Signals

Sometimes the headlines write themselves. Nevertheless, I have a certain fondness for wireless waterproof speakers. I take them out in the back forty. When it starts to rain, I don't care.

The smart speaker revolution is raging. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is either showing smart speakers or else waving their hands and saying how soon theirs will be available. But there is already a mutant version rapidly emerging - the smart display.

IRIVER is hopping on the MQA bandwagon, starting with its Activo CT10 streaming player, with other models to join in later. Is this good evidence that MQA is turning the corner to become the defacto standard bearer of hi-res music?

Smart speakers are popping up left and right, wack-a-mole style, one virtually indistinguishable from another. But, some are very distinguished. Take, for example, JBL's Link View.

The Mytek Digital is now shipping the Clef. What, exactly, is the Clef? Oddly shaped, it is a digital-to-analog converter and headphone amplifier that lets you significantly up the quality of playback from your phone.

Claude Debussy composed some of the most sublime music ever written. Clair de Lune, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, La mer, Pelléas et Mélisande - all are impressionist masterpieces. The maestro may thus be surprised to learn that his name has become a brand of a start-up company incongruently named Funky Sound Studio.