Naxos claims that its service, which costs $14.99/month, is the first in the US to use "adaptive bitrate streaming technology." They further…
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On Monday January 5, Naxos rings in the New Year with the worldwide launch of their ClassicsOnline HDLLclassical music streaming and download site. ClassicsOnline HDLL streams music in both "high-definition"—Naxos' term for high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/192kHz sampling rate—and full CD quality (lossless, or, in Naxos' lingo, LL). The site also sells high-def, lossless, and MP3 downloads in FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, and 320kbps MP3 formats.
It's cold in New York City, but don't expect that to keep jazz fans from dashing through the streets of Greenwich Village this weekend, darting in out of various clubs and theaters, to see a dozen or more topflight musicians playing in the 2015 Winter Jazzfest.
An annual event now for 11 years, Winter Jazzfest has evolved into a more-than-worthy successor to the festival sponsored in the 1990s by the now-defunct TriBeCa club called the Knitting Factory as a downtown-laced alternative to the staid morass into which the uptown Kool Jazz Festival had degenerated at the time.
This…
Almost everyone has their own unique lens through which to view the alternate reality which some call "Lost Vegas." Without wishing to put my own prejudicial stamp on the site of the annual Consumer Electronics Show—would I ever?—I instead offer you this view from the 16th floor of the Mirage Hotel, across the Strip from the Venetian Resort, where the high-end audio exhibits are housed. You tell me what's going down, and where the true mirage lies.
For our part, Jon Iverson is poised to cover new products digital, Herb Reichert "affordable" products in all categories (go easy on us, boys…
Bridging the gap between your network players or NAS drives and your DAC, the new Bel Canto REF Stream plugs into your ethernet network, appearing as a node with IP, and then outputs SPDIF, AES or Toslink. Company president Michael McCormick says it can accept both DSD or PCM streams and outputs the PCM at the native sample rate, but converts DSD to 24/176 PCM.
McCormick was demonstrating the REF Stream using JRiver Media Center software on his phone and tablet. Price will be $2,495 and is available now. McCormick adds that "it takes patience to set up a networked audio system, but it's…
The first in two planned streaming products from D'Agostino is the MLife shown at CES this year. The MLife is based on the company's Momentum 200/wpc integrated amp, and adds built-in UPnP streaming, AirPlay, Bluetooth and the hot new streaming service at the show, Tidal. There is also a 5-inch LCD screen on the front panel for displaying streaming metadata (where the tone controls on the Momentum used to sit)
At $48k it's not cheap but does include some very nicely developed bespoke software to run the entire system from an iOS or Android tablet. At showtime, the demo had not fully…
Following in the footsteps of their pro-audio brethren such as Benchmark, Grace, Mytek and Antelope, Prism is "testing the waters" at this CES for their first consumer product. They've made their mark in the pro audio business creating converters for digital recording software.
The prototype on display was missing logos, and other features, but the production version would probably retail "around $2k" and appear in the 2nd quarter this year if they go through with it. The USB Hi-Fi DAC will include preamp and headphone listening capabilities.
It's been 12 years since I attended a CES in Sin City. The porn stars are gone, but the tube amps and turntables are still here. They are trending the same virtual realities as Pono, the new drones, and cars that drive themselves. The temperature back in New York is heading for the teens but in the lobby of the Venetian, I saw a 3-year old working a smart phone like an aging carny works a 3-card Monte on Beale Street—she was wearing some fancy pink headphones and a matching pink Beatles tee shirt. (Did I mention it was 67°F in front of the Venetian today, the lobby of which is pictured above…
Neil Young, the great man himself, paid a visit to the hi-res exhibits at CES to herald the arrival of his righteous hi-res music file player, Pono. Among the announcements: Pono is now available at something like 80 retail outlets, as well as in 35 Fry's Electronics locations. Among the stores selling Pono are In Living Stereo in NYC, Audio Consultants in Chicago, The Audio Salon in LA, Audio Element in Pasadena, Audio Vision SF, Music Lovers in Berkeley, Definitive Audio in Washington State, Amoeba in SF and LA. Canada won't get Pono until the middle of 2015, but every retail outlet in the…
As we've noted in the past, the Rubicon has a rich feature set and price to match: $40k. And now the product has been updated to include support for DSD 128 and 24/384 streaming via USB.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Antelope DAC with its Acoustically Focused Clocking technology earlier this year, especially with headphones. And now the company has made good on its promise to release the companion 10M Clock which Antelope claims is 100,000 times more accurate then the Platinum's built-in ticker.
The 10M uses a non-radioactive rubidium core enabling accuracy to 0.03 parts per billion (which adds up to about 1 second of deviation every 1,000 years).
By itself, the 10M retails for $8995, but bundling with the Platinum DAC (normally $5,500) brings the price to…