Monday, April 25, 2011

STAX SR-009























Price Y388,500

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Sforzato DST-01 Digital Stream Transport























The Japanese made two-box Sforzato DST-01 upsampling Digital Stream Transport is a DLNA enabled streamer which connects to a Network Attached Server or PC over LAN network. 
Ultra-low jitter temperature controlled crystal oscillator to control the master clock.  Large toroidal transformers, with separate supply to digital processing and other circuits.  Each transformer is placed coaxially with leg spikes provide grounding of external vibration. 
Front panel switch selects up-sampling rates of up to 192kHz with various digital filters settings (standard, no pre-echo, no post echo, minimum phase, etc.) which happens before sending digital signal to an outboard DAC.  
Please note that the second box is the power supply, not the DAC.
Sforzato is also developing a dedicated DAC for it which is going to be called the DSR-01 (DigitalStream Renderer).  Controls are done through iPod or iPhone using the included MLPlayer app.












  • Supported Files: AIFF, Apple lossless, FLAC, MP3, WMA Lossless, WAV
  • Sampling Frequency: 44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 176.4k, 192k
  • Bit of support: 16bit, 24bit (Lossless WMA is 44.1k/16bit only)
  • Digital Output: AES/EBU, RCA (S / PDIF)
  • Word clock output: BNC × 1
  • Word clock input: BNC × 1
  • LAN: 100Base-T RJ45
  • Retail price: Yen 600,000 (approximately USD10,000)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Burmester 111 Reference Music Server

















$70000

The new Reference Line Music Server convinces not only by its excellent sound quality, but also by the extremely fast processing of even very large data sets. The local player is both about the device, via the web browser, and via handheld devices such as iPad with a specially developed Burmester Darfur app to be controlled.

Streaming over WLAN is also possible. On the integrated drive slot, an existing CD collection in the highest possible quality to rip it. Were not deposited album art and track information are added automatically to a comparison with the database. Due to the forward error correction (FEC) of only a few seconds for audio CD drives, there is the possibility that older or scratched CD went to an audio data stream that includes sporadic dropouts. Without appropriate countermeasures can thus reduce the noise listening.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Audio Valve Challenger 250

















































€9900


The Challenger 250’s are high-performance power amplifiers with intelligent Power Management that provides a unique listening experience.
They are a continuation of our successful Challenger series (115, 150 and 180) of mono blocs first introduced in 1987. The Challenger 250’s achieve a new level of definition and perfection in quality of sound.
Like all AudioValve amplifiers, the Challenger 250’s attract attention through innovative technology, beautiful design and accurate circuitry. All AudioValve amplifiers are handcrafted products, produced with accuracy and precision.

The revolutionary and proprietary ABR circuitry, developed in-house, supervises, affects and controls each KT90 tube independently. All Challenger 250’s are delivered with KT90 tubes, which may be replaced with pin-compatible Beam-Power pentodes – the ABR sets up the correct bias-current automatically. This allows the customer to use whatever tube creates the best sound for him/her.

Another awesome convenience is that the circuitry is totally balanced throughout, which makes it possible for these amplifiers to drive all sorts of speakers, from normal drivers to exotic electrostatics and ribbons. The Challenger 250’s are particularly suitable for large speakers in big rooms. Enjoy the sonorous sound and the authentic replay that they achieve! No matter which kind of music you prefer, the Challenger 250’s are flexible and multi-functional. 
These amplifiers turn every kind of music - Heavy-Metal, Pop, RocknRoll, Classical - into something special.

Power consumption: 350 VA nominal (max 800VA)
Max output: 300 watt – RMS
Nominal output: min. 200-240 watt sin – 1% distortion at 8 ohm load
Damping: 10
Tubes: 1 12AS7, 2 AU7, 6 KT90
Bandwidth: 8hz – 65khz
S/N ratio: -69 dbm
Gain: 28 db
Fake XLR (pos, phase only pin 2) and RCA inputs
Input resistance: 47k
Speaker terminals: 8 ohm
Weight: 30 kg
Size: 42 x 40 x 20 cm (WxDxH)