Gizmodo: Audiophiles

iPod classic Firmware Update May Damage Headphones

Benny Goldman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:32:05 EST

Some iPod classic owners who installed the recently released 1.1 firmware are reporting that their iPods are sending electrical pulses through the headphone jack and docking port, even when the units are turned off. The pulses, estimated to be 500mv worth of DC, may be enough to damage equipment that is plugged in.

Elsewhere, audiophiles on the Head-Fi forums are complaining that the update brought "hiss" and "static" to the classic, and others say that the firmware froze their iPods or restored them inadvertently. (Note: We have not noticed any irregularities like this after extended use with our own updated classic.)

So what's the reason behind all this? Is El Jobso trying to control our minds with hypnotic pulses again? Make us switch to the iPhone? Per usual, Apple does not have any response to the matter. If a new firmware update comes soon, well, that's probably as good a confirmation as we're ever gonna get. [The Street]

Pear Cables Make It to Yahoo's Worst Tech Products of 2007 List

Charlie White — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST

While sifting through the umpteenth Tech Products of 2007 lists, we stumbled upon this Yahoo! Tech list that contains most of the usual suspects, except one of the entries interested us: Voted one of the 10 worst tech products of 2007 were Pear Audio "Anjou" speaker cables, those pieces of wire that cost $7,250 and that one reviewer inexplicably called "danceable." Yahoo referred to our report earlier this year that moved James Randi to offer $1 million to anyone who can tell the difference in a double-blind test between those cables and some run-of-the-mill Monster cables. Alas, while there was lots of talk and bluster, it turned out that Pear Cable wouldn't offer its cables for testing, and nobody was fool enough to spend the $7,250. Certainly not us. See Yahoo's list on the next page.

Yahoo's Worst Tech Products of 2007
1. Apple TV
2. iPod Battery Replacement Kit
3. Microsoft Surface
4. NBC Direct
5. Palm Foleo
6. Pear Audio "Anjou" speaker cable
7. Ringles
8. SunRocket VoIP
9. Windows Vista
10. Wireless USB

Take a look at the Yahoo site for all the details. [Yahoo Tech]

$55,000 Tube Amp Pumps Out a Serious 160W of Power

Adam Frucci — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:00:58 EST

What makes a tube amplifier worth $55,000? Nothing. But the NAT Audio Magna Amplifier sure tries to justify its ludicrous price tag, delivering 160W of pure, testosterone-piquing power. It uses three different tubes to achieve this, the 6N1P-EV, the 6N30P-DR and the Eimac 450TH. The whole thing weighs in at a hefty 88 pounds, and it's sure to get your music loud enough to make your neighbors want to move. [Product Page via BornRich]

Spock-Ear Plastic Surgery Mod is Not Logical

Charlie White — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:22:30 EDT

Ever thought of getting yourself a permanent pair of Star Trek Vulcan ears? A day trip to the plastic surgeon can get that done for you. This body modification is said to enhance the music listening experience, but then, you have to go around looking like Spock to enjoy that questionable benefit.

Done under local anesthesia, the plastic surgeon uses existing ear cartilage and skin to extend the top of the ear, and after three to four weeks, it's healed up enough for you to convincingly start telling people to live long and prosper. But what if your new ears make music sound worse? There's no word on how difficult it is to reverse the surgery. Maybe there's a way to test out the effect before you take the plunge. Hey, all the hepcats in New York are doing it, so it must be cool. [Plasmetic]

Linn Klimax DS Network Audio Streamer Welcomes Audiophiles to the 21st Century

Charlie White — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:45:00 EDT

Okay, audiophiles, the coast is clear. Now you can safely dive into the streaming network audio game with this strangely named and wildly overpriced Linn Klimax DS, billing itself as the "highest performance digital music player in the world." It's able to move those high-rez FLAC audio files from one place to another with excessive cleanliness, and if you ever have stoop to using lowly WAV files, it up-samples those to a less-embarrassing 384 or 352.8 kHz. Touchscreen-controlled, it doesn't include any hard disks; you must supply those yourself and still pay $20,000 for the privilege. [Linn, via bb Gadgets]

Outrageous Audio Equipment Gallery: For Audiophools Only

Charlie White — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:11:11 EDT

We asked readers for examples of outrageous audio equipment, and boy did we get a boatload of responses! Thanks to all our readers who sent in suggestions for our list of audiophile accoutrements. Dive into the gallery below for the grand exhibition of audio enhancements and tomfoolery, with gadgets and geegaws from the sublime to the absurd. Each entry has a caption with our own take on its worth or lack thereof, along with a URL so you can go buy it if you're gullible enough. Hold onto your wallets, because here we go.

Outrageous Audio Equipment: A Call for Examples

Charlie White — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT

We've been running into quite a few high-end audiophile devices lately, some of them outlandishly priced. Cases in point: those $7250 speaker wires from Pear Cable, or that $6,820 wooden volume control in the pic above. We're wondering how far this audiophile affinity goes, and would like for you to help us. What's the most outrageous audio product you've seen? Send us your nomination in the form of a URL to tips AT gizmodo.com, and we'll put together a gallery of all the most extreme entries. We're not necessarily making value judgments about whether any of these products actually make any difference or not, we just want to have a grand exhibition of the extravagant lengths to which audiophile products have extended. Have they gone overboard? Let's line them all up along with their prices, and then we'll let them speak for themselves.

Evolution Acoustics MMthree Speakers Stand Tall with Monster Specs

Charlie White — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:10:00 EDT

Just look at these monster speaker stacks from Evolution Acoustics, dubbed MMthree, standing 74" tall and weighing in at a floor-challenging 525 pounds. Powered by a self-contained 1000-watt amp, each of the two speakers in the set consists of a couple of 15-inch woofers, two 7-inch midrange drivers and a 5-inch aluminum ribbon tweeter. The setup gives you spectacular frequency range, from 10-40,000Hz. To roll out next week, these babies will run a cool $50,000, quite a price for music playback only a dog's ears could appreciate. But hey, we're loving that gorgeous, highly polished cabinet, adding a sexy sheen to the dizzying display of sound tech. We'll take two. [Evolution Acoustics, via Audio Junkies]

Pear Cable CEO Calls James Randi's $1 Million Offer a Hoax

Charlie White — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:26:28 EDT

Last week, magician and paranormal debunker James Randi (pictured above left) offered the makers of Pear speaker cables $1 million if they could prove in double-blind testing there was a difference between their $7,250 cables and ordinary Monster Cables. Now, Adam Blake (pictured above right), CEO and co-founder of Pear Cable, has called Randi's offer "a fake" and a "joke". We've contacted James Randi, asking if he'd like to get together with these Pear dudes for some double-blind testing. We've also contacted Adam Blake, asking if Pear planned to participate in Randi's double-blind test. After the jump, see the full text of Pear Cable's accusations that Randi's million-dollar offer is a hoax. We'll keep you posted if anyone responds.

Here's Pear Cable CEO Adam Blake's response received by Don, a member of the forum at DIY Mobile Audio:

Hello Don,
Nice to hear from you. Yes, by now we have heard about this challenge (although we were never contacted directly). Unfortunately, like most offers of $1 million this one is a hoax. While James Randi is claiming to offer a $1 million dollar prize to differentiate between these speaker cables, by reading the official rules of the challenge, it becomes immediately clear that the offer is not valid. One must be able to "demonstrate any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability" in order to qualify. Since there is a wealth of scientific information explaining the differences between speaker cables, the offer is not a valid one (and James Randi knows it).

While we publish a frequency response plot demonstrating the differences between cables on our own website here: http://www.pearcable.com/sub_product...cyresponse.htm, there are also independant measurements and data that can be found for example here: http://www.audiodesignline.com/howto...leID=201807390 In addition, the High School eductated James Randi who claims to have consulted unnamed experts on the matter makes unsubstantiated claims that our science is junk. Unfortunately true experts do not agree. For example, despite his claims that RFI is not a problem in speaker cables, according to publications by the Amateur Radio Relay League, RFI has been documented as a known problem that can exist in speaker cables.

In addition, according to the editor of Stereophile magazine John Atkinson, James Randi has completely fabricated the statements about Atkinson made in this "challenge". Furthermore, another audiophile who goes by the moniker "Wellfed" on the AudioAsylum forums, says he tried to take the challenge twice for what I consider a more dubious audio tweak (the GSIC chip), but was denied the opportunity and was lied to by the Randi Foundation. Finally, according to these forum posts: http://www.talkaboutaudio.com/group/...es/719041.html at least one person has tried to take the "challenge" previously to show that they could differentiate between loudspeaker cables and they were denied by Randi who said "Wire is not wire. I accept that".

So, at the end of the day we have claims made by a high school educated retired magician, which are refuted by independent studies and publications conducted by experts. Most importantly, James Randi's "challenge" is backed by nothing. Many audiophiles have already expressed interest in taking the challenge, but they are barred by the contest rules unless they are part of the media. And, in the past, Randi denied audiophiles the chance to take the "challenge" with regard to differentiating between speaker cables.

At Pear Cable we publish objective measurements to demonstrate the improved fidelity of our cables. In addition, we publish reviews and opinions that are based on both blind and non-blind testing. In fact, the comments made by Richard from the Bay Area Audiophile Society on the Comice Silver Interconnects were the result of a blind test he conducted.

We have not yet put together an official response to this joke of a "challenge", so we are not currently participating in the many conversations going on in audio forums as we speak. In any case, I hope you find the above to be informative.

Sincerely,

Adam Blake

Configure Your Own High-End MartinLogan Speakers, Then Digitally Fondle Them

Charlie White — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:15:00 EDT

We've been pretty tough on audiophiles lately with our harping on ripoff speaker cables, but there are some areas where spending more money on audio components can actually make an audible difference. Case in point are MartinLogan electrostatic speakers, decidedly high-end at a cool $11K a pair and up. Just released yesterday is the ability to configure your own MartinLogans on the company's website, choosing colors and finishes for every area of these mysterious-looking, gorgeous speakers. If they sound half as good as they look, this is going to be truly danceable. Too bad the site requires you to download the Viewpoint Media Player to see the manipulatable 3D models, but it's worth it just to virtually manhandle all that sumptuous speaker-flesh. [MartinLogan]

$7,250 Speaker Cables Turn You Into a Dancin' Fool

Charlie White — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EDT

If you thought Monster Cable was bad with its $80 HDMI cables, check out these Pear Anjou Speaker Cables, ringing up the cash register at an astonishing $7,250 for a couple of 12-footers. The most entertaining aspect of this sucker bait is the way the company got some gullible snob to gush about how he thinks he can actually hear a difference between these and the other presumably high-end wiring he's auditioned:

"... way better than anything I have heard...Simply put these are very danceable cables. Music playing through them results in the proverbial foot-tapping scene with the need or desire to get up and move. Great swing and pace—these cables smack that right on the nose big time."

Bullshit. Total bullshit. Danceable? Dance, fool, dance. [Pear Cable]

If you're the trusting type, you might not want to read this press release from Pear Cable:

"... simply way better than anything I have heard prior to their audition."
Editor of Positive Feedback Online, Dave Clark, Reviews the ANJOU Speaker Cables by Pear Cable

Newton, Mass. - September 21, 2007 - Pear Cable Corporation, a manufacturer of high fidelity audio cables for both home and car environments, continues to redefine the limits of what is possible in high-end audio cable design. The glowing review of Pear Cable's new ANJOU Speaker Cable, bolsters the argument for describing the cable as one of the world's best.

Dave Clark, Editor of audio review publication Positive Feedback Online describes the ANJOU performance as being "... way better than anything I have heard..." He goes on to say, "Simply put these are very danceable cables. Music playing through them results in the proverbial foot-tapping scene with the need or desire to get up and move. Great swing and pace—these cables smack that right on the nose big time."

The ANJOU Speaker Cable represents the introduction of a completely new hybrid cable geometry developed by Pear Cable. Drawing upon the best characteristics of several more common cable geometries, the resulting hybrid design minimizes the sonic impact of the cable.

Annica Kjellberg, President of Pear Cable said, "We are extremely pleased that the unique geometry we developed for this cable is getting the attention we think it deserves. The numbers say that it is better, but it is critical to validate numbers with the human ear. This review further solidifies the ANJOU Speaker Cable as a class leading design."

Dave Clark concluded his review by declaring the ANJOU's "Highly Recommended." To read the review in its entirety please visit: Positive Feedback Online.

An 8-foot pair of ANJOU Speaker Cables retails for $5,250
For more detailed information on the ANJOU speaker cable, please visit:
ANJOU Speaker Cables

About Pear Cable, Inc.
Pear Cable is a manufacturer of high fidelity audio cables for both home and car audio. Using custom designed manufacturing equipment and cutting edge scientific principles; Pear Cable brings quality products to the audio marketplace. For more information visit: Pear Cable Audio Cables

Spider-Man Speaker Pillow

Mark Wilson — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:40:32 EDT

Finally, pillows to match our pajamas. The $17.99 Spider-Man Speaker Pillow is a simple device. Requiring no batteries, a 3.5mm audio jack is all you need to have the sweet lullabies of Tobey Maguire sing you to sleep. Essentially a headphone speaker shoved in polyester and spandex, we're not real excited about the audio potential, but to those who may have forgotten—it's the official pillow of your favorite superhero. Just remember, if you are using the pillow in hopes of developing your own super powers, we'll make fun of you...but silently fear the day when you strike back.

[product via shinyshiny]

Future Wireless Headphones to Transmit Music Through Your Body

www.gizmodo.com — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:30:11 EST

Wireless headphones are great in theory, but in practice they tend to be bulky and not really worth the snipping of wires. The problem is that you need to cram a Bluetooth receiver into something that's supposed to comfortably rest on your ears, which isn't that easy to do.

Apparently Sony realizes this, so they're working on a technology to send music signals directly through your body. Because the signal is sent through a tinny electrostatic charge, they can only fit 48 kbps into the transmission without it becoming a painful experience. Somehow I think that some audiophiles would love to brag about being able to withstand the pain of transmission to get hott 320 kbps quality listening, but who knows if Sony will be up for marketing to the masochists. –Adam Frucci

Body-wired headphones [New Scientist]

Apple Lossless On the Way to iTunes?

Charlie White — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:22:49 EDT

Although some of us here at Gizmodo are near-deaf from spending way too much time in musical environments exceeding 130dB, we're still happy to hear the rumor that Apple will soon distribute tracks compressed in its Apple Lossless compression format on the iTunes Music Store.

Audiophiles rejoice, because those rumors just might be true. In a private release of iTunes Producer 1.4, the application used by record companies to compress music for submission to the iTunes music store, the software is newly capable of encoding music using the Apple Lossless format. This is a really good thing, because heck, even with our addled ears, we don't much like the sound of Apple's Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format. – Charlie White

Apple Lossless format coming to iTMS? [Apple Insider]

Ultrasone Edition 7 Luxury Headphones: High-End Sound and Style

Charlie White — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:10:56 EST

If you've ever heard Ultrasone headphones (in fact, we re wearing a pair right now), you know their S-Logic Surround Sound makes you jump back, wondering if you're actually experiencing a live music performance. Now Ultrasone has released its Edition 7 Luxury Headphones, a handmade version of these exquisite listening devices in a limited edition, with only 999 of them made.

These look like a significant improvement over our Ultrasone ProLine 750 stock models, where these Edition 7s have Ethiopian hair sheep leather replacing the pedestrian velour earcups of the 750s. The outside is better, too, where those earcups are polished to a shiny piano-like dark blue hue. Beyond their swanky looks, they're technically more advanced as well, with titanium-plated mylar drivers inside that aren t available in any other Ultrasone phones. In keeping with the ultra-fancy presentation, they arrive in a polished red cherry wooden box. Although you get stylin good looks and top sound, you'll pay top dollar for the privilege—they re $3105.

Product page [via The Red Ferret]

Specs and pricing on all Ultrasone headphones [Amazon]