Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

So far, the quality of docks for iPod use had been varied. There are always the cheap, plastic ones with poor audio quality and lack of remote controls. There are also classier ones such as the Shanling MC-30, which retails at £500 (around $950). This month in the UK, high quality audio company Krell, will release a beast of an accessory, marketed as “The world’s best sounding iPod dock”, it sure looks it.

The KID, (Krell iPod Dock) was released in the US in December, but now coming out in the UK, it has been severely marked up. It retailed at £750 (around $1400) in the US, but now in the UK will cost £1,350 ($2,500). It is well suited to up-market audiophiles and also professional DJ’s and musicians. It doesn’t have built in speakers but is much like the amplifiers which control surround sound systems. It contains top-notch circuitry and will certainly be the talking-point of any living room.

Read [Gizmodo]

Monster Cable’s press event at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show had a few surprises.  Most notably, Noel Lee, Head Monster of Monster Cable / Power announced a new partnership with Dr. Dre on a set up high-end studio headphones, dubbed Beats by Dr. Dre.  The company was clearly ecstatic to be working with Dre, and mentioned that he wouldn’t allow them to release them until they were absolutely perfect.  According to the PR mumbo-jumbo, the headphones are “crystal clear”, but we’ll just have to see for ourselves.  Dr. Dre walked out on stage with Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine for the release of the new branded headphones.  If you’re wondering how Dre feels about the announcement, I think this quote from him sums it up best:

“When I’m making a track I’m trying to capture the sound that makes me go ‘now THAT’s the ####! And I want that reaction from everybody who hears it,” said Dr. Dre. “I spend a lot of time in the studio listening to my music through headphones...with Beats, people are finally going to hear it the way they should: the way I do.”

Check out more photos by heading over to our gallery below…

Check out the gallery: Monster and Dr. Dre team up on new studio headphones, meet 'Beats by Dr. Dre'

Earlier this week I posted on how to convert your vinyl to Mp3.  Here is another way to go, a bit more gadget-ty if you will.  This product combines both your vinyl album and iPod dock.

With this converter, you can record directly to the iPod or to your computer (and then presumably to your iPod).  Nifty.  Either way, your vinyls will live on in the ever increasingly digital world.

Shipping December 20th for $260.  Rock on.

Read [Josh Spear] Product Page[Hammacher Schlemmer]

Windows Vista Magazine apparently deals with more than telling (or trying to convince) everyone how cool Vista is, it provides a basic how to convert your vinyl records to Mp3 because toting around a turntable is so 1973, unless you are a DJ.

For the kids, lets get the “why” out of the way: folks love vinyl.  It is reach, deep and noisy; like wine vs. Busch Light.  There is a reason DJs use vinyl.

The post summarizes to:

1. Preamp Prep. Connect your turntable to your hi-fi by plugging the red and white cables into the ‘phono’ input on your amp. If your PC isn’t near your hi-fi , consider getting an external preamp; this is connected in the same way. Take care to get the left and right connections the correct way round.

2. Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Next, you’ll need a phono-to-headphone-jack adapter. These can be found cheaply in most hi-fi stores, or you may already own one if you connect your MP3 player to your hi-fi . Connect the red and white jacks to the ‘tape 1 out’ output of your preamp or amplifier.

3. Make the connection. Find the Line In socket on your PC – this may be the same as the microphone socket. It’ll be marked with a small logo showing an arrow entering two circles. Insert the headphone jack into this socket to complete the connection.

4. Line in. In Control Panel, open the Sound pane and click Recording. You’re looking for the Line In device; if it’s not present or ‘currently unavailable’, right-click the empty space and select Show Disabled Devices, then right-click on Line In and choose Enable and Set as Default Device.
5. The Levellers. Try playing a record; the volume meter to the right should light up. The level should be near the top of the meter, but not continuously lighting the top bar. Clicking Properties and the Levels tab will enable you to find the right input level. Now you’re all set for recording.

Get the whole story by hitting the link below.
Read [Windows Vista Magazine]

For $99 PC users can start to ‘catch up’ on what Mac users have enjoyed for years, the ability to easily record your own ‘stuff’ onto the computer.

The Session Music Producer combination includes:

• USB microphone


• Session - M-Audio’s version of GarageBand for the PC

Via [CrunchGear]

Here is a bowl that would make a great conversation piece at your next party. Its a bowl made from a real vinyl record, that can actually be used. Of course liquids and hot items will damage the bowl so maybe use it for some chips or pretzels. Just wash by hand and avoid heat and this should last (the label is protected by a mylar seal).

You get to choose from either the stepped (shown above) or smooth bowl and both are 12” in diameter and 3” deep. These records are made from un-played vinyl so unfortunately you will not be able to pick your favorite artist.

The bowls sell for $29.00 and are available at eco-artware.com.

Read [I4U News]

Read [Crave] Read [CrunchGear]

The DJ-1800 is a complete, full featured and self-contained professional DJ system.

No need for a mixer, CD players or record decks. No need to carry your music collection around in hefty boxes. All you need is a Mac, some amplification, and some music!

Music however is not included. The professional DJ music control software offers a multitude of features that allows any professional DJ to entertain their customers very much like any full featured tradional DJ equipments, if not better.

Among others, you have 4 professional-quality CD players emulated, 4-channel software mixer, support for multiple outputs and modes, including of course a song library management software to manage your large collection of songs.

If you are not convinced about the quality and value of the software offering, try it for free first before you make any decision. If support is your concern, worry no more. DJ-1800 website offers a lot of support information including FAQ, blog, as well as a support forum. You can even make a feature request if so desired. Unfortunately, Windows users will miss the boat with the DJ-1800 professional DJ software as it is only available for the Mac...at least for a foreseeable future.

For professional DJs on-the-move, the DJ-1800 solution sure rock.

Read [DJ-1800]

Product: Instant Music (RDX-150)
Price: $59.95 ($34.95 after mail-in and instant rebates)
Rating: Very Good 8.5/10
Pros: Easy to set up and use. Very light and relatively small.
Cons: No inline volume controls or dedicated headphone port.
Overall: A low-frills but good quality audio capture device. Great for collecting analog or digital audio from various electronics.

Many years ago, people recorded straight to LP. My father-in-law even has some reel-to-reel tapes lying around and I know I have a collection of cassettes cataloging some, like, totally ‘80s broadcasts. Of course, now things are a bit more high tech, with digital audio players, cameras and even phones grabbing and delivering MP3s to just about anything that can be plugged in. To help bridge the electronic evolutionary gap, all that old media - LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes, etc. - needs to get digital, baby. Most PCs and laptops may come with some type of audio input port, but they often can’t retain the quality of a professional mixer, cluttering the sound with an electronically induced hum or buzz. Professional audio capture devices, however, can cost hundreds of dollars or be a pain to setup.

ADS Tech’s Instant Music is relatively inexpensive, low frills and easy-to-use audio capture device that is plug-and-play, er, plug-and-listen ready to use with just about any computer.

Design – 7 - The Instant Music device is a small, simple white box with only two lights on the front: Power and S/PDIF Signal. It’s very light and a lot easier to lug around than a larger, professional mixer in a metal case or audio capture device. You might mistake it for an older dialup modem save the silver ADS Tech logo on the top. The IM connects and transfer music to a computer using a USB cable and is instantly recognized by Windows XP. It is also Mac compatible though mac users will need to download and use GarageBand instead of the Nero suite provided.

Features – 8 - On the back is set of stereo RCA (Left/Right) input and output ports, S/PDIF input and output ports and a single USB port. It is USB (2.0) powered, so no need to fuss with another power brick or outlet. It ships with a 6 ft. USB 2.0 cable, 6 ft. RCA audio (L/R) cable, 3.5 mm stereo-to-RCA adapter and Nero Audio Suite CD. With the provided Nero software suite (Nero Mix, Nero SoundTrax and Nero Wave Editor 2) you can save the audio as MP3, WAV, WMA and AAC (iPod) or convert directly to CD format for burning. The output ports (RCA and S/PDIF) are available for playing the PC through other devices and will not pass sounds directly from the input ports.

Performance – 9 - The audio quality is very good for the price. It allows 16-bit audio capturing with typical sampling rates: 8, 11, 16, 22.05, 32 and 44.1 KHz. Nero is a pretty straightforward interface for grabbing and saving audio. I did not hear any humming or buzzing often associated with digital audio capturing straight to a PC port.

Overall – 8.5 - Professional audio capture devices will cost at least twice as much as the Instant Music but might also offer a separate microphone output port for live monitoring and input/output volume controls. Since I occasionally record game reviews for on-air broadcast, I especially appreciate the box’s size, weight and durability. I hate dragging my more expensive mixing board around the house to plug into my game systems, TVs, DVD players and other electronics just to grab a few seconds of sound.

The manual’s crazy folds were more confusing than the actual installation of the Instant Music device. It literally took 3-5 minutes and didn’t require the Nero software to be installed to work. It should work equally well with other audio capture software, though the included Nero CD was pretty simple. Just remember to click the “Digital Monitoring” checkbox with each recording or you’ll not be able to hear the audio through the PC. Also, since there is not an inline volume (or gain) control, you’ll need to adjust it from the output source.

Even though ADS Tech promotes the IM as a way to capture LPs and cassettes, you can really use it with anything that makes noise and has RCA or S/PDIF outputs. I would recommend this for anyone who doesn’t already have more pricey professional devices or want to bother installing a specialized computer card. It’s perfect for capturing analog audio on older electronics, quickly moving between distant devices and, thanks to the S/PDIF ports not found on most audio/video capture units, inexpensive high-quality digital audio transfers to and from the PC.

Mix, scratch, juggle and sample with the newest DJ software to hit the streets your PC. Play audio and video files at the same time including: DVD, MP3, WMA, ACC, OGG, VOB, WMV, DIVX, MPG, WAV, AVI, Karaoke (CDG) files and more. Via a computer and headphones, a multi-channel ASIO sound card, external DJ mixer, a Numark USB mixer, or a combination of hardware, CUE can perform to it’s limits. It comes with a “Rhythm Window” (a.k.a. WAV visualizer to help you see the highs and lows in the tracks), sort by title, artist, or BPM, works with the Numark iCDX, has built-in effects, plug-ins, scratch and pitch bend with your mouse, samples, and loops.

Finally, if you think your hot sh!t, get wild and record or broadcast your mix to the world to judge directly from your PC.

Read [Numark] Trial [Numark]