Audio

When musical inspiration hits, it's vital to get it recorded before it disappears. Handheld recorders like Tascam's DR-07 MkII recorder and or Zoom's new H2n Handy Recorder are useful in this regard, but if you need a little more flexibility, something like a pocket-sized version of the BR800 portable recording studio could be the answer. Roland has announced that its BOSS MICRO BR multi-track digital recorder has now been updated. The MICRO BR BR-80 has twice the simultaneous playback tracks of its predecessor, a new effects processor and the ability to reduce the presence of vocal and lead guitar of pre-recorded audio to give players the chance to create their own. Read More

There is no doubt that Berlin is at the center of the European music industry, with over 700 music companies nestled amongst a city filled with museums, theaters, clubs and concert venues. What could be better fitting for such a creative hub than a hotel inspired by music? The nhow Berlin claims to be Europe's very first music hotel, complete with recording suites, music managers and hotel staff who also happen to be music college graduates. Read More

Since its launch in 2007, the Zoom H2 Handy recorder with its ability to record high quality digital audio has become popular for everything from recording personal memos and band demos to sticking in the faces of politicians. Zoom has now given its portable “studio on a stick” an update in the form of the H2n Handy Recorder that ups the number of microphones to five and, according to Zoom, is the first handheld recorder to offer Mid-Side recording. Read More

We've seen a number of unusual speakers before, such as the Whamodyne glass speakers or Solid Acoustics' dodecahedron speakers, but concrete speakers are definitely something new. It's definitely not a very popular material for audio systems, but Israeli designer Shmuel Linski would like to change that with his "Exposed" concrete speakers, each of which weighs 123 pounds (56 kg). They're just one part of his line of unusual creations, that include a concrete coffee maker and a concrete canoe. Read More

I think it's fair to say that many music loving mobile device users are left somewhat wanting when it comes to built-in speakers. Listening to audio either involves having to wear cumbersome earphones or sacrificing device usability to plonk it in a dedicated docking station. You can, of course, just dock your device in Soundfreaq's new Sound Step speaker and top up the battery while listening or you could keep your mobile device where it should be - in your hands. Thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, users can stream audio directly to the speaker while enjoying lots of multitasking action on the device itself. Read More

There are a lot of nice new electronic gizmos that you could buy for 1,000 euro, which currently equals out to about US$1,435. You could purchase the world’s smallest interchangeable-lens camera (the Pentax Q) and have change left over, you could buy six LaCie CloudBox hard drive/cloud storage devices, six HTC EVO 3D smartphones, or you could get yourself a pair of earbuds ... AKG’s K3003 reference class 3-way earphones, to be precise. Read More

Tablet owners looking for some quality sounds from their multi-touch mobile device may soon be able to get hold of covers containing new flat speaker solutions from HiWave Technologies. The SoundSleeve benefits from a pair of 2W audio exciters mounted on a lightweight honeycomb panel and is designed to be hidden behind the lid of a tablet computer sleeve. Read More

For the last few weeks, there has been a ripple of a rumor that Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) was about to release a new product, and now the company has come clean and revealed its new PM1 bookshelf speaker. Designed by Morten Warren's Native - the same people responsible for work on the iconic Zeppelin docks - the new mini-monitors have been veritably crammed with high-end audio technology including a newly designed tapering tweeter, new bass/midrange driver dampening technology, and a shake-resistant internal structure known as Matrix. Read More

Over the years, Creative has expanded its business into media players, headphones and webcams but is perhaps best regarded for its Sound Blaster computer audio products. The X-Fi audio processing chip was added to its PCI cards in 2005 and now the company has announced the new Sound Core3D multi-core sound and voice processor. The low-power, high performance chip will come in a HD audio configuration for computer products and an embedded format for consumer electronics. Read More