INDUSTRY & PRODUCT NEWS

138th Audio Engineering Society Convention in Warsaw, Poland to Feature an Expanded and Comprehensive Technical Program

The 138th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention (Thursday, May 7, through Sunday, May 10, 2015, at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw, Poland) features a comprehensive Technical Program specifically assembled for the AES138 Convention - the AES's first dedicated event in Poland. Read More

Merging Technologies Introduces NADAC, Network Attached DAC

Swiss manufacturer Merging Technologies confirms its new high-quality consumer D/A converter, NADAC, will be introduced at the High End Show in Munich on May 14. Following its success with the Horus and Hapi networked audio interfaces for professional applications, Merging is now leveraging its technology for the consumer market. Read More

Studio Meets Lifestyle with the beyerdynamic Custom Studio Headphones

beyerdynamic added a new headphone model to its Custom headphone series, but this one is designed especially for use in professional recording studio environments. The 80-Ω Custom Studio headphones have a closed design with dynamic 45-mm transducers with a frequency range that extends from 5 Hz to 35 kHz. Read More

New COMSOL Multiphysics Version 5.1 Allows Integrated Simulation App Design

COMSOL recently released its Multiphysics Version 5.1 software including the first integrated simulation environment for building multiphysics models and for creating and sharing easy-to-use simulation apps. For the industry, this enables integrating model building and app design tools into a single environment. The new version also includes hundreds of new features. Read More

New Drivers from Eighteen Sound at Prolight+Sound 2015

The Reggio Emilia loudspeaker specialist attended the 2015 Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt, Germany, with an impressive display of new products in its catalog. New for this year, the 8CX650 and the 10CX650 coaxial loudspeakers, announced earlier in the year, are now shipping. But there's also the ND4015Ti2 compression driver, the XG10 line source waveguide, and much more. Read More

All Set for the 2015 High End Show in Munich

The largest European exhibition for high-quality consumer electronics takes place at the MOC Munich, Germany, from May 14-17, 2015. With an expanded area of four halls and more than 500 exhibitors, the High End Society has confirmed an impressive array of performances, talks, presentations, and industry events. Read More

Headphone Market Continues to Celebrate Growth

Futuresource Consulting has just completed its latest round of research into the headphones market. According to its new report, worldwide shipments of headphones grew by 8.5% in 2014 to 309.5 million units. The majority of headphones sold are in-ear models (60%) and wireless headphones are the fastest growing category. Read More

Jo�o Martins

Editor-in-Chief

Editor's Desk

The Benefits of High-Resolution Audio

The prototype of Woo Audio's $1500 WA8 transportable, self-powered hybrid headphone amp/DAC, was one of Axpona's highlights.

Just barely recovered from the gigantic Frankfurt, Germany show and a full immersion of the professional audio world, audioXpress found an exceptionally vibrant environment at recent US consumer high-end shows, Axpona/AudioCon and the Lone Star Audio Fest, with lots of visitors and plenty of excitement around headphones, headphone amplifiers, DACs, and high-resolution audio. There's legitimate excitement from manufacturers on developing new high-end systems, from players to loudspeakers, able to properly translate high-resolution audio.

Judging by the amount of new DACs being introduced (and many new ones scheduled to be introduced at the High End Munich show next week) there seems to be no reason to doubt the market potential.

What seems to be missing is an industry consensus on how and why.

Most of the research done on the benefits of higher audio resolution signals concludes that the development is mostly related to the needs of professional audio recording and editing, since using 24-bit depth and higher sampling frequencies greatly benefits the recording process, helping to maintain dynamic range while avoid clipping, as well as avoiding the problems with artifacts resulting from multiple generations of mixing and processing.

It seems only natural that - in this digital age - consumers want to enjoy those recordings in the highest quality possible. As I've written before, I believe it's their right.

Goodbye Riviera

I just received the news this week that, after 60 years on the Las Vegas Strip, the Riviera hotel and casino will close. When I visited conventions in Las Vegas, dating back to the 1990s (yes, I know...), I would always stay at the "Riv."

All these years, the Riviera kept something of that "vintage" Vegas charm that I missed from other hotel and casinos. Plus, the convenient walk to Las Vegas Convention Center - and later, walking distance to the Fashion Show Mall - was enough to convince me to stay, even when they started closing the restaurants, removing the slots, and giving up on hotel rooms renovations. I always liked to cross the pool area at night.

The proximity to the Las Vegas Convention Center seems to be the reason why the Riviera is going down. It was sold to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for more than $182 million to make room for the LVCC expansion. Apparently, in the future we will be able to enter the convention center directly from the Strip, where the Riviera once was.

The expansion will be completed in two phases. The first phase focuses on the Riviera site and includes 750,000 square feet of new exhibit space and 187,500 square feet of supporting meeting space as part of the new 1.8-million-square-foot expansion.

Phase two focuses on renovating the existing convention center and includes a 100,000-square-foot general session space and another 100,000 square feet of meeting space. Including public areas and service areas, the expansion and renovation increases the facility from its current total footprint of 3.2 million square feet to nearly 5.7 million square feet. Once construction begins, the entire project is expected to take five to eight years to complete. Until then...

Quote

"Even if one embraces the purported benefits of high-resolution audio while disregarding the potential downsides, it is difficult and perhaps even impossible to make the case that high-resolution audio yields any perceptible benefit under even the best listening conditions."

White Paper by Goldmund Acoustic Laboratory in collaboration with Brent Butterworth.

Click here to download.

From the Vault

Power Transformers

for Audio Equipment

By Pete Millett

In this article, author Pete Millett explores the different types of power transformers, and why you might choose to use each type in audio equipment. The article addresses issues with low-frequency (50-60 Hz) line transformers, but many of the same issues apply to audio-frequency transformers as well. In an interesting Case Study, the author provides some comparisons of EI and toroidal transformers in a tube headphone amplifier design. Article originally published in audioXpress, June 2001. Read the Full Article

Voice Coil Spotlight

Minimum Pole Diameter Tool from Redrock Acoustics

By Patrick Turnmire

The amount of flux running through the pole in a conventional "Hamburger" motor structure is a key loudspeaker design element that is often a limiting factor in the design process. PoleSolver is a design tool from Redrock Acoustics that makes all the different calculations quick and easy. An article originally published in Voice Coil, August 2010.

Read the Full Article

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AX May 2015: Digital Login

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VC May 2015: Digital Login

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audioxpress features great articles, projects, tips and techniques for producing the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic and electronics.

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The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.