Hasta La Gadget!

Marantz will release a new 7.1ch AV amplifier model “NR1604″ in late May.

The amplifier has slim dimensions at 440 x 367 x 105 mm and has a discrete power amplifier rated output 50W × 7ch (8Ω), maximum output of 100W × 7ch (6Ω).

It supports DLNA, FLAC / WAV files up to 24bit/192kHz and Apple Lossless support up to 24bit/96kHz. Also available is “2 M-DAX” through which you can play compressed music files MP3, WMA, such as AAC. USB and smart device connection is possible through the front.

It also supports AirPlay to play music wirelessly through a PC or iPhone and Internet radio. M-XPort “RX101″ to connect Bluetooth receiver is sold separately.

There are a total of 7 HDMI inputs in the system, 1 in front, 6 in the back and it can also be scaled up to output 4K, and 4K video pass-through (3,840 × 2,160 dots).

Price: 84,000
Color: Black

Pioneer is releasing 2 audio amplifier models: VSA-1123 and VSA-823. Responding to the increased demand for 4K compliant products, these new audio amplifiers are compatible with 4K.

Regarding maximum output power, VSA-1123 is 180W/ch and VSA-823 is 160W/ch. VSA-1123 has 8 input/2 output HDMI terminals and VSA-823 has 6 input/1 output.

They are compatible with high-resolution audio types such as WAV, FLAC, AIDD and Apple Lossless, and feature Airplay, MHL and USB connections.

Through a dedicated application, the amplifiers can be controlled through iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

VSA-1123
Price: 88,000 yen
Size: 435 × 168 × 362.5mm
Weight: 9.8kg

VSA-823
Price: 56,000 yen
Size: 435 × 168 × 331.5mm
Weight: 8.6kg

Panasonic is releasing 2 new Blue-ray Disc players on April 30 – “DMP-BDT330″ and “DMP-BD79″.
“DMP-BDT330″ is compatible with Blue-ray 3D player and 4K upconversion. And by making either of its 2 HDMI output terminals sound output only, noise generated by video signal can be reduced and pure high-quality sound can be played. Also, this network/high resolution audio compliant Blue-ray disc player can play 192kHz/24bit audio file or compressed audio …

It seems that there still some room for Iriver’s DAP in Japan after all! Today the once extremely popular DAP (Mp3 Player) Korean manufacturer announced in Japan the Astell & Kern AK100 a luxury and High-end audiophile oriented DAP! Schedule to hit Japanese store October 27th the Astell & Kern AK100 comes by default with 32GB of internal memory as well as a a dual MicroSDHC port capable to expand the total amount of internal memory of the Astell & Kern AK100 up to …

Denon introduced today in Japan two new Compact Network Mini Component with iPhone and iPod Dock with the RCD-N8 and DRA-N5. Both models comes with WiFi, DLNA 1.5, an iPhone/iPod Dock, USB PlayBack with MP3/WMA/AAC/WAV/FLAC support, a Maximum output of 80Wx2ch at 4Ω and a 55W Power consumption and just 0.3W in standby. The difference between both models comes with the support of AM/FM, CD and 3 instead of 1 analog audio input that is only available on the RCD-N8.