When speaker designer Andrew Jones left Pioneer for Elac America five years ago, he came up with some great designs straight out of the gate. The Elac Debut and Uni-Fi are two of my favorite speakers for the money over the past 10 years. Yesterday I spoke to Jones about his latest efforts. He said that when he …
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In its almost 30-year history, Pro-Ject Audio Systems has released products from amps and CD players to speakers and headphones, but it’s best known for turntables. Now the company has added to its already sizable lineup — there are 57 different record players listed on its website — with an update to the Debut, the $499 (£449) Debut Carbon EVO. Pro-Ject has …
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A/V Receivers have a tradition of being ugly. Great, yes, but ugly nonetheless. Only in once in a while does a manufacturer change things up with something that’s a little more stylish. Yamaha’s brand new RX-V range joins the Denon HEOS AVR in offering something of a conversation piece. Yamaha has dispensed with the “hearse”-like appearance of yesteryear, and its new …
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When the original Beats headphones arrived way back in 2008, they created an instant market for DJ-style headphones and celebrity endorsements alike. While Pioneer’s HDJ-CUE1 range doesn’t have a celebrity tie-in and it doesn’t look like a regurgitated Swarovski crystal, it is attractively priced. But is it a “DJ headphone” as Pioneer claims? The HDJ-CUE1 is a range of on-ear …
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AT&T prepaid service Cricket Wireless on Friday announced access to nationwide 5G on the service’s first 5G phone, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus 5G. At present the Galaxy S20 Plus 5G is the only phone that will work on Cricket’s network, which customers can buy in Cosmic Gray for $1,200 outright. If you buy the same phone from Samsung locked to AT&T, …
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Following the release of Fluance’s excellent range of turntables, including CNET’s pick the RT-82, the Canadian company is going back to its first love: loudspeakers. One Wednesday it announced a brand-new range of home theater speakers, the XL8, which start at $150. The XL8 series are a step-down from the company’s flagship Signature Series, which was released in 2016. The …
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Yamaha has added two sub-$200 soundbars to its range, the SR-C20A and SR-B20A, which offer an all-in-one design and HDMI connectivity. The models also include Bluetooth. The $180 C20A is the compact option at 23 inches long and 2.5 inches, and it includes a “built-in subwoofer” and dual passive radiators. It offers four different sound modes (standard, stereo, game, movie), …
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Streaming app Plex is adding over 80 channels of free television programming. The ad-supported channels come with a new program grid and include news from Reuters and Yahoo Finance, kids’ shows Toon Goggles, lifestyle channel Tastemade, sports courtesy of the Fubo Sports Network, gaming and esports on IGN1, and two new LGBTQ+ channels from Revry. As with the free on-demand shows …
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Live TV streaming services promise a cord-cutter’s delight. They’re typically cheaper than a cable TV subscription with similar channel lineups and no need to sign a contract, so you can cancel anytime. Unfortunately they also suffer one of cable TV’s major flaws: constant price hikes. My former favorite such service and CNET’s Editors’ Choice, YouTube TV, announced a monthly increase of …
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CES 2020 may have seen the introduction of actual 8K TVs but sadly the content is still nonexistent. Yet that doesn’t stop companies from announcing support for 8K: First it was Denon, and now it’s fellow Sound United brand Marantz. Marantz has revealed its 2020 line of AV receivers at prices between $1,099 and $3,199. The cheapest is roughly twice …
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