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Astell & Kern's first Bluetooth speaker includes a 32-bit DAC
Astell & Kern has unveiled its first Bluetooth speaker, and it caters to enthusiasts with a 32-bit DAC and 24-bit codecs.
Astell & Kern's AK120 portable MQS player graces the FCC with its $1,300 sound
Audiophiles eager to get their mitts on iRiver's Astell & Kern-branded AK120 should take note: the portable Mastering Quality Sound player just passed through the FCC's labs. The $1,300 AK120 is the bigger, 2.4-inch sibling to the $700 AK100, promising to net deep-pocketed audio perfectionists improved stereo imaging and dynamic range; this is achieved by two Wolfson WM8740 DACs, each of which are dedicated to a single channel. The player features a physical volume knob and packs 64GB of onboard storage with support for up to 192GB through two microSD slots -- which is perfect for storing your pick of AV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC and AIFF (and eventually DSD) files, as well. With this next MQS player from A&K sure to hit stores soon, we're left to wonder what's the updated word about Neil Young's streaming take on the action.
iRiver's AK120 promises 'the finest audio,' priced at $1,300 with a leather case
Love music? Sure you do -- but can you really claim to be a true music lover if you're not plunking down $1,300 for the latest MQS (Mastering Quality Sound) player from iRiver? The AK120 looks a fair bit like its predecessor, the AK100 (albeit slightly larger), and features a 2.4-inch IPS touchcreen. Inside, you'll find two digital-to-analog converters, dual Wolfson WM8740 DAC chips and 64GB of memory, which is expandable up to 192GB via two microSD card slots. The AK120 can handle a slew of formats, including WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, AAC, ALAC and AIFF, with DSD on the way. And just in case you were worried that the price tag was a bit steep, keep in in mind that it includes "the finest handmade Italian-designed leather case."
iRiver's AK100 now supports Apple-based audio codecs
If you're an audiophile with $700 burning a hole in your pocket, you might've been tempted by iRiver's Astell & Kern AK100. Already boasting Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) lossless audio playback -- along with support for MP3, Ogg, FLAC, WAV, WMA and APE codecs -- there's now another reason to be seduced by the luxury pmp. Released today, firmware update version 1.3 for the device finally adds Apple-based codecs (AAC, ALAC and AIFF) to the list -- who said iTunes and audiophiles can't get along? To jog your memory, the AK100 has a Wolfson WM8740 Digital-to-Analog Converter, 32GB of built-in storage, two microSD card slots and a 2,000 mAh battery that'll last 16 hours. Get a peek at the press release after the break or just head to the source to download the update.
iRiver and Valencell team up to produce ON, Bluetooth heart-rate monitoring earphones
iRiver has snagged Valencell's PeformTek bio-sensing technology for its freshly-announced ON active earbuds. Plug them into your head and the built-in hardware can relay vital statistics like your heart rate and fitness level to your smartphone. The company won't be pinned to a price or a release date, as it's still working on the companion app necessary for the gear to run, but expects to have it ready by March. If you'd like to know a little more, you can always peruse the PR, presented on the posterior of this post.
iRiver's AK100 lossless-friendly music player heading to the States December 4th
Sure, it may not have Neil Young's seal of approval, but iRiver's getting ready to bring its new high-def media player to the US next week. The AK100 will be hitting online retailers and "high end audio stores" under the Astell & Kern name on December 4th, carrying a $700 price tag. The player is a capable of handling Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) lossless audio playback, as well as MP3, Ogg, FLAC, WAV, WMA and APE audio files. There's 32GB of memory built-in, expandable via two microSD slots. According to iRiver, the built-in battery should give your around 16 hours of playback on a charge. More info can be found in the press release after the break.
iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble
It's been some time since we heard much from iRiver but the PMP maker is keeping busy with the snow-white B100. This capacitive touchscreen media player will offer up to 36 hours of music playback, or eight and a half hours of video watching. The 3.1-inch TFT screen has a resolution of 320 x 480, but it's backed up by a (relatively) long list of media codecs, including OGG, WAV, APE and ASF compatibility. If you're sick of limited playback options, you might want to consider downscaling those screen-size desires for improved format freedom. The PMP launches today, with prices starting at 11,800 yen (around $144) for the 4GB model, while the 8GB version will set you back 13,800 yen (around $168) at online Japanese retailer, Rakuten. The Google-translated PR awaits your quizzical looks below.
Engadget's back to school guide 2011: e-readers
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we've got our optical viewfinders set firmly on digital cameras -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Most of us are still walking around hunchbacked from years of carrying heavy textbooks in our overstuffed backpacks. Thankfully, an e-reader can significantly lighten the loads for students everywhere. Sure, we've still got a ways to go before electronic devices can replace textbooks altogether, but in the long run, it's a purpose that could significantly impact the postures of backpack wearers all over. Jump past the break for our recommendations, and another opportunity to enter our back to school giveaway. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and head over to our giveaway page for more details.
Engadget Podcast 249 - 07.22.2011
Here at Engadget, and here on the Engadget Podcast in particular, we're all about customer service. OK, maybe not all about customer service, but on this episode we've dedicated twenty percent of our breath to answering your questions! If you happen to enjoy a bunch of Apple news too -- which we heard you do you -- then we're at about fifty percent on-track to serving you completely. If you like Apple news, having your questions answered, and a healthy dose of other up-to-the-minute information in the spacecraft, e-reader, and digital camera realms...well, let's just say we got this.Host: Tim Stevens, Brian HeaterGuests: Dana WollmanProducer: Trent WolbeMusic: Paradise City02:44 - Apple Mac OS X Lion available now in the App Store06:00 - Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards08:35 - Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review17:32 - The MacBook drops from Apple's Store (update: confirmed)22:37 - Apple updates Mac mini: Core i5 and i7, Thunderbolt, AMD Radeon HD, no SuperDrive22:55 - Apple rolls out 27-inch Thunderbolt Display with FaceTime HD camera, built-in speakers23:45 - Apple's Q3 earnings exceed estimates: $28.57 billion revenue, $7.31 billion profit, 20 million iPhones sold25:13 - Apple outpaces Nokia in global smartphone shipments28:00 - Nokia Q2 2011: 'clearly disappointing' results as challenges prove 'greater than expected'32:35 - Motorola Droid 3 review37:35 - Sony Alpha NEX-C3 review42:55 - iRiver Story HD review49:51 - Space Shuttle Atlantis touches down in Florida, won't be going back up again50:44 - Google 'winding down' Labs, likely due to meddling older sister51:40 - Listener questionsHear the podcastSubscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcastSend your questions to @tim_stevens.Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005)E-mail us: podcast at engadget dot comTwitter: @tim_stevens @bheater @danawollman
J.K. Rowling, Google to bring Pottermania to your e-reader
Having a hard time parting ways with a certain plucky, lightning-scarred orphan? J.K. Rowling feels your pain (as she counts her money) and has teamed up with Google to help you fall in love with the world of Hogwarts all over again -- e-book style. The voluminous tomes will be making their exclusive electronic debut through Google's eBooks platform as part of the Sony-backed Pottermore site launching this October. El Goog's open format plays nicely with "more than 80 ereaders" -- we're looking at you iRiver Story HD -- and can also be downloaded in app form for iOS and Android smartphones. But the integration doesn't end there -- under terms of the agreement, Google Checkout "will be the preferred third party payment platform" for all the site's Harry Potter knick knacks your credit limit will allow. It's ok, you don't have to let go of the dream just yet. There's still a little wizard inside us all.
iRiver Story HD review
When it was unveiled back in January, the Story HD, iRiver's first entry into the US e-reader market, boasted all manner of exciting technologies, including an "HD" display and a souped-up (in e-reader terms) processor. Things have changed in the past six months, thanks in part to new Nook and Kobo devices. The other week, however, iRiver pulled out a pre-release surprise that turned plenty of heads: a partnership with Google Books. Are these features enough to make the company competitive in an already crowded market dominated by the Kindle? Find out the answer to all that and more in the review below. %Gallery-128506%
There's a web browser hiding inside the iriver Story HD, but it's pretty shy
Looking for a way to surf the web on your new iriver Story HD? The Digital Reader's got you covered, with a nifty, albeit not totally satisfying hack. As it turns out, the Story HD's much-ballyhooed Google eBookstore operates as a mobile version, rather than an app, meaning you can use it to access other pages -- if you know the trick. All you have to do is navigate to the first Help page within the eBookstore, where you'll see a list of links running across the top. The Books link leads to books.google.com, from which you can jump to google.com, effectively putting the internet at your fingertips. The major downside, however, is that iriver's hidden browser won't give you an address bar, though it does offer basic refresh and page-flipping capabilities, located within the options menu. It's certainly not as fluid as the WebKit-based browser you'll find on Amazon's third-generation Kindle, nor is it as straightforward as that experimental feature buried within the Nook WiFi -- but at least it's there. If you're interested in digging it up, hit the source link for more details. [Thanks, Nate]
iRiver's Vanilla Android phone and tablet leak out, a few cubes short of 80s infamy
Remember that iRiver MX100 we spotted a few weeks ago? Yeah, well it's about to hit Korean retail shelves soon with a new name, more specs and a smaller Android-based smartphone stablemate. The marketing snapshots taken by Cetizen show off both the wildly titled Tab (really?) and little brother Vanilla (really?) rocking Android 2.2 like it's still 2010. Clearly iRiver's not employing the best in branding here, opting instead for a middle-of-the-tech-road, "Clear Glass Look" me-too approach. Just look at these specs: the 3G, Flash-ready, 7-inch LCD tablet's running a rumored 1GHz Hummingbird processor with a 5 megapixel camera, up to 32GB of expandable storage and Bluetooth. While its handset bretheren putters in with a 3.5-inch WVGA LCD display, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 4GB of storage and unknown processor. These new additions to the Google mobile army won't be topping nerds' must-have wish lists, but they should do for Moms and other less tech-obsessed denizens of our free world. Hit the source for additional shots of these white-washed beauties.
iRiver Story HD becomes first Google eBooks-integrated e-reader, won't be the last
We aren't exactly lacking for digital bookstores, but Google's eBooks offering is indeed one of the slickest around. And evidently, it's not in nearly as many places as the marketers in Mountain View would like. The Goog just announced that iRiver's Story HD would soon become the first Google eBooks-integrated e-reader, with the new model going on sale July 17th at Target. It'll still sell for $139.99, and none of the actual hardware specifications will change from the existing model. Of course, the eBooks platform has been open to all publishers, retailers and manufacturers from the start; it's just that iRiver has become the first manufacturer to heed the call. Naturally, Google's teasing us by openly stating that more of these are on the way, and if you just so happen to be an e-reader maker... well, it'd certainly love to have a chat.
iriver P8 player pops up on Russian site, packs prodigious battery life
It's been a while since iriver last updated its P series of large-screen portable media players, -- so long in fact, that we thought the series had simply been retired. Imagine our surprise, when this five-incher popped up on the company's Russian site, sporting a long list of supported file formats, and an even longer battery life (up to nine hours of video and 40 hours of audio). The P8 comes in 8GB and 16GB flavors, but also packs a microSD slot for tacking on additional storage. You're not limited to watching clips on the 800 x 480 touchscreen either, the player boasts an HDMI port for pushing HD content straight to a TV. Of course, whether or not this half-inch thick, half-pound device ever makes it to American shores or how much it will cost when it does remains to be seen. Check out the gallery of press shots below. %Gallery-127675%
Samsung SENS-240 Navigation Tablet is strange and familiar
It's been a few years but iriver just released an updated version of its NV GPS navigator with SPINN UI. Wa... wait a second, that's a Samsung logo. Sorry, this is the Samsung SENS-240, a hybrid car navigation system / tablet that plays nice with your Android-powered Samsung smartphone or, uh, tablet. According to Akihabara News, the SENS-240 uses Bluetooth to take over your voice, data, voice search, and even "video features" from your smartphone when driving. You can then control the SENS-240 using your smarpthone or tablet as an "advanced" remote when idle. The details behind how this works, or why you'd want to do it, is a mystery. We do know that the SENS-240 comes packing 256MB of RAM, USB-host mode, and an SD slot in addition to a 1.43GHz processor (of unknown origins) said to be powerful enough to handle 3D maps, video, or DMB TV on that 7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display. Oh, and it's Korea-only for now.
iriver Story HD e-reader hits the FCC, US retailers next?
We haven't heard much about iriver's Story HD e-reader since it quite literally landed in our laps at CES back in January, but it looks like it might now finally be nearing a US launch. The e-reader has just turned up at the FCC, where's it's been thoroughly tested and dissected (see the link below for some additional evidence). That's not always a sure sign that a US launch is imminent, but it does seem likely in this case -- especially considering that iriver has already lined up a number of US content partnerships for the device. As for the e-reader itself, it's similar in size to the Kindle and packs a 6-inch 1024 x 768 display, along with an 800MHz Coretx A8 processor, 2GB of internal memory, an SD card slot for expansion, and WiFi connectivity. In other words, it remains unchanged from CES, which means our preview is just as relevant as ever.
iriver U100 PMP gets official reveal, P100 and D2000 leave something to the imagination
The teases over at iriver are ready to show you what they've got: the neon-colored U100. We reported on the PMP, along with the P100 and the D2000 last month, but it looks like iriver is going to leave us guessing on the last two. The U100 sports a 3.1-inch (320 x 480) touchscreen, up to 16GB of internal memory, WiFi, microSDHC, and an FM tuner for those who still listens to the radio. It plays 720p video and touts 50 hours of battery life for audio playback and 11 hours for video. iriver isn't ready to give us all the details quite yet -- an official release date and pricing are still under wraps -- but they have provided another video to keep us interested. Hit up the source link to see for yourself.
iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video)
Our trailer was just visited by an iriver rep bearing his company's Kindle killer in waiting, the Story HD. This 6-inch e-reader touts a bodacious 1024 x 768 resolution, which contributes to an even better contrast ratio than on Amazon's E Ink slate, while software optimizations between now and release are expected to make the Story HD the fastest-refreshing device of its kind. The display itself is built by LG Display and is accompanied by a Freescale Cortex A8 CPU, 2GB of onboard storage, and an SDHC card-reading slot. Sun rays are, as expected, absolutely no problem and we have to admit that on first sight we thought the device had a sticker affixed to its front -- its that good at reproducing printed materials. Physically, it seems to have been constructed with the third-gen Kindle as its dimensional blueprint, albeit with quite a different control scheme. The hand-built proto unit we played with wasn't really ready to have its ergonomics judged properly, but iriver has plenty of time until the expected May launch to iron out any kinks. Content distribution partnerships have already been sewn up for the US, so now it's just a matter of patience until we get our e-reading on in gorgeous XGA resolution. Video hands-on after the break. %Gallery-113350% %Gallery-113351%
iriver teams with LG Display on Story HD e-reader, bumps resolution to 1024 x 768
What a difference a year makes, right? At CES 2010, we were staring at iriver's Story e-reader, wondering if the future would ever be the same. Today, we're doing something similar, albeit with way more pixel density. Sure to please our own, in-house Pixel Density Enthusiast Paul Miller, iriver has just let loose the world's highest resolution 6-inch e-reader. The Story HD -- which was designed in cooperation with LG Display -- still relies on e-paper, but it packs an XGA (1024 x 768) screen resolution. According to iriver, that represents a 63.8 percent pixel increase over the competition, offering increased legibility, faster response performance and finer fonts. You'll also find a Freescale processor, built-in WiFi and a content access portal that's being kept under wraps for now. It's also equipped with Easy Wi-Fi Network support, a battery good for up to three weeks of use and compatibility with DRM-laced ePUB and PDF files. If you're curious to know just how badly this thing will undercut those LCD-based alternatives, you'll have to wait; we're simply told that it'll be "competitively priced" and available for purchase in Q2 2011.