Audio Ideas Guide

Hy End - Bruckner, Brahms, & Bang-Bang Lang Lang Liszt, by Hy Sarick

"Here, the showiest of pianists encounters the showiest of composers, and produces a stunning disc of great passion and virtuosity. Lang has been a devotee of Liszt's work from the age of 2 (!!), since his first encounter with Classical music - Tom & Jerry's version of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2...."

Zu Omen Standard Loudspeaker

"Zu Audio is a different kind of speaker company. You’ll know this already if you’ve ever seen them exhibit at shows (more DJ booth/house party than hi-fi demo), had a read of their (extremely frank and detailed) website, or even just had a careful look at one of their speakers. Their corporate slogan is “a revolution in American hi-fi” and their goal is nothing less than bringing “back the stereo as the most important and rewarding furnishing in the home.”

NAD C 446 Digital Media Tuner: NAD Goes Media Mad!

"Digital audio in its many variations seems to yield new categories of product constantly, this new product from NAD a case in point. It will snoop for music files in your computer via its wired or wireless networks, receive AM and FM broadcasts, and search the internet for transmissions of all sorts, from faraway radio stations to specific podcasts, and send all of these directly to your high end audio system via 24-bit/192-kHz DACs (caveat coming) via RCA jacks, or by direct digital feed (Toslink). It also has a Data Port for your MP3 player when you add the appropriate dock and cable."

Watching A little TV: VIZIO VMB070 Portable 7″ LED/LCD NTSC/ATSC Widescreen Television

"And turning to that excellent tuner, it brought in more digital stations from my outdoor antenna (the switch to all digital had already happened here in Ontario, so no analog signals were available) than my Zenith off-air tuner, and the extra input also proved useful for monitoring off satellite when watching off air on the big screen, as well as for monitoring recordings to DVD or hard disc on my LG DVD video recorder. So checking out the VMB070 for analog reception will have to wait until next Summer."

Bain’s Blog - Snakes In The Brass

"Adolphe Sax, a second generation instrument maker in Brussels with a penchant for design, after developing his Saxhorn family of brass valved horns of various size and pitch, and having developed the first really workable bass clarinet, installed a bass clarinet mouthpiece on one of his firm's ophicleides. He was aware of the tonal disparity among strings, winds, and brass, families; in which the strings and winds were generally overpowered by the brass. What he produced was, in essence, a brass clarinet, and while he thought in terms of a family of such, and would soon expand the line accordingly; the first of what he would call Saxophone, deriving from the ophicleide, was a bass instrument. This he patented in Paris in 1846..."

Samson ZOOM H2n(ext) Handy Digital Recorder - ZOOM Forges Ahead of the Pack…

"I've admired and owned ZOOM products for a few years now, both H4 and H2 passing through my studio and out into the field. Those reviews have already been published, and this Japanese company has now taken over its own worldwide distribution of its newest products..."

A Trialogue on Historical Recording Restoration by AM, JEB, & BO

"Even the process of removing recording noise that often obscures the first and second overtones ensures that they cannot be synthesized out of thin air, again, literally. In a mono recording all the noise and distortion are part and parcel of the production, and cannot be removed except at a cost..."

Audio Ideas, December 2011 - Recent SACDs, CDs, Blu-rays, & Other Confections (Or Not)!

"These two titles couldn't be any different from each other, I'm sure, but they share an excellence of production and execution, and each focuses on a major musical talent whose careers started more than 40 years apart. Chasing Sound is a look at the career and guitar and recording innovations of Les Paul, not to forget his spectacular musical dexterity with the electric guitar he invented. Paired with the irrepressibly pitch-perfect Mary Ford, they became a hit machine in the early 50s, his development of overdub recording the perfect way to showcase her singing and unique harmonies..."

Ox Box #10 - Music from Jimmy Cobb, Mozart, Martinu and Robert Plant

"Most collectors will be attracted to the Chesky discs because of great care the Chesky team takes to get the most “natural” sound they can obtain. On the end of a horizontal arm they attach a single microphone around which the musicians gather, except when Roy Hargrove is part of the group. Because of the sound stage is so clearly defined you know he likes to move around...."

Sony BDP-SX1000 Portable Blu-ray Player - HD redux!

"This player was very impressive right out of the box, especially with Blu-ray music discs, with a truly photographic picture that is yards ahead of my Samsung 10" DVD portable, which died on me a couple of years ago. The first generation Blu-ray portables proved to be very expensive, as were the early DVD ones (I paid $1500 for my first Panasonic), so I waited a bit on this one, finding the BDP-SX1000 on eBay at prices from $288.88USD (what I paid) to well over $500..."