Select a month

Back to The Archives

black Archive

SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet & Othello (comp.productions by Royal Shakespeare Co.), Blu-ray (2016)

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 23, 2017 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet & Othello (comp.productions by Royal Shakespeare Co.), Blu-ray (2016) SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet ‒ Paapa Essiedu, Hamlet / Natalie Simpson, Ophelia / Cyril Nri, Polonius / Clarence Smith, Claudius / Tanya Moodie, Gertrude / Hiran Abeysekera, Horatio / Marcus Griffiths, Laertes / Ewart James Walters, Ghost; Gravedigger / James Conney, Rosencrantz / Bethan Cullinane, Guildenstern / Kevin N Golding, Bernardo / Priest, Player King / Theo Ogundipe, Fortinbras; Marcellus; Lucianus / Doreene Blackstock, Player Queen / Marième Diouf, Cornelia; Player / Romayne Andrews, Osric / Eke Chukwu, Voltimand / Simon Godwin, Director / Royal Shakespeare Company ‒ Opus Arte Blu-ray OA 807172 D, 180 min., main features; 5 min., extras (10/28/16) ****: SHAKESPEARE: Othello ‒ David Ajao, Montano / Nadia Albina, Duke of Venice / Scarlett Brookes, Bianca / James Corrigan, Roderigo / Ayesha Dharker, Emilia / Eva Feiler, Citizen of Venice / Owen Findlay, Gentleman of Cyprus / Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Cassio / Guy Hughes, Soldier / Gwilym Lloyd, Gratiano / Rina Mahoney, Citizen of Venice; Messenger / Lucian Msamati, Iago / Ken Nwosu, Gentleman of Cyprus / Brian Protheroe, Brabantio / Hugh Quarshie, Othello / Herald, Jay Saighal, Gentleman of Cyprus / Tim Samuels, Lodovico / Joanna Vanderham, Desdemona […]

The Secret Life of Pets, Blu-ray 3D (2016)

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 9, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

Another great family animated film, and in 3D! The Secret Life of Pets, Blu-ray 3D (2016) Voice-overs: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper Director: Chris Renaud Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy Studio: Universal Studios 61181890 (2 discs) [12/6/16] plus digital HD and Ultraviolet Video: 1.85:1 for 16:9 screens, color 3D Audio: English DD 2.0, French DD 5.1 Subtitles: French, Spanish, English SDH No region coding Extras: Three mini-movies, All About the Pets, Animals Can Talk: Meet the Actors, Hairstylist to the Dogs, The Best of Snowball, How to Make an Animated Film, Anatomy of a Scene Length: 174 min. Rating: **** This animated film answers the question of what our pets do when we are not home. When the owners leave for the day, all sorts of pets from the building get together and gossip with their friends, satisfy their sweet tooths, and throw fantastic parties. When a pampered little dog (played by comedian C.K.) and a new huge brown roommate from the pound (voice of Stonestreet) get themselves lost in the urban jungle of NYC, they learn to put aside their differences in order to survive the epic journey they must make to get back […]

Audio News for October 18, 2016

by Audiophile Audition | Oct 18, 2016 | Audio News

Apple to Set Up Research & Development Center in China – Their chief executive said the center will be in the city of Shenzhen, China – a major global hub for electronics manufacturing. It is also the home of Foxconn, who make the Apple iPhone. Both it and a separate center in Beijing will allow Apple to attract top local talent. Amazon Expands Into Subscription Music – Amazon Music Unlimited already charges consumers $10 a month for an ad-free, on-demand catalog of tens of millions of tracks. If you have Amazon Prime, you get a discounted rate of $8 a month on top of the $99 yearly Prime cost. If you are willing to make Amazon’s Echo your only source for listening to streaming, you can get the service for the cheapest rate around, only $4 a month. This will help Amazon dominate music streaming in homes in a voice-command future, letting their rivals duke it out to win control of mobile listening. Giving access to Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, has also been a way to hook consumers. (The Echo is a very small single speaker with no bass and mono only.) In the year past, consumers have shifted to […]

ROAM Ropes Wireless Earphones & Amp

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 20, 2016 | Component Reviews

Beautifully designed and packaged, but ear buds cannot equal good over-the-ear headphones. ROAM Ropes Wireless Earphones & Amp List: $199; $150 at Amazon Ropes are an attempt to equal the impact on the audio world of the Beats headphones in 2008. They are high-style earbuds with a built-in DAC (50 MIPS with 24-bit stereo), Bluetooth unit and a free companion EQ App that allows setting the EQ exactly as you want. True, you can now buy Bluetooth earbuds (and the Ropes uses the latest advanced version of Bluetooth: 4.1) with no cable or separate amp at all, so a set with a big “pendent” (they call it the Audio Engine) seems a bit going backwards. In a way, they have “cut the cord” but only some of the cord – they are not wireless. The components are powered by an inbuilt lithium-polymer battery, which charges in about 15 minutes for an hour of playback. You won’t be able to listen to the earbuds while charging at your computer, because the cable is very short. The unit is beautifully packaged and designed, and with the red cables that came with my black unit could be quite a fashion statement. They seem […]

NICOLAS KAVIANI: Te Deum; Tous Les Matins du Monde – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./Janacek Opera Choir/ Soloists/Petr Vronsky – Navona CD & DVD

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 27, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Traditional religious text treated like a traditional setting of traditional religious text. NICOLAS KAVIANI: Te Deum; Tous Les Matins du Monde – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./Janacek Opera Choir/soloists/Petr Vronsky – Navona NV6021 + DVD documentary (2 discs) [Distr. by Parma] (7/08/16) 48:20 **1/2: Nicolas Kavaiani, from the bio on a piano accompanist website, is a composer, pianist and accompanist and has over ten years of experience teaching piano, music theory and composition to students of all levels, styles and ages. He received his B.A. in Music Composition at UCSC and also studied at the Conservatoire de Musique in Avignon, France. Now, from some publicity materials for this new recording of his Te Deum: ”Nicolas Kaviani writes his modern day Te Deum (Navona CD plus documentary DVD) to praise the heavens in the fundamental manner that Western Civilization has done for many centuries past. In our modern age, however, the full creation is something we now know much more about than we previously believed. Yet it is still a mystery. The vastness and ineffable nature of boundless space as science has come to know it is the material entity Nicolas Kaviani sets out to praise in his half-hour work for orchestra.” Well, […]

Audio News for April 15, 2016

by Audiophile Audition | Apr 15, 2016 | Audio News

Black Contributions to Classical Music Thru Video Games – The National Endowment for the Humanities has given a start-up grant to faculty members of the American University School of Communications for a web-based game called The Search for Harmony, which explores the rich influence of African descent musicians on classical music. Players will understand vital multicultural influences on classical music, learn rudimenary composition concepts and discover the expressive power of music. Tiny Tube Headphone Amp From Woo Audio – The WA8 Eclipse is pure tube, with two 6S31Bs and one 6021 tubes. It is built to the highest audiophile standards and plays from three to four hours on one charge. The built-in digital converter handles up to 384-kHz/24-bit files. It excels in transparency and seems to work with many different headphones. It has top-notch design and is currently about $1800. Virtual Reality the Hottest Technology Today – The new release of Facebook-owned Oculus Rift and the Vive – from Bellevue’s Valve and Taiwanese phone company HTC – will be the biggest test to date as ot whether consumers are interested in a device that wraps an immersive screen around their faces. A cluster of start-ups are also watching the market […]

The Hateful Eight, Blu-ray (2016)

by Audiophile Audition | Mar 19, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

A typical bloody Tarantino film, but a good story, fine acting and lovely widescreen 65mm cinematography make it a great experience. The Hateful Eight, Blu-ray (2016) Director: Quentin Tarantino Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh Studio: The Weinstein Company/Anchor Bay 8063848, 2 discs (3/29/16) Video: Shot on 65mm film at 2.76:1 for 16:9 display, 1080p HD color Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish Extras: “Beyond the Eight” – Behind the Scenes, “Sam Jackson’s Guide to Glorious 70mm” Length: 187 min. Rating: ****1/2 If you didn’t already get it, this is the eighth feature film by Tarantino. For the story’s winter Wyoming landscape, the film was shot using 65mm lenses and cameras which hadn’t been used since the 1970s, around Telluride, CO. And it was presented in 70mm as a Road Show Attraction at the few special theaters equipped for it, such as the Hollywood here in Portland. It has five chapters and is set around a decade after the Civil War. The film got three Academy Award Nominations but was aced out by The Revenant. The film opens with bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) trying to get his handcuffed-to-him […]