S T E R E O • M U LT I C H A N N E L A U D I O • M U S I C

Special Report: Inside the

Chinese Audio Industry
Speakers from Spendor
Preamps from BAT and Parasound

PATHOS AMP
& CD PLAYER
Italian
Seduction
PLUS: Hi-Res Sound on Blu-ray Disc
Contents
29
2008 Golden
Ear Awards!
13 Pages of the Best in
High-End Audio

76 Cover Story
Italian 57
Seduction Special Report
Pathos’ Logos Integrated Amp
and Digit CD Player Inside the Chinese Audio Industry

16 Mainstream Multichannel 90 Parasound Halo JC 2 Linestage

Robert Harley on high-res multichannel audio gear from Sony.
24 absolute analog
Neil Gader on Ortofon’s 2M Series moving-magnet cartridges.
Equipment Reports
82 Bybee Technologies Golden Goddess
“Super Effect” Speaker Bullets
Dick Olsher on a controversial new addition to any stereo system.
86 Spendor S3/5R Loudspeaker
Paul Seydor on a classic design re-imagined for the 21st century.
Preamplifier
JV on a superb (and affordable) solid-state preamp from John Curl.
The Cutting Edge
98 Balanced Audio Technology Rex
Linestage Preamplifier
BAT’s two-chassis, all-tubed, 76-pound linestage sets a new
standard in midrange liquidity. RH reports.
108 HP’s Workshop
Harry Pearson previews the Clearaudio Statement turntable,
and announces his 2008 Golden Ear Award winners.

 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

Contents
8 reissues from Blind Pig, a must-have

www.theabsolutesound.com

founder; chairman,
editorial advisory board
editor-in-chief
executive editor
Harry Pearson
Robert Harley
Jonathan Valin
acquisitions manager
Letters Michael Jackson reissue, and a short and associate editor Neil Gader
interview with the Black Keys’ Dan music editor Bob Gendron
14 Auerbach. proofreader Mark Lehman
From the Editor art director Torquil Dewar

148 senior writers

96 Jazz John W. Cooledge, Anthony H. Cordesman, Wayne
Manufacturer Comments The lowdown on new records from Garcia, Robert E. Greene, Chris Martens,
Marian McPartland, Avery Sharpe, and Tom Martin, Dick Olsher, Andrew Quint,
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Paul Seydor, Alan Taffel
MUSIC
reviewers and
150 contributing writers
120 Classical Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Guido Corona,
2008 MUSIC GOLDEN EAR We weigh in on La Ruta de Oriente (a Dan Davis, Andy Downing, Jim Hannon,
AWARDS spectacular book/CD package from Jacob Heilbrunn, Sue Kraft, Mark Lehman,
Ted Libbey, David McGee, Bill Milkowski,
For this year’s awards, each music writer Alia Vox), a new offering of Italian Derk Richardson, Don Saltzman,
chose three favorite records released to arias from Natalie Dessay, and Speakers Steve Stone
date in 2008. Corner’s 180-gram nine-LP box set of
Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies with
140 Herbert von Karajan. AVguide.com
Rock Managing Editor Monica Williams
Reviews of new albums from R.E.M., 152 web producer Suzanne Mahadeo
Destroyer, the Raconteurs, Justin TAS Back Page
NextScreen, LLC, Inc.
Townes Earle, Van Morrison, and A chat with Ray Kimber of Kimber
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advertising reps Cheryl Smith
(512) 891-7775
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 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

Letters
e-mail us: rharley@nextscreen.com
or write us a letter: The Absolute Sound, PO Box 1768, Tijeras, New Mexico 87059
Welcome Back
For once I actually took a few reviews in
The Absolute Sound seriously (over the last
year or so), went out and heard some rec-
ommended products, and ended up buying
new gear. I am extremely happy with my
Cambridge Audio 840C CD player. I had
given up on your publication some years
ago (in the early 90s) because the reviewers
were making me laugh harder than I lis-
tened. Although Stereophile’s Lewis Lipnick
period rivaled your “more-money-than-
brains” period of hilarity, I truly believe
you now have the more comprehensive
and useful coverage of high-end audio.
You’ve come a long way and that’s cool.
Dean Singh
Time Warp
I am now a subscriber to TAS because you
converted my subscription to The Perfect
Vision to a TAS subscription. Wow, have you
guys changed—for the better! The last time
I looked at TAS it was a small magazine that
hurt my eyes to read, only reviewed com-
ponents that Trump could afford, and had
absolutely no interest in multichannel sound
(which is the only way I listen), turning up
its nose at Quadraphonics in the 70s.
Thank you for your SACD reviews, the
new multichannel column, and the guest
editorial (Andrew Quint’s “A Grand Mul-
tichannel Experiment” in Issue 180).
Don’t forget to do multichannel equip-
ment reviews, along with reviews of mul-
tichannel SACD and DVD-As. Vinyl afi-
cionados might want to know that there
will soon be a vinyl quadraphonic rebirth.
One of the original promoters of the
CD-4 (Quadradisc), Lou Dorren, is work-
ing on a new, up-to-date, modern CD-4
demodulator that he himself will be sell-
ing that won’t have any of the problems
that the units of the 70s had.
Thanks for the changes! I will be renewing.
John Thomas
 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Get a Life
After reading the three e-mails sent by
Ivan Charvat (Letters, Issue 178), I am
truly amazed that there is someone out
there whose sole hobby is to do exten-
sive research just to bash up a particular
product. Get a life. If you do not like the
Cambridge Azur 840C CD player, then
don’t buy it. Get something that you like.
It’s called freedom of choice, mate.
Paramalingam
LP to High-
Resolution Digital
Conversion
I believe Steven Stone has missed the point
of the Korg MR-1000 (Issue 180). LP-to-
CD is not the goal (at least it shouldn’t
be). LP-to-DSD may sound wonderful,
but since there are no consumer SACD
burners, it’s rather pointless.
No, the goal in archiving LPs should
be hi-res digital playback. So why
didn’t Mr. Stone explore the hi-res PCM
capabilities of the Korg? Its 24-bit/96kHz
files can be burned to a video DVD and
played on any DVD player. Also, there are
networked music players that can handle
24/96, such as the excellent Slim Devices
Transporter.
Mr. Stone should revisit the Korg MR-
1000, this time recording his LPs straight
to 24/96. Or he might try converting
his existing DSD recordings to 24/96
with the Korg Audiogate software. Ei-
ther way, I’m betting the resulting files
would sound close enough to the origi-
nal LP that his analog rig would increas-
ingly be used more as a source in the
recording chain and less as a playback
device.
Ken Gilmore
Steven Stone replies: I didn’t delve into
making 96/24 DVDs because for readers like
you this is an obvious application for the Korg
DSD files. The beauty of DSD recordings
is that they can be easily translated to 96/24
and used for playback. Just because there are no
SACD home-burners doesn’t mean that DSD
files can’t be enjoyed in their native format, since
you can play back these files through the Korg or,
if you are so blessed, through the Meitner D/A
converter.
As to whether 96/24 files will sound “close
enough” to the original LP to satisfy every
listener is a question that I can’t answer. I heard
subtle differences between the DSD files and the
original discs. I would not be surprised to find
that 96/24 files may have more pronounced
differences. These differences may or may not
be acceptable depending on your own listening
criteria.
Clock Jitter and
Picoseconds
Thanks for the thought-provoking ar-
ticle on jitter in the March issue. Keith
Johnson said he could “hear the differ-
ence between 8 and 15 picoseconds of
clock jitter.” How can this be possible?
Seven picoseconds introduce a mere
0.0000308% distortion [according to Mr.
Sanford—RH]. I would expect this distor-
tion to be orders of magnitude smaller
than any human can detect.
The sample rate for a CD is 44.1 x 103
samples per second (sec). A picosecond
(ps) is only 1 x 10-12 seconds. Therefore
the number of picoseconds between each
sample is 1x10-12 ps/sec)/ (44.1x103 sam-
ples/sec) = 22.7 x 106 ps/sample. The
distortion is (7 ps/(22.7 x 106 ps)) x 100
= 30.8 x 10-6 percent.
The article states: “It’s an amazingly
small timing variation, but one that
our aural decoding system can easily
detect.” Can this be true? Time delays
on surround-sound systems are set
in milliseconds and if you change the
Letters
delay between any two speakers by one
millisecond you can barely hear the
localization of the sound move. (You can
test this with the Chesky Ultimate DVD
Surround and 5.1 Set-up Disc.) Perhaps if
the time delay could be changed by 0.1
millisecond it might still be possible to
hear the change, but what Keith Johnson
is saying is that he can hear differences
by changing the clock speed by seven
billionths of a millisecond! [Not the clock
speed; jitter is timing variations between clock
cycles.—RH.]
You put the minuteness of a picosec-
ond in perspective by stating that light
travels only one inch in 100 picoseconds,
but for a visual image of how small a pico-
second is, imagine standing enough issues
of TAS on their edge to fully encircle the
earth, a distance of 24,902 miles. An inch
of paper is approximately 250 sheets, so
the total number of pages to circle the
earth would be approximately 0.394 x
1012. If that row of paper circling earth
represents one second then the 7 picosec-
onds Keith Johnson claims to hear would
be represented by only 3 sheets of paper.
What am I missing? If there are any
test reports published that can support
Mr. Johnson’s claim I would be extremely
interested in reading them.
David Sanford
Robert Harley replies: There’s a significant
difference between a delay of one sound source
relative to another source and a time shift of
samples in a PCM-represented audio waveform.
Although as you point out the amount of that
time shift is extremely small, it’s a mistake to
extrapolate based on arm-chair calculations that
Upcoming in
• Special Digital Focus issue
• Hard-disk recording primer
• Downloading high-res music
• Reviews of Benchmark, Bryston,
Classé, Oppo, and PrimaLuna
digital
• Munich show report
• Inside the Thorens turntable
factory
• NAD’s new entry-level integrated
amp and CD player
10 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
the time shift (jitter) is inaudible. The history
of audio is filled with examples of phenomena
that affect the sound but would appear from
an unsophisticated theoretical analysis to be
inaudible. A quote by the great audio thinker
Dr. Richard Heyser comes to mind: “One of the
most belittling experiences is to deride the ‘black
art’ of a craftsman who gets consistent results
by a ritual that he cannot explain and then to
discover that his actions in fact held a deeper
technical significance than we understood from
our simplified model.”
I didn’t mean to drag Keith Johnson into a
controversy (or to suggest he employs Heyser’s
“black art”—far from it). I was simply repeating
something he casually mentioned to me once. You
can, however, hear the effects of ultra-low-jitter
A/D and D/A conversion by listening to
Johnson’s recordings on the Reference Recordings
label through the Spectral SDR-4000 Pro CD
player (which he designed) and form your own
opinion.
The Proof of the
Pudding Is in the
Eating
I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Harley’s re-
review of  the Esoteric P-03/D-03 digital
playback system, now aided and abetted
by the G-0Rb Rubidium Master Clock (Is-
sue 180). The discussion of timing errors
and jitter should be required reading for
anyone interested in the hows and whys
of digital recreation of audio recordings.
I was introduced to the benefits of out-
board clocks some years ago and my reac-
tion was very similar to what Mr. Harley
ISSUE 183
• Naim’s new Nait 5i-2 integrated amp
• Budget phono cartridges from
Ortofon
• Sunfire ribbon speakers and Bob
Carver interview
• Pass Lab’s first integrated
amplifier
• Jonathan Valin on the $60k dCS
Scarlatti digital stack
• Budget speakers from Focal and
Dynaudio
describes as opening the sound window.
The Esoteric combination (which I own)
will shock some listeners in its recovery
of information such as the sonic character
of the recording venue and, particularly,
the decay and fading of individual instru-
ments (which is what happens when they
are actually played). These effects may be
retrieved from standard Red Book CDs as
well as the “higher” resolution SACDs with
upsampling when played on this system.
It was somewhat ironic to me that this
review falls in the middle of the annual
“analog” issue. The combination of an
excellent transport, DAC, and highly pre-
cise clock will challenge if not equal any
of the high-end analog playback systems,
albeit at the price of a small Lexus or
Mercedes-Benz, but then again there are
already record-playback systems at that
price or higher.
Well done, Mr. Harley.
Lawrence Devoe
To SACD or Not
to SACD?
If Christopher Mankiewicz has said his
piece [Letters, Issues 176 and 178], then
I must say mine. What I found amus-
ing initially was his diatribe about Robert
Harley’s review of the Cambridge Azur
840C CD player and its inability to play
SACDs, hence my comments about it not
playing any other formats, either. It was re-
viewed and found to be a very good CD
player at a bargain price. Nowhere were
comments about SACD, either positive or
negative, mentioned in the review. Wheth-
er any comments should or should not
have been made is not my call. I believe
a product that performs well with one for-
mat does not denigrate any other format.
I fully agree with Mr. Mankiewicz that
pure SACD (native DSD encoding, not re-
cooked PCM) is a superior format to CD.
(I don’t agree with his implication that
only delusional audiophiles still listen to
LPs/CDs, but it appears I am one.) I have
heard and enjoyed some great music on
SACD. I was given a good quality (Pioneer
Elite) universal player that plays SACD.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound too good
with SACD. Nor with anything else (its
strengths are in the video arena).
Letters
About four years ago, I was prepared
to spend some serious (for me) money
on an SACD player. Why didn’t I? Well,
see if these word pairings mean anything
to you: Tube/transistor, Betamax/VHS,
Discrete/SQ matrix, Blu-ray/HD DVD
(oops, that’s over), SACD/DVD-A. I was
confused and frustrated that we seemed
to be victims of yet another format war.
I decided to stick with my old Theta gear
and wait for “the winner.” Universal play-
ers didn’t appeal to me; I felt they were
too compromised to really do justice to
any format. Subsequent auditions and
magazine reviews seemed to bear that
out. All hi-res seemed to be dying.
Last summer, the “Gotta-Have-New-
Digital” bug bit. After examining my mu-
sical tastes, the number of discs (vinyl and
CD) I had collected, and where I felt the
entire music purchase/storage/playback
scene was going, I decided that I needed
a unit that would optimize CD playback.
Who knew SACD would actually hang on
and grow into a nice little niche market?
There are around 3500 titles on SACD,
not all of them DSD-encoded. About
two-thirds are classical music recordings.
I love classical but it is not my main area
of musical interest. If your musical inter-
ests fall within the niche, life is good. The
vast majority of what I enjoy is not and
will never be on SACD. I refuse to buy
re-cooked PCM SACDs. I already have a
few titles on LP, CD, cassette, and eight-
track. (I still have two eight tracks. No
player. My relatives’ young children ask
me to open them up and play the DVD
movies that must certainly be inside.) So
for me, SACD is a non-issue and if a unit
doesn’t play SACDs, I don’t care. I’m sure
Mr. Harley will review Top Value players
that do play SACDs.  solid-sounding rig is about $800. I think
I auditioned six or seven players,
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12 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
some CD-only, some music-universal. I
hadn’t even considered the Cambridge
player. But I read Harley’s review, or-
dered one, and have been enjoying it ever
since. To my ears, in my system, it outper-
formed everything else I auditioned and
was $1300 cheaper than the next-best
player.
What put the 840 over the top for me
was its ability to accept external over-
sampled digital sources and perform
the D/A conversion. As I transition to
a computer or server-based system, all
I need is somebody’s “black box” to in-
terface the hard-drive to the 840. (Thank
you Steve Claussen [Letters, Issue 180]
for the Apple laptop ideas.
Despite Mr. M’s assertions, I’m re-
ally not stuck in the past (and I do know
that you can play CDs on an SACD
player). I’ve made a hard decision to re-
Who knew SACD
would hang on and
grow into a nice
little niche market?
ject an admittedly superior format be-
cause, in the here and now, it doesn’t
make sense for me. Why pay extra for an
unneeded feature? I’m sure more record-
ings will be made in SACD. Maybe they’ll
be available on-line. Perhaps I’ll switch
over. Someday SACD may really be “the
winner.” But not today.
John Lipani
Do-it-Yourself
Music Server
I thoroughly enjoy the magazine and in
particular the recent trend in covering
music servers and digital music distribu-
tion in general. The December 2007 is-
sue had useful perspectives on several
high-end packaged music servers. Upon
reading these reviews, I thought I would
reflect briefly on my own recent experi-
ence.
Over the holiday period, with some free
hobby time on my hands, I bit the bullet
and brought my own digital music sys-
tem up to snuff. I’ve been an “MP3 guy”
for many years, ripping and burning my
own CD collection to create mixes and
later, of course, for distribution to fam-
ily iPods. I decided to go whole hog and
re-rip everything in lossless quality and
build a new music server from scratch,
which replicated the Arcam, Sooloos,
or QSonix experience. I selected a new
Vista-based PC with on-board coax digi-
tal output as the platform. I linked this to
my existing two-channel tube rig via an
external DAC (an existing AV receiver for
the time being). Given my iPod heritage, I
selected iTunes as my music-management
platform, running on my existing large-
screen LCD display.
After a couple of weeks of heavy lift-
ing (enjoyable but necessarily tedious to
get everything right tagging my music and
backing it up—you can’t really outsource
this activity and expect it to be right), I
now have complete control of my col-
lection using iTunes on this powerful,
flexible platform. My total cost for this
amazingly versatile, future-proof, and
the offerings presented by the Arcam,
Sooloos, and QSonix packages are inter-
esting, but look at the prices and value
represented.
Let’s do a quick comparison of key at-
tributes as Robert Harley did:
•S  torage capacity and backup: The
PC-solution is at least as flexible and
cost-effective as either canned solution,
arguably much more so.
• Features: At least as or more flexible
than either set of features listed.
• User interface: iTunes compares very
 favorably with either Sooloos or QSon-
ix and demolishes the Arcam unit. I
control my system, as I suggested, on
a 42" LCD panel using a wireless key-
board and mouse which gives me total
flexibility over iTunes using Coverflow.
[In my view, the iTunes interface doesn’t ap-
proach that of Sooloos or QSonix.—RH]
• Price: What can I say?
•S  ound quality: In the Sooloos and
QSonix examples, you have to add an
external DAC, which is frankly mind-
blowing given the pricing. I have to add
an external DAC as well, of course, but
that puts the solutions on an equal foot-
ing.
• Web-based music acquisition: The
iTunes store is pretty impressive, al-
though obviously not capable of de-
livering audiophile quality. Advantage
Sooloos or QSonix for now.
I've taken my solution well down the
road to reaching audio excellence. I've
discovered that there are actually a large
number of people striving to reach
excellence in terms of PC-based systems
like this.
My story may suggest that, if you
have do-it-yourself interests, you can
easily recreate the experience offered by
commercial systems. It was a great deal
of fun putting this together and doing
research, both before and after the fact,
to evaluate options (I continue to search
for the right DAC option, for example).
I should note that as a senior partner
in a large professional-services firm, I
am the perfect target for $10,000 lifestyle
products like the Arcam, Sooloos, and
QSonix. I took on my project because I
am passionate about the topic, handy, and
value-oriented.
I readily acknowledge that commercial
products like those you reviewed could be
ideal for many, but thought I would briefly
contrast your write-ups on these products
with my own recent experiences. Thanks
and keep up the great reporting!
Paul Held
Letters
Still Wailing After
All These Years
After some twenty years of not paying
much attention to audio, my interest
was rekindled by some dismissive article
about audiophiles that appeared in the
New York Times last year. I realized, too,
that the majority of my audio equipment
is now “vintage,” apart from the
multichannel receivers and CD players
that die on a regular basis.
I picked up a copy of your magazine
(and the other one, too—I was once a
subscriber to both). I was surprised at
the prices of new equipment, although
I was pleased to see that there is still
truly affordable good stuff available,
well under the $3000 mark that seems to
define “affordable.”
The item that surprised me the most
is the continued (after 20 years!) wailing
about exorbitantly priced equipment that
is still appearing in your “Letters” column.
My God, it hasn’t changed! I think it would
be humorous if you were to reprint some
of those same wailing letters from long
ago. Yes, there is expensive equipment
out there but no one is holding a gun to
our heads making us buy it. I read about
Bugattis and Ferraris too, without getting
upset.
I was also really impressed at the
longevity of your reviewers. Anthony
Cordesman is what, about 110 years old
now?
So, I’m going to continue to enjoy my
decades-old Marantz, McIntosh, AR,
Mirage, and Adcom equipment while I
read about all the new equipment and
music. I don’t think your advertisers will
like that, but most manufacturers and
retailers don’t care about anyone over 55
anyway.
 Richard E. Kirkpatrick
RH replies: You might be pleasantly
surprised, Mr. Kirkpatrick, at the shockingly
high level of sound quality delivered by today’s
products, particularly those in the “budget” and
mid-level realm—notably loudspeakers.
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 13
 FROM THE
Editor
Getting To Know You
I
’d like to thank the more than 1400 readers who returned the survey card included in Issue 177.
That number of responses alone says a lot about you and the passion you have for music and
high-end audio. But the details in the data say even more about your interests and hi-fi systems, and
what you think of The Absolute Sound.
About a third of you have audio systems with retail prices
of $50,000 or more. Although that’s a high dollar figure,
many TAS readers have been involved in high-end audio for
decades, and these readers’ systems reflect years and years
of upgrades. A “sweet spot” for a complete system seems to
be between $6000 and $15,000, a range that describes nearly
a quarter of your audio systems.
When it comes to TAS, 58% of you thought our reviews
have “just the right mix of price points,” while 35% believed
the products we review are “too expensive.” Despite that
impression, your favorite section in TAS is overwhelmingly
“The Cutting Edge,” the spot in which we feature cost-no-
object gear. Most of you thought our reviews are “just the
right length” (71%), with 7% feeling our reviews are too
long and 22% opining that TAS reviews are too short.
Now that we know more about you, I’d like to share
something about the individuals who create TAS. I was
prompted to tell you about how we put the magazine
together after reading a post on an Internet forum that
pointed out a one-letter typo we’d made in a product model
number in Recommended Products. This single typo caused
the Internet poster to rail: “Don’t they have proofreaders or
people called editors who actually know something about
high-end audio? . . . Maybe it’s standard practice for those
types of sections to be put together by non-audiophiles like
ad people or marketers. . . Makes you wonder how seriously
they take this stuff . . . I guess I just don’t know how a big
magazine like TAS is run.”
Well, TAS is a “big” magazine in what is a niche industry,
but in other ways, we’re quite small. TAS is created by just
three full-time editorial staff, an art director, and a half-time
music editor. And no, “marketers” don’t assemble and write
Recommended Products—Jonathan Valin, Neil Gader, and
I do. In fact, the three of us, along with Bob Gendron in
the music section, vet every word on every page of every
issue—about 850–900 editorial pages per year.
If you like the way TAS looks lately, credit goes to Art
Director Torquil Dewar, who single-handedly designs and
lays out each issue. Music Editor Bob Gendron writes for
and edits the 18-page music section along with our upfront
14 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
music features. Bob recently relinquished his managing
editor duties at TAS to work full-time on Playback, our free
on-line music, movie, and equipment magazine. (Go to
playbackmag.net for a free subscription.)
Associate Editor Neil Gader, who has worked on TAS
for more than 20 years, handles all equipment acquisitions
and returns, keeps track of review gear, scouts the market
for new products, and acquires all the stock photography we
publish. Neil also writes Future TAS, some Industry News
pieces, show reports, equipment reviews, and The Back
Page interviews.
Executive Editor Jonathan Valin is the wordsmith of our
small group, copyediting every word you see in the magazine.
After an issue has been laid out, Jonathan proofreads the
text and makes corrections in the InDesign layout program
with the aid of expert proofreader Mark Lehman. These
tasks alone are a full-time job, but Jonathan also manages
to write his standard-setting equipment reviews, mostly of
cutting-edge gear, as well as show reports and “think pieces.”
My job is choosing products for review, matching those
products with the appropriate writer, working with the
freelance writers, planning and managing each issue’s table
of contents, writing reviews and feature articles, editing and
proofreading, serving as the de facto technical editor, and
deciding what will go in a particular issue.
But the full-time staff is only half the story. We are
extremely fortunate to have a first-rate team of freelance
music writers and equipment reviewers who bring vast
experience, keen insight, and eloquence to the magazine.
Four of our senior reviewers—Anthony H. Cordesman,
Robert E. Greene, Dick Olsher, and Paul Seydor—have
between them well over 100 years of experience writing
about hi-fi. And TAS founder HP has been at it for an
astonishing 36 years (and counting).
TAS also has amazingly well informed readers—just look
at any “Letters” section—who continually inspire us to
strive to make The Absolute Sound the best magazine in the
field. Your answers to the reader survey will help us in that
goal. Thanks for contributing.
Robert Harley
Mainstream
MULTICHANNEL

High-Resolution Multichannel
Audio on Blu-ray Disc
Sony STR-DA5300ES AV Receiver
and BDP-S2000ES Blu-ray Disc Player
Robert Harley

F
or those of us who enjoy concert performances on video,
Blu-ray Disc is a revelation. The format delivers lossless
high-resolution multichannel audio, which in itself is cause
for celebration after more than ten years of living with the sonic
limitations of Dolby Digital. And then there’s the 1080p high-
definition video, which is simply sensational when viewed on a
1080p video display. But what really makes Blu-ray so compelling
is the synergy between the stunning sound quality and fabulous
picture.
Blu-ray’s capabilities were vividly apparent with Sony’s STR-
DA5300ES AV receiver ($1700) and BDP-S2000ES Blu-ray Disc
16 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
player ($1300). This system delivered an experience far beyond
what’s possible from DVD on both music and movies. I’ll focus
on the format’s appeal to the audiophile, as well as offer some
general observations on the new high-res lossless surround-sound
formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.
The STR-DA5300ES is Sony’s top-of-the-line receiver, and bears
the “ES” (Elevated Standard) mark reserved for the company’s
best efforts. The STR is one of the first of a new breed of AV
electronics to offer decoding of the new audio formats, Dolby
Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, and DTS-HD Master
Audio. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio deliver high-
 MAINSTREAM MULTICHANNEL
res multichannel audio with lossless coding,

The New Audio Formats

meaning that the high-res bitstream in your
home is identical to that of the master. (See
sidebar for details of the new audio formats.)
The STR-DA5300ES connects to the BDP-
Blu-ray Disc’s vastly greater storage capacity and maximum bit-rate (how S2000ES Blu-ray player through an HDMI 1.3
fast data can be pulled off the disc) have paved the way for striking new audio cable. The long-awaited HDMI 1.3 interface
formats that don’t rely on massive data compression. The DVD format was carries 1080p video along with high-res
limited to Dolby Digital and DTS (and uncompressed PCM 48kHz/16-bit stereo multichannel digital audio. Decoding of Dolby
audio on some music titles), whose sound quality was significantly inferior Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD,
to that of CD. It’s worth noting that Dolby Digital has a data rate of 384kbps DTS, DTS-HD, and DTS-HD Master Audio
on most DVDs (448kbps on others) for 5.1 channels, or about 64kbps per takes place in the STR-DA5300ES. HDMI 1.3
channel on average—the same as low-quality MP3. (To be fair, Dolby Digital’s will also carry uncompressed eight-channel
384kbps can be allocated to the channels that most need it, increasing the PCM-encoded audio data, found on some
performance potential beyond a fixed 64kbps per channel.)1 Blu-ray movie titles.
The new audio formats don’t just offer CD-quality audio—they leapfrog If you currently have a receiver or AV
today’s standards to deliver full high-resolution, multichannel digital audio. controller with a discrete six-channel analog
The Blu-ray spec gives content-producers the option of including perfectly input (or a multichannel preamplifier), you
lossless high-res digital audio on the disc in the form of Dolby TrueHD or DTS- can still enjoy Blu-ray’s advantages; the BDP-
HD Master Audio. Dolby TrueHD delivers perfect bit-for-bit accuracy to the S2000ES also decodes these new audio
source, but consumes about half the data of uncompressed coding. (Dolby formats (except DTS-HD Master Audio) and
TrueHD is based on Meridian Lossless Packing [MLP] developed for the DVD- outputs a 5.1-channel analog signal on six
Audio format; Dolby acquired the technology from Meridian Audio.) RCA jacks. In fact, I used the BDP-S2000ES
Dolby TrueHD on Blu-ray has a maximum data rate of 24Mbps—more than in this way, feeding an Arcam AV9 controller
sixty times the data rate of the Dolby Digital tracks typically found on DVD. from the player’s analog jacks and my Sony
This allows Blu-ray Disc to deliver 7.1 channels of 192kHz/24-bit audio to your VPL-VW50 1080p projector via HDMI.
listening room with bit-for-bit fidelity to the source master. This is, needless Connecting the BDP-S2000ES to the STR-
to say, a dramatic advance in video and sound quality. DA5300ES with a single HDMI cable is,
Although I expect most concert videos to employ the optional Dolby however, vastly simpler than multiple analog
TrueHD format, content-providers can opt for the Dolby Digital Plus format. connections plus an HDMI connection for the
Dolby Digital Plus is a significant improvement over Dolby Digital, but is still video. Die-hard two-channel enthusiasts aren’t
a “lossy” format. Dolby Digital Plus has a maximum data rate of 6Mbps, still left out; the BDP-S2000ES can downmix the
a whopping 16 times the data-rate of Dolby Digital. In addition, the encoding high-resolution Dolby TrueHD audio signal
algorithms have reportedly been improved, resulting in better sound quality (or any other multichannel signal except DTS-
even when used at relatively lower bit-rates. HD Master Audio) to a stereo analog signal.
DTS has developed its own high-resolution formats for Blu-ray Disc. The The player will also downmix multichannel
new DTS-HD format is a parallel of Dolby Digital Plus, offering 7.1 channels signals to a stereo SPDIF signal on coaxial or
with bit-rates up to 6Mbps on Blu-ray. DTS’ lossless high-res format is DTS- TosLink jacks for decoding by an outboard
HD Master Audio, with the “Master Audio” label designating lossless delivery. D/A converter.
DTS-HD Master Audio has a maximum bit rate of 24Mbps on Blu-ray Disc. The STR-DA5300ES is by far the most
It’s important to note that these new audio formats are backward- sophisticated AVR I’ve reviewed. In addition to
compatible with the 40-million-plus Dolby Digital decoders in the world. If you decoding the new audio formats, the unit sports
use a Blu-ray player with a controller or AVR that lacks the ability to decode a port for an optional iPod dock. While many
these new formats, you simply connect the Blu-ray player to the controller AVRs offer an iPod dock, the STR displays the
or AVR through the familiar coaxial or TosLink jacks. The Blu-ray player will iPod’s playlists, artist, and track information
downconvert the new format to a Dolby Digital datastream at 640kbps (an on its on-screen display. You can also stream
improvement over the 384kbps typically used on DVD). Of course, you won’t digital audio wirelessly from a PC to the STR-
realize the full benefits of the new audio formats, but the sound will be better DA5300ES via an optional network client. Other
than what’s possible from DVD. features include automatic calibration (speaker
Finally, the Blu-ray Disc specification contains a provision for an audio-only sizes, distances, height, and channel levels), as
disc that can deliver eight channels of uncompressed high-resolution PCM well as automatic equalization. You can bypass
with sampling rates up to 192kHz and word lengths as long as 24 bits. So all signal-processing and multichannel functions
far, the music industry has shown no interest in creating the next-generation by pressing the 2-channel-direct button. Power
optical music carrier. output is rated at 120Wpc across all seven
1
 lthough I’ve been critical of the sound of Dolby Digital, it nonetheless solved the huge problem back
A
amplifier channels in stereo mode. The unit is
in the mid-1990s of how to fit six discrete audio channels on limited-capacity DVDs. Considering the loaded with other features and capabilities too
low data-rate Dolby had to work with, the Dolby Digital format performed better than one would have
expected.
numerous to detail here. Check Sony’s Web site
for the specifics.
18 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
 MAINSTREAM MULTICHANNEL
The BDP-S2000ES is Sony’s top-of-the-line Blu-ray player
and is beautifully built. The unit features a reinforced, vibration-
resistant chassis, a shielded drive bay, and separate boards for audio
and video. If you use the BDP-S2000ES with your existing gear
(that is, using the player’s analog outputs rather than an HDMI
1.3 connection), you’ll be listening to the player’s digital-to-analog
converters and analog-output stages. This is one reason why it’s
probably worth the extra money for the BDP-S2000ES over Sony’s
entry-level Blu-ray players; in my experience, the ES-designated
products sound considerably better than those in Sony’s standard
(non-ES) line.
The STR-DA5300ES and BDP-S2000ES feature Sony’s Bravia
Theatre Sync, which enables one-touch control over the entire
system when used with a Sony television equipped with Bravia
Theatre Sync.
After unpacking the STR-DA5300ES and looking at the 149-
page instruction manual, I had a moment of regret that I took on
this project. I’ve reviewed dozens of AVRs, and setting them up
and going through the learning curve can be a nightmare. Today’s
AVRs are so loaded with features and quirks that even someone
with decades of experience can easily become frustrated. What’s
more, the user interface of AVRs is universally poor.
But, to my great surprise, the STR-DA5300ES was different. The
user interface has been completely rethought. It even has a special
name: “Xross Media Bar.” This icon-based on-screen display is a
revelation, making control over the receiver simple and intuitive.
This isn’t an incremental improvement in the user interfaces you’ve
seen before, but a ground-up overhaul. Having struggled with
AVR and controller user interfaces for the past decade, I found the
Xross Media Bar an absolute joy—something I never thought I’d
say about an AVR’s user interface. You have to see the Xross Media
Bar in operation to appreciate what an advance it is.
Listening
I connected the STR-DA5300ES to my reference loudspeaker
system, a pair of Magico V3s in the left and right positions, a Wilson
WATCH center channel, four Revel Embrace surround speakers,

Specs & Pricing
STR-DA5300ES
Power output: 120Wpc @ 8
ohms, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.09%
THD, stereo mode
Analog inputs: Phono, discrete
multichannel input (eight-
channel), eight line inputs
Digital inputs: Seven coaxial,
one TosLink optical
HDMI inputs/outputs: Six
inputs, one output (HDMI
V1.3)
Analog video inputs: Four
each composite, S-video,
component video
Analog video outputs:
Composite, S-video,
component
Outputs: Preamp out (x 8
channels), record out (x 2),
zones 1, 2, 3 audio outputs
Satellite inputs: XM and Sirius
(optional)
Dimensions: 17" x 6.9" x 17"
Weight: 35.2 lbs.
Price: $1700
BDP-S2000ES
Formats supported: Blu-ray
Disc, CD, DVD-Video, DVD-
RW/–R, DVD+RW/+R (DVD file
formats supported included
MPEG-2 PS movie files, MP3,
JPEG image files)
Digital outputs: Coaxial on
20 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
RCA jack, TosLink optical,
HDMI 1.3
Analog outputs: Discrete
six-channel output on RCA
jacks, stereo analog output on
RCA jacks, component video,
S-video, composite video
Dimensions: 17" x 4 1/4" x 14 3/8"
Weight: 16 lbs.
Price: $1300
Associated Equipment
Loudspeakers: Magico
V3, Wilson WATCH, Revel
Embrace loudspeakers, JL
Audio Fathom f113 subwoofers
(x2); Video display: Sony VPL-
VW50 1920x1080 projector,
Stewart Filmscreen 92"-wide
16x9 Grayhawk. Reference
system for evaluating
BDP-S2000ES: Arcam AV9
controller (multichannel),
BAT Rex preamp (stereo),
Mark Levinson No.433
power amplifier, Anthem
Statement P5 power
amplifier (multichannel),
Monster Cable HDMI,
Shunyata Hydra-8 and V-Ray
AC conditioning, Shunyata
Antaries interconnect and
Python AC cords, MIT Oracle
MA loudspeaker cable
and a pair of JL Audio Fathom f113 subwoofers. I evaluated it with
the BDP-S2000ES as the source, as well as with my reference digital-
playback gear. I also assessed the BDP-S2000ES’ sound quality by
connecting it to my reference electronics (BAT Rex preamp, Arcam
AV9 controller, Mark Levinson No.433 amplifier). Cabling with the
STR-DA5300ES was Kimber 8TC all around, and I used Monster
Cable’s top-end HDMI cables throughout the system.
The STR-DA5300ES had no problem driving this system to
satisfying playback levels. With the loudspeakers set to “Small” in
the set-up menu (rolling off the bass to the main loudspeakers at
80Hz), the STR sounded like a powerhouse. With the Sony receiver
driving the Magico pair full-range, the sound stayed clean, dynamic,
and composed. On loud film soundtracks, the STR-DA5300ES
kept its cool at any sane listening level. The STR had solid bass
extension and good soundstaging, with a tonal balance that was a
little tipped up toward the bright side—a common trait of AVRs.
I used the terrific Blu-ray Disc Legends of Jazz Showcase to compare
Dolby Digital with Dolby TrueHD (the audio format is selectable
from the disc’s menu). The disc, a compilation of performances
for the eponymous television series, was recorded in an acoustically
treated studio before a live audience with top-end Neumann and
AKG microphones. If you like jazz, this disc is Exhibit A in the
case for Blu-ray and Dolby TrueHD.
Not surprisingly, TrueHD sounded considerably better than Dolby
Digital in nearly every area of sonic performance. Overall, TrueHD
was more open, detailed, and lifelike, with much more natural timbres.
By comparison, Dolby Digital sounded flat, hard, and constricted. I
had the impression that Dolby Digital presented just the “surface”
of an instrument’s timbre, while TrueHD rendered more “depth”
of timbre. That is, Dolby Digital didn’t resolve the nuances or tone
color that give an instrument a sense of body. A perfect example
is Chick Corea’s magnificently recorded Steinway on his classic
unaccompanied composition “Armando’s Rhumba.” In comparison
with TrueHD, the Dolby Digital track made the piano sound thin,
bright, hard, and lacking in body—almost like a toy piano. On the
TrueHD soundtrack, the piano’s richness and warmth returned, and
along with it, much greater expression of Corea’s musical intent. (I
wish someone would release a Blu-ray of Corea’s entire performance
rather than just the one track on this sampler.)
 MAINSTREAM MULTICHANNEL
The track on Legends of Jazz Showcase
by flutist Dave Valentin exemplified
TrueHD’s vastly better performance on
music rich with transient detail. Switching
from Dolby Digital to TrueHD made the
high-energy Latin percussion jump to
life. The Dolby Digital track rendered the
percussion as merely pops of transient
energy; the TrueHD version revealed
the full measure of each instrument’s
dynamic envelope, better portrayed
the mechanism by which sounds were
created by resolving far more low-
level information, and surrounded the
instruments with some air and space.
The percussion went from flat, dull, and
lifeless to vibrant and energetic. Although
the sonic gap between Dolby Digital and
TrueHD was significant, the difference in
musicality with TrueHD was even greater
than what one might anticipate from the
sound-quality difference. Blu-ray Disc
is a stunningly great format for enjoying
concert performances at home.
I had only one disc (Nature’s Journey)
with DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS’
high-resolution, multichannel lossless
format. Although the sound quality was
spectacular, it was hard to judge the
format because the instrumentation was
virtually all synthesized. Nonetheless,
because both Dolby Digital TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio deliver perfect
bit-for-bit accuracy to the source, I would
expect them to sound the same.
This was my first opportunity to
compare the sound of digital audio
transmitted over HDMI with the same
bitstream carried over a coaxial interface. I
connected a digital coaxial cable from the
BDP-S2000ES to the STR-DA5300ES,
and simply switched between the inputs
with familiar CDs as the source. (HDMI
1.3 will also carry two-channel PCM data.)
High-end equipment designers who had
experimented with HDMI reported
to me that the interface introduces
audible degradation. In fact, an engineer
from Arcam told me that the company
doesn’t implement the audio aspects of
HDMI because the sonic degradation is
unacceptable. After listening for myself,
I can see why. The HDMI connection
sounded thinner, brighter, and harder, and
had a strange, almost “phasey” character
in the midrange. I noticed this only with
two-channel material in direct comparison
with the coax interface. When listening
to Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master
Audio through HDMI, I didn’t hear these
sonic shortcomings.
Finally, I evaluated the BDP-S2000ES
through its analog outputs into my
reference system. If you want to get into
Blu-ray and use your existing (non-HDMI
1.3) equipment, you can use the BDP-
S2000ES in one of two ways. First, if
you have a multichannel controller with a
six-channel discrete analog input, connect
the BDP with six analog RCA cables.
You’ll hear high-resolution multichannel
audio from Dolby TrueHD. In the second
method, as I mentioned earlier, the Blu-ray
player downmixes the multichannel signal
to stereo for connection to a two-channel
preamplifier. In these configurations, the
BDP-S2000S was outstanding; the player’s
D/A converters were quite good, with
excellent depth, space, and resolution.
The Sony’s tonal balance was a bit brighter
than the Cambridge 840C ($1600, CD-
only), but not excessively so.
I had one glitch with the BDP-S2000ES.
After a couple of weeks it started flashing
colors and patterns when I was navigating
the menus, and it took the player a long
time to respond to commands.
Conclusion
Blu-ray Disc is a stunningly great format
for enjoying concert performances at
home. In fact, the sound and picture
quality exceeded expectations, delivering
a rich and immersive experience. The
only caveat is the limited availability of
music titles. That situation should change,
however, now that HD DVD has been
withdrawn from the market and Blu-ray
is the standard for HD packaged media.
I expect to see a flood of new titles now
that the format war is over.
I’ve focussed on the audiophile aspects
of Blu-ray and the STR-DA5300ES
and BDP-S2000ES, but the format and
these two products also deliver a movie
experience that leaves DVD in the dust.
With more than 400 movie titles available
in Blu-ray, you might find that reason
enough to take the plunge.
Once you experience lossless high-
resolution multichannel audio mated to
1080p HD video, you’ll be spoiled for
anything less. TAS
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 23
Absolute ANALOG

An Heir to
The Shure?
Ortofon 2M Red and
2M Black Cartridges
Neil Gader

I’
ve been a moving-magnet loyalist for years. Not always an
easy proposition, incidentally, with trash-talking colleagues
extolling the virtues of their own lightening-fast moving-
coil thoroughbreds. I have my own counter-arguments—in high-
end audio journalism, that goes with the territory.
Most recently my cartridge was the Shure V15VxMR. It
was a choice built on the Shure’s sonic profile, particularly its
expressive midrange. In retrospect, I was instinctively responding
to its uncanny frequency coherence in much the same way we
unconsciously react to the rightness of a speaker that seems to
project music as if from a single point. The V15 wasn’t the most
24 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
detailed or the most extended, but it tracked well and mercifully
steered clear of the kind of treble rise that throws a follow-spot
on harmonics and pricks the ear with a false sense of detail.
However, a few months ago my V15VxMR began failing. It may
have been age related. Or likely the tubular beryllium cantilever
had taken too many smacks from an errant Swiffer. But when the
left-channel output began drooping, I had to face facts. The coup
de grace was the news that the V15 had also been discontinued.
As if on cue, Ortofon, the Danish cartridge-maker, released
a new line of moving-magnet cartridges, the 2M Series. The
swansong designs of Ortofon’s former chief engineer Per
 ABSOLUTE ANALOG
Windfield, the 2Ms (word play for the moving magnet’s universal
abbreviation “mm”) are available in four high-output models,
bedecked in gumdrop colors to distinguish them. I evaluated the
entry-level 2M Red and the flagship 2M Black. Also available are
the 2M Blue ($199), and 2M Bronze ($349). All models share the
same general engine architecture and 47k ohm loading, as well as
a diamond stylus mounted on an aluminum cantilever. But there
are differences. The Bronze and Black get upgraded engines with
silver-plated copper wire and a cartridge body manufactured of
Noryl plastic/glass composite to reduce resonances. But the key
technical distinction regards the stylus profile. The Red uses a
tipped elliptical, while the Black wields a formidable Shibata
stylus—the same used on the vaunted MC Jubilee. The Shibata
has a wider contact area with the groove and better stability, all
of which extends frequency response and also reduces record
wear.
Thanks to the 2Ms’ slender body design and pre-threaded
mounting holes, set-up hassle was minimal. Overhang was nearly
a match to the Shure, but the additional mass of the 2M (7.2
grams versus the 6.6 grams of the V15) required me to rebalance
the SME V tonearm slightly (on a Sota Cosmos Series III). VTA
was set with the arm tube parallel to the platter surface and pretty
much remained in that neutral position. For the record, so to
speak, I routed the signal through the superb JR Transrotor
Phono II phonostage.
The 2M Black (and to a lesser degree, the Red) may have
been born a moving magnet, but its performance is not so easily
typecast. Overall, it’s the balance of the Black that carries the
day. It’s neither dark nor slow off the mark. Yet like the Shure
it doesn’t go in for extremes. It has a lighter touch and certainly
a faster one. It has a more resolved character irrespective of
frequency. And the V15 on its best day never reproduced a
soundstage with such precision and dimension.
Coincidentally with this review, Cisco Records sent me a three-
disc 45-rpm set of test pressings of Jennifer Warnes’ hallmark
album Famous Blue Raincoat. It arrived shortly after I’d reviewed
the beautifully remastered 25th anniversary CD [Shout Records].
Interestingly, the Black hews quite closely to the CD’s tonal balance.
Specs & Pricing
2M Black Ortofon Inc.
Type: Moving-magnet 500 Executive Blvd Ste., 102
Output: 5mV Ossining, NY 15062
Stylus: Nude Shibata (914) 762-8646
Tracking Force: 1.5 grams ortofon2m.com
Weight: 7.2 grams
Price: $599
2M Red
Type: Moving-magnet
Output: 5.5mV
Stylus: Elliptical
Tracking Force: 1.8 grams
Weight: 7.2 grams
Price: $99
26 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
On a song like “If It Be Your Will” the cartridge conveys the
intimacy of the hovering acoustic guitars and the plunging bass as
they dance in a way akin to an air-and-water ballet. Compared to
the CD, the Ortofon has greater harmonic delicacy on string and
a willowy signature off the transient. The CD, on the other hand,
has a slightly more grounded midrange, but lacks the 2M’s ethereal
space and air in this cut. The Ortofon produced bass extension that
was arguably fuller and more naturalistic than the CD, but not as
tight. Comparing the LP to the disc reminded me of the commonly
expressed distinctions between tube and transistor amplification—
the former a little warmer and less defined, the latter offering greater
extension but lacking in musicality.
During the final movement of the Solti-conducted Beethoven
Ninth Symphony [Decca], the 2M Black differentiated voices in
tightly packed chorales impressively, easily sifting through the
layers of a symphony orchestra and allowing the listener to peer
over each music stand. Depending on the recording it could skew
toward the analytical in the treble, adding a shimmer of brilliance
to Anna Netrebko’s upper register and some glare in brass or
winds. Nothing off-putting, but if your ear tends to key on
these things, they’re clearly there. The Black’s greatest attribute,
however, was how it provided a more transparent window into
the world of micro-energies—all the tiny things we listen for
which coalesce to create the inner life of a great recording. These
include (but aren’t limited to) amplitude gradations, dynamic and
transient information, and timing differences. They can be heard
in the depth of Marilyn Horne’s vibrato as she beats back the
orchestra during “Somewhere” [West Side Story, Bernstein, DG],
or the way that the 40-piece string orchestra is juxtaposed against
James Hetfield’s razor-rasp vocal and Lars Ulrich’s bone-crushing
drum track during Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” [Vertigo].
Compared with the V15, the Black resides in its own world,
plumbing the complexities of orchestral depth and dimension.
Tonally the Red is cut from the same midrange cloth as the
Black and captures the gist of the Black’s personality. It’s even
more like the V15—forgiving of harsh recordings and enriched
with a stronger midrange orientation and a slight treble roll-off.
During the final movement of the Ninth, it distances the violin
section slightly and brings the celli and bass viols a row or two
closer to the audience. Bass quality is excellent, the near-equal of
the Black.
The Red easily resolves the inner detail of the brass ensemble
during Holly Cole’s “The Briar and the Rose” [Temptation, Alert].
This section can sound brittle and synthesized on the CD but
one of the 2M’s strengths is the lower midrange, which is critical
to imparting the energy of these instruments. In comparison
to the 2M Black, the Red clocks in as a little drier and sounds
as if it’s making more of an effort in the upper treble. Keep
in mind that, although it lacks some of the velvety finesse and
smooth harmonic finish of the Black, this is one sophisticated
and musical cartridge—for the price of a nice dinner for two.
In a market where moving coils get most of the buzz, the 2M
Black is a superb performer and value. It deserves to garner the
attention of bereaved V15 aficionados and make converts of the
more curious moving-coil devotees. Likewise, the 2M Red has
nothing to be red-faced about, either. In a hobby not noted for
bargains the Red is a screaming deal—an entry-level cartridge at its
finest. In both instances these are worthy heirs to the Shure. TAS
 Welcome to the 2008 Golden Ear Awards, a feature with a long and
rich tradition in The Absolute Sound. This is the place where our
writers and editors choose those components that stand out from the
competition. This year’s group of honorees is as diverse as the tastes,
experiences, and sensibilities of our distinguished team of writers.

Anthony H. Cordesman ................ 30 HP’s Golden Ears ........................... 110

Neil Gader ........................................ 32
Wayne Garcia .................................. 34 Music Golden Ears
Robert E. Greene ............................ 36 Bob Gendron ................................. 122
Jim Hannon . ................................... 38 Ted Libbey ..................................... 124
Robert Harley ................................. 40 Bill Milkowski ................................ 126
Jacob Heilbrunn ............................. 42 Andy Downing .............................. 128
Sue Kraft ......................................... 44 Andrew Quint ................................ 130
Chris Martens ................................. 46 Greg Cahill ..................................... 132
Dick Olsher ...................................... 48 Derk Richardson .......................... 134
Paul Seydor ..................................... 50 Dan Davis ...................................... 136
Alan Taffel ....................................... 52 David McGee ................................. 138
Jonathan Valin ............................... 54

The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 29

 Anthony H. Cordesman
Challenge Classics, Etcetera, PentaTone,
and Linn
I’m awarding these recording companies Golden Ears for
keeping SACDs coming with both excellent sound and often
original and creative performances. If you combine their efforts
with previous Golden Ear-quality work from Aix, BIS, Chesky,
Delos, Harmonia Mundi, and Telarc, it is far too early to count
out SACD and DVD-A.
PS Audio Power Plant Premier
$2195
psaudio.com
PS Audio provides some of the best AC filtering and protection
at a wide range of prices, but the Premier is a truly outstanding
product that generates the cleanest AC around. The sonic impact
varies according to the quality of your AC lines and the quality
of the component’s power supply, but is always positive and is
significant with bad AC lines. (Reviewed in Issue 175)
Vandersteen 5A loudspeakers
$16,900
vandersteen.com
One of the two reference-quality speakers I turned to when I
had to change the configuration of one of my listening rooms
and give up my TADs. (The Thiel 7.2s remain.) Everything that
the original TAS review praised remains praiseworthy, but this
speaker also has more flexibility in adjusting to compensate for
room effects than any other I’ve encountered, and the best truly
deep bass of any speaker approaching its size. (Reviewed in
Issue 139)
Magnepan 20.1 loudspeaker
$13,995
magnepan.com
My second selection to investigate as a replacement reference.
This planar-magnetic/ribbon line-source loudspeaker offers
some of the finest sound available at any price with a superb
30 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
combination of detail and natural timbre. The bass improves
slowly and steadily over time, and goes much deeper if room
measurements are made with test equipment to find the best
location. Needs a powerful amplifier to show its best. (Reviewed
in Issue 136)
Audioquest K2 Speaker cable and
Colorado interconnects
K2, $6800/8' pr.; Colorado, $800/1m pr.
audioquest.com
The first direct rival I’ve found to Kimber’s Select series, the
Audioquests provide slightly more detail than the Kimber and
better overall integration, but both are superb. The Audioquests
are also remarkably free of interaction with components and
speakers. “A straight wire without grain.” (Not reviewed)
VAS Citation One preamp
$4495
vasindustries.com
Here’s a full-featured analog preamp in a world of minimalist
preamps with all the excitement and romance of a dead carp. If
you are a serious record collector, this will be the preamp that
really allows you to listen properly to older LPs. (Reviewed in
Issue 180)
Onkyo TX-NR905 and TX-SR875AV
receivers
$1999, $1699
onkyousa.com
You can argue whether these receivers are lower high end
or upper mid-fi, but they do a surprisingly good job of
reproducing surround music, and they are ready for Dolby
TrueHD and DTS-HD music if the industry looks beyond
movie soundtracks. One warning: The Audyssey MultEQ XT
automatic-room-equalization and set-up feature was very erratic
for both speakers, sometimes did not detect the right mix of
speakers, and rarely seemed to produce exactly the same settings
twice. (Not reviewed)
 Neil Gader
Simaudio Moon Equinox SE CD Player
$2800
simaudio.com
The original Equinox CD player never had the distinction
of being the Blue Plate Special or the flagship model in
the Simuaudio lineup. Now in its final version as the SE
(Signature Edition), it exemplifies everything that I’ve
admired about this company’s products since I reviewed its
first integrated amplifier in the 90s. The SE’s sonics have
improved with harmonic subtleties and greater contrasts
that delve deeper into the recesses of the soundstage. And
thanks to construction quality that verges on bunker-building,
Simaudio continues to break ground in the areas of resonance
and isolation control—innovations that can be clearly heard
in a lower noise floor, greater sensitivity to microdynamics,
and cleaner, smoother transients. Simaudio also has a firm
handle on developing software that works. Its players react
to user inputs with electrifying speed; track selections are
instantaneous; and the drawer mechanism obeys commands
as if it had a fighter pilot at the controls. Long-term reliability
has been flawless. With the CD format entering its golden
years, the Equinox couldn’t be more worthy of this Golden
Ear. (Reviewed in Issue 149)
32 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable
$6665 with vacuum ($5555 w/o vacuum)
sotaturntables.com
There is a lot to be said for the current wave of advancements
in analog playback. It’s undeniable that turntables, tonearms,
and cartridges have never been better designed or more
exquisitely manufactured than they are today. However,
the Sota Cosmos, a pre-millennial product now in Series
III plumage, remains a “relic” to be reckoned with. It’s a
’table that addresses isolation and resonance control like
few affordable turntables do today. Featuring a floating
subchassis (thanks to hanging suspension), sophisticated
armboard laminate, and progressive vacuum hold-down, the
Cosmos frees the stylus/tonearm to communicate with a
piece of vinyl like only a handful of other turntables. Setup
is a breeze. Some consider its signature a darker one; I’d
describe it as rich, sweet, and smooth as crème brulée, extended
and naturalistic—a warm sound that, as we all know, can be
further tuned with shrewd cartridge selection. In a city like
Los Angeles—famously prone to seismic “events”—I’ve
personally witnessed the Cosmos go toe-to-toe with nature, as
the needle on Caltech’s seismometer skipped across the graph
paper. Even as my heart jumped there was hardly a shudder
from the tonearm. I’d like to see one of the current high-
mass, suspension-less designs tolerate that. A truly enduring
design worthy of a second look. (Reviewed in Issue 145)
ATC SCM 20-2 loudspeaker
$6600
atc.gb.net
The ATC SCM20-2 is the passive (unamplified) version of
ATC’s purpose-designed active studio monitor. Pro speakers
and their ilk generally don’t fare well with audiophiles, so
what’s this one doing wearing a Golden Ear? Simple—this
heavily-built two-way compact caters to my listening biases
like few speakers I’ve encountered. It fits my small room like a
Gucci loafer and plays back vocals and solo instruments with
a sonic truthfulness that turns heads in appreciation. Much
of the credit belongs to a coherence and lack of coloration
that permit it to speak with one glorious voice regardless
of pitch or dynamic. Perfect? Not quite. There’s no bottom
octave, and thus orchestral material is downsized in scale and
impact. Its 83dB sensitivity (or shall I say lack of sensitivity)
excludes amplifiers that are power-challenged. When driven
with 200+ watts of power, however, the SCM20-2—an
acoustic-suspension design—will provide surprising extension
and pitch-perfect midbass that most ported compacts cannot
measure up to. Whether used as a tool for critical analysis or
for pure pleasure, it performs to levels that most speakers only
hint at. (Reviewed in Issue 154)
 Wayne Garcia
I
think my colleagues would agree that, as audio enthusiasts,
we’re living in an exceptionally exciting time—one
offering an abundance of great-sounding gear at all price
points. Although I live with extremely expensive reference
components such as the $45,000 Kharma Mini Exquisite
loudspeakers, the $14,000 Nagra CD player, and Midas Gold
Card-expensive Tara Labs cables, the past year has also seen
me reviewing a seemingly never-ending series of notably fine
“real-world” gear from the likes of Exposure, Vincent, NAD,
NHT, Sota, Pro-Ject, Simaudio, Epos, and Rega. Then there
are perennial “best-buys” like the Magnepan MG 12 and
MMG speakers reviewed by Jonathan Valin in Issue 177. If I
mention so many products, it’s not to rack up some kind of
“runners-up” list but to illustrate my opening point. Indeed,
all one needs to do is peruse any issue’s Table of Contents to
realize that these are very special days for our hobby.
B&W 685 Loudspeaker
$600
bwspeakers.com
I’ll admit to having mixed responses in the past to the
speakers made by England’s venerable Bowers & Wilkins.
Some earned my admiration; some left me ho-hum. But the
685 knocked me flat. Made at B&W’s own specially built
factory in China, the 685 is a model for what an affordable
small speaker should be. It has outstanding top-
to-bottom tonal balance, fine bass response that
is reasonably extended without resorting to the
kind of pumped-up artificiality often used to fool
the innocent, a large well-focused soundstage,
and an easy extended top end. Savings in labor
34 June/July
34 June/July 2008
2008 The
The Absolute
Absolute Sound
Sound
costs have allowed B&W to put money into performance-
oriented touches such as more rigid cabinetry, a woven Kevlar
bass/midrange driver, and a freshly designed Nautilus tweeter
assembly, as well as cosmetic niceties rarely seen at this
price. When it comes to playing music, the 685 is a winner.
Whether you’re in the mood to crank up some rock, relax with
classical guitar, or sit for an extended session with an opera or
symphony, the 685 is both exciting and involving. A superb
value that raises the bar for its type and price class. (Reviewed
in Issue 176)
Tri-Planar Ultimate VII Precision Tonearm
$4700
triplanar.com
I’ve awarded previous Golden Ears to this classic of pivoted
tonearm design, which in one form or another has been a
staple of my system longer than any other single component.
The latest version benefits from improved materials, even
tighter tolerances, a handy gauge for the VTA tower, plus a
few other tweaks that result in audibly superior detail, greater
openness, more explosive dynamic range, tighter focus, and
greater low-end solidity, as well as improved fit and finish.
(Review forthcoming)
TW Acustic Raven One Turntable
$6000
highwatersound.com
Here’s a company to watch. Whether you’re looking at the
fully tricked-out, three-motor, $18,000 Raven AC-3 (see JV’s
review in Issue 180) or this entry-level model, TW Acustic
turntables are exceptionally musical, detailed, beautifully made,
and of high value. Sharing much of the AC-3’s technology—
from the high-torque microprocessor-controlled, quartz-
referenced DC motor to the specially formulated composite
plinth material to the bearing assembly, and beyond—the
Raven One is the best high-end turntable value I know of.
(Review forthcoming)
 Robert E. Greene

T
hree extraordinary speakers came my way in the past
year, and one really useful accessory. All the speaker
designs illustrated the virtues of a controlled radiation
pattern and wave-guided upper-mid and high frequencies.

Gradient Helsinki 1.5 loudspeaker

$7500
gradienthifi.com
The bass is a cross-firing dynamic-driver dipole; the mids and
highs radiate in a cardioid pattern tilted somewhat upwards
(geometrically, not in frequency response!). The
cardioid pattern is obtained via an ingenious
system of two shallow waveguides, with a
sophisticated absorbing layer in the midrange
guide. The result is minimization of floor
reflection and other early reflections, plus the
minimized room-mode excitation of dipole
bass. Your listening room is very nearly removed
from the playback chain. This speaker offers
an all but unique sense of hearing the original
recording space and its acoustics. Its in-room
response is smooth, albeit slightly lightweight
in the bottom—I recommend a subwoofer for
large-scaled music. I still use the Gradient 1.3s
from long ago in one of my systems. And this
new Gradient Helsinki 1.5, a refined version
of similar principles, is, like its predecessor, an instant classic.
(Review forthcoming)
Audio Kinesis Dream Maker loudspeaker
$9000
audiokinesis.com
Big but beautiful, both in sound and appearance, this speaker
radiates symmetrically and “in phase” front and back, but
with a narrowing pattern as frequency rises. The pattern is
obtained via a large mid/bass driver, with a crossover point at
the frequency where its radiation matches the 90º-pattern of
the compression-driver with waveguide used for the higher
frequencies. The speaker needs distance from the back wall
to avoid early reflections from behind. In the right setup,
the sound is exceptionally smooth, and the narrowed high-
frequency dispersion minimizes sidewall reflections to give
superb imaging and a concert-hall-natural reverberant field.
Highs are ultra-pure. The extreme top is rolled off (add a
super tweeter at the very top if you like). Big neutral sound,
unconstrained dynamics, plus excellent deep bass extension—
the whole is much like the live experience. Audio Kinesis is a
very small company, and the speakers are not easy to find, but
they’re worth the effort. (Not reviewed)
Emerald Physics CS2
controlled-directivity
loudspeaker
$2995
emeraldphysics.com
Offering big, ultra-precise, informative sound
at an affordable price, the Emerald Physics CS2 represents
the wave of the future (a DSP electronic crossover is crucial
to the design and bi-amplification is necessary). With dipole
bass and mids via two fifteen-inch(!) drivers and a waveguide
compression driver for the upper mids and highs, it has
dynamic capability to burn and effortless sound, indeed. There
are adjustments in the DSP box, and tweaking gain on your
amplifiers will enable you to dial-in bass/treble balance even
further. Set up just right, the system offers neutral sound,
X-marks-the-spot imaging, and extraordinary top-to-bottom
transparency. The CS2 is something really special once the
balance is dialed in and, at the price, simply stunning. (Review
forthcoming)
Touchstone Tweeter Surrounds
$55.95
diffractionbegone.com
Using surrounding material to control diffraction is an idea that
goes back at least as far as the Spendor BC-1 (1968), which had
edge foam behind the grille. But this issue is not dealt with in
every design, even today. If your speakers suffer from tweeter
diffraction-effects, these elegant and inexpensive felt devices
will make an improvement out of all proportion to their low
price. Inexpensive enough to experiment with. (Not reviewed)

36 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Jim Hannon
T
he occasion of the Golden Ear Awards causes me to
reflect on those special products that I would not only
want to keep for years in one of my reference systems,
but those that are great values, too. While the SME 20/12
turntable system that I nominated last year certainly merits
inclusion on this year’s list, given its superlative performance,
it is arguably not a great value—the Clearaudio Anniversary
’table and Helios Omega arm combo that I’m currently
auditioning appear, at first blush, to rival its performance
in most areas yet cost about half as much. With high-
performance and value “filters” applied to this year’s list, I
offer the following select components. One is already a classic,
but the others may very well become ones over time.
Quad ESL-2805 and (restored)
Quad ESL-57 loudspeakers
$8999, Quad ESL-2805; $3900, if PK
supplies the ESL-57s
quad-hifi.co.uk
These two Quad loudspeakers are of reference quality in
transient speed, truth of timbre, coherence, transparency, and
low distortion and coloration. With the right amplifier—and
I cannot stress how important this matching is—they can
reproduce the sound of voices and instruments with such
a compelling naturalness and realism that I am more than
occasionally fooled into thinking the performers are in the
room. Neither plumbs the depths of the frequency range, and
both are somewhat dynamically constrained, yet the ESL-2805
is significantly better than the original ESL-63 on these counts
and demonstrates how brilliant Peter Walker’s original design
for the 63 was. The ESL-2805’s electrostatic panels are capable
of wider excursions and are more rigidly affixed to a massive
(and braced) frame, yielding meaningful improvements in
dynamic range, clarity, image focus, and bass definition and
extension. For those of more modest means, the Quad ESL-
38 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
988 has also benefited from the panel improvements and is
quite the bargain.
Restored to its original specs along with improvements in
the re-manufacture of the panels, the ESL-57 is a very special
loudspeaker, but it is not for everyone. I purchased a fully
restored pair of ESL-57s from Wayne Picquet a few years ago,
and was shocked at how much more dynamic and seemingly
extended they were than the two previous pairs of “used”
originals I had owned (57s lose some of their dynamic output
over the decades). Stacked Quads are no longer necessary to
produce sufficient output. The restored ESL-57 still won’t
please head-bangers, but it has slightly more purity, immediacy,
and “magic” in its sweet-spot from the midbass to the upper
midrange than the excellent ESL-2805. Voices, massed strings,
saxophones, and acoustic guitars are “to die for.” However,
the 2805 is more versatile and a better choice for those who
listen with others, love power music, require more bass
extension, and prefer digital source material. Both are great
loudspeakers. (ESL-2805 reviewed in Issue 169; ESL-57,
reviewed in Issue 173)
PrimaLuna DiaLogue II integrated
amplifier
$2625
upscaleaudio.com
Here is a modern integrated tube unit with massive output
transformers that sounds eminently musical, is triode/
ultralinear-switchable from a remote, and can drive almost
anything you throw at it, including all the Quads mentioned
above. The DiaLogue II creams most classic tube amps in
resolution and extension at the frequency extremes, and its
Adaptive AutoBias circuit significantly reduces tube distortion
and makes it almost as easy to maintain as a solid-state unit. It
is one key to this unit’s highly engaging and fatigue-free sound.
The DiaLogue II’s ability to naturally reproduce instruments
and voices, coupled with its dynamic explosiveness, may fool
you into thinking you’re listening to a far more costly and
powerful amplifier. (Reviewed in Issue 175)
 Robert Harley

What makes the Nait 5i-2 so special is the amplifier’s

Magico V3 Loudspeaker
$26,400
magico.net
Once in a great while, a product comes along that changes
the rules of the game. Such a product not only sets new
performance benchmarks in certain sonic criteria, it serves as a
touchstone for an entire industry. By pushing beyond traditional
thinking and design concepts, the product has the power to
inspire designers in other categories to aim even higher.
The V3 loudspeaker from Magico is such a product.
Although at first glance it appears like just another cones-
in-a-box speaker, the V3 creates an entirely new language of
loudspeaker design. From the curved aluminum baffle, to
the stacked birch-ply enclosure, to the custom drivers made
from the same material as helicopter blades, to the fist-sized
crossover capacitors, the V3 brings fresh new ideas to a very
old technology.
All this innovation would be meaningless, of course, if
the V3 didn’t sound much different from other loudspeakers.
But sound different it does. The V3 possesses a fundamental
musical rightness that’s instantly apparent. The speakers
disappear, not just in the conventional sense of becoming lost
in a wide and deep soundstage, but tonally as well. The V3 is
so utterly transparent that instrumental tone color is portrayed
with astonishing vividness of color and palpability of texture.
The sense of hearing an instrument or voice in front of
you—right there—is transcendental.
The Magico V3 is destined to become an iconic product,
one that we’ll look back on years or decades from now as
forging an important new direction not just in loudspeaker
design, but in advancing the entire art of music reproduction.
(Reviewed in Issue 179)
ability to engage the listener musically. Many integrated
amplifiers (and separates, for that matter) sound good on a
sonic checklist such as soundstaging, bass depth and power,
dynamics, treble smoothness, and clarity, but when it comes
down to it, they lack the elusive power to communicate
musical expression that is the core of the high-end audio
experience. If I had to point to specific sonic characteristics
of the Nait that make it so musically compelling, I’d cite the
amplifier’s ability to present music as an interwoven tapestry
of individual musical lines that gel into a coherent and
meaningful whole.
Even when driving highly resolving loudspeakers (Wilson
Sophias and Magico V3s, for example), the Nait’s special
magic is unmistakable. Many expensive separates lack the
Naim’s seductive musicality. That this sound quality is possible
for $1625 is cause for celebration. (Reviewed in our next issue)
QSonix Q110 Music Server
$5995
qsonix.com
The QSonix 110 brings your entire CD collection to your
fingertips with a brilliant user interface. The intuitive drag
’n’ drop touchscreen makes navigating your library or
programming playlists a breeze. New software allows high-res
downloads seamlessly from MusicGiants. (Reviewed in Issue
177, follow-up forthcoming)

Naim Nait 5i-2 Integrated Amplifier

$1625
naim-usa.com
If there’s a better value in high-end electronics than the
new Naim Nait 5i-2, I have yet to discover it. Naim’s Nait
Series has always possessed more than a hint of magic (as
I discovered when I reviewed the Nait 2 in 1989), but the
company has continually found ways to improve performance.
Now with upgraded circuitry (hence the “-2” designation), the
50Wpc Nait 5i-2 again sets the standard in the category.

40 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Jacob Heilbrunn
VPI Scout turntable
$1800
vpiindustries.com
Continuum Caliburn turntable
$125,000
continuumaudiolabs.com
These two turntables are at the opposite ends of the hobby.
The Scout blew me away with its control, detail, and zest for
the music. I loved it. It’s hard to think why anyone would want
more. But if you do, the Caliburn, which I’ve been enjoying
for a year since buying one, will help provide it. Like so many
of the great ’tables available today, it boasts freakishly quiet
backgrounds and thundering orchestral fortissimos. Its most
salient characteristic may be a holistic sound that is never, ever
tilted up in the top-end, but provides a remarkably even and
smooth balance throughout the tonal spectrum. The Caliburn
is not a product for the faint of heart, but it represents a path
toward ultimate sound. (Not reviewed)
PS Audio Power Plant Premiere
$2195
psaudio.com
Few products can be more vexing than power conditioners.
They often rob Peter to pay Paul—producing blacker
backgrounds at the expense of dynamics, clarity at the cost of
bloom. The PS Audio Power Plant Premiere does neither. It’s
the first conditioner that I can unreservedly recommend. A
completely different product from the earlier generation of PS
Audio regenerators—it runs quietly and doesn’t produce much
heat—it delivers 1500 watts of clean power from the wall
outlet, while measurably lowering total harmonic distortion on
the AC line from 2.5% to 0.5% in my system. Music emerged
with unprecedented authority from my speakers when using
this ingenious device. (Reviewed by AHC in Issue 175)
Aesthetix Io Eclipse phonostage
$15,500 ($20,000 with additional power supply)
musicalsurroundings.com
Aesthetix designer Jim White has done it again. This new
version of the fabled Io phonostage represents a substantial
sonic and aesthetic improvement over its predecessor. The all-
tube Io, which shuns the use of either JFETs or transformers
as gain devices, has always produced a massive soundstage,
excellent bass, and bloom to die for. It also has adjustable
gain and cartridge loading via small tabs that are easily
moved. In its new incarnation, the Io has been loaded with
expensive new capacitors that substantially reduce the noise
floor and grain as well as provide even more dynamic power.
In addition, the new chassis offers much better bracing and
immunity to vibration. (Not reviewed)
42 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
VTL Siegfried monoblock amplifiers
$48,000
vtl.com
It’s easy enough to rave about the sound produced by
these transparent, magisterial, and powerful amplifiers that
boast control over the bass that few others can match. No,
the Siegfried is not as refulgent as the mighty VTL Wotan
monoblock amplifiers, which boast 24 output tubes in each
chassis and can serve as a space heater. But VTL has gone a
long way towards making high-powered tube amplifiers more
user-friendly by incorporating microprocessors to monitor
tube performance and regulate the power supply. Purists will
blanch, but VTL firmly claims that they do not intrude upon
the sound. (Reviewed in Issue 180)
Einstein “The Tube Mk. II” preamplifier
$15,700
aaudioimports.com
Hailing from Germany, the Tube is frequently coupled with
Acapella loudspeakers, and no wonder. The noise floor isn’t
close to vanishing; it seems nonexistent. It is, and not by a
small margin, the most neutral and quiet preamplifier that
I’ve encountered, and that includes a number of solid-state
preamps. What’s more, it features no fewer than 19 tubes. But
in a very clever design decision, the preamplifier shuts off all
the tubes that aren’t in the specific circuit that’s being used.
If you’re impatient and want to switch right away from input
to input, this preamp is not for you, as it takes a minute for
the output tubes to warm up. But the combination of ultra-
quiet operation and thundering dynamics makes this preamp
something of a wonder. My only quibble is with the right-
angled power cord underneath the chassis, which is difficult to
reach. (Not reviewed)
 Sue Kraft

Accuphase E-550 Integrated Amplifier

Meridian 808 Signature Reference CD
Player
808, $14,995; 808i, $15,995
meridian-audio.com
I’ve lived with the Meridian 808 Signature Reference CD
player for the past year and a half, and the extraordinary
performance of this benchmark in digital technology
continues to astound, perhaps even more so now than during
my initial listening sessions. The most delicate nuances of
inner detail and space are as masterfully re-created as I’ve
heard to date, rendering a profoundly deep and holographic
soundstage marked with spatial cues that can still make the
hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. The Meridian
808 also possesses an outstanding sense of ease even with
the most demanding musical passages, preserving with
absolute precision the integrity of images and the spaces
between them. Vocals are spectacularly natural and stunningly
realistic—listening to Eva Cassidy through the 808 evokes an
emotional response I’m not sure I can even describe except to
say my heart melts. After all these months I can find nothing
about this player that distracts me from the ultimate goal,
connecting to the music. In my book, a component can earn
no higher praise. New digital formats may come and go, but
it would seem the Compact Disc is here to stay, at least for
the foreseeable future. Isn’t it grand that we can enjoy decades
worth of our favorite music in such exquisite fashion? RH
summed it up best when he said he couldn’t imagine not
having the 808 in his system. Neither can I.
Note: As oft times is the case in this hobby, just when we
think a component couldn’t possibly get any better, it does.
Meridian announced an exciting update for the 808 at CES
2008—a potentially ground-breaking new digital filter that’s
the subject of an AES paper. The price remains the same;
watch for a full review of the 808.2. (Reviewed in Issue 164)
$9995
axissaudio.com
Another easy choice for Golden Ear honors this year is the
Accuphase E-550 integrated. With an all-new state-of-the-art
volume control and updated output stage, this amplifier has
classic Accuphase written all over it. The sizzling hot 30W
(at 8 ohms) pure Class A engine perched under the hood
of the E-550 isn’t a powerhouse—and doesn’t pretend to
be—but don’t be too quick to dismiss this integrated based
on the numbers. The E-550 doubles its output power down
to 2 ohms, so unless you’re the serious head-banger type,
I wouldn’t be afraid to give this paragon of accuracy and
precision a whirl with just about any speaker out there. Paired
with the B&W 800D music was as clean and clear as I’ve
heard, with an infectious sparkle and energy that could suck
me in from any room in the house. This one is definitely an
ear-turner. A life-sized, open, and airy soundstage infused with
layers of ultra-delicate inner detail always hits the spot for me,
as well. Depending on associated gear, you may notice a few
extra bumps in the road on some lesser-quality recordings,
but nothing brutal. The purists out there will surely appreciate
the attention to every iota of musical detail on this one. And
for those who want it all, the E-550 is loaded with features,
including the choice of single-ended or balanced operation
as well as the versatility of being able to use both the preamp
and amplifier sections separately. And the most important
option—a “defeat” button for those who don’t need the bells
and whistles. First and foremost, the Accuphase E-550 is an
integrated of the very highest sonic credentials. The rest is
icing on the cake. (Reviewed in Issue 181)

44 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Chris Martens

Klipsch Image and Custom 3 In-Ear

Headphones
Image, $349; Custom 3, $299
klipsch.com
Ours is an era where, for many music lovers, the most common
“hi-fi system” of all might well be Apple’s ubiquitous iPod. But
as many of you know, box-stock Apple earbuds are at best a
sonic mixed bag (and that’s being generous). How, then, I have
often asked myself, will members of the iPod generation ever be
introduced to legitimate high-end sound? The answer, I believe,
is likely to come through exposure to superb in-ear headphones
drawn from the latest crop of very high performance models
entering the marketplace, two superb examples of which come
from Klipsch. If that last sentence conjures up somewhat scary
mental images of pairs of Klipschorns dangling from your ear
lobes, let me assure you that the models of which I speak—
Klipsch’s new Image and Custom 3 earbuds—are quite light and
physically tiny. But their sound is not.
The Image model ($349) is arguably the smallest and lightest
high-performance earbud ever made, and its sonic goodness
derives in part from its electomechanical simplicity; it’s a single-
armature (or what speaker folks might call a “full-range, single-
driver”) design similar in concept to some of the superb designs
heard in the past from Etymotic Research (e.g., Etymotic’s
critically acclaimed ER-4x Series ’phones). But what sets the
Images apart is not just the quality of their drivers, but also their
comfort factor. Klipsch, bless its heart, has figured our something
most other manufacturers have missed—namely, that human ear
canals tend to be oblong and not perfectly circular in cross section.
Accordingly, the Images feature patented eartips made of a soft,
gel-like rubber material that are oval-shaped, not round. The result this reason feature small, light, over-the-ear support tubes which
is, hands down, the most comfortable earbud I’ve experienced double as wire guides and can be bent by hand to achieve an ideal
and one that almost effortlessly achieves a good, airtight seal in custom fit. Again, Klipsch’s oval eartips come into play, helping to
the ear canal. enhance comfort and to foster a good, airtight seal. In an absolute
The upshot is an earphone that offers quite high levels of sense, the Custom 3s offer even higher resolution and tighter
resolution, reasonably neutral tonal balance shaded just to the sonic focus than the Images do, and even truer (that is, more
warm side, sweet highs, an evocative and at times seductive perfectly neutral albeit slightly brighter and somewhat colder)
midrange, and surprisingly deep, potent, high-impact bass tonal balance, though depending on the day or the material being
(perhaps the best I’ve heard from any in-ear headphone). One played, I could build a strong case for either one.
point I can’t emphasize strongly enough is that the Images are so But the part I’ve come to love—with both models—is that
small and light, and fit so beautifully, that you all but forget you’re these babies are well and truly musically engrossing, much as great
wearing them. More so than any other earbuds I’ve tried (and I’ve high-end loudspeakers are.
tried a bunch), the Images demonstrate the truth of this equation:
good fit = great sound.
But for purists, especially those who favor strict accuracy over
slightly more forgiving tonal warmth, and who really want to push
the high-resolution envelope, Klipsch’s Custom 3s ($299) are just
the ticket. The Custom 3 is a dual-armature design—similar in
concept to Shure’s two-way flagship SE530s—that I would classify
as a true monitoring-grade in-ear headphone. The Custom 3s are
slightly larger and differently shaped than the Images and for

46 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Dick Olsher

TEAC Esoteric MG-20 Loudspeaker And the good news is that there is absolutely no
$8400 metallic sizzle in evidence. Sibilants are negotiated without
www.teac.com/esoteric exaggeration. Violin overtones, a severe test for any dome
This year, the MG-20, a two-way loudspeaker built by tweeter, especially one of the metal variety, are reproduced
Tannoy in the U.K. for Esoteric, receives an enthusiastic two with convincing sheen and luster. This is not a bright
thumbs up. Although metal cone and dome drivers are not sounding speaker. Its detail resolution is earned the old-
new, Esoteric gets full credit for being first to market (spring fashioned way—through superior transduction of the input
of 2007) with a loudspeaker with an all magnesium-alloy signal, rather than distortion of the tonal balance in favor of
driver complement. If you’re going to launch a new product the presence or lower treble regions.
line, you might as well make it audacious! The attraction of Bottom line: The MG-20 is a superbly engineered product,
metal lies in its greatly enhanced stiffness and sound velocity which gives magnesium-alloy diaphragm technology full scope
compared to paper, characteristics that for example allow a of expression. Kudos to the Tannoy-Esoteric partnership
woofer to more closely approach ideal pistonic behavior over for translating a promising technical concept into a winning
an extended bandwidth. Relative to aluminum or titanium, loudspeaker—a perfect illustration of technology in the
Esoteric maintains that magnesium alloy (96% magnesium) service of music. (Reviewed in Issue 177)
provides better internal energy dissipation.
In addition, the woofer cone is corrugated
and damped with two thin coatings (one
of which is a ceramic layer) for enhanced
resonance control. Esoteric believes
that these design features are essential
to maximizing the sonic potential of its
magnesium alloy technology.
Yes, it’s true, different driver materials do
sound different, and for the same reasons a
violin’s or piano’s timbre is affected by the
choice of woods and lacquers for the body
of the instrument. In contrast, the MG-20
was designed to speak with a consistent
voice over its entire range. A soprano voice,
for instance, may launch in the woofer’s
sweet spot and seamlessly continue its
upper-register ascent courtesy of the
tweeter, never changing diaphragm material.
Thus, as the harmonic envelope blooms
and expands, the MG-20’s character remains
unchanged.
The MG-20’s most compelling sonic
attributes are clarity and transparency to die
for. It appears to lift layers of veiling away
from the soundstage, making for a stronger
connection to the original performance.
Reverberant information, decaying
gossamer-like into the recording’s noise
floor, is faithfully reproduced to a degree
even electrostatics would have difficulty
duplicating. Its controlled midrange
dispersion pattern relative to that of a
dipole radiator gives the MG-20 the edge in
low-level resolution, as there is less reflected
energy to interfere with the direct sound.

48 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Paul Seydor
Basis 2200 turntable and
Vector IV arm:
Basis 2200, $5200; Vector
IV, $3450 (Add $1800 for the
Calibrator base)
basisaudio.com
Pride of place this year goes to these magnificent tributes to
the irrepressible vitality of vinyl playback in the 21st century.
(With new forms of cyberspace delivery of source material
already upon us, wouldn’t the supreme irony be if LPs outlast
CDs?) Basis founder and designer A.J. Conti may know more
about LP playback than anyone else alive. Though the Vector
is his statement arm, the 2200 is actually fourth in the Basis
line (“below” the Work of Art, Debut, and 2800, none of
which I’ve heard). Yet together the Vector/2200 constitute
a setup that in every area of vinyl playback surpasses any
I’ve heard in four decades of being an audiophile (a list that
includes nearly all the usual suspects). Add to this engineering,
machining, and construction to a standard of precision
beyond (typically far beyond) anything I’ve ever come across
and a combined price of just $8650, and it’s obvious that the
bar on value has also been raised so high it’s hard to imagine
it being approached, let alone surpassed. This setup has
redefined for me what is possible in the playback of vinyl
sources. (Reviewed in Issue 180)
50 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Luxman L550‑A II integrated amplifier
and DU‑50 universal music player
L550‑A II, DU‑50: $4500 each
onahighernote.com
Boasting classic looks and features (e.g., balance, tone, and
loudness controls) that hark back to the great designs of the
sixties, magnificent build, and absolutely gorgeous sonics,
this Japanese import is my kind of integrated amplifier. With
a rated 20Wpc of pure Class A power (though in reality
delivering considerably more), the L550‑A II has more than
enough muscle to drive even my low-sensitivity Quad 2805s
to levels loud enough to satisfy me on almost any music, and
the finesse, delicacy, and low distortion to make a marriage
with these speakers as if ordained in heaven. With its superb
tone controls, this is a unit for music lovers as opposed to
audiophiles (though, for purists, a front‑panel button provides
straight‑through operation). The DU‑50 will play every form
of five‑inch disc except DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc;
but, as befits its “music player” designation, the importer
Philip O’Hanlon of On a Higher Note
prefers to emphasize its musical values,
which include a persuasive impression of
body and vitality, with tonal variety and
beauty to rival vinyl sources, especially
from SACD and DVD‑A. Its functional
characteristics make it the easiest, most
intuitive‑to‑use digital player I’ve yet
encountered. Luxman, one of the oldest
Japanese manufacturers and one of the
most distinguished, has been absent these
shores for many years, though not from the
international scene. If these two products
are any indication of its current line, then we have been
missing a great deal, indeed. I for one am happy to welcome
Luxman back to America. (Reviewed in Issue 177)
Ortofon Kontrapunkt C moving‑coil pickup
$1650
ortofon.com
I reviewed this superlative pickup as part of a moving‑coil
survey last year. Two of the other pickups I awarded
Golden Ears in 2007 (Dynavector’s 17D3 and Clearaudio’s
Stradivari). Yet since then I’ve been unable to stop thinking
about this flagship in Ortofon’s splendid Kontrapunkt line.
The C marries tonal neutrality to unflappable control, for a
presentation that excels in detail, resolution, and transparency.
It also exhibits the most precise imaging and soundstaging I’ve
heard from any phono cartridge, while registering dynamic
changes with breathtaking precision. Unbelievably black
backgrounds and near-flawless tracking. This could easily be a
reference‑caliber component. (Reviewed in Issue 172)
 Alan Taffel
Empirical Design Cables
$350 per 3-foot pair of analog interconnect or
speaker cable; $79 to $144 (model dependent)
per 3-foot digital cable; $124 to $230 (model
dependent) per 4-foot power cord
empiricaldesign.net
Last year I raved about the entire line of ED cables and power
cords because they offered superlative performance and build-
quality at prices that were “proportional” to what I believe
wire should cost relative to the rest of the system. Back then,
ED products were priced roughly an order of magnitude less
than their more celebrated competitors. This year, in the wake
of soaring premium-cable prices, the most fashionable models
now run two orders of magnitude more than EDs. Yet I
smugly continue to employ and enjoy ED cables and cords as
my reference, without the slightest urge to swap them out for
something ritzier. As was the case last year, there simply is no
incentive to do so.
There is nothing flashy or even particularly audible about
the ED sound. I am never aware of these cables and cords—
be they analog, digital, or AC—imposing any sound of their
own. Instead, they simply allow an astounding level of musical
truth to flow through, unimpeded and unblemished. In
addition, these cables are physically unassuming, easy to work
with, and available in a virtually unlimited variety of lengths
and configurations. How refreshing! Further, despite a price
point that will spare you a cash-flow crisis, ED components
are assembled by hand with parts of the highest order.
In sum, the ED line epitomizes the performance, value,
and long-term satisfaction we look for in Golden Ear Award
winners. No wonder, then, that it is so honored for the second
year in a row.
52 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Bryston BCD-1 CD Player
$2395
bryston.ca
In one important parameter, Bryston’s new CD-spinner
reminds me of the original, legendary Linn Sondek LP12
turntable. Unlike other ’tables of its era, the Sondek was
able to unravel and present the most complex of musical
passages in a relaxed, natural manner, allowing the listener to
effortlessly hear everything going on. The BCD-1 pulls off
this feat so well that the Linn analogy is inescapable.
However, this is where the similarities end. The early LP-
12 was a highly colored device, whereas the Bryston boasts
the neutrality and transparency for which the company’s
analog electronics are justly famous. Yet the sound is never
analytical; tonal warmth, dynamic nuance, and timbral
veracity see to that. The Sondek was also shockingly pricey
in its day. In contrast, the BCD-1 may well be the best value
in the entire CD market. To be able to buy this level of
construction—Bryston’s typical solidity plus impeccable fit
and finish—and sonic performance for under $2500 borders
on the miraculous.
Over time, I predict the Bryston BCD-1 will prove to
resemble the Linn Sondek in one other way: it will be
recognized as a landmark product of the CD era. (Review
forthcoming)
 Jonathan Valin
Magnepan MMG planar-magnetic
loudspeaker
$550
magnepan.com
By cutting out the middle man to hold down price (this
speaker is only sold factory-direct) and offering you a 60-day
money-back guarantee, Magnepan makes trying out its baby
planar-magnetic almost irresistible. What you will get if you
do take the plunge is a wonderfully quick, full-range, detailed,
and coherent two-way quasi-ribbon transducer that has the
breath (and breadth) of life. As I said in my review, I not only
haven’t heard a better $550 loudspeaker, I can’t imagine one.
(Reviewed in Issue 177)
Martin-Logan “The Source” hybrid
electrostatic loudspeaker
$1995
martinlogan.com
Up until I heard ML’s latest hybrid, I thought that cones were
cones and ’stats were ’stats and that whenever the twain met there
was an audible dividing line. The Source proved me wrong. These
demure, sexy-looking two-ways—with electrostatic mid/tweet
and cone bass—not only sound seamlessly coherent, they flat out
sound great, reproducing voices and instruments with uncanny
realism. (Reviewed in Issue 180)
Parasound Halo JC 2 preamplifier
$4000
parasound.com
Calling its latest solid-state preamp the JC 2—also the name
of a legendary component from the early years of high-end
audio—took a lot of guts. But Parasound’s gambit certainly
paid off, as this latest JC 2 (designed, like the original, by the
great John Curl) is simple a marvel of neutrality, transparency,
and resolution, with a sound not far removed from that of my
reference ARC Reference 3. Undoubtedly, the best buy in a
high-end preamplifier today. (Reviewed in this issue)
54 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Clearaudio Goldfinger v2 moving-coil
cartridge
$8000
musicalsurroundings.com
When it comes to realistic tone color, Clearaudio’s latest (and
greatest) moving-coil cartridge, the Goldfinger v2, has completed
the virtual 180º swing away from the clinical sound of early
Clearaudio ’coils. The Goldfinger now comes closer to “sweet,
rich, and robust” than to “cool, lean, and analytical”; moreover,
Clearaudio has accomplished this about-face without sacrificing
the resolution, transient response, and soundstaging its ’coils have
always been known for. (Reviewed in Issue 180)
TW Acustic Raven AC-3 turntable
$18,000
highwatersound.com
This beautiful, superbly crafted, copper-topped, three-motor
’table from Germany’s Thomas Woschnik (the TW of TW
Acustic) has garnered rave reviews worldwide. It surely deserves
them, as it reproduces the duration of musical notes—from
starting transient to steady-state tone to decay—with greater
completeness and resolution than anything else I’ve yet heard.
The result is astonishingly beautiful (and lifelike) reproduction
of timbre and dynamic nuance. (Reviewed in Issue 180)
Audio Research Corporation Reference
610T monoblock power amplifier
$39,900
audioresearch.com
I know, I know. I gave a Golden Ear to this 600W monoblock
(and other assorted ARC gear) last year. But, folks, this thing
is simply too good for one measly Ear. Yeah, it runs as hot as
a kerosene heater; yeah, it’s expensive to re-tube. But if you
want to hear speakers sound their considerable best—their
most lifelike—then nothing else I know of will do the trick like
these inexhaustible pentode-powered masterpieces from ARC.
(Reviewed in Issue 177)
Symposium Acoustics Panorama
loudspeaker
$80,000–$100,000
symposiumusa.com
Although the Panorama is still a prototype (thus my
uncertainty about pricing), I’ve now heard it in my home for
long enough to confirm the ecstatic reaction Robert Harley
and I had to its sound at last year’s RMAF. This is a truly great
transducer—a large, four-way, four-enclosure, ribbon/planar-
magnetic/cone hybrid that somehow manages not to sound
like ribbons, planar-magnetic drivers, or cones. Everyone who
auditions it has the same reaction: “It simply doesn’t sound
like a loudspeaker.” (Review forthcoming) TAS
 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the
CHINESE
AUDIO
INDUSTRY Robert Harley

I t’s no secret that an increasing amount of hi-fi consumed

around the world is made in China. But what are these
Chinese factories like? Who are their founders? How do
they approach high-end design and manufacturing? What
are the economics driving Chinese-sourced products? How
has Chinese-made audio affected the traditional high-end
industry?
To answer these questions, I embarked on a
ten-day, four-city tour (GuangZhou, Zhu Hai,
Shanghai, and Beijing) for a firsthand look inside
the Chinese audio industry. I spent three days at
the GuangZhou consumer high-end show and
then visited four companies—a metal fabrication
plant that also boasts of being the world’s largest
turntable factory, and three equipment-design-and-
manufacturing facilities. I also toured a high-end-
audio shopping center and saw how Chinese and
at Beijing’s Opera
Workers assembling amplifiers Western audio products are presented and sold.
Audio Com pany.

The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 57

 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

We have a tendency to think of the “Chinese audio to be quite sturdy from my “knuckle-rap” test. The sound was
industry” as a monolithic entity that operates on a excellent—uncolored in the midband and smooth in the treble,
single business model of delivering low-priced prod- with good resolution and pinpoint imaging. This loudspeaker
ucts. But as I learned during my travels, the Chinese sells for $1600 per pair in China—a fraction of what I expected
audio industry is as varied as the individuals behind the compa- from the sound, technology, build, and fit ’n’ finish.
nies. Moreover, we tend to equate Chinese audio with budget Such values are made possible, or course, by the extremely
integrated amplifiers because they’re what are predomi- low cost of Chinese labor. A
nantly imported to the U.S. In reality, Chinese companies typical Chinese factory worker
manufacture a huge range of products that include every- earns about 65–85 cents per
thing from high-power monoblock amplifiers to sophis- hour. Moreover, many of these
ticated disc players. factories lack the worker and en-
China’s contribution to the high-end industry is mani- vironmental safeguards we take
fold. Some companies are very much like Western audio for granted in the West, further
firms—the prototypical high-end company led by the reducing costs relative to North
founder/designer. Others are shops you’ve never heard American and European manu-
of that produce gear on an OEM basis for well-known facturing facilities. For example,
Western-designed products. Still others are owned and op- Chinese law allows the use
erated by Western companies who want to take advantage of paint and lacquer solvents
of China’s cheap labor while retaining control over the banned in most other coun-
manufacturing process and quality assurance. In addition, tries, permitting cabinet-makers
China is dotted with factories producing raw loudspeaker to deliver a high-gloss finish at
cabinets that are found in a wide spectrum of products This nicely made, terrific-sounding lower cost.
from entry-level to the highest of the high end. Finally, speaker would cost $6k in the U.S. The low wages that make these
more than a few Chinese The price in China: $1600 per pair. bargains possible are a double-
audio factories turn out edged sword for most Chinese
poorly designed and cheaply hi-fi consumers. Although Chinese-made products appear to be
made junk. These are the elec- inexpensive from the Western perspective, they are no bargain
tronics manufacturers who for a worker earning less than $150 per month. Wealthy Chinese,
have no audiophile sensibility, however, gravitate to North American and European hi-fi and
and who see hi-fi as simply a the higher status imported products confer on their owners. At
commodity that will keep their the GuangZhou show I saw virtually every major brand of U.S.,
assembly lines moving. Canadian, and European equipment on display. These Western
Going from room-to-room brands are readily available for purchase, as I discovered on a
at the GuangZhou show trip to a shopping center in GuangZhou. In fact, Chinese au-
quickly separated the serious diophiles in large cities have greater access to a wider range of
audio-oriented companies hi-fi than their American counterparts. The hi-fi stores I visited
from those with a commodity were concentrated in the same mall and stocked with virtually
Ready for lift-off. Some Chinese mentality. Some manufacturers every brand you can think of. You can walk from store to store
products have flashy cosmetics. had well-set-up displays that and in one afternoon see and hear Mark Levinson, Thiel, Krell,
produced good sound; others Conrad-Johnson, Magnepan, Basis, Meridian, Revel, Sonus
had no clue about even basic system setup. The latter attempted Faber, VTL, Wilson, Naim, MBL, Burmester, Rotel, and NAD,
to impress showgoers with deafening playback levels. I also saw to name just a tiny fraction of the marques on display.
more than my fair share of gimmicky products designed
to wow the uninitiated. Virtually
In the rooms of the serious companies, I was floored every brand of
by many of the products’ price-to-performance ratios. Eastern- and
An example I mentioned in Issue 180’s report from the Western-made
show was a loudspeaker from a company called Elite. high-end gear
This three-way speaker features a separate enclosure for is available
the midrange and tweeter, Kevlar-sandwich drivers, a 10" in specialty
woofer, and gorgeous piano-black cabinetry that appeared stores.

58 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY

Chinese Manufacturing in new factory, might be the best-sounding $600 speaker on the
market. (See Wayne Garcia’s enthusiastic review in Issue 176
Partnership with Western and his Golden Ear Award on page 34 of this issue.)

Companies The advantages of Chinese manufacture are most acute at

lower price points where the market is more sensitive to small
price differentials. Consequently, B&W has no plans to produce
In addition to visiting four Chinese-owned its flagship 800 Series in China; such products will always be
factories that produce their own brands, I spoke made in the U.K. (The cabinets are made in Denmark.) There’s
with representatives from several companies less price sensitivity and competitive pressure in a $20,000
who build products in China. Each of them has loudspeaker than in a $600 loudspeaker. All the design and
employed a different path in capitalizing on acoustical-engineering work, however, from entry-level to
what China has to offer the audio industry. They flagship, will always be done in the U.K.
are: Most Western loudspeaker companies who turn to China
contract with an existing Chinese-owned factory to assemble
• Loudspeaker giant Bowers & Wilkins (B&W), their products. But B&W chose to build its own factory
which built and operates its own Chinese for several reasons. The most compelling is quality control;
factory a company with a reputation for high-end sound and
• PrimaLuna, the Netherlands-based company construction can’t simply turn over the manufacturing to an
which contracts with existing Chinese- outside supplier and hope for the best. In addition, B&W
electronics manufacturers to build its didn’t want to disclose its proprietary manufacturing processes
amplifiers and a CD player to an outside firm. B&W’s workforce in the 125,000 square-
foot factory includes several British manufacturing and quality-
control engineers who now live in China.
For B&W, building its own factory in China gives the
Bowers & Wilkins Builds company access to the lower cost structure of Chinese
manufacturing while allowing it to maintain control over its
its Own Factory in China intellectual property and, significantly, the final products’ parts-
and build-quality.
British-based Bowers & Wilkins recently opened its
own Chinese factory to build the company’s entry-
level 600 Series loudspeakers. I spoke with B&W’s
Chairman, Joe Atkins, about why the company
looked to China, the advantages to B&W of owning its own
factory rather than subcontracting to an existing loudspeaker
manufacturer, and how the economics of Chinese manufacture
left: B&W’s excellent
have affected the loudspeaker business.
685 is made
Atkins told me that Chinese manufacturing has revolutionized possible by Chinese
the loudspeaker industry, particularly at the lower end of the manufacturing. below:
price spectrum. With so many loudspeaker companies turning B&W-employed workers
to China, a speaker company must take advantage of China’s build the 600 Series
loudspeakers in China.
cheap labor to compete. Atkins explained that the price
of a finished product is based on the cost of materials,
labor, and the factory overhead. With the cost of
Chinese labor and factory overhead running one-tenth
that of Western counterparts, any loudspeaker company
that doesn’t manufacture in China is at a significant
competitive disadvantage. Customers simply won’t pay a
50% premium for domestic manufacturing.
Moreover, according to Atkins, Chinese manufacturing
is the only way to consistently deliver higher and higher
performance in successive product generations without
increasing the retail price. This goal is realized by
investing the labor and overhead cost-savings into the
product—thicker cabinet walls, more bracing, better
drivers, and higher-quality crossover parts. This strategy
seems to work; B&W’s 685, built under this model in the

60 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY
PrimaLuna:
European
Design,
Chinese
Manufacture
The PrimaLuna brand of tubed electronics has
enjoyed tremendous success around the world
because of its extremely high value. The gear sounds
great, is built like a tank, and is filled with premium
parts that wouldn’t be out of place in products costing five
times the price.
PrimaLuna’s secret is audiophile design in The Netherlands
(by Goldmund’s former head designer) coupled with high-
volume manufacturing in China. PrimaLuna, a Dutch
company founded by high-end audio distributor Herman van
den Dungen, contracts with five of China’s larger electronics
factories to build the gear. The PrimaLuna brand is sold all
over the world, and is distributed in the U.S. by Upscale Audio.
Upscale Audio’s Kevin Deal had extensive experience with
tubed gear, and required that the products be ultra-reliable and
easy to use in addition to sounding great. PrimaLuna turned
to China not just to realize lower manufacturing costs, but also
because it could exert greater control over the final product.
The company claims that the quality and workmanship of its
products is as good as any in the world. Moreover, the low
labor cost allows PrimaLuna to include labor-intensive build
China’s low labor cost allows PrimaLuna to specify hand-sanding
between the five coats of finish.
62 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
techniques such as hand-soldered point-to-point wiring and
five coats of finish on the chassis with hand-sanding between
each coat—touches that would be prohibitively expensive if
the products were made elsewhere.
The PrimaLuna story isn’t all rosy, however. A Western
company can’t just turn over a schematic and a prototype
to a Chinese factory and expect these results. PrimaLuna’s
high quality and solid reliability are achieved only by constant
vigilance and a strict set of rules. Van den Dungen learned early
on that the factories he dealt with could try to substitute the
specified parts with cheaper (or counterfeit) parts and pocket
the cost difference. Consequently, he developed processes that
would assure his products’ quality. One technique that has
been especially effective is the requirement that the factory
shut down all other production, remove components for other
products from the shop floor, and start fresh building only
PrimaLuna products for the duration of the production run.
In effect, the factory is temporarily turned into an exclusively
PrimaLuna factory. In addition, van den Dungen inspects the
factory as a production run is about to begin, as well as the
components that will go into the products. He spends weeks at
a time in China each time the factory makes a PrimaLuna run,
and even owns a house near one of the factories.
After catching a factory trying to substitute counterfeit Solen
capacitors, van den Dungen began rigorous parts inspection,
including X-raying parts. In some cases, van den Dungen
buys the genuine parts himself and has them delivered to
the factory. The European Union requires that an importer
provide a certificate of authenticity assuring that none of the
parts in that product is counterfeit. It’s a constant cat-and-
mouse game; one factory was caught sanding the labels off
inferior semiconductor chips and silk-screening on the brand
name and part number of the more expensive specified device.
A provision of van den Dungen’s contract with the factory
imposes fines for substituting any part, down to the chassis
screws. Finally, the entire operation is set up so that van den
Dungen can easily move the production to another factory if
he’s not satisfied with the finished products.
A factory floor during a production run of PrimaLuna amplifiers.
 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY

The Perils of Chinese Manufacturing

PrimaLuna wasn’t the only company who cited
the poor workmanship, shoddy construction, high
failure rates, parts substitution, and counterfeit
components prevalent in some Chinese factories. I
was told by a designer of an AC conditioner that his attempt
to have his product made in China was a disaster. The Chinese
factory didn’t understand the level of fit ’n’ finish and quality
U.S. consumers demanded, or the need to use the specified
parts. After several trips to try to get the factory up to speed,
the designer simply gave up. I heard repeatedly that quality
control is a common shortcoming, requiring constant on-
site monitoring. Catching sub-standard products before they
leave the factory is paramount; rejecting products after they’ve
been shipped to the U.S. is extremely expensive and time
consuming.
Many of the branded parts commonly used in Chinese-made
audio products are counterfeit. For example, it is estimated
that there are more bogus Neutrik connectors than authentic
ones in Chinese-made products. Tubes are frequently relabeled
by removing the original silk-screen and applying a new brand
name. One way to identify such tubes is to put them in a
freezer for an hour; the old name will become apparent.
Western firms also face the possibility that the factory will
secretly increase the size of the production run and sell the
finished products—complete with the Western company’s
brand name on the faceplate—out the back door. Even worse,
a raw cabinet supplier to a prestigious European loudspeaker
brand produced additional cabinets on the sly, stuffed the extra
cabinets with its own inferior drivers, and then secretly sold
them throughout Asia under the European company’s brand
name. Another threat is that the Chinese company will take the
circuit designs, many of which are the subject of U.S. patents,
and copy them in their own products.

China’s Home-Grown
High-End Industry
There’s an important distinction between many of
the big electronics and loudspeaker factories I’ve
described and the country’s smaller, audiophile-
oriented firms led by passionate designers who
embody the essence of high-end audio. The latter
are driven by the desire to produce the best
possible products and would never consider cutting
corners or using substandard parts. They are just
as dedicated to good sound and quality products
as their Western counterparts.
I toured several of these companies for a first-
hand look at their factories and products. There’s
no substitute for looking inside a product while
talking with its designer to discover a company’s Hand-matching transistors in the Dussun factory.
core values. You just can’t fake a commitment to
the audiophile ethos. True high-end products are transistors that will work together in a differential
distinguished by parts and design techniques that circuit is crucial; both halves of the balanced
improve the performance, but often increase the signal (corresponding to pins 2 and 3 on an XLR
manufacturing cost. It’s easy to spot the products connector) must have the same amplitude for the
built to the lowest possible price, and just as easy balanced circuit to operate properly. I once spent
to identify those that have been built for the best some time as a technician in a semiconductor lab
possible sound. and am familiar with transistor curve tracers, so I
Moreover, seeing the company’s development lab was especially interested in watching the Dussun
and watching how the products are built speaks employee measuring each transistor. If Dussun
volumes about the commitment to quality. For existed to maximize profit rather than to produce
example, at the Dussun factory described later in quality equipment, it could have skipped this
this report, I saw a worker carefully hand-matching step. This is a good example of how a firsthand
the gains of transistor pairs for use in a differential look inside the factory reveals so much about the
(balanced) circuit. Gain-matching the two company’s intentions.

64 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY

Inside the Chinese

Audio Factories
The factories I visited were the ETKG metal-fabrication plant, the Original CD-player
factory, amplifier manufacturer Dussun, and the Opera Audio Company which makes a
wide range of products from turntables to tube and solid-state power amplifiers.

Metal Fabrication
The first stop on my tour was ETKG, the country’s leading
supplier of metal parts to the Chinese audio industry. The
company started ten years ago with a single CNC machine
for fabricating metal parts and has since grown to 170 CNC
machines. The factory takes in raw aluminum stock and
produces faceplates, chassis, heatsinks, knobs, and other
metalwork found in audio gear. In one group of buildings
workers were making polished knobs for a well-known luxury
Japanese brand. In another they were machining, sanding, and
polishing amplifier heatsinks. If you own a piece of Chinese-
made hi-fi, there’s a good
chance the metalwork was
done by ETKG.
The company also
makes complete turntables
and boasts of being the
world’s largest turntable
Upper left: machined knobs; upper right: turntable bearings are machined
in a separate, high-precision room; lower left: polishing heat sinks; center:
heat sinks cut from pieces of extruded stock; bottom: workers machining
items for a wide range of Chinese- and Western-branded hi-fi.
manufacturer. I saw many familiar high-end brands being
manufactured here but cannot publish the brand names. In
one building 20'-long “logs” of aluminum stock were being
cut into thin slices and then machined into turntable platters.
The machining operation is divided
into two areas, a relatively clean
area for high-precision parts such
as turntable spindle bearings, and
another for parts requiring less
precision, such as heatsinks.
ETKG has just launched its own
turntable brand called Amati. The
six models in the line range from
the LP-90 (about $2500 with a
Rega 250 arm, Ortofon cartridge,
and phonostage) to the $6800 LP-
600. Some come with a Rega arm,
some with no arm, and some with
a Japanese-sourced arm. The line
has just become available
in Europe, with North
American distribution
scheduled for later this year.

66 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY
Original CD-Player Factory
The next stop was the Original CD-player factory in Zhu
Hai. Original primarily makes CD players, with about half
of its production slated for overseas markets. The company’s
founder, Mr. Du York, had previously been involved in a
firm that made VCD players for the Chinese market, and had
produced more than ten million units in a four-year period.
After the heavily industrial appearance of the ETKG metal-
fabrication plant, the Original factory seemed like a precision
craft-shop. Original designs all its products in house, and has
circuit boards “stuffed” by a contractor. Original assembles the
transports and electronics into the chassis, and hand-solders in
tube sockets (in the tubed units). The finished products are
tested and burned in before packing.
The Original factory seemed like a small-scale craft shop.
Power supply board for Original’s new two-chassis CD player.
The circuit design and execution appeared to
be of high quality; this is a company with the
engineering skill and drive to create good-sounding
components. I saw a prototype of a two-box
CD player that exemplified this. The outboard
power supply was huge—three transformers
with multiple secondary windings fed large banks
of filter caps and regulation stages. The audio
circuit employed dual-differential DACs and fully
balanced analog-output stages with Wima and Beautiful 250Wpc Dussun integrated amp.
68 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Nichicon capacitors. A new clocking system was developed
(fed from its own power supply) to reduce jitter. (Incidentally,
there’s a growing trend among all designers of digital gear
toward paying closer attention to clock precision.)
Original’s listening room for product evaluation was well
treated with polycylindrical diffusers built into the walls.
Loudspeakers were Usher 718s driven by Mark Levinson
No.29 monoblocks. I came away from the Original factory
with a good impression of the company’s desire to produce
fine-sounding, well-built gear.
The Dussun Factory, and One
Serious Amplifier Designer
We flew from Zhu Hai to Shanghai, home of the Dussun
factory. Dussun makes a line of ten preamps, power amplifiers,
and integrated amplifiers—all of them solid-state. Some of you
might know that Dussun designed and built the amplifiers for
Mark Levinson’s (the man) company Red Rose Music. Wayne
Garcia favorably reviewed Dussun’s $600 DS99 integrated in
Issue 176, which was once sold under the Red Rose name.
But the DS99 is the entry-level product; Dussun makes
some higher-end products that are highly regarded throughout
China. One of these is the V8i, a 250Wpc integrated with
dual-mono construction, massive toroidal transformers, a
copper chassis, microprocessor control and protection, large
heatsinks, and a variable-bias feature that keeps the amplifier
in Class A operation (“Hyper Class A”) while running cool.
This level of build-quality would cost at least $6000 in the
U.S. The price in China? About $1600. If you’re looking for a
product that vividly illustrates the economic disparity between
U.S. or European gear and Chinese audio products, the V8i
is it. Incidentally, don’t be tempted
by Chinese-made gear that gets to
the U.S. through the gray market;
in most cases the product’s power
transformer has been replaced
with one of unknown quality
(to operate on 110V) which
could affect the performance. In
addition, gray-market products
don’t carry the factory warranty.
Like most true high-end
Chinese manufacturers, Dussun
creates its designs in-house and
assembles chassis and circuit
boards supplied by contractors.
The company was founded by Mr.
YuanYuan Zou, a man who has
a degree in electrical engineering
and who is very serious and
passionate about amplifier design.
(He developed the variable-bias
technique mentioned earlier.)
Mr. Zou wasn’t interested in
 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY
talking with me about the industry or product marketing; he
wanted to share his views about the fundamental principles
of what amplifiers do and how to make them better. To him,
the amplifier designer’s concern doesn’t end at the amplifier’s
binding posts; he sees an audio system holistically and wants to
create amplifiers that better interact with loudspeakers. To that
end, he’s recently embarked on an ambitious research project
that attempts to measure differences in amplifier performance
by looking at the acoustic output from loudspeakers.
During our long discussion of amplifiers, Mr. Zou asked
Dussun founder YuanYuan Zho, China’s premier solid-state amp designer.
me (through my guide in China, Ping Gong of AAA-Audio,
Dussun’s U.S. distributor) which amplifier designers I most
admired. The first name that came to mind was Nelson Pass,
and he enthusiastically agreed. Mr. Zou had studied the work
of all the great designers, and expressed his admiration for the
innovation and elegance of Pass’ circuits. Mr. Zou himself is
regarded as one of the country’s best amplifier designers.
Dussun is working on an interesting preamp, power amp,
and integrated amplifier that we’ll see in the U.S. later this year.
The power amp and integrated amp will each produce 150Wpc,
include dual-mono construction, and come with the “Hyper
Class-A” variable-bias circuit. The preamp and integrated
will employ a newly developed digital volume control (that
is, digital control of an analog signal) employing a switched-
resistor network. All the products will be fully balanced from
input to output, with true differential circuitry throughout.
The company has just started production of an innovative
new AC power conditioner (Dussun’s first) that completely
regenerates AC using a 60Hz sinewave oscillator and a power-
amplifier stage. Three models are produced, with power ratings
of 500W, 800W, and 1200W, respectively.
Again, I came away impressed; Dussun was founded by
an audiophile with some serious technical credentials who is
obviously committed to producing high-quality products.
70 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
It’s Not Called Opera
Audio for Nothing
My final stop on the tour was The Opera Audio Company
in Beijing. Opera is the oldest and largest of the audio
manufacturers I visited, with a 13-year history and 55
employees. Under the Consonance name, Opera designs and
manufactures products which enjoy wide distribution in more
than 30 countries (the brand is particularly strong in Europe)
and good press (including a Product of the Year award from
out sister publication, Hi-Fi+). Opera also makes products
for other companies, but not merely for re-branding. Rather,
Opera enters into technology partnerships with a few select
outside companies for their mutual benefit. A perfect example
is the new Well Tempered Turntable, which is just going into
production. The Well Tempered’s creator, Bill Firebaugh, was
looking for a company to manufacturer his new design, and
found Opera through a Google search. The association gave
Opera access to Well Tempered’s technology, as well as another
turntable model to sell in China. Well Tempered is proud of
the association; where other manufacturers asked me not to
disclose the brands they manufacture, each Well Tempered
Turntable bears a nameplate that says “Manufactured by Opera
Audio under license from Well Tempered Laboratories.” I
ran into Bill Firebaugh at the GuangZhou show, and over a
wonderful lunch (for seven of us that cost the equivalent of
$16) I learned much about the new turntable as well as his
perspective as a designer having his products made in a Chinese
factory. He couldn’t have been happier with the experience, or
more complimentary about Opera Audio.
The new Well-Tempered Turntable is made by Opera in Beijing.
Opera was founded in 1994 by Mr. Shi Hui Liu, an optical-
mechanical engineer whose real passion was for music
(particularly European opera) and audio. His story is the
classic “kitchen-table” start-up; he made a tubed amplifier for
his own use, was asked to make another for sale, and decided
to go into business. Significantly, Opera was the first turntable
manufacturer in China and has demonstrated with analog at
every show since the company’s founding. Even with more
than 100 products in the line (including technical and cosmetic
 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY
Elegant industrial design: Opera’s Droplet CD player.
Opera even manufactures its own tonearms.
variations of products), Mr. Liu still creates all the designs
himself. The product range includes both solid-state and tubed
integrated amplifiers, preamps, power amps, CD players, and
turntables. Opera even makes its own tonearms.
The company is noted for its innovative industrial design,
exemplified by the Droplet CD player. Opera offers its products
in a range of colors and finishes, including the “Forbidden
City” line with red faceplates. The industrial design is provided
by a nearby shop I visited that’s
run by a well-known professor
of industrial design and his wife.
They began working with Opera
as one of its vendors, but Opera
has grown so much that they now
dedicate themselves full-time to
Opera. It doesn’t hurt that the
professor is a life-long audiophile
and analog enthusiast—he
designed Opera’s top-of-the-
line tonearm. I visited his design
studio/listening room and saw in
Shi Hui Liu, Opera Audio’s glass cases an array of the world’s
founder, still designs all of great tonearms. An adjacent
the company’s products room housed the tonearm
himself. manufacturing operation.
72 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Zhe Sheng Liu with his latest 300B tubes—
50+ years after designing his first 300B.
The Ultimate 300B Tube:
a 50-Year Quest
My visit to the Opera Audio factory in Beijing
happened to coincide with a visit by Mr. Zhe
Sheng Liu, a tube designer who owns and
operates a tube factory in nearby Tianjin. He
was there to have Opera listen to a new 300B
he’d been working on, a design intended to
push forward the state of the art. While it’s not
noteworthy that a supplier visits his customer
for feedback on new designs, what is of interest
is that Mr. Liu has been designing and building
vacuum tubes since 1955 (that was the year he
was graduated with a degree in vacuum-tube
design). Even after more than 50 years of tube
design—including the 300B—he still has great
enthusiasm for his work. His factory produces
the 300B for other Chinese tube companies
(who label them as their own). He was scheduled
to be at Opera for just a few hours, but we ended
up having lunch together and spending part of
the afternoon listening to his new creations—he
was interested in my impressions of his new
design. They sounded significantly better
than the standard 300Bs to which they were
compared. It was remarkable that this man is
still pushing the envelope in 300B design more
than 50 years after designing his first 300B.
The new tubes will be sold by Mr. Liu’s company
under the name Full Music.
 SPECIAL REPORT: Inside the CHINESE AUDIO INDUSTRY

I heard a number of Consonance products in a variety
of venues. Most notable of these was a 300B-based power
amplifier, which I heard in three different systems. (Opera
offers three versions of the 300B monoblock—single-ended,
parallel single-ended, and push-pull.) One of these systems was
in the elegant Beijing apartment of a serious audiophile and
LP collector. He didn’t live in the apartment; it was converted
into an acoustical space purely for music listening. The treated
room housed a pair of massive Tannoy loudspeakers driven
by a Consonance CD player, Consonance preamp, top-of-the-
line Consonance turntable, and the 300B-based amplifier I
just mentioned. The sound was exquisite—smooth, effortless,
with immediacy and directness.
Opera employs a marketing approach that is unique, both
in China and in the West. It regularly holds a “music night” in
which its best customers, customers’ friends, and top executives
from local firms are invited to an Italian restaurant for dinner,
a live performance of classical music by well-known musicians,
and discussion of music and musical culture. The guests are in-
vited to spend the night in the adjacent hotel, each room of
which houses a different configuration of Opera Audio’s equip-
ment. What a great way to expose more people to high-quality
music reproduction.
Everything about Opera Audio was impressive, from the
fundamental design ethic to the build-quality to the sound.

Chinese
Audio: More
Than Budget
Integrated
Amplifiers
I gained several insights from
visiting these companies and
spending time with their found-
ers and designers. First, all are
audiophiles interested in mak-
ing the best-sounding products
possible. They are not market-
ing-driven companies who see
audio as just another branch
of electronics manufacturing.
Second, we in the U.S. tend to
think, erroneously, of Chinese-
made equipment purely as
entry-level products or those
offering high value, rather than
as gear that is technically and
sonically competitive with the
best the rest of the world has
to offer. At TAS we’ve reviewed
many entry-level Chinese-
made products, but only one
top-of-the-line model, the
Audio Space Reference Two
preamplifier. Significantly, the
Reference Two is competitive
with the world’s best preamps,
and won our Product of the
Year Award in 2007. Could
other Chinese-made products
be similarly great? We will cer-
tainly take a closer look in the
coming year. TAS

The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 75

italian
SEDUCTION
76 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
 n Pathos Logos Integrated Amplifier and Digit CD Player
Cover Story by Paul Seydor. Photography by Adam Voorhes

SEDUCTION The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 77

ITALIAN SEDUCTION

One Mk II integrated amplifier (since superseded by a Mk III), I

I don’t know audio history
well enough to remember when the first tube/solid‑state hybrids
were introduced. But in the eighties I used to roll my own by
using a Nova solid‑state preamplifier (with apologies to Mark
Levinson, this MOSFET‑based cult‑classic remains for me the
first true state‑of‑the‑art solid‑state preamp) to drive Quicksilver
Audio’s behemoth MX‑190, one of the first really powerful
all‑tube amps, generating 95 watts a side that sounded like maybe
four times that much. This setup, feeding various Acoustats or
ProAc Studio 3s, gave me an ideal combination of low noise and
distortion where the signal levels are low, and tube roundedness,
dimensionality, and solidity in the room. I
know it flies in the face of conventional
wisdom, but in those days I always felt I
got better reproduction when tubes drove
the speakers.
The Italian company Pathos Acoustics
has made hybrids a house specialty, though, as is common
these days, tubes are used fore, transistors aft. (Lower­‑noise and
lower‑distortion circuits now make this a plausible alternative,
though no doubt economics has a role.) These are the second and
third Pathos products I’ve had for review. The first, the Pathos
found among “the sweetest, most musically natural ambassadors
for the tube/transistor hybrid approach” (Issue 160). I’m happy
to report that the Logos integrated under review here offers a
more powerful version—110Wpc into 8 ohms, as opposed to the
One’s 70—of essentially the same sound. The sweetness of the
70 is here replaced by restrained neutrality, a civilized authority
that is the antithesis of big‑amp breast‑beating. The same goes
for the Digit CD player, but with a difference, about which more
later.
When the importer, Musical Surroundings’s Garth Leerer,
delivered the units, he put on the Reiner CD of Mahler’s
Fourth Symphony. Out of curiosity, I
started digging through my shelves and
was amazed to discover I had at least
six other recordings: two Bernsteins,
Zander, Salonen, Tennstedt, and Tilson
Thomas. So we indulged in some
comparative listening. This initial experience spoke volumes
for the Pathos components’ ability to reveal a wide variety of
recording philosophies and an even wider variety of interpretive
approaches, from the sober‑faced, rather scowling Reiner (in
this of all Mahler symphonies!) to the hyper‑dramatic early

Specs & Pricing Digit Compact Disc Player

Dimensions: 19.5" x 18.5" x 3"
Pathos Logos Integrated Amplifier Weight: 14 lbs.
Power: 110Wpc @ 8 ohms; 220Wpc @ 4 ohms Price: $2700
Frequency response: 2Hz–200kHz +/-0.5dB
THD: <0.05% Musical Surroundings (U.S. Importer)
Dimensions: 17" x 16.5" x 6.7" 5662 Shattuck Avenue
Weight: 62 lbs. Oakland, Calif. 94609
Price: $4000 310.547.5006
info@musicalsurroundings.com

78 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Pathos Logos Integrated Amplifier and Digit CD Player
Bernstein and the lovingly caressed later one. (The most sheerly
beautiful recording, a lovely performance too, is the most recent,
Tilson Thomas’s from San Francisco, with its nuanced, almost
Debussyian soundscape.)
Throughout the many listening sessions, I found I kept making
notes to this effect: “I get the feeling I’m hearing everything I
need to hear without any of the usual audiophile hype.” On My
Foolish Heart: Live at Montreux [ECM], for example, Keith Jarrett‘s
vocalizing (not a pretty sound) is in ample evidence, but it’s up to
you whether you want to concentrate on it or on the wonderful
music‑making, like the utterly hypnotic rendition of the title tune
that Jarrett withholds in its entirety until the very end. In other
words, detail is available but in an entirely uncoercive way: Leaves,
moss, textures of bark are never allowed to obscure the tree.
Do these Pathos units favor one kind of music‑making over
another? Not in any way that I could tell. In the aforementioned
Mahler comparisons, Salonen’s lean, almost Hockney‑colored
Los Angeles sonorities were revealed as impartially as the
glowing, almost Straussian colors of Bernstein’s Concertgebouw.
The Pathos components handle big symphonic material, like the
Mata Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, with considerable punch,
drive, and dynamics, and chamber material, like the Sitkovetsky
Goldbergs, with scrupulous attention to felicities of expression.
Play realistically recorded strings like those on Harmonia Mundi
USA’s extraordinary new Tokyo Quartet’s Beethoven Opus 18
at a civilized level, close your eyes, and you will “see” the four
string players arrayed across the front of your room. Vocalists
are likewise rendered with a rare lack of imposed electronic
character. (You can practically tell which vintage Sinatra you’re
listening to without reference to CD covers.)
Switching to vinyl sources—Basis Vector IV arm, 2200
turntable, Ortofon Windfeld pickup (review forthcoming),
Nova Phonomena phono‑preamp—left the same neutral,
low‑coloration personality, only translated into the terms of
analog. Which means that more richness and color were heard.
When I cued up a really fabulous vintage recording like This One’s
for Blanton (Acoustic Sounds’ 45 rpm version), that first plink from
Ellington’s right hand in the piano’s upper register snapped me
to attention and never let me go until I had played all four sides.
That said, however, the Logos’ is not the kind of presentation to
leave you raving about “the sound.” What I said about the Pathos
One applies here as well: This is an amp for music listeners, not
head-bangers, lease-breakers, or plaster-peelers.
In the imaging and soundstaging departments, the Pathos
components, together and separately, typically set presentations
slightly back, that is, a foot or so behind the plane of the speakers
(exact distance is level dependent), with further depth generated
from there back. Inasmuch as I listen mainly to Quad ESLs or
other speakers of restricted (that is, directed) dispersion, the
soundstage stays within the confines of the speakers (anything else
I consider an artifact, however pleasing). But within these confines,
things cohere solidly, with nice dimensionality. This is shown to
excellent advantage on piano recordings. In my view, pianos are
rather more difficult to reproduce to realistic effect than, say,
symphony orchestras. Nobody knows what an orchestra should or
would realistically sound like in a living room—Flanders and Swann
were surely right: It might be “high fi‑del‑i‑tee,” but hardly “high
fidelity”—yet we’ve all heard pianos in normal‑sized rooms, so an
aural picture of what constitutes realistic reproduction is arguably
more familiar. The Richard Goode Waldstein [Nonesuch], my
current favorite pull‑the‑stops‑out piano recording, is powerfully
projected by this Pathos duo except for the deepest, loudest
passages in the left hand and the sound of his feet moving over
the pedals. Which may have been a case of both the Quads and the
amplifier giving out (though the speakers’ protection circuits were
never activated). Ease back on the overall level a tad, however, and,
as with the Tokyo, I could close my eyes and imagine Goode right
there in the room.
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 79
Pathos Logos Integrated Amplifier and Digit CD Player
The Logos is of impressive bulk, but at 110 watts into 8 ohms,
it doesn’t represent even a 3dB increase in acoustic output over
the Pathos One. This was easily demonstrated when I switched
to my long-standing reference, the McIntosh MC‑402. At nearly
four times the power, here is an ease and relaxation at high levels,
a freedom from stress, that the Logos could not match. While
I’m at comparisons, the 402, fed by Mac’s C46 preamplifier,
also commanded a bolder, more variegated tonal palette than
the Logos and somewhat greater clarity and transparency (bear
in mind this combination also costs over twice the price of the
Logos alone).
I know there are many audiophiles who regard high neutrality,
musical naturalness, or restraint as synonyms for boring,
unexciting, or uninvolving. Indeed, I’ve already read one review
of the Digit from across the Atlantic complaining about alleged
suppression of high frequencies, excessive smoothness, and lack
of involvement. I grant that of the two components, the Digit
carries restraint about as far as you might want to go, while its
tonal palette puts me more in mind of, say, Monet than Van
Gogh. But never did I feel the reproduction was ever positively
deficient in top‑end extension or balance (most recordings
have way excessive highs). As for involvement, one of the last
CDs I played before wrapping up this review is Isabelle Faust’s
stunning new recording of the Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
and Kreutzer Sonata on Harmonia Mundi. If the Digit has any
serious deficiencies in top‑end response, it would certainly
have robbed her instrument of harmonic richness, of which I
Technical Stuff
Like all Pathos products, aesthetically these go to the head
of the class, the Logos distinctive even by these Italians’
high‑style standards (e.g., the heat sinks flanking the chas-
sis are configured to spell “Pathos”). Almost everyone who
saw the Logos on my equipment shelf wanted it. Also like
other Pathos products, minimalism reigns and labeling is
nonexistent. The Logos has only a volume control and a
front‑panel button, each for on/off and source‑selection,
all duplicated on the remote handset—a sleek wooden affair
also lacking any sort of labeling. The preamplification sec-
tion is powered by its own dedicated supply and features a
pair of 6922 tubes at the input stage operated in pure Class
A sans global feedback. The completely resistive volume‑pot
is a 100‑step digital control (a centered LED indicates the
numerical setting) that, it is claimed, achieves perfect chan-
nel balance. The output stage is dual‑mono with oversized
transformers for higher current. There are two pairs of bal-
anced XLR and five RCA singled-ended inputs. A pair of
jacks accesses preamp out, but the amp section cannot be
operated separately.
Although mostly a Red Book player, the Digit uses a DVD
transport that can play DVD‑Audio, including DVDs burned
from 24/192 downloads. (Rumor has it that the Digit is a
forerunner to an eventual Pathos DVD‑Video player.) Al-
though the CD is visible through what looks like a top‑load-
80 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
heard no evidence. And anyone who can listen to her and her
pianist slash and burn their way through the fast portions of the
first movement of the Kreutzer, with rapier‑like pizzicatos and
hair‑trigger dynamics, and complain of lack of involvement and
insufficient excitement must have a very different sense of what
constitutes drive, pace, and rhythm from mine!
Where exactly do these components fit into the overall
marketplace? Well, their styling makes them for all practical
purposes unique. The minimalist Logos would be hard to beat
for music lovers who desire excellent performance without
having to engage with equipment as such. As my regular readers
know, I prefer a higher degree of function and feature from my
control units, so around this price I’d be mighty tempted by the
Luxman L‑550A II integrated [TAS 177]. I confess I’ve next to
no idea of who is buying what when it comes to expensive CD
players. For a little over two grand more than the Digit’s $2700
you can buy Luxman’s DU‑50 universal player [TAS 177], which
will spin any five‑inch disc on the planet except high‑res video.
For about half the price of the Digit you can get Benchmark’s
DAC‑1 and any decent player‑as‑transport and have outstanding
playback of Red Book sources. I ran the Digit’s output into the
Benchmark and found the DAC‑1 to be more accurate‑sounding:
a bit cleaner and clearer, as well as airier, more well-ventilated
and transparent. But within the terms of its slightly softer overall
sound, the Digit nevertheless made beautiful music that might
be preferred by any number of listeners, especially those with
strong allegiances to analog. TAS
ing mechanism, the Digit is in fact a front‑loader. As in the
Logos, there is a pair of tubes, but here in the output stage
and also operated pure Class A with no feedback. Pathos
claims sophisticated error‑correction circuitry and “con-
stant group phase delay” filtering that minimizes phase
distortion. With balanced circuitry throughout, Pathos rec-
ommends using the XLR outputs, which I did (RCAs are
also provided). The absence of labeling on the amp is easy
enough to live with, its functions few; but the Digit’s a bit
of a nightmare, the on/off button rather counter‑intuitively
placed second from the outside right (there are six buttons
in all). Equally annoying is the beat or two that lapse be-
tween pressing a button and the initiation of the intended
action. The remote handset, a disappointingly cheesy plas-
tic affair, at least has labeling. Contrary to the instruction
manual, when randomly selecting single‑digit tracks, you
must first enter “0,” then the number. Since most CDs have
few tracks exceeding ten, I found this a pain. (Most of the
time I gave up and used the track advance or recede but-
tons.) In sum, while I quite enjoyed the truly lovely sound of
this unit, its ergonomics leave much to be desired. Although
Musical Surroundings supplied these units together, stylisti-
cally the Digit is sized and dimensioned to match the Pathos
One integrated amplifier. PS
Equipment Report
Audio’s Silver Bullet?
Bybee Technologies Golden Goddess “Super Effect” Speaker Bullets
Dick Olsher

A
ccording to Wikipedia, the metaphor of the “silver auditory scene analysis,
bullet” is often associated with a new technology though, I suspect, as
or practice that is expected to expeditiously cure was the case even with
a prevailing problem. Based on my listening tests, I would Newton’s theory of
argue that Jack Bybee’s Speaker Bullet is, in fact, of the silver gravitation, not everyone
variety. The name obviously derives from its bullet-shaped will be happy with it.
body. The Bullet attaches to the speaker’s binding posts via Newton could not answer
Eichmann silver spades. Eichmann five-way Cable Pods are his critics’ demand for an
the receiving end and can accept a variety of speaker-cable explanation of action at a
terminations. distance, as between the sun
Bybee may not be a household name, but his past and planets. He simply didn’t
products have engendered a loyal following, including have a clue, and I might add
yours truly. For the record, he is a physicist who that even today physicists are
was deeply involved in the development of still searching for the ultimate
a series of esoteric power-purification theory of gravitation.
technologies to reduce the noise floor As a very basic intro
aboard nuclear subs and thereby it should be made clear
improve sonar performance. that the noise floor of
Jack says that many of the any electronic circuit
military applications is due to the quantum
of this technology are nature of the electron and
still classified, but that its interactions with the
continuing research conductor’s atomic lattice.
led him to develop Several types of quantum
solutions specific noise have been identified.
to audio and video. Thermal and shot noise were
The Golden God- discovered by Schottky in 1918.
dess “Super Effect” Random thermal motion of the
product line represents charge carriers produces a small
the most advanced fluctuating noise potential, whose
implementation of his power is uniform over frequency—
noise-quieting (referred to as so-called “white noise.” Thermal noise
“quantum purification”) technology to places an ultimate limit upon signal-to-noise
date and combines gold and carbon nanotube performance in real circuits, which cannot
materials in a proprietary fashion. I hesitate to refer to the be improved upon without cooling the circuit.
Bullets as tweaks, because that implies the potential for only a Shot noise occurs in certain devices (e.g., vacuum
minor sonic improvement of one’s system. That is definitely not tubes) due to random fluctuations in current and its spectrum
the case with the Bullet: Expect a significant benefit in line with is also white in character. Solid-state devices (e.g., MOSFET),
its high-end asking price. on the other hand, display a noise floor which is dominated by
When Robert Harley gave me a green light on this project, it frequency-dependent noise, often referred to as 1/f noise. Its
was based on the condition that there was some science behind spectral density increases as the inverse of frequency, just like
the device. Well, I think there is. The Bullet’s sonic impact is pink noise. But unlike pink noise, which is broadband, 1/f noise is
easy to discern and quite repeatable. What is not clear, of course, typically confined to under 2kHz.
is the underlying basis for its effect. I am prepared to offer a The key point is that 1/f noise behaves much like the music’s
plausible theory, which is compatible with known principles of acoustic spectrum. Its envelope mimics the power spectrum of an
82 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
 EQUIPMENT REPORT - Bybee Technologies Golden Goddess “Super Effect”
orchestra and is concentrated in the midrange. Once buried within
the music’s analog signal, the 1/f noise may possibly be reducing
the correlation between harmonics and a given instrument. Albert
Bregman’s Auditory Scene Analysis, published in paperback in 1994
by the MIT Press, does a wonderful job elucidating the subject
of perceptual analysis of the sound stream picked up by our ears.
Exactly how does the brain’s auditory system sort and organize
a jumbled and complex sound stream to paint a picture of the
external world? For example, sitting in a concert hall and listening
to a full orchestra, how is it possible to isolate distinct timbres
and spatial impressions from the composite sound arriving
at our ears? Why doesn’t an instrumental ensemble playing in
unison fuse into a composite sound? These perplexing questions
formed the basis for Bregman’s research. In a nutshell, it can
be said that perceptual organization of sound is strongly tied to
the correlation of harmonics in the sound stream. For example,
correlation in pitch fluctuations (vibrato) or volume modulation
(tremolo) causes the auditory system to fuse those harmonics
into a perceptual whole. These common characteristics provide
closure for the auditory system. We don’t hear the individual
harmonics but instead perceive a unique timbre.
The basic premise of Bybee’s audio devices is that 1/f noise pronounced spatial confusion. Again, the Bullets made it possible
detracts from the listening experience. Reduce 1/f noise and you to resolve overdubbed passages with extreme clarity. In addition,
improve the sound. The Bullet’s sonic benefits are consistent palpability of image outlines was improved, as was soundstage
with the picture of the auditory system dealing more accurately depth. And that’s not the end of the story. Microdynamic nuances
with the incoming sound stream. My first impression was of bubbled to the surface with greater intensity allowing the music
heightened coherence. Image specificity increased dramatically. A greater expressiveness. Harmonic textures received the Windex
case in point involved Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Strings, treatment, sounding cleaner, smoother, and more luxurious. At
and Continuo in D minor [DG SACD]. The Bullets brought no time did the Bullets blunt transient speed or artificially flavor
the two lead violins into sharply etched spatial focus making it the music. Rather, the attack portion of each transient carried a
easy to follow two melodic threads without smearing or spatial bit more punch, while reverberant decay was crystal clear. The
confusion. The multitrack practice of overdubbing a vocal Bullets lacked an intrinsic sonic personality. The experience felt
so as to allow a singer to harmonize with herself can lead to like I had taken my system through a car wash; it came through
the other side cleaner and shinier but otherwise unchanged.

Pricing
$4200 for a set of four
Bybee Technologies
2072 Touraine Lane
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
bybeetech.com
bybeepure@aol.com
Associated Equipment
Piega TC 10X loudspeakers;
TEAC Esoteric MG20
loudspeakers; Final
Sound 1000i electrostatic
loudspeakers; Kuzma
Reference turntable; Graham
Engineering 2.2 tonearm;
Grado Reference phono
cartridge; Air Tight ATE-2
phonostage; Esoteric SA-60
84 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
SACD player; Altmann Micro
Machines Attraction DAC;
Concert Fidelity CF-080 line
preamplifier, Air Tight ATC-2
line preamplifier ; Silicon Arts
Design ZL-120 mono block
amplifiers, deHavilland GM70
tube monoblock amplifiers,
Son of Ampzilla 2000 stereo
amplifier; E.A.R 890 stereo
amplifier; LAMM Audio
Laboratory M1.2 Reference
monoblock amplifiers; Acrotec
6N and 8N copper, Kimber
Select KS-1030, Kimber KCAG
interconnects; Fadel Art
Streamflex Plus, Acrotec 8N
copper speaker cable
What I found most compelling about the Bullets was that
they worked with every speaker I tried them on. Even expensive
speakers such as the Final Sound 1000i ESL or TEAC Esoteric
MG20 sounded much better with the Bullets in the loop. Because
the MG20 is biwire capable, I obtained a second set of Bullets
so that I could treat both the woofers and midrange-tweeter
sections. I discovered that two sets sounded better, but treating
the midrange-tweeter was by far most critical, contributing as
it did about 80% of the overall effect. The Final Sound 1000i
speaker terminals lacked sufficient clearance to accept the Bullets.
The instructions do suggest that for loudspeakers with recessed
or difficult-to-reach terminals, the silver spade connectors may
be carefully bent to facilitate connection, but even that wasn’t an
option with the 1000i. As a slight compromise, I decided to fix
the Bullets at the amplifier output terminals. That worked well
too, at least with short speaker cables.
The Bybee Speaker Bullet’s twin attributes of harmonic purity
and image focus add up to the grand experience of listening to
your system though a high-resolution microscope. They represent
money well spent and will repay you in listening pleasure far
more than an investment in some expensive speaker cables or
interconnects would. In fact, I can’t imagine listening to reproduced
sound again without the Bybee Speaker Bullets. TAS
Equipment Report
Honoring a Great Tradition
Spendor S3/5R Mini-monitor
Paul Seydor

voicing was so cannily, seductively musical. In the S3/5R Swift

eliminates the presence trough and any hint of bogus warmth. You
might almost call the old and the new a case study in yin/yang, but
that is misleading. While the 5 exhibits a touch of the yin, the 5R is
neither yin nor yang, but quite simply neutral. Indeed, throughout
the crucial midrange, this new model may be the most neutral and
natural sounding mini-monitor I know. And it’s a neutrality that
extends throughout the high end, except for a frisson around 4kHz.
As compared to the original’s 90Hz, the specified ‑3dB point in
the new speaker is 65Hz, response dropping steeply below that. As
with both the original and the SE, there is no deep bass, and the
lower midbass is severely reduced in level. That said, however, the
S3/5R’s bass is more well‑defined and articulate than either of its
predecessors. Nor should lovers of cello be concerned that lack
of bogus warmth means the speaker will not reproduce recorded
warmth, as Starker’s Bach in SACD demonstrates [Mercury].
The S3/5R also sounds more open and coherent. The presence
recession of the original has the effect of subtly emphasizing the

P
hilip Swift, Spendor’s new owner since 2001, can’t seem to tweeter. Again, not something you might notice by itself, but com-
stop working on the smallest speaker in his company’s Clas- paring the two is enough to spoil you in favor of the newer model.
sic line, the S3/5. Designed in the late nineties by Derek The first recording I played demonstrated this handily: Bach violin
Hughes, son of Spendor’s founder, the legendary Spencer Hughes, sonatas and partitas played by Regis Pasquier [Harmonia Mundi,
the S3/5 was a high‑performance mini-monitor—that is, a subcom- vinyl only]. Pasquier’s is a warm, rich, and mellow instrument with
pact monitor—intended to replace the then recently discontinued quite a lot of romantic body to the tone, which the S3/5R captures
LS3/5a. Despite highly favorable reviews in several publications, to a T. By contrast, the original loses a bit of the instrument’s har-
including one from me in TAS 119, Swift introduced an SE version monic richness.
in 2003, while retaining the original in the line. This, too, received Go to a familiar singer like, say, Ella Fitzgerald on Let No Man
enthusiastic reviews; the SE offered improvements in resolution Write My Epitaph [Classic, vinyl reissue], and the 5 fills out her lower
and detail, but at some sacrifice in the lovely musicality of Hughes’ range with an entirely pleasing roundness and warmth; the 5R
model. I suggested it would be nice if somehow the best qualities loses none of this but brings the voice (more correctly) forward
of both the original and the SE could be combined (TAS 143). and allows you to hear her upper register in proper balance. The
Well, ask and ye shall be given—sort of. Swift went back to the
drawing board and with Terry Miles, one of Spendor’s long-stand-
ing engineers, came up with the S3/5R, which replaces the original,
soon to be discontinued when stock is depleted. The reasons, along
Specs & Pricing
with design details, are covered in my sidebar interview with Swift. Type: Sealed two‑way dynamic Finish: Cherry, rosenut, black
Although identical in size and appearance, the 5R is no mere re- Driver complement: 20mm ash veneers
vision but a wholly new speaker, complete with new drivers, new soft dome tweeter, 140mm Stand height: 19–26"
crossover, and new materials. Yet it also remains what it always was: polypropylene mid/bass driver Price: $1399/pr.
a two‑way mini-monitor for small rooms. Sensitivity: 84dB/1 watt/1
Inasmuch as the S3/5 is a known and much admired commodity, meter QsandD (U.S. Distributor)
the first question must be how the new model compares. Or, to be Frequency response: 65Hz– 216 Labonte Street, Unit G
precise, contrasts. Play them side-by-side with a mono source and 20kHz +/‑3dB Conway, SC 29526
there’s no question you’re hearing two different speakers. The S3/5 Impedance: 8 ohms nominal (843) 349.0143
sounds sweet and musical, but with a distinct, albeit mild recession Power handling: 25–100 watts QsandD@aol.com 
from the midrange through the presence region, and a bit of lower Dimensions: 12" x 6.5" x 7.48"
midrange warmth. Re-reading my 1999 review, I feel I rather un- Weight: 10.1 lbs.
derplayed both these tonal characteristics, perhaps because Hughes’
86 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
 EQUIPMENT REPORT - Spendor S3/5R Mini-monitor
Q&A with Spendor Managing
Director Philip Swift on the S3/5R
Paul Seydor: Why did you redesign the speaker?
Philip Swift: Partly because we wanted to and partly because we
had to. We were running out of certain materials that were no
longer available, and Tymphany, that is, ScanSpeak, informed us
that the tweeter was going to be discontinued. Also, as you may
know, owing to the RoHS environmental legislations adopted by the
European union, certain materials can no longer be used in home-
entertainment products and for a while now we’ve felt we could
improve the design.
 
The most evident change appears to be in the midrange/
woofer?
Yes. As you know, we design and manufacture all our woofers in
house. The original woofer had a dust dome [cap] in the center. Any
dust dome interferes with the radiation pattern. As well, there was a
lot of random radiation from the dust dome, and it results in a slightly
less coherent, fuzzier sound. The new woofer has a phase‑control
device, a smoother response, and it responds higher in frequency
with a more uniform radiation pattern; this allows us to push the
crossover higher—5.5kHz, up a thousand from the original—which
we think is preferable. It has also helped us to improve the phase
coherence in the transition between drivers. There are also substantial
internal improvements, including a new crossover that incorporates
silver in the solder and gold‑plating to improve the conductivity of
the signal path. The damping material on the cabinet walls is now
a new rubberized compound that stays more stable around room
temperature. The impedance is also more uniform, so the speaker is
very easy to drive. It never drops below six ohms.
 
The revision no longer allows for biwiring.
The original was biwirable because it used to be “audio fashion,” even
for serious audiophiles, but experience has shown that in practice it
almost always degrades the overall sound. We don’t believe there’s
any real benefit, especially with respect to coherence.  worth investigating.
 
What part does listening versus measurements play in
Spendor design work?
Listening is the slowest way in the world to design something. If you
understand what you’re doing, how the science works, then you
can get close to what you want by focusing on the measurements.
Then you hone in with the listening, at which point you can put your
listening time to very productive use. You make changes that, although
extremely small and apparently not important in specification terms,
have a very positive influence on the sound of a design. That’s our
philosophy.
 
Some designers say they use a listening panel.
My experience is that really excellent audio products are always
created by one individual or a small team of like‑minded designers
and engineers. Listening panels tend to lead to “committee designs.”
So if you need a listening panel to judge progress when voicing a
loudspeaker, you may have a problem!
88 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
same is true of other singers from Doris Day to the Chair-
man of the Board himself.
Much of this review was done using vinyl sources, as the
evaluation period overlapped with that of the magnificent
Basis 2200/Vector record‑playing system. As a check on the
5R’s imaging and soundstaging, I pulled out the old Argo
recording of Kings College Choir’s Procession with Carols on
Advent Sunday [Argo, vinyl only]. The album includes a dia-
gram of the chapel showing where the choir is positioned
at any given point from when they enter to when they leave
and where home listeners are to imagine themselves sitting.
The choir enters from the far left, pauses at several places,
and doesn’t move into the stalls on the right until the fifth
selection. Once the singers are in the stalls, you hear them
directionally from the right, yet their sound projects across
the spectrum toward the center and center left. This is a very
realistic recording of a large chapel with a gloriously rever-
berant acoustic.
The 5Rs pass this imaging/soundstaging torture test tri-
umphantly, including a consistent rendering of layered depth
across the whole stage. They even did a commendable job
with the large, powerful organ, getting just about all the notes
but without, of course, the room‑filling expansiveness that
only a larger speaker can provide. Owing to the 5R’s neutral-
ity over much of its range and the absence of any funny EQ
in the upper bass, an appropriate subwoofer would be well
As with its predecessors, this new model must be used
within its dynamic and frequency limitations, which are very
real. A great favorite of mine is Richard Goode’s Waldstein on
Nonesuch, which I like to let rip, especially in the stunningly
virtuosic last movement. The 5Rs reproduce the recording
with commendable timbral accuracy but reduced in size and
dynamics; any attempt to play it really loud results in audible
distress. My 2600+ cubic‑foot listening room is the largest
space I’d use them in, and smaller would be preferable.
Which is only to repeat what I said at the outset: This
remains a true mini-monitor. No laws of physics have been
circumvented, but they have been intelligently manipulated
to produce a superior example of the subcompact genre.
Readers looking for small speakers to serve both high ac-
curacy and high musicality in an intimate setting should put
the S3/5R at the top of their audition list. Philip Swift here
shows himself to be a discriminating steward of the great
Spendor tradition. I can hardly think of higher praise for a
new speaker. TAS
Equipment Report
Like Father, Like Son
Parasound Halo JC 2 Linestage Preamplifier
Jonathan Valin
I
t took chutzpah for Parasound to name its new John Curl-
designed preamplifier the JC 2. As those of you who go as far
back in high-end audio as I do already know, the original JC-2
(whose circuitry was also designed, in 1974, by John Curl—for
Mark Levinson Audio Systems) was the component that first put
solid-state preamps on an equal footing with the tube preamps
of the Audio Research Corporation.1 Calling Curl’s latest creation
by the same moniker gives it an awful lot to live up to. However,
I am delighted to report that it does just that—and a good deal
more. Indeed, at the risk of letting this cat out of the bag in
the first paragraph, the $4000 JC 2 is the best bargain in a high-
end preamplifier I know of—and one of the better preamplifiers
money can buy, period.
On the outside, Junior sure doesn’t look much like Pop. The
Levinson JC-2 was a beautifully made, minimalist linestage
preamplifier (it had no tone controls or so-called loudness-
compensation circuits, which was then a considerable departure
from customary practice), in a gorgeous black cabinet only
a couple of inches high. The Halo JC 2 looks, well, like a
Parasound, which is to say a bit breadbox-like. If its brushed
aluminum chassis has packed on a few more inches in girth and
1
In a landmark omnibus review (TAS Volume 2, Number 7, pp. 247-251), a solid
majority of TAS reviewers preferred the JC-2 to the ARC SP-3a-2, finding
the Levinson unit to be substantially cleaner, quieter, fuller, faster, and more
transparent to sources than the tube preamp. Interestingly, HP—who could hear,
folks—thought the JC-2 was slightly less musical in the midband than the SP-3a-2.
Though he conceded that the Curl-designed unit was “probably more faithful to
the original sound [of source material] throughout most of the frequency range,”
he also thought that “something [was] missing, some part of the original signal
[was] being subtracted” with the JC-2 and that until Levinson restored the “air
and ‘front-to-back depth’” of the midrange he couldn’t unqualifiedly concede its
superiority to the SP-3a-2. (OTOH, Pearson thought that something was being
added to the original signal in the upper midrange by the SP-3a-2; as a result,
neither preamp quite succeeded in achieving “the golden mean.”)
90 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
lost more than a few style points, the front-panel controls are still
minimalist—a large, four-gang, motor-driven volume-control
knob, two small balance-trim knobs (one for each channel), an
input-select button associated with a row of LEDs along the
bottom of the front panel that lights up sequentially with each
button-push to tell you which input is currently “on,” and a power
on/off button. To keep up with changing times, power on/off,
volume control, and input-select are also adjustable via a clunky
but effective remote control, which also includes two buttons for
normal and inverted polarity. Changing times are also reflected in
the aluminum back panel, where you’ll find both balanced (XLR)
and unbalanced (RCA) main outputs, as well as two switchable
balanced (XLR) line-level inputs and six unbalanced (RCA) line-
level inputs. (Unlike the Levinson JC-2, the Halo does not give
you the option of a pluggable dedicated phonostage or a stereo/
mono switch, and does not have an outboard power supply.)
On the inside the MLAS JC-2 and the Parasound JC 2 have
a good deal more in common than they do on the out. Like the
Levinson unit, the Parasound is a Class A balanced circuit; each
channel is laid out on its own printed circuit board to provide
the shortest possible signal path between input and output, and
shielded from non-audio circuits by 3/8" aluminum partitions.
No capacitors are used in the signal path, and the gain devices
are hand-matched complementary FETs. One of the chief
aims, here, was to keep noise radiated by power supplies from
contaminating very-low-level musical signals, and I can safely
say that goal has been met—this is an extraordinarily neutral,
extraordinarily detailed preamp.
Given the JC 2’s review-history (see footnote one), I thought
it would be fun to compare the Parasound version to the latest
Audio Research preamplifier—my reference, the ARC Reference
3—in the most neutral, highest-resolution, most natural-
 EQUIPMENT REPORT - Parasound Halo JC 2 Linestage Preamplifier
sounding stereo system I’ve yet assembled (Symposium Acoustics
Panorama loudspeakers, ARC Reference 610T monoblock
amplifiers, ARC PH7 phonostage, ARC CD7 CD player, the
Walker Black Diamond and the TW Acustic Raven/Graham
Phantom record players with Air Tight PC-1 and Clearaudio
Goldfinger v2 cartridges, and Tara Labs Omega Gold speaker
cable, Tara Labs Zero Gold interconnect, and Tara Labs The One
Cobalt power cords). Interestingly, the result of this comparison
wasn’t just “fun”; it was a fascinating lesson in how much things
have changed on both the solid-state and the tube side.
Let me say this at the start: When I first put the Parasound
Halo JC 2 into the system described above, I expected to hear
big differences in midrange, bass, and treble timbre and transient
response, soundstaging and imaging, and overall gestalt. Guess
what? Through its balanced outputs, the JC 2 sounded so much
like an ever-so-slightly quicker, ever-so-slightly less bloomy and
three-dimensional ARC Reference 3 that I was shocked. Indeed,
the two were so much alike in balance, in grain and distortion
(or the lack thereof), in inner detail, and—gasp!—in air and
spaciousness that they might’ve been come if not from the same
egg, at least from the same chicken.

Specs & Pricing How was this possible?

Type: Solid-state linestage
preamplifier
Distortion: THD, < 0.003%
at 100Hz, < 0.005% at
20kHz; IM, < 0.003%
S/N ratio:  > 116dB, input
shorted, IHF A-weighted;  Proscenium Black Diamond
> 104dB, input shorted,
unweighted
Crosstalk: > 100dB at 10kHz,  tonearm, AAS Gabriel-Da
> 90dB at 20kHz
Gain: 14dB, maximum
Input impedance: Unbalanced,
30k ohms; balanced, 30k
ohms per leg
Output impedance:
Unbalanced: < 60 ohms;
balanced, < 60 ohms per leg
Input sensitivity: 200mV for
1V output
Maximum output: 8V
Dimensions: 17 1/4" x 16" x
5-7/8"
Weight: 24 lbs., net
Price: $4000
Parasound Products, Inc.
950 Battery Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 397-7100
parasound.com
JV’s Reference System
Loudspeakers: Symposium
Acoustic Panorama
Linestage preamps: Audio
Research Corporation
Reference 3, Audio Space
Reference 2, MBL 6010 D.
Parasound JC 2
Phonostage preamps: ARC
PH7, Audio Tekne TEA 2000,
Lamm Industries LP-2 Deluxe
Power amplifiers: Audio
Research Reference 610T,
Lamm ML-2, Emotive Audio
Vita
Analog source: Walker Audio
record player, TW Acustic
Raven AC-3/Graham Phantom
Vinci turntable/Da Vinci
“Grandeeza” tonearm
Phono cartridges: Air Tight PC-
1, Clearaudio Goldfinger v2
Digital source: ARC Reference CD7
Cable and interconnect:
Tara Labs “Zero” Gold
interconnect, Tara Labs
“Omega” Gold speaker cable,
Tara Labs “The One” Cobalt
power cords, Synergistic
Research Absolute Reference
speakers cables and
interconnects
Accessories: Shakti Hallographs
(6), Symposium Acoustics
Isis equipment rack and Ultra
platforms, Walker Prologue
Reference equipment stand
and amp stands, Richard Gray
Power Company 600S/Pole
Pig line/power conditioner,
Shunyata Research Hydra
V-Ray power distributor and
Anaconda Helix Alpha/VX
power cables, Shunyata Dark
Field Cable elevators, Walker
Valid Points and Resonance
Control discs, Winds Arm
Load meter, Clearaudio Matrix
record cleaner, HiFi-Tuning
silver/gold fuses
The answer is that, in spite of the naysayers or those wedded
to tube gear that is intended to sound “tubey,” some of the best
transistors and tubes are moving remarkably closer together.
Indeed, this is the closest I’ve heard a solid-state unit come to a
sound that I would consider fundamentally neutral.
Now, this word—“neutral”—has become a bit of a crux in au-
dio lingo, because it has so often been associated not just with an
absence of coloration but also with the absence of tone color. Too
many preamps, amps, phonostages, cartridges, ’tables, arms, and
speakers praised as being “neutral” are actually thin, bleached, and
analytical.2 This is not the case here. The JC 2 is neutral in the same
way that the Audio Research Reference 3 is neutral, which is to
say that is not weighted toward the treble (which tends to give in-
strumental timbres and background silences a slightly lean, bright,
“whitish” caste) or toward the bass (which tends to give instru-
mental timbres and background silences a slightly thick, closed-in,
“darkish” caste). In so far as both the JC 2 and the ARC-3 have a
“pivot point” that decides which direction they lean toward tonally,
it is right in the heart of the heart of the midrange.
In addition to being nearly dead-center neutral in tonal
balance, both preamps have exceptionally fine resolution of low-
level detail (the ARC somewhat finer than the JC 2). By this I
don’t just mean the kind of details that let you know that on,
say, “California” from Blue [Warner Bros. Audiophile Re-Issue
Series LP], Joni Mitchell is strumming an Appalachian dulcimer
(although the JC 2 reproduces the merry, leaping colors of that
delightful instrument with extraordinary delicacy). I also mean
the way that the tiny continuous changes in timbre and dynamic
describe the physical presence of the dulcimer, which is held
flat in the lap with sounding board facing upward; the way it is
being played, with the fingers of the left hand fretting the melody
strings while the right hand picks out crisp clear melody notes
and strums wonderful chiming arpeggios; and the studio it is
being played in. Unlike the original JC 2 that Harry reviewed, this
is a preamp that images in space as well as in time—that gives
you an extraordinary taste of air, bloom, and dimensionality not
just at the front of the stage but from front to back.
Through the JC 2, a great orchestral recording like the
Gerhard Fourth Symphony [Argo] doesn’t just stretch wall-to-
wall-to-wall; the images of the individual instruments and choirs
2
In passing, some people have misread my review of the superb TW Acustic
turntable to mean that I prefer it to the “more neutral” Walker Black Diamond. I do
not. I still think the Walker is, overall, the best record player I’ve heard.

92 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 EQUIPMENT REPORT - Parasound Halo JC 2 Linestage Preamplifier
A Short Interview
with John Curl
Jonathan Valin: So how did you manage to make something
that sounds this good for this kind of money?
John Curl: We lucked out, I think. Given the compromises that have
to be made at this price point, we were very fortunate.
It’s got to go beyond that. You, for instance.
Thank you, but it wasn’t just me. You know, I try to tell guys this
and they think I’m crazy, but there are three parts to design, and
I’m only one-third of the process. I’m good at topologies that are
balanced, straightforward, and simple. I can look at a circuit and see
where there may be little megahertz reflections that others might
not see. But there are two other things I’ve found over the decades
that are just as important as topology. One is circuit layout, which is
keeping noise from contaminating the signal. I’ve tried them all and
Carl Thompson (who used to work for Intel and HP and Fairchild)
is the best at this of anyone I know. His layouts almost glow in the
dark. It takes heart, skill, and imagination to make them. The original
Vendetta boards were designed by him; Dave Wilson uses them. The
final third is execution—and that was Bob Crump. Finding just the
right wires and connectors and transformers, the right resistor types.
Bob’s passed away now, so he never got to hear the JC 2. But it’s his
work and Carl’s, as much as it is mine.
Are you planning a phonostage to go with the JC 2?
I’ve got two in the works. One for Parasound called the JC 3, and
one for Vendetta.
How did you get the damn thing to sound so dimensional,
bloomy, and airy. So ARC-tube-like?
Well, ARC’s learned. Just as I have. There are two parts to it: First,
stable circuitry that is really linear at very low levels. Tubes are like
that and so are the Class A circuits I use—everywhere. The second
thing is layout, eliminating noise pollution.
How did you manage to bring the preamp in at this price point?
The preamp is made in Taipei, Taiwan, and that helped keep price
down. Also, I got the support of Richard Schram [of Parasound]. I
told him at the start that if he wanted to do this, he had to do it right.
I couldn’t put my initials on a product that sucked. But I also told
him that he would have a better chance at earning a TAS Product
of the Year Award and an A-rating in Stereophile if he did it the way
I wanted it to be done. Which was with these two other guys—Carl
and Bob.
Well, it’s a genuine standard-setter.
Thanks—from all of us.
94 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
of instruments within that stage also have front-to-back
depth, as they do in life. As a result the BBC symphony
orchestra isn’t—to quote HP quoting Coleridge—a
“painted ship upon a painted ocean”; it is a teeming
city, full of color, motion, and life. The JC 2 may not
have all the depth and dimensionality of the $10k ARC
Reference 3, but it comes close—an astonishing feat
for a solid-state preamp, even the best of which tend to
sound a bit flat and recessive.
The JC 2 not only preserves fine harmonic and dy-
namic detail, air, and bloom in the midband; it does so
at the frequency extremes, which (with the exception of
the far-more-expensive, slightly more “whitish,” and less
spacious-sounding Edge Signature 1.1) is unique in my ex-
perience of solid-state preamps. It is nearly axiomatic to
say that transistor preamps beat out tube preamps in the
treble and the bass in extension, resolution, and power de-
livery. But that isn’t quite the case here. The JC 2 doesn’t so
much “beat” the ARC Ref 3 at either extreme as preserve
a fair number of its virtues while adding a touch of its own
speed (and tighter focus). The stinging string pizzicatos at
the start of the wild second movement Rondo of Bartók’s
Second Quartet [Columbia], the rumbling bass drum taps
that walk like walking bass alongside the first theme of the
Molto allegro of the Corigliano Piano Concerto [Mercury],
the high hats (and the apparatus they’re suspended from)
of Charles Moffett’s drumkit in the Ornette Coleman
Trio’s At the “Golden Circle” Stockholm [Blue Note] aren’t
just reproduced with the clarity that superior solid-state
transient response always brings to the table; they’re also
reproduced with some of the body, color, air, and bloom
that tubes seem to own. Nothing ever sounds “etched” or
cookie-cut with the JC 2; its tone colors remain natural, its
imaging expansive, life-sized, and three-dimensional from
top to bottom. While the Ref 3 still holds a marked edge
here (as the SP-3a-2 did over the original JC-2), I could
never say, as HP once did, that air and front-to-back depth
(or side-to-side width) have gone “missing” in the latest JC
2. Far from it, in fact. This is the complete package.
I guess I’ve heard solid-state preamps that hit harder
than the JC 2 on big bass transients, and I’ve heard several
that are as good or better at resolving certain low-level
details, but I have heard few others that manage to sound
this neutral and natural, this transparent-to-sources, and
this quick and delicately detailed, without trading away key
parts of the baby (air, bloom, color, three-dimensionality)
for the bathwater of razor-cut imaging, iron-fisted control,
and an overall digital-like precision that can make you feel
as if you’re listening to a piece of machinery rather than a
musical instrument. The JC 2, like the Ref 3 par excellence,
is alive with musical energy lighting up musical space.
The new JC 2 is that extreme rarity—a reference-quality
product that many of us can actually afford. Parasound
has every right to call it the JC 2, and John Curl to be
proud of what he’s accomplished. TAS
Manufacturer Comments
Spendor S3/5R
Paul Seydor is right when he says that I can’t seem to stop
working on our smallest loudspeaker. I guess most sound-
minded people would think we’d be crazy to even contemplate
replacing such well established and highly regarded designs as
the Spendor S3/5 and S3/5se with a single new model. But
Spendor is driven by a strong desire to create the best and most
natural sounding loudspeakers and when we decided it really
was time to introduce some (or should that be many) carefully
considered refinements it was a challenge we couldn’t resist. But
it didn’t stop there; our work on the new S3/5R inspired us to
refine the whole Spendor Classic line. With the new SP3/1R,
SP2/3R, SP1/2R, and our largest loudspeaker the SP100R, we
set out to improve their beautifully balanced sound without
changing it. If that sounds even crazier, it isn’t, but that’s
another story.
Incidentally the –3dB LF point of the new 5R is 90Hz
anechoic, and typically 65Hz in-room, so actually no spec change
from the original S3/5. As Paul clearly describes, these numbers
alone don’t explain the improved way the new 5R delivers low
frequencies.
 Philip Swift
Managing Director
Spendor Audio Systems Ltd
96 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Pathos Logos and Digit
Thanks to Paul Seydor and TAS. Paul previously praised the
Classic One and asked for another Pathos. The Digit shares the
same elegant chrome-plated steel chassis with the Classic One.
Paul writes both amps sound “essentially the same,” but the
Logos is more musically revealing (it has two dedicated power
supplies, one for the tube front end and a larger supply for the
output stage). For us, this is more important than a 3dB increase
in acoustic output.
Paul is a music lover with a wall of CDs. I asked if 30% were
SACD. He said 10%, mostly promos. That’s why Pathos makes
a Red Book player that reproduces “truly lovely sound.”
We did inform Paul of another English Digit review. What Hi
Fi, February 2008: “Pathos’ entry-level CD player is a great one:
It’s up with the very best at this price” (£1995).
Paul writes the Logos is “an amp for music listeners” and
the Digit “made beautiful music that might be preferred by any
number of listeners, especially those with strong allegiances
to analog.” Both are good values for the “Monet” without the
stereo imaging limitations of a Van Gogh. Let’s hope for at least
one Golden Ear.
Garth Leerer
President
Musical Surroundings
Cutting Edge
Balanced Audio Technology
Rex Linestage Preamplifier
Robert Harley
“A
perfectly adequate power supply needn’t weigh
more than a pound.”
So said a non-audiophile acquaintance with a de-
gree in electrical engineering when he learned that a CD player in
my equipment rack weighed 40 pounds, most of it power supply.
But what would he have thought of the new Rex linestage from
Balanced Audio Technology, which weighs in at a whopping 76
pounds—most of it power supply?
To the non-audiophile designer, the power supply sits outside
the audio signal path and has no effect on sound quality, pro-
vided that it can deliver the specified voltages and currents with
a minimum of noise and ripple. (Ripple is vestiges of the 60Hz
AC supply appearing on the DC that powers the circuits.) But to
the high-end designer, the power supply is every bit as important
as the audio circuit that actually operates on the audio signal. As
I’ve pointed out in the past, the power supply is in the signal path;
the audio-signal current that appears at the preamplifier output
comes from the power supply. The tubes or transistors in the au-
dio signal path don’t really “amplify” anything; they act as valves
to modulate the flow of current through the power supply to the
output jacks. This is why tubed power-supply regulation sounds
different from solid-state regulation.
Big power supplies aren’t new to high-end audio. In fact, a dis-
tinguishing feature of high-end electronics is extremely elaborate
power supplies feeding minimalist signal-path circuits. But Bal-
98 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
anced Audio Technology has taken this idea to its zenith in the
Rex, requiring two full-sized chassis to accommodate the massive
power supply. One chassis (the Power Module) has no controls;
the second (the Control Module) provides the usual interface of
source selection, display, and volume control. The two are con-
nected by a pair of Neutrik-terminated umbilical cords.
As befitting a linestage costing $18,500, the Rex is loaded with
features. Among these are the abilities to assign a name to each
source (shown in the fluorescent display) and adjust the gain, bal-
ance, and polarity for each input independently, and the option
of setting a maximum gain setting. Any of the inputs can be set
to a fixed gain for use with an audio/video controller.1
The Rex’s five line inputs are on balanced jacks only. If you
have single-ended sources, you’ll need XLR-to-RCA adaptors.
Similarly, the output appears only on balanced jacks. Even the
tape-out jacks are balanced.
Listening
BAT recommends leaving the Rex powered up continuously, and
for good reason. The unit takes a long time to warm up and reach
its full glory (as well as a long time to break in). When plugged
1
This feature is essential if you have one system for stereo music and film-
soundtrack reproduction via a separate AV controller. The controller’s left and
right outputs feed the preamp’s fixed-gain input. The preamp passes along the
signal to the left and right power amplifiers unaltered, maintaining the relative
channel levels as set by the AV controller.
Cutting Edge
into an AC outlet with the power turned off, some of the cir-
cuitry is still powered on, evidenced by the moderate amount of
heat coming from each chassis. When fully powered up, however,
heat pours out of the Rex—enough to warm up the adjacent rack
shelves and the components on them. Power consumption is rated
at a whopping 340W, meaning that leaving the Rex continuously
powered will consume 245kWh (kilowatt hours) per month.
The size, cost, heat, and power-consumption disadvantages of
the Rex’s huge, ten-tube power supply are quickly forgotten when
the Rex begins reproducing music. This linestage possesses some
special qualities that elevate its performance into the top echelon
of linestage preamps, in my experience. In my recent reviews of
the Magico V3 and Revel Salon2 loudspeakers (Issues 178 and 179
respectively), I commented on those loudspeakers’ tremendous
midrange presence and palpability, their density of tone color,
and their realistic portrayal of images within an acoustic space.
Some of the credit goes to the Rex’s absolutely glorious midrange,
which breathed life and immediacy into the music. The Rex ren-
dered midrange timbres with a liquidity and lack of grain that was
startling. Massed strings had a lushness that was simply exquisite,
without a hint of steely hardness, etch, or coarseness to textures.
Vocals had a warm and communicative quality, sounding decidedly
“human” and natural rather than like flat cutouts. Check out Bud-
dy Guy’s voice, accompanied only by a sparse acoustic guitar, on
“Done Got Old” from his terrific disc Sweat Tea. The Rex brought
it to life with an intimacy and palpability that made me forget I was
listening to an electronic recreation.
This description might lead one to think that the Rex is eu-
phonically colored in the traditional way tubes can color the
sound—a little syrupy and overly romantic. That wasn’t the case;
the Rex doesn’t sound like a classic tubed design, which sacri-
fices resolution and neutrality for a fat and round presentation
that might sound temptingly pleasant in the short term but is
ultimately unrewarding. Rather, the Rex sounds like neither tubes
nor solid-state, a high compliment indeed. First, the Rex is abso-
lutely dead quiet, a surprising achievement for a pure tube design.
100 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Even with the gain turned up, there’s no hint of hiss or tube
rush. Backgrounds are jet-black, an important attribute in a com-
ponent’s ability to realistically portray extremely low-level detail.
Second, although the midrange has the liquidity that comes natu-
rally to tubes, the sound isn’t overly sweet in an artificial way.
The Rex did, however, tend to highlight the midrange and
upper midrange, as though a spotlight were shone on vocalists
and instruments whose energy is primarily in the upper mids. In
addition to making the music sound “illuminated from within”
(Jonathan Valin’s wonderfully evocative phrase), the Rex brought
vocals and lead instruments to the forefront of the soundstage.
The degree to which this characteristic adds to or detracts from
the overall presentation will depend on the associated equipment
(particularly the loudspeakers) and your tastes. But even with the
Magico V3, a loudspeaker that has a vivid and lifelike immediacy
in the midrange, the Rex was never overbearing.
This is a good time to discuss the Rex’s selectable AC shunt
voltage regulators (their function is described in the technical
sidebar). A switch inside the Power Module allows you to select
between a pair of 6C45 tubes and 6H30 tubes in the regulation
stage. (You must remove the top cover to access the switch.) I
bring up the switchable regulators here because the midrange
character I’ve just described is greatly affected by which regu-
lators are selected. Choosing the 6H30 tubes emphasizes the
midrange palpability and forwardness, and gives the Rex more a
“tube-like” sound. The 6C45 provides, in my view, a more neu-
tral sound that makes the Rex less identifiable as a tubed design.
Although I liked the Rex’s lifelike immediacy in the midrange, I
thought the 6H30 went too far in that direction. The 6C45 also
had a wider and more open soundstage. Other than these brief
comments about the 6H30, my sonic description of the Rex
throughout this review is with the 6C45 tubes selected.
This midrange palpability and illumination extended to the low-
er treble, above which the sense of highlighting began to diminish.
The overall treble quality was outstanding, delivering a delicious
combination of smoothness with resolution. This was largely due
to the grain-free reproduction of treble textures. Cymbals were ut-
terly lacking in coarseness, spit, etch, and other unpleasant artifacts
that are distracting and lead to listening fatigue. I could listen at
high playback levels for extended periods without feeling assault-
ed. The combination of midrange liquidity and treble smoothness
contributed to the Rex’s sense of ease and musical involvement.
The top octave—not even the top octave, but the sense of air
riding on the top octave—sounded a little subdued and darker
than the treble and upper midrange, perhaps only by juxtaposi-
tion. I didn’t quite hear the impression of unlimited extension
and air of the Audio Research Reference 3 or the Spectral DMC-
30SS, for examples. This didn’t affect musical frequencies or in-
strumental timbre, but rather the sense of openness and air that
seems to lift the lid off the presentation.
Nonetheless, the Rex’s soundstage was expansive, with great
dimensionality and a precise rendering of the space between in-
struments. The Rex was particularly adept at resolving instru-
mental images toward the soundstage rear as distinct entities
even when other instrumental images were more prominent
Cutting Edge
Technical Description
The Rex is a fully-balanced design, meaning that there are two au-
dio signal polarities present in each channel. One polarity is the
audio signal; the other is the audio signal inverted. The audio signal
is represented as the difference between the two polarities. This
requires two signal paths per channel, one to process each polarity
of the balanced signal.2
This approach is the right way to design a balanced preamplifier.
Just because a preamplifier (or other component) has balanced
XLR jacks on the inputs and outputs doesn’t necessarily indicate
true balanced operation. A preamp can have balanced inputs and
2
An unbalanced circuit has one audio signal path that is referenced to
ground. This corresponds to an unbalanced RCA cable in which the audio
signal appears on the pin, with the outer ring being the ground or “return.”
In a balanced circuit, the audio signal is duplicated and handled by two sig-
nal paths. The two audio signals are identical, but one of them is polarity
inverted. This corresponds to a balanced XLR jack in which pin 2 is the audio
signal, pin 3 is the inverted version of the audio signal, and pin 1 is ground.
A properly designed balanced circuit confers many advantages, includ-
ing immunity to noise, along with potentially lower distortion. When the two
polarities of a balanced signal are input to a differential amplifier, only the
difference between the signals is passed to the output. That means any noise
or distortion common to both halves of the balanced signal is rejected.
102 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
outputs, but convert the balanced input signal to unbalanced for
processing in the preamp, and then convert that unbalanced signal
to balanced for output on an XLR jack.
Needless to say, a “pseudo-balanced” design adds two sonically
degrading active stages to the signal path—the circuit that con-
verts balanced to unbalanced (called a “differential amplifier”) and
the circuit that converts unbalanced to balanced (called a “phase
splitter”). These are usually implemented with op-amps (inexpen-
sive integrated circuit amplifiers). Some manufacturers do this to
provide connection compatibility with balanced sources and bal-
anced-input power amplifiers without having to spend the money
to create a truly balanced design.
A correctly designed balanced preamp, such as the Rex, employs
truly differential gain stages, and requires a four-element attenua-
tor (volume control) rather than a two-element one. (The four ele-
ments are left +, left –, right +, right –.) BAT is such a great propo-
nent of fully balanced audio circuits that it named the company
after the concept.
Rex’s power supply is easily the biggest and most elaborate I’ve
seen in a linestage. For its statement product, designer and BAT
co-founder Victor Khomenko pulled out all the stops in the power-
supply design. The supply’s size and complexity required that the
preamp be split into two chassis. In many products with an out-
board supply, one chassis contains the audio circuits and the sec-
ond chassis houses the supply. BAT rejected this approach because
the power supply couldn’t be tightly coupled to the audio circuit
it was supplying. The DC voltages from the supply would be cor-
rupted by noise picked up by long wires between the supply and
the audio circuit. In addition, running a length of wire between the
supply and the audio circuit increases the supply’s effective output
impedance, degrading overall circuit performance.
The solution was to split the supply in an unconventional way,
with the partition between the two chassis drawn at the horizon-
tal “ground” line. The chassis that contains the audio gain stage
(Control Module) also houses the power supply for the positive
rail (V+) so that it can be tightly coupled to the gain stage. The
Power Module houses the vacuum-tube current sources as well as
the vacuum-tube-regulated power supply for the negative rail (V–).
Using such symmetrical power supplies reportedly improves the
circuit’s linearity.
The main reason for such partition is that the tube current
sources aren’t affected by the length of wire between them and
the audio circuit, allowing the current sources to be positioned at
a distance from the audio circuits with no sonic or performance
degradation. Splitting the two chassis in this way maintains tight
coupling between the power supplies and the audio circuits they
feed, while allowing the current sources to be moved to a separate
chassis.
The tubes used as current sources can be changed to fine-tune
the Rex’s sound. This involves simply replacing the two small circuit
boards containing the 6C19-based current sources with the boards
designed for the 6H30 tubes. (The kit with the additional boards
adds $2000 to the price.) Alternately, you can simply swap out the
6C19 tubes with the direct-replacement 5881s without changing
circuit boards.
The voltage regulation is also unusual. Most voltage regulators
are based on a so-called “series pass” device (a transistor or tube)
that is placed in series between the regulator and the load (the
audio circuit it supplies). In the Rex, a regulator vacuum tube is
place across the load, a technique called AC shunt regulation. Tra-
ditional shunt regulation is quite inefficient, dissipating so much
DC power that the technique becomes impractical for regulating
current-hungry loads. Most of that power is, however, dissipated
by the shunt regulator’s attempt to regulate fluctuations in the DC
level—fluctuations that have no effect on the sound. BAT developed
a method of allowing the shunt regulator to ignore DC fluctuations
while quickly smoothing any AC fluctuations that would degrade
the sound. The user is given the choice of two different AC shunt
regulators, the 6C45 or the 6H30 tube, selectable by a switch in-
side the chassis. The two tubes sound different, and being able to
listen to the effect of different tubes in the power supply was in-
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 103
Cutting Edge
Technical Description cont’d a warm and “purring” quality, and acoustic bass was rendered
with a sense of the resonance of wooden body.
teresting. In all, Rex’s power supply uses ten tubes in addition to
some solid-state regulation. Conclusion
BAT has long used custom oil-filled capacitors in its power Balanced Audio Technology’s Rex linestage must be considered
supplies, a tradition expanded upon in the Rex. In addition to de- one of the world’s great linestages. Its best quality is a remarkable
veloping a new capacitor specifically for the Rex power supply, liquidity of timbre and freedom of grain that fostered a sense of
the company has also increased the relative proportion of sup- musical ease and naturalness. The lively and incisive midrange
ply capacitance provided by the oil-filled caps (compared with imbued instruments and voices with a startling palpability, al-
capacitance from electrolytic caps) by a factor of 10. That is, the though the slightly forward balance will suit some listeners and
Rex supply is based more on oil-filled caps and less on electro- systems more than others. I also enjoyed the Rex’s transparent
lytic caps. BAT kept the same amount of capacitance in the elec- soundstage and tremendous dimensionality, characteristics that
trolytics and increased the oil-filled capacitance by an order of fostered deep listener involvement.
magnitude. Electrolytic caps are required for their huge energy On a technical level, the Rex’s gain stage is among the most
storage, which contributes to dynamics and bottom-end solidity. minimalist in high-end audio, and its power supply the most
Oil capacitors have less storage, but contribute to a product’s elaborate I’ve encountered. This ambitious power supply, which
midrange and treble delicacy. BAT believes it’s achieved a com- probably deserves much of the credit for the Rex’s sound, comes
plementary marriage of the two capacitor types. at a price that is not just monetary. You should know that the Rex
As in all BAT products, the volume control is a shunt stepped runs hotter than many power amplifiers and needs to be powered
attenuator realized with discrete Vishay bulk-foil resistors as se- up for several hours (at a minimum) to reach its full potential.
ries elements, under 16-bit microprocessor control. The volume If you can accommodate the Rex’s price and power consump-
knob selects a combination of binary-weighted resistors to de- tion, you’ll be rewarded with one of the sweetest sounding pre-
liver volume adjustment in 0.5dB steps over a 70dB range. This amplifiers available. TAS
is a much more expensive technique than a stepped attenuator
based on an integrated circuit. Incidentally, precise matching of
the attenuation between the two halves of the balanced signal
is crucial. Tight matching of the attenuation levels is assured
Specs & Pricing
by using discrete resistors, particularly when compared with a Type: Vacuum-tube linestage (302) 999-8855
potentiometer which might have a gain mismatch between el- Inputs: Five balanced on XLR balanced.com
ements of several tenths of a dB, and which will vary with the jacks
volume-control position. Outputs: Two main outputs Associated Equipment
The entire audio circuit of this 76-pound, two-chassis behe- and one tape-out on XLR jacks Loudspeakers: Magico V3,
moth fits in a space about the size of the palm of your hand. The Input impedance: 100k ohms Revel Ultima2, and Wilson
circuit is minimalist to the extreme—a single gain stage with no Output impedance: 200 ohms Alexandria X-2 Series 2; Power
input buffer, no output follower, and no global negative feedback. Noise: –100dB (unweighted) amplifiers: Mark Levinson
BAT has been using this topology since its first products, intro- Volume control resolution: No.433, Pass Labs XA-100.5,
duced in 1994. The signal traces are extremely short and all the 0.5dB Audio Research Reference
surrounding circuitry is tightly coupled to four 6H30 tubes per Volume control steps: 140 110, Spectral DMA-360;
channel that provide the gain. The 6H30 is a Russian military Tube complement (Control Preamplifier: Audio Research
tube that for many years was banned from export. Victor Kho- Module): 8 x 6H30 Reference 3, Mark Levinson
menko knew of the tube, and successfully gained access to the Tube complement (Power No.326S, Spectral DMC-30SS;
device, which is becoming increasingly popular in audio products. Module): 2 x 5AR4, 4 x 6C19, 2 Digital sources: Spectral SDR-
The gain stage is coupled to the output jacks via BAT’s custom x 6H30, 2 x 6C45 4000 Pro, Esoteric P-03/D-
oil capacitors. Power consumption: 340W 03/G-0Rb; Interconnects:
Dimensions: 19" x 5.75" x 15.5" Shunyata Antaries, MIT
(each chassis) MA, MIT Oracle MA; Cables:
than, and in front of, those more delicate images. That is, I could Weight: 40 lbs., Control Module; MIT Oracle MA; AC power:
hear “through” the front of the presentation to hear quiet instru- 36 lbs., Power Module MIT Z-System, Shunyata
ments at the back of the stage. This quality was partially because Price: $18,500 V-Ray, Hydra-8 and Hydra-2,
of the Rex’s resolving power, but also due to its tremendous Shunyata Anaconda AC cords,
sense of transparency and “see-through” soundstage. Balanced Audio MIT Z-Cords; Room: custom
The bottom end was deep and extended, with a slight tenden- Technology built, treated by Acoustic
cy toward a full and “plummy” sound rather than a lean, tight, 1300 First State Blvd, Suite A Room Systems
and dry presentation. The presentation had tremendous weight, Wilmington, DE 19804
with good dynamics and sense of rhythmic flow. Bass guitar had
104 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
 HP’s Workshop
Clearaudio Statement playback system
and Goldfinger Version Two moving-coil
cartridge
One of the deeper ironies of high-end audio is this: None of
the turntable systems around during the Golden Age of the LP
several decades back could retrieve as much information from
vinyl as today’s best can.
Maybe the irony becomes the richer when you consider that
the escalating prices of these “bests” put them well out of the
reach of most LP collectors, the very people most attuned to
the nuances of analog reproduction. That the LP, either the
best from then or today’s sophisticated remasterings, contains
still more layers of the music as yet undiscovered must give us
pause.

We now have at hand Clearaudio’s ultimate turntable, the

Statement, and at a price that limits its general acceptance. That
is $150,000 (in part thanks, as I write this, to the weak U.S.
dollar—in Europe, you could knock $50,000 off). And there
is competition at this stellar price point, a new “reference”
from Goldmund at a staggering $300,000, a $125,995 ’table
from Australia, the Continuum Caliburn (and its less expensive
little brother, the Criterion, at $55,595). And we have the also
stratospheric, and sometimes only marginally less technically
sophisticated designs from Basis, its Work of Art at $115,000,
the Swiss Transrotor Artus at $150,000, the Walker Proscenium
Black Diamond at $40,000, the SME-30 and SME-V arm at
$40,000, the rare as hen’s teeth $17,000 EAR Discmaster, and
within reason, a rejuvenation of the rim-drive principle in the
VPI SuperScoutmaster for just over eight grand.
Few, I doubt any, reviewers have had the chance to hear them
all under more or less controlled circumstances thus making
moot the question of what is “best.”
Nevertheless, the Clearaudio Statement is one of the most
thrilling components I have encountered in the past 20 years. It
is just awesome, and immediately so, from the first listen on.
It, along with the new version of the Goldfinger cartridge,
represents a return to form for this German company after
some years of dabbling in high-definition sounds—you know
what I mean, forward, highly defined to the point of etched-
ness, with thunderous bass and solid-state-sounding highs. Its
superiority to ordinary turntables is evident from the moment
the first disc lands on its 42-pound acrylic platter.
The combination of the platter and its stainless steel subplat-
ter is magnetically decoupled from the lower drive assembly by
two dozen (twelve top, twelve underneath) neodymium magnets.
The subplatter is driven by a servo-motor attached to a single
belt. Oh yes, the total weight of the system is some 770 pounds.

108 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 But that is just the beginning
of the complexities of, shall we
say, “analog” design work that
went into this ’table.
It arrived along with Robert
Suchy, one of the principal
players at Clearaudio, who said the overriding purpose of the
Statement was to “eliminate” all resonances from playback. He
added something that stuck with me and which might be con-
sidered a theme: “Everything that moves, revolves, or rotates,
resonates. To play a record you have no choice but to turn the
platter, not to mention move the tonearm, vibrate the stylus in
the groove, and move the cartridge coils.” (Including, thought I
later, the earth and all the planets.)
The genuine new innovation here is the pendulum. The
entire upper part of the Statement platter assemblies are seated
on a suspended pendulum—twelve plates of stainless steel at-
tached, via a shaft, to the upper part of the ’table. Suchy says,
and has an owner who proved it, that the Statement can play
a record flawlessly on a yacht during a rolling sea. I gather this
means that the assemblage is isolated from the very rotation
of the earth!
Ah, yet there is more. The outer framework, along with some
smaller parts, is made of curved layers of panzerholz, a bul-
letproof compressed wood made from Baltic birch. (It is used
in armored cars.)
The pickup arm has been completely redesigned. It’s called
the Statement TT-1 (tangential tracking) and it sits over and
across the platter, one continuous span. Atop the arm are
two knobs for lowering or raising the height of the cartridge
(and thus allowing for easier changing of the vertical tracking
angle)—there are indented markings on the side of the assem-
bly so you don’t lose your place. Imagine an overhead railing
and you’ve got an image of how it looks. That overhead railing
itself, however, can be moved back to a rest position (where it
locks in magnetically) and forward so that it will be over the
disc (where it, again, magnetically locks).
I asked the importer, Garth Leerer, to explain the difference
between the older arm and the new: “It is not cantilevered over
the record—it attaches at two points and is constructed of pan-
zerholz wood and aluminum, for greater rigidity and vibration
control. It does not use the tri-quartz design, that is, a three-
wheeled carriage that rides on a three quartz rods. It uses a glass
tube and its two-wheeled carriage is captive within the tube,
provide even lower friction, fewer contact points and bearings.
This means the carriage, which holds the armwand and car-
tridge, is held to greater tolerance within the tube.”
I suppose I should note that the new arm is made of carbon
fiber and measures eight inches in length. And that here there
are no air bearings, pumps, or servo-systems (“They add dis-
tortion,” Leerer says, perhaps with a small smile). I didn’t tell
you that the system will play back both 33 and 45, and if you
push both speed control buttons down simultaneously, you’ll
get 78 rpm—two more buttons allow you to trim the speed up
or down as you wish.
This was a five-year project, Suchy said, “to find out what
is possible if you push everything to the theoretical limit.” To
my surprise, Suchy, when the Continuum Caliburn—its logical
110 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
competitor was mentioned—paid it great respect, saying that,
via the use of computers, its designers were attacking the same
problems that Clearaudio was in, say, “analog as opposed to
digital” fashion.
And so, how does it sound? And how does it not sound?
The very first thing you’ll notice about the Statement, once
the needle is on the disc, is how very quiet it is—everything is.
It’s almost supernatural, this effect. You just don’t hear those
things we take for granted in all LP playback.
Keep in mind that hearing and identifying the “sound” of a
turntable is no easy task, and certainly not an area of reviewing
in which I have distinguished myself. But I have come to see
why. Once the music begins, the turntable’s character, for good
or not so, becomes another part of the noise floor beneath the
music. To be sure, there are turntable sounds, outside of speed
variations you can hear, noise floor or no: the sound of a direct
drive motor; a characteristic “lightness” if the ’table’s assem-
blage won’t support the lowest frequencies (remember the old
Linn Sondeks?); and gross resonances, the result of the use of
materials that ring.
My own “breakthrough” insight came with the EAR Disc-
master, the first magnetic-drive ’table I encountered, and, later,
the Blue Pearl, a massive ’table also of British origin that did
things the EAR did not. The magnetic drive, in isolating the
platter from any motor noise, took away the most pervasive
coloration of LP playback. It was like the effect you would
get if you could ride down the highway in a car whose tires
never touched the road. That road noise is directly comparable
to the low-frequency muck that obscured the low end of the
LPs. And, analogously, there was now a kind of freedom to the
sound, as if it were suspended in air.
Then came the Blue Pearl, which, though non-magnetic, had
a smoothness, a bottom-end weight (that was entirely natural)
that made the EAR sound light by comparison, as well as an ex-
tension and smoothness in the highs that left the EAR behind.
There was no comparison in build-quality, and at $80,000 or so,
the much more massive Pearl should have been, and was, better
built. (Yes, it went farther down into the bottom octave than
the EAR, but I was not altogether happy, given that mass, with
its susceptibility to acoustic breakthrough.)
The Statement magnetic-drive system is much more elaborate;
perhaps it has to be given the sheer weight, solidity, and mass
of the ’table. It outdoes the strengths of the other two ’tables,
and goes further in reducing other forms of resonance—don’t
ask me, just yet, what they are—that cause smearing and blur-
ring of transients, even down to the articulation of individual
notes. And it achieves this with well-nigh perfect naturalness:
There is no sense of edge or strain, or of any undue emphasis
or “enhancement.” It is a sense of ease at all playback levels I
do not recall hearing until now.
For me, one of the more amazing things the Statement allowed
our listeners to hear came during the last movement of Rach-
maninoff ’s Third Piano Concerto [Janis, Dorati, Mercury]. Many
folks consider this, as do I, to be “the” best of the many modern
versions, in both performance and sound. It is a familiar standby
here in Sea Cliff. But until the Statement/Goldfinger system I
never heard all the individual notes articulated in the fiendishly
difficult piano runs. It sounded, at times, as if Janis had three
 hands (really and truly). There
was another and unexpected level
of musical information unveiled
from the recording. It’s enough to
give you a deeper appreciation of
Janis’ keyboard wizardry.
I spent a good deal of time with Classic Records’ 45-rpm Quiex
remasterings of the best RCAs from that company’s golden age,
including the first two movements from the Reiner Lt. Kije, the
“Un Bal” movement from the Munch Symphonie Fantastique, and
Reiner’s reading of Bartók’s Hungarian Sketches, as well as several
cuts (“Laughing” and “Traction in the Rain”) from David Cros-
by’s If I Could Only Remember My Name. I also dug through the
oldies in my collection to listen to America doing “Sandman”
and the more recent Holly Cole reading of “I Can See Clearly
Now” from the Classic remastering of her album Temptation.
There is more to detail here. But, let me say, that until I
return for Part II of this analysis, with the Statement I felt as if
I were hearing mastertapes, not discs. Now, in fact, I have heard
the mastertape of the Kije, thanks to Classic’s Mike Hobson,
at Bernie Grundman’s studio in L.A., and so my comparison
is no idle modern-day-reviewer’s cliché. Let me put it another
way: In many of these recordings, the Bartók for one, you don’t
have the sense that you are listening to an LP, a record. You can
easily fool yourself into thinking you are listening to a perfor-
mance of the music, not what it was like “live” but how it was,
virtually, on the mastertape. For one thing, the bass dynamics
alone will catch you by surprise, because they emerge from a
velvet background of silence, and that can be startling. Super-
natural is the word of choice for me at this moment.
I should also say that the quality of the rest of the system
allowed me these “insights” into what the ’table was and was not
doing. The rest consisted of the Nordost Odin interconnects,
the VTL Siegfried amp and the 7.5 Series II linestage, and most
critically, the phonostages, starting with the “value per dollar”
tubed unit from EAR, and in the latest rounds of listening, the
astounding Zanden 1200 Mk II (also tubed) from Japan. (One
of the Zanden’s most intriguing features is its extra equaliza-
tion curves, one for Decca recordings, the other for Columbia,
since we of late have come to learn—thanks in no small part of
Roy Gregory writing in our sister publication HiFi+—that the
agreed-upon RIAA curve is anything but standard in Europe,
and sometimes not even so here.)
I haven’t heard any component that exceeds the Statement
in defying ordinary analysis, because what it does is so new
and so emotionally satisfying that it (temporarily, I hope) defies
conventional criticism. That’s how good it is.
Scaena 14.2 hybrid system
There are three Scaena speaker systems, essentially descendants
of the much-admired Pipedreams of a decade or so ago [re-
viewed in Issues 113–114]. Be not mistaken, though; the new
system is of a different breed though its gestalt is definitely that
of son to father.
There are two front towers (of differing heights in each model),
with vertical arrays of midrange drivers and planar tweeters. Sep-
arated from the towers are the two 18-inch woofers, which you
may also have in a dual configuration (to wit, two or four per
112 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
system). In my configuration—you guessed it—four in all.
Included along with the speakers come a crossover and a
solid-state amp. Since the system is, you may say, a work of art
in progress, there has been a bit of evolution.
I had and still have an early version of the crossover, for me
a nightmarishly complicated device that requires you to figure
out the non-intuitive settings to match the woofers (phase, level,
and frequency) to the front towers. As veteran readers know, I
am an armchair analyst, not a technofreak, one who loves to
fiddle with knobs, dials, controls, and things of that ilk. To be
sure, I supervised those adjustments as well as the respective
placement of all the speakers to create a web of seamlessness.
There is a new crossover which, to quote Alan Eichenbaum,
the man behind Scaena, “offers numerous presets with Bessel,
Butterworth, Linkwitz/Riley crossover filters, with additional
functions that can be programmed off a PC using our custom
program.” A PC? I shiver at the thought. (That crossover will
arrive here just after this issue’s deadline. I hope I can set it, or
see that it is set, and forget it. I am more than happy with the
sound I’m now getting, which I don’t think those of you who
have heard the system at shows have gotten.)
At home, however, you should have no problems since a
Scaena dealer will set it up—just hope he knows how to dial the
woofer system in so that you really don’t “hear” it. The truth is
that any large speaker with a separate woofer system presents
complex set-up problems. Believe me, I know, from experience,
through the Nola Grand References back to the large old-style
Infinity systems.
You have the option (less expensive I’d think) of using the
supplied amp, a Class AB design offering 750 watts into four
ohms. I decided, at the outset to use the elegant Burmester 911
Mk III, assuming it would be of higher quality, and without
serious objection from anyone at Scaena. (Obviously, setup
would be simpler with the integrated package, as supplied.)
Just as the crossover has already undergone a serious update,
so has the tweeter system, about which I had reservations
almost from the outset. Above a certain frequency, say about
6kHz, these planar units did not have the “airiness,” the defini-
tion, and that elusive sense of freedom that is part and parcel
of the experience of unamplified instruments playing in a good
space. I confess I have been spoiled perhaps by an unconscious
comparison with the far finer ribbon tweeters from Panasonic
(used in the first edition of the original Pipedreams), or the su-
perior Raven ribbon units (used in the Nola Grand Reference),
or the ribbons of Jim Winey’s Magnepan design. The ones here
are planar, to be sure, which could well account for a certain
lack of airy shimmer (I’m not describing a coloration here, but
an effect heard in most good halls).
In this case, after I complained, the folks at Scaena detected a
most unusual anomaly. In the original review, I took note of the
fact that the midrange and high-frequency drivers in the front
towers did not use conventional crossovers, but rather capaci-
tors to act as “bridges” from the midrange to the highs, and to
roll-off (gently, gently) both driver systems at the appropriate
points. (Check the original review, if you will, and are interested
in the specifics, in Issue 180.) Because those capacitors in the
high-frequency network were oriented in the same direction,
Scaena found a serious phase problem (undetected at first) was
 occurring at 40kHz (!). Simply by
rewiring, so to speak, the capaci-
tor set so that every other one was
oriented in the opposite direction,
the problem disappeared.
And, lo and behold, after a few
days of break-in, some of what was bothering me that I was unable
to define in articulate fashion disappeared. Before the capacitor
re-orientation, the top end was somewhat darker in character and
a bit muted. The chief audible effect of the improvement was a
tightening of the transient attacks and their decay patterns in the
high overtones. The speaker sounded more of one piece, more
seamless at the top, as it was supposed to, less colored in the odd
way it had been. But, even so, I have to say that coming this close
to a breakthrough system (which the Scaenas are in almost every
other regard), I find myself wanting more. And I know that the
folks at Scaena are aware of my restlessness about those tweeters.
There is an irony contained in all this. At least for me there
is. The better the system, the more aware I am of any short-
comings, even one as minor as the lack of an extended sense
of airiness and “blossom” in the top end. With the Scaena, the
high frequencies are reproduced with verve and a great deal
of unemphatic articulation. And during the listening, I am not
consciously aware of anything missing.
Nevertheless, the Scaenas, as things now stand—driven by
the VTL Siegfrieds and the VTL 7.5 Series II linestage, along
114 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
with new analog playback gear—are more revealing and uncol-
ored than any large system in my experience, and this through-
out virtually all of their range, especially in the midbass and
lower midrange, which is where most of the musical funda-
mentals are, where, actually, the soul of the music itself lies.
There is, I have come to see, with most reproduced music, a
kind of blurring that goes on when the pace picks up and the
dynamics do as well. It is a blurring that usually does not occur
with the best Red Book CDs of late. It is a blurring like that of the
sound from an ordinary turntable, before the latest generation of
Super Tables, with advanced resonance control and/or magnetic
drive. Put in a magnetic drive, as the Clearaudio Statement or the
Ear Discmaster, and suddenly you hear a level of information, es-
pecially in the bottom two octaves, you haven’t heard before. And
you hear the individual notes that make up the music, each one
articulated. There is a kind of synergism at play here, analogous
to the thing that is going on with the Scaenas throughout most of
their range: things heard through the slightest say “mirage” before
are now clear in the way they are when you are listening to live
music. Subtleties obscured on other systems, big and small, aren’t
anymore and so you now hear more information and it’s all sound-
ing much more natural, even relaxed.
This is true, but I think that how much information you hear
will, obviously, depend on the amplifier you choose to use.
These speakers, in my still youthful experience with them, really
came to life when they got enough testicular capacity behind
them to surmount the largest climaxes (yes, Dr. Freud, I know,
I know.) That affords them an ease and a sense of effortless-
ness, even during the most ferocious fortissimos. They never,
through strain and distortion, make you want to turn them
down, at least at playback levels not exceeding those you might
encounter in the real world.
But, they aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, especially
not these days, where there seems to be an emerging consen-
sus that if it sounds really “good,” it’s right. The Scaena’s are,
for some, so uncolored that it takes awhile for the sensibility to
adjust to the old tropes, the warm midbass, the sweet upper mid-
range, the “living” presence in the midband. The trick here, as
described in Issue 180 Part I, is that the midrange drivers cover
much of the frequency range, from about 6kHz down, rolling
as you reach 90 or so cycles, but rolling so gradually that they
still reproduce the attack of fundamentals down much farther
into the midbass. Assuming you’ve set the system up well, you’ll
never hear any “character” from the woofers until you get into
the bottom octave, say, below 35Hz or so, down to 16Hz, where
those big suckers move the kind of air that creates pressure on
your chest, and rattles the coffee cups (or the wine glasses).
And all this against a quite large soundstage, in all the di-
mensions. If you are trying to replicate the sound of, say, an
orchestra in a big hall, you’d aim for a big soundstage—not
a bloated or exaggerated one, but one capable of approach-
ing the real thing in terms of the truth. And with the Scaenas,
that’s exactly what you get. It can be a bit intimidating at first,
so used are we to a scaled down sense of soundspace size, even
on the big speakers, thanks to beaming, edge diffractions, off-
axis reflections.
All that said, I am not through with these speakers. I have
been listening to them, essentially, as part of a system, which
includes the VTL tubed electronics, the Nordost Odin cables,
the Audience AR-12 power conditioner, the VPI Rim Drive
SuperScoutmaster and a Clearaudio Goldfinger cartridge in the
JMW 10.5 arm. Obviously, I will listen substituting all of these
components with others in order to get both the measure of
the system and of the other components themselves.
But, of this I have no doubt, the Scaena’s richly deserve a
Golden Ear. And so I award one.
More Golden Ears
My commentaries on the remaining Golden Ear components
is, of necessity, shorter and more to the point. In some cases,
the Siegfrieds and the Grand Veenas, my evaluations have been
in the past few issues (Issues 180 and 178 respectively). In the
case of the Rim Drive Superscoutmaster and the combina-
tion Triplanar arm and Miyabi cartridge, a deeper look, more
like a formal review, is yet to come. Fear not: I have taken the
measure of the rim drive ’table, and spent many a happy hour
with the pickup arm/cartridge combo.
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 115
 Reference 3a Grand
Veena Loudspeakers
Right out of the gate, let me tell
you that the Grand Veenas are
one of the most remarkable bar-
gains in the new world of speaker
design (please check out the particulars in my original review).
If you can’t spring the $80k+ for the Scaenas, but want a rather
large portion of their performance, these speakers from Refer-
ence 3a are not seriously compromised in any major respect.
No, they don’t plummet the depths that the “depth charge”
woofers of the Scaena will do, nor move that crushing amount
of low-frequency air. Nonetheless, they go quite low (at least
32Hz, if you place them most carefully) and move just enough
of that air that you’ll think these things go lower than they do.
And, no, the Veenas don’t create the life-size soundspace of the
big systems. But they can recreate a successful illusion of what
the soundstage itself is like, without compromising the essen-
tial fidelity of the instruments on that stage, or, on any program
material you may chose to use.
Indeed, the top octave is, in my estimation, superior, in its
integration into the overall spectrum, to that of the Scaena. It
is the amount of information this system can reproduce that is
virtually without peer for a system in its price range, and what
it reproduces, it does so with genuine adherence to the sounds
of the source.
Catching its innate character is an altogether more difficult
task, so well do its various elements blend into flawless and
seemingly colorless coherency. It surely lets you know, without
tearing your ears off, exactly what the associated components
you’re using with it sound like, for good or ill.
This is (going to be) a “classic” design, one to be long re-
membered.
$7990. Divergent Technologies
Reference 3a.com
VTL Siegfrieds
By a considerable measure, the best “big” amplifier ever to
come from a company that doesn’t make bad, mediocre, or
even ordinary-sounding amps. The Siegfrieds have power to
spare, more than their rated 700 watts. They can be run, at
about half that power, in triode operation. They can be run
with either 6550s or KT88s, thanks to a beautifully designed
inboard computer network that keeps tube-bias constant, and
will even let you know when one bites the dust. (The 6550s
were altogether cooler in sound in this application, even a bit
unyielding, while the KT88s, to these ears, bore an uncanny
resemblance to the harmonics of the music itself.)
The Siegfrieds do have that sense of air and space common
to all older VTL designs, but they have considerably more now
in terms of their tonal neutrality and lack of an easily identifiable
character—the older VTL amps were darkish, yin-like in charac-
ter, and more tightly focused on the music’s fundamentals. What
these boys can do that goes beyond the other big amps from
VTL is allow for a seemingly limitless dynamic expansion, with
not an ounce of strain or any extraneous distortion when the
music unleashes its furies. It is akin to a revelation to hear these
on a big system, like the Scaenas (which need all the power they
116 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
can get). That sense of power always in reserve is not unlike the
thrill you can get from driving a superb sports car.
$48,000 (the pair). Vacuum Tube Logic
vtl.com
VPI Rim Drive Super Scoutmaster (w/10.5
JMW pickup arm)
Each new generation of Harry Weisfeld’s “budget” line turn-
tables continues to set new sonic standards. No, it doesn’t
pretend to be one of the new generation of “super” ’tables. It
has a pleasant down-home look disguising the sophistication of
the ideas it incorporates.
With the rim drive, the Scoutmaster acquires a kind of “digital”
(in the best sense of the term) clarity and control at the bottom
of the frequency spectrum. Rim drives were, once, common in
turntable designs at the beginning of the stereo era, and they were
both noisy and not all that reliable—and they were, to boot, on the
underside of the platter, not, as in this case, an external drive.
The Rim Drive is, for the Scoutmaster series, a major advance.
(Review forthcoming)
$8300 (with arm, speed control box, and more)
VPI Industries
vpiindustries.com
Triplanar VII pickup arm/Lab 47 Miyabi
cartridge
I recommend these two components together because they
bring out the best in each other. The Miyabi can, mated with
many arms, sound overly impressive in the bottom octaves—it
can be, and is, too much if not mated with an arm with compat-
ible resonance characteristics. The Triplanar in my experience
elicits the best sound from any of the several cartridges I’ve
tried it with, but seems the happiest with the Miyabi. Some-
times two components, when mated, add something more than
when each is operating with other partners. In this case, the
tightly focused, clean tracking-and-tracing sound also borders
on the romantic, while maintaining a glorious reserve.
Triplanar VII pickup arm
$4750. Triplanar Industries
triplanar.com
Lab47/Miyabi cartridge
$3950. Sakura Systems.
sakurasystems.com
Audience AR-12L line conditioner
This is a remarkable product. And, in my experience, audibly
superior to every other “conditioner” I have tried out (and
given the peculiarities of the power network in New York, I
have tried more than a few over the years). It is, to use a word
from the earliest days of the high-fidelity movement, simply
much more transparent than the competition. The Audience lets
you hear more ambient information, more definition and artic-
ulation of the musical images, and all this with what sounds like
a reduction in those hard-to-describe distortions that ride atop
a musical (or electrical, one supposes) signal. More to come.
$4100. Audience, LLC
audience-av.com TAS
 And the envelope, please….For this year’s Golden Ear Music Awards, each writer chose
three of his favorite records released to date in 2008, heeding musical and sonic merits.
Bob Gendron
Boris: Smile.
Boris, producers. Southern Lord
92 (CD and two-LP).
Since securing widespread distribution
in 2005, Boris has issued four full-length
albums, three collaborative sets, multiple
EPs, numerous tour-exclusive singles,
and various versions of studio records
custom-tailored for different countries.
Even to the uninitiated, the pace raises
the question of quantity over quality.
While the Japanese group’s limited-
batch releases run toward experimental
extremes and rightly remain the fancy
of hardcore fans, the cult band’s regular
material has yet to suffer a drop-off in
caliber—or creativity.
Not content to repeat the past, Boris
consistently pursues new sounds and
body-vibrating volumes. Featuring
contributions from sunn0))) drone-
master Stephen O’Malley and Ghost
leader Michio Kurihara, the molten
psychedelia of Smile continues the power
trio’s hot streak. The emphasis on guitar
(six- and 10-string ) noise and walloping
bass are nods to Boris’ formative era;
the looser arrangements and increased
catchiness grab hold of the present.
Lively, largely upbeat combinations of
garage rock, weighty sludge, arena rawk,
and searing feedback, each track is a trip.
Wata’s Japanese singing hovers above
the low-end tremors, electrical-storm
static, and trance rhythms. Intermittent
samples invoke humor and ambience.
Song titles—“Laser Beam,” “BUZZ-
IN,” “Flower Sun Rain”—are indicative
of the album’s amplified clamor and
feverish energy. Sonically, upfront
layering and an engaging midrange
put listeners inside the equivalent of a
turbine engine. Invigorating.
120 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Meshuggah: obZen.
Bjorn Engelmann, mastering.
Nuclear Blast 1937.
“The music of the Swedish metal band,
Meshuggah, reveals a distinct rhythmic
and metric structure based on large-scale
odd time signatures, mixed meter, and
metric superimposition,” writes Jonathan
Pieslak in an essay that appeared in the
University of California’s journal Music
Theory Spectrum last fall. The dissection of
the group’s complex arrangements charts
elements such as attack-point intervals,
pitches, and hypermeasures. As intriguing
as the analysis is, the piece’s greatest
achievement is its own existence—
evidence not only of how far metal has
advanced but how, after decades of being
stereotyped, it’s finally being treated in
“serious” circles with overdue reverence.
Confronting human destruction,
cultural assimilation, and institutional
decay, obZen responds to its bleak subject
matter with a pure aggressiveness and
technical skill that devour the ambient
approaches and electronic programming
of the group’s previous album. Taut
albeit asymmetrical patterns of chain-
reaction riffs, cluster-bomb beats, and
elastic bass notes alternatively expand
and contract, hypnotizing while they
detonate. Sounding like steel girders that
bump into each other as they swing from
towering cranes, two eight-string guitars
interlock and form prog foundations.
Drummer Thomas Haake gives a clinic
in precision, strength, and rhythm. His
battery acts as the control valve on
compositional density and tension.
Marked by exceptional balances,
visceral body, and tonal accuracy, the
production is sonically spectacular,
with reference-quality drums and bass.
Massive.
The Pixies: Doolittle.
Gil Norton, producer. Hybrid stereo
SACD. Mobile Fidelity 2003.
As an encore to last year’s brilliant hybrid
stereo SACD reissue of the Pixies’ Surfer
Rosa (review, TAS 174), Mobile Fidelity
gives the same royal treatment—and
similar sonic facelift—to the Boston
quartet’s Doolittle. Nearly twenty years
on, the band’s sophomore effort remains
among the 100 best and most important
rock albums ever released.
Overflowing with violent surrealism
and Biblical symbolism—sliced eyeballs,
whores, devils, fatal guck, tattooed
breasts, and numerical equations occupy
singer/guitarist/lyricist Black Francis’
thoughts—and a dizzying array of
music that ranges from bursting pop to
Spaghetti Western ditties to screamed
post-punk, the record is a synthesis
of repressive weirdness, abrasive
tunefulness, and syntactic genius. Cheery
romance (“Here Comes Your Man”),
crazed Spanish protagonists (“Crackity
Jones”), and pirate salutations (“There
Goes My Gun”) add comedy and
happiness to the addictive tales of eye-
gouging horror and heaven-sent death.
And it’s never sounded so good.
The Original Master sourcing has
yielded unprecedented clarity, imaging,
detail, soundstage width, transparency,
crispness, and life-size drumming that
seemingly places the snare in the room.
Francis and Kim Deal’s male-female
vocal trade-offs possess newfound
depth and texture, while previously
buried elements—asthmatic gasps,
pizzicato string plucks, chest-spreader
guitar effects, hand percussion—further
enhance the experience. Along with Ben
Sisario’s 33 1/3 book on the record, this
is essential.
 Ted Libbey
Yo-Yo Ma, Chicago
Symphony Orchestra,
et al.: Traditions and
Transformations: Sounds of
Silk Road Chicago.
David Frost, producer. CSO
Resound 901 801.
The Silk Road leads to Chicago on this
immensely satisfying disc, making stops
along the way in China, Mongolia, the
steppes of Central Asia, and ancient
Jerusalem. Four remarkably different
works evoke far-flung cultures, but the
music is from the 20th century.
What knits the program together, in
addition to the Silk Road theme, is the
concept of virtuosity—no surprise,
considering Yo-Yo Ma is involved. With
Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting, Ma
solos on his usual instrument in Ernest
Bloch’s Schelomo, giving a magisterial
performance notable for its elegance
and all-round opulence. He then joins
vocalist Khongorzul Ganbaatar and the
Silk Road Ensemble on the two-string
morin khuur for the brief Legend of Herlen
by Mongolian composer Byambasuren
Sharav, with the CSO’s trombone section
sitting in. Lou Harrison’s engaging Pipa
Concerto, his last major work, features
the ubiquitous Wu Man as soloist; one
listens with pleasure as the piece offers
a completely fresh conception of what
a concerto can be. Prokofiev’s Scythian
Suite rounds out the offering. What
comes through in this gleaming account
is not the noise of Prokofiev’s score, but
the color.
The sonics allow one to hear what’s
happening right around the podium in
fabulous detail, but lose transparency in
the louder pages.
122 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Debussy: La mer; Prélude
à l’après-midi d’un faune.
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé,
Suite No. 2; Boléro.
Otto Gerdes, producer. Deutsche
Grammophon 477 7161.
My first encounter with three of the
recordings on this disc came in 1972,
when, on my 21st birthday, my brother
presented me with the original 1965
LP (whose arresting jacket art appears
once again on this reissue, part of
a series marking the centennial of
conductor Herbert von Karajan’s birth). box.
I tried to hide my skepticism. I was
already familiar with Pierre Boulez’s
Masterworks recording of La mer, which Keilberth, and feature in Hans Hotter
I took to be definitive. Besides, I did
not associate Karajan and the Berlin
Philharmonic with this repertory. Then
I listened.
I was amazed by the sensuous,
pastel colors, and by the transparency
of the playing. Harps, percussion,
winds, muted brass…it all became a
living tissue of sound. The discipline
of the string sections was then, and
still is, breathtaking, the soft dynamics
remarkable. Here is the typically “wet”
sound DG obtained in Berlin’s Jesus-
Christus-Kirche, excellently balanced,
with lots of ambience yet a vivid sense
of the placement of instruments across
the soundstage and—new epiphany on
CD—of the orchestra’s seating front-
to-back. The brass gets a bit raw in
fortissimo, a characteristic failing of analog Varnay glorious, every inch the Valkyrie;
recordings of this era, but the accounts
of all four pieces belong at the top of
the pile.
Wagner: Der Ring des
Nibelungen.
Peter Andry, producer. Testament
1412 (14 CDs).
The rejoicing began two years ago when
Testament announced the opera-by-
opera release of this, the first stereo
recording of the Ring. Taped by Decca
engineers at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival,
but never issued, it captured, in what was
for the time superlatively high fidelity, a
quality of singing that is unrivaled today.
Here at last is the complete cycle in one
The performances so wondrously
preserved are conducted by Joseph
the absolute greatest Wotan of the 20th
century; in Astrid Varnay one of the
great Brünnhildes of the century; and
in Wolfgang Windgassen a formidable
Siegfried, along with the inspired work
of major Wagnerians like Josef Greindl
(Fafner/Hunding/Hagen), Gustav
Neidlinger (Alberich), and Hermann
Uhde (Gunther). Upon first listening to
Götterdämmerung, I jotted a note that said,
simply, “a miracle.”
Librettos, not provided, can be
downloaded as PDFs; otherwise, the
documentation is excellent. Keilberth’s
briskly paced readings are still models
of interpretation, but more than
anything it is the singing that leaves
one breathless: Hotter sounding so
expressive and making every word count;
Windgassen heroic and fresh of voice.
In the loudest passages the trumpets and
trombones shatter—the limits of tape
technology—but otherwise, the sonics
come amazingly close to time travel.
 Bill Milkowski
Chick Corea & Gary Burton: Bill Stewart:
The New Crystal Silence. Incandescence.
Corea and Burton, producers.
Concord 30630 (two CDs).
This magnificent two-CD set reunites
the great jazz pianist and vibraphonist
who first collaborated 35 years ago on
the original Crystal Silence, a landmark
ECM recording. The first disc captures
a live performance at the Sydney Opera
House with the Sydney Symphony in
large-scale recreations of five Corea
compositions. His dramatic “Duende”
(the title is a Spanish term to describe
the passionate quality that fuels flamenco
music) appropriately carries a few cues
for castanets, while also reaching for
something much grander and cinematic
in Tim Garland’s ambitious orchestral
arrangement. Garland’s skilled orchestral
writing similarly enhances the buoyant
“Love Castle,” while “Crystal Silence”
also receives a dramatic reworking. The
orchestra is brilliantly incorporated into
mammoth realizations of “Brasilia” and
“La Fiesta.”
Disc two, recorded at Bjornsonhuset
in Mode, Norway, is an intimate
encounter between Corea and Burton.
The swing factor comes into play here
on a spirited rendition of Bill Evans’
“Waltz for Debby,” a jaunty take on
the jazz standard “Sweet and Lovely,”
and the uptempo burner “Bud Powell.”
Corea and Burton’s way of navigating
challenging unison lines shows near-
telepathic communication.
Sonics on both discs are stellar.
Corea’s piano and Burton’s vibes ring
out with clarity and gusto in both
acoustically brilliant concert halls. And
the sound of the orchestra is majestic.
124 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Stewart, producer. Pirouet 3028.
An in-demand drummer who has
provided the precise, swinging pulse for
numerous bands (John Scofield, Maceo
Parker), Bill Stewart has also amassed
an impressive body of work as a leader.
On his debut for the German Pirouet
label, he returns to the same unorthodox
configuration of piano-organ-drums that
he unveiled on 2005’s Keynote Speakers.
Joined again by Key Hays on piano
and longtime colleague Larry Goldings
on Hammond organ, Stewart debuts
nine new compositions. They run
the gamut from quirky (the N’awlins-
flavored groover “Knock On My Door”)
to relaxed (the Elvin Jones-ish swinger
“Toad”) to polyrhythmic (“Four Hand
Job”), gradually morphing from intricate
time signatures to wide-open free jazz.
The serene, sparsely appointed “Portals
Opening” is a showcase of percussive
tones and color; the angular, Monkish
“Opening Portals” finds the drummer
simmering in uptempo swing mode.
Stewart brings forth the full
melodic potential of the drum kit in
both his solos and highly interactive
accompaniment. Like his main role
models, Roy Haynes and Billy Higgins,
he is busy from bar to bar, intuitively
dropping in unpredictable accents and
hip phrases. Recorded and mixed at
Avatar Studios, Incandescence captures the
nuance of every brushstroke and the
ringing overtones of every cymbal crash,
while sonically separating them from the
clarity of the piano keys and organ.
Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane:
Forgery.
Sharp, producer. Intuition 3411.
A pioneer of New York’s downtown
improvisers scene, Sharp has for the
past 30 years wrung all manner of sonic
mayhem from a variety of homemade
instruments for a myriad of projects.
For Terraplane, the East Village
icon sticks to a fairly straightforward
blues-band format, with some irreverent
Charles Mingus-meets-Sun Ra tweakage
along the way. Vocalist Eric Mingus (son
of Charles) delivers pointed, politically
tinged lyrics with raspy fervor on the
rockin’ boogie “Smoke and Mirrors,” the
grinding “Tell Me Why,” and Hendrix-
styled “Long Way To Go” (reminiscent
of Jimi’s “In From The Storm”).
Baritone sax dervish Alex Harding
punctuates the proceedings with blast-
furnace intensity on the low end, while
trombonist Curtis Fowler roams like a
free safety in a Dixieland band.
The mournful and introspective
“War Between The States” highlights
Sharp’s steel guitar work while he wails
with abandon on the avant-gutbucket
number “Haditha,” performing on his
exotic-sounding fretless Glissentar. He
unleashes some wicked slide licks on
the raucous Elmore James-styled jam
“Boom Baby Boom” and reverb-soaked
instrumental “Badlands,” which also
features some blustery extended solos
from both Harding and Fowlkes. On
the quirky brass quartet number “Juke,”
bassist David Hofstra switches to tuba
while Sharp plays tenor sax. Elsewhere,
Sharp’s guitar sound is piercing and
above the fray, ideal for a bona fide
punk-blues band.
 Andy Downing
Bon Iver: For Emma,
Forever Ago.
Justin Vernon, producer.
Jagjaguwar 115 (CD and LP).
Recorded in the dead of winter in a
Wisconsin hunting cabin, this debut
manages to sound every bit as solitary
as its creation would suggest. Singer-
songwriter Justin Vernon, the lone
individual behind Bon Iver (purposely
misspelled French for “good winter”),
crafted this frozen landscape utilizing
little more than acoustic guitar, rusty
percussion, and his delicately layered
falsetto vocals.
Ostensibly the product of a breakup,
For Emma never delves too far into
navel-gazing, maintaining an almost
pastoral feel throughout. “Skinny Love,”
which sounds eerily like unplugged
TV on the Radio, finds the singer-
songwriter growing increasingly fragile
and introspective. “The Wolves (Act I
and II)” begins as a hushed confessional,
Vernon surveying his scars before a
clatter arises and the vocalist lashes
back, scolding, “Don’t bother me.” Even
“re: stacks,” the album’s solemn closer,
avoids any redemption. Strumming his
guitar and singing like a man who can
barely lift himself from bed, Vernon
cops that “this is not the sound of a
new man.” It’s a good thing, too, as
the pervading sense of isolation and
hopelessness best serves the moody
tunes.
Sonically, the album shines on vinyl.
Vernon’s vocals, which waver between
fragile and full-throated, are wisely
upfront, and the guitars and rumbling
percussion are presented with just the
right amount of grime.
126 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Erykah Badu: New
Amerykah Part One (4th
World War).
Badu and Mike Chavarria,
producers. Universal/Motown
0010800 (CD and two-LP).
It’s clear from both New Amerykah’s
trippy sound and equally out-there
artwork that Erykah Badu has had a lot
on her mind lately. Indeed, the eye-
catching album cover depicts a host of
social issues wearing on the Texas-born
singer; handcuffs, oil barrels, dollar signs,
and curled-up fetuses are among the
images tangled in her outsized ‘fro.
Musically and thematically, Amerykah
proves a radical departure for the
soulstress, who previously cultivated an
earthy, soul-mother vibe. But aside from
the first single, “Honey,” a tacked-on
bonus cut that doesn’t even appear on
the record’s track listing and was likely
included to appease label execs, nothing
here would work on commercial radio.
This is the sound of society coming
undone at the seams. “The Healer” is
built around little more than chimes,
handclaps, and Badu’s sing-speak lyrics.
The autobigraphical “Me” unfolds
casually, trumpeter Roy Hargrove laying
down jazzy squiggles as Badu raises a fist
to the heavens: “Before I end this crazy
dream...yo’ ass, the match, the gasoline.”
The production, with an assist from
underground knob-twiddlers like Madlib
and 9th Wonder, is sharp throughout.
Dense, twisted soundscapes provide
ample soil for Badu’s burgeoning
revolution.
Stephen Malkmus and
the Jicks: Real Emotional
Trash.
Malkmus, producer. Matador
10772 (CD and LP).
Stephen Malkmus’ fourth effort with the
Jicks is the best album the frontman has
released since his heyday with Pavement.
More than half of the record’s ten cuts
venture over the five-minute-mark,
including the epic title track, which
stretches on with winding guitar solos,
rapturous drum volleys (courtesy of
former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet
Weiss), and Malkmus’ twisted poetry.
The frontman, not a straightforward
lyricist, has never sounded quite so
ambiguous. The first words on the
album, delivered over the distorted
blues riff of “Dragonfly Pie,” find
Malkmus singing about “...all my stoned
digressions.” And, judging by the
psychedelic nature of the proceedings,
it’s likely the singer had to change the
bongwater more than once during
recording. But in spite of Malkmus’
slacker reputation, the music on Trash
consistently challenges; witness the
gradual give-and-take of the rollicking
“Elmo Delmo.” Weiss, whose sweet
backing vocals provide a nice contrast
to Malkmus’ gruff indifference on a
handful of cuts, proves revelatory. She
drives nails on the languid “Hopscotch
Willie” and pulls back for the gorgeous
“Cold Son.”
Sonics are impressive throughout.
Electric piano freak-outs, jagged guitars,
and drum explosions are captured
cleanly and presented on a wide, deep
soundstage.
 Andrew Quint

Handel: Organ Concertos, Debussy: Images. Gandolfi: The Garden of

Op.4. Simon Trpceski, piano. John Cosmic Speculation.
Richard Egarr, organ, harpsichord Fraser, producer. EMI 5 00272. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,
and director; Academy of Ancient Robert Spano, conductor. Elaine
Music. Robina G. Young, producer. Young Macedonian pianist Simon Martone, producer. Hybrid
Hybrid multichannel SACD. Trpceski, who has previously issued multichannel SACD. Telarc 60696.
Harmonia Mundi 807446. estimable CDs of Chopin and
Rachmaninoff for EMI, now delivers an There actually is a Garden of Cosmic
Always a musician devoted to satisfying exceptionally fresh-sounding Debussy Speculation, in the Borders region of
a (paying) audience, Georg Frederic recital. The main event is the composer’s Scotland, conceived by an American-
Handel wrote a series of organ complete Images, but the disc is filled born architect, Charles Jencks and
concertos—the composer himself was out with dazzling performances of his late wife, Maggie Keswick. The
the soloist—that were played during Debussy’s two Arabesques, the six pieces environment’s natural and man-made
intermissions of London oratorio of Children’s Corner, L’Isle joyeuse, and sculptural features are meant to provide
performances in the 1730s. These the old chestnut Clair de lune from Suite “visual metaphors” for some of the
wonderfully inventive pieces offer bergamasque, played here as if it were powerful concepts of modern science.
moments of pomp and splendor, newly discovered. Boston-based Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956)
energetic allegros, restful adagios, and The pianist’s pristine, responsive was so inspired by this extraordinary
much more. Consistently, there’s a sense technique is employed with great landscape as to write a four-movement
of the featured instrument and ensemble subtlety to imbue the colorful suite first performed at Tanglewood in
joined in a common musical purpose. pieces with enormous character and 2004. Gandolfi has since expanded upon
The versatile keyboard virtuoso atmosphere. Even the quietest, most the original, just as Jencks has continued
(and, since 2006, AAM Music Director) “impressionistic” of the selections have to add to his garden in Scotland.
Richard Egarr has at his disposal a a strong sense of form and musical As recorded here, the work
nimble sounding four-stop chamber direction, without the slightest loss of comprises 16 movements; the composer
organ that’s an ideal match for the small the ineffable magic of this composer’s encourages us to listen to parts of the
period instrument orchestra. Egarr’s keyboard music. There’s an alert, whole as we choose. Movement titles
playing is effortlessly precise but he’s no masculine assertiveness to Trpceski’s often reference theoretical physics
automaton, introducing just the right playing that still allows for all the (“Fractal Terrace,” “Soliton Waves,”
amount of tempo flexibility and slight nuances and half-tints required to make “The Quark Walk”) and the immediately
hesitations in those sections of the six this material succeed: you may find engaging music is, variously, wide-eyed
concertos where he’s unaccompanied. yourself holding your breath during and ecstatic, profound and introspective,
The orchestral contribution is sensitively “Cloches a travers les feuilles” or “ Et la playful and jubilant. One remarkable
shaped, articulated, and inflected, as led lune descend sur le temple qui fut,” both selection is “The Universe Cascade,”
by Egarr from the organ bench. The from Book Two of Images. which, in less than seven minutes, covers
plangent sound of the two baroque The piano sound is quite good—close the whole of Western classical music
oboes is a particular pleasure. up enough to register the body of from Gregorian chant to Steve Reich—a
HM’s DSD recording is grainless. the instrument but with enough of time capsule, perhaps, to be launched
There’s excellent orchestral weight an ambient halo to suggest the hall into space.
despite the presence of just a single in Suffolk, England, utilized for the Gandolfi has exceptional abilities as an
double bass because the venue, a recording. orchestrator and the recording captures
London church, is allowed to reinforce all the felicities with fabulous dynamics,
the sound. Balances between the soloist outstanding transparency, and, especially
and AAM instrumentalists are perfect. in surround, loads of air.

128 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound

 Greg Cahill
Blind Boys of Alabama:
Down in New Orleans.
Chris Goldsmith, producer. Time/
Life M19590.
Ready for a Crescent City revival
meeting? Fourteen years ago, record
producer John Chelew cast the veteran
gospel group Blind Boys of Alabama
in an unconventional role on 1994’s
Beat the Retreat, a star-studded tribute
to Richard Thompson, on which the
group contributed a stunning a cappella
version of “Dimming of the Day.”
In the ensuing years, the celebrated
vocal act—founded by students at the
Talladega Institute for the Deaf and
Blind in Alabama—has racked up a
string of critically acclaimed albums
packed with such unconventional fare as
“Amazing Grace” set to the whorehouse
lament “The House of the Rising Sun.”
On this new outing, their first without
septuagenarian singer Clarence Fountain,
the Blind Boys of Alabama forsake the
secular in favor of soul and traditional
gospel songs bathed in the warm glow
of New Orleans jazz and R&B. Joined
by Crescent City legend Allen Toussaint
and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band,
as well as the Hot 8 Brass Band, Carl
LeBlanc, and Bennie Pete, the septet
performs material by gospel great
Marion Williams, Mahalia Jackson, Curtis
Mayfield, and Earl King.
This is deep gospel at its best—one of
the best albums by one of the best gospel
groups of all time, replete with pumping
organ, thumping bass, and a sense of
salvation.
130 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Otis Taylor: Recapturing
the Banjo.
Taylor, producer. Telarc 83667.
African slaves fashioned the earliest
banjos on Southern plantations and in
Appalachia. They later employed them
in 19th-century minstrel shows. But
most associate the instrument with white
country and bluegrass music.
African-American bluesman Otis
Taylor has set out to reclaim the
instrument on this powerful collection
of black music: blues, bluegrass, rock,
and jazz. He is joined by five gifted
guests: Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin
Youngblood Hart, Keb’ Mo’, and
Don Vappie. Collectively, they employ
a variety of banjo styles, types, and
tunings. At times, the banjo dominates
(the gospel-inflected blues opener “Ran
So Hard the Sun Went Down”); at
other moments, it percolates beneath
a rumbling bass line, shuffle beat, and
jazzy trumpet solo (“Absinthe”). Each
of the 14 arrangements shows off the
instrument’s versatility and ease with
which it fits into both traditional and
contemporary black music. This quest
to recapture black heritage is bolstered
by Taylor’s topical original “Ten Million
Slaves” and Hart’s defiant anthem
“Prophet’s Mission,” songs that pay
homage to those who defied the Ku
Klux Klan and others. This is a powerful
musical statement that transcends what
might seem like a simple conceit.
The expansive soundstage provides
plenty of separation and permits the
listener to reap a sonic harvest.
Willie Nelson: One Hell of a
Ride.
Al Quaglieri, compilation producer.
Columbia/Legacy 713915 (4 CDs).
Even if Willie Nelson had never moved
beyond songwriting and penning country
hits for Patsy Cline, Ray Price, and
Crystal Gayle, he still would have earned
a place in the Country Music Hall of
Fame. But an extensive recording career
that started in 1957 when he shelled
out his own cash to record a single,
and that’s lasted a half century, has
established him as a singularly unique
voice as a both singer/songwriter and
song interpreter.
This four-disc box set collects 100
songs from seven labels. It also spans
Nelson’s almost chameleon-like persona:
juke-box lover (“Crazy”), honky-tonk
sage (“I Gotta Get Drunk”), country-
music outlaw (“Shotgun Willie”),
country crooner (“Georgia on My
Mind”), music-industry insurgent
(“Write Your Own Songs”), folk-pop
maven (“Graceland”), Americana icon
(“Mendocino County Line”), and activist
artist (“The Harder They Come”).
Though the arrangements can be
downright hokey, the sheer breadth
and depth of Nelson’s artistic vision
supports his status as a living legend.
This set—which offers a previously
unreleased 2007 version of “When I’ve
Sung My Last Hillbilly Song,” as well as
extensive liner notes—evokes the ghost
of Nelson’s hero Lefty Frizzell. With
evenly balanced sonics, it’s one hell of
a ride.
 Derk Richardson
Kronos Quartet and Wu
Man: The Cusp of Magic.
Judith Sherman, producer.
Nonesuch 360508.
There is an immeasurable gap between
Terry Riley’s early mantle as a “godfather
of minimalism” and his 21st-century
position as a global composer who
breathes in and breathes out the musical
idioms of innumerable cultures.
But the California wizard’s latest
masterwork—a six-movement suite
commissioned in celebration of the
composer’s 70th birthday— for Kronos
Quartet offers abundant signposts that
indicate the vastness of his journey:
Wu Man’s brittle lute-like pipa provides
a twangy link to China; bass drum and
rattles allude to Native American all-
night peyote rituals; the 16-beat cycle of
“Royal Wedding” taps Riley’s indelible
relationship with north India; and a
Spanish and Cuban feel add romance
and hope to the closing “Prayer Circle.”
Along the way, abetted by painterly sonics
that highlight singular contributions while
emphasizing collective unity, Kronos’
impeccable virtuosity becomes invisible in
service to Riley’s stated goal of carrying
the listener “between worlds without an
awareness of how he/she ends up there.”
Subtle electronic enhancements,
lullaby-intoning vocals, and sampled
nursery toys add to the hallucinogenic
effect. In one piece, Riley uses a Russian
cartoon-character theme to acknowledge
the unsettling tenor of war-torn modern
times, as if to say no one is assured
of living happily ever after but that all
happiness is to be experienced in the
moment.
132 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Various Artists: Miles ...
From India.
Bob Belden, producer. Times
Square Records 1808 (two CDs).
It has taken the world three decades to
catch up to what Miles Davis was doing
in his radical jazz-rock-funk experiments
before his 1975 “retirement” hiatus. In
recent years, an increasing number of
musicians have been mining the veins
that Miles opened up in the era between
In a Silent Way and Pangaea—sometimes
with an authentic feel for the African
methodology Miles channeled in his
jams, sometimes hewing closer to
familiar jazz parameters.
Bob Belden’s extrapolation of the
Davis legacy tilts towards the latter.
But the Asian subcontinental slant—
enforced by the polyrhythmic percussion
of Vikku Vinayakram, Badal Roy, and
others, with Indian sitar, sarod, violin,
flute, sarangi, mandolin, and vocals
deepening the flavor—keeps the music
open and edgy. Guitarist Pete Cosey
and electric bassist Michael Henderson
provide the funkiest connection to the
electric Miles.
Lenny White, Ndugu Chancler, and
Jimmy Cobb take spells in the drum seat;
Chick Corea plays piano on one track;
Ron Carter plays bass on three cuts;
Miles-endorsed trumpeter Wallace Roney
and saxophonists Gary Bartz, Dave
Liebman, and Rudresh Mahanthappa
blow on the front lines; guitarist John
McLaughlin contributes to the title track.
They all help carry a potentially unwieldy
tribute over the top. First-rate sonics
keep all the stars twinkling in deep space.
Steven Bernstein: Diaspora
Suite.
Bernstein, producer. Tzadik 8122.
The fourth installment in trumpeter
Steven Bernstein’s original takes on the
diaspora of Jewish music opens with a
hint of Curtis Mayfield before unhinging
into a lush miasma of swirling electric
guitars, brass, and reeds over a tribal
rhythm section, all pierced by brief and
poignantly melodic clarinet, trumpet,
tenor sax, and trombone solos.
In this case (unlike the more explicitly
tagged Soul, Blues, and Hollywood
recordings), Diaspora could refer to the
geographical dispersion of Bernstein’s
musical classmates from the Berkeley
public schools—such as trombonist
Jeff Cressman and tenor saxist Peter
Apfelbaum, who join longtime New
York–transplant Bernstein in the front
line along with Bay Area clarinetist
Ben Goldberg. The bicoastal reunion
also includes guitarists John Schott and
Will Bernard, bassist Devin Hoff, and
drummer/percussionists Josh Jones
and Scott Amendola as well as Wilco
guitarist Nels Cline, who probably plays
more in the Bay Area than he does in his
native L.A. The refreshingly freeform
and bracingly unified recording was
made in six hours and incorporates all
the influences these (mostly) Gen-Xers
absorbed coming of age in 1970s, from
R&B and reggae to electric Miles, Fela
Kuti, and klezmer to the Art Ensemble
and Sun Ra.
Texture and color are primary (and
primarily dark), captured in clear, deep
3D sonics that emphasize the gluey
camaraderie.
 Dan Davis
Juan Diego Flórez: Voce
D’Italia.
Mark Brown, producer. Decca
B0010302.
Juan Diego Flórez’ recital of scenes by
the Big Three of bel canto—Bellini,
Donizetti, and Rossini—is subtitled
“Arias for Rubini,” a tribute to their
favorite tenor. Such concept albums
usually signal the singer as the modern-
day successor to the honoree, and
Flórez, if not Rubini’s heir, certainly
fills the outsized shoes of Luciano
Pavarotti. He’s today’s “King of the
High C’s,” fearless in his attacks on
the stratospheric notes audiences love
and other tenors dread. They’re called
“money notes” for a reason; those
trumpet tones electrify audiences. But
they can also wear you down, something
that doesn’t happen in the opera house.
It’s a consequence of engineering
that doesn’t let those high notes
resonate more warmly, so for maximum
enjoyment, this CD is best heard a few
scenes at a time. But Flórez doesn’t live
on high notes alone; his soft singing is
radiant, the mid-voice warm. And his
emotional range includes coloring the
voice to express tenderness, intimacy,
and other virtues.
Flórez’ brilliant runs in Rossini’s La
donna del lago, his aria from Il turco in Italia,
both tender and showy, and his virile,
high-C-strewn rendition of Arnoldo’s
scene from Gugliemo Tell are treasures.
Not that the Bellini or Donizetti scenes
are lesser accomplishments; they further
exemplify Flórez’ bel canto brilliance.
134 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Dvorák: Trios Nos 1 & 2.
Florestan Trio.
Andrew Keener, producer.
Hyperion 67572.
Dvorák’s first two piano trios are
relatively neglected. While they may not
be masterpieces, virtually everything
Dvorák wrote has interest, and these
trios are fine examples of his Brahms-
influenced early style. And in Dvorák’s
case, “Early” doesn’t mean novice;
he was in his 30s and was about to
publish several pieces that retain
their popularity today. The man was a
melodic fountain, tapping into Czech
and regional traditions for irresistible
tunes that support more sophisticated
musical development. But in the Central
European musical world in which
he worked, such melodic fecundity
engendered suspicion. It still does. No
matter.
These trios provide immense
listening pleasure as well as the intensity
and drama that often surprise in
this composer’s work. The first Trio
has darker moments to go with its
abundance of charm. The second Trio
includes passages of intense emotion,
including a Largo whose central section
touches on the tragic, the clouds
dispersing in a Scherzo of swinging
dance rhythms. The brief filler is Josef
Suk’s Elegy. The Florestan Trio is superb
in these works, playing with energy and
lyricism, tough in the more dramatic
sections, warm when warmth is needed.
The material is blessed with well-
balanced, vibrant engineering that helps
make this disc an attractive introduction
to a neglected corner of Dvorák’s
output.
Handel: Acis and Galatea.
Michael Bremner, producer.
Chandos 3147.
Handel’s masque, a revised English
version of his Italian original, was first
heard in Lord Chandos’ palace concerts
about 1720. Acis and Galatea debuted chez
moi in the 1960s via Oiseau-Lyre LPs,
quickly becoming a favorite, its tale of
a shepherdess, her lover, and a vengeful
jealous giant enlivened by some of the
catchiest tunes Handel ever wrote.
To some, this performance will
sound dated, but good singing never
goes out of fashion and Sir Adrian
Boult’s conducting of an all-star cast is
compelling. There’s plenty of bounce
and all the enchantment needed to
delight. Joan Sutherland (on the brink
of international stardom) is in sublime
voice, although there’s nothing rustic
about her shepherdess. Her lover, Acis,
is Peter Pears, who combines emotional
truth while singing with stylish elegance.
And if bass Owen Brannigan steals the
show as the dumb giant it’s because
he makes the most of the wonderful
part Handel creates. Just listen to his
cheerful “Ruddier than the cherry” or his
dyspeptic “I rage, I melt, I burn.”
The recording stems from a favorite
Decca recording venue, Watford Town
Hall, and aside from an occasional bit of
congestion and a transfer that could be
more vibrant, balances, soundstage, and
depth are all excellent.
 David McGee
Kathy Mattea: Coal.
Marty Stuart, producer. Captain
Potato Records 7653260.
Coal miners know about darkness, in
and out of the mine. Unassuming and
gripping, Kathy Mattea’s journey back
to her native West Virginia roots on
the Marty Stuart-produced Coal is a tale
told darkly, exploring a mining family’s
defining features—hardship, tenacity,
and endurance.
Mattea, who can belt with the best of
’em, approaches her texts with restrained
fury and aching empathy for lives at risk.
While the world moves on (Jean Ritchie’s
rumbling “The L&N Don’t Stop Here
Anymore”), miners accept their dire fate
(Darrel Scott’s foreboding “You’ll Never
Leave Harlan Alive”), and the beckoning
mine persists in myth and in fact as
a voracious, subterranean leviathan
(“Black Lung”). Stuart, who knows how
to work with great singers in the studio,
lets Mattea fly above a spare, haunting
soundscape. Byron House’s slap bass
is this endeavor’s indomitable beating
heart, an aural evocation of the coal
miners’ persistence, and Stuart makes
sure to keep its pulse right there.
Mandolin, banjo, cello, accordion,
and other instruments make cameo-like
appearances right and left, until, at the
close, Mattea is singing a cappella, in a
desolate denouement. Fade to black.
Mattea’s journey back to her native
West Virginia roots on Coal is a tale told
darkly.
136 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Punch Brothers: Punch.
Steve Epstein, producer. Nonesuch
075597998283.
Using the same guitar-bass-banjo-fiddle
quartet he employed on his adventurous
2006 solo project How To Grow A Woman
From the Ground, mandolin virtuoso
Chris Thile borrows from a Mark Twain
short story an album and song titles as
well a group name, and then transforms
the searing personal experience of
his marriage’s collapse into a musical
exultation of the highest order.
Amazing it is, and risky, primarily
for the inclusion of a 40-minute-plus,
four-movement original suite, “The
Blind Leaving the Blind,” in which Thile
deals most directly with his story. Rather
than following the classical four-part
model, this composition soars on its
own rhythmic logic as the moods evolve
within a movement. Thile sings with
greater authority and force than ever.
He and his mates engage in scintillating
passages of intricate instrumental
dialogues, bold soloing, rousing
ensemble interludes, and abrupt shifts in
texture that evoke the thin line between
love and hate Thile explores in his lyrics.
Three-time Classical Producer of the
Year Steve Epstein does a remarkable
job keeping the sonics bright but
uncluttered in a chamber-like setting.
During passages of vibrant back-and-
forth hurly-burly among fiddle, banjo,
and mandolin, no instrument treads on
another’s lines—so to speak—but the
nuances, as well as exits and entrances,
of each are clearly marked. A complete
triumph.
Honeyboy Edwards:
Roamin’ and Ramblin’.
Michael Robert Frank, producer.
Earwig Music 4953.
Credit producer Michael Robert Frank
with the inspired idea to recreate Delta
blues giant David Honeyboy Edwards’s
powerful early guitar-harmonica duo
teamings, few of which were ever
recorded. For these 2007 sessions, he
paired Edwards with blues harmonica
virtuosos Bobby Rush, Johnny “Yard
Dog” Jones, and Billy Branch. He then
rounded out the disc with previously
unreleased 1975 studio encounters
between Honeyboy and Big Walter
Horton; a dynamic 1976 live set-to
between Honeyboy and the electrifying
Sugar Blue; a couple of Honeyboy’s first
recordings via Alan Lomax in 1942; and
some reminiscences of the blues life
shared with Bobby Rush and caught on
tape.
The stark, unadorned beauty of the
new tracks is as striking as the music is
deeply felt by the dramatis personae.
Ranging from Honeyboy’s sturdy blues
moanin’ and deliberate fingerpicking in
tandem with Rush’s chilling, shimmering
harmonica wails in the title track to the
strutting, small combo workout “Apron
Strings,” to lowdown boogie-woogie
romping with Walter Horton in “Jump
Out,” the mix of music is revelatory.
Frank’s austere, close-miked
production perfectly captures the
musicians’ ferocious energy in settings
so live Honeyboy seems present in the
room with us, inveighing against all
manner of hard-hearted womenfolk and
the last fair deal gone down. TAS
 Rock ETC
Music Sonics Extraordinary
The Black Keys Interview
Andy Downing
S
ince 2002, the Akron, Ohio, duo
the Black Keys has released a
series of bruising, emotionally
naked albums, pairing Patrick Carney’s
ramshackle drumming with singer/gui-
tarist Dan Auerbach’s bare-knuckled
riffs and grizzled vocals. Shortly before
his death, soul/R&B legend Ike Turner
was working with the pair on a project
spearheaded by producer Brian Burton
(a.k.a. Danger Mouse)—sessions that
resulted in the Keys’ recent Attack &
Release (review, TAS 181). At a sit-down
interview at an Akron coffeehouse in
early February, the soft-spoken Auer-
bach discussed the Keys’ role in Turner’s
final recordings, its own musical expan-
sion, and how it feels being linked to the
blues.
Andy Downing: What was the
initial idea behind the Ike Turner
collaboration? Was it for you guys
to write songs for him to later
perform?
Dan Auerbach: No. He wanted to
make a record with me and Pat as the
band and we’d do Black Keys songs—
our songs for Ike. Then Ike would sing
and play electric guitar or piano.
You were writing the lyrics for that,
too?
Oh yeah. We’d write the whole song,
sing it and send it to Ike so he’d know
how to sing it. Then we’d take my vocals
off and put his on and have him play
electric guitar. Eventually we were go-
ing to get together to record it live, but
we were only in the interim stages. We
recorded the demos at the house [in Ak-
ron], sent them to Brian, and he was re-
ally into them. But it was taking so long
to get this Ike thing going. It would be
140 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Excellent Good
a month and we’d only have two of his
vocal tracks.
What was your reaction when he
passed away last December?
I was bummed out. I didn’t know him
personally, so I wasn’t hurting in that
way. Just the fact that I knew we were
doing something really cool and that Ike
was really into it and it really fit—more
so than anything he’s done in the last 25-
30 years. It’s crazy. And one of the lyrics
on one of the songs (“Lies”) is “I want
to die without pain.” Hearing him say
that...[trails off].
After 2006’s Magic Potion, did
you make a conscious decision to
branch out musically?
That was the plan. We had already start-
ed adding stuff—on the Chulahoma [EP]
we had keyboard and a bass and stuff
like that. We knew we couldn’t just do
a drum and guitar record. We wouldn’t
be satisfied. But then Brian got into the
picture and he was like, “All right, there’s
absolutely no rules now. Let’s just do it.”
Nothing felt forced. Everything was re-
ally natural.
Does it get frustrating for you to
be such a draw on the road and
not have it reflected in your album
sales?
Um, yeah. I think it might show that
we’re doing our part and maybe the re-
cord label is not doing their part. You
know what I mean? You should at least
sell as many records as you get people
out to shows. We’re putting a lot of
pressure on our record label to really
bring it this time. We’re touring the en-
tire world. I think we turned in a really
Fair Poor
great record. So if the album doesn’t sell
there are pretty much no excuses, you
know? There are no excuses this time.
You seem to drift further away
from those blues roots with each
record.
People will still hear our songs and say,
“Wow, those are great blues songs.” I
told someone the other day we could
put synthesizer blips and beeps on an
album and people would still be like,
“Man, you guys are deep in the blues.”
Honestly. If you get labeled something,
then you’re that forever. We don’t really
give a damn. I still love blues music. I’m
not going to be ashamed of any of it.
It’s how I learned. It’s the foundation of
what I know.
Sonically, you guys have come a
long way from the “medium-fidel-
ity” you trumpeted on your debut.
That was the height that we could have
gotten. I don’t even think we got there.
We might have gotten up to medium
purely by accident. We had no idea
what we were doing. We were literally
swinging microphones around when
we were recording. There was nothing
to it. It was really just what we were. We
were that big sonically. That’s what we
were capable of. We really thought what
we were doing sounded huge. In reality,
it didn’t really sound so huge. But it did
sound cool.
 Rock ETC
Music Sonics
R.E.M.: Accelerate.
Jacknife Lee and R.E.M., producers.
Warner Bros. 418620 (CD and LP).
Ever since drummer Bill Berry amica-
bly quit R.E.M. in 1997, the once-infal-
lible band squandered the capital it built
up throughout the late 80s and early 90s
when it demonstrated that artists could
be commercially successful and indepen-
dently principled.
In so far as the group has finally ditched
the lifeless music that’s plagued its last three
studio records, fans should rejoice over Ac-
celerate, the group’s first album since 1995
that’s worth repeated spins. One wonders
where this energy has been for the past de-
cade. Gone are the somnambulistic ballads
and tuneless arrangements. Instead, a full-
on reprisal of amplified folk jangle (“Su-
pernatural Superserious”), melodic garage
rock (“Horse to Water”), and free-spirited
anthems (“I’m Gonna DJ”) has R.E.M.
sounding like a band again rather than
a rudderless side project fumbling with
languid experimentation and adult pop.
Even lesser songs reveal rediscovered pur-
pose. Vocalist Michael Stipe has awakened
from his slumber, and guitarist Peter Buck
steadies him with chiming chords. The
set’s midsection drags, but the nuances of
“Sing For the Submarine” and heated buzz
of “Mansized Wreath” compensate.
Sonics are slightly above average, with
good balances but lacking low end. No
matter. While not a complete return to
classic form, Accelerate gets R.E.M. back
to respectability—and then some. Bob
Gendron
Further Listening: R.E.M.: Murmur;
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
142 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Music Sonics
The Raconteurs: Consolers of the
Lonely.
Jack White III and Brendan Benson,
producers. Third Man/Warner Bros.
456060 (CD and two-LP).
Despite its successes, the Raconteurs’
debut, Broken Boy Soldiers, still sounded
disjointed. Frontmen Jack White (moon-
lighting from his regular gig in the White
Stripes) and Detroit pal Brendan Benson
never fully meshed on that effort, making
it impossible to forget that—for all
the hype—the group was essentially a
glorified side project.
But on Consolers of the Lonely, the
quartet sounds like an actual band. The
music veers from garage-rock freak-outs
to dusty Tex-Mex to gorgeous country
lulls, oftentimes in the same song. “The
Switch and the Spur” comes across like
a less campy version of the Stripes’
“Conquest,” horns, barroom piano, and
White’s plaintive wail combining in a tale
of sun-drenched delirium. The title track
opens with a burly riff and Patrick Keeler’s
slapdash drums before White rattles off
a list of his shortcomings. Violins add a
Celtic feel to the Benson-helmed “Old
Enough.” “You Don’t Understand Me,” a
woozy ballad, finds the frontmen trading
tales of heartache.
Recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird
Studio, the album sounds incredible.
Tunes like “Many Shades of Black” show
off the expansive soundstage, while
acoustic “Carolina Drama” proves White
adept at handling the most delicate sonic
details. Andy Downing
Further Listening: The White Stripes:
Icky Thump; Small Faces: Small Faces
Music Sonics
Destroyer: Trouble In Dreams.
David Carswell, John Collins, and
Destroyer, producers. Merge 319 (CD
and LP).
Dan Bejar, a Vancouver musician who
gained a degree of notoriety as one of
the songwriters in the critically lauded
New Pornographers, originally started
Destroyer as a solo project. But following
2006’s Destroyer’s Rubies, Bejar adopted that
album’s recording lineup as a permanent
band, a development that lends Trouble In
Dreams a level of continuity that’s unusual
for a prolific artist whose sound tends to
vary greatly from one record to the next.
That doesn’t mean Destroyer has
become predictable; the music is still
full of wild left turns (“The State” veers
between jagged guitar rock and jazzy
keyboard freak-outs), all of which are
recorded crisply and presented on a wide
soundstage. Bejar’s lyrics also remain as
cryptic as ever. “I’ll tell you what I mean
by that,” he sings slyly on “Blue Flower/
Blue Flame.” “Maybe not today...”
Unlike Rubies, however, Dreams isn’t a
cohesive artistic statement. Moments of
disquieting beauty (the damaged romance
of “Introducing Angels”) sit uneasily
alongside elliptical jams (the scattershot
“Shooting Rockets” meanders). But when
Bejar is able to reconcile these disparate
elements, as he does on the gorgeous
closer “Libby’s First Sunrise,” the results
are as surprising as they are stunning. AD
Further Listening: Mercury Rev: All Is
Dream; The Walkmen: Everyone Who
Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
 Rock ETC
Music Sonics
Justin Townes Earle: The Good
Life.
R.S. Field, and Steve Poulton,
producers. Bloodshot 151.
Talk about having large shoes to fill.
Justin Townes Earle is not only the son
of a great contemporary songwriter; he
also carries the name of his father Steve’s
friend, mentor, and bad-boy influence,
Townes Van Zandt. And for a while, the
younger Earle also seemed hell-bent on
following their trajectory, causing enough
trouble to be fired from his dad’s band.
But his first full-length release indicates a
songwriting talent of great potential.
The Good Life shows JT Earle trying out
a variety of styles without committing
himself to any single one. Earle’s
influences include the aforementioned
hard-luck troubadours, as well as several
others, including Kurt Cobain and Hank
Williams, whose down-on-the-heels brand
of country-swing inhabits a few of these
tracks, setting Earle’s sweet tenor voice
amidst fiddles, lap steel, and honky-tonk
piano. But the album’s more personal
numbers— the intimate ballads—are the
high points, revealing a Texas-twang that’s
eerily reminiscent of his father’s.
The sound is warmly balanced,
reasonably open, and simply produced.
Fiddle, cello, piano, guitars, and acoustic
bass are easy and natural, as is Earle’s
expressive voice. Yes, he’s still growing
into those bigger shoes, but has the
potential to wear them well one day.
Wayne Garcia
Further Listening: Townes Van Zandt:
Live at The Old Quarter; Steve Earle: El
Corazón
144 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Music Sonics
Van Morrison: Keep It Simple.
Morrison, producer. Lost Highway
1065802 (CD and two-LP).
The last thing Van Morrison needs is to
further his reputation as a bitter grump.
And still, the 62-year-old can’t help
himself on the relaxed Keep It Simple,
singing “who’s going to patronize me
now” and devoting an entire song
(“Don’t Go to Nightclubs Anymore”) on
which he owns up to being a shut-in and,
worse, name-drops industry friends. Note
to Van: Even diehard fans know you are
old. And nobody cares that you don’t see
Clive Davis much nowadays.
Trouble is, when he’s not phoning it in
or lamenting a passed era, Morrison still
can be timeless. Like nearly every original
record he’s released since 1991’s Hymns
to the Silence, this, his second for Lost
Highway, contains several tunes that serve
as wonderful reminders of his eloquent
phrasing (“Entrainment”), soulful timbre
(“Lover Come Back”), and effortless
synthesis of blues, Celtic, and gospel
(“Song of Home”). Yet for every keeper
there’s a tossed-off attempt. Morrison’s
soft-trot and slow-to-midtempo paces
could use more oomph but pair well
with the minimalist jazz- and folk-based
arrangements. If only every track received
emotional investment.
Sonics are excellent. Morrison’s voice
is front and center, tones clean, echoes
realistic, balances even, and organ stops
detailed. BG
Further Listening: Van Morrison: Down
the Road; Bob Dylan: World Gone
Wrong
Music Sonics
Michael Jackson: Thriller 25.
Quincy Jones, producer. Epic 88697
17987.
If you were of at least primary-school age
in 1983, you would’ve had to have been
in a state of suspended animation or in a
hyperbaric chamber to miss the cultural
phenomenon that was Michael Jackson’s
Thriller. The Quincy Jones-produced
masterpiece cut across generational
lines. Kids and parents alike tripped over
themselves trying to moonwalk. The
record’s cinematic videos are still analyzed
in film criticism classes. And the album’s
awe-inspiring statistics are likely to forever
remain unchallenged: Forty million units
sold; 80 consecutive weeks spent in the
Top 10; the best-selling album two years
running; twelve Grammy nominations;
eight wins; seven Top 10 singles.
Remastered and packaged as a 25th
anniversary commemorative edition,
Thriller has aged gracefully. The balance
on the new disc improves resolution in
the lower mids as well as bass control.
Sibilance is reduced, but the CD doesn’t
reproduce the LP’s dimensionality and
clever layering. The music extras—
marketing efforts to make the disc more
“relevant” to a next-gen of fans—are
forgettable. Kanye West’s desultory
remix of “Billie Jean” sounds like it was
produced while he was texting his agent.
Even if it’s hard to get past the MJ of
today, Thriller remains a must-have from
one of the most talented entertainers of
his or any generation.
Neil Gader
Further Listening: Prince: Purple Rain;
Diana Ross: Diana
 Rock ETC
Music Sonics
Clinic: Do It!
Clinic, producers. Domino 173.
Clinic’s fifth album was rumored to be
a return to the more psychedelic sounds
of its 2000 debut, Internal Wrangler. But
where the latter swung between punk
freak-out and moonlit lullabies, Do It!
sounds resigned to staking out the middle
ground. Dynamite.
Frontman Ade Blackburn, whose love-
it-or-hate-it voice sounded like shrieking
banshees and feral cats on previous
efforts, is Prozac-mellow throughout.
Even when he sings about the “memories
of the joy and the laughter” on the record’s
opening salvo, “Memories,” he sounds
as spirited as notoriously downbeat
comedian Steven Wright. Fortunately, the
Liverpool quartet has the ability to turn
midtempo tunes into haunting reveries;
the eerie “Free Not Free,” with fuzzed-
out guitars and measured pacing, evokes
a moonlit walk through midnight woods.
The group also knows not to overstay
its welcome. Songs rarely venture over
the three-minute mark and the album
clocks in at just over half-an-hour. But,
despite the record’s sloganeering title, the
group’s normal creative drive and sense
of adventure are largely absent (a better
title would have been Eh, We’ll Get To It
Eventually).
Sonically, Do It! is among Clinic’s best
sounding records. Blackburn’s vocals,
however reserved, are captured with
analog clarity, as are the jagged riffs and
snaking keyboard lines laid down by his
equally restrained bandmates. AD
Further Listening: Psychedelic Furs:
Talk Talk Talk; Suicide: Half Alive
146 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
HOT WAX
Music Sonics
Muddy Waters: The Lost Tapes.
Richard Chalk, Joan Wyler,
producers. Blind Pig BPLP 5054
(180-gram LP).
Music Sonics
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells:
Drinkin’ TNT ’n’ Smokin’
Bill Wyman, producer. Blind Pig BPLP
1182 (180-gram LP).
Music Sonics
Tommy Castro: Painkiller.
John Porter, producer. Blind Pig
BPLP 5111 (180-gram LP).
For 30 years, San Francisco’s Blind Pig
Records has been a constant source of
pleasure for blues fans, putting out new
releases as well as rare reissues. And vinyl
lovers note—these titles are making their
debut on beautifully flat, clean, 180-gram
platters pressed at RTI.
Recorded live in 1971, Muddy Waters’
The Lost Tapes presents a picture of
the great bluesman not heard on his
contemporary studio records. Those late
Chess LPs were typically mixed (-up)
affairs, mistaken attempts to capitalize on
Waters’ newfound popularity with rock
fans. But in concert, Waters remained a
gritty performer. Here, his hoarse whisper-
and-shout vocals and slithery slide-
guitar work are backed by a stellar band,
including pianist “Pinetop” Perkins. A fine
set of classic Chicago blues, this may not
equal, say, Waters’ 1960 At Newport, but it’s
a welcome addition to the catalog. Recordings
Taped at the 1974 Montreux Jazz
Festival, Drinkin’ ’n’ Smokin’ is a knockout.
The story goes that Stones’ bassist Bill
Wyman had backed up Muddy Waters at
the event. When Buddy Guy and Junior
Wells, dissatisfied with their own band,
asked Wyman to step in, he did, along
with Pinetop and CSNY drummer Dallas
Taylor. Their spontaneous performance
brims with the kind of one-off excitement
rarely heard these—or any—days. Guy
and Wells trade vocal duties—the former
especially effective on his own “Ten Years
Ago”—as well as inspired harmonica
and guitar playing in a superb eight-song
workout that shifts between hard-driving
electric blues, shuffles, and slow blues.
The Bay Area’s own Tommy Castro
cut his debut record for Blind Pig in
1996. As Painkiller testifies, the blue-
collar bluesman’s transmission remains
in overdrive. Backed by his trio and a
widely expanded lineup of horns, piano,
and organ, Castro gives his all to a string
of consistently fine, mostly self-penned
tunes. Castro’s superb guitar work shows
a range of influences distilled into his
own voice, and the entire set rocks with
sweaty, small-club joy.
The records’ sonics vary. The
Waters and Guy and Wells releases are
serviceable, and quite decent for live
recordings of their day, while the Castro
is a good-sounding studio effort, bristling
with energy and gobs of rich instrumental
textures. WG
Further Listening: Tommy Castro:
Exception to the Rule; Muddy Waters:
Down on Stovall’s Plantation, The
Historic 1941-42 Library of Congress
 Jazz CAPS
Music Sonics
Marian McPartland: Twilight
World.
Concord Jazz 30528.
How illustrious is Marian McPartland’s
career? She’s jammed with Frank Zappa,
seen Dave Brubeck write a tune about
her, nurtured a generation of jazz players,
and hosted a hit NPR show. At 90, the
first lady of piano jazz returns with her
first studio album in nine years, and it’s a
testament to her greatness.
Joined by longtime trio members Gary
Mazaroppi (bass) and Glen Davis (drums),
McPartland is in a mostly reflective mood
on a program heavy with ballads. She
contributes three originals and lends her
golden touch to nine standards, including
Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie.” All underscore
her harmonic genius. Check out the
angular Monk-like chords employed on
“Turn Around,” the most outside, and
upbeat, offering. And if that powerful
left hand isn’t as prominent these days,
McPartland’s ability to convey warmth
through lyricism more than makes up for
this minor departure from form. Nowhere
is this more evident than the wistful
“Blackberry Winter” on which she looks
back on life’s tart sweetness.
Sonically, the soundstage is as deep and
wide as McPartland’s artistry. The rhythm
section is tight; bass is strong and punchy;
drums and cymbals possess lifelike clarity.
And the piano sounds like it’s in the room.
Greg Cahill
Further Listening: Marian McPartland:
Just Friends; Marian McPartland &
Friends: 85 Candles—Live in New York
148 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Music Sonics
Avery Sharpe: Legends &
Mentors—The Music of McCoy
Tyner, Archie Shepp and Yusef
Lateef.
George Green, producer. JKNM
89896.
Bassist, composer, and arranger Avery
Sharpe is a huge talent. A virtuoso on
electric and acoustic instruments, he’s
played with McCoy Tyner for 20 years,
as well as with Max Roach, Art Blakey,
Archie Shepp, and Yusef Lateef. In pay-
ing homage to three of his musical fore-
fathers, Sharpe’s Legends & Mentors is no
mere tribute album; it’s a bridge between
generations and styles, a shattering of la-
bels, and a deeply felt, exciting, and beau-
tiful record.
The album divides into thirds, with one
Sharpe composition for each of his men-
tors followed by two versions of each of
the latter’s tunes. The musical ideas run the
gamut from ballads to Afro-Bossa to fre-
netic free jazz to waltz rhythms, all with a
fluidity and ease that tell how deeply and
fiercely the music runs in Sharpe’s veins—
as well as those of his superb bandmates.
The record sounds terrific—direct,
warm, and balanced. Sharpe’s bass has
tremendous weight and snap (without be-
ing overpowering), as do Winard Harper’s
drums. Onaje Allan Gumbs’ piano is rich
and thickly textured. Joe Ford’s saxophones
and flute have plenty of air and harmonic
complexity. And John Blake’s violin pos-
sesses a sweet/sour blend of gypsy and
Middle Eastern flavors. Wayne Garcia
Further Listening: Yusef Lateef:
Eastern Sounds; John Coltrane:
Ascension
Music Sonics
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Lil Tae
Rides Again.
Tae Meyulks, producer. Hyena 9366.
The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey steps
through the looking glass and emerges
from the shadows of its disparate rock
and jazz influences with something
wholly fresh.
This experimental jazz album, the pia-
no/bass/drum combo’s first studio CD
in three years, opens with a sonic gale
and travels down a rabbit hole of wonder.
The trip though ambient soundscapes is
a considerable departure from the band’s
2005 sojourn into tighter song structures,
The Sameness of Difference, which found the
collective interpreting songs by Jimi Hen-
drix, Neil Young, and Charles Mingus,
among others. Here, eleven originals are
built around a framework of composed
improvisation rife with ethereal harmonies
and crashing rhythms. There’s a disturb-
ing but playful quality to the surreal works,
as if the listener is plumbing the mind
of a troubled child. Song titles—“Winter
Clothes,” “Tether Ball Triumph,” “Scuffle
in the Hall”—also suggest the album’s un-
derlying concept. Indeed, “Santiago Lends
a Hand” incorporates the chaotic shouts
of children on a crowded playground.
Producer Tae Meyulks deconstructs
and reassembles the original tracks
into dreamlike soundscapes. The
only complaint is that my hefty B&W
subwoofer, which handles just about
anything, muddied out once or twice in
the low end. GC
Further Listening: Jacob Fred Jazz
Odyssey: The Sameness of Difference;
Industrial Jazz Group: City of Angels
 Classical CAPS
Music Sonics Extraordinary
Music Sonics
La Ruta de Oriente. Hespèrion
XXI and La Capella Reial
de Catalunya, Jordi Savall,
conductor; with Montserrat
Figueras, vocalist, and guest
musicians.
Savall, producer; Manuel Mohino
and Nicolas de Beco, engineers.
Hyrbid multichannel SACD. Alia
Vox 9856 A+B (two CDs).
The packaging for this exquisite
hybrid SACD set is not a double jewel
box. It’s a book. And no ordinary
book at that, but a 276-page tour de
force. Why a book? Because this set
commemorates the life and times
of Francis Xavier (1506-1553), the
learned Jesuit missionary who traveled
widely in Europe, then on to Africa,
India, China, and Japan—almost
60,000 miles in toto—with the goal of
spreading Christianity to the East.
To put his life and travels in context,
scholar Manuel Forcano has gathered
key texts of the era, including items
written by Erasmus, Machiavelli,
Thomas More, and Martin Luther; the
founding constitution of the Jesuit
order; documents from the Council
of Trent; letters of Xavier himself;
and passages from the Koran and
150 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
Excellent Good
the Bhagavad-Gita. The motto for
the entire production comes from St.
Augustine: “The world is a book, and
those who do not travel read only a
page.” And this particular book does
an amazing job of opening a window
on the first half of the 16th century.
Then there’s the music. To trace
Xavier’s travels, Jordi Savall has
programmed a musical pilgrimage
through the first half of the 16th
century, touching on the secular
and sacred, instrumental and vocal,
European and non-European. The
route taken is that of Xavier himself.
Thus the title: “The Route to the
Orient.”
Savall and his colleagues use a series
of contemporaneous, geographically
proximate musical stand-ins to
represent the key events of Xavier’s
formative years in Europe—for the
publication of Thomas More’s Utopia
(1516), a contemporary puzzle canon
by English composer John Lloyd, for
Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses
to the church door in Wittenberg
(1517), Heinrich Isaac’s O Welt, ich muss
dich lassen. The non-European locales
are represented by their own music,
hence the large number of guest
musicians. The music making is of
the highest order, informed, focused,
and expressive. With this undertaking
Savall proclaims yet again his towering
stature in the field of early music.
Happily, the sonic experience is as
satisfying as the artistic. The venues
chosen—La Colegiata de Cardona in
Catalonia, and the Abbey of Font-
froide in France—provide a spectacu-
lar ambience that grabs one right away.
Voices and instruments register with a
phenomenal sense of presence, and
the air around them is palpable. Ted
Libbey
Further Listening: Christophorus
Columbus: Lost Paradises; Miguel
de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la
Mancha: Romances y Musicas
Fair Poor
Music Sonics
Natalie Dessay: Italian Opera
Arias.
Dessay, soprano; Concerto Köln,
Evelino Pidò, conductor. Alain Lance-
ron, producer; Michel Pierre, engi-
neer. Virgin 514366.
Natalie Dessay’s latest disc provides
thrills galore. Her voice is still on the
lean side for some of the selections, but
her intelligence makes even those roles
different and exciting. Her La Traviata
scene features superb florid singing and
a throwback to the early 20th Century
singers who sang Ah, fors’è lui without
its later staccato accretions. And in her
Maria Stuarda aria, she puts a smile in the
voice when she describes flowers in the
meadow and then adds a tinge of sadness
in recalling her troubles.
Dessay’s effectiveness comes not from
stressing the words, but by infusing her
voice with the emotions the words give
rise to. This is singing driven by welding
voice and emotion to intellect. And so, in
the great Mad Scenes of Bellini’s I Puritani
and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, she
becomes those girls driven mad.
Dessay is well supported by Pidò
and his period instrument band. All are
blessed with airy, vibrant engineering. An
accompanying DVD features her com-
plete Lucia Mad Scene. Dan Davis
Further Listening: Dessay: Handel Ital-
ian Cantatas; French Opera Arias
 HOT WAX
Music Sonics
Beethoven: The Nine
Symphonies.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Herbert von Karajan, conductor.
Deutsche Grammophon/Speakers
Corner 104 301/8 (8 180-gram LPs).
Herbert von Karajan’s 1961-1962
Beethoven’s symphony cycle hit the
marketplace like a force of nature and
has remained in the catalog continuously
for 45 years. It’s easily the finest of the
conductor’s four complete Beethoven
cycles. Other recordings from this
time and earlier—Bernstein, Toscanini,
Walter—have their proponents but, if
you’re coming to this music for the first
time, Karajan lets a neophyte in on the
secret, revealing the remarkable range
of The Nine. Whether it’s the apt 18th
century scaling of the First Symphony
or the broad, expansive canvas of the
Third, these readings bring out the
unique character of each work. The
affable spirit of Symphony No. 4 starkly
contrasts with the Fifth’s dramatic,
transforming journey from darkness to
brilliant sunlight. Karajan’s “Pastorale”
is evocative of a rustic setting without
sentimentalization. The Seventh has
an irresistible rhythmic vitality that’s
shared by the opening Allegro of No. 8.
The Ninth Symphony, with the Vienna
Singverein and a distinguished quartet of
vocal soloists, including Walter Berry and
Gundula Janowitz, is one of the special
glories of this box.
This cycle can be had as a five-CD
budget DG set for $35—or on these
eight LPs from Speakers Corner for
about $270. Could the fancy vinyl
possibly be worth the price? While they
are certainly preferable to the multi-
miked disasters that would follow from
DG, the winds can seem a bit distant and
the violin sound is brighter than on the
2003 SACD iterations. But the Speakers
Corner pressings are far superior to the
inexpensive CDs and exhibit more life
than the couple of original LPs.
Then again, it may be Speakers Cor-
ner’s meticulous recreation of the origi-
nal packaging that will have you lusting
to own this set. It’s like holding a piece of
phonographic history in your hands. Yes,
it’s worth it, all right. AQ
Further Listening: Beethoven: Sym-
phonies (Toscanini/NBC; Beethoven):
Symphonies (Vänskä/Minnesota [SACD])
The Absolute Sound June/July 2008 151
Back Page
Neil Gader
12 Questions for Ray Kimber,
President and CEO, Kimber Kable
When did you first get the bug for audio?
My dad was an electronics technician and there was always
stuff in the house being repaired, so I was always there
watching. When I was six years old, I built a crystal radio set
by myself and then modified it. I dug up some military surplus
headphones that my father had—mono at that point—and
hooked them up to it. He was surprised that they worked with it
and sounded much better.
Was he trained in the military?
No, he went to Coyne American Institute in Chicago—a big
move for someone from Delta, Utah. I was the kid who ran the
A/V equipment at school and set it up in new ways. I played
keyboards and trumpet in high school, though not very well.
But I always kept after the audio part of it, and built my own
speakers because I couldn’t afford really good ones.
You were primarily self-taught?
We moved from Price, Utah, a small town, to Ogden, Utah,
during my sophomore year of high school. There was a pretty
good electronics program at Bonneville High School. I ended
up being the lab assistant in my junior and senior years, so I was
teaching everybody else. I think the things that you learn as a
child you become fluent in—so I owe a lot of thanks to Dad.
When did you get your first exposure to high-end audio?
When I was about ten a neighbor got the very first stereo
system on the block, and I was pretty amazed at the sound of
the trains rolling by and other effects. Then I became good
friends with a guy in Ogden who owned a high-end stereo shop
and also owned an FM stereo station, KBOC. He had McIntosh
and JBL, the best of the best. I hung out there a lot.
How did your interest in audio turn into Kimber Kable?
I worked for a big company in LA. This was right at the start of
the disco craze and we were doing the sound systems in all of
the dance clubs. The problem was that the systems were picking
up a lot of noise from the strobe lighting systems. So the
initial concept was to develop a cable that would self-shield by
counter-rotating the positive and negative. At that point I wasn’t
prepared for the difference in sound quality that came out of it.
And that’s why we’ve stuck with the counter-rotating braid; it’s a
bona-fide usable geometry.
A lot of people see the future of the industry in terms of
hard-drive technology. Do you?
Maybe, but I like to have the physical disc with the booklet. I’m
152 June/July 2008 The Absolute Sound
more capable of using a high-resolution server than perhaps
99% of the population, but, for myself, I just don’t go that way.
I buy the disc; I don’t want to download it onto a hard drive.
Are you surprised at the resiliency of the LP format?
In a sense that’s like asking are you surprised there’s still cream
and that it rises to the top? It starts with analog and it’s only
been within the last few years that there has been excellent
digital hardware. I think we’re there; at least there’s parity.
How have your live recordings in acoustic spaces informed
your work at Kimber Kable?
By borrowing technology from our Kimber Select Series we’ve
developed mike cables and other cabling we don’t ordinarily
produce. Using those experimental cables taught us things to
put back into the normally produced cables. The mike cables
have helped us refine the interconnect and phono cables.
What would be your advice to a new audiophile assembling
a system?
I would go to audioasylum.com and pose questions, because
you would get a number of good opinions pretty rapidly. I’d
go to the magazines and, providing you want to experiment, to
eBay to buy something good fairly inexpensively. And in most
big cities there are always audiophile clubs that will allow you to
listen to a lot of gear. I would network.
After thirty years you seem as passionate about your
work as ever. How do you do it?
I’m surrounded by great employees. That and producing
recordings give me a good break from what I’m doing day-to-
day. Like I’ve always said, recording music is like canning sushi.
You can’t really do it, but you want to keep tweaking that recipe
to bring it as close to tuna and as far away from pet food as you
can. TAS