Pioneer said it's shipping the XDP-30R hi-res digital audio player and the SE-CH5BL hi-res earbuds. The $399 Bluetooth and Wi-Fi player, with a 2.4-inch capacitive touch screen, features two ESS Sabre ES9018C2M digital-to-analog converters and an ESS 9601K headphone amplifier, said the company. The player's 16 GB of internal storage is expandable to 528 GB via two microSD card slots. The $89 SE-CH5BL earbuds, with balanced audio output, support 5.6 MHz Direct Stream Digital playback and upsampling of compressed audio formats up to 192 kHz/32-bit, Pioneer said.

Onkyo announced its TX-8270 stereo receiver -- touting Play-Fi, Bluetooth, FireConnect and Chromecast built-in -- will be available later this month for $599. The 100-watts-per-channel receiver has a 384 kHz/32-bit digital-to-analog converter with processing optimized for hi-res audio including Direct Stream Digital 5.6 MHz/2.8 MHz and PCM formats up to 192 kHz/24-bit, said the company. It has a moving-magnet phono input, three line inputs, three digital audio inputs and line outputs for a second zone, it said. Users can stream music from a mobile device or PC using 5 GHz/2.4 GHz Wi-Fi supporting AirPlay and Spotify, and the receiver will be Chromecast built-in- and DTS Play-Fi-enabled via firmware upgrades later this year, Onkyo said. Available streaming services include Tidal, Pandora, Deezer and TuneIn.

Onkyo will ship two midrange network AV receivers in May with support for Chromecast built-in and DTS Play-Fi, Spotify Connect, AirPlay and Bluetooth on the streaming side and hi-res audio support going up to Direct Stream Digital 5.6 MHz/2.8 MHz and PCM 192 kHz/24-bit, the company said Tuesday. Pandora, Tidal, TuneIn, and Deezer are available via the Onkyo controller, said the company. The TX-NR676 ($649) and TX-NR575 ($549) integrate an AK4458 384 kHz/32-bit digital-to-analog converter, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding. Both units have Blackfire’s FireConnect multi-room audio technology, operating over 5 GHz/2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, that distributes network and connected analog audio sources to supported wireless speakers, such as the upcoming Onkyo NCP-302, it said. On the video side, both models support HDMI pass-through of HDR10 and Dolby Vision, the BT.2020 4K Standard and 4K/60 Hz video. Onkyo’s 2016 seven-, nine- and 11-channel audio products will be Dolby Vision-enabled via a firmware update later this year, said the company.

A Unamas Septet recording of A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe, to be released Friday on the Ottava label in Japan, will be the first Master Quality Authenticated recording on CD, said MQA in a Thursday announcement. The MQA-enabled CD could mark “a new era of hi-res audio,” said mastering engineer Mick Sawaguchi. MQA CD works the same way as an MQA digital file, said MQA: With a conventional CD player connected to an MQA-enabled device, the MQA CD will “unwrap’ to the original sample rate,” it said.

Music technology company MQA and Universal Music Group announced a multiyear agreement under which UMG will encode its catalog of master recordings in MQA, making the recordings available for the first time in hi-res audio streaming. MQA CEO Mike Jbara said the agreement with Universal is a step toward the company’s goal of moving “studio-quality sound” mainstream. Michael Nash, UMG executive vice president-digital strategy, said "the promise of Hi-Res Audio streaming is becoming a reality, with one service already in the market and several more committed to launching this year.” MQA, said to deliver master-quality audio in a file small enough to stream, launched on the Tidal streaming service earlier this year. MQA has agreements with the three major music labels -- Universal, Sony and Warner -- “and it is fair to assume that each of the deals is similar in matters related to the release of their music into the market,” Jbara emailed us, declining to provide details. The company has completed agreements with some services and is in discussion “with many more,” both local and global, said Jbara, leaving it up to partners to announce plans. Pandora -- slated to launch its Premium on-demand streaming service next month and cited at a hi-res audio news conference at CES (see 1701060031) for throwing support behind high-res streaming -- didn’t respond to questions.

Responding to growing demand for high-fidelity music playback from mobile devices, Cirrus Logic bowed the CS43130 MasterHiFi digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with built-in headphone amplifier, it announced Tuesday. A non-oversampling emulation mode is said to provide “warmth” associated with tube amplifiers for a natural sound said to be missing from contemporary products. The CS43130 uses 512 DACs per channel and an analog/digital filter array for reproduction of high-bandwidth, high-res digital audio sources to filter out noise and jitter, said Cirrus. “Smartphone OEMs worldwide are accelerating product development efforts to give consumers a better listening experience that takes advantage of the growing accessibility to high resolution streaming and downloadable music content,” said Carl Alberty, Cirrus Logic vice president-audio products. Total harmonic distortion plus noise measures -108 dB, dynamic range is given as 130 dB, and the DAC supports up to 32-bit, 384 kHz sample rates, including Direct Stream Digital up to DSD128, it said. Advanced hi-fi filters allow OEMs to tune their own signature sound, said the chipmaker.

The Digital Entertainment Group and the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, announced the producers and engineers participating in the Hi-Res Audio Pavilion at CES. On Thursday, Jan. 5: 11 a.m., Gavin Lurssen (mastering engineer for Miranda Lambert, Steven Tyler and Alison Krauss); 1 p.m.: Eric Boulanger, (mastering engineer for Green Day and Rufus Wainwright); 3 p.m., Mick Guzauski (mixer/recording engineer for Daft Punk and Jamiroquai); and 4 p.m., Al Schmitt (recording engineer for Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Diana Krall). On Friday, Jan. 6: 10 a.m., Bruce Botnick and Jac Holzman (recording engineer and producer for The Doors); noon, Dion "No. I.D." Wilson (producer for Kanye West and Jay Z); 2 p.m., Vic Anesini (mastering engineer for Simon & Garfunkel, Harry Nilsson and Elvis Presley); 4 p.m., Schmitt. On Saturday: 11 a.m., Justin Smith (mastering engineer for Otis Redding, Gordon Lightfoot and Linda Ronstadt); 1 p.m., Steve Berkowitz (producer for Miles Davis, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen). The Hi-Res Audio Pavilion, in booth 14546 of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall, will feature a fully equipped recording facility with demonstrations.

Marantz bowed the Premium 10 series, calling it its most advanced audio combination. The series comprises the SA-10 ($6,999) Super Audio CD/CD player/digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and PM-10 amplifier ($7,999), with both models due in January. The SA-10, which replaces the SA-7 as the company’s reference disc player, uses Marantz Musical Mastering, a two-stage process that replaces a conventional DAC, the company said. Rather than down-converting ultra-high-resolution files to work with a conventional DAC, the SA-10 upconverts all music to DSD 256, it said. Two dedicated master clocks ensure all digital signals are upsampled directly to DSD 256 -- or four times the SACD standard -- without need for sample rate conversion, said the company. The SACD-M3 disc drive, built for Marantz players, plays CDs, SACDs and hi-res audio files stored on CD or recordable DVD media.

Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music will sponsor a Hi-Res Audio pavilion at CES, said a Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) announcement. The 50-by-40-foot booth in the Central Hall (#14546) of the Las Vegas Convention Center will highlight benefits of studio-quality music and demonstrate user experiences from premium streaming services, DEG said. Hardware companies demonstrating their hi-res audio products include Astell&Kern, AudioQuest, Autonomic, Bluesound, dCS, DTS, Elac, Mytek, Onkyo, Samsung, Sony and Westone. The companies were selected because they were “most enthusiastic and quickest to respond,” said DEG Senior Director Marc Finer, who said space is limited. The booth's centerpiece is a replica of a “world-class” recording facility that will feature live demo sessions with award-winning engineers sponsored by The Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing, said DEG. The pavilion is also supported by the American Association of Independent Music, the Japan Audio Society, MQA, the Recording Industry Association of America and CTA. Additional details will follow, including information on a “new streaming tier” to be announced Jan. 5, said Finer.

MQA joined the Digital Entertainment Group to “support the expansion of high-resolution audio as a standard component of consumer entertainment,” the London-based company said in a Thursday announcement. MQA is “excited to be collaborating on a variety of initiatives with fellow DEG members in the future, including cross-promotions and key industry events,” said CEO Mike Jbara in a statement.