GEMINI 2000 and 1000 Combine Class-A Amplifiers, DACs, Full-Format
Decoding, User Music Libraries + Stylish Headphone Storage
VANCOUVER, WA, Oct. 18, 2013 — AURALiC LIMITED has announced its introduction of the GEMINI 2000 and 1000 Headphone Docks, the first entries in an entirely new and revolutionary personal audio product category. Breaking audio’s rigid design envelope, the GEMINI Headphone Docks combine several highest quality headphone-oriented audio components plus full-format decoding in a compact, self-contained and visually appealing curvilinear shape.
Named after the constellation Gemini, representing the mythological twins Castor and Pollux, the two GEMINI Headphone Docks include a full-format Digital Audio Converter (DAC), a headphone amplifier, an integrated SD Extended Capacity (SDXC) card reader holding up to 2 terabytes of music, and attractive headphone + cord storage.
The GEMINIs are designed by AURALiC LIMITED, utilizing an exclusive profile licensed from an award-winning Swedish firm dedicated to the merger of high-quality sound and superior aesthetics, and bearing the tongue-in-chic name Klutz Design.
AURALiC’s two GEMINI Headphone Docks break the mold by breaking the box. Their unique, consumer-friendly lifestyle design shatters a longstanding audio mold with a new Form Factor that subverts the stereotypical rectangular box into which amplifiers and DACs are traditionally squashed. Standing less than 12 inches high and weighing a comforting 6.2 pounds, which insures rock-solid stability, each GEMINI Headphone Dock visually resembles an abstracted sculpture of the human head and neck. The sculpted upper portion is a precisely milled wood chassis exhibiting a mirror-like finish with five coats of hand-polished lacquer in any of five colors — black, white, red, yellow and blue.
The GEMINIs’ organic Form-as-Function contours are ideal for headphone storage and include two metal knobs for securely winding headphone cable. Except for the headphones resting astride them (instead of in a pool of cable on a table or floor), the GEMINIs don’t even look like traditional audio products, and are sure to be popular as a Lifestyle product.
For Living Room, Library, Bedroom, Office, Yacht & Private Jet
The GEMINIs’ bases, precisely milled and highly polished, provide a heavy brass foundation that houses a variety of connections and dissipate heat better than the lighter-weight aluminum more typically used for audio components. The base comes in two finishes — gold and chrome — for the GEMINI 2000, and Titanium gray for the GEMINI 1000, providing consumers with multiple custom design options.
Because the GEMINIs’ form factor is so compact, they are far more portable than any similar suite of components. Standing less than a foot high, they can be used almost anywhere — beside a couch, on a desk, atop a bedside stand, in a living room, a library, a bedroom, an office, yacht or private jet — and be taken along to a weekend home or on a vacation. Because of its craftsman-quality wood and metal construction, they will look good virtually anywhere, and with any interior décor, especially as the GEMINIs’ lacquer colors can be selected by purchasers to suit their homes, offices or other locations.
The Headphone Docks’ compact size also conceals brilliantly miniaturized amplifier and DAC technology from AURALiC’s VEGA Digital Audio Processor and TAURUS MKII Balanced Headphone Amplifier — both multiple award-winning products in the worldwide audiophile field.
The heart of the Docks is an exclusive, ingeniously designed, printed circuit board that hosts more than 500 components on a platform the size of a human palm. Their amplifier sections provide Class-A headphone power outputs up to 2000 milliWatts for the GEMINI 2000 to drive any higher-quality model, and 1000mW of Class A power for the GEMINI 1000. The frequency response covers a full 20 Hz – 20 KHz range with an exceptional THD of less than 0.001% at rated output for the GEMINI 2000, and less than 0.002% for the GEMINI 1000. The GEMINI 2000 additionally employs a fully balanced design to achieve the finest audiophile-quality music reproduction.
Both GEMINI models support all high-resolution music formats, including DXD, DSD and double-rate DSD as well as sampling rates from 44.1K to 384K. Both the GEMINI 2000 and 1000 come equipped with quarter-inch stereo phone jacks and 4-PIN XLR headphone jacks.
Built-In SDXC Card for Up to 2TB of Music
Each GEMINI also includes a uniquely integrated SDXC card reader that allows it to host a vast personal music library. After connecting a GEMINI to a computer, via USB, two device icons appear on the computer screen. One reveals an audio interface for the amplifier and DAC functions. The other interfaces with the GEMINI’s built-in SDXC card and allows a user to equip the GEMINI with up to 2 terabytes of music. Each GEMINI comes with a 4GB SD card loaded with computer driver and a User’s Guide.
The GEMINI’s base includes both a quarter-inch stereo phone jack and a 4-PIN XLR headphone output, a USB port for connecting to a computer, an SDXC card slot, a phone jack for connection to Android devices, an optical TOSLINK input, two small buttons for Power On/Off and input selection, a “NICENESS” (Volume) control, and a power socket. LEDs discreetly recessed on top of the baseplate indicate the sampling rate, input channel and volume level.
The GEMINIs even play well with the environment. The GEMINI 2000 and 1000 consume no more than 20 and 15 watts of power, respectively, both less than most light bulbs, and standby power below one watt.
The GEMINI 2000 and 1000 Headphone Docks will be available in the beginning of November from AURALiC and authorized dealers at suggested prices of $1,995 and $995 (MSRP), respectively.
About AURALiC
Based in Vancouver, Washington and Beijing, China, [the newly incorporated] AURALIC AMERICAS and its parent company, AURALiC LIMITED, are passionately committed to designing, engineering and manufacturing user-friendly audio components that combine modern audio technologies with superior design and functionality, providing music lovers with a new way of enjoying music. Its growing family of products includes the VEGA Digital Audio Processor with Class-A preamplification, the MERAK 400-Watt Monoblock Power Amplifier, the TAURUS PRE Balanced Class–A Line Stage Preamplifier and the TAURUS MK II balanced Class-A headphone amplifier.
For further technical information, visit AURALiC’s website at www.auralic.com
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