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The number of devices that can constitute a home-audio streaming system ranges from one—a laptop computer running a music program to play internally stored files—to x the unknown. These days we have storage devices, servers, streamers, renderers, bridges, controllers, players, and DACs, at least one of which is hoped to have a volume control. Any combination of these elements can be put in a single box and described by one of many new hyphenated product categories—or can be given a name along the lines of exaSound's PlayPoint Network Audio Player: a model designation that at least hints at…
In terms of installation and setup, the two are distinct. I've listed the several ways one can link the e28-PP to one's music source. The NADAC uses an ASIO driver (as do most USB DACs), which seems simpler. However, that driver and the NADAC depend on the Ravenna protocol, which places significant demands on a typical home network. Still, once the configuration is established, these issues will be of little long-term concern.
In terms of sound quality, the exaSound and Merging Technologies installations set the standard for multichannel playback, but they weren't indistinguishable. With…
Sidebar: Contacts
exaSound Audio Design, 3219 Yonge Street, Suite 354, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3S1. Canada. Web: www.exasound.com
Theta Digital/ATI, 1749 Chapin Road, Montebello, CA 90640. Tel: (323) 278-0001. Web: www.thetadigital.com
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.—Robert Frost
I doubted if I should ever come back.—Robert Frost
Perhaps it was different for other audio hobbyists in other parts of the world, but to this American, the Naim Audio of the late 1970s and early '80s seemed a bit prickly. It wasn't just their road-less-traveled-by attitude toward amplifier design—scorning class-A output architecture, preferring DIN connectors to RCA jacks, routing preamp output signals and power-supply voltages through the same cable—but also the British company's perspectives on selling and setting up and even listening to hi-…
AVO also sent along two sets of speaker cables: a 15' pair of Naim NACA5, terminated with Naim dual-bananas at one end and ordinary bananas at the other ($890); and a 21' pair of AVO's more budget-minded Twisted-56, with the same terminations ($674). Both had also received the deep-cryo treatment, an option that added $195 to the price of the Naim cables and $95 to the Twisted-56. I relied primarily on the Naim cables but also spent some time with the AVOs, which I very slightly preferred when I used them with my Altec Valencia speakers. It seemed to me that the less-expensive cables let my…
To get an idea of how many press and industry members attend Munich High End, just take a look at this "opening bell" shot of people queuing on the ground level and on one of the spiral stairways up to the atrium level of the MOC Convention Center. Bodies, bodies, bodies. Not only are there far more displays at Munich High End than at US shows: the number of press and industry people easily equaled the packed consumer attendance I've experienced at most North American audio shows. And this, mind you, was on the lightest of the show's four days. I expect the opening day for the public, on May…
Pro-Ject Audio System's founder and President Heinz Lichtenegger debuted three products in Manhattan this past April 28. Among the upbeat Austrian's new wares were the Vertical turntable (above), the Classic turntable, and the DAC Box DS2 Ultra. Presented at World of McIntosh's SoHo townhouse, visitors were given a tour of the 1890s-built former New York City power substation, now beautifully renovated and stuffed floor to ceiling with audio gear from Sonus Faber, McIntosh, and of course, Pro-Ject.
Pro-Ject's new DAC Box DS2 Ultra (MSRP $799, noted Pro-Ject USA Director Buzz Goddard),…
MQA's game-changing breakthrough has arrived. On 9am UK time on May 6, 2016, Warner Music Group (WMG), whose vast catalog includes everything from the Beatles to Maria Callas, announced a long-term licensing deal with MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). The agreement makes it possible to digitize the entire WMG catalogue in the superior MQA-encoded format of various resolutions, and disseminate the files via download and streaming services in a far more efficient and user-friendly manner.
Up until now, MQA-encoded music files have only been available from a handful of small labels. These…
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around the computational power required to accurately and consistently upsample to DSDx16 (DSD1024). That, however, is what Ed Meitner automatically does to material played through his new EMM Labs DA2 Stereo D/A Converter ($25,000 base price). Able to receive via USB data up to DSDx2 and DXD (352.8 and 384kHz PCM), the DA2 does real-time transient detection, processing, and upconversion of all incoming audio before sending it to EMM's new DSDx16 DACs. Upconversion is done automatically in real time, and does not require users to…
"Are you an audiophile?" I find myself yelling into my semi-functional smart phone, sitting in my dimly lit cubicle in Stereophile's New York office.
On the other end of the line is my close friend and long-time mentor, David Binney. We're FaceTiming in slow, fragmented motions as he eats his dinner in a lively restaurant before a gig in central Belgrade.
"No, definitely not." He says quite matter-of-factly. "I subscribe to Stereophile but I don't consider myself an audiophile. I wish I was, but it's too expensive. I obviously love great sound, but as a musician, if I just hear…