CI Audio on the way to Australia

Channel Islands Audio (CI AUDIO) is a small US based audio manufacturer “dedicated to bringing the sound of live music into your home”. CI Audio products were developed for Audiophile enthusiasts demanding musicality, simplicity, quality craftsmanship and reliability.

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The company uses Innovative design and constant advancements in semiconductor technology to achieve performance levels previously unobtainable at what can only be considered a ‘reasonable cost’.

Vistra Australia will be relasing a small range of their products here in Australia, including their superb amplifiers, passive preamp controller, USB DAC and most interestingly, the dedicated power supply for the Squeezebox. Of course, these amps are the perfect partner for a Squeezebox base dosund system too!
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Another overpriced Music Server

I will say it up front, I am not a fan of dedicated music servers, with a few exceptions such as the QSonix model. Now, the news here is that NuVo Technologies have released a new model, the NV-M3 pictured below.

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The NuVo Technologies NV-M3 has a full half-terabyte of space and an even more astounding price tag, more on that in a minute. On the unit itself, you'll find a polycarbonate, capacitive touch front panel interface with a tiny OLED display and a bunch of ports on the back. Now, the price.... US$2,999!

When it lands here in Australia, this will translate to a whopping $4999. Sure it is cheaper than an Imerge Music Server, just, but who cares? For $5000 you can buy an Apple Mac Pro, load it up with 2TB of storage and either connect it to your LCD/Plasma screen, or buy a nice Apple display and still have change. The benefit?

An infinitely better music server and cataloguing system, far more flexibility, and a continually upgraded operating system and user interface, something which every single dedicated music server rarely ever gets.
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Murano Audio out of business

The Taiwanese based amplifier manufacturer MURANO, who used the excellent B&O IcePower amp modules to provide excellently priced power amplifiers, has totally vanished, or so it seems. The company is no longer answering emails or phone calls, and all calls for warranty go without reply.
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