FireWire, a digital interconnnecting and interoperability technique originated at Apple Computer in the mid-1980s, has just recently begun to be adopted by large numbers of computer makers. Ease of operation is the philosophical…
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LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10---Meridian has announced its intention to license Digital Harmony's IEEE 1394 (FireWire) technology. "Digital Harmony embodies the technology we can implement to produce the next generation of digital systems for home entertainment." So said Meridian's Bob Stuart, in an announcement sure to be a turning point for the high-end audio industry.
Choice is generally considered a plus, but as many of our readers note, when it comes to audio, a format war is the last thing consumers need. While the DVD-A/SACD conflict takes the center audio stage, other technology battles are being fought off in the wings, including the satellite radio format tussle 'twixt XM and Sirius.
Both competing services are now fully operational, offering a digital subscription alternative to traditional AM and FM radio. And so far, consumers have been forced to make a choice between the two systems when buying a new car—in the case of factory-installed…
Few audio products have proved as enduringly fascinating to audiophiles as William Firebaugh's Well-Tempered Turntable design. At once elegantly simple and technically sophisticated, it was an immediate hit with music lovers and critics alike—and was long a staple of Stereophile's "Recommended Components" list. For the greater part of the product's 20-year lifespan, the Well-Tempered 'table has been distributed and manufactured under the direction of Transparent Audio, Inc. However, Carl Smith, the Transparent partner who supervised the manufacture of the Well-Tempered line, decided to retire…
The Recording Industry Association of America's lawsuit against Napster may be an attack on one of its best friends, if results of a recent study by research organization Jupiter Communications can be believed.
Napster users are "45% more likely to have increased their music buying than non-users," according to the survey, which was released in mid-July. The RIAA is engaged in protracted litigation against San Mateo, California–based Napster, operator of a website with free software that allows users to share music over the Internet. The industry alliance claims that the proliferation of…
The Super Audio CD is gaining serious momentum.
With over 650 titles available from many record labels—including some majors—and with several inexpensive players now on the market, Sony Corporation has launched its next volley in what may very well prove to be an all-out format war. At a press conference held August 7 at the Fairmount Hotel in Vancouver, BC, the electronics giant announced its next-generation high-performance disc player and the impending release of almost two dozen SACD remastered recordings from one of the world's most renowned rock bands. The timing couldn't have been…
On Tuesday, March 29, 2005, the US Supreme Court heard the oral arguments for the case of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. This was widely covered in the mainstream news media, as well as all over the Web, but none of the synopses of the case did true justice to the give-and-take of the arguments, as I discovered this week when I stumbled upon a .pdf transcription of the complete oral arguments.
That transcription ran some 55 double-spaced, line-numbered pages, which made for heavy going for a layperson like myself. Fortunately, the P2P weblog offers a much more readable…
What's a home-entertainment show without an assortment of state-of-the-art audio demonstrations? EgglestonWorks has announced that its next generation Andra II speaker will be featured as part of what it calls an "unprecedented" demonstration of multichannel Super Audio CD (SACD) to be conducted during the upcoming Home Entertainment 2002 Show May 30 through June 2 at the New York Hilton.
The HE 2002 Show, an evolution of the fabled Stereophile Hi-Fi Show, is held each year to highlight the finest music and home-theater equipment available. Given SACD's growth in popularity among music…
Stereophile's John Atkinson teams up with world-renowned recording engineer Tony Faulkner to create a landmark Mozart recording that has just been released simultaneously on hybrid SACD/CD, and LP. In Project K622, JA recounts the entire process, noting, "The upbeat is the most magic moment in classical music making."
JA then gets his hands on the Arcam FMJ CD33 CD player, noting, "If you look at the Compact Disc medium in the 21st century, it is hard to resist the impression that it is well commoditized." So what can Arcam possibly offer to the audiophile at this point? JA explains.
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Earlier this month, at the Internationale Funkausstellung 1999 in Berlin, Germany, Syrinx music & media announced that, together with Panasonic/Technics and their new DVD-Audio players (see previous story), they successfully presented the world's first DVD-Audio disc. The Internationale Funkausstellung 1999 ran from August 28 until September 5 under the theme of "Your World of Consumer Electronics."
Syrinx reports that, as the DVD-Audio players were available only hours before the trade fair opened, it was uncertain whether the DVD-Audio disc would work in them. But it did, and Syrinx…
It is with great sadness that I report that Howard Mandel, the main man of manufacturer Altis Audio, passed away on September 27 after a long battle with, I believe, leukemia. No age was given in his obituary in the Danbury News Times (CT), but I believe Howard was in his early 50s.
Like many in high-end audio, Howard had followed his passion for music by turning it into a career, with Altis Audio specializing in digital playback components. I last chatted with Howard at the 2001 CES in Las Vegas, and his spirit and his energy seemed as high as they ever had been. According to the…