Allman Bros must-have gone HD

One of [if not just] the finest live recordings of all time has been released in 24-bit/96KHz Flac. In 1971 Allman Brothers shook the Fillmore East church of rock ’n’ roll good and presented the world with a massive energy outburst combined with one of those moments where everything seems to just collide into super natural wonderfulness dwarfing even the CERN LHC… I’m getting carried away here. The fact of the matter is that this mandatory piece of music history has been released in high definition. Do go and get it.

HD Tracks

Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30

Cambridge Audio have been lurking in the streamer business for years but have been hard pressed show any appearance on the shop shelves. Now it looks as if they are finally getting to a shop near me with their recently announced Sonata NP30 Network Music Player. The apparatus is neatly designed yet slightly on the conservative side of the front panel fence.

On the spec side the player offers 24-bit/96KHz playback of Flac and other formats through its Wolfson DAC, streaming from a variety of sources - wired and not.

As with everything else on this planet, the device can be remote controlled from the ever present iPad/iPod/iPhone.

Cambridge Audio

a-JAYS Four

Swedish headphone company a-JAYS have long been the producer of some very nice earplugs. With the a-JAYS Four they ad a microphone and inline remote control for use with Apple iPod/iPhone. And now it comes in white.

Well, all is not iPods. The a-JAYS are formidable earplugs in their own right. They sound incredibly good and are very nicely built. With the Four model they add a microphone and a miniscule remote control with multi-click features placed inline on a no-twist ribbon cable. The mic/remote combo is built specifically for the Apple iPhone but also works with other telephones, such as my [company issued] Blackberry Curve.

There are no downside to speak of. The connector is a 90° mini jack which is not exactly a super intelligent solution. Accidentally pulling the cable will damage either the cable or plug, or worse, the connector on the phone.  The earphones come in a nice little box that doubles as storage for the assorted earpieces. The problem is, however, that if you switch for smaller plugs, the originals don’t fit in the box. It would have been nice to have room for the default plugs. These are very small issues, though. The plusses are a perfect fit [in my ears, anyway] and really, really good sound quality. Binaural recordings from B&W Society of Sound’s Accidental Power Cut Sessions sound like nothing you have ever heard before. Frequency response is relatively neutral, favouring acoustic music without sacrificing bottom.

a-JAYS

Head-Direct HifiMan HM-602

Last year audiophile Fang Bian released a first shot at a true high-fidelity portable audio player (we can’t go around calling it an MP3 player now, can we – let alone a walkman!?) with a slightly bulky exterior boasting some really impressive specs. It even had a detachable amplifier section. Now he has gone and done it again, releasing a somewhat smaller but definitely not less impressively spec’d player. The HM-602 uses a Philips TDA-1543 dual DAC to support 24bit/96KHz Flac files as well as Ogg Vorbis. When you are not out there jogging in a crystal clear soundscape, the HM-602 can be used as a USB DAC feeding off of your computer stocked music.

It may not run Angry Birds or remote control your garden sprinkler, but at a price somewhat lower than your average iPod, this is quite an interesting piece of hi-fi equipment that does one thing and one thing only: Deliver sound.

Head-Direct

Lydtapet.net

This is a service announcement for our Danish speaking audience. In March Danish record producer and music aficionado Morten Nissen of Trechoma Records and fellow enthusiast Jens Christensen, launched an ambitious music critique site called Lydtapet.net – Danish for sound tapestry. A site so directly targeting reviews paired with background information is rather unusual in itself. Even more unusual is the fact that the site’s auteurs have proven themselves eloquent and reflecting writers covering a surprising gamut of genres. One and a half month old, it appears Lydtapet.net is here to stay. Congratulations guys. We are pleased.

Lydtapet.net