February 2011
Monthly ArchivesPURE i-20, iPhone/iPod Dock
February 28th, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
PURE just recently introduced is their next generation i-20 digital iPod dock. This dock sets itself apart from the common folk, as it taps directly into the raw digital audio stream of your iPhone/iPod/iTouch. How’s that for pure? The i-20 extracts the digital signal from the iPod or iPhone and uses PURE Clearsound digital end-to-end … Continue Reading
Highlights From the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show
February 28th, 2011, In Audio Video Show Coverage, Features, by Suave Kajko
The Consumer Electronics Show is over for another year and if the products demonstrated are any indication, the upcoming year will be a great one for home theatre fans. While in the past, it took a few years for technology to trickle down into consumers’ living rooms, the lag from prototype to booth demonstration to … Continue Reading
Electrocompaniet PD-1 Balanced DAC
February 27th, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
Lately all I seem to be hearing is DAC, DAC, DAC…kinda sounds like a duck. It’s just where the industry is going to meet consumer demands data streaming products. That said, it’s nice to see some of the serious audiophile companies come out with new products in this space – and so it goes with … Continue Reading
Anthem MRX 500 AV Receiver Review
February 26th, 2011, In AV Receivers, Reviews, by Suave Kajko
From a technical standpoint, the most exciting feature of the new MRX receivers is the ARC system, which is the same system that’s found in Anthem’s high-end components like the AVM 50v/D2v AV processors. The key difference is that the AV processors have twice the processing power of the MRX receivers which allows them to … Continue Reading
Studio Electric Monitor
February 25th, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
At one time or another, we all long for things great from the past. This sometimes takes the route of retro styling. Studio Electric is a company that seems to have retro in mind when it came to the aesthetics of their new Studio Electric Monitor. This speaker model retains much of the sound signature … Continue Reading
Blessed Cables OMH-1 Speaker Cable
February 25th, 2011, In Home, by Suave Kajko
Blessed Cables is a brand new Canadian audio cable manufacturer. Its first product is the OMH-1 speaker cable available at an introductory price of $325 for a 6-foot pair. Of course other cable lengths are available.
Each Blessed cable is hand made in Canada and uses wire that is a perfectly balanced high strand, oxygen … Continue Reading
Reference 3A MM de Capo i Speakers
February 24th, 2011, In Reviews, Speakers and Subwoofers, by Suave Kajko
Now here’s a speaker whose origins date back to the 1980s but which benefits from dozens of design improvements over the years to keep it at the leading edge of bookshelf designs. That type of longevity is given to very few audio components so there must be something special going on here, right? French designer … Continue Reading
Fujitsu Launches STYLISTIC Q550 Tablet
February 24th, 2011, In Home, by Suave Kajko
News about Tablets are continue to trickle out from the industry and the latest of these is from Fujitsu. The company’s STYLISTIC Q550 is said to be an executive class slate PC designed for the high-security requirements of mobile enterprise computing. It should be available worldwide starting in April 2011. The Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550 Slate … Continue Reading
V-MODA Crossfade LP Headphones – Customs Program
February 23rd, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
These days fashion expressions seem to be fully integrated with new products and so it goes with V-MODA’s new Crossfade Customs personalization option for its Crossfade LP headphones. It’s fun to play dress-up! The V-MODA Customs Program allows customers to choose from six plate color options, four unique engraved designs with custom text on a … Continue Reading
Apple To Launch New iPad On March 2nd
February 23rd, 2011, In Home, by Suave Kajko
Apple is expected to launch its second generation iPad on March 2, contrary to speculation of a possible delay. The speculation over the timing of the new iPad comes from reports that this could be because of Steve Jobs’ faltering health combined with the fact that component makers had to change their manufacturing processes after … Continue Reading
Cavalli Audio – Liquid Fire Headphone Amplifier
February 22nd, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
A quick peek at Wikipedia gives you the definition of liquid fire as: an ancient Greek hot oil / fire weapon; an ancient Chinese petroleum weapon; Napalm; an eight piece rock band from St Joseph Missouri and; molten rock. Cavalli Audio, will soon be adding to this list with their new up-and-coming headphone amplifier.… Continue Reading
Marshall Minor Earphones
February 21st, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
Marshall Amps are very well known to muscians. Recently Marshall entered the headphone market with an over the ear headphone. Marshall now continues to build on their product line with their lastest entry to the in-ear headphone or earphone market. The Minor by Marshall, like it’s older brother the Major incorporates classic features from that … Continue Reading
Onkyo UWF-1 Wireless USB Adapter
February 21st, 2011, In Home, by George de Sa
We’ve all heard the saying that ‘good things come in small packages’, but do you really believe it? Well there are raisins…hmmm, maybe not the best example. Well, how about Onkyo’s new UWF-1 Wireless USB Adapter? The new UWF-1 will be compatible with all Onkyo network-capable receivers that are equipped with a USB port, introduced … Continue Reading
Naim Audio UnitiQute All-in-one Player and UnitiServe Hard Disk Player / Server
February 19th, 2011, In Digital Music Components, Reviews, by Suave Kajko
Digital convergence is really hitting its stride. This year I’ve come to know three products that bring it all together in exemplary fashion. First is the iPhone 4, which marries phone, email, GPS, internet, games and a whole lot more into a slender elegant package that’s a delight to use. Second, is the Sync package … Continue Reading
Suggested iPod and iPhone Docks and Speakers
February 19th, 2011, In Audio, Features, by Suave Kajko
The CANADA HiFi Website Gets a Makeover!
February 19th, 2011, In Home, by Suave Kajko
If you enjoyed getting your fix of audio video information from www.canadahifi.com in the past, we hope that you will enjoy it even more from our newly redesigned website. The new CANADA HiFi website offers a modern, visually attractive interface that is a pleasure to navigate and makes locating news, features, reviews and buyer guides … Continue Reading
Panamax M5400-PM Home Theater Power Management System
February 18th, 2011, In Power Conditioning Gear, Reviews, by admin
Over the past several years I’ve had the opportunity to work on northern power transmission line construction projects. While I’ve always had a hobby interest in radio, audio and electronics, I really did not know much about power transmission and distribution until my involvement with these projects. As an audio enthusiast I’m sure you can … Continue Reading
The Priorities of Good Video: What to look for when selecting a new TV or Projector
Selecting a new video display can often be a difficult task. With the death of the all-too familiar CRT, one might find it daunting to sift through the information about the many new acronym technologies on the market. At a time when stores display walls of seemingly endless televisions, it’s tempting to simply close your … Continue Reading
A Complete Guide to Concealing and Hiding Cables
Modern audio and home theatre systems are connected with dozens of cables – it’s the nature of the beast you could say. What separates one system from another is how the cables are managed and concealed. Many audio and video components are attractively styled and can look very pleasing even those that aren’t audio video … Continue Reading
Understanding Amplifiers
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Contemplate on, meanwhile let me illustrate how music and hi-fi share a similar relationship: long before Edison built a phonograph, man made music. So music first…but wait! Just the other night when I listened to Virgil Fox for the first time, I had an epiphany: there’s a … Continue Reading