Berkeley, Calif.
– Sumiko, the importer and marketer
of multiple high-end audio electronics brands, has begun shipping its first
high-end digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with USB
port and embedded Bluetooth.
The $799-suggested
Cordette-brand GEM uses
Bluetooth’s A2DP specification, or profile, to stream stereo music wirelessly
from Bluetooth-enabled cellphones, Bluetooth-enabled MP3 players such as
iPhones and iPod Touches incorporating the 3.0 OS, and from PCs. The DAC’s
hard-wired USB connection also enables
the 6.3-inch by 2.75-inch by 1.6-inch GEM
to be used as a high-performance DAC for PCs and PC- and Mac-based music
servers, the company said.
“In a way, this is a departure from the kind
of products Sumiko has offered in the past,” said Sumiko marketing director John-Paul
Lizars. The GEM “bridges the world
of the iPod/iPhone type device and high-end audio.”
Music transmitted via Bluetooth or USB is processed by the same high-performance DAC
and fed via RCA jacks in analog to a consumer’s amplification system, he said.
Sumiko
president John Hunter called the product “mandatory for the audiophile seeking
a no-compromise wireless method of streaming music from their portable player
to their main system.”
Sumiko markets
the Sonus Faber, Vienna Acoustics, REL,
Chordette GEM, Pro-Ject, SME and Wolf
Cinema brands and maintains its own sales, training and support staff.
