy

TALKING HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE • Bill Mandel, co-manager at HDR10+Technologies, provides an update on the HDR10+ format

THE ATMOS BRANCH • Porcupine Tree returns after a decade-long hiatus to deliver a career benchmark, Closure/Continuation. All three bandmembers give us the scoop on how it all took root, and Steven Wilson takes us inside the making of the album’s truly stunning Dolby Atmos mix.

Laser LCD

Test Bench • Measurements were taken in a variety of conditions, with the bulk of them using the Cinema picture preset. Calibration was performed with dynamic laser modes disabled. Contrast ratio measurements were done in various modes as noted. A 110-inch diagonal 1.78:1 Stewart Studiotek 130 (G4) screen (1.3 gain) was used for all viewing and measurements.

Power Play

As Good As It Gets

Test Bench • For the control settings used here go to soundandvision.com. The measurements were made using CalMAN measurement software from Portrait Displays, together with X-Rite i1Pro3 Plus and Klein’s K-10A color meters and a Fresco 6-G pattern generator from Murideo.

Vanishing Act

Test Bench • Measurements were made with a 100 IRE white test pattern displayed via an Epson LS500 projector calibrated using Calman measurement software from Portrait Displays (www.portrait.com) together with a Photo Research PR-650 color meter. A Minolta LS-100 luminance meter and a Murideo/AVPro (Fresco Six-G) test pattern generator were also used during testing.

Atmos with a Touch of Grace

Modern Marvel

Play it Again, Sam

Extreme Receiver

Sweet Sixteen

THE BATMAN

THE NORTHMAN

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

THE UNTOUCHABLES

SHAFT

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

LICORICE PIZZA

1776

TRUE ROMANCE

MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER – 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION • ELTON JOHN

We Sail Through Endless Skies