Secrets

Samsung UN85S9AF 85″ 4K UHD LED Display

Ofer Laor

Reviewing the Samsung UN85S9AF 4K UHD TV is far from a simple task. The entire construct requires around 4 people to stand upright. This 85" behemoth is a self contained home theater experience – it stands on its own and although it can technically be wall mounted, this really breaks from its design statement. Apparently, Samsung discovered that many of its customers prefer to use the built in stand – which is why they've invested a great deal in the built-in stand designs. When Samsung first showed off this design at CES in Las Vegas, I really didn't like it. From afar, it looked like a folding beach chair or scissors. However, when the UN85S9AF is right next to you, the feeling changes. The design is elegant and looks much better in person than it does on the Vegas show floor or in pictures.

HDTV

Sony HT-ST7 Sound Bar

Chris Heinonen

For all the things we associate Sony with for home theater, speakers are lower down on that list. Many people scoffed when they decided to introduce a $27,000 pair of speakers, the SS-AR1, but response to them has been phenomenal. They've followed that up with a full set of home theater ES speakers meant to compete with the likes of B&W and other high-end brands. They are also a big player in sound bars with their recent models racking up a bevy of awards. What they haven't had is a product to merge those two ambitions in audio until now. With the HT-ST7 sound bar Sony is taking aim at the high-end sound bar market and offering up a few features that we don't usually see at this price point.

Soundbars

Paradigm H15NC Noise-Cancelling On-Ear Headphones

Stephen Hornbrook

The new Paradigm H15NC Noise-Cancelling Headphones are the latest foray into the lucrative headphone market and part of the Shift line of Paradigm products. They feature a noise isolating on-ear design along with active noise cancellation which utilizes a microphone paired with processing to analyze the noise around you and filter it out. Paradigm believes that sound quality trumps celebrity endorsement, and I couldn't agree more. Let's see if the H15NC headphones are up to snuff.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews

Triad Speakers Factory Visit

Chris Heinonen

Tucked away in a non-descript office park near the airport in Portland, OR is Triad Speakers. Looking at the outside of the building you would never imagine that inside the building is a complete speaker design and manufacturing company. Once you do enter you find a company where every speaker is made to...

Tours, Interviews and Book Reviews

Samsung BD-F5900 Blu-ray Player

Chris Heinonen

Samsung made a big show of their updated Smart Hub interface at CES this year. For many people the important distinction between Blu-ray players now is the quality and variety of streaming content available and not the disc playback itself. The last player I tested from them had some very innovative search features at that time, though sometimes the results weren't fully accurate which reduced the usefulness. As that was close to two years ago, Samsung has had plenty of time to remedy the issue. With the heavy push towards streaming, and Samsung putting a lot of emphasis there on this new player, I was very hopeful for a nice online experience as I opened up the BD-F5900.

Blu-ray Players

Panasonic DMP-BDT230 Blu-ray Player

Chris Heinonen

Last time I looked at a Blu-ray player from Panasonic it was their DMP-BDT210 model. It had almost everything I wanted in a Blu-ray player: perfect image performance, fast loading times, and a good deal of streaming content. I liked it enough that I bought one for the bedroom, where it was used happily until it was gifted to the in-laws, and allows them to watch movies and streaming content in their motorhome. It also got our award for Best Blu-ray Value Player that year, which it richly deserved. Because of the success of that model, I looked forward to seeing if the DMP-BDT230 maintained that excellence, and simply added a few tweaks to the formula as more streaming content became available. The only way to know was to put it through its paces.

Blu-ray Players

Ultimate Ears 4 Pro Custom In-Ear Headphones

Mark Vignola

Ultimate Ears is one of the most well-known and respected names in the custom in-ear monitor (IEM) market (part of the general class: headphones). While historically custom IEMs were targeted at music and sound industry professionals, manufactures have more recently started marketing their monitors to audiophiles, recognizing that many of their attributes might be valued by this community as well. I recently had the opportunity to take a look at UE's entry level 4 Pro Custom IEM and am excited to pass along some thoughts.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews