audio

Logitech Squeezebox Boom is our favorite Wi-Fi radio to date

Recently, we asked the question, "Is the Logitech Squeezebox Boom the ultimate Wi-Fi radio?" Now that we've had two full weeks to play with it, we have an answer: Yes, it pretty much is. The Boom is the first product in this category we can enthusiastically recommend. Like its predecessor, the Logitech Squeezebox Duet, the Boom's garnered a CNET Editors' Choice Award. Check out the links below for the full review, the updated CNET Wi-Fi radio roundup (which includes some lower priced alternatives), and the overall list of best network music players.

Read: Logitech Squeezebox Boom review … Read more

Oppo's upcoming Blu-ray player: The BDP-83

We've been fans of Oppo's upconverting DVD players for quite some time now, but it's been harder to recommend them recently with the company's latest player costing as much as a Blu-ray player. There has been tons of speculation over when Oppo might release a Blu-ray player, and it looks like it's finally going to happen: Oppo showed off the BDP-83 Blu-ray player at CEDIA.

Oppo's DVD players are known for playing back both SACD and DVD-Audio, but Gizmodo reports that Oppo is still "investigating" DVD-Audio support. That's unfortunate, as a … Read more

Featured Freeware: Miranda

Miranda IM lacks the slick design of many instant-messaging programs, but makes up for it by supporting most IM clients in one fully customizable package. There's also a portable edition, designed for carrying around on a USB key. Like Pidgin or Trillian, it's easy to add your various IM accounts--including AIM, Yahoo, ICQ and MSN--and you'll have the same icons and status messages for each program. You can even manage the personal information for all your accounts from one central control panel.

Miranda IM's plain, gray instant-messaging window offers just the basics for typing and viewing … Read more

Clumsy, drunken DJs rejoice

Being a DJ can be an expensive and confusing proposition. Going the traditional route of turntables and vinyl offers simplicity and street credibility, but it also means back-breaking record crates, an investment in turntable needles, and the constant fear of warped or scratched records. A laptop-based DJ rig solves these problems, but with the movement still in its infancy, there's lots of confusion over what products to buy, and each choice comes with its own set of hurdles to overcome.

There's no perfect solution for every digital DJ, but we were impressed by the Hercules DJ Console Rmx'… Read more

How to split audio tracks

Like to listen to audio books on your MP3 player, but your player lacks a bookmark function? If you have long audio files that haven't already been split into chapters, it can be a pain to fast-forward to the desired point in the track. This tutorial can help you split audio books into shorter tracks on your own. It can also be used with music, although track length and nomenclature will be different than what is described here. (A tip: if you are splitting an audio file with several songs in it, use points of silence as a guide rather than the counter.)

Cost: Free

Time commitment: Varies

System requirements: Mac or Windows

Download and install Audacity For either Windows or Mac. Download and install the latest LAME MP3 encoder Extract the LAME file From the LAME.zip file, extract only the file lame_enc.dll. Save it someplace that's easy to find on your hard drive, such as the desktop. (When you export your files as MP3, Audacity will ask you to locate it.) Open Audacity Go to File > Open, then select the audio file you wish to split from wherever it is stored on your hard drive. In the upper-right corner of the window, ensure that the selection tool (it looks like an uppercase "I") button is highlighted. Highlight selection Starting at the very beginning of the audio file, click and drag the selector so that it highlights a selection of the file. (You can use the keyboard arrows to zero in on "0" if necessary.)… Read more

'En vogue' USB-powered speakers from designer Neil Poulton, LaCie

Following up on the success of their FireWire Speakers, LaCie has announced another collaboration with designer Neil Poulton. This model retains the same minimalist design aesthetic but draws power from USB instead of Firewire for plug-and-play compatibility with most PC and Mac computers.

Created with the "en vogue" consumer in mind, the USB Speakers let you forgo standard audio cables and replace them with a single USB cord. All the juice needed to power the set is drawn from the computer's bus, and a single wire connects the left and right speakers.

The speakers are shaped like … Read more

Fusion iPod receiver features internal docking

Most aftermarket receivers with iPod capabilities include a USB or dock connector dongle, but they leave it to you to figure out where to stow your MP3 player while driving. Fusion Electronics thinks it has solved the problem with the announcement of an internal docking CA-IP500 iPod Receiver. Essentially, what Fusion has done is put an iPod-size slot behind the faceplate that will allow you to slide the digital audio player inside of the receiver.

Looking at the specifications on the company Web site and the images supplied, it looks like making room for the iPod slot meant sacrificing the … Read more

Plantronics gaming headset puts a Dolby theater in your ears

Here's a way to have surround sound audio, but still keep it all to yourself.

Beginning later this month, peripherals maker Plantronics will start shipping its Gamecom 777 headset, which simulates 5.1 channel audio through just two channels--your left and right headphone speakers.

The intention is to enable PC gamers to play games with the sound happening around them, and not directly in their ears. That enables longer listening time--less "listening fatigue," to use industry parlance--and therefore longer gaming sessions.

I got a personal demonstration at the Dolby Theater here in San Francisco (see photo), along … Read more

Disposable gizmos vs. high-end audio

You see it every day, a passing parade of new-tech gizmos crowding the market.

From phones to mobile Internet devices, digital cameras, music players, and mini notebooks--and on the home theater side--formats that whither and die just a couple of years after their much ballyhooed introductions. Every day there's more junk.

Most of this glittering assortment of wowie-zowie tech trinkets are destined to take up landfill space in five years or less. That's apparently OK; nobody expects to keep an iPhone all that long, and besides there's always something new, jam-packed with the latest tech to buy. Why would anyone expect to just buy something good enough to use for a decade or more?

Audio is the exception to that mindset. It seems like I've met a gazillion baby boomers still using the hi-fis they bought around the time of the first Woodstock. One Audiophiliac reader bemoaned the fact that his 20-year-old $600 speakers were now beyond repair. He got 20-something years of use out of the speakers--and that's not enough.

When it comes to audio people think it should last forever, though some of the best stuff comes close. For example, the "other" McIntosh, the audio company, still factory services amplifiers built when Nixon was president. Gee, I wonder if Apple would fix your dad's Apple II? … Read more