Although the format came into being less than four years ago, portable MP3 players in use now number in excess of 12 million,…
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First, the sobering reality: Among the world's billions of music lovers, probably a million or fewer are true audiophiles, for whom sound quality is a primary concern. The uncritical majority will embrace any audio technology that offers economy and convenience. Case in point: the popularity of the MP3 digital format, widely derided by audiophiles for its compressed dynamics and lack of detail, but adopted readily by the general public because of its ease of use.
Waiting for the Holy Grail of DVD-Audio? Even with players still distant on the horizon, one can now begin building a DVD-Audio music library with discs compatible with current DVD-Video players. At least that's the strategy offered at the recent High End 2000 show in Frankfurt, Germany this past week.
Syrinx Music & Media has announced that, in a joint production with Audionet and Frequenzwerkstatt, it will soon release what they describe as "the first-ever DVD to meet both the high-resolution DVD-Audio standard as well as the DVD-Video standard." The jazz disc features the Hamamura…
Sam Tellig and Kalman Rubinson each take a run at the unique PS Audio HCA-2 power amplifier to see what it's made of. Will Tellig and Rubinson agree on the HCA-2's worth? Furthermore, what do the odd results of John Atkinson's measurements mean?
"Quirky but fundamentally conservative," is how Michael Fremer describes the design team that came up with the Naim CD5 CD player with Flatcap 2 power supply. MF adds that "at $2250, the CD5 is at the bottom of Naim's current line of CD players. But that doesn't mean they skimped on parts or build quality."
Tubes, computers, and MP3s in…
An unusual tropical rain welcomed the Audio Engineering Society to its 109th gathering, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center September 22–25. Audiophiles may breathe a collective sigh of relief to learn that the Super Audio Compact Disc is getting a big push, not only from corporate parents Sony/Philips but from studio-equipment makers, consumer-electronics companies, and—perhaps most important—music labels.
"More than 160 SACD titles are available now," said Sony Electronics' Nathan Bentall, who gave me the Cook's tour of hardware and software tools for the new format. Arrayed on a…
When polled earlier this month, Stereophile's online readers were split on the topic of DVD-Audio's surround capabilities: 30% expressed interest, but an equal number were not so thrilled with the idea. While the release of the official high-resolution DVD-A format is still several months away, some record labels have been quick to capitalize on the ability of current DVD players to play compressed AC3- and DTS-encoded audio DVDs, in the hopes of developing a market for a lower-fidelity surround-sound format.
In an effort to woo surround-sound fans, last week the 5.1 Entertainment Group…
A pair of audiophile-friendly speakers for under $250? That prospect piqued Robert J. Reina into closely examining the PSB Alpha B loudspeaker. Reina notes that designer Paul Barton "is not one to rest on his laurels. Into this third and latest generation of the Alpha, the Alpha B, he has trickled down some of the design and manufacturing innovations of his more expensive Image series."
Combining SET tube amplifiers with horn speakers is established audiophile practice. But as Robert Deutsch divulges in his review of the Quicksilver Audio Horn Mono monoblock power amplifier, "in my…
Audio Research Corporation is often considered one of the greybeards of the hi-fi business, having begun its audiophile life way back in 1970. Even so, the company, often noted for its tube equipment, is proving that it can still make a run at the cutting edge of amplifier design.
ARC has now put into production the new 150M Modular Multichannel Power Amplifier, first hinted at during the January 2003 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and which incorporates the Tripath TA0105A Class-T digital audio amplifier driver. Tripath has established itself in audio circles as the creator…
As we go into our fourth week of coverage of Sony BMG's digital rights management debacle, it's a good time to review what all the fuss has been about. On October 31, Mark Russinovich posted his discovery of a root kit—a cloaked file that had been inserted on to his computer's hard drive. Cloaked root kit files are popular tools used by malevolent hackers, so Russinovich was curious about how the files he detected had entered his computer. It came from Get Right With the Man, a Sony DRM-protected disc Russinovich had purchased and played on his computer. When he attempted to remove the hidden…
Software giant Microsoft Corporation has acquired Pacific Microsonics, Inc. (PMI), developer of High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) technology. The deal was announced in a joint press release issued September 18. Financial details were not disclosed.
The acquisition of Union City, California–based PMI is part of an ongoing strategy by Microsoft to bring promising entertainment technologies under its umbrella. Microsoft's intention is to "incorporate PMI's pioneering technology into future offerings for the PC and will make it available to a wide range of consumer devices,"…
From the Show:
June 12: "May you live in interesting times," said Stereophile editor John Atkinson, quoting an old Chinese curse as he introduced a panel of experts to discuss high-bit-rate audio. The panel represented a cross-section of high-resolution audio experts from both the hardware and software industries. Has this great leap forward become a Pandora's Box of unforeseen problems?
Question from the audience to the panelists: Are these new formats (DVD-Audio, DSD) going to create new monsters, the way jitter was discovered years after the introduction of the compact disc?…