LATEST ADDITIONS

News
DVD-Audio a Hot Topic at DVD Forum Conference
Jon Iverson  |  Oct 01, 1998
Running close on the heels of the 105th AES Convention in San Francisco, the DVD Forum held its conference two days later in the posh Hyatt Regency near the SF Airport. Attended by a variety of computer and consumer-electronics industry folk who manufacture and sell DVD discs and hardware, more than half of day one was devoted to the emerging DVD-Audio format. Although the presentations became highly technical at times, the sheer variety of possible formats and applications for DVD-Audio became apparent. Whether this is a blessing or a fatal flaw, all agreed that the consumer will ultimately determine DVD-Audio's fate in the next 2 to 5 years.
Continue Reading »
News
Next Stop: Munich. AES Folds Its Tent in SF
Barry Willis  |  Sep 29, 1998
Day Four at AES. The crowds were somewhat thinner, but the convention floor was still buzzing, still incredibly busy right up to 4pm, the official break-down time. I spent a couple of hours strolling the floor with Vacuum Tube Valley's Eric Barbour, who works another side of the thermionic street as an application engineer for Svetlana, the Portola Valley, CA-based importer of Russian-made tubes. Svetlana will soon be making the ubiquitous 12AX7 and other popular tubes in its St. Petersburg factory, he told me. Instability in Russia has hindered production recently, but Eric said all such problems have been solved. He also mentioned that VTV has moved to new offices and should soon be published quarterly. I stood by as he made a sales call at the Millennia Media booth.
Continue Reading »
News
Analog vs. Digital at the 105th AES
Jon Iverson  |  Sep 28, 1998
Cats vs. dogs, Wile E. Coyote vs. Roadrunner, Spy vs. Spy, Analog vs. Digital. It seems that some battles will never end, and so it is with flux vs. bits in the professional recording industry. The Audio Engineering Society (AES) conventions dazzle showgoers with the latest audio recording and processing gear, mostly digital, and this year's show is no exception. The big buzz heard 'round the hall were higher sampling and quantization rates for future music formats such as DVD-Audio. But off-site, at the nearby ANA hotel (great choice of venue---just add LOG) in downtown San Francisco, key industry heavyweights were holding a meeting to discuss the future of analog recording technologies.
Continue Reading »
Recording of the Month
Recording of September 1998: Mermaid Avenue
Robert Baird  |  Sep 28, 1998
BILLY BRAGG & WILCO: Mermaid Avenue
Elektra 62204-2 (CD). 1998. Billy Bragg, Wilco, Grant Showbiz, prods.; Jerry Boys, eng.; Nora Guthrie, exec. prod. AAD? TT: 49:42
Performance ****?
Sonics ****
Continue Reading »
Fine Tunes
Fine Tunes #3
Jonathan Scull  |  Sep 28, 1998
So where did we leave off? I think you were wandering around the listening room clapping your hands. You were, I hope, listening to the slap echo and noting how it changed as you meandered about. That's probably just when someone near and dear bumped suddenly into the room and gave you that peculiar look we audiophiles know so well. Try to explain what you're doing.
Continue Reading »
Vote
How much have you spent on software (CDs, LPs, tapes, etc.) for your system?
Matt H.  |  Sep 27, 1998

Last week we asked about the cost of your system, but reader Matt H. suggested we ask about the cost of the software to feed it.

How much have you spent on software (CDs, LPs, tapes, etc.) for your system?
$0-99
1% (2 votes)
$100-499
2% (5 votes)
$500-999
2% (5 votes)
$1000-2499
15% (35 votes)
$2500-$4999
21% (49 votes)
$5000-9999
26% (63 votes)
$10,000-19,999
21% (51 votes)
$20,000-49,999
8% (19 votes)
More than $50,000
4% (9 votes)
Total votes: 238
Continue Reading »
News
HDCD Spreads Further into the Audio Kingdom
Stereophile Staff  |  Sep 27, 1998
HDCD and Pacific Microsonics appear to be on a roll these days. The HDCD process, developed to coerce 20-bit performance out of the 16-bit CD format, is gaining several new licensees and is also appearing in more devices, as evidenced by several recent announcements. The company is also looking ahead to future DVD formats with an agreement intended to couple HDCD benefits with higher sampling rates.
Continue Reading »
News
One More Way to Charge Up a Walkman
Stereophile Staff  |  Sep 27, 1998
For years, credit cards have allowed people to earn points toward air travel and automobiles, so earning credits for audio and video gear seems a no-brainer. Last week, Sony Electronics and Citibank launched the Sony Citibank Card, a co-branded credit card that allows consumers to earn points toward the purchase of a variety of Sony entertainment and merchandise.
Continue Reading »
News
AES Rolls into SF, Rocks Convention Center
Barry Willis  |  Sep 26, 1998
Saturday, September 26, thousands of enthusiastic audio-savvy attendees began swarming through the massive cavern of the Moscone Center's North Hall in San Francisco. They will continue to swarm until late Tuesday, September 29, the last day of the 105th Audio Engineering Society Convention. The convention has attracted hundreds of companies whose products are extravagantly displayed in the huge space beneath the Yerba Buena Gardens. Demonstrations of new products and technologies also take place in smaller rooms off the main floor. Research papers are being presented in meetings throughout the four-day event.
Continue Reading »
News
Medical Fund Established for James Bongiorno
Barry Willis  |  Sep 26, 1998
James Bongiorno needs your help. The legendary electronics designer, whose pioneering work with fully complementary solid-state amplifiers has become part of engineering's standard lexicon, is battling liver cancer.
Continue Reading »

Pages

X