Tag Archives: Headphones

December Products: Ultra Loudspeakers, GAGA Tube Guitar Amp, & More

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The December 2012 issue of audioXpress features product information about a variety of must-have audio gear. Headphones, an amp, a mic, and more are detailed.

SVS Introduces New Ultra Series

SVS recently launched its Ultra series of full-range loudspeakers. The speakers are designed to deliver uncompromised audio performance, boast unsurpassed build quality, and cost-is-no-object performance at an affordable price.

SVS Ultra

The SVS Ultra series loudspeakers were designed by audio enthusiasts with more than 50 years combined experience in the high-end audio arena. The result is a loudspeaker that convincingly conveys the emotion of live music and home theater. The SVS Ultra series delivers a deep, detailed soundstage with incredible resolution, absolute transparency, and rich and articulated bass.

The lineup includes a 45″-tall upswept trapezoidal tower, a bookshelf speaker, a center channel, and a surround speaker. The result is a performance level even more expensive loudspeakers cannot match.

Every other speaker in the Ultra series has been designed to complement the Ultra Tower’s performance, with flush-mounted drivers to reduce diffraction and improve on-axis, high-frequency response, along with rear-mounted bass reflex ports (on the Tower, Bookshelf, and Center speakers) for phenomenal bass output and extension and minimal frequency response degradation.

New Tube Guitar Amp

Milbert Amplifiers introduces the GAGA D-30 tube guitar amplifier, the third in its line of Guitar Artists’s guitar amplifiers. Based on the revolutionary GAGA 90 and offering similar features and functions, the “domestic” model GAGA D-30 provides from 1 W up to 30 W of full-power audio output, is 11 lb total weight, and offers 120-V/240-V mains input.

Milbert GAGA D-30 tube guitar amplifier

The GAGA D-30 may be upgraded to either the domestic GAGA D-60 model, or to the international GAGA 90 model. The upgradeable nature of GAGA amplifiers extends its versatility.

Features common to GAGA amplifiers include: patented technologies; no traditional audio output transformer; light-weight, high-power capability; the ability to play more than 30 kinds of tubes in unlimited combinations, for tonal versatility; adjustable headroom for more distortion at low volumes (down to 1 W); Auto-Everything that auto-biases all tubes; Auto-Impedance and Blow-Proof universal speaker outputs; advanced, regulated power supplies; extended tube lifetimes and Auto-Standby; P3-Ready 9-V high-current phantom power for pedals and active pickups; upgradeability throughout the amplifier series; and it’s made in U.S.

Image ONE Series Gains Bluetooth Model & Product Upgrades

Klipsch now offers its new Image ONE Bluetooth and an upgraded Image ONE. Catering to on-ear enthusiasts, these headphones maintain the same high-quality sound signature and comfort while introducing enhancements in build, functionality, design, and performance. With the launch of these two Image ONE series models, Klipsch introduces upgraded, flat cabling (attached only to the left ear cup) for added durability and tangle resistance, and a flat-folding, collapsible design.

Klipsch Image ONE

The Image ONE Bluetooth serves as Klipsch’s first wireless headphone model. Given its utilization of Hi-Fi Bluetooth (A2DP) audio quality and aptX Codec for lossless streaming, users experience high-performance, uninterrupted listening. The Image ONE Bluetooth’s wireless capabilities are enabled via its built-in rechargeable battery, with wired connection still possible via the included direct-connect audio cable. Large, easily-accessible controls are located on the right ear cup for controlling playlists and phone calls.

Maintaining the same acoustics of the current model, the updated Image ONE provides listeners with flat earpads and an adjustable leather headband for optimal comfort and fit, still providing superior levels of noise isolation. Simplifying cable design, the headphone utilizes only one cable that feeds into the left ear cup. Because the headphone’s ear cups fold flat into the headphone, a smaller carrying case is provided for more compact storage. The same three-button remote and mic is housed on the cable for full call and music control with Apple devices.

 

 

November Products: Cush Headphones, Measurement Mics, & More

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The November 2012 issue of audioXpress features product information about a variety of interesting, well-designed audio gear. Headphones, an amp, a mic, and more are detailed.

Cush Headphones Offer Sound Quality, Comfort, & Style

KICKER recently unleashed its 39 years of high-performance audio knowledge to offer KICKER Cush headphones.

KICKER’s Cush (Source: KICKER)

Featuring an ultra-lightweight design and thick over-the-ear cushions, Cush headphones offer 54-mm speakers and a 118-dB maximum output to provide the legendary bass response and tonal accuracy for which KICKER is known.

The headphones feature a smooth, soft-touch finish in black gloss or white with monochromatic graphics for a subtle appearance. The breathable, perforated headband cushions the listener’s head.

Cush headphones utilize a 53”, Kevlar-reinforced, flat cable to provide freedom for movement while listening. The flat cable is smooth and less prone to tangles. The angled “L” plug connects into any iPod, iPhone, MP3 player, or KICKER docking system.

Barix Expands Audio Product Range

Barix markets its Annuncicom IP audio and SIP/VoIP devices around the world, bringing bidirectional audio streaming and control solutions to various markets within the commercial, entertainment, private sector, and residential worlds.

Barix’s Annuncicom 60 (Source: Barix)

Barix now offers two low-cost, reliable VoIP and IP Annuncicom audio devices that optimize features and functionality for universal applications.

The new Annuncicom 50 is built specifically for OEM applications. The device delivers Barix’s trademark reliability, open standards design, and multi-format audio capability at a low cost for OEM customers.

Barix also offers the Annuncicom 60, a universal, programmable, and ultra-compact device that offers reliable IP encoding and decoding. It is roughly 40% the size of existing Annuncicom devices, which are known for offering a compact footprint to systems integrators and end users.

The Annuncicom 60 is a single-zone paging interface device that can decode VoIP codecs as well as MP3, AACplus, and PCM audio. Its built-in speaker amplifier, balanced line output and microphone interfaces, serial and contact closure control interfaces, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support is unique to the market—delivering universal functionality at a competitive price.

Contact Barix for more information at www.barix.com or www.ip-audio.info.

Sennheiser Offers High-End Amp & Headphones

Sennheiser now offers an amplifier for dynamic headphones. The digital HDVD 800 has a fully symmetrical layout and sampling frequencies of up to 24 bit/192 kHz to ensure an unequalled listening experience. It also harmonizes perfectly with Sennheiser’s HD 800, HD 700, HD 650, and HD 600 high-end headphones.

Sennheiser’s HDVD 800 (Source: Sennheiser)

The HDVD 800’s features include its balanced sound image, maximum precision, and impressive spatiality. The high-end headphone amplifier has a fully symmetrical layout for operation with analog audio sources, ensuring symmetrical signal transmission from the source to the headphones. For use with digital sources, the amplifier is equipped with a high-quality Burr-Brown digital/analog converter that converts digital audio data into analog signals, enabling the HDVD 800 to transmit the entire frequency spectrum of high-end audio sources without any frequency loss.

A rotary gain switch at the rear of the unit provides simple adaptation of the amplifier output to the audio input voltage. This ensures that the dynamic range can be used to its full extent.

The HDVD was developed and designed in Germany, which is where the latest member of Sennheiser’s high-end series is also being manufactured.

Sennheiser also offers the IE 800 in-ear earphones, which the company describes as headphones with “the most innovations per square millimeter.”

Sennheiser’s IE 800 (Source: Sennheiser)

The IE 800 offers innovative technology providing brilliant trebles, precise bass response, and a detailed, lifelike sound image with a 5-to-46,500-Hz frequency response.

The IE 800’s interior conceals many small but effective innovations: the centerpiece is Sennheiser’s specially developed extra wide band (XWB) driver. With a 7-mm diameter, it is the smallest wide-band sound transducer available in dynamic headphones. Its functional principle guarantees distortion-free sound even at high-sound pressure levels. It also features a modern design and high-quality materials (e.g., scratch-resistant ceramic housing).

Pro V-Series Speakers Provide High Sonic Accuracy

Pro Audio Technology (PRO), a leader in professional-grade loudspeaker and digital amplifier technology, announced the new V-Series loudspeakers, designed to deliver the high-impact dynamics for which PRO is known, but at a more affordable price. Both new models, the SCRS-210v full-range loudspeaker and the LFC-12v subwoofer, feature 6” enclosures, placing high-output systems in small rooms.

The SCRS-210v loudspeaker (Source: Pro Audio Technology)

The SCRS-210v’s two 10″ woofers provide a high-sound pressure of 102 dB with 1 W of input and combined, can handle 300 W of continuous power. Offering even higher sensitivity, the 1” annular-diaphragm compression driver produces 110 dB/W and delivers detailed and extended highs. Striking a balance of power and accuracy, the SCRS-210v fills nearly any space with cinema-quality sound and concert-caliber music without industrial-grade pricing or space requirements.

For low-frequency support, the companion LFC-12v subwoofer features a high-output 12″ professional-grade woofer with a 4″ voice coil. With sensitivity rated at 96 dB driven with 1 W, and power handling up to 700 W, the LFC-12v has no problem with today’s high-quality recordings.

When paired with the PMA amplifier/processor, advanced digital EQ can be applied to compensate for speaker positions near boundaries or for the effects of placement behind viewing screens or fabric. The PRO V-Series loudspeakers and PMA amplifiers provide a level of sonic accuracy unparalleled at the price.

Acoustic Measurement Microphones

PCB Piezotronics, a leader in the design and manufacture of microphones, vibration, force, torque, load, strain, and pressure sensors, and the pioneer of ICP technology, now offers a 0.25” prepolarized microphone series to complement its line of acoustic products. Models 378C01 and 378C10 are microphone and pre-amplifier combinations designed to measure high frequencies and high amplitudes. The distinguishing features for this series are the microphone frequency capability, which can accurately measure up to 100 kHz, and the 165-dB amplitude range (i.e., 3% distortion limit).

PCB’s Model 378C01 free-field microphone (Source: PCB Piezotronics)

Model 378C01 is a free-field microphone and pre-amplifier suitable for automotive and aerospace noise source location and array applications. Other common applications include biological and medical acoustic analysis, machine monitoring and defect detection, gunshot analysis, cabin noise, and other applications (e.g., testing in anechoic chambers). Model 378C10 is a pressure response microphone typically used in noise absorption applications within impedance tubes or general noise testing in cavities or small enclosures.

PCB carries a full line of prepolarized condenser microphones and pre-amplifiers. The prepolarized designs can also be used with the same constant current source used for ICP accelerometers, minimizing set-up time. PCB also offers the traditional externally polarized microphones that operate from a 200-V power supply.