Robert Silverman Plumbs Beethoven's Depths in MQA Sound
Just in time for the New Year, Audio High has released a new set of 23 of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, performed live by Robert Silverman and available in MQA, hi-rez, CD-quality, and MP3 formats. If the prospect of one of Canada's most feted pianists offering his mature thoughts on Beethoven in superb sound is not, in and of itself, sufficient reason to tempt you, the fact that the MP3 files can be obtained for free, with the others available for a donation to the Silver Linings non-profit charity, certainly will be.
Rock and Roll Will Never Die!
Cleveland's WMMS-FM built an enormous following of loyal fans by cranking out a steady stream of rock'n'roll---a stream now 30 years old. "The Buzzard," as the station at 100.7MHz is known, rode the wave of rock's ascendancy, and pioneered the classic rock format---one instantly recognizable by the heavy rotation of the recordings of such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, the Cars, Kansas, Boston, and Journey. Every major city in the United States has at least one such station. Throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s, WMMS won generations of rock fans with its midday concerts and kept them tuned in with its unwavering dedication to heavy rock. The station was instrumental in winning the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the city of Cleveland.
Rockers Back Low-Power Radio
Low-power radio is once again an issue at the Federal">http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission, and this time the agency is feeling the heat not only from community activists, but from rock artists as well. Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and the Indigo Girls are just a few of the performers who have rallied behind a proposal to license 100W-to-1000W radio stations to private citizens, according to Frank Ahrens in the October 24 edition of the Washington">http://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post.
Rocking It with the September Stereophile
For its PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processor, featured on our September issue's cover, PS Audio took a different approach. Rather than using the usual off-the-shelf parts, designer Ted Smith used Field-Programmable Gate Array chips (FPGAs) to process DSD data without compromising the integrity of the music. Art Dudley takes the new DAC out for a test drive and returned impressed by what he heard.
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Starts Friday
A revitalized Rocky Mountain Audio Fest begins this Friday, October 6, in the completely renovated Denver Marriott Tech Center Hotel. The three-day show, which opens to the public at noon on Friday, promises 143 active exhibit rooms that will host 358 exhibitors from 27 countries and 36 states. In addition, the show's widely lauded Canjam will host an additional 64 exhibitors within its walls, and seven more large exhibits in the lobby.
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest: Bigger than Ever
Next weekend's Rocky">http://audiofest.net/2010/index.php?Sid=860cc0cc7b60fd7f9bd2725ff657784… Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) is bigger than ever. Scheduled to be held October 15–17 in the Denver Marriott Tech Center, the seventh annual show has expanded from last year's 145 display rooms to a record 174. Add in silent displays in hallways, and there were products in every price range from a good 400 companies (up from 350 in 2009). Now occupying six floors in the Marriott Tower (including the mezzanine) and two in the Atrium, the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest has well earned its reputation as the largest consumer-audio and home-entertainment show in the US since the demise of the Stereophile Shows.
RoHS Chills Electronics Companies
Removal of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), a directive">http://www.stereophile.com/images/newsletter/805Bstph.html">directive by the European Union (EU) that goes into effect on July 1, 2006, sounds like apple pie or motherhood—something that would be hard to argue against. And its expressed purpose of removing hazardous substances—lead and mercury, for example—from consumer products is assuredly a noble one.
Rooms of Magic
Audiogon/Videogon.com—the online resource for buying and selling high-end audio and video equipment—has joined forces with Primedia and the Elf Foundation for a charity auction, which will be held at the Home">http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">Home Entertainment 2003 Show in San Francisco, June 6–8, 2003.
Rooms of Magic
eBay and Primedia have announced an industry-wide onlinehttp://www.ebay.com/hes/">online; charity event, which will culminate during the Home">http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/">Home Entertainment 2002 Show (HE 2002), May 31–June 2, 2002. The charity event will bring the latest and greatest in home-theater and audio products to enthusiasts around the world, while benefiting The Elf Foundation, a charity created and supported by the consumer electronics industry.
Roon Debuts Version 1.6 Playback Software
Roon, one of the major brands of audiophile-quality high-resolution music playback software, has just released its v.1.6 upgrade. Roon 1.6 finally includes a portal for hi-rez streaming Qobuz, whose US launch is rumored for sometime next month. In addition to pairing Roon's rich metadata with the entire Qobuz and Tidal catalogs, the upgrade also offers major new features.