home audio
Music
Olive Opus N4 Music Player (For Rich People) Becomes A Slightly Better Media Player (For Rich People)
2:01AM John Herrman | We haven’t heard much from Olive since they released the pretty-but-pricey Opus and Melody music wedges last year, but that kind of cautious pace is to be expected in the high-end A/V world. Today, they’ve given their line a refresh. More »
Music
8:00AM Wilson Rothman | The Gadgets: Creative’s new SoundBlaster Wireless for iTunes dongle, that shares music to little receivers around the house, and also to the GigaWorks T20W wireless-receiver speakers. More »
Creative SoundBlaster Wireless For iTunes And GigaWorks Wireless Speaker Lightning Review
8:00AM Wilson Rothman | The Gadgets: Creative’s new SoundBlaster Wireless for iTunes dongle, that shares music to little receivers around the house, and also to the GigaWorks T20W wireless-receiver speakers. More »
Music
11:00PM Dan Nosowitz | The Gadgets: Panasonic’s SL-850 quadraphonic turntable, featuring the unusual 4.0 discrete-channel format for stereo-besting sound. (As the brochure says, “In the real world, sound comes from literally every direction.”) Plus, GE’s 4-Channel Receiver, with a built-in 8-track cassette player. More »
Lightning Review: Panasonic Quadraphonic Turntable And GE 8-Track Receiver
11:00PM Dan Nosowitz | The Gadgets: Panasonic’s SL-850 quadraphonic turntable, featuring the unusual 4.0 discrete-channel format for stereo-besting sound. (As the brochure says, “In the real world, sound comes from literally every direction.”) Plus, GE’s 4-Channel Receiver, with a built-in 8-track cassette player. More »
Music
Sony’s Super iPod Dock Appears in Leaked Photos Looking Pretty Nice
11:00AM Adrian Covert | Sony Insider has happened upon some leaked images of the CMT-Z100iR mini-sound system, which, if real, suggest this respectable-looking system has an iPod dock, CD player and USB port to complement the 20w speakers. More »
Entertainment
Kenwood DTS Bookshelf CD Player Promises Surround Sound Over Two Channels
5:00AM Jack Loftus | This upcoming bookshelf or nightstand CD player from Kenwood looks simple enough, but inside the company is promising surround sound quality output from just two speakers. More »
Peripherals
Lightning Review: ZVOX 550 Speaker System and Flat Panel Stand
4:15AM Mark Wilson | The gadget: The ZVOX 550, the only speaker system we’ve ever seen designed to hold a 50″ flat panel TV while packing a 60W amp, 5.25″ sub, and five 2″ speakers in one frame. More »
Gadgets
Harion Glass Speakers Look Like They’re Worth A Fortune, Because They Are
1:45AM Kit Eaton | Japanese firm Hario just came up with this rather beautiful new speaker system, dubbed Harion. So far, so groovy. It’s made of heat-resistant glass (the first to be like it, according to Hario) and the woofer, two tweeters and two mid-range speakers proved so complex to create that it took a small army of companies—23 in total—to work out how to make them. And its hand-made. So far, even groovier. Here’s the un-groovy bit: all that beauty, presumably wonderful sound quality, and custom-made design means they cost $US168,000. Why do you need heat-proof speakers anyway? Go get some glass Sony Sountinas: they’re about 17 times cheaper. [Crunchgear via Gearlog] More »
Gadgets
Sound & Vision Names Best Speakers in Every Class
5:00AM Mark Wilson | Sound & Vision has painstakingly gone through every speaker in the whole wide world and named the best in every class. Some of you will be interested in all of the results, and you should most certainly check out the excellent article. Me? I want to know the cheapest (and coincidentally the smallest) surround sound speakers they liked. Their answer? The Energy RC Micro System ($US999). More »
Gadgets
Teac’s LP-R500 CD-Equipped Record Player Fell Through Ugly Timewarp
1:30AM Kit Eaton | Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This is Teac’s LP-R500. Ugh. Sorry, I’ll try pulling myself together: it’s a modern version of what my grandad used to call a “radiogramme,” cramming in an FM radio, a CD player, cassette player and record deck into one sleek ancient, massive, clunky box along with an amp and speakers. Admittedly it does let you record your vinyl and tapes to CD. But… ugh. Yours for an ugly $US700. [Akihabaranews via Dvice] More »
Peripherals
