Audio

CES 2008: The Bel Canto Ultra-Dock

The iPod docking art

By Florin Tibu, Audio Editor

10th of January 2008, 08:26 GMT

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Sonic Focus have teamed up with Bel Canto and their conjoined efforts have ended up in a spectacular product, redefining what you thought you knew about iPod docks. This new piece of tech combines the best the two manufacturers have to offer: the exquisite and high-end hardware design from Bel Canto with the ultra-advanced software science of Sonic Focus, specialized in refined audio compression.

This is how the Ultra-Dock came into being - a docking station with an intriguing look, developed in disregard of the expenses. The main idea behind this project was to eliminate the crap most of the similar gear is stuck into, namely the lossy quality of the compressed audio: usually, this kind of gear limits to amplifying what's coming to it from the iPod; no matter how expensive an iPod you'd ever own, it's always the same thing - compressed audio tracks which miss the big picture.

Now, the Bel Canto Ultra-Dock boasts the new software from Sonic Focus, dramatically enhancing the audio quality and upsampling from stereo to a very credible and lifelike 7.1-channel signal; imagine your stereo tracks on your iPod, transformed well beyond recognition into a high-class acoustic experience with immersive and enthralling dynamics and contoured details you've completely missed before.

The Ultra-Dock runs with Analog Devices AD21369 with a 32-bit DSP core, 96kHz / 24-bit ADC and DAC modules, ensuring a 110dB dynamic range with a THD less than 0.004%. The casing is made from brushed metal with a heavy and ultra-rigid construction with vibration-isolating feet for excellent decoupling. The RCA outputs ensure an increased versatility, letting you run the Bel Canto with loudspeaker arrays from the simplest 2.0 configurations to the high-complexity 7.1 installations, providing the same exquisite audio quality.

This "mother of all docks" will retail for almost $2,000. Full specs here (pdf).

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is

TAGS:

CES 2008 | bel canto | sonic focus | ipod dock | ultra-dock

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