Seems like this is the year for the high-end manufacturers to catch up with the mass market consumer electronics manufacturers with support for HDMI switching and advanced audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Parasound, a strong player in the high-end audio arena, exhibited three upcoming home theater components at CEDIA Expo last week: the NewClassic HDR77 home theater receiver, NewClassic HDP70 surround sound preamp/processor, and the stylish HALO C 3 pre/pro.
Audiophiles of the world have been eagerly anticipating HDMI support in high-end processors since the fledgling HDMI audio/video format first started making its way into various source components and displays. And when HDMI-switching and multi-channel digital audio support made its way into A/V receivers from companies such as Pioneer, Sony, Yamaha and Onkyo, anticipation turned to frustration. Well be frustrated no more, dear audiophile reader as Parasound has become the latest manufacturer to announce products that will take full advantage of HDMI and all of the multi-channel audio goodness that it has to offer.
Each of the new products will support HDMI video switching and analog video transcoding and upconversion to full 1080p digital output over HDMI courtesy of an on-board Faroudja DCDi scaler. Also, each will include native decoding of the latest surround sound formats including multi-channel PCM, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio. For analog purists (you vinyl lovers), all of the new components include pure analog routing options so you can pass your analog source component through to your amplifiers without any digital audio processing. HDMI switching comes in the form of five inputs and one output, in the HDMI 1.3a flavor including support for DeepColor and vxYCC video (whenever content becomes available which takes advantage of these features).
And recognizing the fact that many audiophiles are actually storing their music (and in some cases, video) collections on iPods and other MP3 players, Parasound includes their "iPod Link" technology. iPod Link pulls video in component format from compatible iPod players and also accesses the iPod audio stream in its raw digital state - a feat that few manufacturers can equal. This means your lossless audio files stored on your iPod will stay lossless (and "perfect") all the way to the surround sound processor where they'll be converted to analog via very high quality D/A processors. iPod content navigation is all accomplished via Parasound's on-screen menu for maximum convenience.
The HDR77 high definition surround receiver features seven channels of on-board power rated as 140 Watts into 8 ohms and 250 Watts into 4 ohms, plus a powered second zone rated at 30 watts per channel into 8 ohms. If you configure the main zone output for 5.1-channels sintead of 7.1, then 140 Watts/channel becomes available for zone 2.
For those who prefer to keep their power isolated from their audio and video switching, the HDP70 preamp/processor features all of the switching and processing goodness of the receiver, but without any on-board amplification. This slims the preamp/processor down to a scant 3.5 inches high and allows it to be used with any external power amplifiers.
At the top end of the line we find the stylish silver-colored HALO C 3, which includes the same inputs, outputs and processing s the other two units, but adds two stereo balanced XLR inputs as well as eight channels of balanced XLR outputs.
Availability for the HDP70 and HDR77 is expected to be December, 2008 while the new Halo C 3 preamp is expected to ship in Q1, 2009. List pricing is currently pegged at:
More information: www.parasound.com
