Raindrop Audio
Welcome! At Raindrop Audio our love for music drives the search for a sound so real and naturally musical, it effortlessly draws you into the performance. You’ll find yourself totally immersed, eyes shut and feet tapping, savouring the sweet sound of music…
Realism and perfection in sound are our goals – as a means to deepen your immersion into music and heighten your enjoyment and appreciation of it.
Our new website is almost ready! Meanwhile here are some exciting new products that have just arrived:
Available for audition very soon…
The new Aurender S10
))) Newsflash ((( The new Aurender S10 have landed! This is a superb hardware and software solution for reference-level music storage and playback, meticulously put together by the team at Widealab.
“Hands down my product of the [CAS 2011] show, and possibly product of the year, is WideaLab’s Aurender S10 music server.” – Chris Connaker, computeraudiophile.com
The Aurender’s designers have built a wonderfully intuitive and responsive iPad app – it’s a real pleasure browsing through a music collection with the Aurender app. Extensive effort have been put into achieving the highest possible audio performance, with smart SSD caching of music files, a proprietary digital audio module featuring an ultra-accurate OCXO clock and proprietary FPGA re-clocking logic. This is a dual 64GB Solid State Drive + 2TB Hard Disk Drive unit with a Linux OS optimised to extremes for sound quality. The carefully designed fan-less chassis effectively segment the power supplies and modules to isolate electromagnetic noise. Build quality is flawless; a beautifully machined chassis with 2 large AMOLED displays on the front panel. This is clearly the work of a very passionate team, built to almost perfectionist standards.
Ripping CDs to lossless FLAC files is an automated and painless process. Ripping begins immediately when you insert a CD into an external USB drive, and once completed it is ejected automatically. Track names are automatically detected and album art downloaded via online search. You can also easily transfer files between your computer and the Aurender, as it is a proper networked server. Aurender can also copy music files from a USB storage device.
The Aurender plays FLAC, AIFF, WAV, APE and other music file formats with up to 24-bit 192kHz resolution.
The Audeze LCD-2 Planar Magnetic Headphones
The Audeze LCD-2 headphone features state-of-the-art Planar Magnetic drivers, enabling a realism in sound that is quite simply, extraordinary.
Every component of the LCD-2 is precision engineered with one goal in mind: Recreate the sound exactly like the artist intended. LCD-2 combines leading edge technology and development with knowledge, feedback and suggestions from an on-going dialogue with Sound Engineers and Audiophiles. The Audeze LCD-2 uses a proprietary thin film diaphragm that is housed between a unique super efficient push-pull magnetic structure. Audeze’s manufacturing process combined with the advanced materials and technology produce extremely accurate and incredible sounding headphones. The LCD-2s are made of hand selected Carribean Rosewood. The sloped earpads are made of premium lambskin leather with specially selected foam to offer the right amount of firmness.
The M2Tech Evo Supply alongside the HiFace Evo
M2Tech‘s new Evo Supply is a battery-based power supply designed specifically to improve the performance of the M2Tech hiFace Evo 24-bit 192-kHz USB-to-digital audio interface.
Evo Supply features a Li-Ion battery with 2200mAh capacity, an integrated battery charger and a low-noise regulator which is used to provide current to the load while the battery is being charged, thus ensuring continuous operation.
Ayon Triton Mono's
Following the success of the Triton II Integrated, the new Ayon Triton Monos arrived and immediately makes clear its wider power bandwidth with more speed, top-end air, detailed resolution and more impactful bass.
The Triton Monos have a wonderful ability to unravel complex musical threads with grainless purity and stunning dynamics. The Triton Monos are full-featured balanced class-A vacuum tube mono power amplifiers, switchable between pentode (100W) and triode (60W) mode. Super-wide bandwidth output transformers sealed with anti-resonance elements means the Triton series are able to drive even more difficult speaker loads.
Guru QM10two in piano black and glossy white. Also available in Ferrari Red!
One of our best selling speakers just got a performance boost!
The Guru QM10two is the successor of the critically acclaimed QM10 and introduces two new advanced proprietary drivers into the compact and elegant QM10 design. The improve drivers raised the bandwidth to a typical in room response of 30 Hz to 30 kHz and at the same time lower distortion even further whilst greatly improving the time domain behaviour of the loudspeaker. All this results in even greater resolution and transparency with increased soundstage precision whilst maintaining incredibly low frequency extension.
ZYX 4D MC Cartridge
It is a joy listening to a ZYX cartridge playing music. Wonderful, mesmerising music. The work of Hisayoshi Nakatsuka is highly respected and well known to be among the best sounding MC Phono Cartridges in the world.
“In my opinion, ZYX designer Hisayoshi Nakatsuka has easily met his design goals for the 4D-G cartridge. Never have I heard a cartridge sound so unstrained when unraveling complex musical passages. Even when many different instruments are all playing at once with each competing for attention, the 4D-G remains composed and delivers each instrument with unprecedented vividness and authenticity.” – Frank Alles, Stereotimes.
The new GigaWatt PC-3 SE EVO
Since the GigaWatt power conditioners arrived recently they have transformed a good number of customer systems. Focus and transparency is turned up a clear notch, and dynamic swings flow with greater ease. A darker background allows more details and micro-dynamics to emerge, conveying in a heightened sense the tonality of instruments, voice and ambience of the recording venue.
The key to this performance is Gigawatt’s extraordinary attention to power distribution, protection, isolation and anti-noise filtering, with a determined criteria that power delivery must not be limited in anyway. Build quality is first-class and attention to details is superb. It is simply evident from the products that the team at GigaWatt are perfectionists. Indeed, GigaWatt is well known to custom-manufacture many of the key components in their products, instead of simply wiring together off-the-shelf parts. More information coming soon…
Gradient Helsinki 1.5
The Gradient Helsinki 1.5 is a work of art; a brilliant effort by designer Jorma Salmi to literally sculpt the soundfield into a expansive and holographic experience.
“This unusual design from Gradient’s Jorma Salmi, with wave-guided tweeter, disc-mounted midrange, and side-firing dipole woofer, is intended to erase your listening room from the sound you hear. And it delivers the goods: Few other speakers can give you an equal sense of being transported to the performance venue. With the right setup, its spatial performance is at the top level attainable at any price.” – Editors Choice Award 2011, The Absolute Sound
... feel every musical note ...
... every raindrop in the storm ...
Because the mind is free --
Listening to the rain
Dripping from the eaves,
The drops become
One with me
...Dogen (1200 - 1253)