The Latest
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 15 October 2017 15 October 2017
Chord Electronics Hugo 2 Transportable DAC/Headphone Amplifier – Digital Playback at the Cutting Edge
The two main growth areas of audio playback right now are digital-to-analogue converters and the headphone/headphone amplifier space. For those wanting a better, higher fidelity experience, headphone sound quality can be dramatically improved by combining the two. And a DAC can also have anything from a mundane to a revelatory influence on a high-end audio system. So what is the result of an undertaking to combine both ‘disciplines’ when the company involved is Chord Electronics, a leader in high-tech engineering and pioneer of several proprietary technologies which place it at the cutting edge of digital playback?
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 13 October 2017 13 October 2017
Be Weiss – New DAC501 and DAC502 from Digital Specialist
From its days in the professional recording industry until the present day, Daniel Weiss has grown the eponymous company to be one of the leaders in digital design in the high-end audio space. The new Weiss DAC501 and DAC502 promise to take digital playback to another level.
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- Written by John Ong John Ong
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 11 October 2017 11 October 2017
Tokyo International Audio Show 2017 (TIAS) – 10 Of Note
The following short report and photography was kindly submitted by John Ong*.
Japanese are serious people, they take everything seriously and that attitude was clearly evident at the Tokyo International Audio Show. It could be seen in the way the show was organised. The rooms sounded a lot better than most other shows I have attended over the years around the world. The attendees were very polite and understanding. They are also surprisingly engaging, or try to be, despite the difficulties of the language barrier. Throughout the three days of the show it was clear that concerted efforts were made to improve the sound while always complying with visitors’ requests and questions.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 10 October 2017 10 October 2017
KEF Makes a Stand
Dedicated stands for the super-selling LS50 speakers have been a major demand from consumers around the world since that soon-to-be-a-classic speaker was released a couple of years ago. KEF has now responded with the newly announced LS50 dedicated counterpart stand.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 05 October 2017 05 October 2017
Cop a Hammering with Richter Audio Thor 10.6 Subwoofer
Richter Audio has announced a newly-revamped Thor Series 6 subwoofer line with the first one off the rank being the Thor 10.6 which will be available in Australia in mid-November.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 07 October 2017 07 October 2017
New Songstress from Focal – the Kanta №2 speakers
France’s largest speaker manufacturer – and also one of the world’s biggest – has just announced at the Rocky Mountains Audio Festival (RMAF) a brand new, Made in France, floorstanding speaker called the Kanta №2, which is a beautiful Spanish word for 'to sing' (in that language it starts with a ‘C’), a product in the company’s new Classic Home Audio collection. And indeed that’s what Focal engineers and designers have aimed for – an attractive aesthetic with the physical stature to ‘sing’ with a full range sound.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 05 October 2017 05 October 2017
Bowers & Wilkins New PX High-End Headphones
The new PX headphones from audio giant Bowers & Wilkins mark the company’s first foray into the noise-cancelling and wireless spaces. B&W’s aim here was not only to encompass the benefits inherent to the noise-free headphone experience but to also incorporate some truly innovative features, class-leading audio performance and the latest Bluetooth technology.
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- Written by News Editor News Editor
- Category: News News
- Published: 04 October 2017 04 October 2017
Reference DAC from MSB Now in Australia
Digital innovator MSB Technology has recently released the new Reference DAC and the first units have landed in Australia. The new digital-to-analogue converter features a number of proprietary and advanced technologies that set it apart from most of its competition.
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Ed Comment Ed Comment
- Published: 01 October 2017 01 October 2017
Getting to the Point!
Greetings from the Blue Mountains! Man, it’s been a full-on three months since SoundStage! Australia launched! Australia and our South Pacific region has seen a whole stream of important high-end audio events and many an overseas visitor has landed on our shores. Add to that SoundStage! Australia’s own varied website’s activities – and it’s taken off, I must thankfully say while also thanking SoundStage Network's Doug Schneider and team – it’s just as well the aura of serenity and mindful harmony of the Blue Mountains continues to both revitalise and maintain my impetus to joyfully expand the content-rich site that it’s steadily becoming.
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- Written by Scott Campbell Scott Campbell
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 October 2017 01 October 2017
Audio Research Foundation LS28 Preamplifier and VT80 Amplifier
There are few more respected names in Audio than that of Audio Research. I won't go into the long history of the 47 year old, Plymouth Minnesota based company here (it's easily available with a simple search online after all) but, suffice to say, Audio Research's credentials are impeccable when it comes to its well established success, technical prowess, diversity and, more importantly, sound quality.
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Reviews Reviews
- Published: 01 October 2017 01 October 2017
SGR Audio Signature Hi-Fi Rack Visco-Elastic Vibration Isolators
Melbourne’s SGR Audio is an established and growing concern with an expanding line of superbly-designed products ranging from source to speakers – the latter both passive and active. In fact, SoundStage! awarded a ‘Best of Show’ commendation to SGR’s superbly-designed Discovery series speakers at High-End Munich 2017 – see write-up here. The company also makes the outstanding modular Signature Hi-Fi Rack that is not only aesthetically beautiful but also features solid engineering principles. Now, SGR Audio has launched a Visco-Elastic Vibration Isolator upgrade that promises further performance benefits.
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- Written by Edgar Kramer Edgar Kramer
- Category: Features Features
- Published: 01 October 2017 01 October 2017
HQ Visit – dCS, Cambridge, United Kingdom
While many high-end audio companies offer digital products alongside a wider variety of electronics and speaker systems, dCS (Data Conversion Systems) of Cambridge in the United Kingdom is a specialist manufacturer dedicating its considerable engineering and design expertise to a single pure aim: the reproduction of digital playback at its utmost pinnacle.
