The new Xandra MP (Multi Player) by Holfi is battery powered and plays not only CD but also SA-CD and DVD-Video with multi-channel audio support. Holfi has chosen to use an old fashioned linear power supply backed up with battery power instead of a switch mode power supply in order to reduce noise by 30 times, according to them. Like other Holfi products the analog section is a single ended / non feedback design, and a unique Holfi feature, called Virtual Center Speaker (VCS) allows you to play full surround sound without the use of a center speaker.

The player includes stereo, 5.1 surround and coaxial digital audio outputs as well as Scart, S-VHS and RCA (CVBS) video outputs. The frequency range is from 1Hz to 50kHz with a low 0.008% THD. Dimensions are 45.5x 8x 33cm and the unit weights 9 kg. Price is €4,500.

There is no information yet about the new Vincent CD-S8 player, but a picture. I assume this "Symmetrically constructed HDCD player" is a refreshed model of the CD-S6 hybrid HDCD player which could handle both CD & HDCD. The picture shows "Tube Compact Disc Player" printed on the front panel, so like the CD-S6, the CD-S8 could have a true class-A output stage with valve amplification.

There is also a radio tuner in the PremiumLINE series, the STU-8 tube AM/FM radio tuner with RDS.

Stay tuned for more informations on these new products.

EDIT: More infos at Your-hifi.de. Release date: September. Price: €1,800.

The new Yahama's CD-S1000 SACD player and A-S1000 stereo amplifier inherit the sound quality and design of the 2000 series. Both new models are cheaper, £799 for the CD-S1000 and £899 for the A-S1000.

The Super Audio CD player is equipped like the CD-S2000 model, but without balanced output circuitry. It has differential D/A converters for high conversion precision with low noise, silent loader and high precision CD drive, four-part power supply with independent structure and separate analogue/digital sections. The CD-S1000 boasts an impressive 113dB signal-to-noise ratio and a harmonic distortion as low as 0.002%.

First introduced in the A-S2000, the floating balanced power amp section with a high quality preamp section is also used in the A-S1000. And, to ensure maximum sound quality even when the tone controls are used, Yamaha employs triple parallel electronic volume and tone controls. The A-S2000 amplifier provides a maximum output power of 2x 160W @ 4Ω with a THD of 0.7%.

Here is the new $24,000 CD player from Boulder, the 1021, according to the company $1,000,000 of research and development went into this CD player. I don't know if common people can actually hear the difference between this CD player and another one priced under $500. Anyway, the 1021 has some attractive features such as MP3, OGG WAV, AIFF and FLAC files support, a 6.5" full-color LCD display (track listings, menus, setup features) with full-screen feedback and Ethernet connectivity to automatically retrieve CD information from the Internet.

Other technical specs include Boulder's ultra-low jitter precise interval clock, dual buffering systems, Boulder's UpandOverSampling system and many more "Boulder's" systems...

Atoll, French manufacturer of high-end audio electronics, has announced the release of a basic model of its DVD 200 DVD/SACD player, called SACD 200. It only plays back CD and SACD unlike the DVD 200 which also supports DVD. The player is equipped with Burr-Brown 24 bits/192 kHz DACs, audio-grade MKT capacitors, linear power supply, and class-A output stages. The chassis employs 1.5mm thick steel material with a 8mm thick brushed aluminum front panel.

According to Atoll, retail price is €1,900 but there is no word on availability at this time.

Pioneer has released the PDX-Z9, an all-in-one solution that combines a SACD player with built-in 50 watts per channel stereo amplifier. The receiver not only handles Super Audio CD and audio CD, but also covers playback of MP3, WMA and MPEG-4 AAC lossy audio formats as well as high-quality FLAC files. The PDX-Z9 has the ability to receive terrestrial FM/AM radio stations and internet radio, while iPod and USB devices can be directly connected and controlled with the receiver's remote.

The Pioneer's SACD receiver is available for €990.

Pioneer has released the DV-410V, a new DVD player (maybe the last ). It has HDMI output with 1080p upscaling, a front-in USB lets the user play music or watch movies from a USB memory stick and JPEG browser functions. In addition, the DV-410V has Virtual Surround Sound, which enables surround sound effects from just two speakers.

It's now available in Europe for a price of €149.

T+A is introducing a completely new series of electronic units featuring the latest, highly innovative technologies. The Music Player is not a computer it's a high-quality CD player with streaming capability from various interfaces such as W-LAN (Wifi 802.11/b/g), LAN (Ethernet 10/100), UPnP, iPod and USB. It can access everything which delivers MP3, WMA, LPCM, WAV, FLAC, AAC and OGG-Vorbis music: internet radio, network music servers and USB media storage devices, as well as VHF radio via the integrated tuner or via an optional DAB tuner.

The T+A Music Player employs 24-bit Sigma Delta, 8-time Oversampling D/A converter along with high-end circuitry delivering impressive results with an ultra low THD of 0.001% @ 2Hz - 20kHz and a SNR of 109dB.

The player is available in black or silver finish, but no word on pricing at this time.

New Harman Kardon's HD 990 and HD 980 CD players are expected to start in April at a price of £350 and £250, respectively.

The HD 980 features 32-bit DSP for the highest possible jitter rejection and Multibit Sigma-Delta modulator D/A converters while the HD 990 employs two high-performance stereo digital-to-analog converters to deliver third-generation Real-Time Linear Smoothing (RLS III). Also, the HD 990 includes additional balanced XLR outputs, coaxial and optical digital inputs.

NAD's C515BEE is a breakthrough in both performance and value, perfectly matching the C315BEE integrated amplifier. This CD player plays CD/CD-R as well as MP3 and WMA files copied to CD-R for up to 10 hours of continuous play. To ensure minimum distortion carefully capacitors and other passive components with close tolerances have been chosen, and digital/analog conversion is made by Sigma Delta converters with low noise and excellent linearity.

Additional features include an informative display, a dimmer for the display, coaxial and optical digital outputs, and a full-function remote control. The NAD C515BEE comes for $299.