Hifi Pig

Monster, the headphone brand, has announced it is collaborating with luxury watchmaker Hublot  to create Hublot Inspiration – a luxury noise cancelling headphone that offers an “unprecedented music listening and lifestyle experience”.  The lightweight, rock-solid black and carbon fibre Hublot Inspiration over-ear headphones will be available this summer at Hublot retailers for EUR 1.750.00.  UK price to be announced.

At this year’s High End show in Munich, visitors can experience high end audio not just limited to the home but also in three high end motor cars.

Pagani and Sonus Faber

The exhibitor Audio Reference  from Hamburg is presenting one of the most exciting sports cars on Earth, equipped  with the exclusive Sonus Faber system.  In future, Pagani, the Italian producer of luxury sports cars, will be fitting its vehicles with these exclusive sound systems. One of the ultimate dream cars with a price tag of around  €1.4m will be at the show. (All pics are of this system)

Porche and Burmester

The Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer Porsche and the high-end audio company Burmester from Berlin have been working closely together for years now.

All in all the new Porsche  Cayenne boasts 16 speakers with a total diaphragm area of 1,400 cm2. Providing in excess  of 1,000 watts of output. This is enough to produce over 120 decibels  of sound pressure in the vehicle, meaning that a large orchestra or hard rock band can be listened to at the original volume. Each of the 16 loudspeakers is controlled by its own preamp and power amp. Technologies and materials used from Burmester’s home audio range are used in the car’s system.

Volkswagon Touareg with Dynaudio

This year Dynaudio is presenting the Volkswagen Touareg with the Dynaudio Confidence premium sound system. 620 watts, 12 speakers and the latest DSP technology are boasted. All the chassis fitted in this Volkswagen are  hand-finished components from Dynaudio’s main plant in the Danish town of Skanderborg.

Atlas Cables has announced the launch of a new range of USB cables for computer audio applications.  Available now, the Atlas Element USB comes in either A/B or A/B Mini form in multiple lengths from 0.5 meters to 5 meters.

Made up of parallel lay twisted-pair silver-plated high-purity OFC copper conductors encased in a high quality foamed Polyethylene dielectric, Atlas has paid particular attention to ensure that every conductor is identical in length.  Using precision equipment to measure and micro-cut each conductor “ensures there is minimal time difference between each pair”.

To combat crosstalk between the twisted pair, the ground and the power conductors, Atlas uses a triple shielding technique that isolates the differential data, power and ground conductors from each other as well as providing an integral shield around the entire cable to help reject noise.  In addition, the 95% outer screen prevents unwanted noise getting into the signal conductors, with its low inductance providing excellent transfer impedance at high frequencies.

The metal plug and head-shell connector has been designed to keep the characteristic impedance of the cable as stable as possible “to reduce jitter even further”.  

Commenting on the new Atlas Element USB, Kevin Kelly, Managing Director of Atlas Cables said, “Every aspect of our new USB cables have been designed to enhance sound quality by reducing the jitter issues normally associated with USB cables. By stripping away the problems inherent with USB and overcoming those issues with applied engineering, we feel we have developed a product that will re-set the bar to which premium USB cables will need to be judged.”  

0.5 metre  £35.00
1.0 metre  £37.50
1.5 metre  £42.50
2.0 metre £47.50
3.0 metre  £57.50
5.0 metre  £77.50

Stewart Wennen takes a listen to the little Clones Audio 25i integrated amplifier and likes it a lot.

Read the full review of the Clones Audio 25i Integrated Amplifier.