Compatible with: iPhone 3GS and 4, iTouch 2nd Gen and later, Nano 4th gen, iPod Classic 120gb, 160gb, iPad and iPad2, Shuffle 3rd gen and later.

Koss are also famous for their limited lifetime warranty, which covers all sorts of breakages and malfunctions – one of the best back-up services we have seen. If you haven’t heard these, come in for a demo – they are still, after many years in similar form, an amazing product.

JVC have been the industry benchmark for projection excellence in the HD era, and they have held their place in our main theatre except for the appearance of the Meridian which was based on the JVC anyway! JVC are not a company to rest on their past reputation, and development has continued.

In recent times the mix has been enlivened by 3D capabilities, and contrast ratios have continued to climb, yielding better depth of image and differentiation of the many shades of darkness in blacks, grey and other colours. The new DLA-X90R boasts an increase in native contrast (compared to the X9) from 100,000:1 up to 120,000:1, while the DLA-X70R has increased from 70,000:1 to 80,000:1.
These two top models, the X90R and X70R, now have “4k resolution”, which means 3840×2160, double the normal HD standard of 1920×1080. How do they do this, and what does it achieve when source material is not issued in “4k”?

To continue reading about these projectors, click on the blue highlighted links in the above text to go to their product pages.

Sonos have announced the start of their online music service “Rdio”, costing from $8.90 per month and offering 12 million tracks to begin with. You can get a week for free.
If you would like to add this service, go to the Music Menu, then click on More Music, then Rdio.
The Sonos blog on this topic is here.

I’ve lost count of the number of LP cleaning products that have appeared – and mostly disappeared again – over the six decades (yes!) since LP came along to replace 78rpm records. Most of them were a variation on the cloth and fluid idea, but some were more imaginative – like the sticky roller! The most recent was Revirginiser, a liquid that set like a soft rubbery skin on the playing surface then peeled off, hopefully leaving nothing behind.

We still have the Milty Duopad, which I rate as the best of the “wipe it off” variety of cleaner. The best over all job will always be done by one of those classy motorised and vacuuming record cleaning machines that cost a thousand dollars or more, and are a bit of a production to set up and operate. If only someone could come up with a device that does most of that but at a fraction of the price. Well, this looks like it!

The Spin-Clean Record Washer Mk2 is a minimalist, hand-powered cleaning machine. The full kit includes the basin, cleaning brushes, special fluid (a concentrate that goes sparingly into clean water) and drying cloths, for $135, and this will keep you going for hundreds of records.
For more info see our Product page.
UPDATE: Unfortunately these have been delayed and will now be available late March or early April.

I realise that we have covered this product previously, but the accolades for the Focal Bird system keep rolling in. Why do we persists in talking about it – because this system offers great sound at better than reasonable prices.

There are two markets that I believe are relevant to this product. The most obvious is that there are a great number of people who for a variety of reasons are not going to spend any more that $2K on an audio system. This could be due to budgetary restraints, space limitations, or simply lack of interest. Whatever the reason here is a product, costing as little as $1,199, which fits any of the above reasoning and still sounds great.

Secondly the big gripe today is that now that your new slimline TV sounds dreadful. These screens look sexy, but there is no space left to house quality speakers. The Focal Bird is certainly a solution to this issue.

This link to a recent review in Home Theatre Review covers this product extensively. It is critical where criticism is due (which is not in many areas.) The one thing that I had to keep reminding myself of was that while they found some minor faults – this is a review on a $1,199 system!!. Magazines like Home Theatre Review (Absolute Sound, Stereophile etc) would not usually bother with a product at this price point.

There are better systems out there – and they cost a lot more. Just because you don’t wish to spend over $2,000 on a system it no longer means that you need to put up with inferior performance.

Our Product page for Bird is here. Focal also have a very good video on this system – watch it here.

Our market continues to evolve, and in doing so we are from time to time exposed to products which fall a little outside of our traditional product offering. Near Field active computer speaker monitors is one of those products – not something that you would normally associate with Hi-Fi or Home Theatre, but with rapidly expanding number of people storing music on their PC’s or lap-tops they are becoming increasingly relevant. This is not something that we have done much with in the past, and some of our offerings double up as iPod docks (for example the Aktimate range and the Focal XS.) The obvious exception is the B&W MM1 speakers, which do a sterling job from a small enclosure. 
These have now been joined by the Focal XS Book – and to be honest we are blown away with this product.

One of the problems with this type of technology, and something that has always fascinated me, is that in the past the market is totally dominated by tacky, inexpensive, plastic, awful sounding speakers. Time and time again we see people who spend hours researching, and many dollars acquiring, quality domestic loudspeakers, and yet set a budget of $200 or less for their computer speakers.

The quality of the Focal XS Book is obvious even before you turn them on. This is a two-way design with a 20mm aluminum tweeter, plus a 10cm PolyGlass bass driver (this is the material used in their fabulous domestic range of speakers). The right speaker houses a 2 x 20 watt amplifier; they are solidly built (weighing 5kg) and are a very attractive design.

The research that has gone into this product is evident. It is obvious that Focal set out to design a proper computer speaker monitor from scratch, rather than modify something that they already had in their stable, or, which is far more common, to simply re-badge a product designed by someone else.
As you can tell we are impressed with this product – but the best is yet to come – they sell for $499 a pair. These are a bargain!

Plus: (yes there is more.) When discussing these speakers in the store someone made a very obvious observation – they would be an ideal addition to a flat panel TV. While flat panels screens continue to become slimmer, it is at the expense of the sound – there is just not enough space left to house a quality speaker array. The Focal XS Book is attractive, relatively discrete, and they sound a damn side better than any TV speaker, even from the days when they did use good drivers. The XS Book product page is here.

The Geneva XS ($299) is at once totally modern and retro, recalling those travel-sized clock-radios that folded up in a similar fashion. It packs two tweeters and a small woofer, a digital amplifier and a DAC into that slim case, along with clock-alarm functions.

With Bluetooth, inbuilt FM and an auxiliary 3.5mm stereo input, you have plenty of ways to make it sing. Power is by 2700ma rechargeable battery. Available in Geneva’s trademark colours of Red, Black, or White. On display now. Stock is due in this week*, but you’ll need to be quick to get one for Christmas! Read more at the Product Page.
*Update: Stock is now available.

“The sound quality available through this DAC may fool even the most knuckle dragging, card carrying audiophile in a short term blind or sighted listening test. I encourage readers to find another DAC of this quality anywhere near this price. The DAC•iT is not for listeners who require analog input(s), balanced analog outputs, or volume control. The DAC•iT may be the component of choice for readers seeking a low cost, high performing, overachieving DAC from a company created solely to meet the needs of computer audiophiles. The DAC•iT is highly recommended. ”

Selling for not much more here than it does in the USA, this little DAC has no list of bells and whilstles, but will do exactly what most people are going to want it to. Read More …

Musical Fidelity are not going to be left standing – they have just done an upgrade to their V-DAC, and the MkII version has asynchronous circuitry in it which makes sure your computer sourced music is re-clocked and presents as if it is coming from a high quality player! Not content to just add that circuitry, the boffins at MF also reduced the distortion figures in the new model, improved the stereo separation, and gave it an entirely new and gleaming metal case. The price: $399, same as the previous version, so all the old V-DACs are now going to clear through for just $299.

And, just quietly, since nobody seems to be trumpeting it, the new stock of the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC ($699) also has the asynchronous circuitry included. You have to look closely to see the tell-tale “A” to verify that it’s the new version – not on the DAC faceplate itself, but on packaging and barcode strips. The extra money for the M1 DAC-A over the V-DAC II gets you a much higher build standard (including things like balanced outs and a newly upgraded power supply) and the payoff is smoother textures, better imaging, wider soundstage, all those things we expect in classy audio gear.