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After seven albums as one half of celebrated musical duo Air,Nicolas Godin has finally produced his first solo album,Contrepoint, which is available today. Contrepoint is described asa dazzling experience that conjoins Godin’s former habitual musical fusions with classical forms, taking the listener on multiple adventurous journeys, often within each song, with counterpoint just one of its many landmarks. It’s remarkably varied in tone and rhythm, splicing genres with a bold, punchy and yet sensual and sweeping feel, with a variety of enticing lyrical narratives, and a starry international cast of guests, such as French vocalist Gordon Tracks, Brazilian singerMarcelo Camelo, Italian author Alessandro Barrico, New Zealand guitarist Connan Mockasin and the choir from Macedonia’s F. A.

It's time to join the Podcast revolution with this DIY solution

Following the UK preview at The Bristol Show in February, AKG has officially unveiled its N5005 in-ear headphone. Priced at £800, the N-series flagship uses a single 9. 2mm dynamic driver and four balanced armatures to create a hybrid five-way driver system inside the high gloss black ceramic and scratch resistant ear pieces. Available now, each set has a unique serial number and comes with a carrying case and an interchangeable Bluetooth dongle for wire-free listening for up to 8 hours.

Abbey Road Studios will host a new series of public lectures from November entitled ‘Sleeve Notes: From Mono to Infinity,’ and presented by acclaimed and influential music producer and recording engineerAlan Parsons. Parsons – who is indelibly linked to Abbey Road for his work with Pink Floyd, The Beatles and his own music with The Alan Parsons Project – willchart the development of his own skills and experience as an engineer, producer and recording artist alongside the developments in music technology at Abbey Road that enabled the creative envelope to be continuously pushed, resulting in groundbreaking, inspirational and timeless recordings. He will share his first-hand experiences – both anecdotal and educational – of his time working with the artists who passed through the iconic studios’ doors. The talks will incorporate audio recordings, video footage, photos and vintage studio equipment used to create classic tracks.

There are times when the full benefit of a particular product cannot be totally realised until other changes and developments in seemingly unrelated areas have come to pass. In the case of active loudspeakers, the technical advantages have been known for some time in professional studio applications, but in terms of what that actually means for home audio fans constructing a system, any benefits have to be measured against the practicalities and upgrade path of a more traditional setup. In truth, you have to be completely on board with the active loudspeaker concept to go to the effort of constructing an audio system around it. The blurring of where source ends and amplifier begins has recently started to make the active speaker look like a much more enticing concept.

Six mid-price integrated amplifiers battle it out. Read the full article in Hi-Fi Choice issue 377, November2013. MAKE MODEL PRICE WEBSITE Arcam Creek NAD Pioneer Rotel Teac FMJ A19 Evolution 50A C 356BEE DAC A-70 RA-12 AI-1000 £650 £700 £700 £800 £600 £800 arcam. co.

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