Professional Documents
Culture Documents
i
FEBRUARY 2012
THE STATE OF
DIGITAI
Bricasti's 1\
processor
SOLVE
YOUR ROOMS
GREAT BASS AT A GREAT PRICE
GoldenEar's Triton Two loudspeaker
&
PROBLEMS
INTELLIGENT SUBWOOFER
MILESTONE:
Michael Fremer's
200th "Analog Corner"
Online authority:
www.stereophile.com
$6.99
p
Vu
vE
02
0 7902 5 34967 8
A new
generation.
Same
superior
sound.
I (212) 7 2 4 -4 8 7 0
AS WE
SEE IT
by ART DUDLEY
Art Dudley muses on the subject of
what actually constitutes "progress" in audio.
t h i s is s u e :
SILTECH
Choose your direction
www.sitlechcables.com
FEATURE
63
65
EQUIPMENT REPORTS
82
93
103
87
87
121
124
Totem Beak
by Robert Deutsch
124
124
113
FOLLOW-UPS
126
Stereophile (USPS #734-970 ISSN: 0585-2544) Vol.35 No.2, February 2012, Issue Number 385. Copyright 2012 by Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. All rights reserved. Published monthly
by Source Interlink Media, LLC., 261 Madison Ave.. 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016-2303. Periodicals Postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Subscription rates for one year
(12 issues) U.S., APO, FPO, and U.S. Possessions $19.94, Canada $31.94, Foreign orders add $24 (including surface mail postage). Payment in advance, U.S. funds only. POSTMASTER: Please send
address changes to Stereophile. P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142*0235. Mailing Lists: From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies that sell goods and services by mail
that we believe would be of interest to our readers. If you would rather not receive such mailings, please send your current mailing label, or an exact copy, to: Stereophile, Mail Preference Service,
P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast FL 32142-0235. Subscription Service: Should you wish to change your address, or order new subscriptions, you can do so by writing to the same address. Printed in the USA.
bg((echnoiogi
O ur patent pending qol technology is the most significant advance in audio in decades.
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toward realism, naturalism and of course, enjoyment.
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JBLf:Rr ACHS
The20 ' ' l ai"gTc NARY!
0n Page 3 3 ^ er
yearse0?prr0Celeb^ e s
COLUMNS
3
As We See It
49
55
11
Letters
17
Industry Update
25
129
Record Reviews
131
Manufacturers' Comments
138
Aural Robert
Sam's Space
33
Analog Corner
41
Listening
INFORMATION
136
134
135
134
A u d io M a rt
M anufacturers Showcase
Dealers' Showcase
A d ve rtise r Index
p. 33
stereophile.com February 2012
SVP/GROUP PUBLISHER
EDITOR
IF THIS
DONT DO
IT FOR YOU
MUSIC EDITOR
ASSISTANT EDITOR
GROUP OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
MANAGING EDITOR/PRODUCTION
ADVERTISING OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
EDITOR AT LARGE
WEB PRODUCER
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Norb Garrett
John Atkinson
Robert Baird
Stephen Mejias
Amy Diamond
Phillip McRae
Sherrie Corsun
Sam Tellig, Martin Colloms, Michael Fremer,
John Marks, Wes Phillips
A rt Dudley
Jon Iverson
Ariel Bitran
NOTHING
WILL
Jim Austin, Lonnie Brownell, Brian Damkroger, Robert Deutsch, Shannon Dickson, Larry Greenhill, Keith Howard,
Jon Iverson, Fred Kaplan, Ken Kessler, David Lander, Erick Lichte, Paul Messenger, Robert J. Reina,
Kalman Rubinson, Markus Sauer, Jason Victor Serinus, Peter van Willenswaard
ADVERTISING SALES
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Keith Pray
(212) 915-4157, Keith. Prayta)sorc.com
Ed DiBenedetto
(212) 915-4153, Ed.DiBenedetto(a)sorc.com
Laura J. LoVecchio, LoVecchio Associates,
Central, West Coast Mfgs & National Retailers
(718) 745-5025, Laura_Lovecchio@sbcglobal.net
Rosemarie Torcivia
(212) 915-4160, Rosemarie.Torcivia(a>sorc.com
Keith Pray, Keith.Pray(a)sorc.com
Helene Stoner
(505) 474-4156, hmstonen&msn.com
llko Nechev
(212) 490-2079, ilkoiaJmitchelladgroup.com
Shawn Higgins
Heather Stein
Michael Sullivan
John Bode
Stephanie Justice
& p r o d u c t io n
s v p , f in a n c e
vp
Chris Argentieri
Alan Alpanian
Doug Evans
Eric Schwab
Howard Lim
Kevin Mullan
Dan Bednar
Julie Smartz
DIGITAL MEDIA
c h ie f t e c h n o l o g y o f f ic e r , d ig it a l m e d ia
Raghu Bala
Craig Buccola
Todd Busby
Tom Furukawa
Dan Hong
Jung Park
Chris Butler
Tom Slater
Donald T. Robinson III
Copyright 03 2012 by Source Interlink Magazines. LLC.
Printed in the USA. All Rights Reserved.
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INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
EDITORIAL
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Call Us Anytim e
(3 8 6 ) 4 4 7 -6 3 8 3
Tel: (212) 915-4156, Fax: (212) 915-4167
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Striking Gold
Violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti is a prodigy by any definition.
She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award at the age of 16 and
has since played in concerts at major venues all over the world.
Nicola knows a thing or two about musical accuracy and the power of music.
This is why she chooses Monitor Audio when she listens.
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FEED BA CK TO T H E ED ITO R
Editor:
You know what Stereophile needs? A
monthly centerfold. Just like Playboy.
Wouldnt that be grand?
Ken Podolski
kpodolski@wideopenwest.com
W hat did we do?
Editor:
W hat did you do? All sources are out of
the Pioneer SP-BS41-LR speaker. You
raved about it too much, it would seem.
Tony Freeman
a)reemau4608@att.net
As we go to press, the Pioneer SP-BS41-LR
is out o f stock, but the speaker has not been
discontinued. 'Phis outstanding little speaker
will be availablefrom the Pioneer website in
a matter of months. Ill be sure to hold on to a
pair this time.
Stephen Mejias
You've come a long way
Editor:
Stereophile, youve comc a long way.
Editor:
I am in my second year of my Stereophile
subscription and I feel compelled to ex
stereophile.com February 2012
Editor:
Thank you, David Sokol, for recom
mending Wrecking Ball, by Emmylou
Harris, in February 2011 [Records To
Die For]. Its a real gem. I find it curious
how difficult it is to select, at any given
time, an album or two that one could
say is both one of your favorites and
well recorded; one could make a case
for so many, depending on the time (at
50, there has been some time) and ones
frame of mind. As a longtime audiophile,
I have always appreciated both good
music and as good a reproduction of
music as I could afford. There is nothing
quite as relaxing and/or exhilarating as
the satisfaction of putting on a great LP or
CD and having the sound quality match
the performance of the artist.
On die other hand, there is nothing
quite as disappointing as finding a great
performance and not being able to listen
to it without plugging your nose, or hav
ing to relegate it to the car.
I would like to offer a couple o f my
own nominees for Records To Die For
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should
be sent as faxes or e-mails only
(until further notice). Fax: (212) 915-4167.
E-mail: STIetters@Sorc.com. Please note:
We are unable to answer requests for
information about specific products or
systems. If you have problems with your
subscription, call toll-free (800) 666-3746,
or write to Stereophile, PO Box 420235,
Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235.
Editor:
Im slowly getting caught up on my
Stereophiles, and I just noticed something
very interesting. Over and over again
I hear people complain about various
aspects of the audiophile world (reviews
of expensive gear, whether or not certain
cables or tweaks make an audible dif
ference, should recordings imitate live
performances or imitate an ideal, etc.),
and over and over again I read Stereophile
articles that address these issues very
precisely and accurately.
In the June 2011 As We See It,
once again, a writer for Stereophile
verbalizes a completely rational and ac
curate assessment of our hobby. I would
like to add an additional assessment of
what could be going wrong with many
o f our kin.
I am one of that exceedingly rare
species o f human: the professional jazz
musician. O ne thing Ive noticed about
our jazz world is how a large percent
age o f the up-and-coming musicians
have a check me out mentality. They
all complain how nobody goes out to
hear jazz anymore, yet they rarely go
out and support other musicians. Theyll
complain about how nobody showed up
to their gig at such-and-such club, yet
11
S I A - o
2 5
The SIA-025 is a
superb co m p on e n t
b rim m ing w ith
enough fin e ly w ro u g h t
perform ance skills to
challenge all com ers.
...every self-respecting
The Vitus Audio
conveys the m ost audiophile should consider it an
ta c tile inner d e ta ils obligation to listen to oneif just
virtu a lly dow n to
fo r the hedonistic pleasure of
th e fin g e rp rin ts on a bearing witness to the seductive
m usicality of one of the high
perform ance.
ends finest offerings.
m anufacturer
distributor
w w w .vitusaudio.com
w w w .vitusaudio.com
LETTERS
Editor:
In his December 2011 As We See It,
Thomas Conrad, eloquently as always,
echoed my thoughts on the widely held
belief that jazz is dead. This genre was
my inspiration for my entering the world
o f audio and music, and continues after
60 glorious years of listening. Jazz will die
only when people lose their humanity.
The King is deadlong live the King.
Des Stanley
djazz@telkomsa.net
Long live the King!
Editor:
Thank you, Thomas Conrad, for your
December As We See It: Despite W hat
Youve Heard, Jazz Lives.
Steve Guttenbergs take on the subject
last May had a certain technical sensibility
that I like to think fell a bit short o f the
big picture, but was still interesting. The
root system that is jazz can be surprisingly
vast for anybody less traveled, and your
stereophile.com February 2012
Editor:
Been a loyal Stereophile reader for over 10
years.
I currently have two systems, one
widi an integrated amp and one with
separates, both digital. I am very curious
about vinyl, but afraid to dive deeper into
an already expensive hobby. W hat I dont
understand is why a phono cartridge
can cost so much. W hat goes into the
making, materials, assembly, and design
that can bring the price of a cartridge into
sometimes four or five digits?
And Stephen Mejias, keep those
anecdotal accounts of your Hoboken or
Brooklyn adventures along with your
product reviews. They are refreshing, and
bring back memories of when I lived in
Hoboken.
Patrick Diec
Fort Lee, NJ
patrick.diec@citi.com
Editor:
My mind was cranking out agreements
as I read John Atkinsons As We See It
in September 2011, on audio shows and
China-located manufacturing. Regard
ing the decrease in high-end audio
showrooms these days, I operate without
bricks and mortar because the overhead
in money and staffing has discouraged
me from doing so. The lingering desire
to set up a bricks-and-mortar retail
13
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Editor:
Thank you very much for all the reviews
of tubed integrated amps this fall. It made
me nostalgic for the Dynaco SCA-35
integrated I used as a college freshman in
1970 at Indiana University. Fortunately,
a different SCA-35, purchased in 2004
via the Internet, was sitting in the base
ment, so for the last two weeks I have
been once again enjoying EL84 (6BQ5)
output-tube sound. O f course, this
SCA-35 has been modified a bit (NOS
tubes, new power-supply components,
grounded power cord, bypassed tone con
trols), and I am using an outboard tubed
phono preamp (Transcendent Sound
Phono) with a K&K step-up transformer,
and much better turntable, cartridge, and
speaker components (Rega P5, Ortofon
Rondo Bronze, Triangle Celius Esw)
than in 1970. The sound quality is very
impressive.
Reading about the constant stream
of computer-audio gear is interesting
and a bit challenging, but for now it is
easier to read than implement. Actu
ally, using a computer and, especially,
software has a higher price than I want
February 2012 stereophile.com
LETTERS
I A T lnrernation.il
is continually earning
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Lewisburg, PA
sralcom@dejazzd.com
Restoration
Editor:
W hy am I recapping a 1973 receiver?
Rebuilding a classic bicycle? W hy is
Art Dudley restoring an old turntable?
It could be to save a little o f our souls.
Remember, we were going to change
the world. Instead, we have consumed
it.
But a well-made receiver cased in
wood, a hand-built bicycle made of
steel, a carefully made turntable, are not
consumed. Each is like an orchard, a place
always needful of hands. We have forgot
ten in our minds that we are more than
our thoughts. When we sit with a rag to
polish a turntable part, bicycle chrome,
or receiver faceplate, it takes a certain
moment: We watch them change, and
we, too, change. In that moment, we are
restored.
Bert Paul
Waldenpond@comcast.net
stereophile.com February 2012
weinhart design
Monday - Friday 10 AM - 6 PM
Weekends and Evenings by appointment
T ra d e s W e lc o m e d !
C h a n g in g the w a y
you listen
15
Proudly introducing Dynaudios latest driver unit generation: Newly developed woofers with improved voice coil and spider
assemblies, even stronger magnets and optimized die-cast aluminum driver baskets. New soft dome tweeters with Precision
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And read on at www.dynaudio.com/new_focus
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AUDIO N E W S & V IE W S
SPAIN: BELLATERRA
CALENDAR OF
INDUSTRY EV EN TS
ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We
ARIZONA
I Wednesday, February 29, 7-9pm :
The Arizona Audio Video Club w ill
hold an open m eeting at Esoteric
Audio. Store ow ner Gary Jherpe
w ill present gear from Aesthetix,
CALIFORNIA
: 1Sunday, January 29, 2-5pm : The Los
Angeles and Orange County Audio
Society w ill hold its m onthly meeting at
Definition Audio Video (2 9 3 4 W ilshire
Boulevard, Santa M onica). Featured
gear w ill include electronics from N AD
and Simaudio and loudspeakers from
Dynaudio and Sony A raffle is planned
and lunch w ill be served. Guests,
visitors, and new members are invited,
and parking is free. For more info, visit
www.laocas.com or call Bob Levi at
(714) 281-5850.
I Sunday, February 2 6 ,2-5pm: The
17
INDUSTRY UPDATE
COLORADO
Saturday, February 11, 3-7pm : Tweek
Geek (7 0 7 5 Um ber Court, Arvada)
w ill host an open house. On a Higher
Note's Philip O 'H anlon w ill be on
hand to present the Luxman PD-171
turntable and Vivid Audio Giya G3
loudspeakers. Space is lim ited. RSVP:
(3 0 3 ) 653-6341. For m ore info, visit
www.tw eekgeek.com .
MICHIGAN
Thursday, M arch 8, 5 -9 p m : Overture
Audio (618 S. M ain Street, Ann
A rb o r) w ill host an evening o f music
and discussion w ith Lars Kristensen
of Nordost, Costa Koulisakis of
Simaudio, and Kevin W o lff of Vienna
Acoustics A com plete range of
products, from entry-level to cost-noobject, w ill be auditioned. For more
info, visit w w w .overture-audio.com or
call (7 3 4 ) 662-1812.
M INNESOTA
Tuesday, February 21, 7-9 pm : The
m usicdirect
its the m usic th a t m a tte rs
ph.s,8coo-449-8333 O
INDUSTRY UPDATE
UK: BROADCASTS
Paul Messenger
Around die end o f the last millennium,
the major players o f the consumerelectronics industry decided to bring
us high-resolution digital audio and
launched, almost simultaneously, die
SACD and DVD-Audio formats.
For several reasons, I was skeptical,
not to say som ewhat cynical. T w o rival
com peting formats was likely to be bad
news for both, digital rights manage
m ent issues dogged the early years,
and I thought it unlikely that the many
music enthusiasts w ho had already
replaced their LPs w ith C D s would
be persuaded to so soon repeat the
process. I didnt believe that either for
m at offered enough extras in terms
o f features or perform ance to inspire
serious sales, a viewpoint that history
has largely vindicated. However, after
exploring the specifications o f the
DVD-A, I speculated that the form ats
capabilities m ight have been better
exploited by creating multichannel
versions o f classic albums rather than
simple surround versions. This could
allow enthusiasts to explore favorite
YOUR
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Thursday, February 2, 3-9 pm :
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M arantz TT-15
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Billie Holiday
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LP - AVRJ 8197-45 *50.00 (2 LPs)
SACD-CVRJ 8197 SA $30.00
Sam Cooke
The Best 01 Sam Cooke
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SAM'S
SPACE
b y SAMTELUG
Sam gets the juice for his system
from a Pangea power supply and
tries out the Musical Fidelity V-CAN Mk.ll.
t h i s is s u e :
M emory Training
CBSs Scott Pelley looked on incredulously, like a cat
ready to pounce. B ut you cant nam e that third one?
Oops.
W hat happened inside Rick Perrys brain? The BBCs
M e neither.
Daniel Nasaw, based in W ashington, rounded up a virtual
Simonides is said to have invented the art of
panel o f psychologists and neuroscientists. . . and our friend
m em ory training. T h e story, probably apocryphal, goes
Foer (see ww w.bbc.co.uk/news/m agazine-15684676). The
like this:
experts seemed to agree that the governors problem was
At a banquet, Simonides stood to recite an ode in honor
limited cognitive horsepower, or som ething like that.
o f Scopas, a Thessalian noblem an, w ho may have paid for
John Guzowski, professor o f neurobiology at the U ni
the feast, the ode, and m uch more. As soon as Simonides
versity o f California, Irvine, weighed in: O nce he missed
sat down, a messenger tapped him urgently on the shoul
naming the departm ent o f energy the first time, the stress of
der and signaled him to com e outside, w here two m en on
that event strongly impaired the neural
horseback were hot to tell him something: T
T he
h ebuilding
i n f o was
rm a tio n age
mechanisms of m em ory retrieval.
about to collapse.
Sian Beilock, professor o f psychology
m ig h t b e m a k in g
So
it did. M om ents after Simonides
at the University o f Chicago, studies
o u r i n t e r n a l m e m o r i e s the interplay betw een cognition and
crossed the threshold, unscathed, the
banquet hall was reduced to a rabble o f w o r s e a s o b e r in g
stress: In Mr. Perrys case, as Nasaw
marble, dust, and mangled bodies. In the
paraphrased her, he was searching his
aftermath, frantic relatives couldnt iden t h o u g h t f o r s o m e o n e
brain for the third governm ent agency,
tify their loved ones. B ut let our friend
w h o p u r p o r t s to
but other thought processes intruded.
Joshua Foer tell it:
Beilock
then told the BBC that Perry is
re m e m b e r th e so u n d
Simonides sealed his senses to the
worrying about screwing up, and that
o f h i-fi e q u i p m e n t
chaos around him and reversed tim e in
takes away from im portant resources
his m ind-----[He] caught a glimpse o f
that otherwise he could use to search his
he h e a rd even
each o f the banquet guests at his seat,
m emory.
m o m e n ts ago.
carrying on oblivious to the im pending
A rthur B. M arkm an, a psychologist
catastrophe___[He] opened his eyes. H e
at the University o f Texas, has fol
took each o f the hysterical relatives by
lowed G overnor Perry close-up, from Austin. His book
the hand a n d . . . guided them , one by
Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate,
one, to the spots in the rubble w here their loved ones had
and Get Things Done came out on January 3. In it, Prof.
been sitting.
M arkman reveals his proprietary three-part formula for
Good stuff, w hether true or not. Foers book is Moonwalkm em ory retention and retrieval. The first two departm ent
If I seem m ore testy than usual, its because I was hom e sit
ting in the dark again. First it was Hurricane Irene at the end
o f August, to aiin Labor Day. T hat took out our pow er for
exactly a week. T hen came the surprise Halloween snow25
: ! SAM'S SPACE
CONTACTS
Musical Fidelity Limited
Pangea Audio
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Tel: (4 4 ) (0 )2 0 -8 9 0 0 -2 8 6
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Web: www.m usicalfidelity.com
US d is trib u to r: Tempo D is trib u tio n LLC
PO Box 541443
W altham , M A 02454-1443
Tel: (617) 314-9227
Fax: (617) 33 6 -3 4 8 6
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SAM'S SPACE i i )
approved devices.
W hy do so many inexpensive
products come pre-disabled w ith mere
wall warts? Because, typically, the most
expensive part o f any electronic hi-fi
product is the power supply. T he way
to offer cheap products cheap is
to supply a cheap, off-the-shelf
wall w art and tell die custom er
this is okay. W hich it is. Okay.
Maybe its to a manufac
turers advantage to use wall
warts to keep budget gear
in its proper place; ie, not
infringing on the sales o f more
expensive models. It would
not do for a $429 DAC to
approach the perform ance o f an
$800 DAC. A wall w art can stop that.
I am especially galled w hen a m anu
facturer states that any power supply
other than the supplied wall w art will
invalidate the warranty.1
If you own one o f the Cambridge
Audio or Musical Fidelity models
listed above, then I suggest that $99.99
for a Pangea P-100 is the best hundred
bucks you could spend. W ith online
retailer Audio Advisors money-back
guarantee, all you have to lose is the
shipping chargea very small risk.
As soon as you open the box, you
know you hold som ething substan
tial. T he P-100 may weigh m ore than
the audio device youre using it with.
T heres a chunk o f iron in there, said
W ayne Schuurman, o f Audio Advisor.
Yes, theres iron there: an inductor...
a choke-regulated power supply of the
very type so highly touted (and utilized)
by Musical Fidelity's Antony Michaelson
in his more expensive products.
To use the P-100, disconnect your
wall wart, plug in the appropriate cable
for the approved device youre using,
then turn on the device. (M ost wall
warts lack an o n /o ff switch.) Be sure
to label your wall warts w ith masking
tape, so youll know w hich goes w ith
w hich com ponent.
The typical tiny wall w art cant ac
commodate a choke-regulated power
supply and thus does a poor jo b o f
filtering AC line noise going into or
coming out o f the com ponent it pow
ers. A crappy wall wart can allow noise
from, say, a digital device to escape
back into your A C line.
A proper power supply requires
money and careful engineering. The de1 There is also the fact that wallwart supplies tend
to be UL-approvcd, which I believe alleviates the
audio manufacturer of having to obtain additional
UL approval for its productsJohn Atkinson
29
audioengine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
s<*.r Cf
SAM'S SPACE i i )
31
Y C 3
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For his 200th "Analog Corner,"
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IN HEAVY ROTATION
1) Beethoven, Symphonies 1-9 (Paavo
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Bremen), 180gm LPs (9 )
2 ) Johnny Cash, The Fabulous
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5) James Taylor, JT , C o lu m b ia /M o
bile Fidelity Sound Lab 180gm LP
COMPONENT
POWER CONDITIONING IS AN
Electricity. It's AC th a t d rives y o u r e ntire music
system. Take a m om ent and th in k a b ou t th a t. Every
subtle s ylla b le from the w o rld 's fine st voices. Every
g u ita r run from the best pickers. Every th w a ck of a
drum skin, or breath th ro ug h a reed. Every pluck o f
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LISTENING
b y ART DUDLEY
t h i s is s u e : Ortofon's new Xpression pickup head,
Shindo's latest Haut-Brion amplifier, and 10 awful
records are matched by their equally awful cover art.
M atters of E xpression
hono cartridgesalong w ith mothballs, hobnails,
laundry bluing, hot-w ater bottles, lighter fluid, fur
coats, and typewritersare am ong the m ost outdat
ed o f consum er goods: To m ost people w ho make
their living in the w orld o f consum er electronics, every new
cartridge that hits the shelves is little m ore than a cough
ing spasm from the death-room dow n the hall. You can
imagine, then, the w elcom e accorded new samples o f the
even m ore anachronistic pickup head, which combines phono
cartridge, headshell, and barbell into a product one seldom
sees outside the school librarians ju n k drawer. N ew pickup
heads, which tend to look the same as old pickup heads,
are m anufactured in pessimistic quantities, and seldom get
much attention.
O rtofon, the Danish firm thats been in business
longer than any other m anufacturer o f phono
gear, has confounded all that w ith the
Xpression ($5399): an entirely
new moving-coil pickup head
designed from the ground up.
It has surprised even me.
T h e Xpression derives
from the O rtofon M C A90,
a technically advanced
moving-coil cartridge that
our ow n Mikey Frem er
has called revolutionary. T hat
limited-edition product
com bined a num ber o f
innovations, including a tiny
cylindrical field-stabilizing
elem ent (FSE), to counteract
disturbances in the magnetic field, and a wide-range dam p
ing (W R D ) system, m ade o f tiny rubber and platinum discs,
said to enhance both tracking and timbral neutrality. But the
A90s real calling card was the m anufacturing process used
to create its body: selective laser m elting (SLM), whereby
individual particles o f stainless steel are welded together, one
layer at a time, to create a complex, hom ogenous stmcture
in which density and self-damping ability are m ore than
merely random.
Lest you think that SLM is ju st another initialism cooked
up by a m anufacturer or its advertising agency, I can as
sure you that it isnt. This com puter-driven manufacturing
technique, though still in its infancy, has already gained a
foothold in the manufacturing o f titanium-alloy orthopedic
appliances, w here the need for precision and consistency is
obvious.1
Thus the O rtofon Xpression is a unique blend o f the
new and the old. Its compliance is on the low side, and
the pickup heads 28gm mass is com m ensurate w ith that.
1 For evidence of this, search YouTube for university student Joel Millers very
clever video, Microstructure-Property Relationships in Ti2448 Components
Produced by Selective Laser Melting: A Love Story.
( i LISTENING
LISTENING ) ) )
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L IS T E N IN G
T h e n e w H a u t-B rio n
does n o t u se
g lo b a l f e e d b a c k ,
m a k i n g i t le s s s u i ta b l e
th a n its p re d e c e s s o r
fo r v e ry d e m a n d in g
l o u d s p e a k e r lo a d s .
to have significantly higher gain than
m ost other commercial amps. For
that reason, Ken Shindos amps are
equipped w ith left- and right-channel
gain controls, so the user can adjust
gain and channel balance in accordance
w ith his or her system and room. That
brings to m ind another change in the
new Haut-Brion: Every other Shindo
amp Ive tried has sounded its best
w ith its level control(s) turned all the
way up, and w ith only the preamp
control used to adjust volume. But in
the new H aut-Brion Ken Shindo has
exchanged his usual Cosmos potenti
om eters for a pair o f Alps 250k ohm
potsand I found that I could adjust
the new am ps level controls with
absolutely no dim inution o f clarity and
CONTACTS
Ortofon A/S,
W eb: w w w .ortofon.us.
Stavangervej 9,
D K -4 9 0 0 Nakskov, Denmark.
Shindo Laboratory
Tel: (4 5 ) 54-91-19-15
Fax: (4 5 ) 54-91-19-11
Web: w w w .ortofon.com .
US d is trib u to r: O rto fo n Inc.,
5 0 0 Executive Boulevard, Suite 102,
Ossining, NY 10562.
Tel: (914) 762-8646.
Fax: (914) 762-8649.
Web: ww w.shindo-laboratory.co.jp.
US distributor: Tone Imports.
Tel: (6 4 6 ) 42 5-7800.
W eb: w w w .toneim ports.com .
) ) )
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LISTENING ) )
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Its deathly quiet backgrounds allowed the K-5xe MP to step out o f the way o f the music... For what is these days a relatively
affordable price, it offers much o f the sound quality you can getfrom the megabucks solid-state preamps.
John Atkinson, Stereophile
A t A yre we push lim its. O u r passion is in designing p roducts th a t are years, o r even decades, ahead o f th e ir tim e,
like the K-5x pream p was in 2002. W e never stand still, and we never stop testing new ideas. But when
som ething is b u ilt to last, it shouldnt need to be replaced ju st because we continue to innovate. T h a ts why,
instead o f in tro d u cin g an endless succession o f new com ponents, we o ffe r reasonably priced
upgrades fo r o u r existing ones. Every single p ro d u c t we have ever made can be fully updated to
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W e make p rod ucts th a t w e w o u ld buy. W e make p ro d u cts th a t you can keep. C heck w ith yo u r
local A yre dealer o r give us a call to fin d o u t m ore.
B o u ld e r, C o lo r a d o w w w .a y r e .c o m 3 0 3 .4 4 2 .7 3 0 0
ENTRY
LEVEL
by STEPHEN MEJIAS
this issue: SM practices his rock-star poses while
listening to the NAD C 515BEE CD player.
49
Tech talk
I wondered if there were special
design goals for the C 515BEE. N A D s
director o f technolog)' and product
planning, Greg Stidsen, explained that
the company wanted to reach a high
level o f performance at an affordable
CONTACTS
And beyond cables, more tools for audio and video system enhancement:
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M U S IC IS LO V E IN S E AR C H O F A W O R D .
- S I D N E Y L A N IE R
by JOHN MARKS
ELEMENT
The Rules:
1) Entries m ust be received by February 29, 2012, at
stletters@ sorc.com, w ith the subject line Fantasy Sym
phony. O nly one entry per person, please. Please provide
your real nam e. W inners names, cities, and states will be
m ade public, b u t n o t their e-m ail addresses. All entries
becom e the property o f Source Interlink M edia. Stereophile
employees, and audio- and m usic-industry professionals
(as distinct from musicians and singers), may subm it lists
fo rju d g in g hors-concours, b u t they will n o t be eligible to
receive prizes.
2) Your list m ust consist o f classical compositions for
seven fantasy symphony-orchestra concert programs, as
outlined above. N o alternate picks, please. You m ust provide
the composer and the full title o f each work; additional
information, such as key or opus number, is not necessary.
Each composition m ust be the subject o f at least one
commercial recording that is currently available, w hether
new, used, on-dem and, or via download.
3) Please do not provide explanations. T he logic o f your
selections and their attractiveness should be self-evident.
Similarly, please do not nom inate soloists for any concertos
you program.
4) Judging will be entirely on the basis o f the likelihood
that a real symphony orchestra scheduling your fantasy
season will enjoy a series o f smashing artistic, critical,
popular, and financial successes.
5) Judging will be by John Marks.
6) Each o f the 12 w inners will receive a single C D o f his
or her choice from the Stereophile online store.
My Fantasy-Symphony Season
H ere are my seven fantasy-symphony concert programs.
Concert 1
T orn Takemitsu: From M e Flows What You Call Time
(1990) (32 min.)
55
THE
IS BACK!
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Intermission
Strauss
Four Last Songs
Sungs with
Orchestra
Rosenkavalier
Suite
Concert 2
Jean Sibelius: Night Ride and
Sunrise (1907) (16 min.)
Renee Fleming
<100310* 5fMPHQHV
0 r N fS T * A
Christoph
ts c h e n b a c h
Intermission
Concert 3
Roy Harris: Symphony 3 (1938)
(16 min.)
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs
(1948) (26 min.)
Intermission
Concert 4
Fikret Amirov: Struggle and
Immortality from A Tale o f Nasimi
(1969) (3 min.)
D m itri Shostakovich: Piano
Concerto 2 (1957) (22 min.)
Intermission
Concert 5
M ORTtN
L u x a e te r n a
(1915) (9 min.)
Ralph Vaughan W illiams: A n
Oxjord Elegy (l949) (24 min.)
POLYPHONY
B R IT T E N S IN F O N IA
S T E fU E N L A Y T O N
Intermission
Concert 6
Sir Jo h n Barbirolli: A n Elizabethan
Suite (1942) (l 1 min.)
Concert 7
M odest Mussorgsky: Dawn on the
Moskva River, from Khovanshchina
(1883) (8 min.)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody
on a T hem e o f Paganini, O p. 43
(1934) (25 min.)
Intermission
stereophile.com February 2012
Gustav Holst
GyOqo* Lige ti
L u x a ctcrn u
T H E A U D IO P H IL E C O L L E C T IO N
But we didn't design Clarus for its visual splendor, or even for its technology.
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w w w .n o r d o s t.c o m
T e l: + 1 -5 0 8 -8 8 1 -1 1 1 6
TH ER E AR E B O O K S O F T H E H O U R ,
A N D B O O K S OF A L L T IM E
BOOK
REVIEW
by JOHN MARKS
D ear Audiophile:
As Ive traveled aro u n d N o rth A m erica, voicing readers'
system s, th re e th in g s have b e c o m e very obvious:
1) A udiophiles have sta n d a rd s th a t are sim ply to o low.
paid to get).
2) I t s n o t really th e ir fa u lt.
T h e y a re o ff th e e q u ip m e n t
3) A d d re ssin g h o w e le c tro n s
travel in w ire an d e le c tro n ic s is
m u c h m o r e in v o lv in g m y sy ste m
an d h ow th e y are received at th e
o f h e r fa v o r ite records la s t n ig h t
a n d sh e w as a s to n is h e d w ith th e
changes. S h e ev en s e n t a te x t m e ss
age e x p la in in g to m e h o w sh e n o w
fe e ls m o re p a r t o f th e m u sic !*
a n e n d o r s e m e n t a s I c o u ld m a k e a n d I m a k e it w illingly!*
in yo u r system , go to w w w .G et-
sonal system :
W ith m y eyes closed, I a tte m p te d to o b ta in a n a u r a l
s ig n a tu re o f th e room . I c o u ld n t. N o th in g . There w a s very
ta c it reco rd in g v e n u e d a ta , y e s b u t n o n e th a t p o r tr a y e d
th e ro o m itself. I t h a d b een e n tire ly s u b tr a c te d f r o m th e
lis te n in g e q u a tio n !
This 'no sp e a k e r! se n sa tio n w a s u n ca n n y . M oreover,
(J itn S fn itk
a w a re n e ss a ll re m in d e rs o f m e c h a n ic a l s o u n d so urces a n d
G et B etter Sound: Reference Set-up M anual, DVD, an d R oom P lay " Custom Voicing.
Get better sound fro m any home audio system!
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iW
R E C O RD
CV ^ V >
AT A TIME IN HISTORY
when die music business seems less interested in making
anything o f lasting value than in churning out disposable
musichits intended to be consumed for a few days via iPod,
then left behindthe notion o f cherishing the masterpieces, the
records to die for, seems a lost art. Yet its exactly that state of
beingas when Lady Gagas latest outfit commands a bigger
spotlight than the recent Pink Floyd reissuesthat makes our
annual Records To Die For feature that much more essential.
Most audiophiles first amass a pile o f music, then go out and
get them some high-end gear. They may love their brushed
knobs and pretty lights, but ultimately its about consuming the
musicletting that timeless, resonant stuff fill your head and
your heart with an endless supply o f endlessly varied dioughts
and feelings. Somehow, real musicthe melodies youd die
stereophile.com February 2012
fordoesnt get old or lose its power. A new era gives it new
meanings, and amplifies diose youd discovered in the past.
Its art you can count ontunes diat stand the test of time.
Every year; we ask our contributing editors, bodi hardware
and music, to choose two collections o f music they cherish, and
to (briefly) tell us why. W hat follows are their impressions for
2012. Being truthful and unswayed by fashion are hallmarks of
this magazine, and things are no different here in R2D4. So
please enjoy these self-evident musical truths. Hopefully, theyll
remind you o f some o f your own. Keep listening! -Robert Bainl
Note: If a recording listed here has previously been reviewed in Stereophile,
whether in Record Reviewsor in past editions o f Records lb Die For" the
volume and number o f the pertinent issue appear in parentheses at the end o f
the review. For example, a listing o f (X X X IV - II)" means that a review o f
the recording appeared in Voi34 No.11 (November 2011).
65
DAVID R. ADLER
JOHN ATKINSON
STEVE WINWOOD
Steve Winwood
Island 842 774-2 (CD). 1977. Steve W inw ood, Chris
Blackwell, M ark M ille r M undy, prods.; Phill Brown,
eng.; Robert Ash, Ray Doyle, asst, engs.; Lee Hulko
(S terling Sound), CD m astering. AA D . TT: 37:25
TME M U S IC o r l I O l
CWCUIui lAMfll
BRIAN CARPENTER'S
GHOST TRAIN ORCHESTRA
HotHouse Stomp: The Music of 1920s
Chicago and Harlem
Brian Carpenter, trum pet, harmonica, voice; Dennis
Lichtman, clarinet; Andy Laster, alto saxophone;
M a tt Bauder, alto & tenor saxophone, clarinet;
Curtis Hasselbring, trom bone; Ron Caswell, tuba;
Brandon Seabrook, banjo; Mazz Swift, violin, vocals;
Jordan Voelker, viola; Rob Garcia, drums
Accurate 5 062 (CD). 2011. Danny Blume,
eng., mix. DDD? TT: 38:46
66
PETER GABRIEL
New Blood (Special Edition)
w ith Ane Brun, M elanie Gabriel, Thom as Cawley,
vocals; New Blood Orchestra, Louisa Fuller
(leader), Ben Foster (conductor)
Real W orld 0 0 0 3 8 (2 CDs). 2011. Peter Gabriel, prod.,
arr.; John M etcalfe, prod., arr., orchestrations, mix;
Dickie Chappell, mix, eng.; Scott Barnett,
Tobias Froberg, engs. DDD. TT: 2:32:06
JIM AUSTIN
MAJtC A N D RE
H A M L IN
MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN
Live at Wigmore Hall
February 2012 stereophile.com
CLARK TERRY
Duke with a Difference
Clark Terry, tru m p et, arr.; Johnny Hodges, alto
saxophone; Paul Gonsalves, tenor saxophone;
B ritt Woodm an, Q uentin Jackson, trom bone; Billy
Strayhorn, piano; Luther Henderson, celeste; Tyree
Glenn, vibes; Jim my Woode, bass; Sam Woodyard,
drums; M arian Bruce, vocals; M ercer Ellington, arr.
Riverside/OJC RLP-1108/OJC-229 (LP). 1957/1990.
O rrin Keepnews, prod.; Jack Higgins, Jack
M atthew s, engs. A A A . TT: 38:09
ROBERT BAIRD
OTIS REDDING
The Great Otis Redding Sings
Soul Ballads
A tc o /4 M en w ith Beards 4M 105 (LP). 1965/2011.
No prod, or eng. listed. ADA. TT: 33:59
LARRY BIRNBAUM
MUSICAL FIDELITY
Introducing the MICLiC Universal Music C ontroller
M1 CLiC features circuitry from the latest thinking at Musical Fidelity to provide equally exceptional
perform ance from any o f its ten inputs: w ired or wireless netw ork audio, digital iPod, direct USB m em ory
stick or HDD, fo u r trad ition al digital inputs, plus three pure analog inputs. W ith built-in Internet Radio, fixed
and variable outputs, all you need to do is add th e am plifier and loudspeakers of your choice, and enjoy!
ARIEL BITRAN
PHISH
Rift
Elektra 61433 (CD). 1993. Barry Beckett, prod.; Pete Greene,
Kevin Halpin, engs.; Greg Parker, asst, eng.; Chris
Bailey, Tom Walters, studio assts. AAD.? TT: 67:54
KURT ROSENWINKEL
STANDARDS TRIO
Reflections
Kurt Rosenwinkel, guitar; Eric Revis, bass;
Eric Harland, drum s
W om m usic W O M 0 0 0 2 (CD). 2 00 9 . Kurt
Rosenwinkel, prod., mix; A nders Chad Tidemann,
Stephanie Chan-Tidemann, exec, prods.;
Andy Taub, eng.; Ben Liscio, asst, eng.; M ichael
Perez-Cisneros, mastering. DDD. TT: 50:52
BOMBA ESTEREO
Blow Up
Nacional 18122 0 2 8 0 9 (CD). 2 0 0 9 . Simon M ejia,
prod.; Julian Salazar, prod., eng.; Felipe Alvarez,
eng. DDD. TT: 4 4:5 4
THOMAS CONRAD
Billy Bang
vitro*
DANIEL BUCKLEY
BILLY BANG
Vietnam: The Aftermath
Billy Bang, violin; Sonny Fortune, flute; Frank Lowe, tenor
saxophone; Ted Daniel, trumpet; John Hicks, piano;
Curtis Lundy, bass; Michael Carvin, drums; Ron Brown,
percussion; Butch Morris, conductor ("TET Offensive")
Justin Time JUST 165-2 (CD). 2001. Billy Bang, Jean-Pierre
Leduc, prods.; Jim Anderson, eng. DDD? TT: 71:21
BILL FRISELL
Disfarmer
Bill Frisell, e le ctric & acoustic guitars, loops,
m usic boxes; Greg Leisz, steel guitars, mandolin;
Jenny Scheinman, violin; V ikto r Krauss, bass
Nonesuch 478524-2 (CD), 2 00 9 . Lee Townsend,
prod.; Tucker M artine , eng. DDD? TT: 71:41
KRISKRISTOFFERSON
Jesus Was a Capricorn
M onum ent KZ 31909 (LP). 1972. Dennis Linde, Fred
Foster, prods.; Tommy Strong, M o rt Thomasson,
Gene Eichelberger, engs. A A A . TT: 31:21
ROBERT DEUTSCH
BRIAN DAMKROGER
FOLLIES
New Broadway Cast Recording
M usic & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
PS Classics PS-1105 (2 CDs). 2011. Tommy Krasker, Philip
Chaffin, prods.; Bart Migal, eng. DDD. TT: 106:57
GREG BROWN
The Live One
Red House CD 78 (CD). 1995. Greg Brown, prod.;
Don Julin, eng. DDD. TT: 69:24
ROD GILFRY
My Heart Is So Full of You
Rod G ilfry, baritone; C hristopher Denny, piano
N arratus 0 7 (CD). 2 00 6 . No prod, o r eng. listed.
DDD. TT: 69:57
ART DUDLEY
71
TOM RUSH
The Circle Game
Elektra EKS-74018 (LP). 1968. A rth u r Gorson, prod.;
Bruce Botnick, Brooks A rthur, engs. A A A . TT: 38:16
LARRY GREENHILL
MICHAEL FREMER
STEVE GUTTENBERG
ARNE DOMNERUS QUINTET
Jazz at the Pawnshop, Vol.!
HENRY MANCINI
Combo!
RCA LSP-2258 (LP). 1961. Dick Pierce, prod.; Al
Schmidt, eng. A A A . TT: 36:47
DOROTHY ASHBY
Afro-Harping
D orothy Ashby, harp, unknown m usicians
Cadet B0000027-02 (CD). 1968/2003. Richard Evans,
prod., arr.; Kevin Reeves, mastering. AAD? TT: 36:00
ROXY MUSIC
For Your Pleasure
Virgin 8 47449 2 (CD). 1973. Roxy M usic, Chris
Thomas, John Anthony, prods.; John M iddleton,
John Punter, engs. AA D . TT: 42 groovy m inutes
DAVID LANDER
ROBERT JOHNSON
rma
Molam Dub
Masterpieces by Ellington
FRED KAPLAN
JON IVERSON
JAH WOBBLE
BOBBY SHORT
Celebrates Rodgers & Hart
Bobby Short, vocals, piano; Beverly Peer, bass;
Richard Sheridan, drum s, percussion
A tla n tic 81320-2 (CD). 1975. Lew Hahn, prod.;
George Piros, mastering. A AD . TT: 76:05
RICHARD LEHNERT
p
fig
MICHAEL LAVORGNA
A s r a u v C lass * 5
gSS
ANDERSON
O rch e stral M m k * I
I'umt CtMrrrtv
Ik r lM tN iV n n
I MkHr-t atklh-
Ih v iiw
MK I w w lO rrtn C n
LEROY ANDERSON
O rchestral M usic, Vols. 7-5
LOWELL DAVIDSON
Lowell D avidson Trio
Lowell Davidson, piano; Gary Peacock, bass;
M ilford Graves, percussion
ESP 1012 (CD). 1 9 6 5 /2 0 0 8 . Tom Abbs, prod.
manager; Steven W alcott, tape transfer,
remastering; A rt C rist, eng. A A D ? TT: 4 4 :0 8
PRODUCT
OF THE YEAR
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March 2011
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'A fan o f s tra ig htforw ard heavy metal. I
o fte n dism issed m o re progressive rock acts
as b a n g o verly com p lex and norsy That
was u ntil I heard 'O blivio n.' a nd c o uld n 't
g et those vocal harm onies m elted over
tha t co ntin uo u s array o f d ru m beats and
g u ita r notes o ut of m y head. A fter hearing
it. I started fin din g so m e o f m y sim ple
favorites rather boring. They expanded m y
m etal palate.
WENDY R.. FAN. NEW YO RK. NY
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Analysis Plus
Clearaudio
Ayre
Bricasfi
Conrad-Johnson
Bryston
Croft
Katsikas Technologies
Kudos
Peachtree
Pro-ject
Perreaux
LFD
Cambridge Audio
Dali
Grado
Music Vault
PS Audio
Quad
Harbeth
Naim
Cardas
HRS
Palmer
Rega
REL
ROBERT LEVINE
a.
MOZART
Violin Concertos 3-5, K. 216, 218, 219
Andrew Manze, violin, conductor; The English Concert
Harm onia M undi H M U 807835 (CD). 2 00 6 . Robina
G. Young, prod.; Brad M ichel, eng. DDD. TT: 75:45
SZYMANOWSKI
Songs of a Fairy-Tale Princess,
Harnasie, Love Songs of Hafiz
Iwona Sobotka, soprano; Katerina Karneus, mezzosoprano; Timothy Robinson, tenor; City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
EMI Classics 44352 2 (CD). 2 0 0 6 . Stephen Johns,
prod.; M ike Clements, eng. DDD. TT: 65:13
ERICK LICHTE
TRIO MEDIAEVAL
Folk Songs
Anna M aria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Torunn
0 s tre m Ossum, vocalists; Birger Mistereggen,
percussion, Jews harp
ECM New Series 2 0 0 3 (CD). 2007. M anfred Eicher,
prod.; Peter Laenger, eng. DDD. TT: 61:35
JOHN MARKS
MICHEL LEGRAND
Legrand Jazz
M ichel Legrand, arr., conductor; H erbie M ann, flute;
Phil Woods, alto saxophone; John Coltrane, Ben
Webster, tenor saxophone; Donald Byrd, M iles
Davis, A rt Farmer, trum pet; Bill Evans, piano; Paul
Chambers, bass; others
Universal M usic France 8 3 0 074-2 (CD). 1958 /2 0 0 3.
No prod, or eng. listed; Alexis Frenkel, remastering.
AAD. TT: 44:41
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
The Great EMI Recordings
M usic of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorak,
Kodaly, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky,
Prokofiev, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, W agner
Klaus Tennstedt, Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago
Symphony, London Philharmonic & Choir, BBC Chorus
EMI Classics 94433 (14 CDs). 1978-91/2011. Various
prods., engs. A D D /D D D . TT: 15:54:44
STEPHEN MEJIAS
SONIC YOUTH
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
DGC DGC24632 (C S /C D /LP ). 1994. Butch Vig,
prod., eng.; John Siket, asst, eng.; Howie W einberg,
m astering. A A D TT: 47:37
PAUL MESSENGER
SYD BARRETT
Wouldn't You Miss Me?
The Best of Syd Barrett
H arvest/C apitol 5 32320 2 (CD). 2001. Syd Barrett,
Peter Jenner, M alcolm Jones, Roger Waters, David
Gilmour, Rick W right, prods. AAD ? TT: 73:24
JONI MITCHELL
Mingus
A sylum AS 53 091 (LP), W arner Bros. 7559605572
(CD). 1979/1986. Joni M itchell, Steve Katz, mix;
Henry Lewy, Jerry Solomon, eng., mix; Bernie
Grundman, mastering. A A A /A A D . TT: 37:20
FRED MILLS
KALMAN RUBINSON
ROBERT J. REINA
HOLLAND BAROQUE SOCIETY
WITH MILOS VALENT
Barbaric Beauty: Telemann &
18th-Century Dance Transcriptions
LADY GAGA
LED ZEPPELIN
IV
A tla n tic SC-7208 (LP). 1971. Jimmy Page, prod.;
A ndy Johns, eng. A A A . TT: 42:25
GARY WILSON
Electric Endicott
Western Vinyl WEST079 (CD). 2010. Gary W ilson,
prod., eng. DDD. TT: 32:08
KORNGOLD: SYMPHONY IN
F-SHARP MAJOR
Much Ado About Nothing
Marc Albrecht, Orchestra Philharmonique de Strasburg
Pentatone Classics PTC 5186 373 (S ACD/CD). 2010.
W olfram Nehls, prod., eng.; Job Maarse, prod.;
Philipp Knop, eng. DDD. TT: 67:41
LELAND RUCKER
'O
r 'A
GILLIAN WELCH
The Harrow & the Harvest
Acony ACNY1109 (CD). 2011. David Rawlings, prod.;
M a tt Andrews, eng. AAD. TT: 45:58
M ARKUSSAUER
TINARIWEN
Tassili
A n ti- 87148-2 (CD). 2011. Jean Paul Romann, prod.,
eng.; Ian Brennan, prod.; A ndris Balins, Jake Eckert,
Tom Schick, M ark W heaton, engs. DDD. TT: 53:54
DAVID SOKOL
TEDDYBEARS
Devil's Music
Big B eat/A tla n tic 2527035 (CD). 2011. Teddybears,
prods.; Seb Roc, Herman Soderstrom, Graham
Marsh, Janne Hansson, Joe Corey, engs. AAD. TT;
3 4 :0 6
GIL SCOTT-HERON
I'm New Here
XL 4 09 6 2 52 (CD). 2010. Richard Russell, prod.;
Rodaidh M cDonald, eng., mix; Ichiho Nishiki, eng.
DDD? TT: 28:25
SON VOLT
Trace
W arner Bros. 46010-2 (CD). 1995. Son Volt, Brian
Paulson, prods.; Hans Buff, Steve M cKinstry, engs.
AAD ? TT: 42:12
JOHN SWENSON
SAM TELLIG
SCHUBERT
Impromptus & Dances
Impromptus, D.899 Nos. 1-4, D.935 Nos. 1 & 2;
Landler (excerpts); Waltzes, D.145 & D.980
Vassily Primakov, piano
Bridge 9327 (CD). 2010. Becky Starobin, exec, prod.;
David Starobin, prod.; Viggo Mangor, eng.; Adam
Abeshouse, mastering. DDD. TT: 76:22
HANDEL
Water Music, Suites in F, G, D;
Rodrigo Overture
M arc M inkowski, Les M usicians du Louvre-Grenoble
Naive V5234 (CD). 2010. Jean-Pierre Loisil, prod.;
Laure Casanava-Pere, eng.;
Etienne Grossien, asst. eng. DDD. TT: 67:32
E Q U IP M E N T R E PO R T
JOHN ATKINSO N
Bricasti Design Mi
D/A CONVERTER
SPECIFICATIONS
Description Description
24-bit, 8x-oversampling
delta-sigma digital/analog
converter w ith seven choices
of reconstruction filter.
Digital inputs: AES/EBU
on XLR, S/PDIF electrical
on RCA and BNC, S/PDIF
optical on TosLink. W ordclock input on BNC. Analog
outputs: 2 stereo (1 XLR, 1
82
1kHz: 0 .0 0 0 6 % at OdBFS,
0 .0 0 0 4 % at -30dBFS. Jitter:
8ps at 48kHz, 6ps at 96kHz.
Power consumption: 28W
(6 W in standby).
Dimensions 17" (432m m )
W by 2.5" (6 4 m m ) H by 11
(2 8 0 m m ) D. Weight: 12 lbs
(5.5kg).
Finish Black anodized
aluminum.
ERIC SWANSON
Technology
O ther than a central signal-processing board and its switch
m ode power supply, the M l s internal constmction is dual
mono. The analog circuitry for each channel is constructed
on an Arlon printed-circuit board (another echo o f Mark
Levinson gear); the layouts o f the two channels components
m irror each other. Each channel is powered by its own
toroidal AC transformer m ounted behind the front panel,
followed by extensive voltage regulation.
The selected digital input is fed to a large Analog Devices
ADSP-21368 SH A RC digital signal-processing chip. This ap
pears to include the S /P D lF receiver, and also manages the
front-panel display and controls, synchronizes the clocking o f
each channels D /A converter, and provides the oversampled
reconstruction filters. Also on this board are a Xilinx FPGA
chip and another Analog Devices processor, an ADSP-BF532
Black Fin chip. Each channels oversampled and low-passfiltered data are fed to its board via ribbon cable, where
theyre converted to analog with an Analog Devices A D 1955
24-bit/192kH z chip. The AD 1955 is a two-channel part, but
in the M l, each chip is operated in differential-output mode
for increased dynamic range. T he D /A converters differential
current outputs are followed by four liigh-slew-rate (250V/(j.s)
MEASUREMENTS
' used Stereophile's loan sample of
the top-of-the-line Audio Precision
SYS2722 system to measure the
Bricasti Ml (see www.ap.com and
the January 2008 "As We See It," http:/'
tinyurl.com/4ffpve4); for some tests, I
also used my vintage Audio Precision
System One Dual Domain and the Miller
Audio Research Jitter Analyzer.
L . .. .
.
Fig.1 Bricasti M l, Filter 4, im pulse response (4m s
tim e window ).
84
Sound Quality
O ther than the digital processing board, th e M i's construction is tru e dual-m ono.
85
-JO H N ZUREK
Positive Feedback - Issue 50
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aware *
Comparisons
I first compared the Bricasti M l with the Weiss DAC202
($6670, reviewed by Erick Lichte in January 2012), and
then with the dCS Debussy ($10,999, reviewed by Michael
Frem er in January 2011), which since its review has had its
USB input updated to handle audio data with sample rates
up to 192kHz. The DAC202 was connected via an Audio
Q uest FireW ire cable to my Mac minis FireW ire port. The
hard drive containing my T im es library was connected via
another AudioQuest FireW ire cable to the DAC202. (The
odier option, connecting the drive
between the Mac mini and the
The
DAC202, resulted in occasional
Bricasti Mi
clicks.4) As the Mac cant send
audio data simultaneously
offered superb
through its USB and FireW re
soundstaging,
ports, for direct comparisons I fed
extended and
the Weisss AES/EBU output
to the Bricasti M l or the dCS
weighty low
Debussy. Playback was with Pure
frequencies,
Music, and the output levels o f all
three processors were matched to
and a cleanly
within 0.1 dB at 1kHz.
musical
Erick Lichte called it cor
midrange.
rectly: The Weiss DAC202
sounds smoother than the dCS
Debussy. However, w hen I listened to Singing the Blues,
from Robert Plant and Alison Krausss Raising Sand (24/96
ALAC file converted from FLAC, R ounder/H D tracks
11661), the Weiss, set to its slow-rolloff Filter B, sounded
softer in the bass than both the English and the American
4 I at first thought these clicks due to digital clipping, but the M ls display menu
includes the option to individually log the numocrs of digital overs for the left
and right channels. There were none, so I had to look for a different solution to
the problem, which was to change the FireWire cable setup.
measurements, continued
*>>
87
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ALPH A
D E G IC n L A 3 G
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Venetian 30-215
Sec yo u there!
measurements, continued
Fig.11 Bricasti M l, spectrum of 50H z sinewave, DC1kHz, at OdBFS in to 6 0 0 ohm s (le ft channel blue,
righ t red; linear frequency scale).
89
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Conclusions
I agree w ith John Marks: Bricasti Designs M l is a Class
A+ digital processor. I would add that it is priced relatively
reasonably for w hat it offers in terms o f both sound and build
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
Digital Sources Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP& DX-5 universal
players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OSIO.5.8, iTunes 10,
Pure Music 1.84; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard &
dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar
2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Weiss DAC202,
Logitech Transporter D/A converters; Halide S/PDIF Bridge,
Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converters.
Preamplifier Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP.
Power Amplifiers Classe CT-M600, MBL Reference 9007
(both monoblocks).
Loudspeakers BBC LS3/5a, Sonus Faber Amati Futura, TAD
Compact Reference CR1.
Cables Digital: DH Labs Silver Sonic, AES/EBU; AudioQuest
Coffee, Belkin Gold, USB; AudioQuest Diamond, FireWire.
Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest Wild. Speaker:
AudioQuest Wild. AC: PS Audio Lab, manufacturers' own.
Accessories Target TT-5 equipment racks; Ayre Acoustics
Myrtle Blocks; ASC Tube Traps, RPG Abffusor panels;
Shunyata Research Dark Field cable elevators; Audio Power
Industries 116 Mk.ll & PE-1, APC S-15 AC line conditioners
(computers, hard drive). AC power comes from two dedicated
20A circuits, each just 6D from breaker box.J o h n A tk in s o n
measurements, continued
91
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E Q U IP M E N T REPORT
ROBERT DEUTSCH
GoldenEar Technology
Triton Two
LOUDSPEAKER
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
Pricc $ 2 499.98/pair.
A pproxim ate num ber of
dealers: 150.
M a n u fa ctu re r GoldenEar
Technology, PO Box 141,
Stevenson, M D 21153.
Tel: (410) 998-9134.
Fax: (410) 3 5 6 -0 8 0 8 .
w w w.goldenear.com .
G O L D E N E A R T E C H N O L O G Y T R IT O N T W O L O U D S P E A K E R
a strange lot. W e like to say that the only thing that matters
is sound quality; w hat a product looks like is relegated to the
somewhat pejorative W fe Acceptance Factor. Yet more than
one audio designer has told me that, whatever people may say,
a products appearance is o f profound importance in determin
ing its appealand not ju st because o f the little woman. O ne
designer said, If I somehow managed to design the perfect
speaker but it was ugly, nobody would buy it, no matter how
good it sounded. Contrast diis widi the form follows function
principle o f industrial design, and you haw a potential conflict
between appearance and functionality.
T he GoldenEar Triton T w o strikes m e as representing an
unusually felicitous combination o f appearance and function.
Eschewing the fine furniture look o f some high-end
speakers, and not likely to attract attention solely for its
appearance, the Triton T w o has an elegance o f its own:
streamlined, w ith a curved, tapered shape, a small footprint,
and a base plinth and top plate finished in shiny piano black.
T he narrowness o f its front baffle not only contributes to its
slim appearance, but is functional in reducing the effects o f
diffraction. The sidewalls are nonparallel, to reduce internal
standing waves. According to Sandy Gross, the cloth sock
that covers the speaker is not ju st for appearance, a n d /o r
a cost-effective way o f finishing the cabinet, but serves an
acoustical purpose, providing additional dam ping o f the cab
inet walls. T he cabinet itself is made o f high-density Medite,
a form o f fiberboard, w ith considerable internal bracing, and
features a separate subenclosure for the midrange drivers.
This subenclosure is itself divided, by an angled board, into
two sub-subenclosures o f unequal size.
T he Triton T w o uses high-tech drivers o f GolderEars
ow n design, made especially for them . T he tweeter, which
G oldenEar calls a High-Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR), is
a variation o f an accordion-like ribbon transducer, the Air
M otion Transformer, invented by Oscar Heil. T he claimed
The Triton Two's tw eeter is a developm ent of the Heil A ir M o tion Transformer.
M EASUREM ENTS
^ ^ y ^ j h e GoldenEar Triton Two's
B-weighted sensitivity
on its tw e e te r axis was
J L
91 dB /2.83V /m , w h ich both
agrees w ith the specified figure and is
sig nifica ntly higher than the norm . The
electrical im pedance (fig.1) drops below
4 ohm s in the m idrange and above the
audioband. Though there is a com bina
tion o f 4.2 ohm s m agnitude and -4 5
electrical phase angle at 150Hz, due to the
high-pass filte r in the feed to the midrange
units, the speaker w ill not be too difficult
for the partnering am plifier to drive.
Although the traces in fig.1 are free
from the small discontinuities that would
im ply the existence of cabinet resonances,
there is a small peak o f unknown origin
in the m agnitude trace between 5 0 0
and 60 0 H z. Investigating the vibrational
behavior of the enclosure walls w ith
a sim ple plastic-tape accelerometer, I
found a strong resonant m ode at 66 4H z
on both the rear panel and on the side
94
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Fig.2 GoldenEar Triton Two, cum ulative spectraldecay p lot calculated from o utp ut of accelerom eter
fastened to center of side panel adjacent to lower
m idrange u nit (M LS d riving voltage to speaker,
7.55V; measurem ent bandw idth, 2kHz).
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
G O L D E N E A R T E C H N O L O G Y T R IT O N T W O L O U D S P E A K E R
w hat looks like a KEF B139 oval bass driver. These are actual
ly 7" by 10" passive devices called Quadratic Planar Infrasonic
Radiators, said to function like a transmission line but with
superior transient performance and control. These subbass
radiators, m ounted low on the side panels, take advantage o f
floor coupling as well as acoustical coupling with each other.
The actual bass heavy lifting is carried out by the two 5"
by 9", ultra-long-throw Q uadratic Sub-Bass drivers m ounted
on the f o n t baffle. These are driven by a 1200W class-D
amplifier, also o f GoldenEars design. T he intrinsic total
harm onic distortion o f the amplifier circuit before the ap
plication o f negative feedback is said to be less than 0.1%.
T he crossover frequency to the subwoofer section is fixed
at about 150Hz, w ith the low-pass itself and the subwoofer
equalization done in the digital domain, allowing for greater
accuracy o f filter points com pared to an analog crossover.
T he crossover param eters were developed through both
measurem ent and critical listening. T heres a knob on the
back panel for setting the subwoofer level.
The design o f the Triton T w o was refined by an engi
neering team o f nine in Arnprior, outside Ottawa, O ntario,
utilizing a developm ent facility w ith a full-sized calibrated
anechoic cham ber of the same size as the one at Canadas
National Research Council, also in Ottaw'a. T he speakers
themselves are made in China.
Setup
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
The response of the Triton Two's m idrange units (fig.3, black trace) rolls off
rapidly below 150Hz w ith w hat appears
to be a fou rth -orde r slope. The upperfrequency balance is fairly uniform , but
w ith slight lacks of energy in the m id
range and m id-treble. The ripples in the
Triton Two's high-frequency o u tp u t w ill
be due to reflections from the perforated
cage in front of the drive-units. They w ill
not be audible. I repeated this measure
m ent w ith o u t the speaker's cloth cover
ing. The difference (no t show n) was a
slight increase in the tw eeter's output.
W hile fig.3 suggests that even w ith the
cloth cover in place, the tweeter's output
is a bit hot in the top octave, this w ill add
a little air to the sound rather than sound
ing tipped up. However, the Triton Two's
lateral dispersion (fig .4 ) suggests that,
in a typical room, this slight excess w ill
also be offset by the fact th a t the tw eeter
becomes m ore directional in the same re
gion, the result being a neutrally balanced
95
G O L D E N E A R T E C H N O L O G Y T R IT O N T W O L O U D S P E A K E R
sion but also the blend o f the m id- and low bass. I let Sandy
Gross, w ho o f course has extensive experience w ith these
speakers, set the subwoofer levels, and the results sounded
fine to me. However, after he and G rant had left, I did some
more o f tweaking o f the subwoofer levels, using the test
tones on Stereophiltfs first Test CD (Stereophile STPH002-2)
and the AudioTools app for the iPhone4. Adjusting the
subwoofer level to produce a more nearly flat measured
response dow n to 20H z resulted in the Triton Tw os level
controls being set at 12 oclockconsiderably higher than
Grosss 9 oclock setting.
W hile the bass w ith these settings was certainly impres
sive, over tim e I came to feel that it was too generous, too
bass-heavy. I then turned dow n the sub-level control a little
at a time, each tim e listening for the change in sound, even
tually ending up about halfway betw een the level that Gross
had set and the one based on my measurements.
Amplification
I used three amplifiers in my evaluation o f the Triton Two: the
Audiopax Model 88 Mk.II (30Wpc, tubed) and the Simaudio
Moon Evolution W -7 (150Wpc, solid-state) power amplifiers,
both paired with Convergent Audio Technologys SL-1 Renais
sance tubed preamplifier; and, as a real world alternative, the
PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amplifier (35Wpc,
tubed; review in the works). My observations o f the Triton
Tw os sound represent a sort o f averaging o f w hat I heard
across the three amplifiers, with differences as noted.
Sound
measurements, continued
treble, as RD found in his auditioning.
Overall, this speaker's off-axis behavior
is sm ooth and even. In the vertical plane
(fig.5), suckouts develop in the m id-treble
for extrem e off-axis angles, but the Triton
Two m aintains its balance over quite a
wide w indow centered on the tweeter
axis, which is 39" from the floor.
In the tim e domain, the GoldenEar's
step response on the tw eeter axis (fig .6 )
96
Fig.7 GoldenEar Triton Two, cum ulative spectraldecay p lot on tw eeter axis at 5 0 " (0.15ms risetim e).
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
G O L D E N E A R T E C H N O L O G Y T R IT O N T W O L O U D S P E A K E R
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
97
H I G H - E N D SEPARATES
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F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
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2009
EDITORS'
CHOICE
AWARD
2009
EDITORS'
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AWARD
In a Nutshell then, the new ORTOFON 2 M BLUE AND RED moving magnet cartridges
offer a thoroughly m odem sound th a t suits todays albums. Both are highly revealing
and an engaging listen th a t is nothing other than very impressive a t the price.
G O L D E N E A R T E C H N O L O G Y T R IT O N T W O L O U D S P E A K E R
for the price o f a pair o f U no Nanos, and still have money left
over for some really good interconnects. But if price is not a
deterrent, the Avantgardes will give you a closer approximation
o f live music.
The fact is, I was quite content to listen to music through
the Triton Twos. In my high-end system, whose speaker
cables cost more than the GoldenEars, there was no indication
that the speakers were a weak link in the chain. I was in no
hurry to switch back to my Avantgardes.
Conclusions
ASSOCIATED E Q U IP M E N T
D ig ita l sources A yre A coustics CX-7eMP CD player.
Pream plifiers Simaudio M oo n Evolution P-7, Convergent
A udio Technology SL-1 Renaissance.
Power A m p lifie rs A udiopax M odel 88 M k.II monoblocks,
Sim audio M oon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers A vantgarde Uno Nano, Focal Chorus 8 2 6 W
Anniversary Edition, M o n ito r A ud io Platinum PL200.
Cables Interconnect, speaker, AC: N ordost Valhalla.
Accessories Totem A coustic Beaks, PS A ud io PerfectW ave
Power Plant 5 power conditioner, A rcici Suspense Rack,
PolyCrystal a m p lifie r stands, Furutech RD-2 CD
demagnetizer, N ordost AC and TC Sort K onesRobert Deutsch
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s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
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E Q U IP M E N T REPORT
LARRY GREENHILL
Externals
Like most subwoofers these days, the D BI has its own amplifier,
uses equalization to generate powerful deep bass output from a
small enclosure, and contains a self-optimizing setup program.
This approach has proven more popular with buyers than subs
that rely on a large enclosure to generate deep bass.
SPECIFICATIONS
D e scriptio n Powered
subw oofer in sealed
enclosure. D rive-units: tw o
12" long-throw Rohacellcone woofers, each w ith
3.66" voice-coil and
11-lb m agnet. Frequency
response: 17-145Hz, i43dB .
Passband of au tom atic room
com pensation: not stated.
Low-pass filte r: 40 -12 0H z
(adjustable), slope, phase.
High-pass filte r: no option.
Total harm onic d isto rtion :
not specified. A m plifier:
1 0 0 0 W RMS. Rated power
consum ption: 3 0 0 W . Input
impedance: 15k ohms.
Signal/noise ratio: >100dB.
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
103
B O W E R S & W IL K IN S D B 1 S U B W O O F E R
IS
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105
T h e A w a r d - W in n in g
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B O W E R S & W IL K IN S D B I S U B W O O F E R
Setup
I unpacked the D B I and moved it into the right corner o f
my living room, behind one o f my Q uad ESL-989 speakers,
positioned so its control panel and display faced out into the
room, and each o f its two drivers faced one sidewall. The
Quads sat 8' apart, 5' from the front wall and 3' from the
sidewalls, slightly toed-in to my listening chair and driven by
a Mark Levinson N o.334 dual-mono solid-state amplifier.
M y chair was 10' from each Quad. The D B I was connected
to the outputs o f my Bryston BP-26 preamplifier via two 6m,
unbalanced, line-level interconnects.
The B & W D B 1 has one o f the easiest and quickest setup
routines Ive encountered w ith a subwoofer o f this sophisti
cation. Setup took less than 10 minutes, w hether by ear or by
gear. (See Sidebar, B & W Room Acoustics Compensation).
Sound
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
1 9 2 K H Z / 2 4 B I T & 9 6 K H Z / 2 4 B I T H IG H - R E S O L U T IO N D O W N L O A D S
L IN E R N O T E S A N D A L B U M A R T
JARRETT
ROB THOMAS
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B O W E R S & W IL K IN S D B I S U B W O O F E R
p ro d u c in g
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F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
ASSOCIATED EQ U IPM E N T
Analog Sources Linn Sondek-Lingo turntable with Lingo
power supply, Ittok tonearm; Spectral cartridge; DaySequerra FM Reference Signature tuner.
D ig ita l Sources Bryston BCD-1 CD player, Bryston BDP-1
digital transport with USB-2 flash drives and external USB
hard drive, Bryston BDA-1 D /A converter, NetGear W N -350
wireless router connected to BDP-1 via Ethernet.
P re a m p lifie r Bryston BP-26.
Power A m p lifie rs Mark Levinson ML-2 monoblocks, No.334,
No.27.5, No.532H.
Loudspeakers Quad ESL-989; Velodyne DD-18, JL Audio
Fathom f113 subwoofers.
Cables Digital: Bryston, Hosa AES/EBU; W ireworld Starlight
Coaxial S/PDIF. Interconnect: Mark Levinson Silver, Red
Rose Silver One, Totem Acoustic Sinew single-ended, Pure
Silver, Bryston balanced. Speaker: QED X-TUBE 400, Pure
Silver R50 biwire double ribbon, Ultralink Excelsior 6N OFHC,
Coincident Speaker Technology CST1.
Accessories Bryston Universal Silver BR-2 remote control,
Torus RM-20 Power Isolation Unit, ATI SLM-100 analog soundlevel meter. Listening room: 26' L by 13' W with 12' H semi
cathedral ceiling, moderately furnished with sound-absorbing
furniture. Left wall has large bay window covered by Hunter
Douglas Duette Honeycomb fabric shades. Rear of room opens
through 8 by 4' doorway into 25' by 15' kitchen.larry Greenhin
Comparisons
Listening also to the Velodyne DD-18 ($4999) andJL Audio
Fathom f ll3 ($3600) subwoofers allowed me to better grasp
the characteristics o f the B & W D B I ($4500). The similarly
priced DD -18 has a high-pass filter and a larger driver (18"),
and uses servo correction; its audible bass power seemed
on a par with the D B ls. The D B I and Velodyne produced
the m ost room lock. T he less-expensive JLA Fathom fl 13
had slightly better pitch definition. I heard a deeper, wider
soundstage w hen I had two fl 13 subwoofers playing in
stereo, compared with the single D BI, but I didnt have two
identical pairs o f D B I s or Velodynes to determ ine if either
could do as well. Even with these differences, however, I
could easily live with any o f these subwoofers.
Conclusions
The B & W D B I proved to be a real pocket rocket, produc
ing from a relatively small enclosure taut, powerful deep bass
with outstanding pitch definition. Add to that its fine cabine
try and the ease and convenience o f running B & W s Room
Acoustics Compensation software and setup adjustments
from my listening chair, and the D B I really excelled.
As a two-channel guy, I would have preferred that B & W
included a switchable high-pass filter for managing the bass,
so that I could obtain that extra bit o f dynamic range from
my Quads w ithout clipping, but the combination o f D B I
and ESL-989s sounded so good that it more than offset my
frustration with having to keep the volume lower. However,
D B ls ability to blend sonically with my Q uad electrostatics,
more than justifies its high asking price. And the ability to
fine-tune its performance from the listening chair is a truly in
novative step in making subwoofer setup easier, more feasible,
and ultimately more reliable. These strengths put the D B I on
my short list o f recommended subwoofers.
109
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Is Vivid Audio's G 1 Giya the best loudspeaker I have ever heard ? Yes."
Wes Philips, Stereophile July 2010 (USA)
"Its hard to stress ju st how well the G 1 Giya addresses the problem s that
usually afflict loudspeakers, it m anages to seem ingly elim inate perceived
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Jason Kennedy, HIFi->- issue 70 (UK)
"It is the Giya's so u n d that steals the show, conveying m usic with obvious
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low frequencies."
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/
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E Q U IP M E N T REPORT
ERICK LICHTE
SPECIFICATIONS
D e scriptio n Versatile
accessories to solve room
acoustics problems.
D iffu s o rs (all 4 2 " H):
CRV1442D Small D iffuso r
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
113
s te r e o p h ile
IN G R A N D T R A D IT IO N
A U D IO
K Ix a v
&
show
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A C O U S T IC G E O M E T R Y C U R V E S Y S T E M R O O M T R E A T M E N T S
J o h n C a ld e r
m gued
th c aPProacly n d as
The Curve system joined EL's Revel F30s in his listening room note the butcher
block stand in the center.
Curvology
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
115
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keep its
shape and
diffusive prop
erties for a very
long time, says
Acoustic Geome
try. W hen I pressed
for m ore informa
tion, Calder wouldnt
say what the material
actually is. It looked to
m e like a cross betw een body
arm or and egg cartons. H eck if I know w hat it is. Behind it is
a thick sheet o f recycled cotton (denim, from the looks o f it),
with metal screens on the units ends covering the holes to the
space behind each arc. Each units rear panel is covered widi a
sheet o f thick vinyl, which Calder calls his Mass-Loaded-Vinyl
(MLV) membrane. According to him, MLV is highly efficient
compared to fiberglass for absorbing bass; combined with
their diaphragmatic absorption, Curve Diffusors help control
low- and midbass frequencies and diffuse everything else. In
fact, thats my basic acoustic philosophycontrol the bass and
diffuse the rest, with the right balance o f absorption.
The Absorbers are essentially the same design as the Dif
fusors, but have an acoustically transparent rather than a
solid diffusing front and dont include the MLV m embrane;
instead, they give the cotton open access to the room. The
C orner Trap is a triangular wooden frame filled w ith re
cycled cotton; a M edium Diffusor serves as the faceplate. Its
among the lightest corner traps I have encountered.
ASSOCIATED E Q U IP M E N T
In Treatm ent
My listening room is 11' 8" wide by 18' long, with 8' ceilings
at the front and 7' ceilings behind the listening position. The
floor is concrete, with a very thick pad and shag-I mean
friezecarpeting. W hen I remodeled and renovated the room
a little over a year ago, I even had the studs shimmed out to
make the double-hung drywall on the sidewalls nonparallel.
Even naked, its a good-sounding roomall my audio buddies
agree that Im lucky to have this space. Normally, the room
is nominally treated with four Echo Busters panels along the
sidewalls, placed at the points o f the first and second reflections.
Until the Curve System, I hadnt triedo r even felt the need
to mess with the sound m uch more.
M y initial com plem ent o f Curve System models comprised
two M edium Absorbers ($299.99 each) placed at the firsts te r e o p h ile .c o m
Curve Ball
After Id lived with the Curve System for about a m onth,
John Calder called, wanting to give my treated room a listen.
I invited him over one afternoon and we listened to some
tunes. At one point, I got the hankering to play for him one
o f the choral C D s Id produced for Cantus and that JA had
engineered. I left the music playing as I searched for the right
disc, my back to the listening area. All o f a sudden, I was
aware that the sound o f my system had drastically changed.
W hat did you do? This sounds way better!
I switched the Absorbers and the Diffusors positions,
he said.
Indeed, now the Diffusors were diffusing the first sidewall
reflections and the Absorbers were absorbing the second re
flections. I found the difference astounding. H ie tonal balance
was completely unaffected by the flip-flop o f the panels, but
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
117
A
A
X
U
P
E
O
N
N
O
A
A
/
March 9-12 - Jacksonville, Florida
Headlining the expo is a live concert weekend by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (March 8 -1 0 )
in a world-class hall designed for an acoustically intimate experience.
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A C O U S T IC G E O M E T R Y C U R V E S Y S T E M R O O M T R E A T M E N T S
Diffusion
Sum m er has gone, the sweet-corn stands have
been packed up for the winter, and Ive moved
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
" F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
A great listening room should be measured by m em ories o f music, laughter, and foolish dancing.
119
NOWW
ITHM
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Marshall Nack
Senior Assistant Editor, Positive Feedback
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FOLLOW-UP
/
by ROBERT DEUTSCH,
t h is is s u e :
In his May 2011 column, Sam Tellig enthused about die sound
o f the new DAC from UK-based Rega Research.1 The Rega
DAC had a richness, a fullness o f tone, an analog sense o f ease,
that I had not hitherto heard from digital, save for SACD, Sam
wrote. I heard a naturalness, an organic quality to the sound___
I enjoyed that richness of tone: body, weight, authority.
Jon Iverson listened to the Rega DA C while preparing
his review o f the Peachtree Audio iDac in the O ctober 2011
issue. W hile Jo n agreed w ith Sam about the Regas low
frequencies, he wasnt convinced that this was a benefit.
Com pared with the Peachtree, the Rega had a slightly
heavier feel in the bottom end and added girth to voices (I
was surprised at how noticeable this bass boost was), he
wrote, while his ex-audio retailer listening buddy Bruce
Rowley added that, against Jo ns long-term reference, the
Benchmark DAC 1, the Rega [sounded] w arm er but a bit
fuzzy.. . . the Rega adds body to vocals.
It seems obvious that both Sam and Jon were describing
the same character but differed in their value judgments,
something diat might well have been system dependent. (This
is why Stercophiles reviewers always list their review systems.)
There was also some debate about the Rega D A Cs USB
input. As Sam wrote, this uses the Burr-Brown PCM2707
USB receiver chip, which is limited to data rates o f 48kH z
and below and word lengths o f 16 bits. According to the
Regas designer, Terry Bateman, the DA Cs PCM2707
reclocks the incoming datastream on the fly, in order to
avoid data loss and reduce jitter. I had assumed that by this
Bateman was referring to the statement, in Burr-Browns
datasheet for the PCM2707, that it employs SpAct architecmre, [Texas Instrum ents] unique system that recovers the
audio clock from USB packet data. Sam reported Bateman
as saying that this is w hat would be achieved by DACs that
use an asynchronous USB connection.
Ayre Acoustics Charles Hansen took issue w ith that
statement. In a letter published in the July 2011 Stereophile
(p.133), he w rote that the Rega DA Cs USB receiver oper
ates in w hat is called adaptive mode, in which the DA C is
completely controlled by the computer. The optimal means
o f operating an audio USB interface, w rote Hansen, is called
asynchronous, in which timing errors in the incoming
datastream are absorbed by a small buffer and the audio data
are clocked out by a local, fixed-frequency master clock.
In an asynchronous USB receiver, H ansen continued, the
D A C is in charge of the entire system, and the com puter is
slaved to it. By contrast, the master audio clock in an adap
tive USB D A C must be variable in frequency. (This allows
the unit to adapt to the timing variations in each computer.)
B ut if all else is equal, a variable-frequency clock will always
have higher levels o f jitter than a fixed-frequency clock.
I asked Regas US distributor to send m e a sample o f the
1 Tlie Rega DAC costs $995. Rega Research, Ltd., 6 Coopers Way,
Temple Farm Industrial Estate, Southend 0 11 Sea, Essex, England SS2 5TE, UK.
Web: www.rcga.co.uk. US distributor: Sound Organisation,
11140 Petal St., Ste. 350, Dallas, TX 75238. Tel: (972) 234-0182.
Web: www.soundorg.com.
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
F O L L O W -U P
Y
1
i
4
response at
-12dBFS in to 100k ohms w ith data sampled at:
192kHz (le ft channel green, righ t gray), 96kHz
(le ft cyan, righ t m agenta), 44.1kHz (le ft blue, right
red). (0 .2 5 dB /vertica l div.)
* TI
a
40
**
-vm
J L lii
122
ta
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
F O L L O W -U P
o f 1kHz sinewave,
D C -lkH z, at: OdBFS (le ft channel blue, right red),
-40dBFS (le ft cyan, rig h t magenta), -60dBFS (le ft
blue, righ t red). (Linear frequency scale.)
Fig.10 Rega DAC, spectrum o f 1kHz sinewave, DClkH z, at OdBFS in to 6 0 0 ohm s (le ft channel blue,
righ t red; linear frequency scale).
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
spectrum of
analog o u tp u t signal, 11.025kHz at -6dBFS, sampled
at 44.1kHz w ith LSB toggled at 229Hz: 16-bit data
via 15D TosLink S/PDIF from AP SYS2722 (le ft
channel cyan, righ t m agenta), 2 4 -b it data (le ft blue,
rig h t red). Center frequency o f trace, 11.025kHz;
frequency range, 43.5kHz.
Miller
123
" e x t r a o r d in a r ily
p o w e r fu l...
u n c o lo r e d ...
n a t u r a l"
- John Atkinson, Stereophile
(8 0 0 ) 4 7 4 - H IF I (4 4 3 4 )
124
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
attributes m entioned
above, and sounded dead
neutral except for a very
slight bite in the lower
high frequencies. W hen
I sent that unit back to
John C url at Vendetta
for its B upgrade, that
bite was eliminated. A
few years later, w hen I
had my SCP-2B upgrad
ed to D status, all o f its
strengths were improved
by another notch.
The Vendetta SCP2D is the quietest audio com ponent
Ive ever had. Every rime I changed
a com ponent in my system, I needed
to touch the Vendettas cabinet to feel
the slight w arm th that verifies that its
on (it has no pilot light)turning the
pream plifiers volume up to max gave
me no hint. Its also the m ost reliable
com ponent Ive ever had in my system.
T he SCP-2 has no o n /o ff switch;
except for two moves o f house and
the two trips back to Curl for updates,
my SCP-2 has been turned on for 22
years, and has run flawlessly the w hole
time.
A bout 10 years ago, Jo h n C url asked
Gifted
listener
Audio
A Real Hi Fi Shop
W here M usic
Still M atters
if Id like a significant update to the
Vendetta, based on the phono stage
hed incorporated into his C T C Blow
torch preamplifier ($15,000), which
hed designed with Carl Thom pson
and the late Bob Crum p. But w hen
he indicated that the changes in the
sound would be m ore significant than
the B and D upgrades, I declined. I was
afraid to risk the loss o f m y SCP-2D s
gorgeous sound, or lack thereof.
Although it5s no longer available, its
significant that the solid-state SCP-2
has rem ained in my reference system
longer than any other electronic
com ponent, given my preference for
S in c e 1 9 8 9 , t h e
H a v e n f o r M u s ic
L o v e rs in
th e
W a s h in g to n D C
M e tro A re a .
A y r e A c o u s tic s
B ry s to n
G ra d o
L in n
M agnepan
M a ra n tz
Known By The
C om panies We Keep
M a r k L e v in s o n
N itt y G r itty
R ega
Sonus Faber
T ra n s p a re n t
T h ie l
V a n d e rs te e n
V ie n n a A c o u s tic s
V T L
Design, Installation,
Calibration, Service
Trade-Ins & Consignm ents
welcome
Visit soon.
5 7 2 0 P ic k w ic k R o a d
C e n t r e v ille , V ir g in ia
Wilson Sasha
7 0 3 -8 1 8 - 8 0 0 0
105 W hitney Avenue, New Haven, C T 06510 203-777-1750
w w w .take5audio.com
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
125
F O L L O W -U P
126
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
F O L L O W -U P
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Jo h n A tkinson
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F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
STEWART FILM
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UNIVERSAL REMOTE
URC VUTEC
WILSON AUDIO
127
III
s k v
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M O BILE
F ID E L IT Y
souNn i ar
cnf 6
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CLASSICAL
ROCK I POP
JAZZ
RECORD REVIEWS
oaxing a singer to
cuts written by those outside the
E D IT O R S PIC K
stretch always sounds
song-mill establishment that give
like a good ideathat
the album its most distinctive
is, until the singer is
flavors: Eddie H inton and Donnie
standing in the same recording
Frittss Breakfast in Bed, John
booth used by Aretha Franklin
Hurley and Eddie Wilkins Son
and W ilson Pickett, and suddenly
o f a Preacher Man, and Randy
her confidence, never brim m ing
N ew m ans I D ont W ant to
to start with, drops through the
H ear About It Anymore. In feet,
floor and she cant or w o n t sing
while Son o f a Preacher M an
a note. Add to this that Dusty
was the hit single that made the
album a blockbuster, its a stretch
Springfield was already a sticky
perfectionist w hod self-produced
o f three songs at the end o f side
m ost o f her records and wasnt
A o f the original LP (side 2 of
this edition) that anchors Dusty
happy w ith the songs to be
in Memphis. In Randy New m ans
recordeddespite the fact that
m ost o f them were straight out o f
saga o f neighbors talking, Spring
the Brill Buildingand you have
field employs a crying tone:
the recipe for an all-time classic
A in t it sad, said the woman down
record, right?
the hall
In his autobiography, Rhythm
That when a nice girlfalls in love
and the Blues (1993, Knopf;
A int itjust too bad she had toJail
p p 2 2 2 -2 2 4 ), producer Jerry
For a boy who doesnt careJor her
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
W exler rem em bered the Dusty in
at all.
Memphis sessions this way: I was
T hats followed by the
criticized for taking Dusty down
album
s finest, funkiest arrange
A tla n tic/A n alo g ue Productions APP 8214-45 (tw o 4 5rpm LPs).
Southeveryone said the South
m ent: o f Goffin-Kings D ont
1969/2011. Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, A rif M ardin, prods.; Ed
Kollis, eng.; Kevin Gray, 4 5rpm m astering. A A A . TT: 76:40
was for R&B, not popbut I had
Forget A bout M e, w here
PERFO RM ANCE
a hunch. You w ont hear m uch o f
Reggie Youngs guitar soloing
a black influence in her voice, yet
S O N IC S
never lets up for a m om ent, and
shes deeply soulful, her intona
the rest o f the players lock in an
tion pure. As w ith Aretha, I never
easy groove thats the epitom e
heard her sing a bad note.
W ayne Chips M om ans American
o f M em phis soul. And Breakfast in
Later in the book, Springfield gave
Studios, at 827 Thom as Street in north
Bed is made an unlikely tour de force
her side o f the story. All Jerry did
M emphis. Reggie Young (guitar),
thanks to A rif M ardins slow, sym
was talk about Aretha, rem em bers
Bobby W ood (piano), Bobby Em
phonic arrangem ent, a classy hornDusty, and I was frankly intimidated.
m ons (organ, electric piano), Tommy
section break, and Springfield pushing
her feathery voice to its upper limit in
If theres one thing that inhibits good
Cogbill (bass), and G ene Chrism an
the verses.
singing, its fear. I covered the fear by
(drums). The instrum ental tracks they
recordedw hich Springfield too flus
being in pain. I drove Jerry crazy.
As w ith all 45rpm remasterings,
Its really no surprise that the ses
tered to sing w hile in M emphis, later
the higher groove velocity has made
sions were strenuous. A bottle blonde
sang over in a N ew York studioare
possible the extended high frequencies
w ho favored beehive hairdos, elaborate
m odels o f taste and refinement.
and lower noise that make this edition
gowns, and Cleopatra eye makeup,
T he songs here are split between two
a marvel o f sound.
Dusty Springfield was a symbol o f the
distinct writing camps. The majority
Despite having told Stanley Booth
pre-rock swingin sixties. H er album
come from such Brill Building teams
that the barbeque down in M em phis is
sales by the tim e o f these sessions in
as Barry M ann and Cynthia Weil
really something, Dusty Springfield
N ovem ber 1968, were slumping, her
(Just a Little Lovin), and especially
never returnedb u t this album, her
image was beginning to look frumpy,
Gerry Goffin and Carole King (D ont
debut for Atlantic Records, gave her
and she was finding it harder to con
Forget About M e and three others).
career perm anent relevance. T he fact
nect w ith younger listeners. In short,
O ther songwriters represented include
that during these sessions she m en
Michel Legrand (the faux psychedelia
fearful or not, she needed to stretch.
tioned to W exler that he should sign a
T he engine on Dusty in Memphis
o f T he W indmills o f Your M ind)
new English group, Led Zeppelin (he
the grease that m ade it go, if you will and Bacharach-David (In the Land of
did), only adds a final sparkling touch
to this still surprising opus.
was the absolutely unsurpassed playing
Make Believe). But while the entire
Robert Baird
o f the studio musicians at Lincoln
album is an unqualified success, its the
R EC O R D IN G
OF TH E M ONTH
Dusty in Memphis
s t e r e o p h i le . c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
129
Established 1979
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MANUFACTURERS'
COMMENTS
Erratum: Epos Epic 2 price
Apparently, terminal confusion set in
when we prepared Bob Reinas review
o f the Epos Epic 2 loudspeaker in the De
cember issue. O f all the prices we quoted
at various times in the review, the correct
price of this excellent-sounding bookshelf
speaker is $799/pair. O ur apologies to
Epos, distributor Music Hall, and to read
ers who were misled.
John Atkinson
Fi prices
Editor:
I just glanced at the 2012 Stereophile Buy
ers Guide at a newsstand. W hat happened
on the prices on my stuff? I didnt look at
them all (I will), but the prices on some
of the amps arc way off. 300B mono pair
$12,200? W hat I sent in was $6000.
Ive recently raised some of my prices,
mainly due to the fact that Im now
using a different output transformer, but
theyre nowhere near the prices in the
Buyers Guide.
Don Garber
Fi
John Atkinsons policy is to list pricesfor
monoblock amplifiers and loudspeakers as the
price per pair, as that is how people buy them.
At some point in the editing of the 2012 Ste
reophile Buyers Guide, Fis monoblock prices
were doubled, and at a laterpoint the suffix
/per pair was added to each. All prices of other
Fi products were listed correctly. Ariel Bitran
Ortofon Xpression
Editor:
Ortofon would like to thank Art Dudley
for his comprehensive review of our
Xpression cartridge. We greatly appreci
ate Mr. Dudleys attention to the fine
nuances diat make diis cartridge a worthy
consideration for those wishing to explore
the boundaries of vinyl playback while still
focusing on linear and neutral reproduction.
Despite its unusual design, the Xpression
is proof of Ortofons unchanging commit
ment to innovation in die field of analog
playback technology. One tiling diat we
would like to note is that the 28gm car
tridge weight includes diat of its integrated
headshell, wliicli yields a proper match
widi die vast majority of bayonet-style,
removable-headshell tonearms. Louis Dorio
Ortofon
Bricasti Design Ml
Pangea Audio P-100
Editor:
I really enjoyed Sam Tclligs article, and
got a kick out of the opening, about Si
monides. I cant remember the last time I
read an interesting high-end audio articlc
that began with a great story about die
ancient Greeks.
Sitting down to write this reply, I have
three things I want to say. Now I just
have to remember them.
I am pleased that Sam liked the per
formance of the compact upgrade power
supply we created for the Cambridge
Audio DacMagic and Musical Fidelity
V-DAC. Im just sorry the P-100 doesnt
have enough storage capacity (memory)
to keep Sams system playing during the
frequent power outages he seems to be
suffering lately. But then it would cost a
lot more than $99.99.
As far as getting rid of all the wall-wart
power supplies at Sams house, thats a
s te r e o p h ile .c o m
F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 2
Editor:
The Bricasti M l is an upgradeable prod
uct, and as John Atkinson points out, the
SHARC DSP we are using is capable of
implementing more complex and differ
ent filter types than the first set he tested
in die review unit. Subsequently, based
on user feedback, we have upgraded
the currcnt-production M l to add three
more filters that are of the same family
as Filters 4 and 6. These have passbands
of 19.5k, 19k, and 18.5kHz, and give the
user more gradations between what John
Marks preferred: Filter 4, with a passband
of 20kHz; and Filter 6, with a passband of
18kHz. We are currently developing and
listening to additional filters, and expect
that several new filters will be incorporat
ed into the M l over time. All new filters
will, of course, be made available as free
upgrades to owners of existing M is.
Brian Zolner
Bricasti Design
t h is is s u e :
n_______ n m
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M AN UFACTU RERS' C O M M EN TS
Editor:
Thank you for letting us reply to your
revisiting o f the Rega DAC, which was
largely brought about by the overt and
unwarranted criticism leveled at our
design methodology by another manu
facturer that you were happy to publish
without inviting a similar privilege of
reply.
I also understand that you agreed, via
Steve Daniels at The Sound Organisation,
our US distributor, to speak with Roy
Gandy (Regas owner) regarding matters
arising, but that call never materialized.
I do not intend to resurrect the asyn
chronous debate, nor is it Regas ethos
to commcnt publicly about any other
manufacturer, its products, or its design
philosophy, so all comments will be
strictly directed at the bizarrely schizo
phrenic review.
It appears that Sam [Tellig] loved the
DAC; John Atkinson was less positive.
Charles [Hansen] criticized the USB
input, but John says it is well sorted.
Jon [Iverson] and Sam described the low
frequencies as exaggerated, but John
[Atkinson]s measurements show a flat
response to below 20Hz. Paul Miller
from Hi-Fi News is dragged in to sup
port this, which is strange; as far as I am
aware, he has never had the product for
consideration.
What, dear reader, are you to conclude
from this?
Subjectivism sucks, and so, it would
appear, does objectivism.
Might I suggest that your own ears
be the judge, and invite you to compare
the Rega DAC with other manufactur
ers products costing significantly more,
and hope that you agree with thousands
of customers and numerous publica
tions worldwide that think that the Rega
DAC offers exceptional performance for
relatively little outlay?
Let me know your thoughts.
Paul Darwin, UK Sales Coordinator
Rega Research
Wadax PRE-1
Editor:
We at Wadax are delighted with
Michael Fremers illuminating and in
sightful review. His statement, I doubt
anyone would know which was digital
and which was pure analog. I dont
say that lightly vs his highly regarded
all-analogue reference components are
validation of our design objectives being
met. O ur proprietary musIC chip com
bined with one box signal convergence
is the architecture for this paradigm
shifting performance.
The future promise is even brighter.
Wadax will introduce the Hennes
optional plug-in server board at the 2012
CES. W th the PRE1 + Hermes con
nected to outboard storage, the full native
128-bit data format of the musIC chip
can be stored.
In closing, Wadax has been involved in
R&D activities for more than three de
cades, a collaboration of Angel Guadalaja
ra, Founder, and his son Javier Guadala
jara, CTO. Wadax S.A. was incorporated
in 2005.
Rick Brown
North American Importer and Managing
Director, Wadax
S p e a k e rs S O H O T . . .
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133
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ADVERTISER INDEX
98
D y n a u d io ................... . . . . 16
Sound O rg a n is a tio n . . .
. 2 2 -2 3
E lite A u d io V id e o . . . . . . . 8 8
M a n le y Labs ........... . . . . 1 3 4
S p e n d o r ..........................
47
A p ril M u s ic ............. . . . . 1 3 4
Elusive D i s c ............... 3 6 -3 7 ,
Take 5 A u d i o .................
175
S8
A c o u s tic S o u n d s . . .
A u d io A d v is o r ......... .1 4 ,1 0 6
...128
C2
A u d io e n g in e ........... .........3 0
E m otiva A u d io
......... . . . . 3 4
M u s ic D i r e c t ........... . .18-19,
A u d io w a v e s ............. . . . . 116
Fidelis A u d i o ............. . . . . 7 6
.4 0 , 9 0
A x p o n a ...................... . . . . 118
F urute ch ...................... . . . .8 8
M u s ic a l F id e lity
A y re A c o u s tic s
M u s ic a l S u rro u n d in g s .........
.... 48
. . . .........6 8
B e n c h m a rk ............... . 2 6 -2 7
G e t B e tte r Sound . . . . . . 6 4
.........52
G ifte d Liste ne r A u d io . . 1 25
M y s te re ................... .........75
G TT A V ........................ . . . 1 2 0
H a m m e r to n e ............. 4 2 - 4 3
................. 6 0 -6 1 , 9 2 ,1 0 0 ,
H e ad R oo m ................. . . . 9 0
........................110-111,130
. ...........6
C a ble C o m p a n y . . .
. .5 0 -5 1
U p scale A u d io
............. 10?
U s e d c a b le .c o m .............
135
V itu s A u d i o ...................
V on S c h w e ik e rt A u d io
86
135
V o o d o o C a b le ...............
W a rn e r M u s ic G ro u p
. ..76
W a v e le n g th A u d io
59
15
C a m b rid g e A u d io .. . . . . C 4
H D tra c k s ................... . . . 1 0 8
N o rd o s t ................... .........62
W e in h a rt D e sign .........
C E n tra nce
JL A u d i o ...................... .2 0 , 21
O liv e M e d ia ............. . . . . 4 4
W h a rfe d a le Loudspeakers,
............... .........8 8
........... . . . 1 2 4
O n a H ig h e r N o te .. . . . . 1 1 2
U S A ..............................
101
C ry s ta l C a b le ........... . . . . C3
O p p o D ig ita l ........... . . . . 1 0 6
70
CSA A u d io ............... . . . . 1 2 7
KEF .............................. . . . . 2 8
W S D is t r ib u t in g ...........
86
K e v r o ............................ .........9
YG A c o u s tic s
3?
........... . . . . 1 0
C h e s te r G ro u p
....114
D a vid Lew is A u d io .
....133
Joseph A u d io
K im b e r Kable
...............
The A d Index is provided as a courtesy. T he publisher is not liable fo r incorrect injonnation or excluded listings. Advertisers should contact their sales representative to correct or update a listing.
134
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AURAL
ROBERT
b y ROBERT BAIRD
t h is is s u e :
D um m y T rap
or the first tim e ever, The
Black Keys have simply
jam m ed up an album. W ith
the release o f E l Camino, its
all about spontaneity.
W e didnt rehearse, we didnt
talk about it, we didnt do any
demos, I didnt w rite any songs,
Dan Auerbach says quietly over the
phone from his hom e in Nashville.
Literally, we did nothing. W c ju st
showed up at the studiothats all
w e did. Wc started recording w ith
a guitar amp and a guitar and drum s, in the same room, ju st
improvising. W e w erent thinking about Brothers, which
w on two Gram m y awards in 2010. W e w erent thinking
about an audience. W e w erent really thinking about any
thing other than m aking a fun record.
Even the lyrics, even those were kind o f like, not rushed, but
they were certainly. . . it wasnt like Id been working on songs
for a year or two. It was all a very m uch from-scratch diing.
H i at thing, E l Camino, that snapshot o f w here singerguitarist Auerbach and drum m er Patrick Carney were, is
one o f the m ost masterful, upbeat, and outright fun records
theyve ever made. T he album s title, w hich is Spanish for
T he Road, could also refer to the famous Chevy carpickup o f the 1970s. T he album cover photo o f the bands
broke down Plymouth touring van (which is decidedly not
an El Cam ino) may fool those n o t up on their 1970s cars.
Its w hat Auerbach calls the bands dum m y trap. Despite
Auerbachs assertion that he and Carney had never made an
album so quickly or with so little planning, one o f the duos
greatest strengths, it seems to my ears, has always been their
ability to make each o f their seven albums, beginning with
The Big Come Up (2002), a salient m om ent in their wondrous
artistic journ ey from Akron, O hio, to indie-rock stardom.
After a m om ent o f silence, Auerbach reluctantly agrees.
W ere ju st making records. If w ed have made this album a
couple m onths later, it w ould sound different. Its all about
w here o u r head is at that m om ent. I can listen to every one
o f them and say, O h yeah, I rem em ber that. I rem em ber
where w e were. I rem em ber w here w ed go eat lunch. I
rem em ber w hat we were listening to in the car.
Since their debut, the Keys have made one great record after
anotherThickfreakness, Rubber Factor}', Magic Potion, Attack &
Releaseslowly adding layers o f instruments and ideas to a base
o f loud, raw, deliberately distorted blues-rock until their music
has little in common with that other rust-belt duo with a color
in its name, The W hite Stripes. Like most musicians w ho make
exceptionally original music, the BK boys are famously cranky
about having any musical kinships, and often deny that theyre
a blues band at alldespite their awesome reimagining of bluesrock, and Auerbachs reverence for the late Junior Kimbrough.
Collaborations are another sore subject. Carney was asked
138
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