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HDMI 2.1 Bug – 4K/120Hz Failure As the video industry continues to strive for ever higher resolutions and faster frame rates an obstacle has hit several AV receiver models. Driven primarily by the gaming world, the new HDMI 2.1 standard supports features to include; 4K resolution at frame rates of […]

HDMI 2.1 Bug – 4K/120Hz Failure

November 3, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 4KP120 / 8KP60 / Denon / Fixed Rate Link / FRL / HDMI 2.1 / Marantz / Panasonic Solutions / Sound United / Yamaha by fromvinyltoplastic

Marantz AV7706 AV Pre-Amplifier- First Look (Image Credit: Marantz) On the heels of the release of both the Denon and earlier Marantz 8K AV receivers, Marantz has announced the release of this 8K surround AV pre-amplifier, the AV7706. This AV pre-amplifier features 11.2 channels of XLR and RCA pre-outs and […]

Marantz AV7706 AV Pre-Amplifier- First Look

October 25, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 8K / AV Preamplifier / AV7706 / First Look / Marantz by fromvinyltoplastic

Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins — Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins Sound United LLC, the parent company to Boston Acoustics, Classé, Denon/HEOS, Definitive Technology, Polk Audio and Marantz has just announced that it has finalized the acquisition of Bowers & Wilkins, a leading British-based designer and manufacturer of premium home speakers, […]

Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins

October 11, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Acquisition / Bowers & Wilkins / Sound United by fromvinyltoplastic

Denons 110th Anniversary Range — Denons 110th Anniversary Range Images Credit: Denon Denon is marking its 110th birthday with a quartet of special edition products that combined make up a complete audiophile home component system. Each of these new products are manufactured at the Denon factory in Shirakawa, Japan and undergo an extended quality assurance […]

Denons 110th Anniversary Range

September 24, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 110th Anniversary / AVR-A110 / DCD-A110 / Denon / DL-A110 / PMA-A110 by fromvinyltoplastic

JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance — JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance JVC will be rolling out a free firmware update to its native 4K and e-shift 8K projectors that is said to provide a major improvement to their HDR performance and ease of use. JVC’s Theater Optimizer technology, was originally released as a firmware upgrade […]

JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance

September 20, 2020 in Equipment / Firmware Updates / News tagged DILA / DLA / DLA-NX5 / DLA-NX7 / DLA-NX9 / DLA-RS1000 / DLA-RS2000 / DLA-RS3000 / Firmware Update / HDR / JVC / upgrade / Version 3.5 by fromvinyltoplastic

iFi iPhono 3 – First Look After your turntable system you need to focus on the cartridges phono amplifier. Why? It’s the front end to the information amplification system. If the arm, cartridge and phono amplifier don’t provide a pristine electronic replica of what was on that vinyl then nothing […]

iFi iPhono 3 – First Look

September 16, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Black Label / iFi / iPhono 3 / iPower X / Phono Pre-Amplifier by fromvinyltoplastic

EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp — EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp EMM Labs of Canada has released their new optical cartridge equalizer, the DS-EQ1 which is fully compatible with DS Audio optical cartridge range. Having auditioned the DS ES-1 optical cartridge, I am definitely an admirer of this cartridge technology. So it was with great interest […]

EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp

September 8, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged DS Audio / DS-EQ1 / Ed Meitner / EMM Labs by fromvinyltoplastic

Monoprice Tube Amplifiers - First Look — Monoprice Tube Amplifiers – First Look Introduction The tube amplifier has seen a resurgence in recent years due to the warm, pleasing sound that only a tube amplifier can offer. The Monoprice Pure Tube Amplifier, shown above, utilizes four EL84 tubes for the power output stage and three 6N3 tubes […]

Monoprice Tube Amplifiers – First Look

August 29, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Class AB / Hybrid Tube Amplifier / Low Cost / Monoprice / Pure Tube Stereo Amplifier / Tube power Amplifier / Valve by fromvinyltoplastic

Darbee 4K - PXLVision Coming Soon — Darbee 4K – PXLVision Coming Soon Introduction I was so skeptical when several years ago one of my readers sent me a message saying that; “his new Darbee Darblet provided a significant visual improvement to his HD image with little or no artifacts”. This I had to see to believe, […]

Darbee 4K – PXLVision Coming Soon

August 16, 2020 in Equipment / News tagged 4K / Darbee / Darblet / DVP5000S / DVPTM / Pixelgen Design / PXLVision by fromvinyltoplastic

Physical Media Takes Another Hit! — Physical Media Takes Another Hit! The Rumor Mill It is strongly rumored by Bill Hunt, the Editor in Chief of The Digital Bits that Disney is going to be restricting the release of their existing live action catalog and that of the recently purchased 20th Century Fox Film company, to 4K only […]

Physical Media Takes Another Hit!

August 12, 2020 in News / Plastic tagged 4K / Death of Physical Media / Disney+ / Physical Media / Streaming / Ultra HD / Walt Disney / Warner Media by fromvinyltoplastic

HANA Umami Red - MC Phono Cartridge — HANA Umami Red – MC Phono Cartridge All images credit: Excel Sound Corporation. HANA phono cartridges are manufactured by Japan’s Excel Sound Corporation. Since their introduction they have continued to attract a growing customer base, and deservedly so. (華) Hana, in Japanese means “Brilliant and Gorgeous”, a cartridge born from superb […]

HANA Umami Red – MC Phono Cartridge

August 4, 2020 in Audio / News tagged Hana / MC / Moving Coil Cartridge / Umami Red by fromvinyltoplastic

US Blu-ray Sales Decline In 2020 — US Blu-ray Sales Decline In 2020 Over the past years physical media sales have continued to decline as reported by me here and confirmed by The Digital Entertainment Group’s quarterly Home Entertainment Reports and Media Play news in-house home entertainment market research. For the last decade physical media sales, read […]

US Blu-ray Sales Decline In 2020

August 1, 2020 in News / Plastic tagged Blu-Ray / Disc Rentals / Netflix / News / Plastic / Sales Decline by fromvinyltoplastic

DS Audio Release Grand Master Optical Cartridge — DS Audio Grand Master Optical Cartridge (All Images Credit: DS Audio) Introduction When I decided to replace my Lentek Entre 1 I seriously considered DS Audio’s DS-E1 model, and auditioned it and the Hana SL and ML. The Hana SL, for me, was the better option but I still thought that the […]

DS Audio Grand Master Optical Cartridge

August 1, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged DS Audio / Grand Master / Optical Cartridge by fromvinyltoplastic

US Vinyl Album Sales Grow In 2020 — US Vinyl Album Sales Grow In 2020 Despite the Corona virus, and maybe because of it, the mid-year figures show an almost 10% increase in vinyl sales during the first half of 2020 as people hunker down and shelter in place. According to the new Nielsen Music/MRC Data midyear report, […]

US Vinyl Album Sales Grow In 2020

July 25, 2020 in News / Vinyl tagged 2020 / Vinyl Sales by fromvinyltoplastic

Marantz 8K SR-Series AV receivers - First Look — Marantz 8K SR-Series AV Receivers – First Look (Images Credit: Marantz) Hot on the heels of the Denon 8K receiver release we knew that Marantz would not be too far behind, especially as both compnaies share the same technical stable and are owned by […]

Marantz 8K SR-Series AV Receivers – First Look

July 25, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged First Look / Marantz / SR Series / SR5015 / SR6015 / SR7015 / SR8015 by fromvinyltoplastic