The world of streaming music is exploding.  Since the early days (well if you consider 2001 early) of Rhapsody and Pandora, which are still major players, the types and choices of streaming music services have expanded into a mind boggling array.  I’ve already reviewed Pandora, MOG, and Spotify in earlier blogs, so I thought it would be fun to dive in again and look at some of the new choices.  This blog covers RDIO, which hands down wins the award for “coolest, slickest, happiest feeling user interface”!  In some upcoming blogs I’ll cover Tunein Radio, Rhapsody, iHeart Radio, last.fm, Aupeo, Stitcher, and Slacker.  There are a few others out there, but they are not supported by our favorite way to play back streaming music, the incredible Sonos system, so we’ll just hold on them.  In a couple of months, I’ll give you a comparison chart to help you out in making a decision in which one or ones to go with.

For those of you who are new to streaming music, it is the best way on the planet to discover new music from your favorite artists, and find new ones.  It requires a device to get the music into your audio system.  Sonos is by far and away our current favorite choice for this.  The great news is, you can get started for as little as $349!  You just sign up with one of these services, control it with your computer or smart phone or iPad, and within minutes you will have millions of songs at your fingertips.

Most streaming services have moved to a monthly no contract fee system.  Most also now offer the ability to put some of their music on to your mobile device so you can listen when you do not have a connection to the internet, which is just great for travel.

So, let’s move on to RDIO.  Last night I got an email from a friend of mine asking if I had heard the new Dr. John album.  I thought, hmm, I have a couple of his albums, and I am in the middle of playing around with RDIO, so I’ll go check it out.  Lo and behold, I found Dr. John has 65 albums, three of which have come out in 2012 already!  I had every single album right in front of me with full cover art and album info with just one click.

The 65 Dr. John Albums at my fingertips! Pretty cool.

RDIO s user interface is their big advantage.  They have a Pandora like feature of playing artist radio, or if the artist has lots of content, you can just shuffle all of their songs.   With RDIO there are a ton of songs to choose from, currently at 15 million and counting!

The RDIO service is paid and has three levels; $5/month for streaming to your computer; $10/month if you want to use it with your Sonos and one mobile device; or they have two family plans that give you 2 or 3 multiple streams and 2 or 3 mobile devices for $18 and $23 per month.

Like many of the new streaming services, there is a Facebook connection so you can let your friends know what you are listening to or see their favorite music.

I am just having a ton of fun playing around with RDIO.  They have four pretty neat ways to find new music called, Heavy Rotation, Recent Activity, Top Charts, and New Releases.  The Heavy Rotation is really slick as it will get better the more you use RDIO.  This looks at what you have listened to and who you follow on the social side of RDIO and makes album suggestions based on this!  How slick is that!  Recent activity shows what your friends are doing, while Top Charts and New Releases are pretty self-explanatory.

As with most services, you find music and bring it over into your collection, but it’s got another great feature called history.  This pulls up everything recent you have explored so you can go back and find that great song you may have forgotten to drag over.

Finally, just like iTunes, you can create your own playlists.  iTunes could actually take a que or two from RDIO on the user interface side.  It is subtle, but I’ve not seen anything as fun to use as RDIO.

When it comes to exploring and reading, RDIO has copied the features of Spotify and taken it up a notch. This is probably the easiest (and most fun) way to find music.  Every artist has an overview which is very well written.  From there you can see all of their albums or songs AND you can sort them by most popular, name, or release date.  You can read a more in-depth biography or go to my favorite, related artists.  This is where they have outdone everyone.  Like Spotify you can click to go directly to related artists, but there is a whole separate page where you see all of the related artists categorized by similar, inspired by, or inspired.  There is a brief overview here of number of albums and songs, and with one click you are on that artist’s page.

A view of the easy navigation offered by RDIO

I’ve just had a blast playing around with RDIO.  So, how does it sound?  RDIO, from everything I can read has a variable bit rate, which reaches as high as 328kbs, but can go as low as 128kbs.  I did a couple of comparisons to Spotify and felt like RDIO was slightly compressing the audio to make the relative volume levels more equal, although this was pretty subtle.  There does appear to be some variability in songs on each service.  On some, the difference was almost undetectable, however on others, it was pretty easy to hear and Spotify was the winner.  A comparison to songs I have ripped from the actual CD’s shows they both pale in comparison as you would expect.

In summary, RDIO has the best interface I have seen for exploring and finding new music.  If you are a purist, like me, it’s a fun way to find CD’s you want to buy.  If you want something to provide background music, it sounds perfectly fine for this, and has tons of music to choose from.  Is it perfect?  Well if it offered uncompressed music (which no one does yet) yes it would be.  Also for some listeners, the way Pandora is set up may still be better.  In a future blog, I’ll cover what I feel are the pros and cons of each.

We always wished someone would design a subwoofer that was just made to go inside a cabinet.  It would need to vent out of the cabinet and use some kind of push/pull woofer configuration to minimize cabinet resonance.  Well, our friends at B&W have done just this! The ISW-3 uses dual drivers with a vented cabinet.  The cabinet is designed so it can be placed either vertically or horizontally.  The vent, which looks just like a floor HVAC register, can be painted to match your décor.

The separate amp, notice all of the controls are front and center!

The amplifier for the sub is a separate component, which has three advantages compared to placing a subwoofer in a cabinet.   First of all, we only have to get a speaker wire to the cabinet; there is no need for electrical power at the subwoofer.  Secondly, there is nothing in the cabinet that produces heat. Finally, it’s always been pretty inconvenient to adjust a subwoofer sitting in a cabinet with its controls located on the back. With the separate amp, all adjustments are right on the front of the amplifier!

The two different ways to place the ISW-3 inside a cabinet

Not only is the ISW-3 a great problem solver, it’s a pretty awesome subwoofer.  The cabinet is actually fairly large.  This combined with the dual 6” drivers equals really fast deep bass.  This is no one note boom-box, it’s a very serious musical subwoofer capable of subtle nuances of bass and shaking the walls with an action movie soundtrack.

If you have wanted great bass a room where you could just not fit a subwoofer, the ISW-3 may be the perfect fit for you.  The ISW-3 is $995.  The companion amp, which can drive two of these, is also $995.  B&W ISW-3 page

The world’s finest full-range electrostatic line source loudspeaker is on a limited tour of North America, coming to Audio Advice on Thursday, May 10th at our Charlotte area showplace: 11409 Carolina Place Parkway, Pineville, NC 28134 (just outside Carolina Place Mall).

The CLX Art is the culmination of everything MartinLogan has learned since pioneering electrostatic technology almost 30 years ago. Reading about the CLX Art is one thing, hearing the truth is another. And there’s nothing like the new CLX Art.

This is a special, limited engagement, with presentations May 10th beginning at 2 pm and ending at 8 pm.

Attendees may register to win a pair of MartinLogan’s new Motion LX16 bookshelf speakers. (You must attend to register, drawing will be held at the end of the event.)

Please RSVP as soon as possible by sending an email to event@audioadvice.com and giving us your name and the number of people in your party.

We hope to see you in Pineville on May 10th!

If you are familiar with PSB, you know its been led by Paul Barton for close to 40 years. Paul is a real scientist, using the facilities of the Canadian National Research Center. Over the past 40 years, his speaker designs have received more top value ratings than just about all other brands combined! He currently has 7 speakers in the recommended components list of a popular audio review journal.

The incredible PSB headphone

The headphone market has exploded in the US with the popularity of portable high quality music. There were actually more headphones sold in the US last year than speakers! Everyone close to PSB has been looking forward to these headphones for a long time. I heard a prototype a year ago and hoped we would get them before now, but Paul’s quest for perfection held them up a bit. Boy, was it worth it.

The M4U 2 headphone (I have no idea where this model number came from) is designed to be used at home or on the go. It is an over the ear design with a super soft cup that completely seals off your ear. It’s mounted with a gyroscopic system that lets it seal you off, but does so in an incredibly comfortable way. The part that rests against the top of your head feels like some kind of memory foam wrapped in soft leather. You get a spare pair of earpieces too, which is a nice touch.

They fold up in a protective case which makes traveling with them a breeze. Another neat feature is the detachable audio connecting cord. There is a connector on both the right and left earpieces so you can situate the cord on the side that best suites the environment you are in. I also like the way the left and right sides are very clearly marked.

They fold up nicely to go inside the travel case

The back of the left earpiece pops off to reveal a chamber for two AAA batteries. Yes, these headphones actually have three listening modes you can control with a small switch on the back of the right earpiece. The batteries are good for about 55 hours and they will give you an amber warning light in active mode to let you know you have about 3 hours left. Of course you can listen to them in passive mode with no need for batteries. The modes are passive, active, and noise cancelling.

Two cords are included with the M4U 2. One has a simple mute button on it, but is pretty interesting. This comes into play when you are in active noise cancelling mode. When you press and hold the mute button, it reduces the audio output by 30db, but amplifies the external environment so you can communicate with the flight attendant asking for your drink order without having to take off your headphones! I can attest this works great. The other cord includes the mute function and another button to control your smart phone or iPod. You can with one click answer a call, then return to your music, or use dual and triple clicks to skip forward and backwards.

The M4U 2 are pretty efficient as well. You can easily drive them with a portable music player. Finally, they come with two adapters: one to convert the mini plug to a full sized plug and one with dual mono mini plugs that fit into some airline seats where you need both for stereo.

Yes, I think Paul thought of everything!

You'll really enjoy the music with these great headphones

So, how do they sound/ Well, I knew when I heard the first track these were a winner. I got these on a Friday afternoon and listened to them for a couple of hours, then let them play for a while to fully break in. My two older kids came home for Easter Sunday before I had to head to the airport and I tossed the case over to my 20 year old son to try out. He pulled them out and said they looked kinda like the Beats headphones, which they do in a way. (Of course, there are only so many ways a headphone can look.) I asked him to try them out and plugged them into my iPad and let him click through a few tracks. When I finally pulled them off of his head, I asked him what he thought. He said they were fantastic, but this is the good part. I asked him how much he thought they cost. Now bear in mind, he has heard several headphones from $1500 and down in the past year of so that I have brought home to test out. He told me they had to be between $1500 and $2000 based on how good they sounded and how well they fit. When I told him they were only $399, the first thing out of his mouth was “Dad, my birthday is next week!”

The sound from the M4U 2 is just like PSB speakers. Very natural, non fatiguing and just flat out an incredible value. Paul spent a few years on the design of these and in the process made many models of the human ear to try and figure out how a headphone could best interface to a typical human ear canal. Being a Canadian company who can take advantage of the NRC does not hurt. This is a research facility Canadian companies can use. There are several acousticians there, and just tons of testing and modeling equipment.

When I usually test equipment out, I’ll play snippets from a lot of my favorite music and typically do not finish a song. Not the case with these! I always know I have a winner when I forget about the gear and get back into the music. I found myself listening to song after song on Saturday evening. I tried the M4U 2 on my iPad, iPhone, Mac Air and Peachtree amp/USB DAC. I did notice a significant difference in how the input impedance of the source effected the volume difference between active and passive modes. In active mode, a small amp inside the headphones is engaged. I felt on the portable devices I preferred the sound of active, but on the Peachtree I actually like passive a bit more. I tried engaging noise cancelling and noticed a small degradation in the audio quality. You would really only want to engage noise cancelling in a very noisy environment, where the cancelling out of all the external noise would far outweigh the slight audio degradation.

Timing was perfect though for a full test of these for both noise cancelling and long term use. I had to fly across the country for a business trip. I even had a very long flight delay on the second leg which allowed for even more testing time. Never did these feel uncomfortable on my head! But the real test occurred on the second leg of my flight. My seat was in the next to last row, in the aisle, which put me dead center between the two huge engines just outside either window on the S80 jet. Once we got airborne, it was so loud back there you pretty much had to shout to be heard. When I could finally bring out my approved electronic devices, I put these on, flipped to the noise cancelling mode and was amazed! The roar of the engines was reduced to a very soft background noise and the music just came through pure and clean. When I pressed mute to give my drink order to the flight attendant, I could hear him clearly, with very little plane noise. I tried several times during the flight switching to normal active and passive modes, and decided it was so loud where I was sitting, I would not be able to enjoy the music without the noise cancelling mode.

In conclusion, the new PSB headphones are a complete home run. They sound like they should sell for $1500 but are only $399. Plus most of the headphones that sound this good are not this easily portable and none of them have active noise cancelling. I feel like these are one of the best things to ever come out of PSB!  For more info, check out the PSB website headphone section.

New Area Codes for NC

Well, there is good news.  Any security system set up by Audio Advice does not need anything done to it for the new 919 dialing procedure!  Everyone in the Audio Advice security family can rest easy.

To learn more about our easy to use security and camera systems, check out our security web page.

Want a TV by the pool?  No problem with the new 46” SunBrite.  SunBrite has been around for a long time making indestructible outdoor TVs. Their new 4660HD sets a new price point for fully weatherproof TVs.  And when SunBrite says weatherproof, they mean it. We are talking an operating temperature range of 122f to –24F!  The TV is inside a special chassis that is impervious to rain, snow, dust, insects, humidity, and even salt air.  It is incredibly bright, so you get a good picture even during the day.  All of these characteristics have been the hallmark of SunBrite for many years.  What makes this new model unique is its price, $2995!  We’ve already installed several of these and are confident it will make the perfect addition to your outdoor grill area.

The new Sunbrite getting doused with water and working great!

Of course if you have a great TV, nothing compliments it more than a good sound system.  Audio Advice has a wide range of choices in outdoor speakers: from conventional looking speakers to speakers that look like rocks, planters or landscape lights.  There are a few new ones we think you should know about.

From rocks to planters, we can hide your sound outdoors!

PSB, our favorite value speaker line, has taken two of their highly rated indoor speakers and put them in an outdoor cabinet for a design that is already receiving rave reviews from the audio press.  These two new speakers are the CS1000 and CS500 at $550/pr and $400/pr.  The 1000 is a two way 6” design, while the 500 is a 5” two way.  Both sound very natural (as you would expect from Paul Barton), and about twice as good as they should for the cost.  Either of these are a great option to give you better audio on your patio, porch or deck.  Come check them out in our stores!

Check out the new PSB series of outdoor speakers

If you want something even simpler, another interesting option for outdoor sound is the Sonos S5.  The S5 is an all in one music player you can bring outside for your time on the porch or deck.  At $399 you can stream all of your iTunes music or services like Pandora, Spotify, etc. right to the unit and control it with your iPhone or Android phone!  The Sonos wireless music system is just super cool.

Sonos S5 adding some tunes to the patio

One of our favorite landscape speakers, James Loudspeakers, continues to be our favorite design for both high performance audio, and keeping with the look of a beautifully landscaped back yard.  James incorporates buried subwoofers and smaller satellites to fill your space with sound, while looking like landscape lights and appearing almost totally hidden.

The beauty of a hidden James outdoor landscape speaker system

Finally, if you want your back yard to sound like an outdoor amphitheater, nothing can touch the outdoor series from JBL Professional.  While these solutions are not tiny or invisible, they just flat rock!  Nothing fills an outdoor space like these can, which is one reason you can hear them at theme parks all over the world.  If you are really into your outdoor tunes, we would love to work with the team at JBL to design a system for you.

A pair of these coupled to their dual 10" subwoofer (not shown) will rock your landscape!

One issue with large, high ceiling rooms is the acoustics are not ideal for understanding the dialog in the movie or TV soundtrack.  It will usually take a very good center channel speaker to accomplish this.  The typical solution would have been to install a good center channel speaker under the TV and do left and rights on the bookcases.  However that would not work for good TV audio in the kitchen.

Sony TV and B&W Panorama Speaker

Enter the B&W Panorama and the skills of our Audio Advice install team, Karl and Tony.  The Panorama is an all in one home theater speaker using 9 drivers with individual amps for each one!  It has incredible bass performance for its compact size and does wonders with dialog.  As a matter of fact, I just replaced a very good all in one LCR speaker in my personal family room with one and am thrilled!  The Panorama also has several EQ settings which allow you to fine tune it to your room.  You learn more about the Panorama here in our Panorama blog done when it first hit the market.

Tony and Karl built a custom mount for the Panorama to attach it to a full articulating arm that allows both the beautiful new 55″ Sony TV and the Panorama speaker to swivel together towards the kitchen or family room.  As you can see from the details picture, their wiring job was top notch and super neat.  They were also able to get wiring from the base cabinet over to the TV without cutting any extra holes!  A Universal remote custom programmed is the icing on the cake making everything very simple to operate.

Great view of our custom mount and precision wiring job

It’s just another great example of how our team can make your home entertainment dreams come true.

Picture and Sound in the kitchen, no problem!

The first place choice is a new system from Lenbrook, parent company of PSB Speakers.  At our recent Music Matters event, I had the great pleasure of introducing this with Paul Barton, founder of PSB.  The VISO 1 is an all in one music player that can not only dock your iPod, but stream (uncompressed!) from any smart phone.  It even has video outs for your iPod.  I have to tell you, I have been doing audio demos for 35 years.  There is a look people get on their faces when they hear something amazing.  Over the course of 7 demos for packed rooms at our Music Matters, I have never seen as many people with that amazed look.  You just have to hear the VISO 1.  There is nothing like it by a mile.  Unbelievable sound for an all in one unit!  $699

The new VISO1 From Lenbrook

Another winner is the new desktop system from Magnepan.  It’s called the Mini Maggie system.  Our 2011 Music Matters also introduced this cool new desktop speaker system.  I think it is safe to say most of us spend a lot of time in our home office in front of a computer.  The Mini-Maggie system can make that time a whole lot more fun.  As a matter of fact, one can argue that with this setup you get state of the art sound on a budget.  The system consists of two small thin speakers (well, small by Magnepan standards!) and a flat panel subwoofer.  You’ll need to play around with subwoofer placement, but it can probably fit under or beside your desk.  Magnepans have always been known for their very musical, transparent sound.  One thing they have not been known for is knock you out of your seat dynamics. Just imagine a Magnepan system that could do both!  Since you sit right on top of this Mini Maggie, it has the power response to give you dynamics you would expect out of a super-efficient speaker.  You have to experience it as a desktop system, with your ears about 2 feet from the speakers. Couple this to a good amp and you can get the performance of an ultra-expensive system at your desk for only $1499!

The new Mini Maggie from Magnepan

Next on our list is B&W’s new C5 headphones.  The C5 has been our most popular product purchased by our staff this year, which has to tell you something.  To follow up their successful over the ear P5 headphone, B&W came up with a unique design: the in-ear C5.  First of all, they sound fantastic, just as you would expect from B&W.  They have unique loops you secure around your ears which holds them firmly in place. They have a filtered open back design which makes them sound more like much more like a real speaker while they are in-ear. They do this with a filter made up of hundreds of microscopic steel balls, quite an engineering feat!  Pick up a pair for yourself, or for that someone special on your gift list.  $179/pr

B&W C5 Headphones

The Sonos ZP-90 makes the list two years running!  Of all the things we sell, the Sonos ZP-90 gets the more letters from customers who are incredibly happy with their purchase than any other product.   If you have any kind of stereo system at all, you will love the ZP-90.  Just connect it like a CD player with its audio outs and you open up the world of Pandora, Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, and more, plus thousands of internet radio stations!  Plus, you’ll be able to hear and control any music on any computer in your house.  If you want to add more for other rooms, it’s a piece of cake.  You can control it with your smart phone or iPad. I guarantee if you get one of these, you’ll be having fun with music again.  $349 will be the best investment you ever made in getting back into the wonder of music!

ZP-90 Connect Ethernet, outputs are digital or analog and you even have an analog input if you get more of these

We round out our list with the Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player.  Oppo is a very focused company specializing in great value Blu-ray players.  They only have two models, the 93 and 95.  Oppo is primarily sold factory direct on their web site.  We convinced them to let us become a brick and mortar dealer early in 2011 and since then the Oppo has become the bestselling line of Blu-ray player to ever be on our shelves.  In this day of disposable DVD players, Oppo products are a stark contrast.  Most flat panel manufacturers have promotions during the year where they will typically “give away” their Blu-ray player with the purchase of a TV. Of course, they want this to cost them as little as possible. You can imagine the low quality level you get from most mainstream Blu-ray players.   The Oppo players are just the opposite, getting consistent reviews from all over the world on what an incredible value they are! We’ve also received nothing but positive customer comments on how much people love their Oppo players.  At $499, the BPD-93 gets you a player with wonderful picture and sound, a host of streaming features, and a unit that is a pleasure to use.    If you are in the market for a Blu-ray player, you cannot go wrong with either Oppo.

The Great Value Oppo BPD-93

Thanks for taking the time to read over our Holiday Gift Guide.  Our 60+ employees at Audio Advice thank you for your support over the years. We hope you and your families have a very safe and fulfilling holiday season!

We had a homeowner in Charlotte who wanted to have the largest possible screen above the living room fireplace in the condo he was moving into.  The big challenge for our team was the fact this was a ground floor condo with beautiful plaster walls that could not be repaired if any damage occurred.  Todd Smith designed the system and presented the solution to the homeowner who gave us the green light.  Ryan Meacham was able to become a super hero installer and somehow wiggled in between the two floors to get the wiring where we needed it for all of the components.

Dave Stephens, Chris Kieffer, and Craig Needleman also put forth an amazing effort during this install.  In ceiling speakers were used to keep the formal look of the room intact.  We were also not able to cut into the ceiling to hide a screen housing, so we chose the beautiful Cabaret screen from Stewart Filmscreen.  The classy black gloss housing looks great in the room and the 120″ screen (the largest the Cabaret comes in) fills the space nicely.  The new SIM2 Crystal 45 was chosen for it’s great picture and beautiful enclosure.  Everyone loved the final result!

Here we show the screen in the up position

Screen in the down position