Audio News for January 11, 2013

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Audio News

Richard Rodney Bennett Dies – British composer, arranger and performer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett died in New York last month at age 76. He got Oscar nominations for Far from the Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra and Murder on the Orient Express. He also recorded on Linn Records, accompanying vocalist Claire Martin. He wrote over 200 concert works, 50 scores, five operas and miscellaneous music.

Technology-Enabled Jackets – The Scottevest Company has a patent for the incorporation of wires into clothing, and according to the AP, the convergence of clothing and technology is expected to be worth more than $7 billion within 8 years. Their jackets, vests and coats have special pockets and wired connections for users’ iPhones, iPads and other mobile electronics. Most of the original line had a port in the collar for plugging in one’s headsets, but some new models have tiny combination speaker/mics built into the collars, one on each side.

New Approach in Parasound CD Player – The Parasound Halo CD 1 uses a new CD playback and processing technology in collaboration with Holm Acoustics in Copenhagen, Denmark. It uses a CD ROM drive and a Linux-based computer to read and process the CDs, and runs at four times the speed of a conventional CD player. An on-board Intel ITX computer improves reading the CD disc data, analyzing it and reading every part as many times as needed to significantly reduce errors and the negative effects of error concealment. The result is a nearly bit-perfect data stream. The player also has three separatye power supplies, balanced XLR connectors, gold-plated RCA outputs, and S/PDIF outputs via BNC, coax and optical ports. A unique selector allows the option of listening either thru low noise analog National op-amps or via discrete transistor output stages. SRP is $4500.

Half of 3DTV Owners Watch 5+ Hours of 3D Weekly – A study from the Consumer Electronics Association shows that more than one in five U.S. adults owns a smart TV and 90% use the apps available on their displays in some way. More than four in ten have their HDTVs connected to the Internet, and 76% have at least one external device with smart app capabilities connected to their primary display. Half of all HDTV owners connect a DVD/Blu-ray player or video game console to their display, and 61% of smart app users stream video content from the Internet. After high-quality audio and video, built-in Wi-Fi and Internet browsing are the most important purchase factors of HDTVs. 21% of U.S. homes now have at least one 3D-enabled HDTV.

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