Music System - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘Music System’

Sony Rolly gets slated: is AP ready for a dancing speaker?

By Chris Davies on Friday, May 30th 2008 1 Comment

Is the tech world set to split into “those who understand the Sony Rolly” and “those that don’t”? No, probably not, but AP’s Rachel Metz would certainly fall into the latter category. In her review of the bizarre twitching, wiggling, flashing PMP speaker – which officially went on sale in the US earlier this month – Rachel’s few good experiences with the device are pretty much overwhelmed by Rolly’s inability to fit into a standard music player niche. Highlights (or should that be lowlights?) include the lack of a headphone socket, the paltry 2GB of storage and the tricky controls.

Sony Rolly

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Onkyo X-NX10A mini-HiFi with 80GB HDD & internet access

By Chris Davies on Friday, May 30th 2008 No Comments

Onkyo’s latest mini-HiFi system, the X-NX10A, might look pretty mainstream (although that color LCD is on the large size), but its demure appearance hides a few pleasantly up-to-date features. For a start, there’s an 80GB hard-drive that you can rip CDs to or, via a USB port, copy across your existing digital music files. An ethernet port also allows the HiFi to look up track and artist information online, or download (non-DRM) tracks directly.

Onyko X-NX10A

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Harman Kardon new home theatre & music amps with iPod dock

By Chris Davies on Friday, May 30th 2008 No Comments

A/V specialists Harman Kardon have announced a bevy of new audio/video receivers in the company’s home theatre AVR range as well as its HK music series. The new models top out at the flagship AVR 354, shown here, with 7.1 channels, as well as the 7.1 channel AVR 254 and 5.1 channel AVR 154; the two new music receivers are the HK 3490 and HK 3390, both stereo. All three of the multichannel receivers have HDMI 1.3a functionality and pass video signals to 1080p.

Harman Kardon AVR 354

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Panasonic Strada F-Class satnav with remote home automation

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, May 21st 2008 1 Comment

Panasonic’s latest Strada F-Class car navigation systems are yet another reason to lament not living in Japan. The CN-HX1000D and CN-HW1000D borrow the VIERA label from the company’s premium LCD TVs, though scaled down to just 7-inches, and throw in a DVD player, GPS, hard-drive, iPod link, Bluetooth and a 1-Seg digital TV tuner. Most impressive, though, is Panasonic’s “From Home to Car” system: that uses a Bluetooth cellphone to link up with a networked home.

Panasonic Strada F-Class car navigation system

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Earthquake Supernova MKVI flagship subs

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, May 21st 2008 No Comments

Earthquake Supernova MKVI subwoofer Audio specialists Earthquake Sound have revealed their latest floor-throbbing subwoofers, the Supernova MKVI series. Hand-made in the US, the MKVI slots in at the top of Earthquake’s subwoofer range and packs a 1200 watt dynamic and 600 watt RMS Class D switching amplifier together with a new room correction system for balancing the sound. Unlike rivals, which equalize by adjusting the volume, the Earthquake system takes time reflections and refractions into consideration.

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Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile Bluetooth speakers & speakerphone

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, May 20th 2008 No Comments

If Sony’s Rolly portable speaker system is a little too unusual (and rich) for your tastes, then Logitech’s far more traditional Pure-Fi Mobile Bluetooth speakers might be a reasonable alternative. Packing the A2DP Bluetooth profile for stereo audio, as well as a standard 3.5mm input jack, it will happily stream music from PMPs, cellphones or laptops. Two microphones, however, mean the Pure-Fi Mobile serves double-duty as a portable Bluetooth speakerphone.

Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile Bluetooth speakers

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Sony Rolly dancing speaker robot comes to US

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, May 20th 2008 No Comments

Sony’s Rolly dancing wireless speaker robot might be a relatively pointless frippery, but now it’s a pointless frippery you can officially buy in the US. The company has announced that the easter-egg-sized “Sound Entertainment Player” is now available in retail stores across the country, having been available exclusively in Japan for some time now. Not only does Rolly have stereo speakers, it can be programmed with specific dances via the included choreography software.

Sony Rolly

Check out the video of Rolly in action after the cut

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Chimera BC16 Mini-Synth: bizarre, flexible analog modular synth

By Chris Davies on Monday, May 19th 2008 No Comments

I’ve a weakness for odd, glitchy music makers, and Chimera’s BC16 Mini-Synth looks like a perfect example of the breed. The size of a CD (only thicker, obviously), the BC16 might look like a bedroom project but it’s actually being factory manufactured and finished by hand; the patch cables link up the VCO, LFO, Envelope, 24db filter, noise and ring modulator in any order you see fit, and then you can twiddle the knobs to your heart’s content. First announced at the end of last year, it’s taken Chimera a little longer than expected to get them ready for shipping, but word on the street is that production has caught up with preorders.

Chimera BC16 Mini-Synth

Check out the video of the BC16 in action after the cut

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Sony Xplod in-car CD receivers with USB

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, May 13th 2008 No Comments

Sony has pulled the covers off two new Xplod in-car CD receivers, the CDX-GT920U and CDX-GT620U. Support for CD and radio is a given, but they also have USB ports for playing music stored on memory sticks and Sony’s Quick BrowZer technology to speed tracklist navigation. Both have fold-down, removable face-plates, which in the GT920U’s case is motorized.

Sony Xplod CDX-GT920U

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Vita Audio R4 luxury iPod-ready CD & DAB radio

By Chris Davies on Monday, May 12th 2008 2 Comments

There must be something in the air; mere days after Sonoro’s luxury CD clock-radio went on sale in the US, Vita Audio have announced their own hand-crafted all-in-one audiophile music system. The R4 is being described as “a traditional music player for the 21st century”, complete with walnut veneer or white piano lacquer finish, and comprises a CD player, DAB radio, iPod dock and USB port. It also has Vita’s unusual remote control “rotodial”.

Vita Audio R4