Hifi Pig

In the second of our ongoing series of Behind the Brands interviews we speak to Graeme Holland who heads up the high-end valve amplifier manufacturing company Audion.

If you are involved in the Hifi industry and are yourself interested in being included in the Behind The Brand interviews then please do get in touch with us.

Check out the full list of our Behind the Brands interviews and find out what makes the names behind the brands tick.

Waveform is the new class of semi-active digital RCA from Tellurium Q (patent applied for in UK, number:1223346.6) coming from many months of research by the UK based company. “The new device contains a bi-directional, high speed, non-avalanching voltage clamp, controlling the peak voltages into your DAC. The technology is contained on two little circuit boards encased in anti-micro-phonic material, one in each RCA plug.”

Claimed effects of the new cable are that it “boosts the speed of the edges of the digital signal giving you the fastest possible secure transmission of a digital signal allowing DACs to maintain an excellent lock at all times, reduce error and minimise dropout giving the most accurate signal possible today”.

Price is £390.

Krell Industries announce Foundation, the latest in a long line of  A/V processors from the company. Featuring the latest digital connectivity, the Foundation also maintains Krell’s standards for analogue audio reproduction.

From decoding the latest lossless audio formats, extensive digital switching, 3DTV pass-through,  etc the Foundation is certainly well equipped. The 7.1-channel processor also features balanced audio outputs, automatic setup and room EQ.

In addition to 10 HDMI 1.4a inputs, the Foundation has 2 HDMI outputs, both of which feature Audio Return Channel. With ARC, a display device is able to send audio back down the HDMI cable to the processor. This is beneficial for those with televisions with built-in web streaming capability like Netflix or Pandora, so the streaming audio can use the full home theater system instead of just the TV’s speakers.

The Foundation includes a new Krell development – Intelligent HDMI switching. Intelligent HDMI switching is a combination of circuitry and software that optimizes HDMI operation. Various parameters including the monitor’s electronic ID and source video resolution are stored in non-volatile memory. All 10 source inputs are always active so source, channel, video resolution, and audio format changes are instantaneous. The Intelligent HDMI design provides the fastest signal recognition possible.

The Foundation also features Krell’s Automatic Room Equalization System (ARES), to help ensure the best possible performance from every room. ARES analyzes all the speakers in the system, their location, phase, and distance from each other, to determine the best crossover frequency, delay, etc. In addition, ARES incorporates the acoustics of the room to determine unique EQ curves for each of the 7.1 output channels.

The Foundation will be available at Krell authorised dealers in February 2013 for $6,500 MSRP.

The fourth and final set of photographs from CES 2013 can be viewed here. Lots of pics of seriously high-end audio and hifi for your viewing pleasure. Do enjoy!

Hifi Pig is delighted to announce the latest addition to the ever growing content of the website. As part of the team’s ongoing desire to bring you the latest news and reviews we have today launched the “Behind The Brand” series of interviews.

In this series of interviews we will be looking at how the people behind the brands initially got into the industry, what their views on the current state of the hifi industry are and od course some more personal questions.

We’re sure you will agree that this is a great addition to Hifi Pig’s content and we’re equally sure it will prove hugely popular with our readers.

We kick the series off with an interview with the Managing Director of Roksan Audio Tufan Hashemi and you can read his responses to our questions here

If you are involved in the Hifi industry and are yourself interested in being included in the Behind The Brand interviews then please do get in touch with us.

Part 3 of the CES photographs series is now uploaded with photographs of high-end audio and hifi from Cary, VAC, Devore Fidelity, MBL, Acoustic Plan, Dynaudio, Moon Audio. Copland, Yamamoto Sound Craft and many more high end brands. Make sure you also check out parts 1 and 2 for lots more photographs of High-end hifi from the CES Show 2013 in Las Vegas.

Musical Fidelity have announced the release of the M1 SDAC. The new box of tricks is a DAC (and ADC), preamplifier, headphone amp and apt-X.Bluetooth receiver and will retail in the UK for £799.

The M1 SDAC looks to be well catered for with connectivity having 2 Coax inputs, a AES/EBU balanced input and a USB input all accepting files at up to 24/192. An optical input will accept files at 24/96 and a Bluetooth receiver upsamples 24/48 files to 24/192. Further, there are a pair of RCA analogue inputs and both Coax and optical outputs.

Musical Fidelity have also launched a stereo power amplifier which compliments the M1 SDAC, the M1 PWR. Output is 60 watts a channel in to 8 Ohms and Hifi Pig has seen the pair at £1299.

Pics as soon as we have them.