Don Lindich’s Sound Advice Blog

Welcome to soundadviceblog.com, the online companion to my nationally-distributed newspaper column. My passion is helping YOU understand audio, video and photography, find the best products and save money, and get amazing results no matter your budget.

Ongoing blog entries are under this sticky post. While you are here be sure to check out:

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Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back soon!

-Don Lindich

Neuhaus Laboratories T-2

The Neuhaus Laboratories T-2 is a product of two generations that merges two different worlds of electronics. The two generations are represented by George and Daniel Golik of Miami-based Neuhaus Laboratories. George is a high-end audiophile and his son Daniel, a member of the iTunes generation. Their product, the Neuhaus Laboratories T-2, brings both together by combining an audiophile-quality vacuum tube amplifier with a high quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC.) The result is a single hi-fi component that is also plug-and-play compatible with Mac and Windows computers.

You may be surprised to read about vacuum tubes in this day and age, but tube gear is still manufactured and is favored by guitar players and audiophiles who love the warm, rich sound. This warmth and richness is exactly why George and Daniel thought tubes would be a natural for use with computer music files. Both noted the poor sound when playing compressed music from iTunes through high quality sound systems, leading them to develop the vacuum tube T-2 to bring the music back to life. Read the rest of this entry »

Olympus E-PL1 Micro Four-Thirds interchangeable lens camera with 17mm lens

Readers of my site and my column know I am a big fan of Micro Four-Thirds interchangeable lens digital cameras and specifically of the Olympus E-P1.  The new Olympus E-PL1 brings Micro Four-Thirds down to the new low price point of $599 MSRP including a kit lens.  This is a very exciting development as the E-P1 produces some of the best looking digital images I have ever seen, and with a minimum of fuss.  The E-PL1 looks to duplicate the E-P1’s image quality.  The E-P1 is also one of the most fun-to-use cameras I have ever experienced. Here is what I had to say about the E-P1 when it was introduced:

“The E-P1 combines the convenience and compactness of a compact camera with the image quality and interchangeable lenses of a digital SLR.  It is also a 720p high definition camcorder (with noisy autofocus, focus manually.)  Combined with image quality that appears phenomenal straight out of the camera, this is the camera a lot of people have been waiting for.  I have to tell you, just holding it makes you want to take pictures.  It feels like you have an old style, high-class precision rangefinder camera  in your hand.  By all accounts Olympus has knocked one out of the park with this one and I am anxious to put the PEN E-P1 through its paces.”  See the complete post here.  E-P1 video sample, shrunk for web use is here.

Much of the goodness of the E-P1 is found in the E-PL1, along with a lower price and a feature set that is suitable for less-serious photographers.  Knowing how much fun the E-P1 is and what great images it produces, I am in love with the idea of this camera as now my readers are more likely to get to experience what I have with my own E-P1.

Read the rest of this entry »

Paradigm Atom Monitor Bookshelf  Speaker

The Paradigm Atom Monitor has long been loved by audiophiles for its fine sound and its  affordable price.  I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the Atom Monitor lately and though they sounded good out of the box, after around 30 hours of break-in the sound opened up and took on a sweet, sublime quality that is eminently listenable and extremely pleasing to the ear.  They have a warmish sound, but not too warm.  Stereo imaging is excellent, the bass is tight and defined with no sense of boominess, and they are brimming with detail from the midbass to the highest treble.  You can listen to them for hours on end with no sense of fatigue. For the asking price of $319 per pair I do not know of a better speaker.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are many classic movies that are not available to the public because the cost of restoring the movies, authoring the DVDs, then replicating and distributing them would well exceed the proceeds from the sales.  Many film buffs have been dismayed over this state of affairs, fearing these classics will never be available to be enjoyed again. Warner Bros. has one of the largest film libraries in existence, having purchased many MGM films and added them to their own vast library.  Now, with DVDs from Warner Archive, you can enjoy many of these movies on DVD.  Warner Bros. has come up with an elegant solution that is a godsend to film fans everywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

If it is good enough for the Guggeheim Museum, the FAA, the United States Air Force and Navy, Panasonic, Dell,  the Smithsonian, and NASA, it should be good enough for you.  Klear Screen products are the choice of these companies and many others who read like a who’s who of technology.  The Klear Screen HD Screen Cleaner shown above is meant to be used on your TV screen, but NASA also uses it to clean the windows on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.  That’s saying something and has to make you confident your TV is in good hands.  Read the rest of this entry »

Panasonic DMP-BD70V Blu-ray/VHS player

If you have VHS tapes you still enjoy this is a great way to go if you want to add Blu-ray, or even if you just want to play your tapes and want an easier, better way to do it.  The Panasonic DMP-BD70V is a top-rate, full featured Blu-ray player that also upconverts VHS tapes to 1080p.  It doesn’t look high-def but it looks cleaner than it would just running from a VCR and you have the simplicity of a single HDMI connection.  Please note it does not record on VHS… it is playback only.

Learn more at the post where the DMP-BD70V was featured as Product of the Day.  At the time of this posting the Amazon link says $208 but vendors are offering it for less when you get to the product page.  It is worth the $208 anyway, if you are so inclined, but click the link and the $179.99 price should be there.  (I just checked and it was.)

Panasonic DMP-BD70V 1080p Blu-Ray Disc / VHS Combo Player at amazon.com

Audio-Technica ATH-M35 Headphones

Audio-Technica of Japan is well known for their outstanding transducers.  And what is a transducer?  A transducer converts electrical energy into mechanical (sonic) energy, and vice-versa… the hardest tasks in audio reproduction.  Besides speakers, some examples of transducers are microphones, phono cartridges, and headphones… with Audio-Technica being well-represented in all of the latter three categories.

Besides being known for high quality and precision, Audio-Technica products are well-known for their value.  Audio-Technica doesn’t dwell in the high-end realm that much, at least in terms of price… in terms of performance, however, they often do.  For example, the Audio-Technica AT-OC9/MLII phono cartridge (review coming soon)  lists for $699, has a street price of $399 and performs as well or better than some cartridges I have tried that cost several times its price.

Which brings us to today’s Product of the Day… the Audio-Technica ATH-M35 headphones.  Marketed as studio monitor headphones, they work very well in hi-fi applications, too. No fancy noise cancellation or gimmicks, just superior sound… what one comes to expect from Audio-Technica.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello everyone, sorry I have been out of touch and let the site sit for a while.  You may have heard about the snowstorm that hit us in the east… long story short, I got hurt and have been spending much of my time on my back trying to get back to 100%.  The past few days I have been doing much better and started some fresh photography this evening… look for some fresh product posts starting tomorrow.

Oh, and enjoy the Olympics!

-Don

NAD 7175PE Receiver- playing music as I write this

Today’s Product of the Day will take us down Vintage Lane to take a look at some exceptional gear you can buy easily and inexpensively!

The NAD PE series of amplifiers, integrated amplifiers and stereo receivers was produced in the late 1980s.  The series is known for its fine sound quality, fully up to audiophile standards, and some of the most powerful, most capable amplifiers you could ever buy.  The latter is something of an understatement, actually.  The PE series amps were brimming with high-quality watts and loads of current that could drive most anything you hooked them up to, and at today’s market prices they are a really exceptional buy if you are building a two-speaker stereo system.  I hope this Product of the Day feature does not raise the resale values too much because I don’t want those of you reading this to end up paying too much for one!

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’s Panasonic DMC-ZR1 Digital Camera at CES

The Panasonic DMC-ZR1 is a great digital camera.  I should know, because I have one!

Though I usually prefer to use my digital SLRs or Micro Four-Thirds cameras, there are times when I want something I can just put in a coat pocket and forget about.  My Panasonic DMC-ZR1 fills that role admirably and  brings some serious capability to the table.  To provide a proper sense of scale I need to mention the notebook in the picture above is quite  small.  The DMC-ZR1 is a little bigger than a deck of cards, yet it still has an 8x optical zoom.  Pretty amazing stuff.

What sets the DMC-ZR1 apart?

• 8x optical zoom, 25mm-200mm 35 mm equivalent range
  
• Advanced Panasonic Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization)
• 720p/30 fps HD movie mode 
• Intelligent Automatic Mode (iA)

Having taken quite a few pictures with my DMC-ZR1, I can say my favorite features are the 25mm wide-angle, which is truly useful, the extremely effective optical image stabilization, which makes even hand-held night photography a breeze, and the iA intelligent automatic mode, which seems to always get things right.  About the only thing I find less than perfect is the flash, which can be a little bit warm at times.  Admittedly I have not spent too much time tweaking it so better results may be out there.  Other than that the color is very accurate and natural.  Read the rest of this entry »

“Destroying malware… one byte at a time” -Malwarebytes tagline

There’s some pretty insidious malware going around these days.  One of the most evil is an infection that mimics a virus protection program and won’t let you do anything until you “activate” their software.  Come to think of it… doesn’t it completely stink that we all pay for these virus protection programs, and still spyware, adware and viruses make it through?  Those people have to try harder.

The good people at www.malwarebytes.org are here to help.  I had an older Windows PC that was infected by Internet Security 2010 recently.  My good friend Mr. Nixon told me he had seen it as well, and the freeware from Malwarebytes took it off in about 5 seconds.  I downloaded the program and lo and behold, the infection was gone and the computer was mine again.

So… a tip of the linking hat to the crew at malwarebytes.org, and most deserved Product of the Day kudos.  Dear readers, be sure to try their freeware… download it before it is too late!  And while you are at it, try buying some stuff from them too.  We need good people like them on our side to fight these scams.  I’m off to shop at their site right now.

Questions? Email Don

See you tomorrow for the Product of the Day!

I don’t know about you, but I was underwhelmed by the new Apple iPad today.  Especially given the hype that we have been fed the past few weeks.

I did a Google search under “iPad Epic Fail” and surprisingly, none other than MSNBC has a poll going using that same term… EPIC FAIL!   As of 9:25 pm EST here is the breakdown of responses:

Must have!  26.6%

Meh…   42.3%

EPIC FAIL!  28.7%

What’s an “iPad”? 1.4%

Other   .9%

What do you think?  Vote in the MSNBC iPad poll

Adding Meh and Epic Fail together gives a staggering 71% who are either not impressed with the iPad or outright think it stinks.  My own gut reaction was “This is it?!!!” and “I’d rather have a netbook, a real computer than can run applications, for a lot less money.”  And this is coming from a guy who owns several Macs (I am typing this on my Mac Pro/30″ combo, in fact) and who has converted many others from Windows to Apple.

Not to mention… AT&T.  That alone cuts out a lot of potential customers.  I will have an iPhone the day Verizon has it, but until then I am standing pat with my LG phone.  No AT&T for me, for a phone or a tablet.  I can’t get a signal where I live… Sprint doesn’t get a clear signal here, either, though I live on a hill.  Only Verizon does.

The jokes are rolling in, too, on the name… Apple’s iPad becomes big fat intimate joke.  Apparently no one at Apple has seen Mad TV’s iPad sketch  before, which ran years ago.  Warning- adult content!  It is linked here if you want to see it: Mad TV’s iPad sketch

Steve Jobs is a lot smarter than me and he is really excited by the iPad, and I have not seen one yet… so maybe I am missing something here. Still, that Netbook is looking better and better…

Questions? Email Don

Pentax K-x with 18-55 Lens

I’ve long been a Pentax fan, going back to my pro photographer days when I cut my teeth using a Pentax 645 medium format camera.  I bought it because it was affordable and had a good reputation; what I did not know at the time is how much I would come to love it for its sharp images and especially the beautiful color, unlike any other I have seen.  I preferred my Pentax SMC colors to my Zeiss T* and Leica colors (I’ve had at least one of everything, LOL) and as their digital SLR line fleshed out I was happy to find that the excellent color had transitioned to their digital SLR line.  I am now proud to call myself a Pentaxian.  (See some lovely Pentax colors at my tour of Paul C. Buff, Inc.)

The Pentax K-x is one of Pentax’s most affordable digital SLRs ever and may be the very best yet, though it is not the top of the product line and other models have more features and a higher megapixel count.  The K-x is exceptional for its image quality, which a prestigious online publication just called the best in its class.

Read the rest of this entry »

If there is one non-Apple application I can’t go without, it is Roxio’s amazing Toast 10 Titanium Pro.  Why?  It’s the best disc burning program available for the Mac and more importantly, it is the perfect companion to my AVCHD camcorder.  Like the idea of making your own high definition discs that will play on a Blu-ray player?  How about if you can burn them on ordinary DVD-Rs for pennies each, rather than $7 to $12 for a blank Blu-ray disc?  With Toast Titanium Pro 10, you can!

Read the rest of this entry »

Samsung LN40B630 LCD HDTV

Regular readers of my column and this site know I much prefer plasma TVs over LCD TVs.  There are still LCDs I like and would not mind owning, and the Samsung LN40B630 LCD HDTV is one of them.  I may still buy one yet, given the current $849 price, which makes it a very good buy.  The small price premium over Samsung’s 500-series LCDs pays off in better color, sharpness, and contrast, which leads to quite a good image.   Whenever I see it in stores my eyes are drawn to it and I often can’t peel them away… it looks so good!  This great picture quality is why I have chosen the Samsung LN40B630 as today’s Product of the Day. Read the rest of this entry »

Pro-Ject Debut III prior to counterweight installation (weight on right)

A complete system to play records is comprised of the following components:

Turntable platter with mat

The turntable:  The turntable’s job is to rotate the record smoothly and evenly, without introducing vibration from itself, while minimizing acoustic feedback as well as eliminate effects like footfalls, etc. from disturbing playback or degrading sound quality. Read the rest of this entry »

KAB USA Technics SL-1210M5G Audiophile Standard Turntable

(Spinning some Sinatra!)

I am a big fan of vinyl records.  Collecting and listening to records is my very favorite part of the audio hobby, and seeing the recent resurgence of vinyl makes my heart glad. More and more people are embracing this wonderful format and there are more makes and models or turntables available now than there were twenty years ago, when doomsayers were sounding the death knell of the vinyl record.

This is the first of many upcoming pages to share my passion and hopefully encourage some of you to give it a try, and to help those of you already enjoying vinyl to get more out of your vinyl experience.  These pages will be grouped together and individually linked in a special page stored under the Buying Advice and How-Tos section.

Read the rest of this entry »

Definitive Technology Mythos ST Home Theater Speaker System 

(Mythos STS uses slightly smaller towers)

Earlier this week I discussed the Pioneer SC-25 Elite receiver and mentioned what a great match it would be to a Definitive Technology Mythos STS home theater speaker system. I am mentioning this speaker system in next week’s column as well so it is a fitting choice for today’s product of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

The Panasonic DMP-BD60 is today’s Product of the Day, and this write-up will be short and sweet.  It does not have to be long given the DMP-BD60 and its current price.

What makes the Panasonic DMP-BD60 so noteworthy right now?  It’s an outstanding Blu-ray and DVD player and a real bargain at the moment.  A few reasons it such a great buy:

• Blu-ray performance is fast and reliable
• All current Blu-ray profiles and audio formats are supported
• SD Card slot for playing audio, video and photographs
• Picture quality from DVDs is outstanding, one of the few Blu-ray players to provide great DVD performance
• It is selling for under $120 right now.  That’s nuts!

If you have been waiting to get a Blu-ray player, now is the time.  At under $120 this is a giveaway and well worth the $20 or so you would pay for a no-name brand.  Sometimes I see higher priced no-names next to the Panasonic and I simply shake my head.  I hope people do their homework before they buy!

Save money and support this site by ordering from Amazon.com:

Panasonic DMP-BD60 at Amazon.com

Questions? Email Don

See you tomorrow for the Product of the Day!

Pioneer Elite SC-25 A/V Receiver

Download High-Rez Image

I usually recommend a separate amplifier and preamp/processor when people write to me requesting a recommendation for an expensive receiver.  The Pioneer Elite SC-25 is a receiver that gives separates a run for their money, and even offers some clear advantages, especially when compared to budget separates.  I certainly don’t need any more electronics in my home, but I am having a hard time resisting pulling out my credit card and ordering one for my test system. At $1,800 retail and $1,399 direct sales, nothing can touch the features, technology and performance of the Pioneer Elite SC-25. Read the rest of this entry »