HiWire

The Grassy Knoll – Electric Verdeland, Vol. 1

Is there any technical info on the new amps? Will they be released this year?

Tell the kids not to search for GIFs in iMessage: http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/15/12929890/imessage-hardcore-porn-gif-ios-10

St. Vincent – Marry Me

Punk + New Wave = Fun Blondie – The Platinum Collection

Their original self-titled album was basically a collection of hit singles... an incredibly accomplished debut. The following albums varied in quality (I'm not sure why so many people like Candy-O – it has a nice jacket cover), but their guitar/synth sound evolved into their penultimate pop album, Heartbeat City, which has a kind of era-defining quality. Nobody will ever accuse the Cars of having deep lyrics or pretentious concept albums like Pink Floyd (who I also like), but I enjoy their stripped-down approach to pop songs. I've always been fascinated by this transition period, when classic rock morphed into post-punk, corporate rock, New Wave, synthpop, hair metal, etc., partly because it was the music of my childhood. Albums like Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night or Bad Company's Desolation Angels hold a kind of morbid fascination over me. My next purchase from Mo-Fi will be the Pixies' Trompe Le Monde.

Pretty specious, right? Proof that I am a sucker for punishment – I also have the Cars' Panorama as a Japanese SHM-CD. The original release seems to be out of print.

The Cars – Shake It Up Mobile Fidelity has gone and released a few more of the Cars albums (The Cars (1978) and Heartbeat City) on SACD. I generally avoid re-purchasing albums I already have, but comparing the Audio Fidelity gold discs (and the Elektra HDCDs) against the Mo-Fi SACDs makes for an interesting audiophile experiment. That's what I tell myself, anyway. :o)

Apple is including Lightning port earpods (headphones) with the new iPhone and they are also including a Lightning-3.5mm jack adapter. It's still going to be a pain in the ass, though. I can foresee the elimination of the headphone jack in the rest of their products in the near future as well – a lot of money will be made on adapters and new Lightning headphone/mic products. I'm curious about the technical details of their wireless solution – no doubt they are charging 3rd parties to develop new products for wireless audio. Regarding Lightning – I wonder if they will formally step up to USB 3.0/3.1 speeds on this interface, if they're going to bank so heavily on it.

Well, they killed the headphone jack (an act of courage)... and nobody is surprised. That Beats acquisition makes a lot of sense in retrospect. It won't affect me for a while, since I'm going to be using the iPhone 5S for the next few years.

I found an interesting French review (with measurements) of the Audiocom-modded BDP-105D today: https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.hdfever.fr/2014/07/14/test-oppo-audiocom-105d-signature-et-reference/ Really wish we could audition these players...

Mark Ronson & the Business Intl – Record Collection Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!

Thanks for the recommendation – I'll see if I can try it out at my local dealer. I'd like to combine it with the JitterBug out of my laptop.

Has anybody tried the new AudioQuest DragonFly Red DAC? It has been getting good reviews and it seems to be the perfect form factor and price for me. I bet AudioQuest has been making a lot of money from this gadget in the last couple of years.

Germania by Simon Winder – hilariously entertaining informal history of Germany

That 60TB Seagate drive is a great marketing driver... I guess we'll see more of these mega-capacity SSDs from their competitors in the next few months (possibly before Seagate can actually launch theirs). No doubt they'll announce an NVMe version later on.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks, guys! It's been a great one so far. I picked up all the Roxy Music live albums: Viva!, Heart Still Beating, and Live (from their 2001 reunion tour). Also, I got American Gothic (the 1995 TV series) on DVD. It's a lot less eerie and a lot more unintentionally hilarious watching it in 2016 as an adult, but great entertainment nonetheless. Enjoy the summer!

Beat Market – Sun Machine

Yes, but they've always been at the high end of the price range:http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Blu-ray-Disc/Elite-Blu-ray-Disc-Players/BDP-88FD As Oppo prices have been increasing (along with their quality and feature set), they've encroached on the territory of high-end Japanese manufacturers like Pioneer, Marantz, Luxman, Esoteric, and Accuphase. Compared to the Oppo, their boxes look overbuilt and over-expensive, but they have SACD/DSD playback, while manufacturers like Wadia and Meridian have retreated from hi-res products (most likely due to lack of demand and a diminishing number of parts suppliers). The latest Rossini player from dCS, an SACD stalwart, is Redbook-only. Sony abandoned that arena a few years ago – the UHP-H1 looks like their first new attempt at a disc-based audiophile source, at a reasonable price. The Panasonic player mentioned in TechRadar's review is another competitor, but it lacks SACD playback and they think the Sony sounds better: http://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/televisions-home-entertainment/blu-ray-disc-players/dmp-ub900.html I'm curious about the rumored new Oppo 4K player, but I'm not sure if they're focused on improving audio quality as much as video quality this time. Some of the reviews I've read on the BDP-105D haven't been positive in comparison with high-end players – $1,299 would be a lot of money to spend on an underwhelming audio source, especially if its comparable to a $349 competitor. The Audiocom Signature (modified Oppo BDP-105D) got a great review in Hi-Fi+ magazine, but it is expensive and unavailable for audition here: http://www.audiocomav.co.uk/home-cinema/180-oppo-bdp-105d-audiocom-signature.html

Another good review for the UHP-H1: http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/audio-visual/blu-ray-players/sony-uhp-h1-1324022/review I'm pretty sure Sony had Oppo and Pioneer in their sights when they designed this thing. Still, I wish it had HDCD decoding. I think the Oppos are the only new HDCD players left – I've got enough HDCDs and SACDs to care.

Roxy Music – Viva!

New York Voices – Sing! Sing! Sing!

Absolutely, guys. I'm talking about future medical technology, not current surgical practices. Otherwise, this thing would be similar to a glorified hearing aid for music playback.