audio news Archive

Audio News for March 31, 2017

Google & Sony Collaborate to Bring Hi-Res to Android – The new Android Nougat has over 30 new features and about 250 bug fixes so every Andriod mobile user will benefit from Google. Bluetooth is reliable but not hi-res yet, so Sony lent its LDAC wireless audio coding tech to Android O. This is the […]

Audio News for February 10, 2017

New Astell&Kern AK70 Supports aptX HD Hi-Res Streaming – The hi-res digital audio player is an improvement over the AKJr. iPod nano-like digital music player which had a sluggish user interface and Spartan feature set. Now they have an almost perfect price-performance champ that is not their flagship player, but seems to right from every […]

Audio News for September 27, 2016

Snapchat Introduces Sunglasses with a Video Camera to Record 10-second Videos – This rather bizarre unit will retails for $130 and makes use of a 115-degree lens making all recorded video circular. The idea is that the recorded video will more closely approximate the human eye’s range of vision. It also will come in three […]

Audio News for August 26, 2016

Sony Is Advertising a Hi-Res Turntable – There cannot be such a thing as a hi-res turntable. It may be designed to convert vinyl discs to audio files, but it is not therefore hi-res. Vinyl may often sound fantastic, but it is not hi-res and never will be. Post-iPod Players – Both new and experienced […]

Audio News for August 2, 2016

Yamaha Adds 4K Blu-ray Players With Stereo SACD – The BD-S681 offers 3D playback, 4K upconversion, Wi-Fi networking, and compatibility with hi-res audio formats (in stereo). It retails for $329.95. The Aventage BD-A1060 adds a 192K/32-bit DAC, a high-purity power supply and independent circuit boards to reduce signal noise. Both players reduce disc vibration by […]

Audio News for July 26, 2016

Responding to Catastrophe wth Culture – Politics intrusion on culture can be unnerving. Stalin restricted the work of Shostakovich, The Third Reich’s appropriation of Wagner prompted Israel to adopt an unofficial ban on his music. The ban was set aside in 2001 by Daniel Barenboim, who also set up the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprised principally […]

Audio News for May 10, 2016

Adoptions Increase After Shelters Play Classical – The Rescue Animal MP3 Project in North Carolina is one of two shelters, humane societies and rescues across the state which has begun playing classical music in December to help cut the adjustment period for animals. The dogs are much calmer when families come to the shelter. The […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for May 2015

Our drawing for May is the just-released DGG complete set of all the Beethoven Piano Sonatas performed by Maurizio Pollini on 8 CDs.  His playing has a heft and muscularity that complement the works perfectly. (The average customer reviews at Amazon for this $32 set were 5 out of 5 stars.) Here is our review of […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for April 2015

Born just four years before J.S. Bach George Philip Telemann has always suffered from comparisons with that towering figure of classical music. At the time though he was considered one of the greatest German composers, and he was highly productive – his total output compares well with Bach’s. One 1767 obituary merely stated ‘his name […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for January 2015

For January 2015 we have two fine new jazz CDs going to six AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers. One is Such Sweet Thunder, by Vance Thompson’s Five Plus Six featuring the core quintet with six additional horns.  Their debut CD is full of panache and surprise, and includes music of Ellington and Monk plus country and folk. Here’s our review […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for November 2014

Our November drawing is for two 45-CD sets of The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon by famed conductor Ferenc Fricsay. Here is a complete list of all the selections on this multi-CD boxed set. And here is our review of it. These have been specially remastered for this collector’s set. The Hungarian conductor, who died in […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for May 2014

Our May drawing/giveaway will be for three 11-CD boxed sets containing all of the symphonies of Mozart. Naxos Classical is providing these complete sets from one of the supreme musical geniuses of all time. They range from symphonies he wrote at age eight to those from the last three years of his life. The conductors […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for March 1, 2014

Our March drawing/giveaway is for five new three-CD albums from San Francisco’s Foghorn Classics label. They are of the complete six Bartók String Quartets plus the two by Kodály, played by the sensational Alexander String Quartet. Here is our rave review of the album. Steven Ritter said they may be the best ever of these […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for October 2013

Our October drawing/giveaway is unusual: We are awarding seven 180-gram double-disc audiophile vinyl jazz albums to seven AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers. The albums are all from Mack Avenue Records’ new vinyl release program: Albums (shown above) from: Christian McBride (2), Gary Burton, Kenny Garrett, Stanley Jordan, Kevin Eubanks and Yellowjackets. One album at random to each […]

Home Page for May 2015

Home Page for May 2013

Our drawing/giveaway for May is for five readers of AUDIOPHILE AUDITION who will be selected to receive the new 12-CD box set The Complete Beethoven Symphonies, Concertos and Overtures from Naxos, the world’s leading classical music group. Beethoven laid down the foundations of the Romantic era and changed the course of music history. The set […]