Ivy Mairi

Ivy Mairi is a relatively new artist (on the Cowboy Junkies' Latent Recordings label), the first since the CJ's revamped & relaunched Latent. Her second album "No Talker" was released at the end of last year, and as a promotion they are offering both her 2009 debut album ("Well You") and her new album together in a download bundle for just US$5.99. Both are produced by the CJ's Michael Timmins and what's more you can download this in audiophile 16/44 FLAC or ALAC formats, as well as the usual lossy MP3 & AAC formats...

Ivy is, in my opinion, a refreshing and promising young singer/songwriter with some similarities to artists like Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Alison Krauss, etc, when at similar stages of their careers... I hadn't come across her previously and have to say both her albums are quite stunning...

New NZ High-End Equipment For Audiophiles

Pure Audio founders Gary Morrison and Ross Stevens
with their company's audio products...

The latest in quality kiwi audiophile products: Pure Audio Limited in Wellington - continuing the tradition of Plinius, Perreaux, et al...

Two Wellington men well known for their skill and experience in creating audio equipment have designed the ultimate home amplifier system from the finest materials.

After more than two years' development time, they launched their company Pure Audio in July last year and began retailing products at companies such as Soundline on Thorndon Quay [in Wellington] in January. With minimal buttons and lights and bells and whistles, the products are tailored to the passionate music buff... Read More... (at Stuff.co.nz)

More On A Dedicated Music Server (Part 4)

One of the challenges I’ve been having is with heat and the chassis fan (see my previous post). It hasn’t been a show stopper but it’s been a bit annoying and has prevented any hope of running the unit entirely fan-less… However I’ve subsequently done a tidy up and rearrangement of the cabling in the case (see image) which has made quite a big difference. I’ve also got the chassis fan mounted in a new position on the side so it’s pushing external air in and into the centre of the case (i.e. towards the motherboard & processor heat sink) rather than being in the back corner partially obstructed by the hard-disk drive and pushing air across the latter and away from the motherboard.