ultimate

Ultimate AV Magazine's Scott Wilkinson has an eye for style. He regularly posts some of the most beautiful shots of high-end audio exotica I've seen, so I decided to share a few of them here.

Leave it to the Italians to come up with a radically different approach to speaker design. Behold the Book of Music's Teti Extreme; its twisted curves look great and improve sound quality. With the standard finish each speaker carries a hefty price tag of $9,920; or if you're really willing to splurge, go for the special "liquid-rubber" paint … Read more

It may be a lofty goal to try to make recordings that sound as close as possible to real, live music. But every now and then the state of the art advances.

I attended such a recording session in mid-December and was treated to the best, most realistically natural sound I've heard. Over monitor speakers the sound was excellent, but the sound over my Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor in-ear headphones was vastly better. I could listen to the music "live," and then rush back to the control room and don the headphones. The gap between live and … Read more

I thought it would be fun to contrast and compare the tubes vs. solid-state debate with the analog vs. digital standoff. I'd readily concede that solid-state/transistor components are, watt for watt, cheaper, more reliable, cooler running, smaller and lighter in weight. But if solid-state is so terrific why haven't tubes become extinct in the half century since transistors came onto the scene? Maybe, just maybe, because tubes sound better?

Ultimate AV Magazine recently conducted a poll, "Do You Prefer Tube-Based or Solid-State Audio Gear?," and the results demonstrated a nearly two-to-one preference for transistors over … Read more

Ultimate Ears' new Reference Monitor in-ear headphone is a very different take on the state of the art. UE collaborated with EMI Music's Capitol Studios to design this headphone for recording, mixing, and mastering engineers. The UE engineers submitted a number of prototypes to Capitol and other beta testers for feedback before arriving at the finished Reference Monitor. I'm no engineer, but I think the Reference Monitor is the best, most accurate-sounding in-ear headphone I've heard to date.

Right, I know some of you must be thinking, aren't all headphones designed to be accurate? Once you … Read more

Winstep Xtreme is a customizable Windows interface suite that combines enhanced functionality and attractive effects with a wide variety of widgets, utilities, task managers, and power tools, all designed to work together seamlessly. It bundles the NeXuS Ultimate dock system; WorkShelf, a versatile tabbed dock; NextStart, an enhanced system taskbar; Winstep Start Menu Organizer; FontBrowser; and more. Not to mention a wide variety of desktop widgets such as weather monitors, system meters, and time/date displays.

We opened Winstep Xtreme, and first to appear was NextStart, a skinnable, totally customizable taskbar replacement that basically lets you park anything you want … Read more

Our resident CNET audio expert Steve Guttenberg finally joined the rest of us and started his own Twitter page, so we invited him back on today's episode to see what else is going on with The Audiophiliac.

Steve always comes prepared with relevant (and not so relevant) talking points for us, and today's includes Joy Behar's mixed-breeding novel Sheetzucacapoopoo (Steve's a big fan of her work), the value of headphone amplifiers, and his concerns about the next generation of self-proclaimed audiophiliacs.

It's not a term that should be lightly used to describe anyone who loves music, and Steve considers a real audiophiliac to be someone who is truly concerned with an active music listening experience where extra attention is paid to audio fidelity in all its expensive glory.

The high-priced equipment might be the reason why audiophiliacs are a dying breed of enthusiast, but Steve makes it clear that quality audio gear is worth the price, especially when you consider that some equipment like headphones can last a lifetime.

We also learn that today's younger audiophiliacs are specifically interested in headphones and can be found on Head-Fi.org, a comprehensive audio site with in-depth headphone reviews, expert forums, and more.

Check it out if you're shopping for new cans or earbuds, along with CNET, of course!

September products are just in time for those heading back to school and leave plenty of time to spare for the holiday buying season. It never fails: new releases always abound this time of year, and headphones are no exception. Among the many companies launching new product lines, it's easy to miss an announcement here and there. But if you're in the market for a new, inexpensive set of earphones with a low profile and sound-isolating capabilities, don't overlook Ultimate Ears' fall lineup.

The brand, which was purchased by Logitech in 2008, is offering six new sets … Read more

When we first covered the limited-production supercar known as the SSC Ultimate Aero, it had just laid claim to the title of fastest production car in the world. More recently, Shelby SuperCars announced it would install an electric drivetrain and thereby make the SSC the world's fastest electric car as well.

We have yet to see the electric version, and as of late June, the new Bugatti Veyron Super Sport had snatched away the production car speed crown from the Ultimate Aero. But SSC was in Monterey for this year's global pilgrimage of car nuts, and we were able to get some seat time in the car that was the world's fastest for almost two years. It's not an experience for the faint of heart.

SSC was founded in 1998 by lifelong car enthusiast Jerod Shelby, a trained mechanical engineer who had previously helped start a medical-device company. For the record, he is no relation to that other automotive Shelby, but one can be forgiven for assuming a connection based on each company's humble origins as one man's vision, not to mention their penchants for producing seriously hairy-chested machinery.

The Ultimate Aero is a beast by any measure. Its SSC-designed 6.8-liter engine is based on a billet aluminum block, and twin turbochargers boost output to a heady 1,287 horsepower and 1,112 pound-feet of torque, according to current figures on the company's site. Serious rubber is required to keep that power reasonably useful, and that helps push the overall width of the car to nearly 7 feet. Again, the timid or twitchy need not apply. … Read more

Jerry Harvey got into the headphone business by making in-ear monitors for just a few musician friends, and went on to build headphones for hundreds of bands, and now counts Mary J. Blige, Godsmack, Guns 'N' Roses, Alicia Keys, Eddie Vedder, and the Glee Live Tour as customers.

Harvey pioneered two-way (bass/treble) in-ear designs in 1995, and later the first three-way (bass, mid, treble) in-ear monitors. Harvey's multiple driver designs produce less distortion and increase dynamic range compared with conventional single-driver headphones, which include all of the standard headphones from Etymotic, Monster, Skullcandy, Sony, etc. The JH16 Pro I'm reviewing here is the world's first eight-driver, three-way in-ear headphone, and its sound is revelatory.

I reviewed the JH Audio's 13 Pro in-ear headphones last year in this blog, and the JH16 shares a lot of the same technology, but the big difference is in the bass. The JH16 has four low-frequency drivers (the JH13 uses two), two midrange, and two high-frequency drivers--for a total of eight drivers per channel. Both headphones feature "balanced armature" drivers, which are proprietary to JH Audio, and they're designed by Jerry Harvey.

The sound is addicting; once you've gotten used to hearing this kind of uber resolution, it's hard to go back to merely excellent in-ear headphones like my old Etymotic ER-4P ($300). I haven't heard any of Etymotic's latest designs, but the ER-4P now sounds small, cramped, and hopelessly outclassed by the JH16. Can't afford $1,149? JH Audio offers a range of custom in-ear models; prices start at $399 for the JH 5 Pro.

The JH16 is super efficient, so it can play louder, a lot louder than most headphones while being driven by iPhones, iPods, and Zunes' puny built-in headphone amplifiers.

Each JH16 is a unique hand-built creation, based on custom ear molds. The company's Web site has a list of recommended audiologists who make the molds (for around $100). Building a JH16 is a labor-intensive process; each headphone takes five hours to complete and test in the company's factory in Florida. … Read more