News

Within a 24-hour time span this past weekend, two important audiophile establishments in CA suffered major burglaries. On the morning of February 28, headphone manufacturer Audeze in Costa Mesa lost perhaps $250,000 in headphones, plus an undetermined amount of raw material from its operating and manufacture headquarters. At around 4am on February 27, and approximately 425 miles north, retailer AudioVision San Francisco experienced $100,000 worth of damage to their new headquarters plus the loss of much expensive gear when a truck rammed through their storefront (above).

Devialet Event in Cambridge MA Thursday, September 29, 6–8pm, Blink High End (129 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139) is holding a special event. Amaury Guillement, Regional Manager for the French Devialet brand, will be demonstrating the Devialet Expert 1000 Pro, a $35,000, dual-mono, 1000Wpc integrated amplifier. This flagship amplifier from Devialet combines preamplifier, amplifier, DAC, streamer, and phono stage in a single, extremely thin slab.

High-End retailer AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94109) is having what it calls a "Big Free Event!!" Thursday February, 7:30–9:30pm, featuring the Devialet Limited Edition Reference LE900 Original d'Atelier 900Wpc Integrated Amp/DAC/Phonostage. Only 100 of the LE900 were produced worldwide, and the amplifier features a new 900W D-amp, class-A evolution circuit with updated transistors, a new filter board, and an enhanced power supply, The event will also feature YG Acoustics loudspeakers, Clearaudio turntables, and Nordost cables.

Devialet's new Ensemble system will be featured at Overture Audio/Video, 2423 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE this Saturday, December 6. Shows are from 12–4pm.

Saturday April 2, from 11am–7pm, Whetstone Audio (2401 E. 6th St #1001, Austin, TX 78702) are presenting John DeVore of DeVore Fidelity and Mike Pranka of Well Tempered Lab playing the new Gibbon X loudspeakers and Royale 400 turntable. There'll be food, drinks, and a Rega RP1 turntable for a lucky winner! Please RSVP: (512) 477-8503 or brian@whetstoneaudio.com.

While all of the attention was on SDMI and watermarking earlier this month, Diamond">http://www.diamondmm.com">Diamond Multimedia, the http://www.riaa.com/"> Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) quietly announced the settlement of all pending litigation related to Diamond's Rio portable Internet music player. (See previous">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10324/">previous story.) All three parties say they have dismissed their legal actions, and have announced the mutually satisfactory resolution of outstanding legal issues.

Advances in audio reproduction typically proceed with tiny steps that, in time, add up to major systemic improvements. In this industry, quantum leaps in basic technology rarely happen. DiAural Doppler decoding may be one of them.