The CEA says that BuzzNet is designed to provide students and faculty with direct ears-on experience with the latest consumer audio technologies…
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It is often observed that audiophiles are an aging, dying breed, and that the obvious antidote is to bring younger 'philes into the fold. To that end, BuzzNet 2000 has been created as a "touring educational festival of new music listening technologies" by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The program launches this fall with two dates on the west coast: California State University at Long Beach and the University of California at Davis.
John Atkinson has found himself swept away by the expensive speakers from Wilson Audio Specialties, so he set forth to put the company's new, modestly-priced Sophia loudspeaker to the test. JA writes, "The Sophia is all new, from its handcrafted enclosure to its custom-built drive-units."
With his review of the Simaudio Moon i-5 integrated amplifier, Chip Stern concluded "an audiophile's progression through the price/performance ratios of three very musical solid-state integrated amplifiers." The Hipster finds out if the Moon i-5 has what it takes to fully ascend into the High End.
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Better late than never. America Online has finally leaped into the Internet music business with its recent purchase of San Francisco-based Spinner Networks, and Nullsoft of Sedona, Arizona. The combined deals, which were announced on June 1, cost AOL $400 million in company stock.
Spinner is an Internet "radio station" that claims to transmit more than 2 million songs per day in more than 100 categories---everything from baroque pieces to alternative rock---to millions of users worldwide. Nullsoft is the developer of the popular WinAmp software, used by music fans to play downloaded MP3…
This last year has seen several companies proclaim the launch of the "world's first digital loudspeaker." The term brings to mind some exotic new approach that is neither cone nor ribbon nor electrostat---something as different from all of those as, say, a CD is from a vinyl record or cassette tape.
Coming across "the world's first digital loudspeaker" somewhere, one might expect that it must be a major technology revolution in the chain from nature, to bits, and back to nature again. It would also help ward off confusion in such a nascent product area if the phrase were used to describe a…
Back in 1997, DVD-Audio was still miles away—and it may still be! But, as John Atkinson writes, "After a decade of stability, with slow but steady improvement in the quality of 16-bit/44.1kHz audio, the cry among audio engineers is now '24/96!'—meaning 24-bit data sampled at 96kHz. Not coincidentally, DVD offers audiophiles a medium with the potential for playing back music encoded at this new mastering standard." The dCS Elgar D/A processor was one of the first consumer units able to decode 24/96, and still stands as a benchmark product. JA gives the details.
More recently, dCS released…
Wandering around the show, we were struck by how good most of the speakers we were hearing were. Not just the cost-no-logic designs, but pretty much all of them. Are we audiophiles lucky or what?
The 7' Pipedreams with four (count 'em, four) subwoofers were sounding mighty impressive driven by an Audio Aero Capitole CD player ($8500) and a pair of $19,000 Tenor 75Wpc amps (a Plinius 250Wpc amp drove the woofers). The Pipedreams recreated the transient attack of a trumpet with such staggering realism that they could have probably blown out a candle with all that tightly focused air.
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The legal molasses in which MP3.com is mired got thicker and deeper in mid-March, when MPL Communications launched a lawsuit against the Internet music company. MPL, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's publishing house, joined the attack begun months ago by the Recording Industries Association of America. McCartney's firm filed suit in a New York US District Court against the San Diego–based startup over copyrights on intellectual properties owned by MPL, whose catalog includes McCartney's solo work, as well as the works of Buddy Holly, Hoagy Carmichael, Sammy Cahn, and other songwriters and…
Things are looking up for high-resolution audio, with price drops for DVD-Audio discs announced by one major record label in a move to attract a larger audience.
In mid-June, Warner Music Group (WMG) issued a statement that it would begin pricing its DVD-A titles "as equivalent to CD pricing as possible." The decision means an effective reduction of 25–35% in DVD-A prices, according to the announcement. WMG believes that equivalent pricing will induce consumers to opt for the DVDs rather than the CDs, especially because Warner discs are encoded with Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks that can play…
With new music download services, including the move to higher resolutions, one vital question still remains for the music business: Will the majority of consumers prefer to continue purchasing music à la carte, one track or album at a time, or will they prefer to subscribe to an unlimited library?
It's an important distinction, and one that goes to the heart of the music industry's future business model. Companies that guess correctly will tap into the music-buying mind successfully, and continue to develop their online businesses. And there's always the possibility that both methods for…
English digital audio company dCS has announced a major change in its management and ownership structure. David Steven, marketing manager for the last four years, has purchased the majority shareholding in the company. Derek Fuller, who was the business manager, has left the company, while Mike Story, dCS's founder, will continue as chief digital designer. A dCS press release says that the change should result in "products and programs that have a much more customer-centric focus."
In other news, the dCS Verdi LaScala upsampling transport, one of Stereophile's two Joint Digital Products for…