Audio Note U.K. Belt-driven CD transports are in the works and reports are of significant improvements over the previous level 6 transport [we have the level 5 CDT-five transport, which is amazing…].
Some photos have been posted and we thought they were worth sharing here – because they show the immense lengths and out-of-the-box thinking that goes on at Audio Note [maybe this is why they sound better than what we have heard anywhere else – and cost more too :-)]
The ‘wood’ is panzerholz (which is bulletproof. You know, just in case. But seriously measurements and listening tests show that panzerholz ranks among the very best regarding its acoustical damping characteristics -see Google for more audiophile scuttlebutt). Called Permali at Audio Note because the former name is apparently trademarked.
The 100% digital (online) conference lives on. Although Neli tells me Ray Kimber (KimberKable) is setting up an exhibition this year – CES is certainly dead with respect to high-end audio in my opinion and what I want to get out of an audio show.
Munich – a real show for audiophiles – is scheduled for September next year as a show you-can-actually-attend – but Neli tells me there is talk that this may have to be put off again and delayed until 2022.
The Keynote speakers, below, for CES 2021 are sure – boring? I think that is too nice of a word… How about shockingly uninteresting?
I might sign up for grins – just to see what Ray’s booth looks like from my office… 🙂
LONDON (AP) — Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car — all without disturbing those around you.
That’s
the possibility presented by “sound beaming,” a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday it will debut a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones.
But this is a little discouraging…
The listening sensation is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The 3-D sound is so close it feels like it’s inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.
The ‘inside the head’ effect has always seemed to me to be quite ‘unreal’ and takes away from the enjoyment of headphones. The above technology, however, seems like it could put the holographic soundfield between the head and wherever we want the sound to be coming from – right?
I guess if there was wall of these transducers, we might conceivably be able to do something quite realistic…
From the Noveto Systems website [why do none of the major sites link to the source of the tech they are talking about? What a bunch of SEO cowards].
SoundBeaming works using ultrasonic waves and beamforming to place sound just outside the ears. The waves are generated using Noveto-developed proprietary DSP algorithms and pushed into the air via a custom-designed transducer array. From the inside it may look like a small speaker, but you won’t hear anything coming out.
The Israeli company ‘patented’ the tech, so we’ll see what happens with it, if anything [besides beaming ads directly into our head why we are out and about – scary thought. Hey, a dystopian world gives rise to dystopian thoughts].
