Stereo

When a friend turned me onto Zoom's H2 stereo/four channel digital recorder ($200), my first impression was that it looked like a man's electric shaver. It's not just for musicians, students can record seminars and conferences. I think it'll come in handy when I'm doing interviews.

The H2's selectable recording quality runs from 64-320 Kbps MP3 up to much better than CD quality, 24 bit/96 KHz linear PCM (WAV files). Four-channel, 360-degree surround recordings can be made in 24 bit/48 kHz format with the H2's two sets of built-in microphones--or … Read more

Japan's Amandana may eventually give the Italians and the Dutch a run for their money in the design department. The brand first got our attention nearly a year ago with a decidedly crushworthy bamboo DVD player, then an all-in-one audio cube and even some cheeky leather land-line phones.

Now it's taking on the retro trend with '70s-style stereo that could be right out of a Marantz catalog at the height of the disco era (but better). It should be noted here that there's good '70s and bad '70s retro, by the way.

Clean lines are an understatement … Read more

HD Radio looks set to be the key feature for car-stereo makers this season. This week, Sony unveiled two budget stereo head units with HD Radio compatibility. The top-of-the-line Sony CDX-GT520 ($140) and entry-level CDX-GT320 ($100) are both HD Radio-ready, but require the addition of the Sony's clunky XT-100HD HD radio tuners module ($100) to pick up HD channels. Both systems can also be used to play satellite radio and iPods (via additional modules) and generic media players through their as-standard auxiliary-input jacks.

Meanwhile, Dual is launching its own bid for the aftermarket HD Radio crowd with the launch … Read more

It was bound to happen eventually and, in fact, it's surprising that we haven't seen this sooner.

Blaupunkt's "Melbourne SD27" is the first car stereo that shuns CDs, according to SCI FI Tech, instead playing MP3 and WMA files with a front-loading SD card. To make things even easier, there's an optional adapter that can be used for an iPod, mobile phone or GPS device.

The writing was already on the wall for car stereos to go this route, but the kicker that could accelerate the trend even faster is this gadget's price … Read more

We got word of a somewhat mysterious stereo by piano legend Steinway a few months ago, but little was known about it at the time. Now we hear that the system, made in partnership with Denmark-based Lyngdorf Audio, is about to debut in Singapore.

The so-called Model D is a half-ton behemoth that supposedly has the ability to "replicate the exact tone of one of Steinway's beloved Model D grand pianos," BornRich says. True to its roots, the receiver and speakers are finished in piano-black lacquer.

As mentioned earlier, only 100 of the systems will be manufactured … Read more

On Monday evening, I posted my first impressions of my new iPod classic 160GB. The first accessory I needed for my new iPod was a microphone so I can record conferences, meetings, and voice memos.

Right after receiving the iPod, I looked around online and found a comparative review of three iPod microphones by Mark Nelson on the O'Reilly Digital Media site. The review helped me settle on the Belkin TuneTalk Stereo for iPod.

I checked the Belkin Web site to make sure this model is compatible with the iPod classic. There's a page on the Belkin site just for that model, and the TuneTalk Stereo is on there--Belkin part number F8Z082-BLK.

I then went to the local Apple Store (at the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, Calif.) since I remembered seeing this gizmo for sale there a couple of months ago. Sure enough, they were still there. In fact, there were two different… Read more

As I said last week in my post about Apple's iPod announcements, I ordered a new 160GB iPod classic as soon as the Apple Store was back online.

It arrived today (Monday)--five days later, from Shanghai--with my custom engraving. I think that's pretty darn excellent.

The iPod packaging has gotten a lot smaller. A box the size of those that contained my first two iPods (a third-generation model, then a fourth-generation iPod when the third-gen model died) could probably hold about six of the new iPod classic packages. I saw the new iPod nano packaging at a local Apple Store this evening, and it's much smaller--and very cool, since it presents the iPod itself under… Read more

Well that didn't take long. Just after we thought we'd come across one of the weirder pieces of sound equipment seen in awhile, along comes another to beat it out in spades. Not only does this system featured at Berlin's IFA trade show have an exceedingly esoteric design, but it's even more exclusive because of its price: $860,608, to be exact, which makes it the "world's most expensive stereo system" in the estimation of BornRich.

The centerpiece of this monstrosity is the Clearaudio "Statement" turntable pictured here for $137,000, … Read more

Now that the Transformers movie debut has long past, you might have expected some welcome relief from the torrent of product merchandizing that led up to the release. Not so fast, Sparky.

The "Optimus Prime Convoy" iPod stereo dock has only just begun to ship in Japan for the not-so-cheap price of $150, according to SlashGear. For that kind of money, though, we thought it only fair that the entire system transform; apparently only the truck cab becomes robotized. We're no Transformer experts (thank goodness), but that seems to be cheating a bit. Maybe it's an … Read more