Another week is in the books, and so here we have another installment of our weekly round-up. You can catch up to previous installments in the Headphoolia Archives…
Windows Store gets Spotify and iTunes
Microsoft is executing a powerplay with Windows this month. The launch of “Windows 10 S” gave new momentum to the Windows Store, and this week at the MS Build 2017 conference, Microsoft revealed that two of the most high profile music-related apps will soon become available through the Windows store, iTunes and Spotify.
On the other hand, Groove Music team members may be crying, perhaps sending out resumes to their old friends from the Zune and Xbox Music teams 🙂 Microsoft is not very musical it seems 🙂
Native Class 2 USB Audio Support in CREATORS UPDATE
It’s Microsoft month, and finally, Native Class 2 USB Audio Support is coming to those who upgrade to Windows 10 Creator’s Update. You can wait for it to update automatically (if you already have Windows 10), or you can manually do the update. A brief explainer of it all at Computer/Audiophile.
MP3 is not DEAD ~ too many CLICKBAIT headlines
You may have seen headlines flying around the net that mp3 is dead. The story even made it to the B-side of the latest tech news at Techmeme. But many of the headlines are clickbait with “mp3 is dead”. What is ending is the licensing of mp3 related patents and intellectual property because mp3 has been superseded by other options, such as AAC.
Your mp3 files are fine. You can still create mp3 files. You can still buy mp3 files. You can still play mp3 files 🙂
when audio drivers attack
And a PSA before we go on, select HP computers using a Conexant audio driver have a …keylogger running, and storing some of your keystrokes in a plain text file on the same computer. Lots of coverage on this and details how to check and fix it, you can find a lot of it nicely organized by Techmeme.
REVIEWS
+ Utopian measurements ~ Tyll there at InnerFidelity now has measured seven different FOCAL Utopia headphones. The saga is not over, but I won’t post SPOILERS here. It’s a good thing these are $4,000 headphones because if they were 1/10th the prices, there would be mass hysteria and massive returns/rebuys/retests in the various forums 🙂
+ Massdrop Nobel X Earphones measurements by Tyll at Innerfidelity
+ Schiit Valhalla 2 OTL video review by Aornic (18 minutes)
+ Phiaton MS100BA single balanced armature earphones at Innerfidelity by “joker”
+ Fiio AM2A amp module (for X7 DAP) by Headfonix
+ Beyerdynamic Byron BT earphones video by PORTA FI (9 minutes)
+ Blue Microphones Satellite bluetooth headphones at Android Central
+ 1More Triple Driver IEM hype train next stop, The Verge
+ ZMF Eikon a second opinion at Verum Sonus
+ MEE Pinnacle P1 earphone review by Carrot Reviews (text-only)
+ Meze 12 Classics in-ears by Headphone Guru
LEARNINGS
I forgot to mention this last week, but one of the recent “Home Theater Geeks” episodes had a feature on Immersive Hearing, a 67 minute video with an Ossic researcher talking binaural, HRTFs, ears, and more. You can also find it YouTube-embedded below…
Meanwhile at Stereophile, a new post chronicles their adventures in Sound Room building.
HEADPHONE EXPOS/MEETS
More posts have been posted since I covered the shows, this is the most interesting one I’ve found since, nicely done, a headphone-focused AXPONA 2017 show report by Headphone.GURU
STREAMING SERVICES
Pandora is looking for a buyer while Spotify is planning to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2017 or early 2018 according to CNBC [CAUTION: video auto play!].
There is definitely a squeeze in the various streaming services, especially now that many of them offer family plans. The family plan pricing makes it so people in the same household are much more likely to stick with the same service, making it harder for the new kids on the block to make inroads.