The UK’s dCS has introduced the Debussy DAC. This $10,999 unit features standard AES3, dual AES, and S/PDIF inputs.The USB 2.0 input is on a B-type connector and will accept 24-bit signals at 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96kHz sampling rates. The Debussy is said to operate in asynchronous mode (not to be confused with asynchronous sample-rate conversion).
According to the company, “The digital volume control allows direct connection to a power amplifier, thus in most cases removing the need for a preamplifier. Maximum output can be either two or six volts to suit different amp/speaker combinations.” In addition, “Two filters are provided offering listeners the choice of linear phase with pre-ringing or non-linear phase without pre-ringing.” The Debussy will begin shipping in March.
Michael Corcoran, president of Paramount Consumer Products and Recreation Group, has announced an online movie merchandise store from Paramount Pictures.
The Paramount Pictures online movie merchandise store has gone live, boasting a large array of collectibles based on some of the studio’s most popular films, as well as an extensive selection of DVDs and Blu-rays. The site features goods based on movies including Paranormal Activity, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Mission: Impossible, Old School, Pretty in Pink, Grease, and The Godfather.
Read more: Paramount Pictures Launches Online Store with Film Merchandise, DVDs, and Blu-rays
The African Queen is one of the most requested movies that has been stuck in the vaults without a DVD release. On March 23, Paramount will not only release it in the DVD format, but in a feature-laden Blu-ray edition as well.
The movie has been fully restored from the original archive materials. Filmed in Technicolor, the restoration was assisted by the director of photography for the movie, the late Jack Cardiff. Both the Blu-ray and the DVD will include a new documentary, “Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen,” which will contain interviews with Martin Scorsese, Tony Huston, and Richard Schickel, plus never-before-released home movies and production memorabilia from Cardiff’s personal collection. A commemorative set will include, along with the Blu-ray or DVD movie, a CD featuring the Lux Radio Theater recording of The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Greer Garson. Dealers are now taking preorders.
Maine, USA-based Rockport Technologies will be releasing the Alya loudspeaker at the Mirage Hotel and Casino during CES 2010. The Alya is a compact two-way, floorstanding loudspeaker that features a 1” Rockport-modified Scan-Speak beryllium tweeter mated to Rockport’s newly designed, custom-long-throw 6.5” carbon-fiber sandwich-composite midrange/woofer.
The cabinet of the Alya is a constrained-mode-damped, stacked-layer HDF body with a compression-mounted, machined-aluminum front baffle. Andrew Payor of Rockport stated that the Alya is “. . . best suited for small to moderate spaces where the absolute highest performance is demanded.” The Alya will start shipping in February at a retail cost of $29,500 per pair.
YG Acoustics, makers of the $107,000-per-pair Anat Reference II loudspeaker that they claim in their marketing literature to "The best loudspeaker on Earth," has released its lowest-priced loudspeaker to date: the Carmel, which is priced at $18,000 USD per pair.
The Carmel is a two-way, all-aluminum floorstanding loudspeaker using aircraft-grade panels that the company builds entirely in its facility in Arvada, Colorado, USA. The drivers are from Scan-Speak of Denmark. According to the company's press release, the Carmel's cabinet includes “four-axis milling technology" and "precision CNC-ground and hardened enclosure panels." Like all YG speakers, the Carmel's crossover has been designed using the company's proprietary software that allows for the optimization of frequency response and phase, and has a machined waveguide that surrounds the tweeter that improves efficiency as well as power handling and optimizes dispersion.
The Carmel will make its debut at CES 2010 (January 7-10) in Las Vegas at the Venetian Convention Center, room Titian 2201B.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has announced the finalization and release of the Blu-ray 3DTM specification. The specification will enable the home-entertainment industry to release 3D on Blu-ray Disc.
BDA press releases state that the Blu-ray 3DTM spec insures that a high-quality Blu-ray picture will be delivered to any compatible 3D display, whether LCD, plasma, or other technology. “From a technological perspective, it is simply the best available platform for bringing 3D into the home,” stated Benn Carr, chairman of the BDA 3D Task Force. The discs produced for the system will have full 1080p resolution. The specification will also allow PS3 game consoles to play back Blu-ray 3D content in 3D.
Read more: Blu-ray Disc Association Announces Final 3D Specification
Canada's Gemme Audio will introduce the new G series of loudspeaker systems in 2010. According to company spokesman Robert Gaboury: “Each loudspeaker was developed over a two-year span. The G series is made of three models, and each model is available in Type S or Type R to suit the needs of audiophiles. All models share the same Peerless-sourced coated-paper woofer in Pressure Load Reflex enclosures. Type S variations feature a top-of-the-line Vifa, silk ring-radiator, while Type Rs are equipped with aluminum true-ribbon tweeters. Type R versions are aimed at mid- to farfield listening, while Type S versions are more suited to near- to midfield listening."
The company's press release further states: “Enclosures are CNC machined out of high-density fiberboard, with internal tenon and mortise bracing. Each model is available in a real piano-black, hand-polished finish or genuine hand-rubbed, bookmatched walnut veneer. Bandwidth ranges from 35Hz (G7), 40Hz (G5) and 45Hz (G3) up to over 28kHz for all models. Efficiency is conservatively rated at 86dB with a 2.83-volt input." The prices will start at $895 USD per pair (G3 Type S in walnut) when this line becomes available next year.
Denmark’s Gryphon Audio Designs has introduced the Gryphon Scorpio CD player. The Scorpio is Gryphon’s second player in the current line, with the first being the flagship Mikado Signature. It reportedly shares “many of the breakthrough technologies developed for that unit.” The Scorpio features asynchronous 32-bit/192kHz sample-rate conversion, an aluminium disc tray, a front-load design, and silvered mica capacitors.
According to Gryphon founder and CEO Flemming E. Rasmussen, “Adding a second compact disc-only source component to the Gryphon line-up at a time when other brands are making a big song and dance out of abandoning the CD player altogether is just another instance of Gryphon’s willingness to pursue our own path when we perceive it to be the most direct path to better music in the home.” The Gryphon Scorpio will retail for 6950 € (no USD price specified).