Monthly Archives: September 2003

Harman Kardon comes up with a winner

Harman Kardon claims that its new DVD-30 actually does DVD Audio properly. Well, I’ve just completed a review of it and, I have to agree, it does. And does it well. Yep, finally Denon has some competition. The DVD-30 offers … Continue reading

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Now that’s sad

There are three pieces of software I use so often that they almost define my work. One is TextPad), upon which I am writing this. Another is the best damned calculator on the planet: Kalkulator. And the third is CoolEdit … Continue reading

Posted in Audio, Rant | Leave a comment

Denon bringing proper mutichannel SACD, and future DVI to these shores

Look forward to the introduction by Audio Products Australia of the Denon DVD-A11 everything* player this month. Recommended retail price: $3,999. I am drawing here on information about what I take to be the equivalent US model, the Denon DVD-5900. … Continue reading

Posted in Audio, DVD, Equipment, HDMI | Leave a comment

Did you know: MP3 is ‘Studio Quality’?

 Got a chuckle out of this ‘explanation’ of MP3 in the manual of an inexpensive Conia DVD player I’ve been reviewing. Talk about overstating the quality of MP3! Sure, at 128kb/s MP3 is quite indistinguishable from the CD source for … Continue reading

Posted in Audio, Codecs, Compression, Portable | Leave a comment

New article up – Killer CDs

A superficial reading of the specifications of a CD-ROM drive can generate a fearsome number. The now standard 52x read speed suggests a disc running at 24,000 rpm, with a linear velocity at its edge of over 150m/s (that is, … Continue reading

Posted in CD, How Things Work | Leave a comment

Calling Virginia!

The statistics on hifi-writer.com show that the highest volume of visitors, by region, come from North America (not surprisingly, closely followed by Oceania, which is where I am). And for the past couple of weeks the biggest number of visits … Continue reading

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My Denon DVD-2900 review on-line

The DVD User Group has come to arrangment with Sound and Image magazine to reproduce some of the magazine’s hardware reviews on-line. My review of the Denon DVD-2900 DVD player is now there (you need to become a member — … Continue reading

Posted in Equipment, Testing | Leave a comment

Damping Factor – not as important as I thought

The damping factor of amplifiers is a measure that has fallen out of favour in recent years. Many brands don’t specify it any longer. I had long considered it an important specification, since a low damping factor can lead to … Continue reading

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Infrasonic squirms

Some experimental types have been working out the effect of infrasonic sound on people’s emotional states. The recipe: take a seven metre long pipe, stick a ‘long throw’ bass driver (woofer) therein a third of the way down, then drive … Continue reading

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The CRT projector lives

Yesterday I finished a review of the Barco Cine 7 LT projector, which should appear in a couple of weeks in the ‘Livewire’ section of The Age newspaper. I had thought that CRT projectors were big, heavy and expensive. The … Continue reading

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