The biggest winner was Linn Products, whose Linn Unidisk 1.1 multichannel universal player was our 2004 Digital Source Component, our 2004 Multichannel Music Component, and one of…
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For the 13th consecutive year, Stereophile has recognized the components that have proved capable of giving maximal musical pleasure with its "Products of the Year." Based on a vote by the magazine's reviewers and editors, the 2004 winners were announced in the December 2004 issue and the awards were presented by Stereophile editor John Atkinson at last week's 2005 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
After the 2001 show's wildly successful run earlier this year, Home Entertainment 2002 is heading back again to the heart of New York City. HE2002 will take place May 30–June 2, 2002 at the Hilton New York.
Co-sponsored by Stereophile, Home Theater, and Stereophile Guide to Home Theater magazines, Home Entertainment 2002 (formerly the Hi-Fi Show) is a unique hands-on weekend extravaganza aimed at industry veterans and consumers alike, where you will see and hear the latest and best in home theater and high-performance audio. HE2002 promises to have on display the biggest and most…
One of the visual highlights of the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show and HE 2003 in San Francisco was the Penaudio speakers, sporting a unique sliced-wood veneer wrapped around diminutive two-way designs. While the speakers were easy on the eyes, it wasn't so easy to find a pair to audition in the US.
That problem was solved last week as Penaudio, based in Finland, announced that it had appointed Portal Audio as the company's official US importer/distributor. Portal's Joe Abrams says he is currently designating authorized Penaudio retailers around the country. Penaudio was founded in 1999 by…
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) officially opened today, Tuesday, and the SACD press conference put together by Sony and Philips started the day. Sony's Shizuo Takashino opened the presentation by explaining the three-phase rollout for the high-resolution format. Phases one and two, represented by the release of high-end and multi-disc SACD players, are now complete he said, with phase three launching at the show. As Takashino said, "This year is the true beginning of the mass-marketing of SACD."
Current hardware manufacturers for SACD now include Marantz, Classé, Accuphase, Pioneer…
Hundreds of manufacturers will be demonstrating state-of-the-art audio products at HI-FI '98---some of which have never before been seen by the public. Here is the last installment of announcements:
Dunlavy Audio Labs
Dunlavy will launch the SC-IV/A loudspeaker, furthering the tradition of excellence established with their much-acclaimed SC-IV. The speaker's improved dynamic range offers amazing visceral impact, and increased linearity translates to improved soundstaging, imaging, and musicality. A newly designed first-order crossover ensures total phase coherence, accuracy, and…
Satellite radio is poised to become a dominant force in the 21st century. Both XM Radio and Sirius Radio are now in full operation, with subscriptions booming and compatible electronics available at dealers nationwide.
On July 23, XM announced some major refinements to its 100-channel lineup, with new music and entertainment programs taking effect August 3. Among XM's new musical offerings will be channels for neo-soul, folk music, and easy listening. Non-musical entertainment will include audio books and dramas, and rebroadcasts of old-time radio dramas.
XM's new programming…
Classé's new player: Classé's new Delta line of components now includes a DVD player. The $6500 CDP-300 plays DVD-V, DVD-A, standard CD, DualDisc, Video-CD, S-VCD, and JPEG picture discs, in addition to those encoded with MP3, WMA, and AAC audio formats.
The CDP-300 employs a slot-loaded transport mechanism, "chosen for its superior disc-handling characteristics, reliability, and control options," according to Classé's press release. The player pays particular attention to the "presence of jitter (time-base distortion) at the point of conversion" through the use of a complex programmable…
Audiophiles eager to try DVD-Audio will have to wait just a bit longer. Matsushita Industrial Electric Co. and Japan Victor Company have decided to hold back their new DVD-A players, in the wake of the widely publicized decryption of the format's copy-protection scheme by a Norwegian computer hacker. The hacker published his workaround of the encryption on the Internet late in November.
Matsushita will delay its new players for about six months while it attempts to come up with a more robust encryption technology. JVC did not specify how long it would wait to bring its new players to…
Bits is bits? In the December 1990 issue, John Atkinson explored in "Jitter, Bits, & Sound Quality" why digital audio turns out to be a complicated process. He writes, "As my violin teacher used to say, 'The right note in the wrong place is the wrong note.'" And so it is with digital data, as JA explains in this groundbreaking report.
From August 1998, Martin Colloms reviews the Conrad-Johnson CAV50 integrated amplifier, prompting him to comment, "You turn the damned thing on—it takes no more than half an hour or so to warm up—sit back, and relax."
Jonathan Scull says he has "…
Toronto-based Lenbrook Group announced earlier this month that it had acquired NAD Electronics from AudioNord International, a Scandinavian organization that has owned the brand for most of this decade. The deal is expected to close next week, on May 3. Lenbrook will take over NAD's worldwide marketing and distributorship, but AudioNord will continue to market the brand in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and Scandinavia. Other joint marketing ventures will follow, according to Lenbrook's public relations agent.
"The close cooperation between Lenbrook and AudioNord International…