Chips, Recorders and Players

Once an exotic breed, professional-grade stand-alone CD burners with 24/96 capability are now commonplace. This Sony CDR-W33 is a typical example.

With 24/96 now the industry standard, forward-looking chip manufacturers such as AKM Semiconductor, Inc. (representatives pictured) are already rolling out next-generation 24-bit 192kHz DACs for emerging high-resolution requirements and formats.

While DVD-Audio had a distinctly low-key presence at AES, I did happen across this specimen of Pioneer's long-delayed (and still unreleased) ultra-high-end DV-AX10 "universal" player casually installed in Sonic Solutions' display of its audio mastering and DVD production systems. When I asked one of the booth personnel where they'd obtained it, he shrugged and said, "Oh, they've been out for a while. They're a couple of hundred bucksTry Circuit City." So I offered him $300 for their floor model, but unfortunately his boss ambled over and tacked on a more realistic zero at the end of the price tag, putting a kabosh on the negotiations.

Room Treatments

Controlling room acoustics is every bit as important as playback equipment in a monitoring environment. Room treatment products like these panels from RPG Diffusor Systems were installed in every serious equipment demo.