Recent Comments:
Zinc Matrix Power unveils silver-zinc battery to trump li-ion {Engadget}
Sep 28th 2006 3:32PM Equivilent to a 1.3AH 12V battery ... Obviously real good if it's as small as it looks.
Xbox 360 HD DVD drive to cost just $200? {Engadget}
Aug 14th 2006 8:07PM DVD9 all you could need for 720p/1080i games, where do you guys get this from?? As a developer for a joint 360/PS3 title, I can certainly say that the difference between DVD9 and bluray storage is far more insignificant!! It is really not very difficult to think up ways to use this extra space to good effect... If you take your average PS2/XBOX title and double texture dimensions (say 256s become 512s) thats 4x the storage requirements for your textures. In addition- bluray has faster read speeds, v important if your game relies on streaming or you're not a fan of long load times.
Denon's CD192T and FMJ CD36T ARCAM audiophile CD players {Engadget}
May 24th 2006 11:37AM Slightly off topic, but I'll add--
Arcam are indeed a well respected company, they make good kit, although of course that's not to say that there aren't as good (or better choices) at particular price points or for particular tastes in music. I personally find their CD players very solid, but their amps a tad anemic sounding for my tastes in music. Their pre/power combos are where they start to shine.
Yeah, bit dissapointing to see a post which has its head so far up the whole technology/format "newer is better" nonsense. Quality kit is quality kit. Why do you think that a good vinyl system (with comparatively dreadful specifications for thd and available dynamic range) will trump your average SACD player fed into a 5.1 amp every time ..? Quality, components, engineering, maturity..
Denon's CD192T and FMJ CD36T ARCAM audiophile CD players {Engadget}
May 24th 2006 10:20AM If you're not poking at mic "fanboys", you're poking at audiophiles :)
But seriously, there are solid reasons why audiophiles are still so fond of the CD format-- A well mastered CD through an audiophile system sounds infinitely better than your average (overly compressed) SACD through the same system. Indeed, a well mastered CD through an audiophile system will sound infinitely better than a well mastered SACD/DVD-A through most any consumer-level hardware.
It is also well established that a good ~£350 Stereo integrated amp will blow away a £1000+ multichannel amp/receiver when it comes to music- whether one or the other is fed by a SACD won't help that. When it comes to highend monoblocks, hand-picked high end DACs, rear-loaded horns, etc. you are entering a level of music reproduction that goes well beyond the consumer level cd/sacd debate. There is NO DOUBT that these new formats offer great on-paper specifications, but the hardware market is nowhere near as mature as the audiophile cd player market. The fact remains that the CD format offers far more dynamic range than 99% of recordings ever need/use, this was never true of vinyl.
