Audio Video News

GoldenEar Technology will demonstrate its flagship Triton One tower speaker at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF), the company announced. The showing marks the first time GoldenEar has exhibited at RMAF, which begins Friday, October 10 at the Marriott Tech Center in Denver, CO and runs through Sunday, October 12.

A showcase of GoldenEar’s most advanced technologies, the $5,000-a-pair Triton One is a Sound&Vision 2014 Top Pick, which received accolades for its remarkably open and balanced sound quality and performance-price ratio.

Demonstrations will be ongoing in Room 8021.

High-resolution audio is getting a big industry push, but until now the category has labored without a definition. The Digital Entertainment Group, the Consumer Electronics Association, and The Recording Academy have teamed up to offer one. They define what they call Master Quality Recording in four ways: MQ-P audio comes from a PCM source with minimum 48/20 resolution, but “typically” is 96/24 or 192/24 in today’s download services. MQ-A is from an analog source, and high-quality analog can still be deemed high-res. MQ-C grandfathers in CD-quality 44.1/16 audio. And MQ-D refers to DSD sources. Taken together, these categories define high-res audio somewhat broadly. Even so, they may give the informed consumer a better idea of what he’s buying (for those of us who still buy music).

Pioneer has announced that a free firmware update enabling Dolby Atmos surround sound on three Elite SC receivers is now available for download at pioneerelectronics.com. The update applies to the SC-85 ($1,600), SC-87 ($2,000), and SC-89 ($3,000) 9.2-channel AV receivers.

Consider the humble headphone jack. Whether it welcomes a big quarter-inch plug or a mini-plug, it is the nearly universal analog interface for headphones great and small. Apple is trying to change that with an addition to its Made for iPhone spec. Apple-friendly headphones will use the company’s new Lightning connector to receive 48-kilohertz digital stereo input, or 48-kHz mono for headphones with integrated mikes. Lightning headphones dubbed Standard will include a DAC, while those dubbed Advanced will add DSP and features such as active noise cancellation.

Extra Long Version of Popular 3D Array Soundbar Made for Screens 65 Inches and Up

GoldenEar Technology announced that the new SuperCinema 3D Array XL soundbar will be available in early October at a suggested retail price of $1,599. The XL is a larger version of the SuperCinema 3D Array soundbar—an S&V Top Pick in 2012—intended for TVs with screens sizes 65 inches and up.

Samsung today unveiled the Ryder Cup TV App, which provides a new way for golf lovers to interact with this year’s Ryder Cup at home or on-the-go. Developed in collaboration with Turner Sports and the PGA of America, the app provides live scores, access to behind-the-scenes video footage, and “virtual hole flyovers” with details about course.

While all the Apple Kool-Aid drinkers could talk about last week was the new iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, an interesting tidbit of news was mostly overlooked, but we feel it’s rather exciting. (Is it just me, or is it really hard to get all that thrilled about yet another iPhone launch?) Along with a sleek new interface for the set-top box, Apple TV has added Beats Music streaming.