Industry Update
By Wes Phillips March 11, 2006 — Audica MPS-1: Audica, the Cambridge, UK–based manufacturer founded by Kieron Dunk (formerly of Mission, Denon, Cyrus, Infinity, and Klipsch, to name but a few) is finally shipping its stylish MPS-1 desktop audio system ($400). The MPS-1 consists of two diminutive extruded aluminum loudspeakers and a 25Wpc amplifier/control center with three 3.5mm inputs (one high sensitivity for portables and other low-output sources; the others with lower sensitivity and higher input impedence). The MPS-1 control center also has USB and FireWire connections to facilitate recharging portable players' batteries.

While it's true that everybody and his brother are bringing "desktop stereos" to market these days, Dunk's track record as a designer, along with preliminary buzz from the UK, suggests that the MPS-1 might put Audica on the map—or at least on a lot of blotters. Well-designed near-field monitors with 25Wpc certainly could put the sweet spot in a desk chair.

Yamaha and TI: Yamaha's newest A/V receivers include TI's Auerius DA7xx digital signal processor, a "32-bit floating-point programmable DSP and a comprehensive software solution, enabling multichannel decoding applications."

What's that mean? Essentially that Yamaha and TI are harnessing the phenomenal processing power now available to create receivers that team with portable music players and satellite radios, both products that are exciting contemporary consumers.

On the satellite radio front, Yamaha's RX-V459 ($349; 90W x 6 channels), RX-V559 ($449; 95W x 6 channels), and RX-V659 ($549; 100W x 7 channels) incorporate Neural Surround, the surround-sound processor for XM satellite radio.

On the portable front, the Yamaha receivers offer "Compressed Music Enhancer," which is said to "improve the listening experience of audio being played back from an iPod or other portable music player by restoring the rich sound quality removed in the encoding/ripping process." That's an interesting claim, given that the press release is probably referring to "restoring" information thrown away by lossy compression schemes. Auerius may well interpolate what the missing data might be (to a greater or lesser degree of accuracy—we haven't auditioned it, so we make no claims to direct experience), but it can't "restore" that missing information.

And yet, even while we arch our eyebrow skeptically at the definitive nature of the claim, we salute Yamaha for acknowledging how central portables have become to many listeners and for adding features that might appeal to them. The Compressed Music Enhancer's algorithm, like the optional iPod docking stations for the RX-V559 and RX-V659, give portable enthusiasts a reason to consider an A/V receiver as an adjunct to an audio product they have already embraced. That's just good marketing.

The new receivers also offer other DSP options, such as Cinema DSP, which expands the perceived soundfield of recordings; Night Listening Enhancer, which compresses dynamic range for "good-neighbor" late-night listening; and Virtual Cinema DSP, which synthesizes surround sound for two-channel and headphone listening.