Gadget Hunter

  

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Pioneer markets its Elite lineup of plasma TVs to appeal to the hard-core home theater enthusiast, and that means pricing these panels above and beyond just about anything else. The enthusiast who can afford one, however, can rest assured that the 50-inch PRO-111FD performs above and beyond anything else on the market today. This display has the best black levels (aside from OLED) and most accurate color of any HDTV we’ve ever reviewed, and it’s hard to find fault with other aspects of its picture quality. A picture mode entitled Pure is exactly that, delivering better out-of-the-box settings–before we performed any adjustments–than any preset picture mode we’ve tested, including THX on models like the Panazonic 50-PZ. A stratospheric price disqualifies the Elite from consideration as our Editors’ Choice, but make no mistake: If you have the cash to burn, this plasma or its 60 inch brother is best flat-panel HDTV you can buy today, period.

Design
Pioneer’s no-nonsense, all-black look gives the PRO-111FD an ultraserious air, backed up by the unadorned, glossy-black frame with a simple gold “Elite” tattooed on the bottom. The sharp-cornered frame is characteristically chunky for a 50-inch plasma, and unlike most HDTVs, Pioneer mounts the speakers to both sides, making for an expansive wingspan. We appreciated that the speakers can be detached, as can the glossy black, nonswiveling stand.

Including stand and speakers, the PRO-111FD measures approximately 56.9 inches wide by 31 inches high by 13.8 inches deep and weighs 88 pounds. By itself, the panel measures 48.8 by 28.5 by 3.7 inches and weighs 74.5 pounds.

Pioneer’s remote was redesigned after last year, and we really don’t like it. Gone are the different shapes for secondary functions; instead, almost all of the keys on the new remote share the same square shape, tiny size, and are arranged in a staid grid. While that may make the clicker look cooler in some designer’s opinions, it sure doesn’t help navigate the scads of buttons. Sure, we liked the direct access to each of the inputs and the red-backlit keys, but we can’t forgive the unforgiving grid.

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Performance
Simply put, the Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD produced the best picture of any flat-panel HDTV we’ve tested to date. It delivered the deepest blacks we’ve seen from any large-screen display, as well as the most-accurate color. Video processing was superb, its glare-reducing screen is the best we’ve seen on any plasma TV, and we could find almost nothing to complain about in other areas. Given its superb performance, the PRO-111FD scores the first “10″ we’ve ever awarded in overall picture quality. To us, that score doesn’t represent perfection–hey, nothing’s perfect–but instead a picture that’s solidly superior to anything else we’ve seen in the flat-panel HDTV category.

Our standard calibration turned out to be a simple affair, despite the PRO-111FD’s sizable complement of picture controls. The key was the Pure picture mode, which automatically engages Color Space 2, which in turn adheres very closely to the Rec. 709 HD color standard. We tweaked the color temperature a bit, removing a slight reddish cast, and touched up Magenta and Green by three total pips in the color-management system, but that was about it. The default Gamma 2 setting measured a nearly perfect 2.181 gamma; light output and black level were almost dead-on, and our main change was to bump up saturation (Color).

Produces the deepest black levels of any large-screen display we’ve tested; extremely accurate color points and color temperature; superb antireflective screen; 72Hz refresh mode works well with 1080p/24 sources; Pure picture mode delivers superior settings out of the box; extensive picture controls; excellent connectivity, including 4 HDMI and one PC input; styling that’s all business.

Record labels, hammered by ever plummeting CD sales, see a ray of sunshine in the recent minor renaissance in vinyl records whose sales and production continue to steadily expand. The reason for this 33 1/3 RPM nostalgia? The feeding of a demand from a growing minority of audio geeks who have been bitching about the cold sound of digital reproduction since the first compact disc was released. (And don’t even get them started on the sound quality of MP3s.) Records, they claim, have warmer, more natural sound. Okay, so what’s this gotta do with Sony’s Digital Noise Cancellation Headphones? That all depends on how you like the sound reproduction of the music you listen to: Analog warm or digital cool.

Until now, the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones have set the benchmark for superior noise cancellation. Could Sony out-Bose Bose with its new digital headphones? After comparing both on a Southwest Airlines flight, a noisy commuter train and a quiet living room, we found that yes, Sony has outdone Bose…but not necessarily for the better.

Noise cancellation: Sony’s analog-digital conversion cut out the omnipresent annoying drone of a jet engine, screaming babies, and background conversations. The ‘phones literally put you in your own cocoon of silence. Bose does the same but Sony let us to optimize the noise cancellation mode to three diverse environments: airplane, bus/train, and office. By simply pressing an artificial intelligence button on the right ear piece it was possible to cut out external sounds effectively. Sony also added a handy monitor button that lets you hear external sound such as a flight attendant asking if you want a drink. With Bose, you must power down or remove the headphones entirely to hear sounds from the outside.

Audio reproduction: We threw everything from the Alpha Twins to Yo Yo Ma to Abba to ZZ Top at both headphones. Bose reproduction was analog warm without any distortion at higher volumes or with heavy bass. Sony’s sound was the epitome of digital cool but performed best with midrange reproduction. Some heavy bass tracks at higher volumes caused enough headbanging distortion to make us actually throw the headphones off.

Portability and Comfort: Check it out — Bose QuietComfort 3 fit inside its 2 inch thick carrying case weighs in at one pound, Sony’s MRD-NC500D check in at just over 1.5 pounds. Its case is 3 inches thick with bulk that exceeds the Bose package by more than inch in either direction. Of course, there is more packed in the Sony case: an AC-power recharging cable with a mini-brick plug and a alternative two-AAA battery case to power the headphones when the built-in rechargeable batteries have no juice left. The Bose QuietComfort 3’s feather-light, ear cup features a soft foam which fits on top of your ears whereas the Sony set surround your ears, not putting any pressure on them. Comfort of course is subjective but after wearing each for more than one hour, we preferred the softness and material of the Bose more.

Does digital make a difference? Sure it allows for customizing noise cancellation based on the “noise” around you but the analog Bose still does the job well, too. Of course, in the end it’s whether you like your sound digital cool or analog warm. For us at the G-Lab, we’re content to stay toasty.

Plenty of gadgets claim to be tough without actually being tough. (You know the type; loud as a motorbike, but wouldn’t bust a grape in a food fight.) But the Olympus LS-10 digital recorder actually walks the walk. Its first-rate audio recording clarity builds on a sturdy appearance, and proves to be a great appendage for reckless audio aficionados.

Using the recorder is like peeling some sort of magical golden onion. Transferring files to and from a PC takes only a few moments. The UI folder structure is easy to navigate with little direction (There are 5 folders with a 200-file max, plus one Music folder.) It uses SD memory (2 GIG internal, lasting 3-69 hours, contingent on the recording setting) and it can record audio (from best quality on down) as 96 kHz/24bit Linear PCM (Pulsed Code Modulation), WAV, MP3, and WMA files.

It’s also physically stout and sturdy as hell. The recorder got dropped, smacked, and tossed without any discernible loss in performance. The 5.33-ounce weight lends a solid heft to the device and the brush finish and stylish rounded corners give it (dare we say?) a sexy look. Even the buttons are designed in a way that it prevents accidental switching and flicking. Students, journalists, and other folks who toss gadgets haphazardly in a bag will know this is heaven’s sent.

As a portable music-listening device, it doesn’t work that well. If you transfer an MP3 to the player and listen to it (through headphones) before listening to (awesome) input recordings on the PC for the first time, you’ll be kinda bummed by the average tone. No, it’s not expected to be good as an MP3 player (hey, the iPod sucks as a recorder), but leads to the dreaded pocket bulging misery of taking two media devices at once. And it’s way too expensive. At this price, we would prefer the hardware-software integrated simplicity of an iTunes-type program. That’s not too much to ask.

But what about the all important audio recording quality? We tested the LS-10 in a variety of noisy situations including live narration in the middle of a crowded street (complete with a random lunatic ranting about getting kicked out of Old Navy.) Our recording came out perfectly clear without a scratch of background fuzz. Even when we recorded an indoor musical performance, little nuances in the notes became apparent on playback. The only  time we heard any sort of popping  or distortion was when we turned the device off and listened to other recorders in our collection.