A/V Product Reviews

Shortly before the coronavirus crisis pulled the plug on big industry trade shows, McIntosh showcased its newest home theater products at the ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) AV show in Amsterdam. The new lineup includes the flagship MX170 AV processor ($15,500), the less expensive MX123 AV processor ($8,000), the MC255 5-channel power amplifier ($8,000), and the MC257 7-channel power amplifier ($10,000). Read on for more details.

If upgrading your smartphone's stock earbuds is an out-of-the box necessity, but you also demand wireless because it's 2020, the market offers no shortage of choices. But not all of them make sound quality a priority. BE Live5 is the cost-effective, premium offering by NuForce that actually gives good sound by offering both AAC and aptX codecs, so they're just as comfortable streaming sound from either iPhone or Android. And best of all they cost way less than a new pair of Apple AirPods.

There is heavy competition with the TV display market. How do you compete with companies like LG and Vizio? Samsung has decided to think outside the box and go with a Steve Jobs like showing of innovative thinking and design. Will these futuristic ideas payoff or are they too far ahead of their time? Read our thoughts on the 2020 lineup of 8K UHD Samsung QLED displays to find out.

If you’re looking for a quality pair of wireless over-the-ear headphones and you want to customize the entire setup to your listening needs you might want to check out the new TMA-2 Bluetooth headphones from AIAIAI. Never heard of AIAIAI? Neither had we. They’re comfortable and sound great, but with a $300 price tag will they be able to compete with better known brand names like Sony, Bose and Beats? Be sure to also checkout our Youtube overview video for a closer look.

We've tested A LOT of factory designed and manufactured subwoofers here at Audioholics. This time we built and tested our own with the Creative Sound Solutions SDX12. Does the Creative Sound Solutions SDX12 12" sealed subwoofer DIY kit buy you more performance than commercial offerings? Check out how the SDX12 performed compared to similarly priced commercial offerings.

RBH Sound unveiled a new flagship SVTRS active speaker system that rocked the 2020 Florida Expo show. This large, powerful speaker is truly a sight (and sound) to behold. These titans stand nearly eight feet tall and weigh 310 lbs and offer bass extension down to single digits. RBH claims this new system offers significant advantages over their Status 8T speakers while being slightly less expensive along with including its own state-of-the-art amplifier and DSP tuning. Does Audioholics have a new reference speaker to dethrone the mighty Status 8Ts? Read on to find out!

Rotel’s high-end Michi brand is making a comeback after a long hiatus with three new audiophile stereo components. The Michi P5 Control Amplifier ($4K), S5 Stereo Amplifier ($7K), and M8 Monoblock Amplifier ($7K) are Rotel’s new flagship audio offerings, promising superb build quality, elegant design, and unshakeable 2CH performance. Read on to learn more.

TiVo’s EDGE DVRs are the company’s first offerings to support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision 4K HDR video. They can also skip entire commercial breaks automatically. The EDGE for cable ($399) and EDGE for antenna ($349) both include 2 TB of hard drive space for recording up to 300 hours of HD video. Read on to learn more.

Definitive Technology has expanded its popular Demand Series of loudspeakers with the addition of the D15 towers ($3,398/pair), the D17 towers, ($4,598/pair), and the D5C center channel speaker ($799/each). These new speakers are designed to “deliver full-range, room-filling sound and elegant styling for enthusiasts seeking a premium listening experience.” The new Demand Series tower speakers feature newly-developed carbon fiber woofers and dual side-firing passive radiators. Read on to learn more.

VIZIO launched a new and much improved lineup of UHD displays at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new lineup ranges from the accessible 40-inch V-Series to a massive all-new 85-inch P-Series Quantum X. With a ton of new features and brand new technology along with a series of OLED TVs, the 2020 SmartCast TV lineup from VIZIO is their highest performing and widest range ever.

Yamaha is on their 3rd generation of separates in the Aventage line and we got our hands on their new 11-channel CX-A5200 AV Processor and MX-A5200 amplifier. With their predecessors in our Audioholics Showcase home rack for the last year, we have a great reference to see just how much Yamaha has refined this package with their latest technological advancements. Are the 5200 series models a worthy successor to those they replace? Read our review with detailed measurements to find out.

A year after releasing the L100 Classic, JBL Introduced their L82 Classic Bookshelf Loudspeakers at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new L82 Classic's 8-inch, 2-way system design is more compact than the L100’s 12-inch 3-way design, but still looks to deliver a premium hi-fi sound experience with an attractive retro aesthetic.

SVS could have phoned in their efforts for the middle product line between the 2000 series subwoofers and the 4000 series subwoofers, and not many people would have noticed given the overall success of their other product lines. However, SVS did not do that, and they produced what, in many ways, may be their best subwoofer series to date. Read our in-depth review with detailed measurements to find out why we like the SVS 3000 series subwoofers so much.

SVS's massively successful 2000 series subwoofer has just underwent a big change to become the 2000 Pro series, but what makes this series pro? Major changes in amplification and driver architecture promise some significant performance increases as well as the inclusion of new features such as SVS's Bluetooth subwoofer control app for iOS and Andriod. The subs are better but the prices are a bit higher, so the question is are the improvements worth the price hike? See what these new SVS's 2000 Pro subwoofers offer to find out.