News

The leaves are turning once again in time with the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, CO which "features Mountains of Sound from the Affordable to the Absurd'". Next week, from Friday to Sunday, packs of audiophiles will descend on the Denver Marriott Tech Center in search of the affordable and the absurd? How about plain old fun.

Battery Studios is home to master mastering engineer and three-time Grammy winner Mark Wilder so it was with great pleasure to reply in the affirmative to Sony's invitation to hear about and hear their new Signature Series components. There are four products in the Signature line—MDR-Z1R headphones, NW-WM1Z and N!-WM1A Walkman players, and the TA-ZH1ES headphone amplifier—and we were treated to a listen and learn session which included presentations by Sony Acoustic Engineer Shunsuke Shiomi and Mark Wilder.

It took a while for this news to sink into someplace comfy and cozy but it finally has:

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/-- Leading home furnishings destination Crate and Barrel introduces The Listening Room, featuring exclusive furniture and accessories, cutting edge audio equipment and a curated collection of iconic vinyl recordings through the brand's new partnership with Capitol Records. Celebrating music as it was meant to be heard, The Listening Room is the perfect setting to enjoy the Capitol Records 75th Anniversary Collection, a limited release of 75 remastered vinyl recordings. The Listening Room collection will be offered in U.S. stores and online starting this September.

But if you want their CD-quality streaming service, Deezer Elite, you can only get it through Sonos (sigh). So what are we getting from Deezer? Another $9.99/mo. 320kbps lossy streaming service (there's no free tier for US customers).

According to Ben Sisario of The New York Times, Apple is not buying Tidal. Seeing as Sisario covers streaming, and more, for the Times, I'd imagine his highly-placed sources are, well, highly placed. Time will tell.