Review Sound quality isn’t always the first consideration in the world of digital music, where songs tend to be compressed for convenience, rather fidelity. That’s where Brit hi-fi brand Cambridge audio hopes to make its mark with the NP30 (Network Player 30), which offers better-than-CD hi-res 24-bit audio playback for music files and Internet radio over your home network.
Lacking an amp and speakers, the NP30 has been designed to fit in with the company’s swish-looking Sonata range – such as the AR30 amp (and CD30 and DVD30) – but it can be connected to virtually any set-up using its standard Stereo analogue outputs. You can also use digital S/PDIF and optical outputs for connecting to higher quality DACs and there’s a trigger connection that allows the NP30 to automatically power up when the amp it’s connected to is switched on. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Pure has pumped out tabletop digital radios and pocket portables for yonks, but largely avoided micro hi-fi. The notable execptions being its DMX and Legato products a few years ago, the inexpensive DAB-equipped Sirocco 150 in 2009, and this new 550 model.
Beat combo: Pure’s Sirocco 550
Compared to its forerunner, the 550 has a smaller main unit but beefier amplification, an integrated iPod/iPhone dock and, notably, wireless internet. With this you can access more than 18,000 internet radio stations, podcasts, on-demand programmes (including BBC catch-up), an ambient noises library, audio files from shared devices on your network and any songs you’ve bought using Pure’s cloud-based Lounge service. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Most TVs now have memory card slots and USB ports for showing digital photos or playing music and video from your own collection. The Crystal Acoustics PicoHD5.1 media player provides the same features for just about any TV, especially HD-ready ones. If your set lacks the sockets, or doesn’t play the formats you want, you can just add one of these £40 gizmos.
“Crystal Acoustics’ PicoHD5.1 is certainly a handy piece of kit
Housed in aluminium and barely larger than a typical card reader, it sports a full sized HDMI socket. It also outputs basic composite video, analogue Stereo and, unusually, coaxial digital audio through one shared 3.5mm mini-jack, accessed with a supplied adapter. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple’s AirPlay audio streaming facility is beginning to trickle out to an increasing range of devices, but Marantz took it to market first with the Melody Media – an enticing box of audio tricks, which includes a CD player, FM/AM/DAB+ tuner and Internet radio plus a 2 x 60W amplifier.
The Marantz Melody Media features Apple AirPlay as an upgrade option
Part of a group of one-box Melody players from Marantz – which includes the Music and the multichannel, Blu-ray capable Movie – the Media’s trick is that you can connect it to a network to stream your music from a computer or Nas drive. It also has the added bonus of AirPlay, which makes it easy to take your music anywhere around the home using Apple iTunes. Read the rest of this entry »
Review With most computers bulging at the seams with music and video files, the days of making do with even a cheap set of active Stereospeakers, let alone laptop offerings, are truly dead and buried. A decent 2.1 active speaker system will not only pay dividends when it comes to playing your music but can also provide bowel trembling bass when playing games or watching video.
PC palpitator: Altec Lansing’s Expressionist Plus FX3021
Recently, Edifier and Altec Lansing simultaneously released new 2.1 speaker sets that are in head-on competition. Both consist of a meaty downward firing subwoofer and a couple of satellites. Both have clearly spent some time and effort on styling as well as performance. And both are yours for under eighty quid.
Edifier describes the E3350 subwoofer as looking like an, ahem, ‘exotic pyramid’. Yes, quite. Fourth Dynasty envy aside the E3350 continues the restrained and minimalist styling we have come to expect from Edifier, of late. Even though everything is made of plastic, it’s a high-quality plastic with blemish-free matt black surfaces. Some rather nice design touches include the diffuse red halo LED that surrounds the touch sensitive on/off switch on top of the subwoofer and the satellites’ cloth speaker covers. Read the rest of this entry »
