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ROAM Ropes Wireless Earphones & Amp

ROAM Ropes Wireless Earphones & Amp

by | Sep 20, 2016 | Component Reviews

Beautifully designed and packaged, but ear buds cannot equal good over-the-ear headphones. ROAM Ropes Wireless Earphones & Amp List: $199; $150 at Amazon Ropes are an attempt to equal the impact on the audio world of the Beats headphones in 2008. They are high-style earbuds with a built-in DAC (50 MIPS with 24-bit stereo), Bluetooth unit and a free companion EQ App that allows setting the EQ exactly as you want.  True, you can now buy Bluetooth earbuds (and the Ropes uses the latest advanced version of Bluetooth: 4.1) with no cable or separate amp at all, so a set with a big “pendent” (they call it the Audio Engine) seems a bit going backwards. In a way, they have “cut the cord” but only some of the cord – they are not wireless. The components are powered by an inbuilt lithium-polymer battery, which charges in about 15 minutes for an hour of playback. You won’t be able to listen to the earbuds while charging at your computer, because the cable is very short. The unit is beautifully packaged and designed, and with the red cables that came with my black unit could be quite a fashion statement. They seem […]

Audio News for May 10, 2013

by | May 10, 2013 | Audio News

Worries About Coming of Google Glass; World’s Highest-Resolution Master Recording for New Linn Release; Red Introduces Pro 4K Cinema Player; For the Rich and Committed Hi-End Home Theater Movie Fan

Mapleshade Vivilink HDMI Cable with Plus Upgrade

Mapleshade Vivilink HDMI Cable with Plus Upgrade

by | Jul 8, 2012 | Component Reviews

Mapleshade Vivilink HDMI Cable with Plus Upgrade SRP: $165, 2 meter length Mapleshade 871 North Howard St. Baltimore, MD 21201 410-685-4618 www.mapleshadestore.com [audaud-hr] Well, I have to retract my previous advice on this site that with HDMI cables there is one of the few cable areas where you are getting fleeced if you pay high prices for premium high-end HDMI cables instead of getting the $10 ones online, which I said are just fine. I haven’t A/B’ed the $10 ones with the premium cables from the cable biggies—perhaps there’s little difference. But the difference with Mapleshade’s new high-end HDMI cable was easily seen. I’ve had some very bad luck with HDMI cables recently. Two of them went out simultaneously, and I was thinking it was my equipment rather than the cables. One was even what seemed to be the excellent short HDMI cable Oppo furnishes with their players. At the same time I have a video display of greater resolution and detail than my previous RPTV, and I’m following the advice of Pierre Sprey at Mapleshade to run the Oppo BPS-95 directly into my Panasonic plasma display rather than thru my Integra 80.3 multichannel preamp. (By the way, I hope […]