Sonus Faber Aster: the first step out

The Aster is Sonus Faber's first loudspeaker that the brand says brings the signature "natural sound" to the street. The plastic housing with a black or white finish is IP65 compliant, meaning the Aster is dust and water-resistant enough to be hosed down without fear of consequences.

Aster takes its name from the Latin word for "star". "Per aspera ad astra" - "through adversity (thorns) to the stars" (Latin). The manufacturer believes that the "crystal sound of Aster will cheer you up outdoors." 

They tried to make the column simple and easy to install. The stand is easily attached to the surface with a set screw, and the bayonet mechanism allows you to tilt the case up and down in 15-degree increments. With a weight of 4.16 kg and an impedance of 8 (minimum - 6) ohms, Aster is ready to accept up to 100 watts of power in nominal mode.

Its sensitivity is 88 dB, here two passive radiators located oppositely located at the ends of the case played their role. They help the 5.81" woofer. At high frequencies, an inch dome tweeter comes into play. Both speakers are protected by a perforated grille. The novelty is already available for pre-order.

The Sonus Faber Aster outdoor speaker costs $450.

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 Creative Zen Air

Creative has listed its Zen Air ANC headphones as entry-level models. At the same time, the equipment of the novelty is quite on the level: active noise reduction is combined with Ambient mode, onboard Bluetooth 5 was supplemented with Super X-Fi proprietary technology (for a preliminary acquaintance with it, users can download the corresponding application).

Zen Air delivers full-range sound with 10mm neodymium drivers, while the recognizable headphone housings are IPX4 rated. A total of 4 microphones are responsible for telephony and ANC operation.

The Creative Zen Air Battery Case is compatible with Qi wireless chargers. The headphones themselves can provide up to 6 hours of playback on a single charge, and in the case, they can be charged three more times.

In the US, the Creative Zen Air TWS headphones were priced at $45.

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 Fast and Furious 10 movie poster revealed

it will be the first part of the finale of the story

Vin Diesel has revealed when to expect the trailer.

Vin Diesel has published the first poster of the upcoming action movie Fast and Furious 10. The film will be the first part of the big finale of the story of Dominic Toretto, played by Diesel.

Vin Diesel shared the photo on his Instagram. Diesel himself appeared in the photo, who returned to the role of Dominic. The hero holds a cross in his hands and seems to be praying. On the poster you can see the film's slogan: "The beginning of the end of the road . "

In a comment to the post, Diesel confirmed that the first Fast and Furious 10 trailer will be released on February 10th. The video will be shown just before the Super Bowl 2023, which will be held on the night of February 12-13. Promos and other high-profile novelties are expected at the Super Bowl.

The plot of Fast & Furious 10 has yet to be announced. However, it is known that the film will have a time jump. Brian Markos , played by Leo Abelo Perry, will appear in the film . It turns out that several years will pass after the events of Fast and the Furious 9. Brian is the son of Dominic and Elena Nieves (Elsa Pataky), who died in part 8 of the series. Dominic is raising the boy with his wife, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez).

Recall that Cypher (Charlize Theron), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Han Liu (Song Kang), Ramsay (Natalie Emmanuel), Tej Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) will return in Fast and Furious 10 ) and Magdalene Shaw (Helen Mirren). New additions to the cast include Jason Momoa, Brie Larson, Daniela Melshior and Alan Ritchson. At the same time, Momoa played the main villain who will cooperate with Cypher.

Fast & Furious 10 is directed by Louis Leterrier (The Transporter). Fast & Furious 11 will be the final installment in the series.

Fast & Furious 10 is slated for release May 19th.

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Sony Unveils Portable Players Walkman NW-A306 and NW-ZX707 Based on Android

Continuing the development of the Walkman brand, Sony introduced two audio players at once - the larger NW-ZX707 and the more compact NW-A306 . Both are running Android 12.

Model NW-ZX707 Walkman received a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280x720. The user has access to 47 GB of memory from the built-in 64, the rest is occupied by the system - and for music, you can use MicroSD cards, for which a slot is provided. There are no pre-installed applications for streaming - the user decides how to equip his device.

But it is equipped with an S-Master HX digital amplifier and support for native DSD. The operating time of the NW-ZX707 Walkman on a single charge exceeds 25 hours around the clock.

The Sony NW-A306 is even better with the battery - 36 hours without recharging. The display, although smaller, has the same resolution, and the memory is half as much, with only 18 GB available to the user, so a memory card becomes a necessity. Walkman NW-A306 will be available in two colors - black and blue, it will go on sale at the end of January.

Estimated price of the Sony NW-A306 Walkman in the US will be about $350. The NW-ZX707 Walkman model will cost around $790, but for now, at least outside of Japan, this player is not available and there is no information about its sales.

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UHD Blu-ray player brand Magnetar enters the European market

Empty after the departure of LG, Oppo, Sony, Pioneer, and Samsung, the niche of Blu-ray players continues to be gradually occupied by small firms. We already wrote about Reason in detail, and now another player under the Magnetar brand has appeared in the old world. She has only one model - Magnetar UDP800, which is made in China, and in Europe, it is distributed by the creator of Zappiti and Reason, Group Archisoft. This time, the French did not waste time on trifles and immediately brought in a player with flagship parameters: a heavy case, SACD support, improved power supply, and an improved analog part with balanced outputs for stereo sound. Which DAC is used in this case is not reported.

There are few published characteristics: there is not even a list of supported file formats, only support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Dolby Atmos, and DTS:X is mentioned. We managed to find out that the player also plays content over the network - SMB support comes from the very beginning.

However, its device speaks more eloquently than any characteristics about the capabilities of the player: it is built on the famous MediaTek MT8581 chipset, which at one time became the basis for Oppo, Pioneer and Reavon and others.

But whether it will match them in terms of playback quality is a big question, because the insides of the Magnetar UDP800 look more modest than those of the same Oppo UDP-205 or Pannde PD-6. At the same time, the price of the UDP800 is clearly not modest - 1,600 euros.

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'True wireless' TV to be shown at CES in Las Vegas

The idea of ​​wireless data transfer captured the minds of users and manufacturers so much that the newly formed startup Diplace decided to create a completely wireless TV. This is not about a TV that connects via Wi-Fi, but about a battery-powered device that can be taken out into the yard - more precisely, about four devices at once, from which you can make a video wall if you wish.

At the same time, the wall can turn out to be quite large, with a diagonal of 110 inches, because the wireless TVs themselves have a diagonal of 55 inches - these are OLED panels with 4K resolution, completely devoid of any connectors, interfaces, including ports for charging batteries. At the same time, they do not work on the principle of an ordinary tablet - the creators' idea is that the video signal will come to them from an external unit, which in turn is connected to an outlet, the Internet and, probably, to broadcast antennas, but this specification has not yet been fully determined.

This block processes all incoming video signals, for which it is equipped with an AMD processor, an Nvidia video card and is compatible with Wi-Fi 6. By the way, nothing is said about the filling of “TVs” - except that they will also support Wi-Fi 6. For them, Diplace has patented its own system of replaceable batteries, they will be charged in a separate unit, and the capacity of each, according to the creators, will be enough for about a month of daily use for 6 hours a day.

It is noteworthy that even these TVs will be controlled non-standard - a remote control is not provided for them. All control is carried out either by touch, through the screen, or by voice, or by gestures that are recognized through the camera (you can turn it off). In the latter case, the movements are very reminiscent of the classic swipe and swipe, as on smartphones and tablets. For example, a running video can simply be "flicked" from one "TV" to another.

There is not a word about the installation requirements and its type in the description. And about how far you can take TVs from the base unit - too. But they obviously won't be wearable. Each 55-inch rectangular-faced device will weigh around 8kg and be just under 3cm thick. No pricing or timeline is known for this creation, but sales are slated to begin in the US.

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Audio-Technica AT-LP2022 Anniversary Turntable

Round date - 60 years since its foundation - Audio-Technica celebrates on a grand scale. In addition to the fun portable Sound Burger turntable, the brand also introduced the top model for home systems - AT-LP2022.

According to the developers, this player will allow you to “plunge into the abyss of sound” and fit perfectly into modern interiors: it has a table made of 30 mm transparent acrylic, through which you can see all the stuffing. Acrylic not only looks interesting, but also absorbs parasitic vibrations well. The disc is also acrylic, but thinner - 16 mm. And the dust cover is acrylic.

The player has a passive drive, with electronic speed stabilization - 33.3 and 45 revolutions are supported. Straight 9" carbon tonearm with VTA adjustment and anti-skating. The AT-LP2022 comes with two cartridges: the AT-VM95E BK with an elliptical stylus and the limited edition AT-VMN95SH CL with a Shibata stylus and clear body.

On the back of the turntable is a plate with an engraved serial number: Audio-Technica will release 3,000 copies of the AT-LP2022 in total. And no built-in phono stages and Bluetooth.

The model will go on sale in December, in Japan it will cost 176,000 yen (about $1195.00).

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Audio Pro announces Link2 streamer hub

 The Swedish company Audio Pro calls its Link2 hub (before it was still available Link1 ) a “wireless multi-room WiFi player”. This compact (36 mm x 180 mm x 126 mm) device connects to an Ethernet network (wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are also included) and interacts with sources over the network. But you can also connect hard drives via USB.

Adding to this AirPlay2 and Google Cast (but not Roon) on the one hand, and on the other - analog inputs and outputs and digital outputs, Audio Pro engineers created a universal network audio device that acts as a digital hub in the system. Moreover, if you wish, you can even connect a forgotten cassette recorder to Link2. At the same time, the device understands all the current lossless audio options and provides Spotify and Tidal streaming.

The top panel contains touch buttons for controlling the Link2 system. Dedicated buttons are provided for individual signal sources. But there is no information about the filling.

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