Rafe Arnott

News
Apple iTunes is dead: Should Audiophiles Care?
Rafe Arnott  |  Jun 04, 2019  |  5 comments
With Monday’s formal announcement from Tim Cook at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote speech in San Jose that the company was knifing iTunes and slicing it into three separate applications, many users of the dated service breathed a sigh of relief.
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NewsT.H.E. Show 2019
T.H.E. Show Los Angeles 2019
Rafe Arnott  |  Jun 03, 2019  |  3 comments
Every time I head to Los Angeles I can’t help but think of the opening sequence to seminal science-fiction film Blade Runner.
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DAC Reviews
LampizatOr Pacific Balanced DAC review
Rafe Arnott  |  May 29, 2019  |  1 comments
The ability to present the 3D-image of a recorded vocalist like Frank Sinatra in a startlingly realistic spatial and timbral manner was one of many initial sonic impressions of the LampizatOr Pacific Balanced DAC that, like harshly-lit craters on the lunar surface when viewed at night from Earth, stood out in bold relief to me compared to other DACs I am familiar with.
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News
Naim Uniti Series gets AirPlay2 Support and Siri Voice Control
Rafe Arnott  |  May 24, 2019  |  0 comments
Yelling commands out loud to unseeing, but all-hearing computer software/hardware platforms just got easier for Naim Uniti owners after the company implemented AirPlay2 Support and Siri Voice Control on its entry-level line of wireless music systems.
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News
McIntosh Labs C49 Preamplifier Announced: Modular Digital jumps from Integrated Amp Line
Rafe Arnott  |  May 23, 2019  |  1 comments
With the latest news from McIntosh Labs seeming to be a nod to future-proofing, it turns out this company has been going back to the future since 2017. The newly announced Swiss Army knife of a preamplifier in the C49 ($5,000 USD) is using modular daughterboard tech first seen back in 2017 on the likes of the MA9000 two-channel integrated amplifier (among others).
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Headphone Amplifier/DAC Reviews
Naim DAC-V1 Review
Rafe Arnott  |  May 18, 2019  |  0 comments
Naim has been on the home audio scene since the early ’70s when Oxford born and self-taught designer Julian Vereker brought the NAP200 power amplifier to market after his disillusionment with then current pro-audio offerings.
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Munich 2019
dCS Mosaic: New Music Streaming Platform Launched at High End
Rafe Arnott  |  May 11, 2019  |  0 comments
dCS (Data Conversion Systems) is upping their interface game with the launch at Munich High End 2019 of their bespoke streaming-audio software application Mosiac which is available now as a firmware update for current dCS owners.
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Munich 2019
Munich High End 2019
Rafe Arnott  |  May 07, 2019  |  1 comments
The awe-inspiring high-fidelity lifestyle exposition that feels more like a world’s fair than anything as pedestrian as an audiophile trade show is back for its 38th year and it looks to be bigger than ever.
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Rafe Arnott
Is the CD Relevant in the Age of Streaming Music?
Rafe Arnott  |  May 06, 2019  |  21 comments
Who is still buying CDs anymore? Everybody knows that you either drop the needle into a vinyl groove or stream albums online via your laptop or smartphone.
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News
Vancouver Audio Festival 2019: McIntosh, AudioQuest and Focal
Rafe Arnott  |  May 04, 2019  |  4 comments
Fans of the big blue meters of McIntosh Labs were pleased down to their well-heeled, toe-tapping, polished wingtips during the Vancouver Audio Festival at Hi-Fi Centre as the the crew had curated three separate systems with the big American iron pushing their needles far over to the right in service to the music.
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