Audio News for July 19, 2013

by | Jul 19, 2013 | Audio News

ORG Announces 15 New Decca/London & Mercury Vinyl Reissues – Original Recordings Group will be releasing during the rest of this year and 2014 15 more titles on 45 rpm 180g double vinyls, mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes using his newly upgraded mastering/cutting chain. They include Ansermet conducting the Borodin Symphonies 2 & 3 and Debussy Nocturnes, Mehta in Also Sprach Zarathustra, Dorati’s Firebird Suite and Ancient Airs and Dances, Khachaturian conducting his Spartacus ballet, Lupu & Previn in the Grieg piano concertos, and Curzon in Mozart piano concertos.

Wilson Audiophile Recordings to be Released as Hi-Res Downloads – About a decade before he launched his acclaimed line of high-end speakers, Dave Wilson recorded and released a series of music recordings that gained attention among audiophiles for their realism and musical integrity. He used minimally-placed carefully-chosen mics and custom-built recording equipment. 33 recordings were issued on LP between 1977 and 1995, and later reissued on CD. Now they have been remastered and the first two will be available from all major digital service providers via Naxos distribution. Formats available will depend on the particular service, and may include WAV, AIFF, FLAC and 176.4/24 DSD.

How to Have Better Sound with Hi-Res Audio – Cookie Marenco, of Blue Coast Records, has a useful article on Hi-Res AV here.  She takes it from the old hi-fi component setup to a modern-day computer audiophile system. She also provides a list of affordable hi-res audio DACs. She says three things made a huge difference in her own setup: Using hi-res audio files instead of lossy-compressed MP3s, using a different digital player than iTunes on her computer, and sending the music file read in bit-perfect mode thru a USB connection to an external DAC. What she neglected to mention was the importance of setting up a regular backup system for all your digital music files, since hard drives will always eventually die and the iCloud is not necessarily to be always depended on.

This is a Golden Era of Home Theater Systems – according to the Christian Science Monitor.  They claim there has never been a better time to invest in improving your viewing and listening experiences, especially if you have recently purchased a nice new HDTV. Equipment is available at every price point that can take your system to the next level. HTiB speaker systems and soundbars have made some major advances lately and may be a good place to get away from depending on the poor speakers in all HDTVs. And if you haven’t purchased a HDTV yet and seen the preliminary promotion of 4K/UHD, don’t let that stop you. It needs a few years at least. And also, if you’re considering 3D, recent and upcoming improvements in both the passive and active glasses technologies mean that active is not necessarily always the best.

Cambridge Audio Speakers Use Waves Maxx Technologies – The Minx Air Wireless speaker systems from Cambridge Audio now use Waves Audio’s consumer version of their professional audio digital signal processing for a more immersive sound experience. The addition of Waves MaxxAudio employs cutting-edge DSP to produce studio-quality sound that is louder, clearer and richer than in other portable systems.

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