The Mp3, Audio Buyers Guide
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The Best receiver under $1000: We haven't tested one in awhile, but we're going to go out on a limb and say we like
Onkyo,
Denon,
Yamaha and
Pioneer gear. While some of our own testing is in progress, we'll go with what our friends at Sound and Vision like: The
Onkyo TX-SR706 7.1 receiver with 4HDMI ports and THX certification for $900.
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The Best High-End Portable Media Players:
Zune HD and the
iPod Touch. We Like the Zune pass system a lot, which allows you to keep 10 songs a month out of your unlimited downloads, even after you stop subscribing. But the iPod Touch's large app library makes it a powerful little computer.
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Best high-capacity media player: iPod classic is pretty much the only one left, since Zune has been discontinued and Archos is a mess.
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Flash Media Drives: We've always loved the screenless shuffle's utility, but there are other drives to be had with more functionality for cheaper. Especially now that the buttonless iPod shuffle is sort of annoying to use. We like the
Sandisk Sansa Clip+.
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Surround Soundbar: There's only one series of soundbars that uses cold war submarine tech to bounce soundwaves off your walls for surround, and they're made by
Yamaha. I tested the Y
SP-4000.
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iPod Speaker Dock:
JBL OnStage 400p (A winner from last year — I'm almost certain we should be retesting this category)
