And, as far as audio goes, that message is centered around both wired and wireless networked audio components. Pioneer, Panasonic, Onkyo, Rotel, Philips and others are emphasizing that all audio products should be connected to each other and the Internet, and be able to share content throughout a home. Pioneer went out of its way…
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The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) officially starts Thursday, but tradition has established Wednesday as the day several major consumer electronics manufacturers hold press events, hoping to get their messages across before the full-scale onslaught of dealers.
Ithaca, New York-based Netdrives says it has introduced the world's first MP3 player capable of playing MP3 audio files without using a personal computer. Called the Brujo (Spanish for "wizard" or "sorcerer"), the machine has a built-in CD player that can play more than 11 hours of MP3 music. The device can be connected directly to any home stereo system, and also works as a normal CD player.
Company president Jennifer Wolfe says that the machine advances the audio experience; with it, "MP3s are no longer limited to computer speakers or the headphones of a portable player." She also…
Last week, Cirrus Logic unveiled two new Crystal digital-to-analog converters that the company says will support both dueling high-definition audio standards: DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). As a result, the new DACs should enable the creation of universal DVD players for both the mass and high-end audio markets. The new DACs are the CS4397 "SuperDAC," which the company describes as a "high-performance audio DAC on a single chip" with 120dB dynamic range performance; and the CS4391, a lower-cost DAC also supporting DVD-Audio and SACD and sporting a 108dB dynamic range.
Terry Ritchie…
Dave McCurdy, president of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), announced last week that Dr. Sidney Harman, executive chairman of Harman International Industries, has been selected to receive EIA's prestigious Medal of Honor for 2002.
Each year, the Electronic Industries Alliance presents the EIA Medal of Honor to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the electronics industry. The recipient is honored at EIA's Government-Industry Dinner, which is held in conjunction with EIA's annual Spring Conference.
The EIA says Harman embodies the…
The music industry's reaction to a prolonged sales slump has been a desperate effort to create legislative and technological deterrents to force consumers to stop downloading MP3s and copying CDs.
Ludicrous proposals from Hollywood and Washington have become almost daily fare. They have been categorically denounced by civil libertarians and rejected by music fans, who have long maintained that the real answer to what ails the music business is a market solution. The music industry can't force people to buy its products, but it can package them in a way that will induce consumers to buy…
Now is clearly crunch time for satellite radio. In the last year alone, over one million new subscribers have been added to front-runner XM Satellite Radio's service, bringing its total to approximately 1.4 million. The company projects that it will reach a total of 2.4 million subscribers by the end of 2004, thus ensuring its survival.
XM is still facing a challenge from its second-place rival, Sirius Satellite Radio, which announced last week that it is revising upward its estimate of the number of subscribers it will garner in 2004. Although it had projected 860,000 subscribers by the…
Loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio announced on December 31 that it had acquired an interest in Genesis Technologies, manufacturer of both loudspeakers and digital products. Not only did Polk invest $500,000 in Genesis convertible preferred securities, it also obtained a three-year option to purchase the Colorado-based high-end audio company, which is led by three industry veterans: Arnie Nudell (co-founder of Infinity), Paul McGowan (co-founder of PS Audio), and Mark S. Schifter (co-founder of Audio Alchemy).
Commenting on the deal, Polk CEO George Klopfer observed (trying hard not to…
One might assume that the mutually dependent businesses of electronics manufacturing and retailing would track each other in perfect unison. That's often true, but they can sometimes get wildly out of sync with each other. It's one of the great economic mysteries.
In fact, that's what happened in 2002. US retailers, having suffered through a lackluster winter holiday season, generally reported flat results for the year, having escaped disaster on the surging popularity of digital television products and home theater equipment. There were even a couple of catastrophic results—Circuit…
In the latest article to appear in the Archives, Robert Harley comes right out and asks, "How many of you actually read the 'Measurements' sections of Stereophile's equipment reports and understand what's being measured, and why? I suspect that many readers skip over the technical assessment of the reviewed product and make a dash for the 'Conclusion.' "
Remain in ignorance no longer! All is revealed in one of the most important articles written on the topic to date---Harley's "Quality Lies in the Details." Harley goes through each of the CD-player and digital-processor measurements that…
Jonathan Scull tackles the Pioneer DV-AX10 SACD/DVD-A/CD player, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of one of the first "universal" disc machines. Scull carefully compares the DV-AX10 to stand-alone SACD, DVD-A, and CD players to assess whether, in fact, you can have it all in one tidy package.
Also from the current February issue, Chip Stern gets up close and personal with the Arcam DiVA A85 integrated amplifier. Can a two-channel integrated that has been "primped and prepped for integration into an expanded audio-video rig" deliver the sonic goods? Stern uncovers the answer in…