A/V Product Reviews

Sonus faber’s new Lumina collection of loudspeakers aims to bring luxury audio to the masses. The three-strong lineup includes the compact Lumina I bookshelf speaker ($899/pair), the three-way Lumina III floor-stander ($2,199/pair), and the Lumina Center I ($699 each). The Lumina series combines simple, minimalist design with the high-quality materials that Sonus faber is known for. Is it a recipe for success, or has Sonus faber compromised too much in order to keep the prices reasonable? Read on to learn more.

Bowers & Wilkins is known for its high end speakers so we had high expectations for headphones with their logo. Their PX7 noise-cancelling wireless headphones did not disappoint, in fact, they are the best noise cancelling headphones that I have heard at this price point. To see why Audioholics named them our noise cancelling headphones of the year, read on.

THX has launched its first product: A portable USB headphone DAC/Amp featuring its innovative AAA amplifier technology that promises high power and extremely low distortion. But, wait… did we say THX? You got that right! THX, the audio certification standard founded by George Lucas, is now rolling up its sleeves and building its own consumer audio equipment. This portable USB headphone DAC/Amp packs enough power to shatter cobalt at a price that will make the competition sweat. The first-ever THX audio hardware has arrived, could this be a sign of things to come?

The Polk Audio Legend L800’s with SDA Pro technology reflect the next evolution in Polk's long obsessions with cross-talk cancellation technology. Is this their best effort yet? Check out the review to find out why I fell in love with these speakers, found myself rediscovering my music collection all over again, yet also calling them idiosyncratic at the same time.

Polk Audio's brand new Reserve speaker series takes many of the innovations from their flagship Legend series and packs them into a much more affordable set. Many of the Reserve speakers have MSRPs less than half of that of their Legend counterparts yet still boast much of the same technology and even deploying a few new technologies of their own. This is great news for those who want the acclaimed high-performance Polk sound but can’t swing the Legend series price tags. Read our preview of the Reserve speakers to see how much hi-fi you can get for a low cost from Polk Audio.

SVS has broken the small-sized subwoofer barrier with their 3000 Micro subwoofer. The 3000 Micro powers two 8" woofers with an 800-watt RMS amp but packs all of this into an 11" cube. The 3000 Micro also has all the bells and whistles of SVS's usual gamut of technology including app control, high-powered DSP, ultra-efficient class-D amplification, and the ICI interface. If you need a really big sound from a really small package, SVS now offers an interesting new choice to the marketplace of microsubs and at only $799 shipped!

The bad news is that one of Focal's most widely loved headphones is reaching the end of its life-cycle. But the good news is that it's being replaced by the new Clear Mg, with an updated all-magnesium dome driver. Focal says it's not changing anything about the sound signature of original Clear, but the new driver promises to deliver more lightness and stronger damping. Clear Mg is will be the direct replacement for Clear in its line of high-end headphones, not to be confused with the new Clear Mg Pro which was released for audio professionals. We had a chance to try out Clear Mg and make some subjective comparisons between it and the original Clear, or should we call it Clear Classic?

THX has raised the bar to a height that few thought anyone could clear in their 'Dominus' certification. That has now changed with Perlisten Audio's introduction of a slew of high-performance loudspeakers and subwoofers which use advanced technology and brute force to utterly melt the limits of what was previously thought possible in sound reproduction. Read on to learn what THX Certified Dominus is and why it is such a big deal to have finally been attained by a loudspeaker manufacturer.

Paradigm has recently replaced their acclaimed Prestige loudspeaker line with the Founder series. The Founder speakers are packed to the gills with new advances in loudspeaker design, yet they keep many signature Paradigm design elements. The result is a speaker that pushes the technology envelope while benefiting from traditional engineering practices that have served Paradigm so well over the years. Read our preview of Paradigm's Founder speakers to see how much further forward they have pushed the high-end of sound reproduction.

When the newly established home theater company Bomaker emailed me to review their new Tapio V Soundbar and Subwoofer with a MSRP of $110 I thought maybe they left off a zero. The Tapio V is a semi portable 100 watt 2.1 system. If you want to improve the sound of your HDTV on the cheap, you'll want to read this review!

SVS has just announced that their entry-level subs have received a major redesign, and we at Audioholics have been given the scoop on the new 1000 Pro series subwoofers: the PB-1000 Pro and SB-1000 Pro. The smallest children of SVS's subwoofer line has just had a growth spurt and now features more powerful amplifiers, improved drivers, and incorporates the advanced DSP technology from SVS higher-end offerings. Read our preview article to find out how SVS's most affordable subwoofers just became more powerful.

At last, our full review of the Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 AV Processor is here! Do you want sixteen channels of highly-configurable, fully-balanced XLR pre-amp output? Of course, you do! The cherry on top of this cake is support for Dirac Live, one of the most sophisticated room correction equalizers in existence. Throw in full support for all three immersive surround formats (Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro 3D) and you've got the recipe for a great home theater processor. Read our review, complete with measurements, to see what the HTP-1 can do for you.

What happens when you take all the high-end technology and advanced build-material used by Focal in its flagship headphone Utopia and add the luxury, comfort and style of full-grain leather and optimize it to fit the efficiency and characteristics of a closed-back design? One answer is Stellia, Focal's Flagship closed-back headphone. Expectations are high as they should be, because Stellia is an undeniably expensive headphone. But, Focal has plenty of experience making a variety of high-end headphones, and this isn't even Focal's first closed-back model. So, let's take a closer look and see what the retail price of $3,000 for Focal's Stellia gets you. Musical Bliss? Read on to find out.

Attention citizens of these great United States of America! Your country needs YOU to speak out on behalf of consumers and the future of hi-fi audio. The Federal Trade Commission is presently reviewing its amplifier power ratings regulation, or "Amplifier Rule", and we need YOU to participate in the review with citizen public comment by February 16th, 2021 or we may lose this ruling forever. In this article we show you how you can tell the FTC to maintain and modernize stringent standards in manufacturer's published power ratings to keep false claims and dishonest marketing away from our beloved audio gear. You're just a click away from being one of the great Americans taking action on behalf of your great republic.