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Hi-Fi / Hifi players have generally over the years become smaller
and better in quality. You can for example now buy quality mini
hifi stereos for about £50 from top makes such as Bush, Goodmans
and Alba. Of course there is then your middle of the road Hi-Fi
/ Hifi players makes such as Sharp and Sanyo and your premium brands
such as Sony and Panasonic. At the top end you can buy Hi-Fi / Hifi
players from Denon and Technics. The types of hifi available to
buy are,
- Micro Hi-Fi
- Mini Hi-Fi
- DVD Hi-Fi
- Hi-Fi Separates
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On a high end machines some things to look out for are,
- Digital Sound Processor (DSP) - alters the atmosphere of the
sound.
- CD compatible playback
- Dolby Pro Logic surround sound for 4-channel sound
- Dolby B noise reduction for cassette decks, this reduces the
hissing noice
- WMA compatible, CDs burnt on your PC which can fit far more
tracks onto CDs
- RDS tuner for the radio. Will pre-set favourite stations and
display the name of the station.
Other more standard features on hifi's are,
CDR compatible allows the playback of recordable cds. Such discs
do not allow tracks to be erased once they have been recorded. You
may find older hifi systems will not recoginise recordable cds burnt
on a pc for example. Therefore you may require a newer hifi to play
them. Most average priced hifi's are now CDR compatible.
CD recorder allows for advanced CD recording technology which enables
you to record from the CD changer, radio or external sources to
create your own music discs and compilations. If you are into burning
cds and creating mp3 compilations than this is a great feature to
want on a new hifi system. Currently in 2003 a cd recorder is only
included on more hi spec hifi systems so you may have to spend at
least £200 for this feature.
CDRW compatible means the hifi enables the playback of re-writable
cds. Rewritable discs can be erased and recorded on again and again.
A re-writable cd or CDRW have been priced in 2003 at around £10
and therefore are more expensive than a normal recordable cd, but
have the huge advantage that they can be erased and recorded on
as many times as you like.
MP3 CD playback means you can create your own mp3 cds on your PC,
to fit lots more music on to one CD. Some low spec or older hifi's
do not support this feature, so you always want to look closely
on the features available on the hifi you are buying if you create
and play mp3 cds. MP3 is an audio compression system that allows
users to compress audio files without noticeable loss of quality.
MP3 stands for Motion Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MPEG
Audio Layer 3), and because its ability to compress songs, it became
de facto standard for music distribution over the web.
DAB feature on a hifi stands for digital sound quality for interference
free reception access to more stations to listen to what and when
you like digital display and scrolling text Its free with a DAB
radio. A dab radio on a hifi also means you can easily tune your
radio with electronic buttons, store your favourite stations with
the pre-sets and RDS will also display the name of the station you
are listening to.
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