Spotify now available to PS3 and PS4 owners through PlayStation Music (eng)

Spotify now available to PS3 and PS4 owners through PlayStation Music 

   Spotify app is now available to download to your games console, or you can use one of Sony's Xperia devices to link your Spotify and PlayStation Network accounts.

   If you used to subscribe to Sony's now defunct Music Unlimited service, you can take advantage of a 60 day free trial of Spotify Premium. New and existing Spotify users can get one month free (as long as you've never had a free Spotify trial before).

   PlayStation Music will launch in 41 territories and will allow PlayStation Network's (PSN) 64 million users to link their accounts with Spotify - and have the option of signing up to a Premium subscription through the PSN wallet.

   Sony's Music Unlimited service will close on March 29th 2015, which Sony says is prior to the launch of PlayStation Music, could it be it will arrive on March 30th? We can't say for sure.

   Gamers who link their Spotify accounts will be able to access songs and playlists from within games, and use the music as a soundtrack. But this will only be available on the PS4 and not the PS3. Users will also be able to create collections and playlists, and access playlists curated by other Spotify users.

   Sony has confirmed that PlayStation Music will support both Premium and ad-free Spotify accounts, but hasn't said if subscriptions will stay at £9.99/month.

   Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said: "Music is a core component of the entertainment offering that consumers expect from Sony, and our goal with PlayStation Music is to provide the most compelling music experiences to the millions of PlayStation Network users around the world."

   Daniel Ek, CEO and founder of Spotify, added: "We are incredibly honoured to partner with Sony and PlayStation to give gamers around the world an amazing experience wherever they listen to music."

   Sony's Music Unlimited service launched in 2010. In 2012 Sony reported that it had just 1 million active users, despite being bundled with the PlayStation console and Xperia smartphones and tablets.

sursa: whathifi.com

ROTEL MAKES HIGH-END SURROUND SOUND INTERESTING AGAIN WITH NEW RSP-1582 (eng)

ROTEL MAKES HIGH-END SURROUND SOUND INTERESTING AGAIN WITH NEW RSP-1582

   ROTEL MAKES HIGH-END SURROUND SOUND INTERESTING AGAIN WITH NEW RSP-1582

   A friend of mine and I were discussing the state of the high-end audio market late last week, and we both agreed that, while there’s some seriously exciting stuff going on in the two-channel world, the high-end surround sound market is getting a bit stale. Many of the most highly lauded surround sound processors are approaching half a decade or more on the market. To keep up with the latest in connectivity and features, a number of home theater enthusiasts are simply buying high-end receivers and adding their own amplification. But not all is hopeless, I pointed out. After all, companies like Classé and Rotel are keeping things interesting and relevant. The latter’s upcoming RSP-1582 7.1 channel surround-sound preamplifier, for example, is practically everything you could hope for in a high-performance home theater processor, all wrapped in a gorgeous chassis with modern conveniences to boot.

   What sort of modern conveniences? For one thing, the front panel USB port is designed not only as an iOS device connector, but it also provides 5-volt, 2.1-amp charging, which is sufficient to charge even an iPad. It also features a built-in Bluetooth receiver with aptX Codec support, which is quite a step up from standard Bluetooth streaming audio, along with a back-panel USB input with support for digital audio up to 192kHz/24-bit.

   The RSP-1582 also features a staggering eight HDMI 2.0 inputs on the back and one up front with 4K video pass-through capabilities, along with two HDMI outputs, one of which supports Audio Return Channel and CEC. In terms of control capabilities, the processor is packed to the gills, with not only IP and RS-232 control ports, but also two IR ports and three source-independent triggers (for automatically turning on amplifiers and subwoofers and such when the RSP-1582 is powered on).

   In other words, the RSP-1582 boasts pretty much everything you’d need to integrate it into a smart home control system. It also gives the home tech specialist all the tools that he or she needs to tune the processor’s performance perfectly for your room, including a ten-channel Parametric EQ.

   Dig a little deeper, though, and that’s where things get really cool, in my opinion. The RSP-1582, for all its video, control, and connectivity features, was designed first and foremost as a high-performance audio beast. As such, it features not one or two or even four digital-to-analog converters, but a grand total of six Wolfson WM8740 DAC chips—one each for the front left, right, and center channels as well as one for the subwoofer, and a pair for the left and right rear and surround channels. There’s also a Texas Instruments Aureus TMS320DA808 DSP chip onboard for decoding of multi-channel soundtracks.

   Of course, if you’re listening to high-quality analog music via, say, your turntable (which the RSP-1582 features via its built-in phono stage), or you have a beloved audio player with an integrated DAC that you love, the RSP-1582 also of course supports pure analog bypass. In addition to the phono stage, analog inputs include auxiliary ins, XLR inputs, six RCA stereo analog inputs, and a 7.1-channel analog in. As for outputs, you have your choice between balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA, both with dual subwoofer outs.

   All that, and there’s even a handy seven-inch front panel TFT display to allow access to all of the setup menus and adjustments without the need to fire up your TV or projector.

   Best of all, the RSP-1582 will sell for just $3499 when it’s released this spring. (Current thinking has the release date falling somewhere in March or April.)

sursa: hdliving.com

   

  Serviciul de streaming audio de înaltă fidelitate Tidal este disponibil în România

   Amatorii de streaming audio din România nu au avut acces la serviciile celebre disponibile pe alte pieţe pentru o bună perioadă de timp, însă oferta locală cuprinde acum nume precum Google Music, Deezer sau Zonga şi poate fi considerată mulţumitoare. Calitatea audio oferită de acestea nu este însă întotdeauna satisfăcătoare, dar pretenţioşii cu sisteme audio de bună calitate şi urechi fine au acum la dispoziţie şi un serviciu de înalta fidelitate:  Tidal.

   O versiune reîmpachetată şi axată pe calitate a mai cunoscutului serviciu de streaming audio WiMP, Tidal a fost lansat în toamna anului trecut în Statele Unite, Canada, Regatul Unit, Irlanda, Finlanda, Olanda, Belgia, Luxemburg, Franţa, Elveţia, Austria, Ungaria şi Turcia. Între timp, firma fondatoare Aspiro AB a fost preluată de către Project Panther Bidco, compania faimosului cântăreţ şi producător Jay-Z, iar campania de extindere a disponibilităţii a ajuns acum şi în România.

   Principalul punct de atracţie al serviciului Tidal este, fără îndoială, fidelitatea ridicată a fluxurilor audio. În timp ce serviciile rivale se mulţumesc cu fluxuri MP3 sau AAC cu bitrate de cel mult 320 kbps, Tidal oferă muzică la o calitate AudioCD (44KHz/16bit) în format FLAC sau ALAC la o rată de eşantionare de 1411 kbps.

   Tidal oferă o bibliotecă de piese audio care conţine peste 25 de milioane de titluri şi peste 75.000 de video clipuri la rezoluţie HD, la care se adaugă conţinut întreţinut de jurnalişti şi experţi din domeniul muzical. Serviciul este disponibil pe platformele Android şi iOS, este compatibil cu o gamă largă de playere media şi este accesibil şi în orice browser pentru Windows sau OS X.

   Serviciul Tidal este accesibil doar în baza unui abonament lunar în valoarea de 9,99€, acesta neavând şi o versiune gratuită susţinută prin publicitate. 

sursa: go4it.ro