News

HDD digital music library from Japan

Building on the success of its original N1 series of NAS drives (we saw the N1A back in HFC 397), Melco has unveiled the three new models that makeup the MKII range. Like the N1A before them, the new N1ZS20/2, N1ZH60/2 and N1AH60/2 store and play a digital music library without the need for any other computer or IT devices. The flagship N1ZS20/2 (£7,700) has two new second-generation 1TB solid state drivers (SSD) mounted on what Melco describes as a massive non-magnetic anti-vibration platform. These are supported by a dedicated power supply with additional capacitorbanks using audiophile-grade components for the SSDs, ensuring purity right at the very start of the audio chain.

Meridian has unveiled its new DSP5200. 2 and DSP7200. 2 speakers with proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology. Both new models house not only smart processing, but also three 75W amplifiers with a claimed maximum output level of 116dB at 1m.

Fancy new closed-back cans

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has teamed up with legendary Oscar winner Martin Scorsese to tell the tale of a fictional record label in the seventies. The hour-long special is being produced and shown on US cable network HBO and has been named Vinyl. AsVarietyreports, the drama – which isritten by Terence Winter (who collaborated with Scorsese on The Wolf Of Wall Street and TV series Boardwalk Empire – features Bobby Cannavale as label boss Richie Finestra, who hasa knack for discovering talent, but faces a crisis when confronted with a life-changing decision. Vinyl is expected to appear on US screens in 2016, but as yet no details have been announced about who has picked up the UK rights to screen it.

Flip over the 1976 Pan edition of Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel The Man Who Fell To Earth, re-released to tie in with the film of the same name by Nicolas Roeg that featured the Thin White Duke in his first major movie, and you’ll find the following tantalising statements: music by David Bowie; album available on RCA. After scratching your head and attempting to recall the cover of the release, and before you head to Discogs to fill that hole in your record collection, the disappointing news is that it doesn’t exist – not as a legitimate release, and certainly not as was originally intended. “The Man Who Fell To Earth is a powerful love story; a cosmic mystery; a spectacular fantasy;a shocking, mind-stretching experience in sight, in space, in sex,” runs the deep-throated voiceover to the movie’s trailer. The casting of David Bowie – billed as “phenomenon of our time” and riding his first peak of US popularity – in his debut major motion picture was big news.

David Price listens in to thestandmounting speakerhitting all the right notes. Read the full article in Hi-Fi Choice issue 377, November2013. PRODUCT Mission SX2 ORIGIN UK/China TYPE standmount speaker WEIGHT 10kg FEATURES ● 25mm titanium dometweeter ●160mm metal/fibre cone mid/bass driver ● Claimedimpedance: 6-8ohms ● Claimed frequencyresponse: 58Hz- 40kHz DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 231 x 381 x 365mm DISTRIBUTOR IAG Group Ltd TELEPHONE 01480 447700 WEBSITE www. mission.