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2023’S THE PRODUCT BEST OF THE YEAR HI-FI AWARDS ONLINE AUTHORITY: STEREOPHILE.COM ESTELON AURA CLEAN OPEN DYNAMIC AUDEZE LCD-5 ’PHONES k P.129 ACCUPHASE A-300 POWERFUL & SEDUCTIVE PRIMALUNA EVO 100 GROUNDBREAKING PHONO NU-VISTA 800.2 MUSICAL FIDELITY AMP KEEPS A TIGHT GRIP k '(&(0%(5ৱ৯ৱ৲ ৷৸৸86ৰ৯৸৸&$1$'$
THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS AS WE SEE IT BY TOM FINE & JIM AUSTIN THIS ISSUE : A new Beatles single, plus crappy streaming Atmos. The Beatles’ last stand O n September 27, executives from Apple Corps and Universal Music Group held a press event at the Dolby Theater in Manhattan. The event included Dolby Atmos demos of forthcoming Beatles releases. It included some big news— although the biggest news wasn’t obvious at first. The obvious headline: The Beatles are releasing a new song. It’s called “Now & Then,” and all four Beatles play on it. You’ve probably heard about it by now, since there’s a massive marketing campaign. UMG is calling it “the last Beatles song.” For more information, see the Stereophile review on p.147. Those attending the press event also learned that on November 10, Universal and Apple Records will reissue the Red and Blue albums in expanded, 50th Anniversary form, as 2-CD and 3-LP sets and for streaming, with “demixed” remixes of every song from Magical Mystery Tour backward. (The remixes of The Beatles—aka the “White Album”—and Abbey Road have already been reissued, and some of the Let It Be multitrack tapes and live recordings were “demixed” for the Let It Be reissue.) For audiophiles, the most important information revealed that day was not really about the Beatles. It came in response to a question Stereophile directed at Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones. (Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles’ umbrella corporation, is of course not related to Apple Computer’s Apple Music, which is also involved in this story.) A bit of background. Soon after Apple Music’s 2021 press event announcing its embrace of Dolby Atmos and “spatial audio” (also lossless stereo, though that was deemphasized), one of us (JCA) poked around to see what he could learn about the technology. JCA learned that Atmos in its lossless, hi-rez “TrueHD” form is capable of excellent technical quality—but Apple Music’s streaming version of Atmos is quite lossy, maxing out at a bitrate of 768kbps for loudspeaker delivery—roughly equivalent to one channel of CD-quality audio—and a disappointing 256kbps if you’re using headphones.1 When you consider that Atmos is a multichannel technology—the specification allows up to 128 audio channels for input—you realize how lossy it is in this distribution format. We’re primarily two-channel guys for music listening, but we’re open-minded. TF enjoys his collection of four-channel “quadraphonic” recordings. We’ve both long appreciated the theoretical advantages of multichannel audio and the experience of well-produced multichannel music. Those lossy-compression rates, though, are scary. If we want to experience these new Beatles records in Dolby Atmos—that’s all they played at the press conference—in real high fidelity, where should we turn? stereophile.com Q December 2023 It has been clear for a while to anyone paying attention that elements in the recorded-music industry are pushing hard for Atmos. Audio engineers provide an Atmos mix as a deliverable for many new albums and remasters. Many of those mixes are probably very good, and no doubt they are mixed, mastered, and archived in lossless form—even in high resolution. But Downloads appear to be going away and thus are not the long-term answer. there’s a serious distribution problem: The only way most people can access an Atmos mix is via a streaming service—mainly Apple Music, although Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music offer some Dolby Atmos tracks. As described above, the streaming version of Atmos is highly lossy. We’ve seen very few sources of high-quality Atmos downloads, and anyway, downloads appear to be going away and thus are not the longterm answer. How, then, can we access better immersive versions of this music—better than what’s provided by the streaming services—now and in the future? One of us (JCA) has been asking this question ever since Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos debut and has rarely received a straight answer. Jones—the Apple Corps CEO—provided one. In the past, higherquality Atmos files (and other multichannel formats) were stashed on Blu-ray discs in a few deluxe edition box sets, including some of the earlier Beatles 50th anniversary “super deluxe” boxes. Jones’s news: Those Blu-ray discs are going away. Why? Because they raise costs hence the retail price, and, as Jones put it, “very few consumers care.” The streaming version of Atmos spatial audio, Jones said, “made the Blu-ray obsolete.” Neither the new Beatles tune nor the new remixes will be available in high-quality Atmos. What you stream on Apple Music is what you get. Jones is probably correct: Few consumers care. Streaming Atmos is good enough for most folks. Older audiophiles have lived long enough to remember previous generations of record executives telling us that no one cares about better sound. We, of course, are those “very few consumers.” We do care. Jeff Jones doesn’t speak for the whole music industry. One suspects, though, that the opinion he expressed is widely held, and he seems to be right about Blu-ray discs: They’re hardly thriving as a musicdistribution format. (We’re less sure about movies.) Except for vinyl, physical formats in general are fading.2 The only thing likely to be left standing is streaming—plus, maybe, vinyl. How much does this matter? The key thing for us is that stereo versions will continue to be available at the usual high quality, streaming and otherwise. Indeed, recent Beatles reissues have streamed at 24/96. We suspect—but of course we can’t be sure—that Apple Music’s lossy Atmos will slowly fade away under the weight of higher production costs, lack of consumer interest, and inferior technical quality in this distributed form. Experience shows that people don’t exactly notice a reduction in quality. They simply stop listening. Jones’s comments made one thing clear: For those of us who care about perfectionist audio, Atmos, as conceived by recordcompany executives, is not the answer. We should hope for its demise. Q 1 See professional.dolby.com/events/dolby-atmos-musicspecifications/#gref. Atmos also has other disadvantages. It doesn’t “fold down” to stereo very well; a dedicated twochannel stereo mix is superior (especially when it’s lossless). And Atmos is proprietary, not an open format. Those who use it must pay royalties to Dolby. If you were opposed to MQA on those grounds, you should, for consistency’s sake, oppose Atmos. 2 See riaa.com/u-s-sales-database. If anything, downloads are fading even faster. 3
'(&(0%(5ৱ৯ৱ৲ Vol.46 No.12 p.47 p.105 FEATURES p.95 p.129 47 Stereophile’s 32nd Annual Product of the Year Awards 7KHYHU\EHVWLQKLࢉIRU EQUIPMENT REPORTS 71 $FFXSKDVH$PRQREORFNDPSOLࢉHU by Jason Victor Serinus p.83 83 Estelon AURA loudspeaker E\.DOPDQ5XELQVRQ 95 Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2 LQWHJUDWHGDPSOLࢉHU by John Atkinson 105 DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/baby loudspeaker E\.HQ0LFDOOHI 117 Hegel Viking CD player E\+HUE5HLFKHUW 129 Audeze LCD-5 headphones by Julie Mullins FOLLOW-UP 137 Volti Audio Razz loudspeaker p.117 SEE OUR EXCLUSIVE EQUIPMENT REPORT ARCHIVE AT WWW.STEREOPHILE.COM Stereophile (USPS #734-970 ISSN: 0585-2544) Vol.46 No.12, December 2023, Issue Number 527. Copyright © 2023 by AVTech Media Americas Inc. All rights reserved. Published monthly by AVTech Media Americas Inc., 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals 3RVWDJHSDLGDW1HZ<RUN1<DQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRࢇFHV6XEVFULSWLRQUDWHVIRURQH\HDU (12 issues) U.S., APO, FPO, and U.S. Possessions $19.94, Canada $31.94, Foreign orders add LQFOXGLQJVXUIDFHPDLOSRVWDJH 3D\PHQWLQDGYDQFH86IXQGVRQO\32670$67(56HQG DOO8$$WR&)6 6HH'00 1213267$/$1'0,/,7$5<)DFLOLWLHVVHQGDGGUHVV corrections to Stereophile, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Mailing Lists: From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies that sell goods and services E\PDLOWKDWZHEHOLHYHZRXOGEHRILQWHUHVWWRRXUUHDGHUV,I\RXZRXOGUDWKHUQRWUHFHLYH such mailings, please send your current mailing label, or an exact copy, to: Stereophile, Mail 3UHIHUHQFH6HUYLFH32%R[3DOP&RDVW)/6XEVFULSWLRQ6HUYLFH6KRXOG you wish to change your address, or order new subscriptions, you can do so by writing to the same address. Printed in the USA. E\.HQ0LFDOOHI stereophile.com Q December 2023 5
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'(&(0%(5ৱ৯ৱ৲ 3 Vol.46 No.12 As We See It An event promoting a new Beatles record reveals that when it comes to Dolby Atmos, the emperor is naked (and lossy-compressed). 11 Letters Analog beyond 33 1/3WKHKLࢉVKRZLQ Raleigh; fun with wood glue; fun with record mats and weights; loudspeaker distortion in the bass. p.39 G YOUR SET ON OA VISIT THPBOX! E STEREOP HILE.CO FORUMS M 15 Industry Update MQA survives to fold another day; a new McIntosh House in Chelsea; a NYC demo by Metaxas & Sins; Bob Ludwig retires; a smaller Relentless from D’Agostino. p.39 STAY INFORMED: GO TO STEREOPHILE.COM FOR UP-TO-THE-MINUTE INFO. 23 Gramophone Dreams A new (old) Lenco and the importance of taste—plus a new, DOOWXEHSKRQRSUHDPSOLࢉHUIURP3ULPD/XQD%\+HUE5HLFKHUW 31 Brilliant Corners 3UHVHQFHIURPGLJLWDO$OH[DXGLWLRQVD'$&DQGDVWUHDPHUIURP Brittany’s Totaldac. 39 The Spin Doctor From Austria, a new tonearm supplier on the scene; Zu Audio updates its version of the DL-103, just a little; and the Spin Doctor takes on a new turntable project, a Gates CB100 transcription turntable. 141 Aural Robert ,QWKHZDNHRI1DQFL*ULࢇWKȆVXQWLPHO\GHDWKDER[VHWDQGD tribute album. By Robert Baird. 143 Revinylization :KHQ'XNHPHWWKH%HDQȂWKLV9HUYH$QDORJXH3URGXFWLRQV reissue of Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins may be the best ever. By Tom Fine. 145 Record Reviews A new single from the Beatles (you read that right); disappointing QHZPXVLFIURP7HHQDJH)DQFOXEJRRGVWXࢆIURP'HYHQGUD %DQKDUWDQG$ULHO3RVHQ,Q-D]]QHZPXVLFIURP-RKQDWKDQ %ODNH0DUN7XUQHUDQG'DUF\-DPHV$UJXHȆV6HFUHW6RFLHW\,WȆVD “lite” month in Classical, with a collection of British piano concertos, a new Oklahoma!DQGDFROOHFWLRQRIࢉOPPXVLFIURP ,WDO\ȂWRSSHGRࢆE\QHZUHOHDVHVE\%UXFNQHUDQG7DQ'XQ 157 Re-Tales Devon Turnbull, also known as Ojas, his deejay name, opens a new listening space in New York City’s SoHo. stereophile.com Q December 2023 p.157 158 Manufacturers’ Comments Representatives of Totaldac, Korf Audio, Accuphase, and Estelon respond to our reviews of their products. 162 My Back Pages %OXHVPXVLFLDQ-RDQ2VERUQHRQWDOLVPDQLFOLVWHQLQJDQGYLQ\O By Mike Mettler. INFORMATION 156 159 160 160 Audio Mart Advertiser Index Dealers’ Showcase Manufacturers’ Showcase p.145 Follow Stereophile on Facebook: www.facebook.com/stereophile. 7
Fathom® f110v2 In-Room Powered Subwoofer DECEMBER 2023 EDITOR JIM AUSTIN JIM.AUSTIN@STEREOPHILE.COM TECHNICAL EDITOR JOHN ATKINSON SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS HERB REICHERT, KALMAN RUBINSON, JASON VICTOR SERINUS WEB PRODUCER JON IVERSON COPY EDITOR LINDA FELACO AVTECH MEDIA AMERICAS INC EDITORIAL DIRECTOR PAUL MILLER FINANCE DIRECTOR OWEN DAVIES GENERAL MANAGER KEITH PRAY FOUNDER J. GORDON HOLT COVER PHOTO DAVID DUPUY ART DIRECTOR JEREMY MOYLER CONTRIBUTING EDITORS (AUDIO) SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES MARTIN COLLOMS, BRIAN DAMKROGER, ROBERT DEUTSCH, TOM FINE, LARRY GREENHILL, ALEX HALBERSTADT, SASHA MATSON, PAUL MESSENGER, KEN MICALLEF, JULIE MULLINS, THOMAS J. NORTON, ROBERT SCHRYER, MICHAEL TREI, ROGIER VAN BAKEL, USA (800) 666-3746 CANADA & INTERNATIONAL (515) 244-0924 EMAIL: STPCustserv@cdsfulfillment.com POST: Stereophile, PO Box 37965, Boone IA 50037-0965 Please include name, address, and phone number on any inquiries. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS (MUSIC) REPRINTS ROBERT BAIRD, LARRY BIRNBAUM, PHIL BRETT, RAY CHELSTOWSKI, THOMAS CONRAD, TOM FINE, KURT GOTTSCHALK, ANDREY HENKIN, ANNE E. JOHNSON, SASHA MATSON, MIKE METTLER, KEN MICALLEF, DAN OUELLETTE, ROGIER VAN BAKEL, STEPHEN FRANCIS VASTA For high-quality custom reprints and eprints, please contact Keith Pray at kpray@avtechmediausa.com. ADVERTISING GENERAL MANAGER KEITH PRAY KPRAY@AVTECHMEDIAUSA.COM ADVERTISING MANAGER ED DIBENEDETTO, EDIBENEDETTO@AVTECHMEDIAUSA.COM SALES COORDINATOR ROSEMARIE TORCIVIA, RTORCIVIA@AVTECHMEDIAUSA.COM DIGITAL INQUIRIES KEITH PRAY, KPRAY@AVTECHMEDIAUSA.COM CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB AT STEREOPHILE.COM. Dimensions* (H x W x D): 15.64 in. x 12.92 in. x 17.27 in. 397 mm x 328 mm x 439 mm IMPORTANT STEREOPHILE CONTACT INFORMATION SUBMISSIONS Any submissions or contributions from readers shall be subject to and governed by AVTech Media’s User Content Submission Terms and Conditions, which are posted at www.stereophile.com/images/terms.html BACK ISSUES To order back issues and recordings visit shop.stereophile.com or call (888) 237-0955 SUBSCRIBER LIST Occasionally our subscriber list is made available to reputable firms offering goods and services we believe would be of interest to our readers. If you prefer to be excluded, please send your current address label and a note requesting to be excluded from these promotions to AVTech Media Americas Inc., 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016, Attn: Privacy Coordinator. PRINTED IN THE USA. COPYRIGHT © 2023 BY AVTECH MEDIA AMERICAS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. * All height dimensions include feet, depth dimensions include grilles. Irresistible. As the smallest subwoofer in the Fathom® lineup, the f110v2 is ideal for smaller rooms and installations requiring an unobtrusive solution that delivers world-class lowfrequency performance. © 2022 JL AUDIO, Inc. For more information on our complete line of subwoofers, please visit your local authorized dealer or www.jlaudio.com. Authorized JL Audio Dealers do not sell via the Internet. Subwoofers pictured with grilles removed. December 2023 Q stereophile.com
“Replacing the excellent low end of the (main speakers) with the tautly controlled f110v2 more completely disambiguated the sound of the guitar’s lowest strings from that of the wood, without diminishing the warmth and weight of either.” - Kal Rubinson, Stereophile “Every impact was realistic, with a visceral quality that I felt in my chest.” - David Vaughn, Sound & Vision “The JL f110v2 is a mighty-mite of a sub, conceding little to its larger brothers.” - Kal Rubinson, Stereophile “But do they ROCK? The answer to that question is YES!” – Jeff Dorgay, TONEAudio © 2022 JL Audio, Inc. For more information on our complete line of subwoofers, please visit your local authorized dealer or www.jlaudio.com. Authorized JL Audio Dealers do not sell via the Internet. Subwoofers pictured with grilles removed. Product images shown are for illustrative purposes only and may differ from the actual product. Due to continuous product development, all specifications are subject to change without notice.
harmonic resolution systems a Low Noise Floor Is Fundamental eXRD The new Patented EXRD Audio Stand System provides a continuous 42” wide surface, allowing H[WHQVLYHV\VWHPFRQƓJXUDWLRQŴH[LELOLW\7KH(;5'LVPDQXIDFWXUHGXVLQJWKHVDPHSUHFLVLRQDQGƓQLVK TXDOLW\DVRXUUHIHUHQFHOHYHOV\VWHPV$YDLODEOHLQEODFNRUVLOYHUƓQLVKZLWKFXVWRPL]DEOHVKHOIGHSWKV Harmonic Resolution Systems’ (HRS) passion for enjoying the full magic of a musical performance has GULYHQXVWRGHYHORSDZLGHUDQJHRISURGXFWVWKDWZLOODOORZ\RXUV\VWHPWRUHDFKLWVIXOOSRWHQWLDO Visit AVisolation.com to learn more about HRS high performance audio products. sales@AVisolation.com | 716.873.1437
LETTERS TAKE HEED Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR Beyond 33 1/3 Over the last couple of years, I’ve enjoyed the increasing discussion of other recorded formats like 78s and 45s. The improvements in digital recovery and remastering from 78s lately have been astounding. The 4-CD box set Excavated Shellac collects music from around the globe recorded on 78s even though some were recorded and released as late as the 1960s.1 Listening to a bunch of 78s lately, I noticed an uncanny quality to some 1950s recordings. The frequency extremes are still rolled off, but a steel guitar or electric organ can float over the rest of a track in a way I’ve never heard in another format. 45s are where the action is for some genres I collect, so I enjoyed reading Michael Trei’s section on cartridge alignment. I have noticed that while a 45 mix will usually smoke an LP version with a lot of equipment, with some moving coil cartridges I’ve heard, the difference is less extreme. A ceramic cartridge with a conical stylus can do a lot with these formats well. Mark Owen Seattle, Washington The Raleigh show Thanks to Audio Advice and industry reps for such a great show in Raleigh, North Carolina! They appeared to spare no expense for the entry forum, extra registration and guidance staff, badges, banners, current copies of Stereophile and Sound & Vision, free refreshments during and after the show, plus Love Tribe at the Lincoln Theater. Almost every room was tuned precisely to demonstrate the equipment (no small feat). I especially appreciate the effort it took to prepare the Definitive, Bowers & Wilkins, and Sony home theater rooms. The industry reps were very friendly, and it was refreshing to hear them ask what attendees would like to hear instead of sticking to a narrow demo list, increasing the camaraderie and fun factor for attendees and minimizing the prevalence of classical music! It was great to see families, women, and a reasonably diverse crowd. There should be a large poster in every room with the full list of equipment in the setup down to the interconnects and speaker cables, with retail prices and any show discounts, supplemented by a copy-paper handout with the same equipment list and prices plus the top 20 demo songs and artists stereophile.com Q December 2023 magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. Please include your name and physical address. We reserve the right to edit for length and content. (including streaming source), so attendees have a reference for what they are hearing. This would reduce the necessity to ask the same questions in every room and write it down, and it would give us an inexpensive, hard-copy document to take home to contemplate equipment upgrades. I hope Audio Advice and the brands in attendance found it worth the time and expense invested so that there will be more Raleigh shows in the future. David Brainard Vancleave, Mississippi Fun with wood glue In the September Harbeth speaker test, PVA (polyvinyl acetate) was mentioned as wood glue for speaker cabinets. But there is another audio use for PVA we’ve all seen and are probably unaware of. It’s the shiny coating on bextrene drivers (and sometimes other drivers) used to dampen cone resonances. We think of bextrene as a good cone material, but at high frequencies it rings badly. The BBC, which developed bextrene, handled this by damping the cones with Elmer’s wood glue, thinned out. Friends and I discovered this when searching for PVA for some speaker projects years ago. We didn’t know it was Elmer’s at first and bought a gallon of PVA through a friend who had connections with a chemical company before we found out it was there on store shelves. I ordered one from Stable 33.33 here in Quebec, again after an exchange of e-mails, this time with the founder, Sylvain Pichette. Again, it made a difference, especially on the way the tonearm reacts to the grooves of the LP and what it brings to the sound spectrum. Jean-François Laferté Terrebonne, Québec, Canada Loudspeaker bass distortion I am always impressed by the range of parameters John Atkinson measures on loudspeakers: impedance, frequency response, step response, cabinet resonances, lateral and vertical responses, and spectral decay plots. But the measurement that I wish he would add would be THD in the bass region at about 100dB SPL at 1m. My current, inexpensive subwoofer has less than 1% THD at frequencies down to about 43Hz at 100dB SPL. Then at 40Hz it has 2% THD, and at 35Hz, 20% THD. I would suggest that you set the distortion level similar to that used for amplifiers, ie, at 1% THD for the highest allowed. Small, bookshelf-type speakers should be measured over the claimed range of operation. Since many are bass-reflex design, they should not be tested below the port resonance to avoid damage. Sealed-box designs could be tested over the entire range. Pete Brown Woodbine, Maryland Allen Edelstein Highland Park, New Jersey Fun with mats and weights The Spin Doctor wrote about platters and weights in the September 2023 issue of Stereophile. I once thought that such add-ons were gimmicks, but I got myself a Funk Firm Achromat after some email exchanges with a distributor here in Quebec, who assured me it would make a difference even on my Denon 300F turntable. It did. The next thing that caught my attention was the debate about using a platter weight. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be sent as e-mails only. Email: stletters@stereophile. com. Please note: We are unable to answer UHTXHVWVIRULQIRUPDWLRQDERXWVSHFLࢉF products or systems. If you have problems with your subscription, call (800) 666-3746, RUHPDLO673&XVWVHUY#FGVIXOࢉOOPHQWFRP or write to Stereophile, P.O. Box 37965, Boone, IA 50037-0965. Mr. Brown, I have occasionally tried to measure loudspeaker distortion without the luxury of an anechoic chamber, but the effect of the room acoustics means that the THD+N changes if you move the microphone even a small distance. When I was able to measure a speaker outdoors and there was no wind or traffic noise, I have published an examination of distortion. See, for example, stereophile. com/content/velodyne-df-661-loudspeakerpage-2. Is this an important limitation of my loudspeaker measurements? Not generally. I concluded long ago that the main consequence of distortion on listening is that it tends to set an upper limit on how loud people listen. See my discussion at stereophile.com/content/ measuring-loudspeakers-part-two-page-7. —John Atkinson 1 Released on the Dust to Digital label, Excavated Shellac draws on music from 78s from around the world, presented on the excellent Excavated Shellac blog. 11
MAGELLAN 40 TH Anniversary Edition Elegance, Technology, Performance, Pleasure & Emotion CONTACT : EXCLUSIVE RESELLERS Frank Gazzo 503-970-8531 frankgazzo@antalaudio.com Tune Hi-Fi Seattle Audio Visions San Francisco Big Kids Toy North Carolina Hi-Fi Loft New York House of Stereo Florida Holm Audio Illinois
INDUSTRY UPDATE AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS LENBROOK ACQUIRES MQA Jason Victor Serinus Lenbrook Corp., the privately owned Canadian enterprise whose holdings include NAD electronics, PSB Speakers, and Bluesound (the maker of the BluOS music operating software system), has acquired assets of MQA Ltd., including MQA technology and the SCL6 codec. The press release, which went public September 19, notes that the deal “further solidifies Lenbrook’s commitment to excellence and innovation in the evolving landscape of audio technology.” The announcement ends months of speculation that began in April, when MQA entered receivership. An accompanying FAQ affirms, “As one of MQA’s most significant licensees and also the owner of the awardwinning BluOS high-res content platform, … Lenbrook is in the business of providing high resolution audio experiences [to] informed customers who appreciate innovation and value having options. … We believe MQA fits this mission as the research that makes up the foundations of the technology are based on neuroscience and cuttingedge digital sampling. Although MQA is a digital technology, it is an analog-to-analog conception and not simply a digital codec. Put simply, the MQA Encoder corrects for the A/D converter, ‘deblurs’ that signal and then uses a package that is much more efficient than regular PCM. Fans of MQA speak to its improved transparency, noise stability and temporal effects.” MQA has attracted many critics since the technology’s release several years ago. Lenbrook addresses the controversy head-on. “We have always found it unfortunate that the core attributes of what we understand MQA to be seemed lost in a distorted narrative around some of the technical nuances in its implementation,” an FAQ states. “In this fray, the artist-first origins of MQA and the sheer technical elegance of its handling of the entire audio signal path got muddled. We are excited to have the opportunity to clarify the narrative and build on the technology in ways that can better demonstrate their true value, while also promoting innovation in a specialty and premium audio industry that thrives on healthy discussion, subjective views, and debate. “Lenbrook’s position is that anyone do- SUBMISSIONS: 7KRVHSURPRWLQJDXGLRUHODWHG seminars, shows, and meetings should email the when, where, and who to stletters@stereophile. com at least eight weeks before the month of the HYHQW7KHGHDGOLQHIRUWKH0DUFKLVVXHLV December 20, 2023. ing work to advance audio processing and sound reproduction is positively contributing to the vibrancy of the industry. The vitriol directed towards innovations like MQA and what it means to those creating, delivering, and listening to better sounding music has always disappointed us when the technology and the patents that underpin it are so novel. “We prefer instead to build off the fact that many influential content creators and reviewers absolutely understood that MQA was not really about 1s and 0s. We also believe that differing opinions is what makes this industry healthy—for example, we do not believe in one way to design a speaker and carefully approach product development in ways that offer differentiation and respect for individual listening preferences. A specialty hi-fi industry where there is no debate or new ideas would be commoditized far too quickly.” Lenbrook affirms that MQA “was born of a vision that a group of like-minded musicians and audio engineers had to give musicians the tools they needed to capture their works in high resolution. … We have CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information SRVWHGRQWKHVLWHHPDLO&KULV9RJHODWYJO#FࢊUUFRP 3OHDVHQRWHWKHQHZHPDLODGGUHVV ,W is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ])ULGD\HYHQLQJVȁSP3677KH6DQ )UDQFLVFR$XGLRSKLOH6RFLHW\KRVWVDYLUWXDO KDSS\KRXUYLD=RRP7KLVLVRSHQWR anyone who’d like to join us to talk about KLࢉDQGZKDWHYHUHOVHLVRQ\RXUPLQG)RU more information and registration, visit bit. ly/3RyaqX9. FLORIDA ])HEUXDU\ȁ7KH)ORULGD$XGLR ([SRZLOOWDNHSODFHDWWKH(PEDVV\6XLWHVE\ +LOWRQ7DPSD:HVWVKRUH1:HVWVKRUH %OYG7DPSD)RUPRUHLQIRUPDWLRQVHH ࢊRULGDDXGLRH[SRFRPFRQWDFWXV GEORGIA ]1RYHPEHU$WODQWDVSHFLDOW\DXGLR UHWDLOHU+L)L%X\V$WODQWD 3HDFKWUHH stereophile.com Q December 2023 5RDG1($WODQWD*HRUJLD ZLOOKRVWIHDWXUHG special guests Richard Vandersteen, founder and head engineer of Vandersteen Audio, DQG9DQGHUVWHHQ*OREDO6DOHV'LUHFWRU%UDG 2Ȇ7RROH$IWHUDEULHISUHVHQWDWLRQDQG4 $ listen to a system with the new L5-ACC Audio &RQWURO&HQWHU3UHDPSZLWK9DQGHUVWHHQ +LJK3DVV$PSV +3$PRGHOV GULYLQJ Vandersteen loudspeakers. In addition, 2Ȇ7RROHZLOOGLVFXVVDQGGHPRQVWUDWH+56 stands and chassis noise reduction products LQDQLQWHUDFWLYHOLVWHQLQJVHVVLRQ5693DW KLࢉEX\VFRPHYHQWV NEW JERSEY ]1RYHPEHU1HZ<RUN1HZ-HUVH\ specialty audio retailer Audio Connection %ORRPࢉHOG$YH9HURQD1HZ-HUVH\ ZLOOKRVWWZRVHVVLRQV SPDQG SP IHDWXULQJVSHFLDOJXHVWV5LFKDUG Vandersteen, founder and head engineer of 9DQGHUVWHHQ$XGLRDQG*OREDO6DOHV'LUHFWRU %UDG2Ȇ7RROH6HH*HRUJLDHYHQWIRUPRUH LQIRUPDWLRQ7KLVHYHQWUHTXLUHV5693HPDLO DXGLRFRQQHFW#YHUL]RQQHWRUFDOO 1799. TEXAS ] March 15–17, 2024: A brand-new show from the team behind the Capital Audiofest DQG3DFLࢉF$XGLR)HVWZLOOWDNHSODFHDW the Anatole/Hilton in Dallas. For more information, see southwestaudiofest. FRPRUFRQWDFW*DU\*LOORU/RX+LQNOH\ at capitalaudiofest@gmail.com or lou@ SDFLࢉFDXGLRIHVWFRPUHVSHFWLYHO\ WASHINGTON, DC, AREA ]1RYHPEHUȁ7KH&DSLWDO$XGLRIHVWZLOOWDNHSODFHDWWKH7ZLQEURRN+LOWRQDW 5RFNYLOOH3LNH5RFNYLOOH0DU\ODQG)RU more information, see the website at capitalDXGLRIHVWFRPRUFRQWDFW*DU\*LOOE\HPDLODW capitalaudiofest@gmail.com. 15
INDUSTRY UPDATE listened extensively to MQA content and believe in the results of what we actually hear.” The affirmation of MQA as a vital, highresolution codec that honors the intent of artists and engineers was echoed by prominent Grammy Award–winning producers and engineers. Reached in Norway, noted audio engineer Morten Lindberg, co-founder of the 2L record label, stated via email, “I’ve had the great pleasure and privilege to work with Bob Stuart since the early days of his development of MQA. [Through] hundreds of critical listening hours, I have really come to appreciate [what] this tool brought to our sonic craft. I’m very optimistic to the future of MQA. And for the record: I have absolutely no business interests in any of the companies.” George Massenburg, Grammy and Academy of Country Music Award–winning producer and recording engineer, also lent his endorsement. “I’m so relieved that MQA and SCL6 will continue under Lenbrook,” he stated for the Lenbrook/MQA press release. “MQA’s technology, with its faithful rendering of detail, complexity, and soundstage, gave us the reason to go back MCINTOSH OPENS A NEW HOUSE OF SOUND John Atkinson From the outside, 357 West 17th Street in New York City appears to be a nice, gray-finished modern townhouse, just around the corner from the chic Chelsea Market. But inside the 11,000sqft building are four floors and a rooftop terrace. All the rooms are devoted to systems that feature audio components from brands owned or distributed in the US by the McIntosh Group: McIntosh Laboratory of course; Sonus Faber; Rotel Michi; Pro-Ject Audio Systems; and Sumiko Phono. Supporting products in the systems are sourced from Baxter (furniture), USM (cabinetry), Sony (a video projector), Kaleidescape (a movie player), Screen Research, Roon Labs, Abyss (headphones), HRS (racks), and AudioQuest (cables). There used to be a different McIntosh Townhouse in Manhattan, in SoHo. But just as the lease was about to expire on that building in 2020, the pandemic shut everything down. The new McIntosh House of Sound “Experience Center,” which opened September 21, 2023, presents a somewhat dif16 into the recording studio and reverse a 20year decline in the quality of audio delivery methods.” A “select group” of MQA’s UK-based employees will join the Lenbrook team while remaining in the UK. Bob Stuart, MQA’s inventor/founder, will not join Lenbrook as an employee but will serve in an advisory capacity, focusing on MQA and SCL6 product development. Lenbrook says that the licensing model for MQA and SCL6 will not change. The press release noted that record labels, artists, and producers continue to encode and upload new music in MQA to streaming service Tidal daily. Lenbrook describes SCL6, a more recently developed technology from the MQA team, as a “time-domain optimized scalable codec” with applications in wireless audio. “The technology is versatile and also suitable for applications in streaming and broadcast. SCL6 provides studio-quality sound even at low data rates and can be scaled rapidly and without audible interruptions. It is also worth noting that SCL6 is source agnostic, supporting PCM audio as well as MQA.” In an Industry Update in the May 2023 print edition of Stereophile, Julie Mullins discussed SCL6, which at the time was being marketed as “MQair.” Billed as “an advanced codec created to offset wireless streaming’s bit-depth and sample-rate transmission limitations,” Editor Jim Austin has described it as “the equivalent of a Bluetooth audio codec that utilized core MQA ideas.” SCL6 is said to be scalable from below 200kbps to 20Mbps, covering Bluetooth, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), and Wi-Fi connections, supporting datastreams with a sample rate up to 384kHz. Mullins also reported that Lenbrook brand PSB Speakers, which has long made Bluetooth-based noise-canceling headphones, has announced that it will release a headphone in the first quarter of 2024 that incorporates the SCL6 codec via Sonical’s CosmOS, an “ear-computing platform” incorporating a microchip designed for wireless headphones and earbuds. Sonical says that CosmOS uses UWB radio technology that provides a higher data rate and very low latency for more accurate sound and performance, offering potential advantages to headphone manufacturers and users worldwide. ferent experience than the earlier space. In the new townhouse, systems are set up in rooms that would be typical of an upper-middle-class home in Manhattan. Sonus Faber brand ambassador Will Kline gave me a tour, starting with the rooftop, where an array of Sonus Faber Aster outdoor speakers treated New York’s pigeons to a Billie Eilish track. It was Reference Room 2 on the fourth floor where I settled down to a lengthy listening session. This system featured Sonus Faber’s Amati G5 speakers driven by McIntosh MC3500 monoblock amplifiers. The front end was a McIntosh C2700 D/A preamplifier. There was also a McIntosh MCD600 SACD/ CD player and MT10 turntable in the room, but I listened to music sourced from Roon. McIntosh’s MEN220 room correction system was not activated, and I saw no obvious acoustic treatment, yet the sound in this room was lively, uncolored, full-range, and involving. Streamed from Qobuz, a 24/96 track from Translations, my 2020 recording of the Portland State Chamber Choir, was reproduced with a wide, deep soundstage and natural tonal quality. December 2023 Q stereophile.com
Constant Innovation Towards the Highest Level of Sound A full-featured digital amplifier with a wealth of streaming source functions. Now with video connectivity through a low-impact HDMI ARC port that easily integrates into the home hi-fi system. High-quality music and audio from the video source, all with legendary Technics sound—Part our never-ending pursuit of perfection through technological innovation. Hi-Fi Audio Components Speakers Turntables Headphones SU-GX70 Grand Class Network Audio Amplifier Google and Chromecast built-in are trademarks of Google LLC. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners. Apple and AirPlay are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Wi-FI® is a registered trademark of WI-Fi Alliance®.
INDUSTRY UPDATE The next two floors featured “The Jazz Room,” with a system based on Rotel Michi amplification, Sonus Faber Olympica Nova III speakers, and a Pro-Ject X8 Evolution turntable, and the “Disco Room,” which featured Sonus Faber Electa Amator III standmounts, a McIntosh C53 preamp, and a McIntosh MC462 power amplifier. In these rooms, I briefly listened to tracks sourced from Roon, but I was anxious to spend some time in the second-floor Reference Room 1, where McIntosh’s flagship XRT2.1K line-source loudspeakers were being multi-amped with stacks of McIntosh MC2KW monoblocks. The preamp was the two-box C12000, which Sasha Matson favorably reviewed in the November 2023 Stereophile. I don’t have the space to describe the musically overwhelming experience I had in this room, but if you live in New York or are visiting, McIntosh invites music enthusiasts and brand fans “to immerse themselves in its unparalleled audio experience, accessible exclusively through pre-scheduled personal tours, which can be requested by visiting houseofsoundNYC.com.” The one thing you can’t do if you visit the House of Sound is buy something. I asked longtime McIntosh Lab President Charlie Randall: Why not? If it’s not intended as a retail store, what instead is the strategic vision for 357 West 17th Street? “We don’t sell out of here. It’s purely experiential. The whole purpose is to put the products in an environment where people can look and see and feel and touch and hear, kind of like if they were going to be in their home. Our retailers all do a great job. But the House of Sound is a place that they can bring people for a different experience from what they can provide in their store locations. It doesn’t matter if they’re from New York City or Texas or California—all are more than welcome to come in with their high-profile clients and show them what McIntosh and Sonus Faber and the other distributed brands that we have are all about.” What struck me, I told Randall, was that none of the rooms Will Kline took me into resembled a traditional audiophile’s listening room. They looked like regular rooms that happened to have a high-performance, high-end audio system in them. “That’s on purpose,” Randall replied. “Because, when it comes to audio equipment, is it going to look right in the living room? This takes the guesswork out of it. Because here, you can come and see [the components] in multiple rooms that may fit what you’re looking for. Or they may not, but at least you walk away with an impression that it is like furniture—it’s nice to look at as well as great to listen to.” Daniel Pidgeon, CEO of the McIntosh Group, summed up the House of Sound as a way to convert music and film lovers into audio enthusiasts. “There’s something about closing your eyes and indulging in pristine sound that sticks with you. We hope through our immersive product experience hub, we can create that spark for people that makes them want to invest in premium audio equipment.” METAXAS & SINS DEMO AT INNOVATIVE AUDIO and presented by Metaxas & Sins’s new American distributor, Jeff Garshon of Reel Sound Distribution, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I was hoping to see and hear a complete Metaxas system, but that might have to wait for a future show, perhaps High End Munich or AXPONA 2024. What I did hear was Metaxas’s $49,000 “Tourbillon” reel-to-reel machine with Dan D’Agostino amplification and Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX speakers, playing tapes Metaxas recorded himself, plus mix tapes—R2R mix tapes—with tracks by Elton John, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, and Freddie Mercury. Plus, an Analogue Productions tape of Muddy Waters’s Folk Singer, which sounded bell-clear, super-resolved, and 15ips-magnetic-tape solid. As I listened, I realized that this was the first time since the 1980s that I have witnessed reel-to-reel tapes being played in a mainstream New York audio store. That’s a big deal. More amazingly, I realized that this was the first time I’ve experienced R2R tapes being played by a machine that is completely new and manufactured from scratch. That’s a bigger deal. Most of today’s audiophiles, I’m guessing, have never experienced the distinctive sound of a master-quality magnetic tape. I doubt that any audiophiles, including myself, ever envisioned someone in 2023 building a completely new reel-to-reel from scratch. Maybe soon more luxurylevel audio stores will be carrying newly manufactured R2R tape players. The Metaxas Tourbillon I auditioned was a playback-only deck, but $8000 more buys you the option to record. In case you were wondering, as I was: The “Sins” in Metaxas & Sins are Kostas’s sons, Alessandro and Andreas, who build these extraordinary decks by hand. Herb Reichert Netherlands-based engineer and industrial designer Kostas Metaxas founded Metaxas & Sins in 1981 with the purpose of making audio components that would be considered objets d’art: “beautiful to look at, breathtaking to hear—limited-production heirloom components handcrafted from the finest materials and electronics and engineered by a visionary artisan.” I know Kostas Metaxas from his appearances at the High End Munich show and through German friends who speak highly of his amplifiers and preamps. (Metaxas & Sins makes amplifiers, speakers, a turntable, and—well, see below.) What captured my attention was how Metaxas blends engineering with art-object aesthetics. When I first spied his creations, I imagined a Disney fantasy where a roomful of animated CNC machines go Sorcerer’s Apprentice wild. His radically shaped, elegantly drawn components are eye-catching in the extreme. Regrettably, I’d never experienced how they sound playing music— until today, when I attended a listening event sponsored by New York City audio dealer Innovative Audio 18 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
RELENTLESS 800 MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER AFTER SETTING THE MEASURE FOR AMPLIFIER EXCELLENCE with the Relentless Epic 1600 Monoblock, the new Relentless 800 Monoblock extends the Relentless sound quality to a smaller platform. Every major section of the Relentless circuitry—power supply, input, driver, and output stages—has been enhanced in the Relentless 800. Incorporating the same circuit platform as its bigger brother, the power delivery of the Relentless 800 is virtually unlimited, only exceeded by the Relentless Epic 1600 itself. With its nearly 4-kilowatt transformer and 400,000 μF capacitance power supply feeding 84 output devices, the Relentless 800 easily delivers 800 watts into 8 ohms—and when connected to a 220-volt outlet, doubles its output to 1,600 watts into 4 ohms and 3,200 watts into 2 ohms. Nuanced and musical at low volume levels, the Relentless 800 also delivers the striking dynamic contrasts that bring music to life in the tradition of every component from Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems. dandagostino.com © 2023 DAN D’AGOSTINO MASTER AUDIO SYSTEMS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
INDUSTRY UPDATE THE MASTERING GOAT RETIRES Tom Fine On June 30, a seismic shift occurred in the music production world. Bob Ludwig, legitimate owner of the title of Greatest of All Time Mastering Engineer,1 stopped taking new work. By the time you read this, he will be finishing his last projects and heading into retirement. His one-ofa-kind facility, Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine, is closing its doors. Shortly after he announced his retirement, Bob and I spoke for nearly nine hours. We went wide and deep into his life and career. The full interview was published on Stereophile’s website in August.2 We covered his favorite albums and tracks (tinyurl.com/LudwigsChoiceCuts), his personal life, home listening systems (tinyurl. com/LudwigAtHome), and his trophy case (tinyurl.com/LudwigsTrophyCase). He also detailed how mastering and monitoring gear has changed over the decades (tinyurl. com/LudwigMasteringMonitoring) and described all the different digital technologies he has used over the years (tinyurl. com/LudwigDigitalDevices). DAN D’AGOSTINO AUDIO PRESENTS THE US DEBUT OF THE RELENTLESS 800 MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER BOB LUDWIG PHOTO BY PETER LUEHR; BILL MCKIEGAN PHOTO BY JOHN ATKINSON Jim Austin One of the more audacious product introductions in recent years was of the Dan D’Agostino Relentless monoblock amplifiers. The imposing Relentless amps—the “Epic” version replaced the original Relentless earlier this year— weigh 570lb each. They are long like a sports car or cigar speedboat—more than 32" long, so forget about putting them on standard amplifier stands. Inside, they have 112 output devices and are rated at 6000W into 2 ohms and peak current of 400A. Maximum power consumption is rated at 10kW. Last time we checked, the retail price of the Relentless Epic was $349,000/pair—Epic indeed. Owners of the original Relentless can upgrade to Epic 20 Safe to say, every Stereophile reader has heard Bob Ludwig’s work and probably owns some of it. He put the final sonic touches on thousands of singles and albums dating from mono, 45rpm singles cut at the legendary A&R Studios in New York to high-resolution surround-sound music video projects, SACDs, and currentday streaming hits at Gateway. In between, he helped grow early-days Sterling Sound and then helped establish Masterdisk. Among his final projects were Metallica’s 72 Seasons and Wilco’s Cousin. What exactly does a mastering engineer status for the difference in price: $25,000 for each monoblock. At a September event at Innovative Audio in Manhattan, D’Agostino’s Bill McKiegan presented the US premiere of a smaller Relentless, the Relentless 800. do? Ludwig described it like this: “I hear the sound [of the master recording or mix-down tape]. I imagine in my head how I think it ought to sound. And then I know what knobs to move to make it sound like it does in my head.” Clear as mud! But how would an artist describe their painting except to say, “It looks like it should”? Ludwig plans to sell the building, which includes residential quarters above the studio. He is selling most of his equipment. Throughout our conversations, Ludwig emphasized how thankful he is for a long career doing something he loves: “Life in general has been just amazing for me. I feel I’m a very happy person. I’ve had some health issues here and there, but I’m doing pretty well today.” May the GOAT have a long and joyous retirement. 1 Other mastering engineers have had decades-long careers and many hits to their credit: Bernie Grundman; Ted Jensen and Greg Calbi of Sterling Sound; the late Doug Sax of The Mastering Lab; the late George Piros of Fine Recording and Atlantic Records; the late George Marino of Record Plant and Sterling Sound. And so on. But, when asked to pick the Greatest of All Time, Ludwig seems the obvious choice. 2 See tinyurl.com/BobLudwigPart1 and tinyurl.com/ BobLudwigPart2. “800” in the product name represents the newer monoblock’s output into 8 ohms: a healthy 800W. According to the specifications, its 84 fast transistors allow it to double down twice to deliver 3200W into 2 ohms. Higher-voltage power rails in the earlier amplification stages are said to “turbocharge” the amplifier. All circuitry is discrete, direct-coupled, and fully balanced. Like its Epic big brother, the Relentless 800 is feedback-free. Compared to the Epic, the 800 is petite; in his show report from High End Munich 2023, JVS called it the “baby Relentless.” It’s a big baby, weighing in at 320lb each. Size-wise, it’s not that much bigger than normal-sized amplifiers—just 26" deep— and it costs a mere $195,500/ pair. How did the 800 fare at the event? I was busy, but by all accounts, it had little trouble driving the Wilson Audio Specialties XVX. Q December 2023 Q stereophile.com
An American in Germany? T66 and the author are from the US — but the speaker’s performance and the comments about GoldenEar at the Munich High-End show are for all mankind: The big AudioQuest room with Rockport speakers was typically fantastic — AQ has a habit of putting their all into the entire system in their exhibit rooms so that you can hear everything that the cables are doing (or, more importantly, not doing). But it was the smaller AudioQuest and GoldenEar room that really captured my attention thanks to a new and very slim pair of GoldenEar T66s. – Marc Phillips, Part-Time Audiophile Get to know the T66. We believe it will also capture your attention. An all-new GoldenEar floorstander with powered bass. Available now.
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS BY HERB REICHERT EXPLORING THE ANALOG ADVENTURE THIS ISSUE: Herb goes down the idler-drive rabbit hole via a newly acquired Lenco L75 and tries out the QHZ(92SKRQRSUHDPSOLࢉHUIURP3ULPD/XQD The importance of taste M y adoptive mother, Lily Mae, was a retired businesswoman and former fashion model turned stay-at-home mom and artist-painter with famously good taste in everything. She raised me to have good manners, an “active awareness of color and texture,” and “an eye for form.” She expected me to critique her paintings, her decorating, and her wardrobe, urging me constantly to develop “good taste in everything.” In Lil’s world, a perfect day was for me to skip school and go with her clothes shopping at Marshall Field’s, where it was my job to sit in a plush chair offering comments about which outfits had the best fabrics and best “complimented her form.” She always said “form is bones” and fashion is about “how fabrics hang on people’s bones.” After lunch at Field’s, we’d have tea at her artist friend Selma’s house. After tea and perusing fancy art books in the living room, we’d move to the dining room, where Selma would show us the latest additions to her blue-onion porcelain collection. After admiring Selma’s dishes, we would move to her back porch painting studio. There, it was my job to notice which paintings were new since our last visit. When I cut school with Mom, my days were devoted to sitting up straight, never looking bored, and noticing how various luxury objects met my eye. My mother equated good taste with “good breeding” and intelligence. On the way home from Selma’s, Lil would always compliment me on being “a good shopping partner”—but that was only a preface to her standard lecture on how book-learning, manners, and refined taste “get you a seat at the best tables.” Invariably, she would conclude these class-consciousness sermons saying, “Anybody can have money, but only ‘smart’ people have taste.” Mom never let me forget that having money creates the need for taste. Lily Mae Iverson was born in 1907, so I presumed every mother who survived two world wars, a plague, and the Depression lectured their sons like that. Fortunately, her admonishments served me well. They became the building blocks for my own version of her philosophy: What I give my attention to, and what I aspire to understand, reflects the kind of person I am choosing to be. For me, taste is literally the thought matrix of all the things I’ve chosen to regard as important. him to MoMA to see art, all he saw was the pipes. Second, I see it through the eyes of an artist like my mom, who let me cut school so she could show me her favorite paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago. After I started painting, we had a show together in Chicago. At the opening, she told one of her collectors, “Pay no attention to his work, he has scrambled brains,” alluding to my use of lysergic acid diethylamide. Naturally, I grew up to love art and pipes as much as mountains, forests, bodies of water, and violent weather—but none of those things do I now love more than cars, trains, trucks, motorcycles, and boats. To my last breath, I will aspire to having good taste in everything that moves under power. I love watching long trains at railroad crossings and get excited when I spot a prime specimen of a Mack or Peterbilt truck. I love old tractors and the sounds of two-stroke dirt bikes when they downshift in corners. I love watching torque making stuff move. Right now, my desire to watch torque in action has me exploring a mechanical subcategory of vintage audio gear referred to as idler-drive turntables. I’ve owned a variety of idler drives including my first turntable, a four-speed Dual 1009, a few Garrard 301s, an Elac Miracord 40, and I’ve never been without at least one Thorens TD124. But… Unlike many of my friends, I never considered idler drives to be inherently superior to direct or belt drives. For years, my Denon DP-3000 direct drive sat right next to my Linn Sondek LP12 belt drive. I never thought to compare them as examples of their drive types. The notion of advocating for or believing in one form of technology over another never appealed to me—until one day last February when I heard my friend Yale’s system sourced by his massive EMT 930 turntable with an EMT arm and cartridge. More than any system I’d ever heard, that system, playing Yale’s really Garages and museums I view audio gear first through the eyes of a mechanic like my dad, who, when I took stereophile.com Q December 2023 23
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS good records, made my toes tap uncontrollably and kept my mind locked into the music. My experience at Yale’s lent serious credibility to his claim that “idlers are close to god” and set me on the path of discovery I’m now on—the path where I can’t afford an EMT 930, or for now, a professional rebuild of my 1957 TD124, but I could and did afford a preowned, made-in-Switzerland Lenco L75. Lenco’s rhythm-keeping holiness Experiencing Yale’s drool-worthy EMT 930, followed by my time spent with PTP Audio’s Solid9 Lenco-based turntable,1 forced my mind to wonder: Why do idler drives inspire such fanatical devotion in their adherents? Do believers actually feel some kind of god force behind the hightorque motors, sturdy rubber idler wheels, and heavy platters? Could pushing a platter feel different to a listener, or be a more effective use of motor torque, than pulling with a rubber lead? When the Solid9 departed, I decided to see if a stock Lenco L75 could be as exciting and PRaTish as the PTP or EMT. And because I’m a lucky guy, no sooner had I made that decision than a friend of a friend offered me his stock Lenco L75 for $750. I said yes immediately, and two days later, a 1969 L75 was sitting on my rack looking fresh and only slightly used. It came in its original box, with its original plinth, tonearm, and owner’s manual. Best of all, I could start playing it immediately because it had been recently “refreshed” by turntable specialist Michael Trei, who tweaked and adjusted the drive system, oiled the platter bearing, and replaced the tonearm’s rubber V-blocks with new brass ones.2 The only nonstock parts on the L75 were a bendably soft after-market aluminum headshell and Shure’s iconic M3D “Stereo Dynetic” cartridge, which Shure introduced in 1958 and which, according to Shure’s advertising, was the world’s first “Dynetic” (moving magnet) cartridge. I tried running the M3D into the moving magnet inputs of the SunValley SV-EQ1616D and PrimaLuna’s new EVO 100 phono stage. It sounded the most fluid and detailed through the 10-tube PrimaLuna (see the description below) and the most tone-correct through the four-tube SunValley equipped with smooth-plate Telefunken 12AX7s. Inexplicably, with both preamps I noticed a faint, grainy hiss that haunted the background of whatever disc the cartridge was playing. This noise wasn’t obvious, and it wasn’t hum. It seemed magnetic. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I swapped in an AudioTechnica VM95E moving magnet cartridge, which dramatically raised the Lenco’s excitement factor, manufacturing slurries of quick-punching, hard-hitting bass and an upper-octave transparency that made the Gen-X Lenco sound young, smartly dressed, and fully caffeinated. My Lenco fun had begun. With the VM95E, recordings were presented with bright, clear, noise-free excitements, but vocal and instrumental tones were not as dense, intense, or realsounding as they had been with the Shure M3D, which showed real talent in those areas. Noticing that caused me to remember how solid and colorful the PTP Solid9—an extensively rebuilt Lenco—with the Sorane SA1-2 arm sounded with a stock, plasticbodied, moving coil Denon DL-103. The quality of my Lenco listening jumped up several levels when I installed the 40 ohm, 0.3mV DL-103. This cartridgetonearm marriage was ordained by the same god that blesses idler drives. At first, I connected the 103’s output to the SunValley SV-EQ16161D’s moving coil input, which is loaded with a 50 ohm shunt. That’s a 40 ohm cartridge driving a 50 ohm load! With the SunValley and its 50 ohm load, I heard a tsunami of naturally presented low-level detail, strong rhythms, and a
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS more Duke and Mel star power. Distortion seemed lower. Which made me wonder if over all those boomer-decades my brain had adapted to the brighter, higher-presence sound of the generally accepted load of 300–400 ohms. Or maybe at 50 ohms, some Lenz’s law damping was helping the Denon’s conical stylus ride the groove better? More questions I can’t answer. Dave Slagle has used AnalogMagik software and test records to show that loading the DL-103 down lowers its IM distortion measurably, and that this added damping improves trackability.3 This Lenco-Denon-SunValley front end did a fantastic job representing the voices and the hip sentiments of Duke Ellington 1 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-73-ptpaudio-solid9-turntable-sorane-sa-12-tonearm. 2 See lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=13.0. benign, rolled-off top end. Response-wise, the 50 ohm load caused some of the Denon’s 4kHz energy to move down to 400Hz. The sound with this nearly 1:1 loading lacked the transient edge and brightness and fast, sharp resolution I’ve come to associate with punchy moving coil dynamics, but over time my brain adapted to this unusually rich and relaxed sound. Duke Ellington’s Blues in Orbit (Columbia MOVLP 443) and Mel Tormé at the Crescendo (Bethlehem BCP 6020) sounded quieter, easier flowing, with 3 Recently, Herb’s claim led to an interesting three-way exchange between Herb, JCA, and EMIA’s Dave Slagle. Herb and Slagle both pointed to a 1980 paper by Peter Moncrieff, published in the International Audio Review, which concluded on the basis of actual experiment that when a resistor loads a phono cartridge directly—not via a step-up transformer—it doesn’t affect the bandwidth or damp resonant peaks (which in any case, with an MC cartridge, are very high in frequency) as is, or was, commonly assumed. Slagle has corroborated Moncrieff ’s result. What loading does do, Moncrieff discovered, is reduce intermodulation distortion. The mechanism is uncertain, but Moncrieff speculates that it could be due to electromagnetic damping of subtle cartridge mistracking—hence Herb’s reference to Lenz’s law in the previous paragraph.—Jim Austin
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS and Mel Tormé, but how would it do with a more earthbound poet like Louis-Jacques Rondeleux? Troubadours, his fantastic album of secular 12th and 13th century song (Harmonia Mundi France HM 566), is a record I use to get a preliminary read on a new cartridge. With the SunValley at 50 ohms, Rondeleux’s baritone was presented in a strikingly vibrant manner. Roger Lepauw’s vielle (a largish, violinlike fivestringed instrument) came through pure of tone and LSD-detailed against deep, silent, black backgrounds. The Lenco’s reproduction of the somber tones and hesitant pace of Rondeleux’s singing made this recording a high point of my early Lenco listening. When I grew out of shopping with mom, I began fitting pipe with my father and making hay every June with my uncles. Before I drove cars, I drove tractors in Wisconsin. The fields with the cut hay were about a half-mile from the shed where the tractors were stored, which meant I drove on the paved road dragging an empty wood wagon behind me. In one of the upper gears, with the throttle partway open, I’d space out listening to the deep-volumed rap-rap-rap of power issuing from the tractor’s exhaust stack while making my way slowly up and down the rolling hills. The tractor’s mass was so large, its torque so great, its gearing so stiff that its speed never seemed to waver. This sensation of inertia produced a calming, trance-inducing effect that I’m feeling once again while playing records on the Lenco. Now I’m wondering if this tangible sense of inertia is what makes idler drives so devotion-worthy. Alone at night, I swear I can sometimes feel the Lenco’s geared-down idler exerting its forward pressure on the platter’s rotation. This sensation of pressure was easiest to observe on quiet solo piano and chamber music recordings. This is something I don’t remember noticing with low-torque direct drives, or generic belt drives, where each belt-platter combination affects the sound differently, depending on how heavy the platter is and how many horses are pulling its belt. When a stylus is traversing the groove and a loud passage comes, the heavier platter will slow down less, but it will always slow down a little if the torque is insufficient for a fast response. I know the reality of these spinningplatter epiphenomena is debatable and that my experiences of them are borderline subliminal. But if you’ve ever driven a tractor on blacktop, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’m sitting here watching myself falling into a rabbit hole named Lenco that feels a lot like one of those project cars of my youth, a time when I could hang over a fender for hours and break-dance on a creeper. But for geezer Herb, this L75 is the right size, shape, and weight and requires the right size tools for me to pretend I’m working on a project car—without the oilstained garage floor, sore back, or barked knuckles. Maybe I’ll try hot-rodding it with a tonearm swap next. 35,0$/81$Ȇ6(92ৰ৯৯3+21267$*( As I experimented with cartridges on the Lenco, I was reminded how almost all commercially available phono stages use either a step-up transformer or a JFET at the input of their moving coil circuit. Almost none of the world’s tubed phono stages have a tube at the moving coil input. One of those very few, PrimaLuna’s new EVO 100, was in a box in my hallway begging to be connected to my Lenco-Denon DL-103 setup. As I unpacked the heavy, triple-boxed PrimaLuna, I thought how few tube phono preamps have tube rectification and how even fewer have tube-regulated power supplies. PrimaLuna’s $3695 EVO 100 features all these deluxe tube accoutrements: dual-mono 5AR4 tube rectification; dualmono choke-input EL34-regulated power supplies; and two 12AX7 twin triodes per channel for the RIAA stage and one 6922 twin triode per channel for its moving coil input stage, which sits in its own shielded, cushioned box at the back of the preamp, just above the input jacks. I’m always saying how everything sounds like what it’s made of, and how this applies to vacuum tubes and power supplies as much as it does to transformers, resistors, capacitors, or wire. The more tubes there are in an amplifier’s circuitry, the more likely it will sound liquid and radiant—like tubes. The bigger and more responsive its power supply, the more the amplifier will weigh and the more punch, liquidity, depth, and dimensionality it will deliver. I was intrigued and excited to audition PrimaLuna’s EVO 100 phono preamp because the last time I experienced a tubed input for a moving coil was in the early 1990s when I built a few Arthur Loesch phono stages that used a separate power transformer, tube rectifier, and chokeinput, high-capacitance power supply for each of its six WE417A tubes. PrimaLuna’s EVO 100 takes the Loesch preamp’s extremism even further. It is built on an octal-tube–rectified, powertube–regulated power supply. I wanted to see how that combination of expensive-toimplement features would contribute to the sound of my system using low-output cartridges. The EVO 100 looks like a narrower version of the company’s $5295 EVO 400 preamplifier (11" vs 15" wide), which I reviewed in June 2019. The EVO 100 weighs 27.9lb. Together, these two components make a unique 81.9lb, 18-tube, $8999 preamp/ phono stage combo that was, by virtue of these engineering choices, guaranteed to sound different than any previous phono amplification I’ve used since I started writing for Stereophile. When I wrote, a few paragraphs ago, that “the more tubes there are in an amplifier’s circuitry, the more it will sound liquid and radiant—like tubes,” I did not mean to 26 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
R 8 ARRETÉ Find you local dealer at audiovector.com/where-to-buy
GRAMOPHONE DREAMS imply that more tubes automatically mean better sound. In fact, I was hinting that “too much of a good thing” might apply here: 18 tubes in front of a tubed power amplifier might be too many. The reason I’ve never favored tubes or transistors is that too many of either is like too much butter or salt. Historically, I’ve preferred a transistor preamp with a tube-based power amp, or vice-versa, depending on the speakers. I call this “yin-yang-ing suppleness” because I don’t like my music to sound tubey or transistory. When I first heard about it, I began wondering whether the EVO 100 could somehow become my new reference phono stage. Despite having only one input (a major defect at this price point), it has done that. Loading and gain are selectable from the front panel. Its five MC loading choices—50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 ohms— are well-chosen. The gain choices—40dB for MM, 52, 56, and 60dB for MC—make it convenient for someone who changes cartridges often, as I do. I wish there was 10dB more gain, but that might be pushing the noise factor too far. In concert, these loading and gain choices should properly serve any moving coil cartridge with an output of 0.3mV to 0.6mV without overloading on loud transients.4 Tube forest wonderland The minute I got it, I connected up the EVO 100. I tried it with the Denon DL-103 on the Lenco and with EMT’s JSD 6 moving coil cartridge and EMT 912 tonearm on my Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable. The results were disappointing. I thought the PrimaLuna made both cartridges sound off, or at least not like they sounded with my Tavish or SunValley preamps. But PrimaLuna importer Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio had already warned me that the EVO needs three days powered on to sound its best, so I reinstalled the SunValley equalizer and left the EVO 100 plugged in and turned on for seven days. After really digging the Denon DL-103 with the 50 ohm JFET load on the EQ1616D, I was curious to see how the Denon would respond to a “tube” 50 ohm load like the one on the PrimaLuna. Dang me if the fully warmed-up EVO didn’t up the 103’s dynamics and vividosity by at least 50%. I’ve loaded the DL-103 in every imaginable way, and I still prefer it with my EMIA SUT, but the EVO 100 at 50 ohms sounded surprisingly musical and engaging. Then I played Duke Ellington’s Blues in Orbit (Columbia MOVLP 443) with EMT’s JSD 6 into the EVO 100, loaded at 200 ohms. I’ve heard that record a thousand times, on some of the world’s most expensive 28 turntables, sporting $10k+ cartridges, and I can’t say it ever sounded bigger, bolder, richer, faster, or more thrilling than it did through PrimaLuna’s all-tube phono stage. The PrimaLuna completely eliminated the JSD 6’s tendency to sound tight and analytical, giving me instead a cartridge–phono stage combination that was both lush and heart-pounding fun. Because the tube input EVO 100 sounds so different from generic JFET stages, I fear many audiophiles will hear it once, pass judgment, and move on. They’d be missing the cake and ice cream at the end of the party. I don’t exactly know what is changing while an amp is cooking for days, but I do know that Kevin Deal was right: The EVO 100 needs to be left on 24/7 for at least three days to sound as bold and magic-mushroom wonderous as what I just experienced with the EMT JSD 6. The JSD 6–EVO 100 combo produced room-filling, big-wave power and sublime clarity. It made me feel like I could see to the bottom of a deep crater lake filled with perfectly clear water. It’s impossible to be sure, but I attribute this largely to the EVO’s tube-rectified, tube-regulated power supply. It takes more than a giant power transformer and a ton of capacitance to make a responsive power supply that doesn’t lose small-signal data and generalize big-signal data. That much deep-water clarity and big-wave power production felt new to my senses. The sound character was all-tube in a way I was uncomfortable with at first. But PrimaLuna’s uncompromised power supply and high-transconductance 6922 tubes at its MC input forced me to recalibrate my JFET/SUT–informed taste to accommodate a radically different, new type of sound I had not previously imagined. Like the Heretic AD614 speakers, which thrill me more with each passing day, the EVO 100 is a revelation, and, for the moment at least, my new reference phono stage. But please remember, neither of these products were designed to sound like anything we’ve ever heard before. If it ain’t one thing, it’s the mother To keep my tastes evolving, I try to listen with a child’s mind, wherein I don’t care who made the audio equipment, when it was made, how much it costs, or how it measures. I only care if it looks cool, sounds like real humans making music, and, most importantly, if I feel pleasure and contentment while it’s playing my records. The Gen-X Lenco L75 with the baby boomer Denon DL-103 and PrimaLuna’s brand-new, all-tube EVO 100 excelled at all these things. My plan for next month: to compare PrimaLuna’s EVO 100 to Mobile Fidelity’s new MasterPhono solid state phono stage. Q 4 See hifinews.com/content/primaluna-evo-100-tubephono-preamplifier-making-headroom. CONTACTS PrimaLuna USA/Upscale Distribution 1712 Corrigan Ct. La Verne, CA 91750 Tel: (909) 310-8540 Email: info@upscaleaudio.com Web: upscaledistribution.com December 2023 Q stereophile.com
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BRILLIANT CORNERS PEERING INTO HI-FI’S BACK ALLEYS AND DUSTY NOOKS BY ALEX HALBERSTADT THIS ISSUE: A DAC and a streamer from France’s Totaldac. Presence, pleasure, and digital from France T o misquote Morrissey, some knobs are better than others. The Manley Neo-Classic 300B amplifiers that I’ve been listening to, for example, have a knob marked “feedback” that goes from 0 to 10. I’ve learned so much from using it that I’ve come to believe that if your amp doesn’t have such a knob, it should. You see, the higher you set this control, the better the amp will measure. Applying more global negative feedback to these amps lowers their nonlinear distortion and noisefloor, increases their bandwidth, renders them less sensitive to the speaker’s impedance variations, and otherwise makes them more linear, stable, and efficient. In fact, by applying lots of feedback to an amplifier, it’s possible to reduce distortion to barely measurable levels. So what’s the problem? Well, a few turns of the knob suggest that negative feedback isn’t as useful as it appears on paper. The Manley website urges the listener to dial in a “tasteful amount of feedback.” For me, that’s about 3dB, which tightens the bass without affecting the listening experience adversely. But turning the knob past 3dB progressively reduces my ability to enjoy the music: It robs it of color, texture, presence, and drama until these ravishing tube monoblocks begin to remind me of a receiver from the early years of solid state. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but you get the idea. As it reduces the total amount of distortion, negative feedback adds higher order harmonics that sound nothing like the simple harmonics we associate with musical instruments,1 and after a while the brain begins to call bullshit on the idea that dialing in more of it is bringing us closer to the recording. The knob on the Manley amps makes these relationships—which usually reach audiophiles mainly in the form of theory and opinions—audible to anyone with ears. Feedback is a large and complex topic, but I’m bringing it up to poke at the question of purpose: What is an amplifier’s job? Swiss industrial designer Max Bill, who is best known for the Bauhaus-inspired clocks and watches he designed in the 1950s, once said, “The basis of any aesthetics should, above all, be function. An exemplary object should serve its purpose under all circumstances.” I own one of the minimalist mechanical watches Bill designed for German watchmaker Junghans, and I enjoy wearing it because it is beautiful. I would argue that being beautiful is in fact its purpose—a $10 quartz watch and my phone both tell the time more accurately and reliably. A home audio component works the same way. Its purpose isn’t to play back music accurately—however you might define stereophile.com Q December 2023 that—but to provide enjoyment. And by enjoyment, I mean the feelings of pleasure, surprise, and inspiration that can arise as you listen to your hi-fi. About this basic truth, a friend who works in the audio business recently remarked that what he sells are “basically expensive sex toys.” He didn’t mean this as a knock on our hobby—quite the opposite, in fact. How many things do you own that reliably give you pleasure? While submerging an amplifier circuit in gobs of negative feedback increases some types of measurable accuracy, it also demonstrably reduces its capacity to provide enjoyment, at least for me. And unless John Atkinson has been keeping it to himself, I’m not aware of a suite of measurements that measure a component’s intrinsic listening satisfaction. The disconnect between measured performance and listening has been on my mind for the past several months as I auditioned digital components from Totaldac. DACs in particular are overachievers when it comes to measurable accuracy; even the DAC chip in my long-since-retired iPhone 4S sounded surprisingly, consistently competent, especially when you consider its minuscule size and cost. But digital sources continue to struggle with providing pleasure—the kind of juicy, watermelon-in-anice-bucket-on-a-hot-August-day pleasure that you can experience by listening to, say, a 60-year-old 45 of the Fendermen playing “Mule Skinner Blues.” Many DACs nail resolution, transparency, frequency extension, smoothness, imaging, and dynamic muscle, but nearly all— even the very expensive ones—fall short of achieving tonal density, of pressurizing the air in the manner of a good record player or an actual musical instrument, which is sensed by our bodies as physical presence. Most of them tend to turn half-and-half into skim milk. And some particularly unsuccessful ones make the music so insubstantial that it feels like it’s playing from behind a sheet of glass. For me, the sense of weight, texture, and presence is a big part of what makes reproduced music sound real—and real fun. I don’t know how one might go about measuring presence, but you sure sense it when it’s gone. And I have never been 1 See, for example, solid state designer Nelson Pass’s take at passlabs.com/technical_article/audio-distortion-andfeedback. 31
BRILLIANT CORNERS entirely convinced by DACs that use tubes in the output section to add back a measure of this missing goodness. In Brittany, near the tidal island of Mont Saint-Michel, Totaldac’s Vincent Brient has been trying to redress this situation through a rather extreme approach to designing digital components. “Listening to digital should remind the listener of real concerts,” he wrote to me in a recent email, “where [listeners] are constantly surprised by timbres, dynamics, presence, contrast, and frequency bandwidth. It should not be just an analytical and visual experience, with nothing more than a soundstage. After all, when a musician is playing in the next room, you don’t have a soundstage, but the sound is still magic.” Brient’s solution is to create DACs using R-2R networks instead of integrated chipsets. These networks are made of Vishay metal-foil resistors with a variation tolerance of 0.01%. As you might imagine, these high-precision devices aren’t cheap, and the Totaldac d1-unity DAC I’ve been listening to contains 100 of them (whereas the four-box d1-sublime DAC, which I heard and enjoyed in Munich, uses 600!). Given that the d1-unity boasts no exotic digital filters, features, or technologies—it tops out at a resolution of 24/192 and offers DSD as an option at extra cost—and goes for an impressive €11,500, my hopes for its sound quality were rather high. Before I get to that, I should mention that the d1-unity’s compact, elegant black box, which comes with a small outboard power supply and weighs an unassuming 15lb, also arrives shorn of frills. Besides a rather plain plastic remote, there’s not much to talk about. Until 2012, Totaldac didn’t offer a USB input. It does now, using technology from XMOS, though I found the AES3 input to sound pleasantly meatier and more colorful. Brient also sent me his d1-streamersublime (€9100), which offers a network input and the expected digital outputs and functions as a Roon endpoint, which is how I used it. It also tops out at 24/192, and it passes DSD via DoP. Its streamer and reclocker boards, as well as its software, were designed in house. Except where noted, I listened to the d1-unity DAC and d1streamer-sublime together. And one note about the cables that were thoughtfully included with these components: Though the Totaldac AES3 and Ethernet cables look impressively constructed, I preferred the sound of my AudioQuest Diamond alternatives by a clear margin. I started listening with a stream of the soundtrack to Todd Haynes’s 2007 film I’m Not There (16/44.1 FLAC, Sony/Qobuz), in which six actors—including Cate Blanchett!—play Bob Dylan. The soundtrack is a Dylan tribute album full of unusually inspired casting decisions and surprising arrangements. A favorite is “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power),” performed by Willie Nelson and Calexico with a verse in Spanish sung by Mexican-American troubadour Salvador Duran. I first got a feel for the Totaldac’s talents during Nelson’s guitar solo. I’ve heard him play Trigger, his Martin N-20 acoustic guitar with a hole worn through the soundboard just above the bridge, on dozens of recordings and in person. Through the d1-unity, the instrument’s unmistakable sound came through with all of its nylon-string pluck and woodiness intact. But the guitar body also sounded rich, dense, and distinctly solid, as it does through a good record player and on stage. Hearing it hanging between my speakers produced what my brain had assumed was a distinctly analog thrill. The French DAC was allowing me to revel in one of the most fun illusions of reproduced music—the realistic presence of voices and instruments— using a digital signal. This was cool! On “Ring Them Bells,” from the same album, Sufjan Stevens’s band-geek arrangement features more than a dozen instru- Hear True-to-the-Source Sound MoFi UltraDeck
BRILLIANT CORNERS ments including a viola, French horn, lap steel, and electric drums, sometimes playing loudly in unison and sometimes creating a floral setting for his delicate tenor voice, which here was thankfully recorded without the usual heavy reverb and overdubs. The d1-unity rendered the instruments with vivid tone color remarkable for a digital source, which lent the playing an unusual amount of beauty and realism. The astonishing electric guitar solo by Bryce Dessner of the National sounded so gorgeous that I listened to the track three times in row. No amount of harmonic richness can make up for a lack of resolution, and here the Totaldac didn’t disappoint. The Rain (16/44.1 FLAC, ECM/Qobuz) documents a live performance by Indian–Iranian ensemble Ghazal. The mid-tempo “Dawn” is a conversation between Shujaat Husain Khan’s sitar and Kayhan Kalhor’s kamancheh, a husky-sounding Iranian string instrument played with a variable-tension bow. Punctuated by Sandeep Das’s tabla, the two main instruments argue, lament, egg each other on, and engage in what sounds like prayer. The recording captures the live acoustic brilliantly, and the d1-unity was so adept at resolving the instruments’ reverb trails that at times the music sounded almost orchestral. Hearing Khan’s soft vocal come in midway through this ravishing music was downright startling. The Totaldac’s unusual combination of physical solidity, vivid color retrieval, microbe-level resolution, and ability to home in on and reveal musical meaning made me reach for recordings that sound flattened and uninspiring through other digital sources. Since saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s death in March, I have been listening nearly constantly to his body of work. His restless experimentation with form and genre and his world-class songwriting sometimes had the effect of obscuring the childlike sense of wonder at the core of his playing, as well as his ability to produce an unprecedented range of tone colors, particularly on soprano. Joni Mitchell, who appeared with Shorter on 10 albums over the course of 36 years, has likened him to a paint brush. On his solo on “Ponta de Areia” from his 1975 album Native Dancer (16/44.1 FLAC, Columbia/Qobuz), a collaboration with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento, Shorter plays the soprano with the curiosity, stylistic freedom, and palpable sense of delight that would characterize the best Rega Planar 6 Fender x MoFi PrecisionDeck Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO Marantz TT-15 Clearaudio Concept Air VPI 2022 Classic Signature 312-433-0200 CHeck ouT our New CaTaLog! Call for a free copy
BRILLIANT CORNERS of his late-career recordings. The d1-unity decoded it with a physicality, vibrancy, and emotional urgency that I simply don’t associate with digital sources. To see how much the d1-sublime-streamer was adding to this delightful illusion, I replaced it with my own streamer: the much less expensive and kludgier combination of the Sonore ultraRendu and Denafrips Iris digital-to-digital converter (the latter to enable an AES3 connection to the d1-unity). The resulting sound was possibly a hair more forceful but also audibly less refined and purposeful. The meaning of the music was less obvious, and everything sounded just a bit more mechanical. Still, the fleshy, resolute, Technicolor character of the d1unity remained, and I came away thinking that the Totaldac streamer is not an absolute necessity for enjoying the company’s distinct house sound. The 12-year-old inside me sometimes gets riled by childish questions. Here’s the one he wanted answered while we were living with the Totaldac combo: Does it produce the organic textures, whomp, and utter juiciness of the Garrard 301 record player that was sitting on the shelf above it? 2 You probably know the answer, but I’ll tell you anyway. No, it doesn’t, not quite, but it does make music sound more unrestrained and physically believable than any digital front end I’ve heard (save for Totaldac’s top-of-the-line decoder, which I mentioned earlier). It reminded me a little of the decidedly odd Lejonklou Källa, which may be even more engaging, though not as colorful and present, and is far more limited in operation. For those of us who struggle with enjoying digital sound at home—from anecdotal evidence, there are still more than a few of us around—the Totaldac d1-unity just may change your listening habits and enlarge your musical libraries. Machines capable of playing millions of tracks without physical media have been around for a while, and some happen to sound pretty great. 2 The Garrard was equipped with a Schick 12" tonearm and a Miyajima Zero Mono phono cartridge. 34 JUST AS THE SUMMER HEAT WAS HEADING INTO ITS LAST SWOON, I GOT AN EMAIL FROM STEREOPHILE EDITOR JIM AUSTIN. “FYI, for obvious reasons,” it read. Below was an announcement that Craft Recordings, the reissue label for Concord Recorded Music, was releasing Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners as part of its Small Batch vinyl series. According to Craft, new one-step AAA lacquers from Bernie Grundman were used to press a limited run at RTI using a fancy vinyl compound called VR900. There would be a “linen-wrapped, foilstamped slipcase” and a “per household limit of two copies.” Oh, and it would cost $109, placing it into the rarefied realm of super amazing reissues. I’ve waxed cranky about reissues in these pages before—all the while realizing that finding fault with a renaissance of excellent-sounding music on vinyl may sound a bit ungracious. Still, I continue to find some reissues to simply not be up to the sonic thrills of the original vinyl, marketing claims and slipcases notwithstanding. In some cases, the records chosen for rerelease are so easily found on the resale market, or so musically lackluster, or both, that they beg the question of why anyone bothered. With due respect to Atlantic Records, who exactly was clamoring for their recent 180gm vinyl reissue of Phil Collins’s No Jacket Required? Brilliant Corners is something else entirely. An undisputed masterpiece, it captures Monk at his compositional peak, playing with an inventiveness and energy that would begin to drift after his move to Columbia Records in 1962. The original mono recording was released by Riverside, a company known for historic sides by Monk, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, and Wes Montgomery—and also for its records’ decidedly pedestrian sound. And some of the original Riverside LPs on my shelves also number among the noisiest records I own. According to music writer Ashley Kahn’s insightful liner notes, included in the Craft Recordings reissue, one reason had to do with Riverside’s decision, in 1956, to stop using Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, New Jersey, studio and move their sessions to Reeves Sound Studio, a reasonably priced outfit on 44th Street in Manhattan best known for recording advertising spots for radio. That’s where engineer Jack Higgins captured the 1957 sessions that would become Brilliant Corners using a process billed rather optimistically on the record cover as “Riverside-Reeves Spectrosonic HighFidelity Engineering.” To make matters worse, Riverside didn’t allot a budget for rehearsals, and Monk’s difficult title track required 25 takes, one of which reportedly ended in fisticuffs, and which had to be edited together by producer Orrin Keepnews into the final version. To get a measure of the Craft reissue, I compared it with a 1961 Riverside pressing and a 1976 pressing from Victor Musical Industries of Yokohama, Japan. Though in pristine condition, the Riverside sounded forceful and dynamic but also somewhat coarse and pitchy. On the title track, it added a sharpness and sourness to Sonny Rollins’s and Ernie Henry’s saxophones, while Oscar Pettiford’s bass sounded a bit recessed. The decay of the piano notes December 2023 Q stereophile.com
BRILLIANT CORNERS was truncated as well. This challenging, occasionally strident music wasn’t helped by the record’s challenging, strident sound—listening to the Riverside proved borderline unpleasant. These issues were sorted out on the Victor: The horns were more correct, and the bass came forward, though the recording, like many Japanese reissues from that era, sounds comparatively lightweight and dynamically restrained. It provided a pleasant, balanced listen but lacked immediacy, vividness, and excitement. For years, this was the pressing I reached for most often. From the first needle drop, the Craft Recordings reissue offered a more complete picture of the sessions. Pettiford’s bass sounded deep and powerfully resonant, while the horns were richer and brassier than on the other versions. On “Pannonnica,” Monk plays the piano with one hand and a celeste with the other, and the latter instrument’s bell-like, glassy timbre rang out with haunting accuracy. And the piano on his solo performance of the Tin Pan Alley chestnut “I Surrender Dear” sounded full and reverberant, with long, realistic decay. There was also zero groove noise. I played the reissue straight through twice, marveling at this music, which I hadn’t heard sound this sonorous and alive. Listening to it reminded me of watching Walter Murch’s reverential 1998 restoration of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil, another midcentury masterpiece from a relative outsider. Is this the best Brilliant Corners in existence? I cannot say, not having heard the 2010 Analogue Productions pressing mastered by Kevin Gray or the 2020 release from the Electric Recording Company. No copies of the former are currently for sale at Discogs, while the latter is selling for about as much as round-trip airfare from New York to Rome. I suppose that puts the relatively high price of this release in perspective. Regardless, kudos to Craft Recordings for this beautiful-sounding version of an indispensable album—a case of a reissue we needed, done right. Q CONTACTS Totaldac Tel: +33 6 18 03 14 08 Email: totaldac@totaldac.com Web: totaldac.com OFF THE GRID The Ultimate, Uninterruptable, Independent Power Source Stromtank doesn’t fight the AC. We make our own. The Stromtank S 1000 is a computer-controlled power source that features eight receptacles and provides up to eight hours of continuous lithiumiron-phosphate battery-supplied AC power, seamlessly. When the meter is green, your system is untethered from the grid, and your system’s sound is elevated above anything you’ve heard before. Declare independence! ©2022 Stromtank of America “THINK OF IT AS REMOVING YELLOWED VARNISH FROM THE PAINTINGS OF OLD MASTERS.” —JASON VICTOR SERINUS, STEREOPHILE STROMTANK.US 203.247.6970
SPIN DOCTOR WE COME SPINNING OUT OF NOTHINGNESS, SCATTERING STARS LIKE DUST.—RUMI BY MICHAEL TREI THIS ISSUE: A new line of tonearms from Korf, a new version Zu Audio’s Denon DL-103, and an old “transcription” turntable by Gates. Korf, Zu, and Gates A bout four years ago, the stand-alone tonearm market went through a bit of a crisis. First, in December 2019, SME announced that it would stop selling tonearms separately, effective immediately. From that point on, SME tonearms would be available only in combination with SME turntables. The decision seemed baffling: SME had been the tonearm company for more than 60 years; the company’s slogan was “the best pick-up arm in the world.” But they also just happened to make some really nice turntables. More recently, SME partially reversed this decision, making their lower cost M2 series arms available for individual purchase again albeit at much higher prices. When Herb Reichert wrote about the M2-9 in 2016, it was an excellent value at $1099. At today’s price—$3395—it’s no longer a slam-dunk. Five months later, in May 2020, we received the second blow in this double whammy of bad tonearm news. That’s when the Ichikawa Jewel Company of Japan, maker of Jelco tonearms, announced without warning that they were shutting down operations, closing their doors for good. They blamed a combination of an aging workforce, worn-out tooling that needed to be replaced, and the coronavirus pandemic. It seemed odd that nobody was lined up to rescue such an important cog in the turntable-manufacturing machine. Jelco may not have been a household name, but their products were used everywhere, often rebranded by other manufacturers. Even if your turntable’s tonearm wasn’t made by Jelco, there’s a strong likelihood .25)$8',27$6)৸5721($50 Made in Austria just outside Vienna, Korf tonearms appear to be pretty conventional at first glance, but under the skin, there’s a lot of innovative thinking going on. Two models are available, the straight TA-SF9 with a fixed headshell ($2036) and the review arm, the J-shaped TA-SF9R ($2364) with a detachable H-4 bayonet mount headshell.1 Korf sells its arms directly from their web shop. The prices are set in euros, but they are automatically converted to US dollars for buyers in the US. Consequently, the US dollar prices quoted here were correct at the time of publication but are subject to exchange-rate fluctuations. Please consult the Korf web shop for the latest US pricing. Either Korf arm can be supplied with an SME-style mounting plate with adjustable sliding base, or with what they call a JIS/ Linn/Jelco round mounting base. While the round base is compatible with the bolt pattern for most Linn, Jelco, and Kuzma arms, the platter spindle to arm mounting distance for some of them may be different. The Korf arm requires a mounting distance of 214mm, which is the same as many of the 9" Jelco arms. All this talk about mounting patterns and arm bases brings up an important point. For now, Korf arms are mostly sold factory direct, which means that you are probably going to be the person installing it. This is a tall ask for most casual audio- stereophile.com Q December 2023 that the cueing device attached to it was. Jelco’s arms were the Toyotas of the tonearm world, covering the lower end of the price spectrum from around $400 going up to about $2000 and delivering excellent value at each point. We lost two key players all at once, but it’s not as if we suddenly had nowhere to turn for tonearms. Turntable manufacturers like Acoustic Signature, Clearaudio, Origin Live, Pro-Ject, Rega, and VPI all sell their tonearms separately, but for various reasons, I rarely see them used on turntables other than their own, except maybe Origin Live. A number of smaller tonearm specialists have popped up in recent decades: Acoustical Systems, Graham, GrooveMaster, Kuzma, Reed, Schick, Schröder, and at the ultrahigh end, Swedish Analog Technologies. Now we can add Korf Audio to the list. philes and even for some pretty handy ones. It’s similar to the car-tuning world, where anyone can go online and buy new pistons, camshafts, and an intake manifold for their Chevy small block engine, but it takes a fair amount of know-how (and tools and space, especially for cars) to install and tune them properly. The difference is that independent car mechanics can be found pretty easily, while turntable setup specialists who aren’t tied to a specific retail operation tend to be pretty thin on the ground. Furthermore, unlike some other tonearm owner’s manuals, the Korf manual 1 The TA-SF9R Tonearm with HS-A02 ceramic headshell is $2364 with JIS/Linn/Jelco mount; it is $2586 with the SME mount. An extra HS-A02 ceramic headshell is $220. 39
SPIN DOCTOR assumes a certain level of prior experience and doesn’t walk you through every step in detail. Korf says that they are gradually transitioning from a direct-sales-only model to having dealers and distributors, which should make it easier to get professional setup assistance down the road. Mounting the TA-SF9R on my SME Model 30 turntable using the optional SME mount was straightforward, although the back of the counterweight stub came within a gnat’s hair of one of the 30’s suspension towers, even after I removed its decorative upper cap to gain a little extra clearance. All the expected adjustments needed to fine-tune the setup are available, but Korf places rigidity above convenience, so there is no on-the-fly VTA or other adjustment aids. For overhang and zenith, the headshell has a Technicsstyle plastic clip-on gauge that provides Stevenson alignment, but the arm has a clearly marked pivot point if you prefer to use your own protractor. The azimuth can be adjusted by rotating the armtube in the bearing yoke, but because this is a J-shaped arm, the vertical pivot is not in line with the headshell offset angle, so every change in azimuth will also change the stylus rake angle a bit. I would prefer a tonearm with adjustable azimuth at the headshell. Things like this don’t make it impossible to optimize the setup, just a little trickier. On his blog, Alex Korf downplays extremely precise alignment. He feels strongly that the arm’s basic mechanical design and energy management is far more important. In contrast to most arms, the Korf doesn’t come with an output cable. The base of the arm post has a standard tonearm 5-pin DIN plug, to which you can connect the arm cable of your choice. I used my Cardas Golden Reference DIN-to-RCA. Alex Korf falls into the category of designers I have previously described as deep thinkers, who look at each task from a fresh perspective. Space precludes me from going into too much detail on Korf’s thinking, so instead I recommend checking out his excellent blog, even if you aren’t in the market for a new tonearm.2 With its extra-stiff steel armtube, the Korf’s effective mass is a hefty 28gm. Conventional thinking suggests that the arm is best matched with stiff cartridges like Ortofon SPUs, but Korf feels that the conventional approach for matching cartridges with arms is too simplistic. The Korf website has a handy compliance calculator where you can enter the total effective mass and the cartridge’s compliance.3 The calculator analyzes for both acceleration and excursion at the headshell. The results are shown as two graphs (one each for acceleration and excursion) with a “safe zone” marked on each. Korf says this gives a much more accurate picture of whether you will have low-frequency resonance or tracking issues than the single resonance number you normally get from a compliance-vsmass chart. With the Zu Denon DL-103 (see below) I used with the arm, a standard chart puts the combination in the marginal zone, while the Korf calculator makes it look like a good match. Once I quit thinking and started listening, it quickly became clear that that Korf arm was extracting an unexpected level of performance from the Zu/DL-103. Gone was the typical, slightly-soft-and-comforting Zu/DL-103 sound, replaced by some- =8$8',2'/ৰ৯৲0.,,5(9% I can’t think of another audio component that has been in continuous production for as long as the Denon DL-103, which was first produced in 1962 or 1964 depending on which source you believe. Sure, there have been a few revivals of vintage products over the years, and you can even buy a new pair of my beloved Quad ESL 57 loudspeakers, but the Denon has never gone away in 60 years. Originally developed for use by Japan’s national broadcasting company NHK, the DL-103 found its way into US retailers around 1975 and saw its first of many ap- 40 thing significantly more nimble and lighter on its feet. The Korf arm has an impressive ability to strip away extraneous noise and fuzz around each instrument, leaving an uncanny sense of clarity and purity. Cedar Walton’s direct-to-disc album The Pentagon (East Wind EW-10002) demonstrates this effect clearly on the opening track, “Manteca.” Walton’s piano chords as he comps during Clifford Jordan’s solo were super clear and open, while Ray Mantilla’s congas came across with great tone and dynamism. This is not a fat, lush sound. It’s clear and quiet, providing an extra-clean window into the music. For something a little more dynamically challenging, I played the Shostakovich Symphony No.1 conducted by Lawrence Leighton-Smith, from The Moscow Sessions (Sheffield Lab TLP-1000). This was a very unusual release for Sheffield Lab. Instead of their normal direct-to-disc approach, Keith Johnson of Reference Recordings recorded it, in 1986, to analog tape. Russia was still a pretty closed, Soviet country in 1986, so it was quite a trick to go to Moscow and record a large Russian orchestra using an American conductor and crew. The results are exceptional, and the Zu/ DL-103 never flinched in handling Keith Johnson’s recording and its punishing dynamics. Again, clarity was the word that kept coming into my head, with no uneasy sense of inner groove distortion even in the thunderous final movement. Somehow, the Korf managed to turn the Zu/DL-103’s seemingly modest spherical stylus into an exceptional tracker. Maybe there is something to all Alex Korf’s talk about energy management. My cartridge focus here was on the Zu/ DL-103, but I also used the Korf arm with a Lyra Delos, with equally impressive results. I hope to hang on to the arm for a bit longer so I can try a few more cartridges, exploring just how far I can push things past the normal effective mass–vs-compliance way of thinking. Korf says he has used the arm successfully with the high-compliance Shure V15 Type V-MR. That’s a bit like stuffing a big block engine into a Smart car. We shall see. 2 See korfaudio.com/blog. 3 See korfaudio.com/calculator. pearances in these pages in September 1975, reviewed by J. Gordon Holt. Its first appearance in Audio Magazine’s annual directory was in 1977; it cost $135. Plug that figure into an inflation calculator, and you’ll find that it’s the equivalent of $715 in today’s money, or more than double its $349 retail price. I December 2023 Q stereophile.com
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SPIN DOCTOR guess there really is a production cost benefit when you’ve been making something more than a half-century, at least in this case. Over the decades, an extensive aftermarket has grown up around the DL-103. These modifications range from a simple replacement of the lightweight plastic body to complete rebuilds with exotic new cantilevers and styli. Sometimes it can be tricky to spot original Denon parts. Some even try to hide their creation’s humble origins with a new name and slick packaging that makes no mention of Denon. Zu Audio’s approach is straightforward and honest. They take the guts from a standard, off-the-shelf DL-103 and install it very precisely in their own hard-anodized aluminum body. Then they run an extensive series of tests to determine each cartridge’s channel match accuracy and assign it one of four quality grades. The Zu’s Mk.II version made several changes over the previous generation. The body is machined from a new, tempered aluminum alloy. The housing shape was changed to address resonances. The epoxy used to bind the mechanism to the housing was changed. Zu calls the update “significant, both in performance and handling.” Mk.II, though, has been out for a while. The new version is Mk.II Rev.B, and the changes here are more subtle: The generator was moved slightly further forward in the body, and a notch was added above the stylus position to make cueing easier. Zu says these latest changes don’t affect the sound. Prices start at $599 for the standard grade, which is still less than the inflation-adjusted price of the stock plastic version in 1977, making it a remarkable value. A Grade 1 Zu/DL-103 costs $791, Grade 2—the version I received for review—is $959, while the top version, Grade 2 Prime, costs $1319. All are delivered with the original Denon manual, test results, and packaging in addition to Zu’s own extensive test results and detailed instructions. In his Gramophone Dreams column, Herb Reichert wrote about his experiences auditioning the DL-103 with a range of resistive loads—see p.23—but I had the advantage of being able to run the Zu/DL-103 through the CH Precision P1 phono stage’s loading wizard, trying dozens of load values and getting a frequency-response plot for each. I learned just how insensitive to load the DL-103 really is. There is no sign of the expected steep high-frequency dropoff as the loading value approaches the cartridge’s own 40 ohm internal impedance. Even at 40 ohms, the response remained pretty flat out to 18kHz, with a fairly gentle rolloff above that. (The main effect of increasing the load—of reducing the load impedance—is to reduce the output.) According to the P1, the most technically accurate response was with a 210 ohm load, but I expect IM distortion will play more of a role in the subjective performance, as Herb discusses in his column. Another characteristic of the DL-103 seems to cause a lot of confusion: its compliance, which Denon specifies as 5 × 10–6cm/ dyne at 100Hz. A cu of 5 makes the DL-103 sound like a very low compliance cartridge, but it’s not as low as it sounds. Most manufacturers specify compliance at 10Hz, not 100Hz, which leads to a dramatically different result because the stiffness of the elastomer increases linearly with frequency. A few years ago, Martin Colloms measured the DL-103 at 10Hz. He found that at that lower frequency, the compliance is closer to 13.4 That’s still low, but it’s nothing like the buckboard-stiff, emptybed-dually-pickup-truck-goingdown-a-rutted-trail stiffness that 5cu would suggest. The upshot is that the Denon doesn’t require the super-heavyweight iron girder arms that some suggest; it should work fine in any medium- or high-mass arm. Zu’s aluminum body rebuild adds about 5.5gm over the stock plastic Denon, so most modern arms should work well—not just very high-mass arms. I have installed dozens of Zu-modified DL-103s, so I am quite familiar with its sound. My main goal in getting one of the latest Revision B versions was to see how it matches up with the high-mass Korf tonearm. For the answer to that question, see above. 4 For those new to turntable-tech nomenclature: Compliance measurements and calculations are presented in different units—10–6cm/dyne; μm/mN—which however are the same numerically. Consequently, “cu,” short for “compliance unit,” is often used in place of the specific units. Martin Colloms’s DL-103 measurement appeared in the June 2015 Hi-Fi News & Record Review. 42 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
SPIN DOCTOR 67$10$;:(//Ȇ6*$7(6&%ৰ৯৯ TRANSCRIPTION TURNTABLE As a fully paid-up member of audio hoarders anonymous, I confess that I have way too many turntable projects lying around. A while back, someone asked me how many turntables I own. I gave up counting at 30. Because I have such a backlog, I try to avoid adding more to the pile. But sometimes, something pops up that’s too hard to resist. A good example is a Gates CB100 transcription turntable I acquired recently from the family of its original owner. After serving with the US Navy intercepting German U-boat messages during WW2, Stan Maxwell founded a company called Academy Transcription Service, which provided wired music to businesses in Monmouth County, New Jersey. A few years later, he sold Academy to what would become the Muzak company and went to work at WJLK in Asbury Park, New Jersey, one of the nation’s first FM stations. For 30 years, he was WJLK’s chief cook and bottle washer—producer, engineer, and presenter—before retiring in 1981. I wish I’d had the opportunity to meet him. His daughter thinks we would have gotten along great. The term “transcription turntable” is often misused—or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the meaning of the term has drifted. Historically, it refers to a turntable with a very large platter that’s capable of playing the 16" transcription records used to distribute programming to radio stations in the 1930s and ’40s. Transcription discs, which were recorded and played back at 33 1/3 as early as the 1930s, were widely used to record radio shows before and during the war. (Another difference is that transcription discs were often recorded vertically, not laterally, so they could not be played back by standard mono cartridges.) The introduction of high-quality tape recorders after the war and changing programming—specifically the trend toward human deejays playing music from short records and talking in between—slowly made transcription discs obsolete. The Gates 100 was made by the Gates Radio Company of Quincy, Illinois. While it is hard to get a sense of scale from the photo, in the flesh the Gates is huge. A regular 12" 44 standard position on the right is a Gray Research “Micro-Balanced” 216 with a pivoting headshell that reminds me a bit of the crazy Transcriptors Vestigal arm from the early 1970s (another project I have on my back burner) and the more modern Dynavector DV 507. The Gray was one of the first arms designed to properly handle the new low-tracking-force, highcompliance cartridges that were becoming popular in the early 1960s. It is fully compatible with modern stereo cartridges. Even more interesting is the second arm and cartridge setup mounted on the back, a package of components made by Western Electric called the 109A Reproducing Group. This includes the 9A moving coil reproducer (cartridge), the 5A reproducer arm, the KS-13386 equalizer, and the 171A repeating coil. I like to think of this system as being a bit like the Oppo universal Above: Stan disc player of its day Maxwell. Below: because it can handle Michael Trei’s Gates CB100 both laterally cut discs transcription like standard 78s and turntable. vertical, hill-and-dale cuts like many of those big transcription records. A switch on the equalizer allows you to select between three lateral-cut and two vertical-cut settings, each with different EQ characteristics. The brochure says that the 9A pickup’s “jewel stylus tip, together with the extremely light 35gm pressure of the generating element on the record assures long record life.” Well okay then! So far, I have only managed to haul the Gates into my apartment and clear out a spot where it can stay pending further attention, but the plan is to sort it out, tidy it up, and explore its capabilities in a further update. More to come. Q LP looks lost on its 16" platter, and the main bearing shaft is about as thick as a broom handle. The synchronous motor looks like it was hijacked from a commercial washing machine; you wouldn’t want to drop it on your foot. Coolest of all is the speed selector: Its ball-topped gated shifter looks like a miniature version of the gear selector in a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. Stan Maxwell equipped his Gates with two tonearms that would cover just about any type of record he wanted to play. In the CONTACTS Korf Audio GmbH Urberweg 34 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria Web: korfaudio.com Zu Audio 3350 S 1500 W, Ogden, Utah 84401 Tel: (801) 452-5578 Web: zuaudio.com December 2023 Q stereophile.com
THE ELITE EXPERIENCE We know some people. Finding the perfect sound experience to fit your lifestyle can be a daunting task if you don’t know the right people. Whether you’re looking for your next two-channel speaker system, a multi-seat home theater, or an immersive living room sound experience, The KEF Elite and Platinum Dealers are ready to help you find the next love of your life. Elite Dealers AVIQ Huntsville, AL 256-712-8912 Mythic Home Theater Scottsdale, AZ 602-329-4252 Stereo Stereo Warrendale, PA 724-719-2330 Origin HiFi Austin, TX 737-787-4434 Gramophone Timonium, MD 410-308-1650 Dynamic Sound Systems Carlsbad, CA 760-438-3773 Modus AV Suwanee, GA 404-471-3779 Just Audio Middle River, MD 410-882-4360 Audio Advice Raleigh, NC 919-881-2005 Gramophone Columbia, MD 410-381-2100 Waara Technologies Traverse City, MI 231-935-4511 Rein’s AV Therapy Nashua, NH 603-888-9777 Echo Audio Portland, OR 503-223-2292 Olson’s Hi-Fi Lynnwood, WA 206-462-5227 Gramophone Gaithersburg, MD 301-296-6202 Audio Advice Pineville, NC 704-821-4510 Electronics Expo Wayne, NJ 973-785-1112 Quest for Sound Bensalem, PA 215-953-9099 Sound World Appleton, WI 920-733-8539 Soundings Fine AV Luminaire Smart Homes Greenwood Village, CO Boise, ID 303-759-5505 208-781-8301 Wave Media Systems Winter Garden, FL 407-909-3388 Holm Audio Woodridge, IL 630-663-1298 Hippo’s HiFi IQ Home Entertainment Fairfax, VA Albany, NY 703-218-9855 518-482-1864 The Audio Hunters Simpsonville, MD 301-848-4100 Platinum Dealers C & M Sales SmarTek Home Artisan Green Smart Spaces Palmdale, CA San Diego, CA Voorhees, NJ Oklahoma City, OK 661-965-3469 858-874-8700 856-616-0909 405-752-1115 Jeetri Electronics & Services Boca Theater & Automation Frisco, TX Boca Raton, FL 919-491-4514 561-999-9024 Hifi Buys Stereoland Bonita Springs, FL Atlanta, GA Bloomington, MN Frisco, TX Ashburn, VA 239-920-8324 770-931-0606 952-829-9700 972-200-4032 571-306-1528 Tech Savvy Theater Advice PunchMax Tech Solutions
P R 3 O 2 D 0 YEAR A HE O F T C T U STEREOPHILE’S ND BY JOHN ATKINSON ANNUAL RDS 2 WA hen we introduced Stereophile’s Product of the Year awards in 1992,1 we decided that, unlike some other publications’ awards schemes, we would avoid what the late Art Dudley once described as the “every child in the class gets a prize” syndrome. We decided to keep the number of categories to the minimum. That way, in Loudspeakers, for example, highvalue minimonitors would compete with cost-no-object floorstanders. In Analog Products, turntables would compete with tonearms, phono cartridges, and phono preamplifiers. And in Amplification, single-box integrated amplifiers would go up against separates. In Budget Product of the Year, we lumped everything together, recognizing products from every category that offered the best sound for the buck. The overall Product of the Year, meanwhile, would be the winner of all the winners—a single product, unless the voting resulted in a tie. To be considered for our 2023 awards, products must have been subjected to a full review or considered in a column published from the November 2022 issue through the October 2023 issue. Each product was subjected by the reviewer to a thorough evaluation over a period of weeks or months—plus, for regular reviews (not columns), a session in my test lab. As Stereophile Editor Jim Austin wrote in the introduction to the 2022 awards: “The resulting stereophile.com Q December 2023 review documents what’s almost certainly the most thorough evaluation that product will receive outside the manufacturer’s development lab. … That document, then—the review itself—is a product’s best argument for winning an award—or against it if the review lacks enthusiasm.”2 THREE ROUNDS OF VOTING In early September, I compiled and shared with Stereophile’s audio-equipment reviewers a list of eligible products.3 Each reviewer was invited to nominate three products in each of seven categories: Amplification Component of the Year, Analog Source Component of the Year, Digital Source Component of the Year, Headphone Product of the Year, Accessory of the Year, Loudspeaker of the Year, and Budget Product of the Year. Reviewers were asked to award three points to their top choice, two points to their second choice, and one point to their third choice.4 The result of Round One was a list of Finalists comprised of top vote-getters in each category. The Budget category is, of course, a bit different from the others. For the 2022 Awards, Jim Austin decided not to put an absolute maximum price on products eligible for the budget category; “after all, a $500 amplifier or pair of speakers is obviously budget, but a $1000 phono cartridge might not be,” he wrote. So he played it by ear, on the grounds that a “budget” component was one that, in his judgment as Stereophile’s editor, was considerably cheaper than most of the products that had been reviewed in its category. I followed his example for the 2023 voting. In addition to qualifying for the second round of voting in their category, every Finalist from every category—not including Budget or Accessories—remained in the running for overall Product of the Year. In the second round of voting, reviewers were again asked to award three points, two points, or a single point to their favorites in each category—but this time, the lists were shorter. The highest vote-getter would become the category winner. There were clear winners in every category except for the overall Product of 2023. A third round of voting was therefore necessary—I sent out a third ballot that listed the 10 products that had garnered the highest number of nominating votes. As you will read, the result was a tie between two high-performance products. Some final notes: The prices listed herein were current at the end of August 2023; some may have changed by the time you read this. Finalists in each category are listed in alphabetical order. We regret that back issues of the print magazine are no longer available. However, electronic issues can be purchased from Zinio—see zinio.com/recent-issues/stereophile-m4542. Reviews of all the products listed are available online, free. And the winners are … 1 Past Product of the Year articles can be found at stereophile.com/category/products-year. 2 See stereophile.com/content/stereophiles-products-2022. 3 Because Jim Austin was traveling for much of September 2023, he delegated the voting process and the preparation of this feature to me. 4 See my explanation of how this voting system works at stereophile.com/asweseeit/1207awsi/index.html. 47
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification EXCLUSIVE OFFER! Get this special Spin-Clean® Record Brush FREE* when purchasing a Spin-Clean Record Washer. Analog Digital Headphone Amplification Component AUDIO NOTE MEISHU 300B TONMEISTER PHONO INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($15,740; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.2) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) AYRE VX-8 POWER AMPLIFIER ($6800; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.10) BENCHMARK AHB2 POWER AMPLIFIER ($3499; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.1) DAN D’AGOSTINO MOMENTUM M400 MXV MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER ($79,500/PAIR; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.6) HIFI ROSE RS520 STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($3695; REVIEWED BY ROGIER VAN BAKEL IN VOL.46 NO.7) Delivers the same high quality performance as our award-winning system. • Over 1 million carbon fiber bristles remove dust and dirt • Anti-static properties help eliminate static electricity • Easy-to-use design with convenient fold-up handle • Perfect companion to any Spin-Clean Record Washer To receive a FREE Spin-Clean Record Brush with your purchase, visit spinclean.com/brush. * Offer available while supplies last. Only redeemable with purchases of Spin-Clean Record Washers at spinclean.com. © 2023 Spin-Clean International. All rights reserved. KARAN ACOUSTICS POWERA MONO MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER ($106,000/PAIR; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.5) Accessory Loudspeaker Budget midrange that leaned toward lush, and a surprisingly taut yet rich low end.” Listening to LPs through the Meishu’s phono input, KM commented that “the amp’s transparency, to tube-choice, sources, and recordings, rendered from every vinyl LP what sounded to me like original intent—what the musicians, producer, and mastering engineer conceived in the studio—though I realize that’s impossible to know. What I’m sure of is that each recording I played through the Tonmeister had more depth, physicality, and flow than I’ve previously heard from any variation of my Greenwich Village rig.” KM concluded, “If there’s a better integrated amplifier in the world than the Audio Note Meishu Phono 300B Tonmeister, I haven’t heard it yet.” NOTES ON THE VOTE Despite the wide range of prices in this category, the voting was very close. It was only when the final couple of reviewers submitted their ballots that a clear winner emerged. Three solid state candidates—Ayre’s VX-8, Benchmark’s AHB2, and Dan D’Agostino’s Momentum M400 MxV—were not far behind. The product lineup in this category echoed the dichotomy that is happening with amplification. Audiophiles are offered high-power, high-feedback, low-distortion solid state designs with low output impedances, and low-power tubed amplifiers that use little or no loop negative feedback, have a single-ended output stage and a correspondingly high output impedance, and produce high levels of (subjectively innocuous) second-harmonic distortion. Add to the mix the fact that an increasing number of integrated amplifiers stream digital audio, and it should come as no surprise that we ended up with a diverse mix of contenders for this award. It was a low-power, single-ended tube amplifier that won this year’s Amplification award. Audio Note’s Meishu Phono 300B Tonmeister is specified as delivering just 8W into 4 or 8 ohms from each channel’s Psvane Standard Hifi Series 300B output tube, with the measured distortion approaching 10%! However, Ken Micallef found that the Audio Note had no problem driving his high-sensitivity DeVore Orangutan O/96 speakers, “delivering smooth highs, a clear December 2023 Q stereophile.com
In A World Full of Vinyl Cleaning Options, There’s Only One Inescapable Conclusion. For more than 50 years, the Spin-Clean Record Washer system has set the standard when it comes to delivering the best-value record cleaning solution. Spin-Clean removes dust, dirt, film, grease and fingerprints, while cleaning both sides of the record at the same time. And the Spin-Clean design is simplicity itself – there are no batteries or AC required. The Spin-Clean fluid is also biodegradable. There are no harmful agents, alkalines, or phosphates, and it’s totally alcohol-free. All of which is why the Spin-Clean Record Washer system has been acclaimed by both audiophiles and first-time users alike and cited by independent reviewers as the most effective vinyl cleaning option for the money. Given the investment in your record collection, isn’t it time you take Spin-Clean “for a spin”? For more information about the Spin-Clean record washer system, go to spinclean.com. © 2023 Spin-Clean International. All rights reserved.
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Editors’ Choice Analog Source Component SME MODEL 60 TURNTABLE W/SERIES VA TONEARM ($71,900–$85,900; REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.46 NO.8) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) AMG GIRO MK II TURNTABLE W/9W2 TONEARM ($12,300; REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.45 NO.12) TW-ACUSTIC RAVEN GT TURNTABLE W/12" RAVEN TONEARM ($19,000; REVIEWED BY ALEX HALBERSTADT IN VOL.46 NO.7) VPI AVENGER DIRECT TURNTABLE W/12" FATBOY TONEARM ($36,000; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.6) SME’s new flagship record player is based on 1990’s Model 30 turntable but with the latter’s DC motor replaced by an AC synchronous motor and everything else maxed out and fully optimized. The tonearm is based on SME’s Model V, which was originally reviewed in Stereophile’s September 1986 issue but is still in production. The VA replaces that tonearm’s cast-magnesium-alloy armtube with one machined in-house from a solid block of polymer resin. Michael Trei found that the Model 60 was exceptionally quiet. “How much of that is due to the VA arm and how much to the new motor drive and the more massive chassis isn’t entirely clear,” he wrote, “but the 60/VA manages to stay out of the way of the music more emphatically than the 30/Series V combination.” MT concluded that with the Model 60, “SME has managed to raise the bar on what can be achieved with their design philosophy. … This turntable is capable of extract- 50 ing an astonishing amount of music from the record groove. It should be considered the new real-world reference against which other turntables can be judged.” NOTES ON THE VOTE It came as no surprise that the Model 60 from venerable British company SME won this category. But it was a surprise that the other three finalists were also turntables, given that tonearms, phono cartridges, phono preamplifiers, and MC step-up devices were also eligible. However, with no fewer than nine phono cartridges and seven phono preamps reviewed between the November 2022 and October 2023 issues, none got enough nominating votes to get through to the second round of voting. It was satisfying to see that VPI’s latest turntable was a high-scoring finalist, given that the New Jersey–based manufacturer’s HW-19 Mk.IV turntable was the Analog Source of 1992, in Stereophile’s very first Product of the Year awards. December 2023 Q stereophile.com
The Ultimate in Ultrasonic Record Care “ [Sparkling] clean in ways that vacuuming cannot approach.” – Michael Fremer, Stereophile 312-433-0200 Degritter Mark II Record Cleaning Machine
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Digital Source Component DCS BARTÓK APEX D/A PROCESSOR ($20,950–$22,950; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.8) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) BENCHMARK DAC3 B D/A PROCESSOR ($1890; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.3) CH PRECISION C1.2 D/A PROCESSOR ($36,000–$43,500; REVIEWED BY JIM AUSTIN IN VOL.46 NO.2) DCS VIVALDI APEX D/A PROCESSOR ($46,500; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.3) HIFI ROSE RS250A STREAMING D/A PROCESSOR ($2695; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.10) LEJONKLOU KÄLLA D/A PROCESSOR ($8495; REVIEWED BY ALEX HALBERSTADT IN VOL.46 NO.3) The Apex redesigns of the D/A processors from British manufacturer dCS involve revisions to the proprietary, massively 52 Accessory Loudspeaker Budget oversampling, 5-bit, R-2R Ring DAC topology and an all-new analog output stage, with individual transistors on the board replaced with compound pairs. The first dCS processor to feature the Apex upgrade was the Rossini, which was our Digital Source Component of 2022. The Apex upgrades to the flagship Vivaldi and lower-priced Bartók were both eligible for the 2023 awards, and it was the Bartók—base price $20,950; a headphone output adds $2000—that won the category. The original dCS Bartók was Herb Reichert’s “top-level, system-anchoring digital source” after it was introduced in 2019. As well as the upgraded Apex Ring DAC and output stage, the new Bartók features a bigger power supply, which HR credited with appearing to put less artificial digital-mechanical grunge between him and the files he streamed with the dCS Mosaic app. “When I switch back to the ‘old Bartók’,” he wrote, “it seems less clear and refined.” He concluded that with the Bartók Apex, he felt like he was listening “to recordings at a rarefied level of harmonic insight. … With my amps and speakers, the Apex’s most obvious improvement was how much less digital it sounded. December 2023 Q stereophile.com
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Editors’ Choice It mixed an R-2R naturalness, such as what I get from the HoloAudio May and Denafrips Terminator Plus, with a muscular, free-flowing dynamic that kept my attention focused on musical content.” NOTES ON THE VOTE We were concerned that with two dCS digital processors making it into the second round, these would split the vote. The Bartók Apex, however, emerged with considerably more votes than the more expensive Vivaldi Apex, which in turn got a few more votes than the similarly expensive CH Precision 1.2. Props to the Benchmark DAC3 B and HiFi Rose RS250A, whose prices are fractions of those of the other finalists. Headphone Product ABYSS DIANA TC HEADPHONES ($4495–$5995; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.5) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) APPLE AIRPOD PRO 2 IN-EAR HEADPHONES ($249/PAIR; REVIEWED BY ROGIER VAN BAKEL IN VOL.46 NO.3) FOCAL UTOPIA HEADPHONES ($5000; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.5) HIFIMAN HE-R10P HEADPHONES ($5499; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.8) NAIM UNITI ATOM HE HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($3799; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.5) The stock, fourth-generation Abyss Diana TC costs $4495. The version reviewed by Herb Reichert was the “Complete” package, which, for an extra $1500, substitutes a 1.8m Superconductor HP cable for the standard 1.5m cable, in the purchaser’s choice of termination: three- or four-pin XLR or ¼" stereo jack plug. HR also used the optional ported pads, which are offered as an alternative to the stock lambskin or vegan Ultrasuede ear-cup pads. According to designer Joe Skubinski, these pads “add a gentle bass bump in the lower bass range, adding a bit stereophile.com Q December 2023 more soundstage depth and openness.” HR wrote that it was easy to distinguish between the punchier, more direct stock pads and the ported ones, which, as Skubinski suggested, play a touch warmer and more spacious. “It was not easy to choose a favorite.” HR found that streaming the album La Guitarra dels Lleons from Tidal, which features Xavier Díaz-Latorre on guitar and 55
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Pedro Estevan on percussion, the 69 ohm, 90dB/mW-sensitive Diana TC headphones “preserved the nuance of these artists’ most subtle dynamic shifts, letting me feel the musicians ‘feeling it’ more and better than with the Abyss AB-1266 and every other headphone I can remember using.” He concluded that the Abyss Diana TC “is the Abyss AB-1266 disguised as a pretty woman.” NOTES ON THE VOTE There was no ambiguity in the voting for this category: the Abyss Diana TC headphones scored head-and-shoulders above the other finalists. But the inexpensive Apple AirPod Pro 2 gets a shoutout for making it through to the second round of voting. Accessory SHAKNSPIN2 ($280; REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.46 NO.6) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) BENCHMARK STUDIO&STAGE LOUDSPEAKER CABLE ($188/PAIR; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.3) HERBIE’S WAY EXCELLENT II TURNTABLE MAT ($88; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.45 NO.12 & MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.46 NO.9) NESSIE VINYLCLEANER PRO PLUS+ RECORD-CLEANING MACHINE several of his turntable setup jobs and found it easier to use and more accurate than relying on a strobe disc. “The Shaknspin2 is a dedicated tool with better calibration features, more precise positioning, and more accurate and detailed results” is how he summed up his review. NOTES ON THE VOTE The vote tally was closest in this category, perhaps due to the fact that the final five products had nothing in common. But the Shaknspin2 edged out the Nessie record cleaner (a Julie Mullins choice) and the Benchmark speaker cables (Kal Rubinson’s and my choice) for first place. ($2495; REVIEWED BY JULIE MULLINS IN VOL.46 NO.4) TIMERETTE STYLUS TIMER ($130; REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.46 NO.9) As is always the case in this category, a mixed bunch of accessories were nominated. But perhaps reflecting its usefulness in checking a turntable’s rotational speed accuracy, the Shaknspin2 got the nod. The Shaknspin2 allows the user to check speed in real time and wow & flutter, and promises more accurate results and a more streamlined calibration procedure than the original version, which was favorably reviewed by Michael Fremer in September 2021. Michael Trei found that the on-screen display gave him everything he needed. He brought the Shaknspin2 to December 2023 Q stereophile.com
Introducing Adam by “The Adams proved delicate and powerful at the same time, even on non-audiophile, pop recordings.” —ROGIER VAN BAKEL, Stereophile Sound for your soul For further information, visit altaspeakers.com | 631.424.5958 Digital-to-Analog Conversion DM36 DAC module module is a completely new and meticulously designed digital-to-analog converter that significantly improves overall performance over its predecessor, DM35 DAC module, providing up-sampling options and full MQA processing to deliver a sound that is more richly detailed and lifelike, with greater three dimensionality within a larger soundstage. Available now in I25, I35, and PRE35 Prisma models, as well as an upgrade to those currently using the DM35 module by means of a simple board swap, that marks a significant upgrade to these award-winning designs. For more information, go to primare.net US and Canada authorised representative nexusaudtech.com Further information and dealer inquiries contact Nexus Audio Technologies at info@nexusaudtech.com
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Editors’ Choice Loudspeaker WILSON AUDIO SPECIALTIES ALEXIA V ($67,500/PAIR; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.1) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) HARBETH SUPER HL5PLUS XD ($7995/PAIR, PLUS STANDS; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.9) KEF LS60 WIRELESS ($6999.99/PAIR; REVIEWED BY KAL RUBINSON IN VOL.46 NO.3) KLIPSCH LA SCALA AL5 ($13,198/PAIR; REVIEWED BY ALEX HALBERSTADT IN VOL.46 NO.4) MOFI ELECTRONICS SOURCEPOINT 10 ($3699/PAIR, PLUS STANDS; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.2 & KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.6) RAIDHO TD3.8 ($117,000/PAIR, REVIEWED BY ROGIER VAN BAKEL IN VOL.46 NO.8) TAD CE1TX ($32,500/PAIR, PLUS STANDS; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.6) It has long been said about loudspeakers that “a good big’un will always beat a good small’un.” While the contenders for this category included both good big’uns and good small’uns, it should come as no surprise that the latest Wilson floorstander won this category. However, the Alexia V is not just a “good big’un”: It demonstrates the Utah-based company’s consistency of design philosophy. While the Alexia V resembles the earlier Alexias in featuring two enclosures with two reflex-loaded woofers in the lower cabinet and arrival-time adjustment for the upper tweeter/midrange module, it incorporates no fewer than 30 upgrades. The most significant of these are new drivers, strategic use of the new stereophile.com Q December 2023 V-Material (a high-density phenolic-resin composite), improved capacitors, custommade cables, improved connectors, a new spike system, new enclosure dimensions and characteristics, and a new, more accurate alignment mechanism. Listening to a familiar recording of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, with Andris Nelsons conducting the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Jason Victor Serinus commented that the soundstage was wider and more convincing. “I heard more warmth on the solo violin and firmer, better-controlled low lines on the cello and double basses. I heard more detail and more nuanced dynamics, which further increased my appreciation of Nelsons’s mastery and invited deeper involvement with the music. It was, to indulge in a cliché, as if I was hearing the recording for the first time.” His conclusion? “Assisted by first-rate amplification and source components, the Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia V presented the entirety of the musical argument more completely and satisfyingly than its predecessor did. And its predecessor was very fine.” NOTES ON THE VOTE The TAD and Klipsch speakers, which came in second and third in the voting, are examples of opposed design approaches: The TAD is a thoroughly modern, directradiating, low-sensitivity standmount with a reflex-loaded coaxial drive unit, while the Klipsch is a variant of a decades-old, fully horn-loaded, high-sensitivity design. The relatively affordable Harbeth, KEF, and MoFi speakers each got the same number of votes, falling slightly ahead of the expensive Raidho and slightly behind the Klipsch and TAD. Wilson’s Alexia V outscored those two speakers by five votes and three votes, respectively, to take the top honors. 59
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Budget Product JOINT WINNERS KLIPSCH REFERENCE PREMIERE RP-600M II LOUDSPEAKER ($749/PAIR, PLUS STANDS; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.8) NAD C 3050 LE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($1972; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.4) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) BENCHMARK DAC3 B D/A PROCESSOR ($1890; REVIEWED BY JOHN ATKINSON IN VOL.46 NO.3) ELEKIT TU-8600S POWER AMPLIFIER ($1880, PLUS TUBES; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.1) IFI NEO STREAM STREAMING D/A PROCESSOR ($1299; REVIEWED BY SASHA MATSON IN VOL.46 NO.8) LSA DISCOVERY WARP 1 POWER AMPLIFIER ($1499; REVIEWED BY TOM FINE IN VOL.46 NO.7) Accessory Loudspeaker Budget modern amplifier, with line and phono analog inputs, HDMI eARC, Type-A USB, coaxial and optical S/PDIF digital inputs, and an Ethernet port and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas to allow streaming with the BluOS app. The amplifier incorporates Dirac Live room correction, which I found very effective, bringing my KEF LS50s’ midbass region into good balance with the upper bass and lower midrange. “Excellent upper-bass articulation was combined with a natural-sounding midrange and clean highs,” I wrote in my review, concluding that while considerably more expensive systems could play louder, deeper, and clearer, with a greater sense of scale, what I heard from the NAD with Dirac Live optimizing the low-frequency output of my minimonitors “didn’t leave me wishing for more.” NOTES ON THE VOTE The price spread in the Budget category is the narrowest of any in this year’s awards. But the least expensive product, the Klipsch loudspeaker, and the most expensive, the NAD amplifier, scored the same number of votes, which was considerably more than the third-place Benchmark D/A processor. A tie between two deserving products was not unexpected in this category. The Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-600M II is a revised version of the standmount loudspeaker that Herb Reichert reviewed in March 2019 and that was a Finalist in our Budget Component of 2019 category. The II features a redesigned woofer, which Klipsch says sports Faraday rings and a larger voice-coil, a larger tractrix-flare horn opening for the tweeter, which is now mounted flush with the front baffle, and upgraded binding posts. Compared with the original, the high frequencies emerging from the RP-600M II’s larger horn felt smoother and more refined, with less noise in the crossover region, HR wrote. “The combined effect of the revised horn and bass driver is to add weight, presence, and low-signal delicacy to the presentation. The new Klipsch is simply more refined-sounding. … In my system, it sounded exactly as romantic or resolving, as thrilling or dull, as the amp I chose to drive it with,” he concluded. The retro-styled C 3050 LE BluOS streaming integrated amplifier was released in 2022 to celebrate NAD’s 50th anniversary. Reflecting the year the company was founded, just 1972 samples were manufactured at a price of $1972. (A non-LE version, which costs $1899 with the BluOS module, $1299 without it, is also available.) Despite the styling, the 100Wpc C 3050 LE is a thoroughly December 2023 Q stereophile.com
We Rocked Munich! I’ve never given an honorable mention to a cable company... This year is different. AudioQuest totally nailed it at High End Munich 2023. AQ cabling and power delivery, combined with the debut of the Rockport Orion speakers, was a magical combination… This is what I came to the show to experience. Sound as pure as the driven snow, with spatial cues and texture, combined with an emotional performance and spectacular soundstage, captivated me. With regard to the Munich show I must say, that one of the most natural but foremost realistic sounding rooms of the entire show was not from an equipment manufacturer, but from a cable manufacturer — AudioQuest! The system was sort of a blueprint, how close music reproduction can get to the original and how satisfying listening to recorded music can be. – Ingo Schulz, FIDELITY Magazine – Chris Connaker, Audiophile Style AQ Dragon, Niagara 7000, CH Precision C1.2, Riviera Labs APL01SE & AFM100s, Rockport Orions system was curated by AudioQuest as part of an ongoing series of Munich presentations at which AQ proves how important cable, power and careful curation are toward creating a truly great audio system.
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Product JOINT WINNERS DCS VIVALDI APEX D/A PROCESSOR ($46,500; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.3) WILSON AUDIO SPECIALTIES ALEXIA V LOUDSPEAKER ($67,500/PAIR; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.46 NO.1) FINALISTS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) ABYSS DIANA TC HEADPHONES ($4495–$5995; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.5) AUDIONOTE MEISHU PHONO 300B TONMEISTER INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($15,740; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.2) DCS BARTÓK APEX D/A PROCESSOR ($20,950–$22,950; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.8) HIFI ROSE RS520 STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($3695; REVIEWED BY ROGIER VAN BAKEL IN VOL.46 NO.7) KLIPSCH LA SCALA AL5 LOUDSPEAKER ($13,198/PAIR; REVIEWED BY ALEX HALBERSTADT IN VOL.46 NO.4) SME MODEL 60 TURNTABLE W/SERIES VA TONEARM ($71,900–$85,900; REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TREI IN VOL.46 NO.8) TAD CE1TX LOUDSPEAKER ($32,500/PAIR, PLUS STANDS; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.46 NO.6) Overall Editors’ Choice I quoted Jason Victor Serinus’s conclusion in his review of the Wilson Alexia V in the text for Loudspeaker of the Year. But he also wrote in that review that “The Wilson Alexia V isn’t just excellent, it’s superb. Within the limitations of the scale and reach of speakers their size, their ability to deliver the range, color, texture, detail, nuance, dynamics, visceral impact, and emotion—all central to musical greatness—is among the finest I’ve ever experienced. They can thrill you to the core and make your heart sing.” Enough of the magazine’s team of reviewers agreed with him to vote the loudspeaker into joint first place. When Jason reviewed the Apex update of dCS’s flagship Vivaldi D/A processor, he auditioned it with the dCS Upsampler Plus and Master Clock. “Every month, I welcome fresh opportunities to find the right words to convey what I feel when I sit before my system, close my eyes, and listen to great music. But there are times when reactions are so extreme, the awe so overpowering, that eloquence cedes to one-word (or even nonword) exclamations,” he wrote. “Recorded music has never sounded as full, rich, flowing, rewarding, and natural as with the Vivaldi Apex. It is rare, in a home listening room, to experience anew the full impact of great orchestral music heard in a concert hall. But the Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, and Vivaldi Master Clock together have made that possible, repeatedly. … The finer and more concentrated an artist’s focus, the finer the Vivaldi Apex system sounds. It conveys inspiration and genius like no other VPI AVENGER DIRECT TURNTABLE W/12" FATBOY TONEARM ($36,000; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.46 NO.6) 62 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
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Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Editors’ Choice equipment I’ve heard.” I was impressed by the dCS Vivaldi Apex’s superb measured performance. It offered vanishingly low levels of harmonic and intermodulation distortion, very high channel separation, excellent rejection of datastream jitter, and very high resolution: at least 20 bits. NOTES ON THE VOTE It came as no surprise that the Wilson Alexia V was one of the winners in this category, but it was a surprise that the dCS Vivaldi Apex, which lost out to the dCS Bartók Apex in the Digital Product category, was the joint winner for the overall Product of 2023. The Wilson and dCS both got three first-place votes; the Alexia V got one more secondplace vote than the Vivaldi, but the dCS made it up in third-place votes. Editors’ Choice Awards the SourcePoint 10 gets a thumbs-up from this reviewer.”—John Atkinson MOFI ELECTRONICS SOURCEPOINT 10 LOUDSPEAKER CH PRECISION C1.2 D/A PROCESSOR I have had so many loudspeakers pass through my listening room in the past 40 years that it is rare for one to stick in my mind for more than a couple of months after it had been returned to the manufacturer or distributor. But my memories of this relatively affordable standmount—it costs $3699/pair, plus stands—which was designed by veteran speaker engineer Andrew Jones, have outlasted those of many much more expensive speakers. As I wrote in my review: “When you consider the clean, superbly well-defined low frequencies, the naturalsounding midrange, the high sensitivity, the easy-to-drive impedance, the ability to play loudly without strain, and the affordable price, Of all the digital sources that I’ve had in my system—not so many, actually—the CH Precision C1.2 proved the most satisfying. Why? It’s hard to put my finger on, but I think it boils down to a rare, near-paradoxical combination of relaxation and surprise. There is nothing off-putting about the sound: It welcomes close listening—then rewards it with great contrasts of texture and color, when those things are captured on the recording. I wish this level of performance were available at a significantly lower price. Perhaps it is—I’ve only listened closely to a small fraction of the available digital processors—but if it is, I haven’t yet encountered it.—Jim Austin BENCHMARK AHB2 POWER AMPLIFIER This is the closest thing to a straight wire with gain that I have ever heard. If the December 2023 Q stereophile.com
Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Amplification Analog Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget Overall Streaming. A fine smartphone app controls things. Just add speakers—banana plugs are best—and a turntable. Germany-based AVM is on a roll.—Sasha Matson VPI AVENGER DIRECT TURNTABLE WITH FATBOY GIMBAL TONEARM purpose of a power amplifier is to faithfully reproduce the source signal, with gain to drive the loudspeakers, then this is as close to perfection as the state of the art now stands.—Tom Fine It may sound like hyperbole to say a turntable changed my life, but when referring to the VPI Avenger Direct, that comment is anything but fantastic. The 68lb Avenger Direct, paired with the 12" FatBoy tonearm, rejuvenated my system by the sheer boldness of its audacious sound. The Editors’ Choice etc. A capable, quiet onboard MC/MM phono stage and remote control complete the cool package.—Julie Mullins HERETIC AD614 LOUDSPEAKER Choosing Heretic’s AD614 loudspeaker as my personal Product of the Year was easy: It’s new, innovative, and sounds like a high-rez studio monitor on magic mushrooms. It is at its best sitting right up against the wall. It uses a series crossover KLIPSCH LA SCALA AL5 LOUDSPEAKER When I reviewed it, I expected the Klipsch La Scala AL5 to sound dynamic as all get-out, but what surprised me was its high resolution, delicacy, and ability to honor all genres. A pair of these fully horn-loaded speakers will properly energize even the largest rooms, though you may find yourself 21lb aluminum platter provided excellent low-end stabilization, pitch stability, and deep-sea–black backgrounds, while the FatBoy tonearm, along with the optional Signature Weight and Periphery Ring Clamp, comprised a system that tracked every record with assured precision. Harry and Mat Weisfeld: long may they reign. needing more power than the sky-high sensitivity rating suggests. The big La Scala is also uncommonly good at making musical sense of recordings and engaging the emotions, making it a fine candidate for lifetime duty—at what is still a very competitive price.—Alex Halberstadt AVM INSPIRATION CS2.3 CD RECEIVER —Ken Micallef HIFI ROSE RA180 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER This full-featured, all-analog amplifier’s steampunkish aesthetic is only part of the picture: It deploys gallium nitride transistors (as opposed to traditional silicon types) said to deliver a faster slew rate. Sonically, this and a 97dB-sensitive, Italian-made, 12" coaxial driver to make it equally happy with low-power, single-ended tubes or highpower, class-A solid state. It loved the First Watt SIT-3, it was cozy-comfy with Elekit 300Bs, and it came explosively alive with Parasound’s Halo A 21+ amplifier. The Heretic AD614 is the first speaker since the Falcon LS3/5a Gold Badge that I’ve wanted to use every day for the rest of my life. —Herb Reichert KEF LS60 WIRELESS LOUDSPEAKER This is a landmark product that leverages advanced practices in transducer design, materials research, and DSP to offer outstanding sound and value. It’s balanced, transparent, and powerful (with its built-in multiple power amps). The LS60 is worthy of challenging speaker systems, larger and higher-priced, without consideration of its compact and sleek stature. With an added subwoofer or two, its performance is stunning. Finally, the LS60 is more than a A truly outstanding “all-in-one” integrated. The price ($6995) may not be strictly budget, but when you add up all the features, and how well executed they are, I challenge you to find a better value out there. With lovely sound, this covers my three bases: CD, Phono, and means quicker rise times, speedier responsiveness—leading-edge transients quick and clean on the attack and an easy way with dynamic swings, providing power with effortlessness and discretion. I experienced a few app-based quirks, but it was a joy to interact with overall: a tactile, outsized volume control, old-school toggle switches, 66 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
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Stereophile Product of the Year Awards 2023 Digital Headphone Accessory Loudspeaker Budget loudspeaker, as it incorporates power amps, wireless links, and streaming, and requires only a source of music to satisfy the most critical listener.—Kal Rubinson TAD CE1TX LOUDSPEAKER Gorgeous to look at, built like fine furniture, and, most importantly, able to deliver ravishing sound, the made-in-Japan TAD is a standmount to make you not miss floorstanders. I’ve heard this big-sounding, three-way design on only a few occasions, but each time I walked away scheming to find a way to buy them. One caveat is their sensitivity, which, at 85dB, combined with a nominal 4 ohm impedance, means you’ll probably need robust amplification if you’re a headbanger. Otherwise, hook them up and you’ll be rewarded with the fruits of a design whose measured performance John Atkinson deemed “superb,” and which reviewer Herb Reichert called “the finest example of speaker engineering I’ve ever encountered. Absolutely Class A.” And absolutely my Editor’s Choice.—Rob Schryer WILSON AUDIO SPECIALTIES ALEXIA V LOUDSPEAKER In the year since I reviewed the Alexia V, I’ve had the opportunity to challenge it with some of the most complex music I’ve ever played on my system. No matter how many different musical lines I’ve thrown at it—no matter how wide the frequency extremes and dynamics—it has rendered everything cleanly, with clear timbral differentiation stereophile.com Q December 2023 Overall Editors’ Choice between musical instruments. It has also honored music with a depth of expression, nuance, and dynamic range previously unheard from my system. As I’ve upped the performance of my front-end components and amps, the Alexia V has unfailingly reached into the heart of the music at hand and displayed it with a veracity that would make many speakers of less quality blush. I also love looking at it; its aesthetics make me feel good. Wilson’s Alexia V is one superb loudspeaker.—Jason Victor Serinus Nothing is left to chance SME MODEL 60 TURNTABLE SME rarely introduces new models, and when they do, it’s always an event. The Model 60 is only the second flagship turntable from SME in over 30 years, building on the strengths of its predecessor, which remains in production. SME is one of the only turntable manufacturers that makes almost every mechanical part in house, right down to the tiniest screws and washers, and this attention to detail shows in its unsurpassed quality of fit and finish. The performance is reference quality, with an uncanny ability to extract more music from the grooves of a record than pretty much anything else.—Michael Trei HIFI ROSE RS520 STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER The HiFi Rose RS520 provides more fun per cubic inch than any other single audio box I can think of. My Naim Uniti Atom, an understated rival, wins on minimalist looks, but the Rose has a giant touch display that can mimic the fascia of a standalone tuner or the dancing VU meters of a bevy of vintage amps. Powerful, great-sounding, userfriendly, and unabashedly entertaining, the RS520 is a relative bargain to boot. What’s not to like?—Rogier van Bakel From the intelligently designed, inert aluminum enclosures, to the custom-made, high-efficiency drivers, by way of the technically advanced crossovers, we thought of everything. We think differently, to give you a sound like no other. All your music, every nuance, all the excitement of the performance. Hearing is believing. Book a listening session now. Your music, live
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E Q UIPMENT REP ORT JASON VICTOR SERINUS Accuphase A-300 STEREO/MONO POWER AMPLIFIER O ne of the finest chamber music performances I have ever attended took place this past August under far from ideal circumstances. The venue was one-month-old Field Hall in Port Angeles, Washington, a city of fewer than 20,000 people known more for its port and proximity to the Olympic National Forest than for its rich culture. Perhaps that reputation will soon change, because the performers in the concluding concert of the Music on the Strait 1 chamber music festival included its two local founders, violinist James Garlick of the Minnesota Orchestra and violist Richard O’Neill, the newest member of the Takács String Quartet. These excellent musicians, who have been friends since high school, were joined by the superb pianist Jeremy Denk and cellist Ani Aznavoorian.2 These are world-class musicians who attract eager audiences to New York’s 92nd Street Y and Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and other prestigious venues. From orchestra level—even from row C—Field Hall’s acoustics favored the midrange, shortchanged treble brilliance, and truncated reverberation: good for talks and theatre, not so good for unamplified music. Also problematic was the piano, a Steinway D that lacked warmth and richness because it was still recovering from a player piano mechanism–ectomy. These shortcomings mattered not once the music started. The program consisted of compositions by the three members of the love triangle of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. The performances were so heartfelt, so filled with poetic give and take, that the greatness of music and artistry transcended the limitations of both hall and piano. What was true for that live performance in Field Hall is also 1 See Musiconthestrait.com. 2 The week before, the Takács String Quartet and pianist Garrick Ohlsson opened the festival. SPECIFICATIONS Description Solid state, class-A (into 8 ohms) mono SRZHUDPSOLࢉHU,QSXWV one each balanced (XLR), VLQJOHHQGHG 5&$ 2XWSXW SDLUVORXGVSHDNHUELQGLQJ posts per channel, RCA and ;/5RXWSXWVIRUEULGJLQJ DQGELDPSLQJ5DWHGRXWSXW SRZHU:LQWRRKPV :LQWRRKPV:LQWR RKPV:LQWRRKP DOO G%: )UHTXHQF\UHVSRQVH +]ȁN+] ȁG% DWIXOOUDWHGSRZHU+]ȁ stereophile.com Q December 2023 N+] ȁG% DW: ,QSXWLPSHGDQFHNRKPV EDODQFHGNRKPVVLQJOH HQGHG6LJQDOQRLVHUDWLR $ZHLJKWHGLQSXWVKRUWHG G%ZLWK*DLQVZLWFKVHWWR 0$;G%ZLWKJDLQVZLWFK VHWWRȁG%*XDUDQWHHG RXWSXWQRLVHYROWDJHȝ9 7+' +]ȁN+]ȁRKP ORDG 'LVWRUWLRQ 'DPSLQJIDFWRU RUJUHDWHU*DLQG%G% G%G%,QSXWVHQVLWLYLW\ 9IRUIXOOUDWHGRXWSXW 9IRU:RXWSXW6WDQGE\ SRZHUFRQVXPSWLRQ: :LQ(FR0RGH Dimensions PP : PP ' PP +:HLJKWOE NJ VKLSSLQJZHLJKWOE NJ Finish*ROGIDFHSODWHRQ EODFNKRXVLQJ Serial numbers of units reviewed/</< 'HVLJQHGDQGEXLOWLQ-DSDQ PriceSDLU$SSUR[LPDWHQXPEHURI86GHDOHUV :DUUDQW\\HDUVSDUWV DQGODERU Manufacturer $FFXSKDVH/DERUDWRU\,QF 6KLQLVKLNDZD$RED NX<RNRKDPD-DSDQ 7HO :HEDFFXSKDVHFRP 86GLVWULEXWRU $;,66$XGLR86$ 1ROHQVYLOOH3LNH6XLWH& 1DVKYLOOH71 7HO (PDLOVDOHV#D[LVVDXGLRFRP :HED[LVVDXGLRFRP 71
$&&83+$6($৲৯৯ true for performances reproduced on audio systems: A system can be less than technically perfect yet still transmit with eloquence every iota of care and feeling that artists and engineers put into recordings. Perfection is not an essential component of musical truth. Inspiration is. Lest readers think this preamble is intended to suggest some shortcoming in the component under review, the Accuphase A-300 monophonic power amplifier ($51,900/pair), let me reassure you at the outset: Time and again, the A-300, like Jeremy Denk’s artistry, inspired a state of wonder. The more I listened to the A-300 monoblocks, the more I wanted to listen. In my too-busy life, every occasion for listening was an occasion indeed, a special event. Inside “To reduce noise is very important to sound reproduction. We’ve been pursuing reducing noise throughout Accuphase’s 51-year history. So, after the A-250 monoblock was released in 2017, we redesigned it all over again.” So spoke Takaya Inokuma, Accuphase’s director of engineering, near the start of a four-person Zoom chat that also included Accuphase International Marketing Manager Kohei Nishigawa and Axiss Audio USA’s new owner, Cliff Duffey. “Before we tune a component’s sound, it is very important to make the performance perfect,” Inokuma said. “First, we focus on the performance—on noise, speaker driving ability, and so on— and adjust as necessary. After all that is complete, we start to tune the sound to our ideal. We don’t listen to amplifiers from other manufacturers; instead, we listen to the latest Accuphase model so we can better it and better reproduce the dynamism, intonation, and emotion of music. “All music is the same. It’s not just sound. All music has atmosphere. There’s something the performer wants to tell the audience. The challenge of audio is how to transfer those kinds of feelings to listeners. That is the most important thing. “Ensemble is also very important. In live performance, performers try to breathe together before the first sound comes out. That inhalation is very important for an Accuphase amplifier. We try to revive that kind of atmosphere—the timing of what happens just before the sound comes out. It’s not a case of which amplifier has more bass or less bass or sounds ‘better’; instead it’s about how to transmit the emotion, the atmosphere, and the feelings to the listeners.” Inokuma oversees all aspects of Accuphase’s engineering, design, and development; Nishigawa described him as Accuphase’s “Sound Master.” So he was the best person to ask how the company tunes MEASUREMENTS performed a complete set of measurements on one of the Accuphase A-300s (serial number L2Y188) in its Normal mode with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 I preconditioned the A-300 by following the CEA’s recommendation of running it at one-eighth the speciࢉHGSRZHULQWRRKPVIRUPLQXWHV$W the end of that time, the temperature of the top panel was 97.6°F (36.4°C) and that of the side-mounted heatsinks 120.4°F (49.1°C). As auditioned by JVS, the balanced input was wired with pin 2 negative, the opposite of the AES standard. (A rear-panel switch allows it to be changed to pin 2 positive.) In the default position, therefore, the Accuphase’s balanced input inverted absolute polarity, though this is easily changed. The single-ended Line input was noninverting. The A-300’s balanced input impedance is VSHFLࢉHGDVNRKPV,PHDVXUHGN I stereophile.com Q December 2023 ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, 14.8k ohms at 20kHz. The single-ended input impedance, VSHFLࢉHGDVNRKPVZDVNRKPV at 20Hz and 1kHz but 5k ohms at 20kHz. With the gain set to MAX, the voltage gain at 1kHz into 8 ohms with both input types ZDVFORVHWRWKHVSHFLࢉHGG%DWG% The three lower gain settings lowered WKHYROWDJHJDLQE\G%G%DQGG% respectively. 1 See stereophile.com/content/measurements-mapsprecision. d B r A Hz Fig.1 Accuphase A-300, frequency response at 2.83V into: simulated loudspeaker load (gray), 8 ohms EOXH RKPV PDJHQWD DQGRKPV UHG G% vertical div.). Fig.2 Accuphase A-300, small-signal 10kHz squarewave into 8 ohms. 73
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$&&83+$6($৲৯৯ the sound of its products. First, Inokuma focuses on capacitors. “Capacitors are the most sensitive parts that influence sound quality,” he said. “Changing caps is the easiest way to change and control the sound. We have a lot of capacitors in the A-300. Changing the filtering capacitor has the most effect on sound quality. We use many types of filtering capacitors, from many different companies. For example, the big capacitor in the amp is custom-made. We discuss with the manufacturer what we want to hear, and we try different capacitors with different values and sleeves until we get it right.” The A-300’s output specs are impressive. The monoblock outputs 125W into 8 ohms and doubles down each time the impedance halves: 250W into 4 ohms, 500W into 2 ohms, 1000W into 1 ohm. “Its performance is extremely linear,” Inokuma said. “With a speaker like the Alexia V, whose nominal impedance is 4 ohms, the first 60 or so watts is pure class-A.” Accuphase’s literature describes the A-300 as a class-A amplifier—so why is class-A limited to the first 60W? I asked Stereophile Technical Editor John Atkinson to explain. “The Accuphase is what I would call a ‘high-bias’ class-AB amplifier. With such high power, running it in true class-A up to the clipping point into low impedances would be impractical, as the heatsinks would have to be the size of a house.” I also wrote to Duffey, who relayed the question to Inokuma and forwarded his response. “Here are our thoughts and technical approach to the question. For a push-pull output stage using a bipolar transistor as the output device, it operates as class-A up to twice the idling current flowing to the output device when the output is zero. If more than this amount of current flows through the speaker, one of the output devices, operating as a +/– pair, will turn off. Of course, current can be supplied to the outputs without any problem, and this is called class-AB amplification. “In the case of the A-300, the idling current is applied so that the class-A range into 8 ohms is 125W. The amplifier operates as classA up to 62.5W into 4 ohms and 31.25W into 2 ohms.” This inverse relationship between class-A power and load im- pedance is easily understood when you consider that current—idle current—determines an amplifier’s class-A range and that power equals current squared times load impedance: Cut the impedance in half and the power is halved as well. “So, the A-300 does in fact provide 125W of class A power into 8 ohms,” Duffey wrote. “Into 4 ohms, though, the amplifier’s fixed amount of ‘idle current’ can measurements, continued The output impedance, including the series impedance of 6' of spaced-pair cable, was a relatively low 0.14 ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, 0.18 ohms at 20kHz. As a result, the variation in the frequency response with our standard simulated loudspeaker 2 ࢉJJUD\WUDFH ZDVPLQLPDODWsG% 7KHUHVSRQVHLQWRUHVLVWLYHORDGVZDVࢊDW LQWKHDXGLREDQGQRWUHDFKLQJȁG%XQWLO d B r A % Hz Fig.3 Accuphase A-300, spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, '&ȁN+]DW:LQWRRKPV OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH stereophile.com N+]LQWRRKPV EOXH DQGN+] LQWRRKPV PDJHQWD :LWKLWVZLGH small-signal bandwidth, the Accuphase’s reproduction of a 10kHz squarewave into 8 ohms featured with very short risetimes LQERWKPRGHV ࢉJ ZLWKQRRYHUVKRRW or ringing. The unweighted, wideband signal/noise UDWLR UHI:LQWRRKPV WDNHQZLWKWKH Q December 2023 single-ended input shorted to ground and WKHJDLQVHWWR0$;ZDVDVXSHUEG% 7KLVUDWLRLPSURYHGWRG%ZKHQWKH measurement bandwidth was restricted WR+]ȁN+]DQGWRG%ZKHQ$ ZHLJKWHG7KHUDWLRVZHUHȁG%JUHDWHU ZLWKWKHJDLQWRVHWWRȁG%6SHFWUDO 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPFRQWHQWUHDOOLIHPHDVXUHments-page-2. % W Fig.4$FFXSKDVH$GLVWRUWLRQ YVN+]FRQWLQXous output power into 8 ohms. W Fig.5$FFXSKDVH$GLVWRUWLRQ YVN+]FRQWLQXous output power into 4 ohms. 75
What’s different about Infigo Audio? Our electronics feature vast amounts of smaller components for lightning-fast response compared to the more commonplace practice of letting a couple of larger devices handle the job. Combined with ultra-efficient heat dissipation and a standard-setting Class A topology, Infigo Audio stands apart in a world of me-too products. ZZZLQÀJRDXGLRFRP For further information and dealer inquiries, contact Nexus Audio Technologies, info@nexusaudtech.com, www.nexusaudtech.com
$&&83+$6($৲৯৯ support just 62.5W of class-A power.” Inokuma’s response included a table relating impedance, rated power, class-A range, and maximum power at clipping rated at 1% THD. The table showed that the clipping power easily surpasses the rated maximum output power at each load impedance, reaching 1100W into 1 ohm. How much power does a person need? “The A-300 is equipped with a real-time watt meter that measures the actual current and voltage flowing and displays output power,” Inokuma wrote. “When you have time, check how much power your speakers require at the volume you normally use.” The Accuphase A-300 monophonic power amplifier’s balanced input section is fully discrete. The output stage uses 20 push-pull MOSFETs in two parallel power-amplifier modules said to have very low output impedance. A gold-plated, glass-cloth, fluorocarbon-resin printed circuit board with big, gold-plated bus bars helps lower that output impedance. So do the large, easily tightened speaker terminals, rectangular wire coils, and short, thick signal paths. The A-300’s damping factor is specified as 1000,3 sufficient to tightly control driver motion in loudspeakers. In case this isn’t enough power, the A-300 has connections and switches that allow it to be bridged with a second A-300 or used in a biamped configuration. Created to help celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary year, in 2022, the A-300 is claimed to have 20% less noise than its predecessor, the A-250. Central to the amp’s low noise is an amplification section that operates like an instrumentation amplifier, equalizing input impedance on the + and – sides. Equally important are “assigning a high gain (12.6×) in the signal input section” and implementation of a “double MCS+ circuit.” What is a double MCS+ circuit? The website puts it this way. “By placing the voltage amplification stage in a two-parallel circuit layout, the MCS+ (Multiple Circuit Summing-up) circuit theoretically reduces the noise floor by about 30%. The A-300 comes with two MCS+ circuits in a double MCS+ circuit configuration.” Another listed feature, “Balanced Remote Sensing,” is said to “lower the amplifier’s output impedance [via] negative feedback with signal sensing from nearby the speaker terminals,” improving damping factor, total harmonic distortion, and intermodulation distortion. In addition to its robust power supply and high-efficiency toroidal transformer, the A-300 contains two large, specially designed 100,000μF filtering capacitors. The position of both devices has changed from the A-250. The power transformer now sits farther away from the input amplifier, which helps minimize leakage flux from the transformer. Importantly for such a powerful amplifier, protection circuits protect against excess output current, excess temperature, and short circuits. Such protections reflect longtime Accuphase company policy. “We produce high-quality products with high reliability, high performance, and safety,” he said. “We try to make products that are unbreakable, with long-lasting components and very simple circuit architecture that people can use for a long, long time.” On the outside Several features made the A-300 one of the easiest big amplifiers to install and repack to visit my music room. The large handles on its front and rear are a reviewer’s dream, and the very large, easily adjusted speaker terminals make connection a cinch. The packaging is equally well thought out; it includes an inner cardboard amplifier holder with thoughtfully positioned indentations that allow for easy lifting, Styrofoam protectors labeled by position (eg, bottom front), and a removable cloth cover that is light years ahead of the slippery, tight plastic component protectors—I call them condoms—that ironically make lifting and repacking heavy equipment a disaster waiting to happen. You will not pinch your fingers 3 According to Accuphase A-300’s Technical White Paper, its damping factor of 1000 is “the same as the A-250, but the actual measured value is over 2000, which is 43% higher than the former model.” measurements, continued DQDO\VLVRIWKHORZIUHTXHQF\QRLVHࢊRRU while the Accuphase drove a 1kHz tone at 1W into 8 ohms revealed a low random QRLVHࢊRRUDQGZKLOHHYHQRUGHUKDUPRQLFVRI+]ZHUHSUHVHQWWKHVHDOOOD\DWRU EHORZȁG% ࢉJ $FFXSKDVHVSHFLࢉHVWKH$ȆVPD[Lmum power in Normal mode as 125W into RKPV:LQWRRKPV:LQWR % RKPDV,GRQȆWKDYHDKLJKSRZHUWHVWORDG ZLWKWKDWYDOXH ,H[DPLQHGKRZWKHSHUFHQWDJHRI 7+'1YDULHGZLWKIUHTXHQF\DW9 HTXLYDOHQWWR:LQWRRKPV:LQWR RKPVDQG:LQWRRKPV ࢉJ 7KH 7+'1SHUFHQWDJHZDVH[WUHPHO\ORZLQWR RKPV EOXHWUDFH EXWURVHLQWRRKPV PDJHQWDWUDFH DQGRKPV UHGWUDFH ,W % W Fig.6$FFXSKDVH$GLVWRUWLRQ YVN+]FRQWLQXRXVRXWSXWSRZHULQWRRKPV stereophile.com RKPVDQG:LQWRRKPDOORIZKLFK DUHHTXLYDOHQWWRG%::HGHࢉQHDQDPSOLࢉHUȆVFOLSSLQJSRZHUDVEHLQJZKHQWKH 7+'QRLVHUHDFKHV:LWKWKDWFULWHULRQ WKH$H[FHHGHGLWVVSHFLࢉHGSRZHUV ,PHDVXUHG:LQWRRKPV G%: ࢉJ :LQWRRKPV G%:ࢉJ DQG:LQWRRKPV G%:ࢉJ , GLGQȆWH[DPLQHWKHFOLSSLQJSRZHULQWR Q December 2023 Hz Fig.7$FFXSKDVH$7+'1 YVIUHTXHQF\DW 9LQWRRKPV EOXH RKPV PDJHQWD DQG RKPV JUD\ Avg: 16 Fig.8$FFXSKDVH$N+]ZDYHIRUPDW:LQWR RKPV7+'1 WRS GLVWRUWLRQDQGQRLVH ZDYHIRUPZLWKIXQGDPHQWDOQRWFKHGRXW ERWWRP QRWWRVFDOH 77
$&&83+$6($৲৯৯ as you and a helper remove this amp from its heavy cardboard packaging or when you repack it. Equal kudos for the multilanguage manual. Its easy-to-comprehend instructions and diagrams are as complete as you would expect from a 51-year-old Japanese company. Dominating the front panel are an LED bargraph, which displays output power calculated from voltage, and a digital power meter that shows actual output power. I did as Inokuma suggested and watched the output power at my normal listening levels. It rarely exceeded 62.5W, the power at which the amplifier switches from class-A to class-AB with a nominal 4 ohm load like the Wilson Alexia V. Beneath the meters is a Standby/On button. When you turn the amplifier on, the outputs mute for about five seconds to allow the circuit time to stabilize. The power button is framed by a panellength cover you can open or close by depressing a small button to the right. Beneath the cover is a switch for selecting gain, with four choices: MAX, –3dB, –6dB, or –12dB. This setting alters the actual gain, in the input stage; it is not an attenuator. Lowering gain also lowers noise. When Duffey installed the amps, he set the gain selector in the default, MAX position. A rotary switch determines which meters are displayed: none, both, dB (only the bargraph), or W (only the digital power meter). Another rotary switch sets the meters’ range: Auto, 10W, 100W, 1000W. An input-selector button switches between the RCA and XLR inputs. The settings selected are indicated on the illuminated front panel. The intelligently laid-out rear panel includes, on the left, a line input on an RCA connector, another on XLR, and matching outputs for use in bridged and biamped operation. An operationmode switch facilitates bridging and biamping. Another switch enables you to choose which XLR pin is + and which is –. Two sets of speaker terminals sit on the right, far from the inputs and above a 15A IEC power connector. Spade lugs, bare wire, and bananas are all accepted. Setup I plugged the A-300s directly into the wall, as I do with my reference amplifiers. The front-end components received power from a Stromtank S 2500 battery power source. I placed the monoblocks on Grand Prix Audio Monza amp stands; Cliff said “okay” to using the same three Wilson Audio Pedestals I use under my reference D’Agostino monoblocks. All connections between the dCS Vivaldi Apex digital system, preamp, and amplifiers were balanced. As is my custom, initial listens were to unfamiliar recordings under consideration for record reviews. First up was a whammo orchestral tour de force, the superbly mastered DSD recording of Reinbert de Leeuw’s Der nächtliche Wanderer/Abschied (DSD64, Challenge Classics CC72957) with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Abschied is one of the most demanding recordings I’ve thrown at a sound system. To do full justice to cataclysmic music, intended as a farewell to composing, equipment must accurately convey a continuous barrage of assaults that resemble universes colliding to the point of apocalyptic collapse. The Accuphase A-300s sailed right through, leaving me feeling that everything that the music had to say had been conveyed. The recording’s other, far longer composition begins softly, with the recorded sound of a dog barking in the distance. Its slowly unfolding opening is more textured, atmospheric, and nuanced than Abschied, with numerous small details that build slowly to form a moving whole. The eventual deep, percussive thwacks had tremendous impact. When the recording ended, I had no desire to compare the sound to my reference. I felt whole and complete, as if I had heard all that composer, musicians, and engineers wanted me to hear. Not realizing that Stephen Francis Vasta had already reviewed Semyon Bychkov’s performance of Mahler's Symphony No.1 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (24/96 FLAC, Pentatone PTC5187043), I listened to it with rapt attention. The theme also used in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, his unforgettable song cycle, washed over me like a warm balm. I was struck by how measurements, continued was still low in absolute terms, however. The distortion waveform was predomiQDQWO\WKHWKLUGKDUPRQLF ࢉJ WKRXJK the second harmonic was present at a ORZHUOHYHO ࢉJ &RPPHQGDEO\KLJKHU RUGHUKDUPRQLFVZHUHDEVHQW7KLVJUDSK ZDVWDNHQDW:LQWRRKPVZKLFKLV below the power where the Accuphase’s RXWSXWVWDJHWUDQVLWLRQVIURPFODVV$WR d B r A d B r A Hz Fig.9$FFXSKDVH$VSHFWUXPRI+]VLQHZDYH '&ȁN+]DW:LQWRRKPV OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH stereophile.com FODVV$%3HUIRUPLQJWKHVSHFWUDODQDO\VLV DW:LQWRRKPVZKLFKLVFORVHUWRWKH transition power, the third harmonic rose E\G% ࢉJ FRPSDUHGZLWKࢉJEXW ZDVVWLOOYHU\ORZDWȁG% :LWK WKHDPSOLࢉHUGULYLQJ:LQWRRKPV QRW VKRZQ WKHWKLUGKDUPRQLFOD\DWȁG% WKHVHFRQGDWȁG% ,Qtermodulation distortion with an equal mix Q December 2023 RIDQGN+]WRQHVZDVDOVRYHU\ORZLQ OHYHOHYHQDERYHWKHWUDQVLWLRQSRZHUDW RKPV ࢉJ The Accuphase A-300’s measured performance indicates that it has no problem GULYLQJORZLPSHGDQFHVDQGLWRࢆHUVYHU\ ORZGLVWRUWLRQHVSHFLDOO\LQWRRKPV,W LVDOVRDYHU\TXLHWDPSOLࢉHUHYHQDWWKH KLJKHVWJDLQVHWWLQJ—John Atkinson d B r A Hz Fig.10$FFXSKDVH$VSHFWUXPRI+]VLQHZDYH '&ȁN+]DW:LQWRRKPV OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH Hz Fig.11$FFXSKDVH$+)LQWHUPRGXODWLRQVSHFWUXP'&ȁN+]N+]DW:SHDNLQWRRKPV OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH 79
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$&&83+$6($৲৯৯ well the A-300s depicted the texture of cello, then of oboe, then the clarinet, and then lower-pitched instruments at the start of the third movement. Woodwinds sounded gorgeous. The fourthmovement percussion sounded tremendous; the horns were full and lively but never overbright. As I listened, I began to understand part of the A-300’s magic. As revealing and full range as the sound was, these amplifiers emphasized midrange warmth over top-end brilliance. I also detected a bit of a euphonic white core in the center of the midrange. The subjective tonal balance was just warm enough to create some of the most pleasing sound I’d heard since the Infigo Method-3 monoblocks visited my listening room. Next up, the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Spanish Impressions (24/176.4 WAV, Reference Recordings RR-151). Here again I found the sound natural, warm, color-saturated—a total delight. If you want to hear a cello sound like a dream instrument, play this recording amplified by the A-300s. Also play it, with these amplifiers, if you want to hear how well they depict delicacy. Delicacy reigned in one of my longtime references for color saturation, beauty, and air, Debussy’s Sonata and Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp, performed by Emmanuel Pahud and friends on Debussy: Sonates et Trio (24/96 MQA, Erato/Tidal). The music was enrapturing, the lively acoustic depicted well if not as strikingly as through my reference. Switching gears, I cued up the Bill Evans Trio’s “Stella by Starlight” from Bill Evans at Shelly’s Manne-Hole (Live) (24/192 FLAC, Riverside/Qobuz). Brushes sounded extremely clean. The piano sounded well behind the drums. Then, another transition to jazz vocals. The midrange of Youn Sun Nah’s voice on “Lento” (24/96 FLAC, ACT/Qobuz), set to the lento from Alexander Scriabin’s Prelude Op.16 No.4 in E minor, sounded gorgeous and full. To quote Ira Gershwin, Who could ask for anything more? I had hoped to invite lots of friends over to hear the A-300s— that’s how much I was enjoying them—but deadlines and an injured dog limited visits to just three people. First up: Mark Schecter, a not-exactly-retired piano technician, formerly of UC Berkeley and Skywalker Studios, who transformed Field Hall’s previously mistreated Steinway D in record time. Then came my husband, followed by my dear fellow audiophile, pal, and Zen Priest Scott Campbell. After time spent checking out a few recordings of the orchestral version of Pictures at an Exhibition, Mark and I turned to another colorful, drama- and emotion-laden recording that deserves reference status,4 Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.5 (24/96 FLAC, Pentatone PTC5187067). I recall Mark’s excitement as he exclaimed, “The cellos and oboe are doubling on the same note, and I can hear each instrumental line clearly!” Scott and I devoted two sessions to comparing the Accuphase A-300 monos ($51,900/pair) to the much more expensive D’Agostino Momentum M400 MxV monoblocks ($79,950/pair). During the first session, we attached a Fluke meter to one of the Alexia Vs and used the “1kHz 1/3 -octave warble tone at –20dBFS” track from Stereophile’s Sampler and Test CD to match levels as closely as possible. At roughly the same levels, the D’Agostinos seemed nowhere as loud, perhaps because the Accuphase amps emphasized midrange warmth and fullness over treble brilliance— they sounded warmer and fatter with that touch of whiteness in the mids and a seductive cushion to the top edge. The D’Agostinos sounded more neutral, with a leaner midrange, livelier top, and cleaner bass. You could hear more of the leading edge and more color differentiation with the D’Agostinos; the Accuphase amps initiated tones in a rounder manner. The D’Agostinos also delivered more sense of black space between notes. Where the Accuphases filled silence with a seductive ebony glow, the D’Agostinos stereophile.com Q December 2023 ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Digital sources dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC, Vivaldi Upsampler Plus, Vivaldi Master Clock; Innuos Statement Next-Gen Music Server; Small Green Computer Sonore Deluxe opticalModule; Uptone Audio EtherRegen with SOtM sCLK-OCX10 Master Clock and sPS-500 power supply; Nordost QSource linear power supplies (2); HDPlex 300 linear power supply; Synology 5-bay 1019+ NAS powered by Ferrum Hypsos linear/switching hybrid power supply; Linksys mesh router and Arris modem; 2017 Apple iPad Pro, 2017 MacBook Pro laptop with 2.8GHz Intel i7, SSD, 16GB RAM. Preamplifier Dan D’Agostino Momentum HD. Power amplifiers Dan D’Agostino Momentum M400 MxV monoblocks. Loudspeakers:LOVRQ$XGLR6SHFLDOWLHV$OH[LD9DQG/Ď.Õ subwoofers. Cables Digital: Nordost Odin 1, Odin 2, and Valhalla 2 (USB and Ethernet), Frey 2 (USB adapter); AudioQuest WEL Signature; Wireworld Platinum Starlight Cat8 (Ethernet), OM1 62.5/125 PXOWLPRGHGXSOH[ ࢉEHURSWLF ,QWHUFRQQHFW ;/5 1RUGRVW2GLQ 2 and Blue Heaven subwoofer, AudioQuest Dragon, Canare (subwoofers). Speaker: Nordost Odin 2, AudioQuest Dragon. AC: Nordost Odin 2, Valhalla 2, Valhalla 1; AudioQuest Dragon and Firebird. Umbilical cords: Ghent Audio Canare on HDPlex 300 LPS and NAS; QSource Premium DC cables with Lemo terminations for QSources; SOtM sPS-500 umbilical cable for SOtM Master clock. Accessories Grand Prix Monza 8-shelf double rack and amp stands, 1.5” Formula platform; Symposium Ultra Platform; Nordost 20-amp QB8 Mark III, QKore 1 and 6; Titanium and Bronze Sort Kones, Sort Lifts; Stromtank S 2500 Quantum MK II power generator; AudioQuest Niagara 7000 and 5000 power conditioners, NRG Edison outlets, JitterBugs; ADD-Powr Sorcer ;(QYLURQPHQWDO3RWHQWLDOV(3((VXUJHSURWHFWRUࢉOWHU :LOVRQ$XGLR3HGHVWDOV$95RRP6HUYLFH3RO\ࢊH['LࢆXVHUV Resolution Acoustics room treatment; Stillpoints Clouds (8); HRS DPX-14545 Damping Plates; Marigo Aida CD mat. Listening room 20' L × 16' W × 9'4" H.—Jason Victor Serinus remained silent.5 Regardless, the beauty of the Accuphase A-300 sound, and its ability to convey musical truth, was beyond question. Final thoughts Every person I invited over for a listen to the Accuphase A-300 monoblocks shared my desire to listen more and more. Their sound is that beautiful and seductive. Some amplifiers may sound more neutral. Some will undoubtedly give you more of this or more of that. But few will leave you yearning to play every piece of music you can think of as you relish how beautiful and satisfying it sounds. The day we packed up these inherently musical, beautifully thought-out monoblocks was a sad one indeed. As much as the Accuphase A-300 Monophonic Power Amplifier deserves a Class A rating on our Recommended Components list, that classification only begins to capture how wonderful it sounds. If pressed to summarize the A-300 listening experience with a single word, that word would be “joy.” Q 4 See stereophile.com/content/september-2023-classical-record-reviews. 5 I wonder whether the Accuphases would have sounded quieter if we had adjusted their gain to –12dB, as shown in the specs, rather than “MAX.” Would the 5dB difference in S/N ratio have produced blacker blacks? In retrospect, I regret that I didn’t conduct this test. 81
E Q UIPMENT REP ORT KALMAN RUBINSON Estelon AURA LOUDSPEAKER I ’ve been watching Estelon since they came on the market in the US. Their striking appearance grabs the eye, but, preoccupied with other brands and reviews, I was able to deny them serious attention until now. I had my reasons—especially price. The prices of those earlier Estelons were a poor fit for my budget. I was also troubled by the fact that, despite rhetoric about driver and component choice, advanced cabinet materials and construction, and fastidious engineering, Estelon has been stingy with details and specifications—not a complete disqualifier but rather a missed opportunity to appeal to objectivist proclivities. What changed my mind? First, while Estelon is deservedly known for the elegance of its designs, the AURA is, to me, the cleanest design the company has yet achieved. The black grille tapers from top to bottom in clear counterpoint to the clean, curved white body, which widens top to bottom and seems to levitate just barely off the floor. The effect is unfussy and graceful. Had I been asked my choice of colors, I might have ordered black— the only other color, besides white, that the AURA comes in—but black fails to make the bold fashion statement the white speaker does. Second, at $19,900/pair, the AURA is much less expensive than those earlier models, including the Forza reviewed by Michael Fremer and the XB Diamond Mk.2 reviewed by Jim Austin.1 $20,000 is still a lot of money for almost anybody, and any claim that $20,000 is affordable for a pair of speakers would likely be ridiculed by non-audiophiles as well as many audiophiles. Still, it is in range to many more potential buyers than Estelon’s other offerings. Estelon remains stingy with technical information. For example, while they state a frequency range, they do not specify a deviation envelope, plus or minus how many dB. When I asked Estelon for additional data, I learned crossover points (77Hz, woofer–midwoofers; 2.1kHz, midwoofers–tweeter) but not slopes or orders of the crossovers. Still, I was so taken with the design and appearance of the AURA that I went back and read those earlier Estelon reviews. Both offered limited technical specifications, but the speakers were praised by the reviewers (MF and JA2), and both measured well (JA1). That’s good enough for me. Arrival and setup The AURAs arrived packed in individual, foam-braced corrugated boxes enclosed by a stronger box with an integrated wood pallet. The test pair came from Estonia, of course, and was “broken in” as a shop demo 1 Estelon Forza ($149,000–$163,000/pair) reviewed by Michael Fremer in November 2021. Estelon XB Diamond Mk.2 ($58,000–$65,200/pair) reviewed by Jim Austin in October 2022. SPECIFICATIONS Description Three-way, four-driver ࢊRRUVWDQGLQJORXGVSHDNHULQDVHDOHG ȉWKHUPRIRUPHGFRPSRVLWHȊHQFORVXUH'ULYH XQLWV" (PP 6FDQ6SHDNWH[WLOHGRPHȉ,OOXPLQDWRUȊWZHHWHUWZR" PP ȉ6DWRULȊ (J\SWLDQ3DS\UXVFRQHPLGZRRIHUVRQH PP ȉ)DLWDOȊKDUGSUHVVHGSDSHU FRQHZRRIHU.XEDOD6RVQDLQWHUQDOZLULQJ )UHTXHQF\UDQJH+]ȁN+],PSHGDQFH RKPV PLQLPXPRKPVDW+] 6HQVLWLYLW\ G%9P0LQLPXPDPSOLࢉHUSRZHU :5HFRPPHQGHGURRPVL]HȁVTIW Dimensions" PP +" PP :" PP 'LQFOXGLQJ stereophile.com Q December 2023 EDVH1HWZHLJKWOE NJ HDFK6KLSSLQJ ZHLJKWOE NJ IRUWKHSDLU Finishes%ODFN:KLWH Serial numbers of units reviewed )$%0DQXIDFWXUHGLQ(VWRQLD PriceSDLU$SSUR[LPDWHQXPEHU RI86GHDOHUV:DUUDQW\\HDUV Manufacturer$OIUHG 3DUWQHUV2 .XNHUPLLGL7DOOLQQ(VWRQLD (PDLOLQIR#HVWHORQFRP :HEHVWHORQFRP 86VDOHVDJHQW$OGR)LOLSSHOOL 7HO (PDLODOGR#HVWHORQFRP 83
ESTELON AURA at a US AURA dealer before being shipped to the local dealer (Stereo Exchange), who delivered and unpacked them. The speakers and packaging were pristine on arrival, attesting to the competence of the packaging design and execution. Included with the speakers were eight adjustable spikes, eight matching floor-protector discs, two pairs of cotton gloves, a polishing cloth, and a user manual. Placed in the usual “sweet spots” at the far corners of the carpet and lifted ever so slightly by the small spikes, the AURAs were eye candy, as expected; their graceful simplicity would suit almost any room. Fit and finish of the proprietary, mineral-filled cabinet and drivers was flawless. The unusual shape and angled top avoid parallel internal surfaces. With the grille in place, the only notable exterior features are the gently arched base plate, which is separated from the main cabinet by a 2cm gap to allow for the output of the downward facing 10" woofer and the speaker terminals, which are almost hidden under the bottom rear of the main cabinet. The AURAs’ appearance benefits from the accent provided by the grille, and I am pleased to say that I preferred to listen to them with the grilles in place. If that is a consequence of a visual bias, so be it. With the grille removed, one sees a vertical M-T-M arrangement, the 1" Scan-Speak tweeter flanked by a pair of 5" midwoofers near the top of the speaker. The crossover between the tweeter and the midwoofers is at 2.1kHz; the tight spacing results in a midwoofer-midwoofer spacing of about a wavelength at that frequency, the tweetermidwoofer spacing half that. Such an arrangement could cause beaming interfer- ence, but in a vertical array, it would only be an issue above or below a normal seated position. Estelon calls these drivers midwoofers not midrange drivers because their range extends down to a low 77Hz, where the down-facing woofer begins to take over. The center of the M-T-M trio is about a MEASUREMENTS measured one of the Estelon Aura loudspeakers, serial number F35204B, in KR’s apartment, using his NAD C DPSOLࢉHUIRUWKHWHVWLQJ,PHDsured the Estelon Aura’s impedance with Dayton Audio’s DATS V2 system and used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the VSHDNHUȆVEHKDYLRULQWKHIDUࢉHOGDQGDQ (DUWKZRUNV47&PLNHIRUWKHQHDUࢉHOG UHVSRQVHV.DODQG,OLIWHGWKH$XUDRQ to a dolly for the measurements, but to PLQLPL]HWKHHࢆHFWRIWKHࢉUVWUHࢊHFWLRQ IURPWKHJURXQG,PHDVXUHGWKHUHVSRQVH and dispersion with the microphone at 1m UDWKHUWKDQP\XVXDO 7KH(VWHORQ$XUDȆVVHQVLWLYLW\LVVSHFLࢉHG DVG%9SUHVXPDEO\PHDVXUHGDW P0\%ZHLJKWHGHVWLPDWHZDVVOLJKWO\ ORZHUDWG% % 9P(VWHORQVSHFLࢉHVWKH$XUDȆVQRPLQDOLPSHGDQFHDV ohms, with a minimum value of 2 ohms at +]7KHVSHDNHUȆVLPSHGDQFHPDJQLWXGH ࢉJVROLGWUDFH YDULHVFRQVLGHUDEO\EXW lies above 4 ohms for almost the entire audioband, dropping below 4 ohms only I stereophile.com Q December 2023 LQWKHEDVV7KHPLQLPXPYDOXHZDV RKPVDW+]7KHHOHFWULFDOSKDVHDQJOH ࢉJGRWWHGWUDFH DࢆHFWVWKHHTXLYDOHQW SHDNGLVVLSDWLRQUHVLVWDQFHRU(3'51 This lies below 3 ohms through most of the bass and midrange and below 2 ohms between 10Hz and 36Hz and between 57Hz DQG+],WGURSVEHORZRKPEHWZHHQ 61Hz and 71Hz, with a minimum EPDR of RKPVDW+]7KH$XUDLVDYHU\GHPDQGLQJORDGIRUWKHSDUWQHULQJDPSOLࢉHU :KHQ,OLVWHQHGWRWKHHQFORVXUHZLWKD VWHWKRVFRSH,FRXOGKHDUDIDLQWUHVRQDQFH LQWKHXSSHUPLGUDQJHRQWKHVLGHZDOOV 8VLQJDSODVWLFWDSHDFFHOHURPHWHU,IRXQG two high-Q modes on the speaker’s sides, at 406Hz and 1100Hz, as well as some low4DFWLYLW\DWIUHTXHQFLHVEHWZHHQWKHVH WZRPRGHV ࢉJ +RZHYHUWKHUHODWLYHO\ KLJK4DQGWKHKLJKIUHTXHQFLHVZLOOZRUN against this behavior having audible conVHTXHQFHV ,ZDVLQLWLDOO\SX]]OHGE\WKHVKDSHRI the Estelon’s impedance magnitude trace LQWKHEDVV7KHVDGGOHFHQWHUHGRQ+] lying between two small peaks suggests VRPHVRUWRIUHࢊH[DOLJQPHQW+RZHYHU .5FODULࢉHGIRUPHWKDWWKH$XUDȆVZRRIHU is loaded with a sealed enclosure and crosses over to the two midrange units at DORZ+]7KHLPSHGDQFHSHDNDW+] ZLOOWKHUHIRUHEHGXHWRWKHFURVVRYHU 1 EPDR is the resistive load that gives rise to the VDPHSHDNGLVVLSDWLRQLQDQDPSOLࢉHUȆVRXWSXWGHYLFHVDVWKHORXGVSHDNHU6HHȉ$XGLR3RZHU$PSOLࢉHUV for Loudspeaker Loads,” JAES9RO1R6HSWHPEHU DQGVWHUHRSKLOHFRPUHIHUHQFHKHDY\ LQGH[KWPO 6WHUHRSKLOH(VWHORQ$XUD,PSHGDQFH RKPV 3KDVH GHJ YV)UHTXHQF\ +] Fig.1(VWHORQ$XUDHOHFWULFDOLPSHGDQFH VROLG DQG SKDVH GDVKHG RKPVYHUWLFDOGLY 85
ESTELON AURA meter above the woofer, a small fraction of a wavelength (~4.5 meters) at the crossover, so there should be no issues there. Estelon emphasizes the care lavished on said crossover, which utilizes: k Mundorf Supreme and Classic resistors k Mundorf air-core coils (inductors) for midwoofers and tweeter k Mundorf resin-impregnated coils for bass k Kubala-Sosna internal wiring. I connected the AURAs to a single NAD C 298 stereo amplifier, and later to a pair of monoblock Benchmark AHB2 amplifiers, via spade-terminated AudioQuest Granite cables; the AURA terminals also accept banana-plug terminations. My experiments with placement ended up with the speakers about 7.5' apart, 5' from the front wall, and about 3' from the sidewalls. They were toed in just a little, close to the factory-recommended 7°. Hello, beautiful From the first notes—well before I finalized position and toe-in—I found that the AURAs’ beauty was not superficial. They sounded open and detailed and, once properly placed, well-balanced. I like to use solo piano recordings to start a review because the piano is a single acoustical instrument with wide ranges in frequency and dynamics. The challenge for any component, including the AURAs, is to convey all the notes, singly and in chords, with presence, tonal balance, and clarity while also mak- ing clear that the source of all that sound is a single large instrument in a real acoustic space. The AURAs achieved all that with a pair of new recordings of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes performed by Francesco Piemon- measurements, continued 86 7KHZRRIHUȆVQHDUࢉHOGUHVSRQVH ࢉJUHG WUDFH SHDNVVKDUSO\EHWZHHQ+]DQG +]DQGUROOVRࢆEHORZWKDWUHJLRQZLWK WKHXOWLPDWHG%RFWDYHVORSHW\SLFDORID VHDOHGER[DOLJQPHQW7KHXQLWȆVXSSHU IUHTXHQF\UROORࢆLVVWHHSDQGZKLOHWKH RXWSXWDERYH+]LVGLVWXUEHGE\VRPH KDVKWKLVLVORZLQOHYHODQGDQ\DXGLEOH FRQVHTXHQFHVZLOOEHUHGXFHGE\WKHIDFW WKDWWKHZRRIHUࢉUHVGRZQWRZDUGWKH ࢊRRU 7KHWZRPLGUDQJHXQLWVEHKDYHGLGHQWL FDOO\7KHLUVXPPHGQHDUࢉHOGUHVSRQVH ࢉJEOXHWUDFH UROOVRࢆEHORZ+] ZLWKDVHDOHGER[G%RFWDYHVORSHDQG FURVVHVRYHUWRWKHZRRIHUFORVHWRWKH VSHFLࢉHG+]7KHEODFNWUDFHEHORZ +]LQࢉJVKRZVWKHFRPSOH[VXP RIWKHPLGUDQJHDQGZRRIHURXWSXWV 7KHVPDOOSHDNLQWKHXSSHUEDVVZLOO EHGXHWRWKHQHDUࢉHOGPHDVXUHPHQW WHFKQLTXHZKLFKDVVXPHVWKDWWKHGULYH XQLWVDUHSODFHGRQDWUXHLQࢉQLWHED࢈H LHRQHZKLFKH[WHQGVWRLQࢉQLW\LQERWK YHUWLFDODQGKRUL]RQWDOSODQHV+RZHYHU WKHZRRIHUȆVRXWSXWGRHVDSSHDUWREH XQGHUGDPSHG 7KHEODFNWUDFHDERYH+]LQࢉJ VKRZVWKH(VWHORQȆVIDUࢉHOGRXWSXWDYHU DJHGDFURVVDrKRUL]RQWDOZLQGRZFHQ WHUHGRQWKHWZHHWHUD[LV2WKHUWKDQVRPH VPDOOSHDNVDWWKHWRSRIWKHPLGUDQJH DQGEHWZHHQN+]DQGN+]DQGDVOLJKW ODFNRIWRSRFWDYHHQHUJ\WKHEDODQFH LVUHODWLYHO\HYHQ7KH$XUDȆVKRUL]RQWDO GLVSHUVLRQSORWWHGrWRHDFKVLGHRI WKHWZHHWHUD[LV ࢉJ LVVXSHUEO\ZHOO FRQWUROOHGXSWRN+]ZLWKWKHWZHHWHUȆV RXWSXWUROOLQJRࢆWRWKHVSHDNHUȆVVLGHV Fig.2(VWHORQ$XUDFXPXODWLYHVSHFWUDOGHFD\SORWFDO FXODWHGIURPRXWSXWRIDFFHOHURPHWHUIDVWHQHGWRWKH FHQWHURIWKHVLGHSDQHOOHYHOZLWKWKHORZHUPLGUDQJH XQLW PHDVXUHPHQWEDQGZLGWKN+] Fig.3(VWHORQ$XUDDQHFKRLFUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHU D[LVDWPDYHUDJHGDFURVVrKRUL]RQWDOZLQGRZ DQGFRUUHFWHGIRUPLFURSKRQHUHVSRQVHZLWKWKH QHDUILHOGPLGUDQJH EOXH DQGZRRIHU UHG UHVSRQVHV DQGWKHLUFRPSOH[VXPUHVSHFWLYHO\SORWWHGEHORZ +]+]DQG+] Fig.4(VWHORQ$XUDODWHUDOUHVSRQVHIDPLO\DWP QRUPDOL]HGWRUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHUD[LVIURPEDFN WRIURQWGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁrRIID[LV UHIHUHQFHUHVSRQVHGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁr RIID[LV December 2023 Q stereophile.com
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ESTELON AURA tesi (Pentatone 5187052) and by Haochen Zhang (BIS-2681). Both play Steinways, and both recordings were auditioned via 24/96 FLAC files downloaded from the labels’ websites. The instruments and their aural environments are remarkably similar to each other, but I detect a bit more focus in the BIS recording. And, although Zhang was recorded in a film/recording studio in Munich and Piemontesi in a small, modern concert hall in Lugano, neither recording offered much information about the acoustics of the recording sites. The contrast is in the playing. Zhang clearly relishes articulating individual notes, which he does with almost superhuman precision. Piemontesi leans toward a more legato expression, although the Estelons still let me hear each of the notes when I attended to them. Zhang’s delineations were thrilling in the “big” pieces, such as No.4, “Mazeppa,” and No.8, “Wilde Jagd,” but also surprisingly touching in the more delicate No.7, “Vision”; he kept me hanging on every note, with bated breath. Strangely, Piemontesi’s more fluid playing achieved more momentum in the big pieces and provided a much-appreciated grace in the delicate pieces. I listened to both performances several times via the AURAs. The experience was informative, enjoyable, and totally nonfatiguing. I recently came upon a recording of chamber wind pieces by György Ligeti—a new release from Harmonia Mundi (CD, HMM905370) recorded in 2016 and remastered and reissued only this year. The earlier issue (Musicales Actes Sud ASM 26) was criticized for its sound quality, but Harmonia Mundi’s 2023 release, which I downloaded in 24/96 FLAC, is spectacular. Via the AURAs, the instruments in the opening Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet popped like a poster-painted posy, each clearly delineated, richly colored, and arrayed on a soundstage that extends laterally beyond the speakers. The closest wind instruments sounded as close as the speakers, the ensemble extending to a few feet behind, and there was a strong illusion of performers in my room. Quite thrilling, measurements, continued 88 above that frequency. In the vertical plane ࢉJ WKHEDODQFHLVPDLQWDLQHGrEHORZ WKHWZHHWHUD[LVZKLFKLVXVHIXOFRQVLGHULQJWKDWWKHWZHHWHULVDKLJKIURPWKH ࢊRRU 7XUQLQJWRWKHWLPHGRPDLQWKH$XUDȆV VWHSUHVSRQVHRQWKHWZHHWHUD[LV ࢉJ LQGLFDWHVWKDWWKHWZHHWHUDQGPLGUDQJH XQLWVDUHDOOFRQQHFWHGLQSRVLWLYHDFRXVWLF SRODULW\7KHWZHHWHUȆVRXWSXWDUULYHVࢉUVW DWWKHPLFURSKRQHDQGWKHGHFD\RILWV VWHSVPRRWKO\EOHQGVZLWKWKHVWDUWRIWKH PLGUDQJHXQLWVȆVWHSZKLFKLPSOLHVDQ RSWLPDOFURVVRYHULPSOHPHQWDWLRQ %HFDXVHRILWVQDUURZORZIUHTXHQF\ SDVVEDQGWKHZRRIHUȆVVWHSLVQRWYLVLEOHLQWKLVJUDSK+RZHYHUDQHDUࢉHOG VWHSUHVSRQVHPHDVXUHPHQW QRWVKRZQ LQGLFDWHGWKDWWKHGULYHULVFRQQHFWHGLQ LQYHUWHGDFRXVWLFSRODULW\WKHVWHSRYHUODLG ZLWKULQJLQJDWWKHXQLWȆVWXQLQJIUHTXHQF\ $WKLJKHUIUHTXHQFLHVZKLOHWKH(VWHORQȆV FXPXODWLYHVSHFWUDOGHFD\ ZDWHUIDOO SORW ࢉJ IHDWXUHVDFOHDQLQLWLDOGHFD\DFURVV WKHDXGLREDQGVRPHORZOHYHOGHOD\HG HQHUJ\LVSUHVHQWDWWKHIUHTXHQFLHVRIWKH VPDOOSHDNVLQWKHIDUࢉHOGUHVSRQVH $V DOZD\VLJQRUHWKHDSSDUHQWORZOHYHOULGJH RIGHOD\HGHQHUJ\MXVWEHORZN+]ZKLFK LVGXHWRLQWHUIHUHQFHIURPWKH0/66$KRVW 3&ȆVYLGHRFLUFXLWU\ ,QPRVWUHVSHFWVWKH(VWHORQ$XUD PHDVXUHGZHOOZLWKDJHQHUDOO\HYHQ IUHTXHQF\UHVSRQVHVXSHUEO\FRQWUROOHG KRUL]RQWDOGLVSHUVLRQWLPHFRKHUHQW RXWSXWDQLQLWLDOO\FOHDQZDWHUIDOOSORWDQG DZHOOEHKDYHGHQFORVXUH+RZHYHUWKDW YHU\GHPDQGLQJLPSHGDQFHFRXSOHGZLWK DYHUDJHVHQVLWLYLW\PHDQVWKDWDPSOLࢉHU PDWFKLQJZLOOEHFULWLFDOLQJHWWLQJWKHEHVW IURPWKLVORXGVSHDNHUDV.DOIRXQGLQKLV DXGLWLRQ—John Atkinson Fig.5(VWHORQ$XUDYHUWLFDOUHVSRQVHIDPLO\DWP QRUPDOL]HGWRUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHUD[LVIURPEDFN WRIURQWGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁrDERYHD[LV UHIHUHQFHUHVSRQVHGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁr EHORZD[LV Fig.6(VWHORQ$XUDVWHSUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHUD[LVDW P PVWLPHZLQGRZN+]EDQGZLGWK Fig.7(VWHORQ$XUDFXPXODWLYHVSHFWUDOGHFD\SORWRQ WZHHWHUD[LVDWP PVULVHWLPH December 2023 Q stereophile.com
ESTELON AURA of course, but I missed any sense of the recording-site acoustics. Fortuitously, the major work on this recording, Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, with François-Xavier Roth conducting Les Siècles, a larger ensemble, was recorded in a larger space, which endows the ensemble’s sound with a richer ambience.2 This was appreciated, especially when the AURAs’ low-frequency performance delivered tight and detailed bass. In the motoric third movement, the pacing and percussion simulate synthetic music; it is reproduced here with surgical precision. The fourth movement is mellow and flowing save for one manic outburst; I was engrossed throughout by the music as the AURAs conjured a vivid illusion of a live performance. Hankering for a recording with a greater sense of space and place, I moved to another recording by Les Siècles, one that has become a favorite of mine, Fauré’s Requiem Op.48, which adds the vocal group Ensemble Aedes to the mix, both ensembles conducted by Mathieu Romano (24/96 FLAC, Aparté AP201). This piece was recorded in Abbaye de Lessay, in Manche, which offers a warm acoustic without loss of detail. From the first, defining pedal, everything was sweet and clear, and the AURAs delivered the voices and instruments distinct from the enveloping ambience. However, I heard less of the bass line than I have in the past from this recording. Is it all about the bass? To follow up on that point, I listened to some recordings that feature oktavists, singers whose range extends below that of a basso profundo, “down to contra B flat and lower in a choral setting.”3 Among those in my library, the contribution of the oktavists is clearest on Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (aka Vespers), as performed by Gloriæ De Cantores joined by members of the St. Romanos Cappella, the Patriarch Tikhon Choir, and the Washington Master Chorale, all under Peter Jermihov (SACD, Gloriae Dei Cantores, GDCD 063, also available as a half-speed–mastered 45rpm, 2-LP set). This performance incorporates seven oktavists among 22 bassos. The AURAs did a grand job with this landmark performance, depicting the large chorus with subtle, wide dynamics in a wide, tall, deep soundstage. The oktavists contributed greatly to the richness of the chorus, but they can best be heard in Part 5, “Nunc Dimittus,” listed as “Now Lettest Thou.” As this part is ending, the music descends in pitch until only the oktavists are left to sing the final notes. The AURAs let me hear and appreciate the oktavists’ contributions and to contrast this with the many recordings of the Vespers that employ only “regular” bassos. Those deep, otherworldly tones were stunning. Still, I’d have liked a bit more from the lowest notes—which by the way go down around 58Hz. Via the AURAs, a normal low voice, such as Hans Theessink’s in “Late Last Night” from Burmester’s Vorführungs - CD II (Burmester Art for the Ear, no catalog number), displayed the expected gruff tonality in full. The AURAs did justice to the accompanying trombone and tuba. The percussion had kick. But if I pushed the AURAs with “The Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” (Bela Fleck, Warner Bros. 9 26562-2, CD) or with my favorite recording of Mendelssohn’s first organ sonata with Thomas Murray (CD, Raven 390), I heard everything there was down to the lows in the second verse of “Hippo” and all the pedal tones in the last movement of the Mendelssohn, but I didn’t feel the bass, and there was much less bass energy in the room than I am accustomed to. Although the AURAs have an extended low frequency response as would be expected from their size and use of a 10" woofer, their bass rolloff sounds like it begins rather high up—but hang on just a minute. I took a detour from stereo and briefly ran the AURAs as L/R in a 4.1 mixdown of the recent release The Trondheim Concertos stereophile.com Q December 2023 ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Digital sources Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player, Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver Media Center v30 and Roon, Merging Technologies Hapi MKII, exaSound s88 Mark II, and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Preamplifiers Coleman Audio 7.1SW for balanced DAC-to-amp switching. Power amplifiers Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298. Loudspeakers KEF Blade 2 Meta, Revel Performa3 f206; two JL Audio e110 and 1 SVS SB-3000 subwoofers. Cables'LJLWDOFDEOHV$XGLR4XHVW&RࢆHH 86% $QDORJLQWHUconnects: Benchmark Studio&Stage XLR-XLR, Kubala-Sosna $QWLFLSDWLRQ 5&$ &DUGDV&URVV VXEZRRIHUV 6SHDNHUFDEOHV AudioQuest Granite, Benchmark Studio&Stage, Blue Jeans Canare 4S11. AC cables SignalCable MagicPower 20A. Accessories AudioQuest Niagara 5000, Brick-Wall BrickWall 8RAUD, and CyberPower 850PFCLCD UPS power conditioners, 7HGG\3DUGR936 IRUH[D6RXQGV +'3OH[:/LQHDU 3RZHU6XSSO\DQG$&ࢉOWHU IRUVHUYHU Listening room 24' L × 14' W × 8' H, furnished with custom-built 9" × 12" × 40" and 2" × 12" × 48" absorbent panels in each front corner. Sidewalls lateral to L/R speakers have 2” thick, 2’ wide ࢊRRUWRFHLOLQJ2&SDQHOV)URQWZDOOKDVODUJHZLQGRZV partly covered by insulated fabric drapes. Rear of room opens into 10’ × 7’ foyer and a 12’ × 8’ dining area.—Kalman Rubinson (2L 2L-172-SABD, SACD+Blu-ray), a selection of baroque concerti associated with the city of Trondheim and a good retort to anyone who thinks baroque music is lightweight. The mid- and lower bass was completely satisfying, suggesting that anyone who finds that the AURAs lack something at the bottom end can get satisfaction by adding a subwoofer. The rest of the spectrum was, as I have come to expect from the AURAs, clean, open, and dynamic. Resolution I chose this moment to switch to the Benchmark AHB2 monoblocks to see if what I was hearing was related to amp/speaker matching. It was. I have swapped power amplifiers many times while reviewing speakers. I have even done so with these particular amplifiers, the NAD and Benchmarks, and struggled to describe the subtle differences I heard. But this time it was easy. Using the Benchmarks with the AURAs, the bass was improved so much that the light bass I heard previously was no longer an issue. The above caveats no longer apply. 7KHJORYHVDUHRࢆ I usually save the “big” music for the end of a review, and I am glad I did so with the AURAs, now powered by the monoblock Benchmark AHB2s. The opening drum salvo of Rameau’s “Zaïs – Ouverture” from Une Symphonie Imaginaire, by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre (SACD, DGG Archiv 00289 477 5578), was proof positive that all was well. When the whacks got louder to set the tempo, the strings and winds exploded with the joyful melody, filling a wide and deep soundstage. The ability of the AURAs to project this soundstage with great clarity was confirmed with “Stimela (The Coal Train),” from the al2 The album notes identify both recording sites, the Méjan Chapel in Arles and the Cité de la musique in Soissons, but do not associate individual works with the sites. From the pictures I see on the internet and from what I hear, I suspect that the Concerto was recorded in Soissons and the two pieces for quintet in Arles. 3 See oktavism.com/post/2014/11/16/what-is-an-oktavist. 91
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ESTELON AURA bum Hope, by Hugh Masekela (SACD, Analogue Productions APJ 82020). Played at a high level, the AURAs thrillingly recreated the aura of this large live event and presented Masekela’s voice and trumpet, as well as the other performers, with striking presence and realistic tonality. There was a sense of immersion in the event that is rarely achieved with only two channels. Finally, with a stunning new recording of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck (SACD, Reference Recordings FR-752), the AURAs rewarded me with the richness and glory of a symphony in a powerful performance of this Romantic-era classic. The dynamics were all there, as were the power of the brass and the lovely sounds of the winds and upper strings, but something else impressed me more: I heard much detail in the rich underpinning of the cellos and basses. The AURAs did this right. A comparison I compared the Estelon AURAs with my KEF Blade 2 Metas, driven by the Benchmark amps. The results were fascinating. Direct comparison highlighted the AURAs’ impressively pellucid and detailed soundstage, which, by contrast, made the KEFs seem somewhat relaxed. The AURA soundstage stretched across the room, with lots of immediacy in the speaker plane, while the KEFs depicted a soundstage that was both wider and deeper. The AURAs’ bass was somewhat less full and less extended than that of the Blades, but this might have escaped my notice had I not been sensitized to it by my prior experience with the NAD amp. Perhaps a different amplifier would relevel the playing field, even more than the Benchmark amps already had. Moreover, this is the part of the spectrum most affected by room acoustics and placement. I should also note that the AURA’s tight bass will suit the tastes of many listeners and will certainly be kinder to neighbors. For those still not fully satisfied, adding a subwoofer could resolve this, if not for their neighbors. Conclusions I have spent weeks listening to the Estelon AURAs and thoroughly enjoying the music. They are among the most transparent speakers I’ve reviewed, and they present voices, instruments, and ensembles with refreshing immediacy and impact. Never did anything, including its bass performance, disturb that enjoyment or distract from it. The choice of amplifier is critical, however, for the AURAs’ potential to be fully realized. While my original attraction to the Estelon AURAs was based on appearance, I believe they are just as beautiful when I listen to music with my eyes closed. Q
E Q UIPMENT REP ORT JOHN ATKINSON Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER I first met Musical Fidelity’s founder, Antony Michaelson, in 1978, when he was running tube amplifier manufacturer Michaelson & Austin. I still have an M&A TVA-10 amplifier, which was designed by the late, great Tim de Paravicini.1 Soon after Antony founded Musical Fidelity in 1982, he employed de Paravicini to design the A1 integrated amplifier.2 The A1 was a slim solid state design with a class-A output stage that output 20Wpc into 8 ohms. By contrast, the massive, dual-mono Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800 integrated amplifier, which Michael Fremer reviewed for Stereophile in November 2015,3 featured nuvistor tubes for its small-signal circuitry, coupled with a solid state, class-AB output stage that could deliver 330Wpc into 8 ohms. In 2017, Michaelson decided to retire. In May 2018, the Musical Fidelity brand and its intellectual property were acquired by Heinz Lichtenegger of Austrian company Audio Tuning. (Lichtenegger is the owner of Pro-Ject Audio Systems.) The New Nu-Vista 800.2 When the original Nu-Vista 800’s “retro-look,” front-panel greenLED display was discontinued, rather than discontinue the amplifier, Musical Fidelity decided to substitute a new front panel with a larger display. They took advantage of the opportunity to make some other changes: New, rewound power transformers—one for each channel in this dual-mono design—are said to lower the noisefloor. The power supply was revised. The hefty aluminum remote control now allows the amplifier to be placed into standby mode, something that previously could only be done from the front panel; and the Display button on the front panel is now accompanied by a Display Mode button (see later). The 800.2 still uses nuvistors for its input stages, a pair of 7586s for each channel. As MF described in his 2015 review, a nuvistor is a miniature, small-signal vacuum tube housed in a metal and ceramic case (rather than the usual glass bulb),4 said to be good for 1 See stereophile.com/content/tim-de-paravacini-rip. 2 An updated A1 was released in 2023; see musicalfidelity.com/products/a1/a1-2. 3 See stereophile.com/content/musical-fidelity-nu-vista-800-integrated-amplifier. 4 See r-type.org/articles/art-150.htm and r-type.org/exhib/aaa0274.htm. SPECIFICATIONS Description Hybrid integrated DPSOLࢉHUXVLQJQXYLVWRUV DQGELSRODUWUDQVLVWRUV7XEH FRPSOHPHQWV2XWSXW GHYLFHVSDLUVSHUFKDQQHO,QSXWVSDLUVXQEDODQFHG 5&$ SDLUEDODQFHG ;/5 /LQHOHYHO RXWSXWVSDLUࢉ[HG 5&$ SDLUYDULDEOH 5&$ 6SHDNHU FRQQHFWLRQVSDLUVPP EDQDQDSOXJELQGLQJSRVWV 2XWSXWSRZHU:SFLQWR RKPV G%: :SFLQWR RKPV G%: :SHDN stereophile.com Q December 2023 LQWRRKPV G%: 2XWSXW YROWDJH9506+]ȁN+] RQVHWRIFOLSSLQJ9SHDNȁ SHDN2XWSXWFXUUHQW$ SHDNȁSHDN'DPSLQJIDFWRU )UHTXHQF\UHVSRQVH +]ȁN+]ȁG%7+'1 W\SLFDO +]ȁ N+]6LJQDOQRLVH!G% $ZHLJKWHG,QSXWLPSHGDQFH NRKPV3RZHUFRQVXPSWLRQ :LQVWDQGE\PRGH RUDQJH /('OLW :RQDQGLGOH EOXH /('OLW :PD[LPXP Dimensions PP :[ PP +[ PP ':HLJKWOE NJ QHW Finishes6LOYHU%ODFN Serial number of unit reviewed982ȉ0DGHLQ 7DLZDQȊ Price$SSUR[LPDWH QXPEHURIGHDOHUVRI ZKLFKVWRFNHGWKH1X9LVWD DWWKHWLPHRIZULWLQJ 6HSWHPEHU :DUUDQW\ \HDUV HOHFWURQLFV \HDU UHPRWHFRQWURO Manufacturer0XVLFDO)LGHOLW\ $XGLR7XQLQJ9HUWULHEV*PE+ 0DUJDUHWHQVWUDVVH$ 9LHQQD$XVWULD :HEPXVLFDOࢉGHOLW\FRP 1RUWK$PHULFDQGLVWULEXWRU )RFDO1DLP$PHULFD 5XH0DULRQ5HSHQWLJQ\ 4&-=:&DQDGD 7HO ([W (PDLO RUGHUVXV#IRFDOQDLPFRP :HEIRFDOQDLPDPHULFDFRP 95
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086,&$/),'(/,7<189,67$৷৯৯ৱ 100,000 hours of use. The nuvistor was introduced by RCA in 1959 for use in TV sets, and although it was replaced by solid state devices in mainstream uses, it appears to be widely available on eBay. I understand that Musical Fidelity has stockpiled sufficient nuvistors for its long-term use. The Nu-Vista 800.2’s specified maximum power is the same as that of the original: 330Wpc into 8 ohms (25.2dBW), 500Wpc into 4 ohms (24dBW), and 1000W peak into 2 ohms (24dBW). The output stages each still use five pairs of complementary Sanken transistors, with a supply capacitor mounted adjacent to each device to allow more immediate access to stored energy and reduce the amplifier’s source impedance. The input complement is still the same as on the 2015 amplifier: one balanced linelevel pair on XLR and four single-ended line-level pairs on RCA. The RCA inputs are labeled CD, Tuner, Aux2, and Aux/HT. A rear-panel switch allows the volume control to be bypassed with the last input, for home theater use. Loudspeaker connection is with two widely spaced pairs of binding posts for each channel. There are also fixed-level and variable-level preamplifier outputs on RCA connectors. The new display dominates the 800.2’s appearance. Four themes are user-selectable with the front-panel buttons or remote control: a pair of large, white-on-black VU-style meters with blue needles, below which are the input in use and the volume setting; the same but with black-on-white meters; just the input in use and volume setting in black on a white background; and the same in white on a black background. Each of these themes can be permanently illuminated, with the brightness adjusted with the front-panel buttons, or set to turn off after a short time with a “Screensaver” mode. The amplifier’s bottom-firing lights and those that illuminate the nuvistor sockets (visible through an opening at the rear of the top panel) can also be turned on or off. When they are on, they light up red when the amplifier is first powered up or the volume is muted, switching to orange when the amplifier is ready to be used or the mute is lifted. Setup Because of the Nu-Vista 800.2’s bulk—it weighs more than 90lb—I set the amplifier up on a small, wheeled dolly so that I could move it between the listening room and my test lab as necessary. For my auditioning, I positioned the dolly midway between the Monitor Audio Platinum 300 3G floorstanding speakers I reviewed in the November issue. The speakers were single-wired with AudioQuest MEASUREMENTS performed a full set of measurements on the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista XVLQJP\$XGLR3UHFLVLRQ 6<6V\VWHP$VWKHDPSOLࢉHULV VSHFLࢉHGDVKDYLQJDPD[LPXPRXWSXW power of 330Wpc into 8 ohms, I preconditioned it before the measurements by IROORZLQJWKH&($ȆVUHFRPPHQGDWLRQRI UXQQLQJLWDWRQHHLJKWKWKDWSRZHULQWR RKPVIRUPLQXWHV)ROORZLQJWKDW SHULRGWKHWRSSDQHOZDVZDUPDWr) r& DQGWKHVLGHPRXQWHGKHDWVLQNV KRWWHUDWr) r& 7KH1X9LVWDȆVYROXPHFRQWURO RSHUDWHGLQDFFXUDWHG%VWHSV$W WKHPD[LPXPYROXPHFRQWUROVHWWLQJRI ȉG%ȊWKHYROWDJHJDLQDWN+]LQWR RKPVZDVUHODWLYHO\ORZIRUDQLQWHJUDWHG DPSOLࢉHUDWG%IRUWKHXQEDODQFHG ȉ&'ȊLQSXWDQGG%IRUWKHEDODQFHGLQSXW7KH1X9LVWDSUHVHUYHGDEVROXWH polarity for both balanced and unbalanced LQSXWVLWV;/5VEHLQJZLUHGZLWKSLQKRW 7KHLQSXWLPSHGDQFHLVVSHFLࢉHGDVN I stereophile.com Q December 2023 RKPV,PHDVXUHGNRKPVDW+]N RKPVDWN+]DQGNRKPVDWN+]IRU WKHXQEDODQFHGLQSXWV7KHEDODQFHGLQSXW impedance was the same as I found with WKHRULJLQDO1X9LVWDDWNRKPV DFURVVWKHDXGLREDQG 7KHRXWSXWLPSHGDQFHLQFOXGLQJ' of VSDFHGSDLUVSHDNHUFDEOHZDVUHODWLYHO\ ORZLQWKHEDVVDQGPLGUDQJHDWRKP ULVLQJWRRKPDWWKHWRSRIWKHDXGLREDQG&RQVHTXHQWO\WKHPRGXODWLRQRIWKH 1X9LVWDȆVIUHTXHQF\UHVSRQVHGXH WRWKH2KPȆVODZLQWHUDFWLRQEHWZHHQWKLV impedance and the impedance of our stanGDUGVLPXODWHGORXGVSHDNHU was also low ࢉJJUD\WUDFH 7KHDPSOLࢉHUȆVUHVSRQVH LQWRUHVLVWLYHORDGVZDVࢊDWLQWKHDXGLRband, with its output into 8 ohms down by G%DWN+]DQGE\G%DWN+] EOXH DQGUHGWUDFHV 7KLVJUDSKZDVWDNHQZLWK WKHEDODQFHGLQSXWVDQGWKHYROXPHFRQWURO VHWWRLWVPD[LPXP&RPPHQGDEO\ERWK WKHYHU\FORVHFKDQQHOEDODQFHDQGWKH RYHUDOOUHVSRQVHZHUHSUHVHUYHGDWORZHU VHWWLQJVRIWKHYROXPHFRQWURODQGZLWK WKHXQEDODQFHGLQSXWV7KH1X9LVWD DFFXUDWHO\UHSURGXFHGDN+]VTXDUHZDYH 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPFRQWHQWPHDVXUHPHQWVPDSV SUHFLVLRQ 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPFRQWHQWUHDOOLIHPHDVXUHPHQWVSDJH d B r A Hz Fig.10XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDEDODQFHG IUHTXHQF\UHVSRQVHDW9LQWRVLPXODWHG ORXGVSHDNHUORDG JUD\ RKPV OHIWFKDQQHOEOXH ULJKWUHG RKPV OHIWF\DQULJKWPDJHQWD RKPV JUHHQ G%YHUWLFDOGLY 97
086,&$/),'(/,7<189,67$৷৯৯ৱ Robin Hood cables. Source components were either an Ayre C-5xeMP universal disc player or an MBL N31 CD player/ DAC, connected to the Musical Fidelity with 3m Ayre/Cardas balanced interconnects. I used my Roon Nucleus+ server to send network data to the MBL, controlling playback with the Roon app on an iPad mini. Listening Prior to installing the Nu-Vista 800.2, I had been using the Audio Research I/50 I reviewed in the September issue.5 I wrote in that review that this tubed integrated “has a touch of that ‘tube magic’ but without going whole hog, as so many of the current crop of tubed amplifiers do.” But with the I/50 driving the Monitor Audios, on tracks like Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” from the album Red (24/96 FLAC, Big Machine Records/Qobuz), the low bass was overpowering. It turned out that the Platinum 300 3G’s port tuning frequency coincided with that of the lowest-frequency mode in my room, and the I/50 couldn’t hold on to the speaker in that region. Monitor Audio supplies foam plugs to block one or both of the speakers’ two reflex ports, and I ended up with just one port open on each speaker. The low bass still sounded magnificent, but it was now in better balance with the rest of the spectrum. The first track I played with the Nu-Vista 800.2 was “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).” What? Compared with the Audio Research amplifier, the Musical Fidelity exerted such tight control over the Monitor Audios’ woofers that with half the speakers’ ports blocked, the lowest frequencies sounded shelved down. I removed the foam plugs—doing so restored the low-bass balance. When Anthony Jackson drops down to his low B string as Paul Simon sings “Negotiations and love songs are often mistaken for one and the same,” in “Train in the Distance” from Hearts and Bones (ALAC file ripped from CD, Warner Bros.), his bass guitar had an optimal combination of weight and articulation. The same was true for the twangiersounding bass guitar on Mary Chapin Carpenter’s live recording of “Stones in the Road,” from Party Doll and Other Favorites (24/96 FLAC, Columbia/Qobuz). The Musical Fidelity’s tight low-frequency control never led to 5 See stereophile.com/content/audio-research-i50-integrated-amplifier. measurements, continued ࢉJ ZLWKQRRYHUVKRRWRUULQJLQJ &KDQQHOVHSDUDWLRQEHORZN+]ZDV VXSHUEDW!G%5ȁ/!G%/ȁ5DQGVWLOO %LQERWKGLUHFWLRQVDWN+]7KHZLGHEDQGXQZHLJKWHGVLJQDOQRLVHUDWLRWDNHQ ZLWKWKHXQEDODQFHG&'LQSXWVKRUWHGDQG WKHYROXPHFRQWUROVHWWRLWVPD[LPXP ZDVVXSHULRUWRWKDWRIWKHRULJLQDO1X 9LVWD3DWG%LQERWKFKDQQHOVWKLV UDWLRUHI9ZKLFKLVHTXLYDOHQWWR: LQWRRKPV7KLVUDWLRLPSURYHGWRG% ZKHQWKHPHDVXUHPHQWEDQGZLGWKZDV UHVWULFWHGWRWKHDXGLREDQGDQGWRG% ZKHQ$ZHLJKWHG0XVLFDO)LGHOLW\VSHFLࢉHV WKHDPSOLࢉHUȆV$ZHLJKWHG61UDWLRDV !G%,DVVXPHWKDWWKLVLVUHIIXOOSRZHU LQWRRKPVDVP\G%$UHI:LQWR RKPVLVHTXLYDOHQWWRG%UHI: LQWRWKHVDPHLPSHGDQFH7KHEOXHDQG UHGWUDFHVLQࢉJVKRZWKHDPSOLࢉHUȆVORZ d B r A stereophile.com Q December 2023 6HHVWHUHRSKLOHFRPFRQWHQWPXVLFDOࢉGHOLW\ QXYLVWDLQWHJUDWHGDPSOLࢉHUPHDVXUHPHQWV % Hz Fig.20XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDVPDOOVLJQDO N+]VTXDUHZDYHLQWRRKPV IUHTXHQF\QRLVHࢊRRUDW:SFLQWRRKPV ZLWKWKHYROXPHFRQWUROVHWWRLWVPD[LPXP5HGXFLQJWKHYROXPHE\G%DQG LQFUHDVLQJWKHLQSXWVLJQDOE\WKHVDPH G%VRWKDWWKHRXWSXWSRZHUUHPDLQVDW :GURSVWKHUDQGRPQRLVHࢊRRUE\G% JUHHQDQGJUD\WUDFHV DQGXQPDVNVVRPH RGGRUGHUKDUPRQLFVRIWKH$&VXSSO\ Fig.30XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDVSHFWUXPRI N+]VLQHZDYH'&ȁN+]DW:SFLQWRRKPVZLWK YROXPHFRQWUROVHWWRWKHPD[LPXP OHIWFKDQQHO EOXHULJKWUHG DQGWRȁG% OHIWJUHHQULJKWJUD\ OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH W Fig.40XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDGLVWRUWLRQ YV N+]FRQWLQXRXVRXWSXWSRZHULQWRRKPV 99
1(:.Ɯ172&DUERQ 8OWUD+LJK(QG/RXGVSHDNHURIWKH<HDU «H[WUDRUGLQDULO\FRKHVLYH«´ ±$QGUH-HQQLQJV7KH$EVROXWH6RXQG The original Model 5 debuted in 1995. While other brands turned over their lines many times, the Model 5 saw many upgrades that left no customers &DUERQ7ZHHWHU7DNHV³WKH/LG´2IIWKH0XVLFIRU behind in its unprecedented run 2SHQ$LU\7RS(QGWKDW:LOO*LYH<RX*RRVHEXPSV of nearly 25 years. ,QWHJUDO$QWL'LIIUDFWLRQ*ULOO$VVHPEO\ &RYHUHGLQ$FRXVWLFDOO\7UDQVSDUHQW)DEULF Richard and Nathan Vandersteen knew they had to deliver another AMAZING Speaker to replace the Model 5. Rather than simply update the 5, they focused RQGHOLYHULQJDVPXFKRIWKH0RGHO6HYHQ0N,,·VWHFKQRORJLFDO DGYDQFHPHQWVDQGSHUIRUPDQFHDVSRVVLEOHLQWKH.Ď172&DUERQ 3DWHQWHG3HUIHFW3LVWRQ0RGHO6HYHQ0N,,0LGUDQJH Z&DUERQ)LEHU2YHU%DOVD&RUHVIRU%HDXWLIXOO\ 8QFRORUHG7UDQVSDUHQF\ In addition to &DUERQ'ULYHUV derived from the Model Seven 0N,,WKH.Ď172&DUERQLQWURGXFHV9DQGHUVWHHQ·V$//1(:3RZHUHG &RXQWHUIRUFH%DVV%\SODFLQJWKHµ :DWW SRZHUHGVXEZRRIHU drivers on opposite sides of the $GYDQFHG³&DELQHW:LWKLQ$&DELQHW´ enclosure vibrations cancel each &RQVWUXFWLRQ0HDQVWKH(QFORVXUHIRU other completely. The result is not WKH%ODFNHVW0XVLFDO%DFNJURXQGV just cleaner bass, but gorgeous uncolored midrange. 3LVWRQLF´:RYHQ)LEHU0LG%DVV'ULYHU3URYLGHVD 6RQLFDOO\³,QYLVLEOH´7UDQVLWLRQ%HWZHHQ3RZHUHG%DVV6HFWLRQ DQG/RZHU0LGUDQJHIRU6WDUWOLQJO\/LIHOLNH0DOH9RFDOV 7KH.Ď172DOVR IHDWXUHVDQDOOQHZ crossover design that allows it to GHOLYHUDULFKHUIXOOHUVRXQGLQWKHFUXFLDOXSSHUEDVVORZ midrange frequen :DWW%ULGJHG&ODVV%/LQHDU6XE$PS cies where many Z5HJXODWHG6ZLWFKLQJ3RZHU6XSSO\DQG3LVWRQLF instruments and 6XEZRRIHU&RQHV3URYLGH7LPEUDODQG6SDWLDO male vocals come $FFXUDF\DW7KXQGHURXVO\/RZ)UHTXHQFLHV to startling life. 3RZHUHG&RXQWHUIRUFH%DVVZ2SSRVLQJ´6LGH ILULQJ6XEZRRIHUV&DQFHO&DELQHW9LEUDWLRQV &RPSOHWHO\IRU%DVV&ODULW\DQG%HDXWLIXO0LGUDQJH %DQG5RRP(4ZLWK4DQG/HYHO &RQWUROVLQ(DFK6SHDNHUIRU3HUIHFW %DVVLQ9LUWXDOO\$Q\5RRP 7KH.Ď172&DUERQLVQRW an inexpensive loudspeaker. However, it IODWRXWHPEDU rasses many other “super VSHDNHUVµFRVWLQJPXOWLSOHVRILWVSULFHDQGVLQFHLW·VD 9DQGHUVWHHQLWZRQ·WEH ,QWHJUDWHG+LJK'HQVLW\%DVHV replaced by a new model )HDWXULQJ&RQVWUDLQHG/D\HU &RQVWUXFWLRQ5HVXOWLQJLQ6RXQG next week. Your loud )LHOG([SDQVLRQDQG([WUDRUGLQDU\ speaker is a big invest %DVV&ODULW\ PHQWGRQ·WDFFHSWOHVV 9DQGHUVWHHQ¶V$0$=,1*1(:.Ɯ172&DUERQ LQZRRGRUDXWRPRWLYHILQLVKHV7LPHDQGSKDVH FRUUHFW3RZHUHG&RXQWHUIRUFH%DVVZLWK :DWWVDQG%DQG5RRP(4$GYDQFHG&DUERQ 7ZHHWHUDQG&DUERQ0LGUDQJHIURPWKH)ODJVKLS 0RGHO6HYHQ0N,, vandersteen.com • 559-582-0324 Made in the U.S.A. Contact a Vandersteen Dealer Today facebook.com/VandersteenAudio Owners Forum: Forum.Vandersteen.com
086,&$/),'(/,7<189,67$৷৯৯ৱ the sound becoming too lean, even with light-balanced albums like the Keith Jarrett Trio’s Standards, Vol.1 (16/44.1 FLAC ECM/Tidal). Keith Jarrett’s banshee-esque vocalizing on “All the Things You Are,” however, was more noticeable than it had been with the Audio Research amplifier. Roon Radio followed the Jarrett Trio with a very different treatment of this Jerome Kern standard, with Andre Previn on piano accompanied by Ray Brown on double bass and Joe Pass on guitar (16/44.1 FLAC, Telarc/Tidal). The soundstage on this laid-back performance, captured by the late Jack Renner, was presented clearly, with just enough studio ambience to envelop me in the music. And again, the bass of the Musical Fidelity/Monitor Audio combo had the optimal combination of weight and articulation. Soundstage presentation was also an area where the Musical Fidelity exceled. An album I haven’t played in years is flautist Vytautas Sriubikis performing two solo works by J.S. Bach in St. Catherine’s Church in Vilnius (a free 24/96 download from Lessloss). With the Nu-Vista 800.2 driving first the Monitor Audio towers, then my reference KEF LS50 minimonitors, the image of the flute was delicately precise, with the surrounding church acoustic extending both across the soundstage and way behind the plane of the speakers. The manner in which this amplifier retrieved a recording’s low-level detail, like the ambience of the church acoustic on the Sriubikis Bach works, was addictive. The obvious question is whether the Musical Fidelity amplifier’s superb transparency was revealing what is encoded in the bits or exaggerating recorded detail. I hadn’t yet played any of my own recordings, which should allow me to answer that question, so I cued up Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, K.622, performed by Antony Michaelson himself in London’s Henry Wood Hall in 2003 (16/44.1 ALAC file, Musical Fidelity Recordings). I didn’t engineer this recording—the sound was captured by the inestimable Tony Faulkner—but I was the producer. As I wrote in the Stereophile article on making this album,6 the occasion was stressful. It’s difficult enough for a critic to be right, even with the benefit of hindsight the writing process affords. To be right in real time, with a conductor, a soloist, an engineer, and 30 of London’s leading classical musicians, all of whom have forgotten more about music than I ever learned, all waiting for my critical voice to emerge from the talkback speaker, is a good definition of stress overload. Ahem. Enough of my imposter-syndrome memories and back to the task at hand—in audio-critic time. Everything sounded as it 6 See stereophile.com/musicrecordings/804k622/index.html. I also recorded Antony Michaelson performing the Brahms and Mozart Clarinet Quintets; see stereophile.com/ features/575. measurements, continued frequency. These will be due to magnetic interference from the two massive power transformers, but are all very low in level. Figs.4 and 5 respectively plot how the THD+noise percentage varies with output power with both channels driven into 8 ohms and 4 ohms. The downward slope below 30Wpc into 8 ohms and 60Wpc into 4 ohms indicates that the distortion lies below the noise up to these powers, but % both channels were clipping into 8 ohms. ,GRQȆWKDYHDVXࢇFLHQWO\SRZHUIXO9DULDF to hold the wall voltage constant in my DPSOLࢉHUWHVWLQJ ,QWRRKPVZLWKERWK channels driven, the Nu-Vista 800.2 clipped DW:SF G%:ࢉJ FRPSDUHGZLWK WKHVSHFLࢉHG: G%: +RZHYHUWKH ZDOOYROWDJHKDGGURSSHGWR9$&ZLWK WKHDPSOLࢉHUFOLSSLQJLQWRRKPV,GLGQȆW test the Musical Fidelity’s clipping power % W Fig.5 Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2, distortion (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power into 4 ohms. stereophile.com it remains low until the actual onset of FOLSSLQJ$WRXUXVXDOGHࢉQLWLRQRIFOLSSLQJ which is when the THD+N reaches 1%, the Nu-Vista 800.2 didn’t quite meet its speciࢉHGRXWSXWSRZHURI:LQWRRKPV (25.2dBW). Fig.4 indicates that the ampliࢉHUFOLSVDW:SFLQWRRKPV G%: though it’s fair to note that the supply YROWDJHKDGGURSSHGIURP9$&ZLWK WKHDPSOLࢉHUTXLHVFHQWWR9$&ZKHQ Q December 2023 Hz Fig.6 Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2, THD+N (%) vs frequency at 20V into: 8 ohms (left channel blue, right red), 4 ohms (left cyan, right magenta). Avg: 16 Fig.7 Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2, 1kHz waveform at 50W into 8 ohms, 0.0041% THD+N (top); distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out (bottom, not to scale). 101
086,&$/),'(/,7<189,67$৷৯৯ৱ should with K.622 and the Musical Fidelity 800.2 driving the big Monitor Audios. The touch of brightness I had mentioned in my review of these speakers was just noticeable but didn’t get in the way of the music making. Michaelson’s pure-toned clarinet was presented as a stable, narrow image at the front of the soundstage with the orchestral instruments spread behind it and to the sides. On that magically poignant slow movement, the hall acoustic was so clearly defined that I was transported back to the sessions. However, on the little KEFs, even with a touch of low-frequency equalization provided by Roon, the upper mids sounded more forward than I had anticipated based on my experience using these speakers with my usual Parasound monoblocks. The Monitor Audio speakers had been returned to the distributor when I sat down to write this review, so, as I stared at the screen waiting for the words to emerge, I played the Ray Brown Trio’s Soular Energy (Concord Jazz) with the Nu-Vista 800.2 driving the KEFs. I have two versions of this natural-sounding album on my Nucleus+’s internal storage: one in DSD64, the other PCM at 24/192. With either, Brown’s double bass had an excellent sense of drive—of, as the late Art Dudley would have put it, “force.” The highs were clean and smooth, though with the Musical Fidelity’s transparency, I could readily hear that the top octaves of Gene Harris’s piano sounded a touch smoother in DSD than the PCM version. Conclusion This was a difficult review to write given that, like other 21st century solid state amplifiers that offer superbly low distortion and noise, the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2 didn’t have a readily discernible sonic character. Yes, Michael Fremer did write in his review of the original 800 amplifier that “There’s no mistaking the velvety, delicate sound of a nuvistor front end,” and I did indeed find the 800.2 easy on the ears. But Michael also wrote that while “CDs with a touch of hard edge and brightness were suitably ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Digital sources5RRQ1XFOHXVࢉOHVHUYHU$\UH$FRXVWLFV& 5xeMPXQLYHUVDOSOD\HU0%/1&'SOD\HU'$&$\UH$FRXVWLFV 4$$'FRQYHUWHU1HW*HDU1LJKWKDZNURXWHU Integrated amplifier$XGLR5HVHDUFK, Power amplifiers3DUDVRXQG+DOR-&PRQREORFNV Loudspeakers0RQLWRU$XGLR3ODWLQXP*.()/6 Cables'LJLWDO$XGLR4XHVW9RGND (WKHUQHW $XGLR4XHVW&RI IHH 86% '+/DEV P$(6 ,QWHUFRQQHFW$XGLR4XHVW:LOG %OXH EDODQFHG 6SHDNHU$XGLR4XHVW5RELQ+RRG$&$XGLR 4XHVW'UDJRQ6RXUFH +LJK&XUUHQWPDQXIDFWXUHUVȆRZQ Accessories&HOHVWLRQORXGVSHDNHUVWDQGVZLWK.()V$\UH $FRXVWLFV0\UWOH%ORFNV$6&7XEH7UDSV53*$EࢆXVRUSDQHOV $XGLR4XHVW1LDJDUD/RZ=3RZHU1RLVH'LVVLSDWLRQ 6\VWHP DPSOLࢉHUV DQG$XGLR4XHVW1LDJDUD/RZ=3RZHU 1RLVH'LVVLSDWLRQ6\VWHP VRXUFHFRPSRQHQWV +'3OH[OLQHDU SRZHUVXSSO\IRU5RRQ1XFOHXV$XGLR4XHVW)RJ/LIWHUVFDEOH VXSSRUWV$&SRZHUFRPHVIURPWZRGHGLFDWHG$FLUFXLWV HDFKMXVW IURPEUHDNHUER[ Room OHIWVLGH ULJKWVLGH —John Atkinson softened and corrected, those that were hopelessly hard and bright remained so.” I found that to be the case with the Musical Fidelity amplifier. It is exceptionally revealing of what was on the recordings I played or, with the loudspeakers I used for my auditioning, their intrinsic characters. But with its tight grip on the speakers’ woofers, its sense of almost unlimited power, its superb soundstage definition, and—again—that sense of ease to its presentation, the Nu-Vista 800.2 gets an unreserved recommendation from this audio critic. Q measurements, continued LQWRRKPVDVWKHDPSOLࢉHULVQȆWVSHFLࢉHG DVEHLQJDEOHWRGHOLYHUIXOOSRZHULQWR RKPVH[FHSWRQSHDNV4 )LJVKRZVKRZWKH7+'1SHUFHQWDJH FKDQJHGDW9ZKLFKLVHTXLYDOHQWWR: LQWRRKPVDQG:LQWRRKPV7KH GLVWRUWLRQLQWRDQGRKPVLVYHU\ORZ DQGFRPPHQGDEO\GRHVQȆWULVHLQWKHWRS RFWDYHZKLFKVXJJHVWVWKDWWKHDPSOLࢉHU KDVDZLGHRSHQORRSEDQGZLGWK+RZHYHU d B r A d B r A Hz Fig.80XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDVSHFWUXPRI +]VLQHZDYH'&ȁN+]DW:SFLQWRRKPV OHIW FKDQQHOEOXHULJKWUHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH stereophile.com WKHGLVWRUWLRQLQWKHOHIWFKDQQHOULVHVDW YHU\ORZIUHTXHQFLHVHVSHFLDOO\LQWR RKPV F\DQWUDFH 7KH7+'1ZDYHIRUPDW :LQWRRKPVZDVSULPDULO\WKHVXEMHF WLYHO\LQQRFXRXVVHFRQGKDUPRQLF ࢉJV DQG WKRXJKWKHWKLUGKDUPRQLFZDV GRPLQDQWDWWKHVDPHSRZHULQWRRKPV ࢉJ %XWZLWKWKLVKDUPRQLFO\LQJDW ȁG% LWVKRXOGQRWKDYHDXGLEOH FRQVHTXHQFHVHVSHFLDOO\DVLQWHUPRGXOD Q December 2023 WLRQGLVWRUWLRQLVDOVRH[WUHPHO\ORZHYHQ LQWRRKPV ࢉJ 0XVLFDO)LGHOLW\ȆV1X9LVWDRࢆHUV H[FHOOHQWPHDVXUHGSHUIRUPDQFHHTXDOLQJ RUEHWWHULQJWKDWRILWVSUHGHFHVVRU —John Atkinson ,QWKHUHYLHZRIWKH1X9LVWDLQStereophileȆV VLVWHUPDJD]LQHHi-Fi News3DXO0LOOHUPHDVXUHGD PD[LPXPEXUVWSRZHURIN:LQWRRKPVDQG N:LQWRRKP6HHKLࢉQHZVFRPFRQWHQWPXVLFDO ࢉGHOLW\QXYLVWDLQWHJUDWHGDPSOLࢉHUODEUHSRUW d B r A Hz Fig.90XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWDVSHFWUXPRI N+]VLQHZDYH'&ȁN+]DW:SFLQWRRKPV OHIW FKDQQHOEOXHULJKWUHGOLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH Hz Fig.100XVLFDO)LGHOLW\1X9LVWD+)LQWHUPRGX ODWLRQVSHFWUXP'&ȁN+]N+]DW:SF SHDNLQWRRKPV OHIWFKDQQHOEOXHULJKWUHGOLQHDU IUHTXHQF\VFDOH 103
Clement Perry, stereotimes.com DOUBLE IMPACT $3000 $3400 15 PA I R D E L I V E R E D MOAB NEBO PA I R D E L I V E R E D PA I R D E L I V E R E D $4200 $4500 $5025 $5300 The same signature sound as our Matrix LS OQFGNOCFGURGEKƒECNN[ for smaller spaces. Rediscover your favorite music in a compact HQTOHCEVQTVJCVYKNNƒV anywhere in your space. The Matrix LS delivers an accurate and nuanced midrange using an all-Beryllium array of tweeters and also features an adjustable, TGCTƒTKPIYC[̈́ driver and Be tweeter ambiance depth source. Andrew Robinson, hometheaterreview.com MATRIX MONITOR MATRIX LS $2300 $2500 $18000 $1500 PA I R D E L I V E R E D PA I R D E L I V E R E D PA I R D E L I V E R E D Steve Lefkowicz, positive-feedback.com LORE $1130 $1300 PA I R D E L I V E R E D Writer’s Choice Award “Tekton Design’s M-Lore [...] is stupid good and is flat out capable of embarrassing the competition near, at and even above its modest asking price.” A new spin on our popular Perfect SET, VJG2GTHGEV5'6 boasts two 10” drivers in additon to all the DGPGƒVUQHVJGQTKIKPCN “I still maintain that the Tekton Design Lore is the best $1000 of speakers I’ve ever heard.” “The Tekton Nebos are like supercharged Double Impacts, with a midrange that is detailed, rich, and smooth, and bass that is full, detailed, and punchy.” Richard Willie, stereotimes.com Peter Breuninger, avshowrooms.com “The Pendragon has completely uprooted what I thought to be possible, not only for an affordable loudspeaker design, but for loudspeakers in general.” PENDRAGON “Cream rises to the top, once again, thanks to the Tekton team. Eric Alexander introduced his new MOAB loudspeaker that delivered sound over 10 times its price point.” Mo New de l! “Make no mistake, the Tekton Design Double Impacts are among the best loudspeakers I have heard in my home, regardless of price.” Se Bes lle t r! Se Bes lle t r! Improve Your Hearing. Andrew Robinson, hometheaterreview.com 2-10 PERFECT SET MINI LORE PA I R D E L I V E R E D PA I R D E L I V E R E D $2100 $750 14.5 Call or visit us online to order! (801) 836-0764 www.tektondesign.com Proudly Made in the USA
E Q UIPMENT REP ORT KEN MICALLEF DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/baby LOUDSPEAKER I trial site along the Brooklyn waterfront owned since the early 1970s by the city of New York. Formerly the birthplace of the USS Arizona and USS Connecticut, in the very early 2000s the Navy Yard was a collapsed, wrecked, rancid ruin. I loved the corroding behemoth: the colossal decomposing construction sheds, disintegrating ’50s-era machinery rotting into (probably) contaminated earth, the ghost signs and ghost buildings that held many secrets, the decrepit nearby seaman’s bars. Here was a major part of New York’s and the America’s manufacturing and maritime history left to die many years ago like Captain Scott on the South Pole and now, slowly, starting to revive. DeVore’s new Navy Yard facility is where our gang decamped. Not long after moving in, DeVore built his famous Monkeyhaus, a listening room and manufacturing center where this clan listened intently to music in the central listening room as, in the adjacent factory space during these off-hours events, booze was imbibed, cigars smoked, and pizza inhaled. Old Coot and LuluBear, the factory cats, kept an eye out for shenanigans. All genres of music were encouraged, as long as they were played on vinyl, often played through prototype amplifiers and speakers and John DeVore’s Frankenstein turntable assembled from parts by Eminent Technology, Empire, Roksan, SME, VPI, and Well Tempered. After hearing DeVore’s Gibbon 7.1 in 2005, I reviewed that speaker for n the mid-2000s, I worked at a “white-shoe” law firm on Wall Street, ran with renegades, and fancied myself a writer. Fastforward some 18 years. The firm, like many cash-flush NYC firms, has moved to midtown and I’ve moved on. Those renegades are now respected members and players in the hi-fi community. I still fancy myself a writer. Back then, I made friends with a big-eared clique that would influence my future in hi-fi: audio writer Michael Lavorgna (currently editor at TwitteringMachines.com); NYU law professor Jules Coleman; former Stereophile deputy editor and current AudioQuest director of communications Stephen Mejias; record-industry veteran Andrew Klein; composer Dan Cooper; illustrator Jeff Wong; vacuum-coffee–machine collector and audiophile Margery Budoff, who regrettably passed in 2015; Tone Imports’ Jonathan Halpern; and DeVore Fidelity proprietor-designer John DeVore. Members of that roving gang typically met at Steven Mishoe’s Greenwich Village hi-fi salon In Living Stereo, where new equipment from Art Audio, Cairn Audio, Conrad Johnson, Nottingham Analogue, Pathos Acoustics, Komuro, and Verity Audio was the cause of much fascination. ILS was the first US dealer for several important brands, including Leben, Shindo, and DeVore Fidelity. A few years before, DeVore Fidelity had set up shop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the 220-year-old, 225-acre indus- SPECIFICATIONS Description Two-way, rearSRUWHGEDVVUHࢊH[ORXGVSHDNHU 'ULYHUFRPSOHPHQWKRUQORDGHG PP 9LIDWH[WLOH GRPHWZHHWHU PP 6($6SDSHUFRQHZRRIHU )UHTXHQF\UDQJH+]ȁN+] stereophile.com Q December 2023 6HQVLWLYLW\G%:P1RPLQDO LPSHGDQFHRKPV Dimensions PP + PP : PP ' LQFOXGLQJVWDQGV :HLJKWOE NJ Finish:KLWHRDN Serial numbers of units reviewed$XGLWLRQHG %% ERWK PHDVXUHG % PriceSDLU6WDQGV SDLU:DUUDQW\)LYH\HDUVOLPLWHGSDUWVDQGODERU Manufacturer'H9RUH)LGHOLW\ )OXVKLQJ$YH8QLW %XLOGLQJ6XLWH %URRNO\Q1< 7HO (PDLOLQIR#GHYRUHࢉGHOLW\FRP :HEGHYRUHࢉGHOLW\FRP 105
DEVORE FIDELITY ORANGUTAN O/BABY 6 Moons. I bought a pair of Gibbon Super 8s later that year, awarding them “Best of 2005” at 6 Moons. In 2007, I reviewed and bought a pair of Gibbon Nines and reviewed the standmount Gibbon 3XL, awarding it a Blue Moon Award. I purchased a pair of Orangutan O/93s, followed by Orangutan O/96s. I have a long and positive history with DeVore Fidelity products and their designer, which made me keen to try his latest creation, the Orangutan O/baby ($5700/pair). piously about the tweeter and woofer implementation. “Vifa makes the dome/coil/magnet assembly of the tweeter, which I originally designed for the supertweeter in the O/Reference,” DeVore said. “During the COVID slowdown, I started tinkering with the idea of a least-expensive Orangutan speaker model. This led to using the supertweeter mechanism from the O/ Reference minus all its pricey bronze mounts and horn. In order for Vifa to make those tweeters for us, we had to order 1000. Even in my wildest dreams, I am never going to sell 500 pairs of O/Reference, so let’s do some repurposing! I redesigned the horn profile to work lower in frequency, as a tweeter instead of a supertweeter, and machined that horn right into the front baffle to save on manufacturing cost.” What’s custom about the O/ baby’s 7" SEAS woofer? “Everything,” DeVore said. “Only the cast chassis is an off-the-shelf part. The cone is made from the same German paper as the rest of the Orangutan woofers. Unlike the other O/woofers, the O/baby woofer does not have a phase plug; in- Little ape As you’d expect from its name, the O/ baby is smaller than the other, older Orangutans, but it’s bigger than you might think, standing 14.75" wide, 9.75" deep, and 35" tall when sitting on its custom, dedicated highchair (aka speaker stand). Each O/baby weighs about 40lb, a heavy baby. Key parts include a 0.75" horn-loaded textiledome tweeter from Denmark’s Vifa and a 7" SEAS paper woofer from Norway, both made to DeVore’s specifications. John is always tight-lipped regarding his crossover designs (and crossover points), but he will yack co- MEASUREMENTS performed the measurements on a GLࢆHUHQWVDPSOHRIWKH'H9RUH)LGHOity O/baby from those that had been DXGLWLRQHGE\.HQ0LFDOOHI,WKDG WKHVHULDOQXPEHU%,XVHG'5$ /DEVȆ0/66$V\VWHPZLWKDFDOLEUDWHG'3$ PLFURSKRQHWRPHDVXUHWKHVSHDNHUȆV EHKDYLRULQWKHIDUࢉHOGDQGDQ(DUWKZRUNV 47&PLNHIRUWKHQHDUࢉHOGUHVSRQVHV 'H9RUHVSHFLࢉHVWKH2EDE\ȆVLPSHGDQFHDVRKPVZLWKDPLQLPXPYDOXHRI RKPVDW+]0HDVXUHGZLWK'D\WRQ$XGLRȆV'$769V\VWHPWKHVSHDNHUȆV LPSHGDQFHPDJQLWXGH ࢉJVROLGWUDFH OLHVDERYHRKPVIRUDOPRVWWKHHQWLUH DXGLREDQGGURSSLQJEHORZRKPVRQO\ LQWKHORZHUPLGUDQJHDQGEULHࢊ\LQWKH PLGEDVVUHJLRQ7KHPLQLPXPYDOXHZDV RKPVDW+]7KHHOHFWULFDOSKDVH DQJOH ࢉJGRWWHGWUDFH LVRFFDVLRQDOO\KLJKZKLFKZLOOKDYHDQHࢆHFWRQ WKHHTXLYDOHQWSHDNGLVVLSDWLRQUHVLVWDQFHRU(3'57KLVOLHVEHORZRKPV IURPȁ+]IURPȁ+]DQGIURP ȁN+]7KHPLQLPXP(3'5LVRKPV DW+]DQGRKPVDW+]'HVSLWH LWVKLJKDYHUDJHLPSHGDQFHZKLFKLVFORVH WRRKPVWKH2EDE\ZLOOSUREDEO\ZRUN I stereophile.com Q December 2023 EHVWZLWKDWXEHDPSOLࢉHUȆVRKPRXWSXW WUDQVIRUPHUWDS 7KH'H9RUH2EDE\ȆVVSHFLࢉHGVHQVLWLYLW\LVDKLJKG%:P0\%ZHLJKWHG HVWLPDWHZDVORZHUDWG% % 9P +RZHYHUDVWKLVYROWDJHLVHTXLYDOHQWWR :LQWRRKPVWKH63/DWPZLWK: ZLOOEHFORVHWRWKHVSHFLࢉHGࢉJXUH There are some discontinuities in the midrange in the impedance traces, which LPSO\WKHSUHVHQFHRIFDELQHWUHVRQDQFHV RIYDULRXVNLQGV7KHHQFORVXUHȆVSDQHOVGLG VHHPOLYHO\ZKHQ,UDSSHGWKHPZLWKP\ NQXFNOHVWKHEDFNSDQHOHPLWWLQJDORZHU SLWFKHGȉERQNȊWKDQWKHVLGHVDQGWRS 8VLQJDSODVWLFWDSHDFFHOHURPHWHU,IRXQG KLJK4PRGHVRQDOOWKHSDQHOVDW+] +]+]DQG+]7KHPRGHDW +]ZDVWKHVWURQJHVWRQWKHVLGHZDOOV ࢉJ WKDWDW+]ZDVVWURQJHVWRQWKH EDFNSDQHODQGWKDWDW+]VWURQJHVW RQWKHWRSRIWKHHQFORVXUH7KHODWWHU PRGHȆVKLJKIUHTXHQF\FRXSOHGZLWKWKH UHODWLYHO\VPDOOUDGLDWLQJDUHDZLOOZRUN DJDLQVWDXGLELOLW\+RZHYHUDVWKHORZHU frequency modes are in regions where PXVLFFDQKDYHKLJKHQHUJ\LWLVSRVVLEOH WKDWWKH\ZLOODࢆHFWVRXQGTXDOLW\ 7KHVDGGOHFHQWHUHGRQ+]O\LQJ EHWZHHQWZRORZIUHTXHQF\SHDNVLQWKH impedance magnitude trace, suggests that this is the tuning frequency of the UHࢊH[SRUWDWWKHERWWRPRIWKHEDFNSDQHO 0HDVXUHGLQWKHQHDUࢉHOGWKHZRRIHUȆVUHVSRQVH ࢉJEOXHWUDFH KDVWKHH[SHFWHG minimum-motion notch at that frequency, (3'5LVWKHUHVLVWLYHORDGWKDWJLYHVULVHWRWKH VDPHSHDNGLVVLSDWLRQLQDQDPSOLࢉHUȆVRXWSXWGHYLFHVDVWKHORXGVSHDNHU6HHȉ$XGLR3RZHU$PSOLࢉHUV IRU/RXGVSHDNHU/RDGVȊJAES9RO1R6HSWHPEHU DQGVWHUHRSKLOHFRPUHIHUHQFHKHDY\ LQGH[KWPO 6WHUHRSKLOH'H9RUH2%DE\,PSHGDQFH RKPV 3KDVH GHJ YV)UHTXHQF\ +] Fig.1'H9RUH2EDE\HOHFWULFDOLPSHGDQFH VROLG DQG SKDVH GDVKHG RKPVYHUWLFDOGLY 107
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'(925(),'(/,7<25$1*87$12%$%< stead it has a rigid paper dustcap. The voicecoil is similar to those on the other O/woofers but wound for 8 ohms instead of 10–12 ohms to make it a more universal impedance load for amplifiers.” The drivers are positioned close together at the top of the cabinet and intended to fire directly at your ears, so toe them in and arrange them so that you can just see the tops of the cabinets, although, within limits, listening height isn’t critical. “I mount the tweeter as close to the woofer in all my designs. … Getting the treble and upper-midrange drivers close together generally means the tonal balance will change less as the listener moves around, all else being equal. The fact that the drivers are so close in the O/baby means the listener can be closer to the speaker, as close as 1.5–2', compared to the minimum 6.5' required by the O/93 and O/96.” The internal wiring, DeVore told me, is “a combination of the same aerated-Teflon–insulated silver/copper wire I designed for the rest of our models and a classic Western Electric–style twisted pair for the woofer.” The binding posts are machined from brass and gold-plated. The O/baby closely resembles the larger Orangutan speakers. Needless to say, the resemblance isn’t skin-deep—yet the route from those earlier Os to the O/baby wasn’t as straight as you might presume. “I didn’t start out to make a miniature O/96. The micr/O”—a 10" sealed cube using the same drivers as the O/baby— “was the original concept,” DeVore said. “That project was inspired by a pair of speakers I threw together to appease an employee complaining that she had no good sound out in the assembly area. This sparked the concept of a new, more affordable ‘O’ model. Working with SEAS, as always, I sent them designs for all manner of 7" and 8.5" woofer variants to prototype, using whizzer-cones, phase-plugs, lossy dustcaps, etc. When that little 7" with the hardpaper dust cap arrived, I loved the look right away. After burning them in, running full measurements, and playing with some simulations, I realized that not only were these the likely solution for the sealed cube; they would also fully blossom in a bass-reflex [speaker] tuned like a mini O/96. Thus the O/baby was born, and the new speaker project turned out to be twins!” The front baffle of the O/baby’s cabinet—made, with the custom stands, by Anthony Abbate’s Box Furniture Co.—consists of a 0.75"-thick birch-ply slab veneered with gorgeous white oak. The stands are handmade, with no fasteners, also from white oak to match the baffle. The box is finished in catalyzed (two-component) polyurethane. Mounted on its optional stand, the O/baby reminds me of an Arts & Crafts house: The gently splayed legs give the speaker a homey yet regal appearance. Were sacrifices required to develop a smaller, cheaper ape? Of course. “Compared to the O/96, the O/baby cabinets are much less expensive to make and ‘finish,’” DeVore said. “The cabinets are made from a high-recycled-content MDF made in Europe with black pigment mixed into the pulp to make the material itself have that charcoal gray color. While this is far more expensive than standard MDF, it ends up saving costs in production, as there is no veneering the panels and no staining. We just clearcoat the gray material to get the finished product.” Functionally, “the smaller woofer is less expensive and requires a smaller internal volume to work optimally,” DeVore said. The O/baby is not as sensitive as the bigger Orangutan speakers, and it won’t play as loud. measurements, continued RIWKHZRRIHUDQGSRUWRXWSXWV ࢉJEODFN trace below 350Hz). The small excess in the EDVVZLOOEHGXHWRWKHQHDUࢉHOGPHDVXUHment technique, which assumes that the GULYHXQLWVDUHSODFHGRQDED࢈HWKDW H[WHQGVWRLQࢉQLW\LQERWKYHUWLFDODQGKRUL]RQWDOSODQHV7KH2EDE\RࢆHUVH[FHOOHQW low-frequency extension for a relatively small speaker. :KLOHWKHPDQXDORࢆHUVFRPSUHKHQVLYH advice on setting up the O/baby speakers, it doesn’t mention the optimal listening axis. As the tweeter is 20" above the botWRPRIWKHIURQWED࢈HDQGWKHPDWFKLQJ stands are 12" high, that places the tweetHUD[LVIURPWKHࢊRRU7KLVLVVOLJKWO\ below what we have found to be the average ear height of a seated listener. While ,SHUIRUPHGDFRPSOHWHVHWRIIDUࢉHOG measurements on the tweeter axis, I also looked at the speaker’s behavior 5° above that axis. The black trace above 350Hz in ࢉJVKRZVWKH'H9RUHȆVIDUࢉHOGRXWSXW averaged across a 30° horizontal window centered on the tweeter axis. There is a slight excess of energy in the presence region, but the small response peaks are balanced by small dips. The response 5° Amplitude in dB which is when the back pressure from the port resonance holds the diaphragm VWDWLRQDU\7KHSRUWȆVQHDUࢉHOGUHVSRQVH (red trace) peaks between 25Hz and 60Hz in textbook fashion, but while its upperIUHTXHQF\UROORࢆLVLQLWLDOO\FOHDQDVWURQJ resonant mode is present at 300Hz, with lower-level modes between 500Hz and 900Hz. The audible consequences of this behavior will be ameliorated by the fact WKDWWKHSRUWࢉUHVWRWKHVSHDNHUȆVUHDUEXW the mode at 300Hz results in a discontinuity in the woofer’s output. 7KLVPRGHDOVRDࢆHFWVWKHFRPSOH[VXP Frequency in Hz Fig.2'H9RUH2EDE\FXPXODWLYHVSHFWUDOGHFD\SORW calculated from output of accelerometer fastened to the center of the side panel (measurement bandwidth, 2kHz). stereophile.com Q December 2023 Fig.3'H9RUH2EDE\DQHFKRLFUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHU axis at 50", averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with the nearfield woofer (blue) and port (red) responses, and their complex sum (black), respectively plotted below 350Hz, 900Hz, and 350Hz. Fig.4'H9RUH2EDE\ODWHUDOUHVSRQVHIDPLO\DW", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 90°–5° off axis, reference response, differences in response 5°–90° off axis. 109
David Lewis Audio.com THE FINEST IN HIGH END AUDIO ESTELON CHARIO ENDIPITY) 215-725-4080 ACCUPHASE AERIAL AESTHETIX AMG ATOLL ALLUXITY AVALON AVM AYRE JOSEPH VIVID CANTON PROAC davidlewisaudio@gmail.com BACKERT LABS BALANCED AUDIO BEL CANTO BOULDER CANTON CHARIO CLARUS DAN D’AGOSTINO DCS ESOTERIC ESTELON FRANCO SERBLIN HEGEL JADIS JEFF ROWLAND JOSEPH KIMBER KABLE KII KUBALA SOSNA NOLA NORDOST PROAC SME SUTHERLAND WEISS WHEST VIVID
'(925(),'(/,7<25$1*87$12%$%< Setup John DeVore toted his O/babies from the Navy Yard and up my stairs then unsheathed them from heavy plastic. (The boxes were left in Brooklyn.) After much jogging, moving, taping, measuring, and listening, he secured them 64" apart tweeter to tweeter and 80" from my listening seat. After a week or two of listening, including one night playing hip-hop records brought by filmmaker Jeremy Elkin, I pushed them back 5" farther, endowing the sound with a deeper low-end with no sacrifice of presence, sparkle, or soundstaging. 6 Halo integrated ($2995). I kept this system for much of the current review. I’ve included prices to make the point that this is, by Stereophile standards, an affordable system. The O/baby speakers were the system’s most expensive part, by a good bit. Yet the music flowing into my room was terrific: physical, live, enveloping, natural, with good scale. Dynamics ranged from house-mouse still to boisterous and brazen. The sweet spot was truly sweet. I switched to my reference system only at the end of the review period. Any new piece of kit, if it is good and interesting, should pull new and surprising sounds from oft-played recordings, and that was the very essence of the O/baby experience. My standard low-end workout record, Kraftwerk’s Tour de France (LP, Kling Klang 50999 9 66109), sounded especially fresh. The propulsive synth-base of the title track was clearer than I recalled hearing it—and I’ve heard it recently. As the side-long track progressed, the O/baby revealed each subtle textural, rhythmic, and ambient variation in the bass. Said bass was less weighty than through the Listening As I started working on this review, I was finishing up another one, for AnalogPlanet.com, of the new Michell Engineering TecnoDec turntable with the Michell T3 tonearm ($2698 for the set) outfitted, alternately, with Goldring 1006 moving magnet ($399) and Dynavector 10X5 LOW moving coil ($800) cartridges. That analog frontend supplied my Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono stage ($1950). From there, the signal passed to the Parasound Hint measurements, continued DERYHWKHWZHHWHUD[LVEXWODUJHVXFNRXWV develop below the tweeter axis and more WKDQrDERYHWKDWD[LV ,QWKHWLPHGRPDLQWKH2EDE\ȆVVWHS UHVSRQVH ࢉJ LQGLFDWHVWKDWWKHWZHHWHU DQGZRRIHUDUHERWKFRQQHFWHGLQSRVLWLYH DFRXVWLFSRODULW\7KHWZHHWHUȆVRXWSXW DUULYHVࢉUVWDWWKHPLFURSKRQHDQGWKH GHFD\RILWVVWHSEOHQGVVPRRWKO\ZLWKWKH VWDUWRIWKHZRRIHUȆVVWHSZKLFKLPSOLHV an optimal crossover implementation. 7KHGHFD\RIWKHZRRIHUȆVVWHSLVRYHUODLG ZLWKDVPDOODPRXQWRIULQJLQJZKLFK FRUUHODWHVZLWKVRPHORZOHYHOULGJHVRI GHOD\HGHQHUJ\LQWKH'H9RUHȆVFXPXODWLYH VSHFWUDOGHFD\ ZDWHUIDOO SORW ࢉJLJQRUH WKHDSSDUHQWORZOHYHOULGJHRIGHOD\HG HQHUJ\MXVWEHORZN+]ZKLFKLVGXHWR LQWHUIHUHQFHIURPWKH0/66$KRVW3&ȆV YLGHRFLUFXLWU\ +RZHYHUWKHLQLWLDOGHFD\ is commendably clean, especially in the UHJLRQFRYHUHGE\WKHWZHHWHU :LWKLWVKLJKVHQVLWLYLW\DQGHDV\WR GULYHLPSHGDQFHWKH'H9RUH2EDE\ZLOO ZRUNZHOOZLWKORZSRZHUHGDPSOLࢉHUV,WV PHDVXUHGEHKDYLRUVXJJHVWVWKDWFDUHIXO VHWXSZLOOEHQHFHVVDU\WRRSWLPL]HWKH treble balance.—John Atkinson Data in Volts above the tweeter axis was very similar. The O/baby’s horizontal dispersion ࢉJ UHYHDOVWKDWWKHRXWSXWLQWKH SUHVHQFHUHJLRQUROOVRࢆWRHDFKVLGHRI the tweeter axis, which will tend to even RXWWKHSHUFHLYHGEDODQFHLQWKLVUHJLRQ +RZHYHUWKHH[DFWDPRXQWRIWRHLQZLOO EHFUXFLDOLQHQVXULQJWKDWWKH'H9RUH VSHDNHUGRHVQȆWVRXQGRYHUSROLWH2WKHU WKDQWKDWWKHGLVSHUVLRQLVUHODWLYHO\ZHOO FRQWUROOHGXSWRWKHWRSRFWDYHZKHUHWKH WZHHWHUȆVUDGLDWLRQSDWWHUQQDUURZVGXHWR WKHZLGHED࢈H,QWKHYHUWLFDOSODQH ࢉJ WKHWZHHWHUD[LVUHVSRQVHLVPDLQWDLQHGr Time in ms Fig.5'H9RUH2EDE\YHUWLFDOUHVSRQVHIDPLO\DW", QRUPDOL]HGWRUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHUD[LVIURPEDFN WRIURQWGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁrDERYHD[LV UHIHUHQFHUHVSRQVHGLIIHUHQFHVLQUHVSRQVHrȁr below axis. stereophile.com Q December 2023 Fig.6'H9RUH2EDE\VWHSUHVSRQVHRQWZHHWHUD[LV DW" PVWLPHZLQGRZN+]EDQGZLGWK Fig.7'H9RUH2EDE\FXPXODWLYHVSHFWUDOGHFD\SORW RQWZHHWHUD[LVDW" PVULVHWLPH 111
DEVORE FIDELITY ORANGUTAN O/BABY O/96s but tight and well-resolved. In a way, it more transparent than its larger They got me an up close and reminded me of the GoldenEar BRX but with sibling, faster on its feet. The personal audience with, for added weight and extension. The O/babies demidrange is similarly rich and example, female vocalists as livered big-bass tonnage on electronic records see-through, and as I’ve said, in by Photek, a Tribe Called Quest, and Erik B & varied as Stacey Kent, Carmen my small room, the O/baby’s bass Rakim. was tight and well defined. McRae, and FKA Twigs. The O/baby’s exacting, revealing, supersilky It’s worth emphasizing—or treble resolved not just the title track’s swoop reemphasizing, since I’ve menswoop swoop hi-hat eighth notes but also the perky hi-hat 16th tioned this in previous reviews—that the O/96 is too large for my notes above. The speaker’s precise treble focus and upper-midroom. That’s surely part of the reason the O/baby bested it in some range clarity provided constant surprise and delight. The O/babies ways: The smaller speaker didn’t excite my room’s resonant modes reproduced the recent Craft Recordings reissue of Art Pepper’s as much. Bass synths, electric bass, and upright acoustic bass all Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (LP, Contemporary Records C got serious traction here but with enough freedom to fly (if the 3532/Craft CR00382) with resonance, depth, and ambience I didn’t bassist happened to be Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown, or Paul Chamknow existed on that record. bers). As expected in a two-way, the low-end seamlessly merged I understood what John DeVore meant when he called the O/baby with the mids, but—to return to a defining characteristic of the new “a miniature O/96”; the surprise is that in some ways it bettered the speakers—the O/baby’s treble put musicians, especially vocalists, O/96. As deployed on the O/baby, the shared tweeter may lack the into the room. They got me an up close and personal audience with, “pricey bronze mounts and horn outer parts” used in the $100,000/ for example, female vocalists as varied as Stacey Kent, Carmen pair Orangutan O/Reference system, but it made the O/baby seem McRae, and FKA Twigs. JOHN DEVORE Considering John DeVore’s long legs, on his person and in the industry, I thought a historical Q&A was in order. KEN MICALLEF: Why did you become a loudspeaker designer? JOHN DEVORE: I’ve always been an audiophile. I always had music on and my hi-fi carefully set up, even as a teenager. I loved music, loved the gear, and was meticulous about the sound. In college, I realized I would probably never be able to afford the best speakers I was listening to at hi-fi stores, and so in the 1980s, I began reading up, studying, and eventually designing and building my own. KM: Did your folks play music at home? JD: My mom was a concert pianist who absolutely loved chamber music. Our house was always filled with music. When it wasn’t records, it was her practicing, either by herself or with the numerous chamber groups she played with over the years. A benefit of being the pianist is the other musicians tend to come to you to rehearse. Such intimate and formative exposure to live music laid the foundations of what I expected in reproduced music. It’s fundamental to my taste in hi-fi. KM: For a while, you made slim-profile speakers—the Gibbon series. Then, with the Orangutan series—the O/96 and O/93—you started making speakers with wide baffles. Why stereophile.com Q December 2023 the change? JD: The wide form of the Orangutan models was a natural development of what I was trying to achieve: high sensitivity and lowpowered tube drivability. I quickly realized that these parameters required the use of much larger drivers than found in more typical narrow designs. The designs simply evolved from form following function. The design and fine-tuning for all the models is still based on my fundamental tastes and personal experiences, whether Gibbon or Orangutan models. KM: Is there a throughline for your speakers? A trait they all share? JD: All my designs share a naturalness of timbre and transparency to the source, in addition to being much easier than most speakers for an amplifier to drive. KM: What amplifiers do you use to evaluate your designs? JD: Currently, Audio Research VT130SE, Pass Labs Aleph 3, Air Tight ATM-300R, Komuro 300B and 845 SET amps, Parasound Halo A 21, Hypex 250W class-D monoblock amps, and an Enleum AMP23-R. KM: For which DeVore customer did you design the O/baby? JD: I don’t pretend to know who a DeVore Fidelity customer might be. The customers I’ve met or interacted with vary enormously. I approached these new models with ultimate cost as an important consideration, so they will appeal to users who are not comfortable spending the money needed to build an O/96 system. Also, size and style should allow the O/ babies to fit into more homes. 113
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DEVORE FIDELITY ORANGUTAN O/BABY Listening through the O/babies was like getting a new, slightly more powerful set of prescription eyeglasses. The music snapped into focus, with gains in immediacy, detail, and resolution. Even the musical context was clarified as the ambience became more distinct. It all cohered; whole is the operative word with the O/babies. No one will be surprised to learn that there were some ways that the larger, much more expensive O/96s bested the O/babies—easily in some respects. The larger speakers cast a larger soundstage populated with larger images. They generate deeper, weightier, louder bass. They play louder overall, with a wider dynamic range. But the O/baby did its own things well. My audition made me think that the sound John DeVore hears in his head, or the way he realizes that sound, isn’t static. As we’ve seen when he introduced previous designs, he still has tricks up his sleeve. The O/babies meet the reference system The PrimaLuna EVO 400 integrated amplifier delivers a big stage with mucho depth and provides punch and sparkle with lots of drive. Combined with the O/babies’ similarly sparkly, energetic demeanor, would it prove too much of a good thing? I didn’t just add in the PrimaLuna, though. I substituted my whole reference analog front-end, including the VPI Avenger Direct turntable. I heard big improvements in presence, tonality, and dynamics, just for starters, with zero downside, which tells me not only that the O/babies were transparent to upstream components but that I may not have fully plumbed the limits of their abilities. Conclusion If you’ve wanted to experience the DeVore sound but have a smaller room, this speaker was made for you. If you’ve wanted to sample DeVore Fidelity but at a lower price: ditto. The O/baby’s top end is ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Analog sources Michell TecnoDec turntable with T3 tonearm, Goldring 1006 and Dynavector 10X5 LOW cartridges. VPI Avenger Direct turntable, VPI Fatboy tonearm, VPI Shyla MC cartridge. Integrated amplifiers Parasound Hint 6, PrimaLuna EVO 400. Preamplifiers Sugden LA-4, Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono. Power amplifiers Pass Labs XA-25, LKV Research PWR-3. Loudspeakers Volti Audio Razz, Spendor BC-1. Cables Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF. Accessories TonTräger loudspeaker stands, Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU Record Cleaning Machine, Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner Pro, Hunt Mark 6 Carbon Fiber Record Cleaning Brush, IsoTek (92$TXDULXVOLQHFRQGLWLRQHU6DODPDQGHUࢉYHWLHU$UFKHW\SH rack (2), IKEA Aptitlig bamboo chopping boards (under turntable, preamp, power and integrated amps), mahogany blocks (three to a stack) under cutting boards.—Ken Micallef sweetly extended, supertransparent, and informative—probably beyond its older, larger, more expensive Orangutan siblings, both of which spent years in this room. Its midrange is rich but also transparent, in keeping with the DeVore house sound. The low-end delivered everything that mattered on my jazz, electronic, and hiphop albums with, in this room, more clarity and better control than the larger DeVores. John DeVore named these speakers “O/baby,” cutely and appropriately, but these babies pack a mighty, two-fisted wallop. Q »I didn´t have any other speakers that could reveal as accurate a sound stage...« Jack Vad. Grammy Winning Engineer Auditions: worldwide in LINKWITZ Lounges Best Of AXPONA 2022 Best Of Capital Audiofest 2022 Best Of AXPONA 2023 www.LINKWITZ.audio “Breakthrough”
E Q UIPMENT REP ORT HERB REICHERT Hegel Viking CD PLAYER T he pleasures of reviewing a new CD The Viking put Gieseking’s Hegel Music Systems, in part because Hegel’s founder and chief player reside in its light weight, comminutest tempo changes engineer Bent Holter appears to feel pact dimensions, and, most of all, its front and center where I the same way I do. “In a world full ABC-simple installation: no cartridge of options for downloading music, to mount, no stylus to break, no step-up transcould “watch” them and be sound formats, compression methformers or cartridge-load values to explore. captivated by them. ods, and streaming services, putting No server, no Ethernet switches, no digital on some music can feel overwhelmprocessor or outboard clock, no NOS, OS, filter ing. What should be easy and enjoyable suddenly becomes comchoices, or upsampling (usually), no DSD or DXD, no specialized plex and stressful. Playing a CD on the Viking is not stressful. It is cables, and—especially—no garish, billboard-sized LCD menu to only joy. The Viking is a true-native 16/44.1 CD player developed trigger anxiety. Just plug the player in, connect it to a preamp, and from the ground up for optimal performance on standard (‘Red choose a CD to play first. Book’) CDs.” Yes, folks, digital audio was once that simple. Today’s audiophile digital is caught in a vicious cycle wherein Streamed digital presents audiophiles with a morass of format every company is vying for consumer attention by inventing new choices, streaming-company choices, and recording-provenance engineering strategies and declaring them more advanced than uncertainties. When I stream an album from Tidal or Qobuz, I their competitors’. I tell my friends that we’re living in the era of never know where that version came from or how many mysteri“designer digital,” when every new DAC is a tech-fashion stateous black boxes it has passed through on its way to me and my ment, employing the latest in math-based filtering and trendy engisystem. Streaming has forced me to lower certain expectations. neering to make digital sound ever more refined and luxurious but Streaming can sound amazing, but when it does, I look up and only rarely more real or exciting. point a finger at the sky. “The Viking does not upsample or tamper with the signal in any The #1 worst thing about streaming is, I never know when my way. Because by leaving the signal as it is on the disc, the Viking’s internet will shut down or a glitch in someone’s software will end already excellent DAC can be optimized to perform at its absolute my subscription, dissolve my playlists, and leave me wishing for a best.” CD player. Where’s the joy in that? When I asked Holter why he chose the AKM4493SEQ DAC chip, I’m pleased to be reviewing a new CD player, the Viking from SPECIFICATIONS Description CD player using a new-manufacture AKM4493SEQ DAC chip. Analog outputs: one unbalanced (RCA) and one balanced (XLR), one BNC true 75 ohm digital. Maximum output level: 2.6V RMS. Output impedance: 22 stereophile.com Q December 2023 ohms unbalanced; 44 ohms balanced. Dimensions 3.54" (90mm) H × 17" (431mm) W × 12" (305mm) D. Weight: 16.1lb (7.3kg). Finish Black steel. Serial number of unit reviewed VIK-63A 108. Assem- bled and packaged in China. Price $5000. Approximate number of dealers: 75. Warranty: Two years, nontransferable. Manufacturer Hegel Music Systems, PB26, Blindern, 0314 Oslo, Norway. Tel: (47) 22-60-56-60. US distributor: Hegel America, Inc., )DLUࢉHOG,$ Tel: (413) 224-2480. Email: usa@hegel.com. 117
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HEGEL VIKING he replied, “We chose this chip because, in our eyes, it is the best integrated circuit for a 16-bit CD player, where we have 100% control over the master clock. When the master clock is of extremely high quality, it is even more important that the DAC chip is bit perfect and does not resample or modify the audio data. With our discrete, ultralow-phase noise master clock, this AKM is what gives the Viking its racehorse performance.” When the Viking CD player arrived, I decided to find out right away how “absolute best”—how racehorse-like—its performance is by playing some beautiful, artful music that was beautifully and artfully recorded, with no processing, editing, or dynamic range compression. I chose the ensemble Rubato Appassionato playing Le Temple du Goût, an anthology of 18th century music from Italy and France recorded in 2005 at Capella de la Mare de Deu de L’Esperança Barri Gòtic Barcelona, Spain (M·A Recordings M075A). It was afternoon, the time the French call quatre-heures, and I thought Le Temple du Goût would launch this review from a good place and make a flavorful tea-time amusement. And it did. The Viking played this venerable Todd Garfinkle recording beautifully, with heaping measures of accurate tone, spatial acuity, and fine detail. What I didn’t expect was how strikingly the Viking player presented dynamics, rhythm, and momentum, three traits I rarely notice while streaming. Description Hegel Music Systems’ new Viking CD player costs the same ($5000) and looks almost the same as the now-discontinued Mohican CD player, which I reviewed in 2017. The Viking is designed to match Hegel’s latest pre- and power amplifiers, the P30A and H30A; in contrast to the Mohican’s white-letter logo on the face of the CD drawer, the Hegel logo is now situated in a palmwide chamfer at the top-center of the chassis front, just above the narrow slot used to load CDs. To me, this slash-chamfer feels like just the right amount of cosmetic change to make Hegel’s new chassis look better dressed without compromising the company’s signature, oldschool serious look. I felt genuinely bad when, in 2020, Eileen Gosvig, general man- ager of Hegel America, and Anders Ertzeid, Hegel’s Norway-based VP of sales and marketing, told me that the 32-bit AKM AK4490 DAC chip used in the Mohican had been discontinued, and consequently, so was the Mohican. I was sad because the Mohican was a sturdy, honest-sounding, fun-to-use machine with the courage to be a “Red Book”–only player. The Mohican had a fat drawer for loading CDs; the Viking has a skinny slot. The Mohican used a transport made by Sanyo. Hegel is not naming the manufacturer for the new Viking’s transport: Ertzeid says the company sources the Viking’s transport “from a major supplier of car stereo. It is quite good and measurably more precise than the one in the Mohican.” When TEAC and Philips announced they would stop making their highly regarded transports, it felt like the end of days for CD players. And it still does, because the transport mechanism broke in every CD player I owned except one, my first, a TEAC VRDS-10. These fails sent the rest on a sad journey, first to the curb then to the landfill. Right now, I know of only five companies that make CD transports: Sanyo, which Hegel used in the Mohican; D&M (Denon/ Marantz), whose CD/SACD-capable mechanism is used in several of today’s most expensive CD players; TEAC, which makes the 5020A-AT used in Primare products and the new VRDS mechanism developed for use in its own VRDS-701 CD player and -701T CD transport; and the one made by StreamUnlimited, which is used in the new Schiit Urd. There is also a company in Lithuania that even my manufacturer-friend who uses it in his products refused to name. “Plague and war have seriously impacted CD player manufacturing,” he told me. A few companies use NOS transport mechanisms from peak-CD. Apparently there are quite a few of those still around. Like the drawer-loaded Mohican, the slot-loaded Viking only plays “Red Book” CDs—not HDCDs, SACDs, or MQA-CDs. It has two 2.5V fixed-level analog outputs, one unbalanced (RCA) and one balanced (XLR), and a true, 75 ohm digital output on a BNC connector. And no digital inputs! It comes only in black, measures 3.5" × 17" × 12", and weighs 16lb. MEASUREMENTS measured the Hegel Viking using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 As this player doesn’t have digital inputs, I used test signals that I EXUQHGRQD&'5,ࢉUVWXVHGWKHPierre Verany Digital Test CD to check the Viking’s error correction. It played the tracks with gaps in the data spiral up to 1mm in length without any problems, but there were audible glitches when the gap was longer than 1mm or when there were two 0.5mm gaps in succession. The Compact Disc standard, the so-called “Red Book,” requires that a player cope with gaps of only up to 0.2mm, and the Hegel exceeds that standard. But the Hegel’s error correction is not as good as the best players or transports that I have measured in recent years. As the Hegel Viking has a coaxial digital output, to allow it to be used as a CD transport with a separate D/A processor, I I stereophile.com Q December 2023 examined the quality of that output. Fig.1 was taken from the digital output with a CD playing J-Test data plotted over one “unit cycle.” The eye pattern is wide open, with almost no blurring of the leading and trailing edges. The average jitter level, assessed with a 50Hz–100kHz bandwidth, was low, at 389 picoseconds (ps) compared with 340.5ps when I looped the Audio Precision SYS2722’s S/PDIF output to its coaxial input. Peculiarly, the Audio Precision’s “Active Bits” monitor indicated that, in adGLWLRQWRWKHH[SHFWHGPRVWVLJQLࢉFDQW ELWVWKHWKRUOHDVWVLJQLࢉFDQWELWZDV active in the Hegel’s output datastream. The Viking’s single-ended output impedance was a low 22 ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz; the balanced impedance was a still-low 44 ohms, again across the audioband. A 1kHz signal at 0dBFS resulted in an output level of 2.51V, which is 1.9dB higher than the CD Standard’s recommended maximum level of 2V. The Hegel’s impulse UHVSRQVH ࢉJ LQGLFDWHVWKDWWKHRXWSXW preserved absolute polarity from both types of analog output and that its reconVWUXFWLRQࢉOWHULVDPLQLPXPSKDVHW\SH 1 See stereophile.com/content/measurements-mapsprecision. V sec Fig.1 Hegel Viking, eye pattern of coaxial S/PDIF output carrying 16-bit, 44.1kHz J-Test data (±400mV vertical scale, 175ns horizontal scale). 119
HEGEL VIKING Listening Throughout my auditions, the difference in sound quality between streaming via my reference DAC and playing CDs through the Viking was mostly a matter of contrast: CDs exhibited more crystallized forms than similar recordings played back from Tidal at CD resolution. The Viking projected images with more-distinct outlines than Tidal’s 16/44.1 tracks. Those more-distinct forms felt more relaxed and less edge-sharpened than similar recordings of the same program at higher sampling rates on Qobuz.1 I kept thinking that detail, contrast, and resolution-wise, Hegel’s Viking sat naturally in the middle between 16/44.1 Tidal and high-rez Qobuz.2 Unfortunately, this CD-vs-streaming observation is less than a click above meaningless, because any sound-quality differences I noticed are most likely the result of sound-character differences between the Viking’s DAC and my reference Denafrips Terminator Plus R-2R converter. Still, examining those differences closely might be the only way to get a feel for the quality of the Viking’s DAC. To that end, I made a point of listening to CDs first through the Viking’s analog output and then, when the recording seemed deserving, through its BNC digital output into the Denafrips DAC. The timeless poetics of Claude Debussy’s compositions for piano have been a decades-long inspiration for my own visual art. I aspire to make contemplation-inducing paintings that feel as deep and sensual as the Debussy creations that ushered in the modern era. I want my atmospheres to be as evanescent as his and my colors to float as insubstantially as Debussy’s notes. To my taste, no pianist projects Claude’s notes or channels his poetic intentions better than Walter Gieseking. When playing Debussy, Gieseking sometimes used the pedals to paint tones and overtones so translucent, so ephemeral, so “impressionistic” that his piano seemed hammerless. Moments later, he would pound out a progression of clear, unpedaled notes, reminding everyone why Debussy is now considered a pioneering Modernist, not a late Impressionist. Gieseking evinces a preternatural feel for tempo and propulsion, and his expressive range of soft-to-hard, earthto-heaven dynamics is exceeded only by Samson François and Debussy himself. 1 I say “similar recordings” because I have no way of knowing whether a streamed recording of the same performance shares any provenance with my CD. 2 Tidal is currently in transition mode, apparently moving away from MQA and toward hi-rez FLAC. So far, though, all the (non-MQA) FLAC files I’ve encountered on Tidal have been CD-rez. measurements, continued with all the ringing following the single sample at 0dBFS. :LWKZKLWHQRLVHDWȁG%)6 ࢉJUHG DQGPDJHQWDWUDFHV WKH9LNLQJȆVUHVSRQVH ZDVࢊDWLQWKHDXGLREDQGZLWKWKHOHYHO DWN+]GURSSLQJE\MXVWG%FRPSDUHGZLWKWKDWDW+]DQGN+]7KH SOD\HUȆVRXWSXWUROOHGRࢆVKDUSO\DERYH N+]UHDFKLQJIXOOVWRSEDQGVXSSUHV- sec Fig.2+HJHO9LNLQJLPSXOVHUHVSRQVH RQHVDPSOHDW G%)6N+]VDPSOLQJPVWLPHZLQGRZ +]WRN+]:LWKGDWDUHSUHVHQWLQJ DN+]WRQHDWG%)6 ࢉJJUHHQDQG JUD\WUDFHV WKHUDQGRPORZIUHTXHQF\ QRLVHࢊRRUZDVORZLQOHYHOEXWVSXULDHRI XQNQRZQRULJLQZHUHSUHVHQWDW+]DQG LWVKDUPRQLFV7KHVHVSXULDHGLVDSSHDUHG ZKHQ,UHSHDWHGWKHVSHFWUDODQDO\VLVZLWK WKHVDPHN+]WRQHDWȁG%)6 EOXHDQG UHGWUDFHV EXWQRZWKHUDQGRPQRLVH d B r A d B r A V 120 VLRQDWN+]MXVWDERYHWKH1\TXLVW IUHTXHQF\RIN+] JUHHQYHUWLFDOOLQH $QDOLDVHGLPDJHDWN+]RIDIXOOVFDOH WRQHDWN+] EOXHDQGF\DQWUDFHV OLHV DWȁG% DQGWKHGLVWRUWLRQ KDUPRQLFVRIWKHN+]WRQHDOOOLHEHORZ ȁG% Channel separation (not shown) was H[FHOOHQWDWG%LQERWKGLUHFWLRQVIURP Hz Fig.3+HJHO9LNLQJZLGHEDQGVSHFWUXPRIZKLWH QRLVHDWȁG%)6 OHIWFKDQQHOUHGULJKWPDJHQWD DQG N+]WRQHDWG%)6 OHIWEOXHULJKWF\DQ ZLWK GDWDVDPSOHGDWN+] G%YHUWLFDOGLY Hz Fig.4+HJHO9LNLQJVSHFWUXPRIN+]VLQHZDYH'&ȁ N+]DWG%)6 OHIWFKDQQHOJUHHQULJKWJUD\ DQGDW ȁG%)6 OHIWEOXHULJKWUHG OLQHDUIUHTXHQF\VFDOH December 2023 Q stereophile.com
HEGEL VIKING The Viking’s ability to expose Gieseking’s morphing tempos enabled me to revisit and mind meld with Gieseking’s transcendental Debussy via a four-CD box set of his performances of Debussy and Maurice Ravel (New Classical Adventure/Audiophidelity LC 12281). These CDs are digital remasters made from a digital source, most likely several steps removed from the original analog masters, yet the Viking found the room, air, microphones, and—I swear, during the quietest passages—some faint tube glow and a few momentary hints of these recordings’ magnetic-tape origins. These are subtle things I’ve never noticed while streaming, not even when streaming CD rips from local storage. More obviously, and more importantly, the Viking put Gieseking’s minutest tempo changes front and center where I could “watch” them and be captivated by them. Streaming rarely exposes tempi this minutely. The Viking CD player made me feel like CDs were somehow preserving the timing more perfectly than streamed files. I wondered whether Holter’s tinkering with the master clock might have enhanced this effect. On some tracks, I watched my mind as it watched Gieseking execute these tempo changes, from a vantage point slightly above the piano, where I presume the microphones were hung. From that vantage point, I watched volumes of harmonically charged energy spread out in sync with the movements of his hands. This raw piano energy was framed and absorbed by energy echoing off what sounded like nearby walls of a not-large room. Echo chambers and artificial reverb were scarce to nonexistent during Gieseking’s lifetime, so it’s likely these performances were recorded in a small studio or recital hall. The Viking showed me a small, moderately lively room. These recordings contain so much intense pianism that I was more than curious to see what would change when I used a strand of AudioQuest Cinnamon digital cable to connect the Viking’s digital output to the Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC’s S/PDIF input.3 When I played these Gieseking-Debussy CDs through the T-Plus, in my preferred NOS mode, I observed an almost jolting increase in dynamic expression. With the Viking as a transport with the Terminator Plus DAC, the range of dynamic shading between the softest and loudest notes was greater than it had been with the Viking’s DAC—obviously so: Soft notes were softer and loud notes were louder, with more distinct gradations of loudness in between. With the Viking feeding the T-Plus, bass had a larger, stronger force behind it, coming through more solidly than it did with Viking’s AKM-based DAC. These forceful bass dynamics were hardly more noticeable than how much the Denafrips made the sky open through the top octaves. Treble detail was more present and discernable. But what caused these differences? My brain chalked these sonic improvements up to the Denafrips’s highpower current-to-voltage conversion and its multiple overspec’d power supplies. Its non-oversampling architecture is another obvious candidate. While not as wham-pow as the Terminator, the Viking’s conspicuously strong drive and tempo reproduction are testimony to the quality of its current-to-voltage conversion and its linear power supply. To finalize this DAC-to-DAC comparison—this is also commentary on the (apparently high) quality of the Viking transport—I decided to listen using a simple, single-microphone recording that I know extremely well and have used to analyze a wide range of digital processors: “Buddy & Maria Elena Talking in Apartment (Undubbed Version),” recorded during the first weeks of 1959, from a three-CD set entitled Buddy Holly Down The Line Rarities (Decca B0011675-2). To zero in on this recording’s atmosphere, I used the state-of-the-art Meze Elite headphones powered by the extraordinary headphone amp in the Elekit TU-8900. This amp-headphone combination is extremely insightful, and I felt confident in its abil3 The most current Denafrips Terminator Plus, the 12th Anniversary Edition, retails for just over $7500—substantially more than the Hegel Viking—and of course it includes no transport. 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HEGEL VIKING ity to show me what I needed to hear. What I didn’t expect was how comparison out of the way at the When I played the Buddy & Maria Elena beginning of my auditions because strikingly the Viking player talking track through the Viking’s balthe real value of the Viking CD player presented dynamics, rhythm, anced analog output, I thought the track’s resides not in how effective it is as opening section with Fifth Avenue street and momentum, three traits I a transport (very effective) or even noise coming in through an open window its DAC compared to a $7500 NOS rarely notice while streaming. how sounded thick and not as airy or transR-2R DAC (a comparison where the parent as it usually does. This part of the Viking also did very well) but in how recording always pleases me because I know I am listening to the it felt to use it and how exciting it made playing CDs. sounds of actual 1950s automobiles sitting in traffic in New York City in 1959 and, more remarkably, the sounds of Buddy and Maria CDs are for collecting enjoying themselves privately (smoking pot?) in their apartment Talk about collectable CD box sets: You ain’t lived till you broke the just weeks before Buddy died. That’s audio verité. paper seal on You Ain’t Talkin’ to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots With the Viking’s DAC, street sounds sounded muffled, but of Country Music (CD, Columbia Legacy Recordings AC3K 92780), 30 seconds in I realized that Buddy’s and Elena’s voices sounded which comes in a wooden cigar box with an R. Crumb portrait of nearer than usual to the microphone, which made them sound Charlie Poole stuck to its lid. Inside are three CDs in rag-paper clearer and rawer and more like real people talking. This “real sleeves and a luxuriously produced 35-page booklet explaining the people’s voices” part really grabbed me. The room sounds were less origin stories of the 72 78rpm transfers made by Christopher King spacious and well-defined than I am accustomed to, but Buddy’s and restored and mastered by Andreas Meyer and Darcy Proper, and Maria’s voices sounded right there, like they were sitting respectively. In my experience, digital masters from 78s can sound together on the couch by the coffee table (which maybe they were), anywhere from dull and robotic (because the noise-reduction softand I was there with them. ware was wielded with a too-heavy hand), to moderately delightful, When the Viking’s digital output was feeding Denafrips’s like the tracks on this Charlie Poole set. These 78s came from the Terminator Plus, Buddy’s wife Maria was back where she usually collections of Joe Bussard and John Coffey, and I bet they sounded was, maybe a dozen feet behind the table-mounted microphone, goosebump-level vivid on their 78-optimized systems. Through the possibly in a kitchenette, talking on what was surely a wallHegel Viking, these highly processed remasters sounded quieter mounted Bakelite telephone. (I can tell by how it sounds when she than necessary but enjoyably sweet and folk-poetry authentic. hangs up the receiver.) I felt like an invisible guest sitting on the The Viking showed how carefully the remastering cats tried to floor by the couch. strike an appropriately tasteful balance between raw 78 sound With the Terminator Plus, full-room spatial mapping was dra(which I love) and civilized modern sound, but to my taste, on these matically more specific and three-dimensional, but the Viking with CDs, they went too far. Nevertheless, Hegel’s Viking did its job its own DAC felt more solid, more being there real. perfectly, keeping my sound critique to a minimum, and my heart I was happy to have gotten this Viking DAC–to–Denafrips DAC locked on to all 72 tracks of this important box set. measurements, continued the high-order harmonics disappeared and the third harmonic dropped by 10dB in the left channel (blue trace) and by 17dB in the right channel (red trace). Intermodulation distortion with a mix of equal levels of 19 and 20kHz tones was YDQLVKLQJO\ORZLQOHYHO ࢉJ WKRXJKWKH +]VSDFHGVSXULDHVHHQLQࢉJZHUH present. 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HEGEL VIKING As a vocalist, I put Bob Dylan right up there with Little Richard and Frank Sinatra, and I’ve bought nearly every record he’s released. But I’ve always cringed at how bad his Columbia recordings make his voice sound: opaque, compressed, slurred, and muffled in a manner that would have killed a lesser artist. Therefore, I’ve also purchased a lot of bootleg CDs of Dylan’s live concerts because I felt these performances got me closer to Bob’s songs than his studio issues do, even though the sound quality on these live bootlegs was usually pretty rough and rowdy. In the early ’90s, Columbia decided to cut in on the bootleg action and began releasing a series of “bootleg” CDs featuring studio outtakes that sounded more intimate and less overproduced than their official releases. These bootlegs came in luxurious Deluxe or Collector Edition packaging and featured multiple studio outtakes of Dylan’s most iconic songs. These beautiful sets were carefully mastered to come through just-washed fresh and Dylanscholar curated. Through the Hegel Viking, the “Cutting Edge Deluxe Edition” of Volume 12, Bob Dylan 1965–1966 (Columbia 88875124412) consumed a whole day of my life, and by the time I’d heard six versions of “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” I felt closer than ever to my hero. I would characterize the sound through the Viking as not hard, or soft, or blurred, or shallow, or tone-shifted in any way. All three discs came through crisp but supple and straightforward, leaning toward slightly dry. Most of these Volume 12 tracks were not close to the final album arrangement, so it was wild watching Dylan experiment, searching for better and better arrangements to support his lyrics. The Viking recovered these tracks in a sturdy, musically satisfying manner that exposed Dylan as a master of bent words, eccentric phrasing, and meaning-laden poetics. ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Digital sources Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Termi- nator Plus DAC. Preamplifiers PrimaLuna EVO 400, HoloAudio Serene. Power amplifiers Parasound Halo A 21+, Elekit TU-8900. Loudspeakers Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a Gold Badge, Heretic AD614. Headphones: Meze Elite. Cables Digital: AudioQuest Diamond USB and Cinnamon coaxial. Interconnect: AudioQuest ThunderBird, Cardas Clear Beyond, Ikigai Audio Kangai-level. Speaker: Ikigai Audio Kangai-level. AC: AudioQuest Tornado, manufacturer’s own. Accessories AudioQuest Niagara 1000 power conditioner; Harmonic Resolution Systems M3X-1719-AMG GR LF isolation platform, Sound Anchor Reference speaker stands (for Falcons), Fidelis custom stands under Heretics.—Herb Reichert Which brings me to a dumb Herb-question: When audiophiles rip their CDs to hard drives, what do they do with the deluxe packaging? The silver disc is still alive Hegel Music Systems’ Viking presented every CD with enough verve, transparency, and natural detail to make each disc sound distinctly different, which shows that the player’s sound was not swamping the disc’s sound. This ability to disappear and put the character and vital energies of recordings up front made the Viking exciting to use, and that is my highest compliment. Highly recommended. Q Join the PowerQuest Matching outstanding AudioQuest performance with non-sacrificial surge protection, the new PowerQuest 303, 505, and 707 power conditioners create excellent foundations for stereo systems, multichannel home theaters, and custom installations. Starting at just $459.95, clean power never sounded so sweet. Rear panel of the PQ-707 ($1,299.95). HCM Audio is an authorized dealer for all AudioQuest high-performance audio products. Trade-ins welcome. Contact us at (530) 891-8326 or visit www.hcmaudio.com.
EXCEPTIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS MIKE’S A+ RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS ALL NEW! WILSON AUDIO ALEXIA V Now available for audition is Wilson Audio’s long awaited replacement for the Alexia 2, the Alexia V. While similar in appearance to its predecessor, the new speaker has many changes that take the sonic performance to the next level. Featuring V material, accoustic diodes, a quadramag midrange driver, plus many other features too numerous to list, the Alexia V must be heard to be believed. Stop by Excel and take a listen. You’ll be glad you did. MSRP $67,900 standard colors Excel is now open 10-6 Monday-Saturday. BAT VK 80i INTEGRATED AMP New From BAT. Fantastic sounding all-tube integrated amp utilizes the same 6C33C-B output tubes as the top-of-the-line REX 3 amp. Conservatively rated at 55 watts per channel of pure triode goodness, this amp produces crazy good sound. The VK 80i driving the new Sabrina X’s is downright amazing. All BAT products including the fabulous REX 3 amp/preamp are available for audition at Excel. MSRP $9,995.00 NEW MODEL DCS BARTOK APEX The new dCS Bartok Apex is first and foremost a state of the art network streaming dac. With the addition of a unique headphone amplifier it brings the dCS experience to both headphone and stereo listeners. This level of digital playback has never been available at this price point. Feel free to bring in your favorite headphones for a listen. MSRP $20,950.00 w/o headphone amp $22,950.00 with headphone amp AMG • Audio Research • Aurender • B&W • BAT • Chord • Clearaudio D’Agostino • dCS • Esoteric • Gold Note • Harbeth • HiFi Rose • Isotek Klipsch • Koetsu • Levinson • Line Magnetic • Luxman • MoFi • Nagra Nordost • Rega • SME • Technics • Western Electric • Wharfedale Wilson Audio. .. and more Located at 4678 Campus Dr., Newport Beach, CA 92660. Come in and browse through our vinyl records. Excel has the largest selection of audiophile vinyl in southern CA. Titles from Analogue Productions, Impex, MoFi, and many more.
E Q UIPMENT REP ORT JULIE MULLINS Audeze LCD-5 HEADPHONES Y ears ago, as a side gig with a friend, I started a small business importing and distributing high-end women’s garments from European makers: swimwear, hosiery, bodysuits, underwear. At the time, the consistent fit and finish, comfort, and manufacturing quality we appreciated was hard to find stateside. I never thought I’d see these two interests—women’s undergarments and hi-fi—converge, until I started researching this review of the $4500 Audeze LCD-5 headphones, the company’s current flagship. Sometime in the middle of the previous decade, Audeze was seeking a better way to make comfortable, high-performance ear cups. A well-connected packaging vendor learned about this project and took the Audeze design team to visit a small factory in “the OC”—Orange County, California—that uses thermoforming machines to mold foam into contoured forms for use in, among other products, push-up bras. Turns out, the requirements for these two product categories are not all that different. A curvy path then led to Audeze’s process for making better-fitting, contoured earpads for superior comfort, seal, and sound. The LCD-5 features the most recent version of this high-tech ear cup concept. The whole LCD-5 is manufactured close by, at Audeze’s facility in Santa Ana, also in the OC. The LCD-5’s black leather earpads are the softest I recall ever nestling on my ear. But there’s more to these earpads than meets the skin—they were “sculpted to eliminate resonance and ab- sorption as much as possible,” Audeze’s Chris Berens told me in an email. Audeze refers to Chris as their “artist-relations guru,” reflecting the fact that, in addition to the audiophile market, Audeze does a good bit of business in the pro-audio sector as well: recording and mastering engineers and musicians in the studio. Audeze’s top-range ’phones have a reputation for being sonically revealing yet nonfatiguing, snug-fitting yet comfortable, even for long listening sessions—characteristics that endear them to musicians,1 recording engineers, audiophiles … … and doctors? In 2016, industrial-design firm BoomBang and researchers from UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior approached Audeze for help designing a headphone that could be used inside an MRI machine. It had to cancel noise effectively (those MRI chambers are loud), incorporate a microphone, and—most important—be transparent to the scanner and safe in a powerful magnetic field. Herb Reichert told this story in Gramophone Dreams #56, including his assessment of the civilian version of the resulting headphone, the Audeze CRBN.2 I heard it at CanJam,3 powered by one of the same headphone amplifiers I used in this 1 They seem to have a special affinity for guitarists: The LCD-5 publicity pack features photos of Julian Lage and Bill Frisell.—Jim Austin 2 See stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-56-woo-audio-3es-preamplifierheadphone-amplifier-and-audeze-crbn-0. 3 See stereophile.com/content/canjam-nyc-2022-audeze-crbn-electrostatic-headphonesand-filter-portable-speaker. SPECIFICATIONS Description over-ear, open-back, planar-magnetic headphones. Transducer size: 90mm. Impedance: 14 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/mW, measured at Drum Reference Point. Frequency range: 5Hz– stereophile.com Q December 2023 5kHz. THD: <0.1% @ 100dB. Maximum power handling: 5W RMS. Minimum power: 100mW. Recommended power: 250mW. Maximum SPL: >130dB. Weight 0.926lb (420gm). Serial number of unit reviewed 5-2029. Designed and manufactured in California. Price $4500. Approximate number of US dealers: 156, also sold online. Warranty: three years for drivers, one year for everything else. Manufacturer Audeze, 3412 S. Susan St., Santa Ana, California 92704 Tel: (714) 581-8010. Email: support@audeze.com. Web: audeze.com. 129
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$8'(=(/&'৴ review, the Linear Tube Audio (LTA) Z10e. Audeze is in the gaming sector, too. The company made headlines lately when it was acquired by Sony, mainly for their gaming headsets; Sony, of course, makes the PlayStation. Apparently, the Audeze Maxwell is a major hit among gamers. The product Audeze’s LCD-5 headphone arrived nestled neatly in a black aluminum travel case, similar in its dimensions to my oboe case with a similar suitcase-style handle and molded foam inserts to secure the ’phone in place. The case provides protection, which is good, and it looks rather serious: I felt conspicuous when I took the LCD-5 to the radio station to monitor my weekly show on WAIF, feeling more secret agent than deejay. The case has latches; there’s even a key. The matte-black finish is susceptible to scratching, but that’s okay: A scratched aluminum case shows the headphones have been in action. The LCD-5 is the successor to the LCD-4, which John Atkinson reviewed for Stereophile and Tyll Herstens reviewed and measured for InnerFidelity.4 Like its predecessor, the LCD-5 uses planar-magnetic technology. Planar drivers must have a large surface area, sometimes resulting in a headphone that is heavy and clunky. Yet the LCD-5 weighs 420gm, a little less than a pound, one-third less than its predecessor. The Audeze website calls that weight “blazingly” low, and it is indeed low for a planar magnetic, though it’s still considerably heavier than some dynamic headphones. The LCD-5 incorporates several technical improvements over the LCD-4. The 90mm diaphragm’s Nano Scale polymer diaphragm is 0.5 microns thick—much thinner than the previous Ultra-Thin diaphragm and said to be among the world’s thinnest. The LCD-5 drivers use proprietary, single-sided Fluxor neodymium N50 magnet arrays and a voice-coil concept called Parallel Uniforce. The idea is to vary the width of the conductor to match, or counter, variations in the magnetic flux to achieve uniform force across the membrane. The secret sauce is Audeze’s process of etching the headphone’s particular voice-coil pattern into the conducting layer. “Each headphone model has its own unique voice-coil pattern, which is computer-optimized for the best relationship to the flux density of its magnet arrangement,” Berens said in an emailed response to my questions. “The LCD-5 pattern is by far the most advanced and complex” of all Audeze’s offerings. “The Parallel Uniforce voice-coil is a big part of increasing efficiency while reducing weight, since we were able to use roughly half the number of magnets compared to LCD-4 while keeping the impedance low to make the drivers relatively easy to drive,” Berens said. All this technology adds up to a transducer with a sci-fi–sounding name: Nano-Scale Parallel Uniforce. With all their headphones, Audeze strives for a house sound. Their proprietary target graph is similar, but not identical, to the Harman curve. In addition to those soft leather earpads, the enclosures’ other structure had material updates. The headband is made of carbon fiber. The yokes, grilles, and some internal parts are magnesium. stereophile.com Q December 2023 Other internal parts, including the stator plates, are aluminum. The yoke rods are stainless steel. Whether a headphone is sealed or open-back—the LCD-5 is open—the ear cup’s interior and its seal with the user’s head is an engineered space that needs to be optimized for the soundwaves moving inside it. The tapered design of the LCD-5 earpads minimizes contact area while maintaining a good seal. Their shape is said to reduce interior reflections. The LCD-5’s “Fazor” waveguides—another technology with a sci-fi name—are said to organize soundwave energy, reducing diffraction close to the ear. With some headphones, the earpad cushions attach with clips or magnets, making them easy to remove and switch out. Some companies even provide a variety of earpads to let you fine-tune the sound. The ear cups on Audeze’s higher-end models are attached semipermanently because Audeze is unwilling to compromise sound quality.5 Besides, Audeze argues, Audeze headphone users change earpads only every three to seven years. When it’s time to replace the earpads, they’ll send you a kit for $125, with a new set of earpads and instructions. Replacement is straightforward and takes about five minutes, Berens said. The LCD-5 ships with a slender, braided 2.5m cable that ends in a 4-pin, balanced XLR termination. A 1/4" adapter is included. Directional, high-purity, continuous-cast copper strands guide the signal. The cable feels substantial—it is likely to hold up well—but it’s not heavy and it is quite flexible. Customers may, of course, replace it with an aftermarket cable. Upon connection, the cables lock securely into place with a click. When it comes to headphones, I’m not an easy fit. Most headphones need to be set to the smallest/tightest setting to stay securely on my noggin. The LCD-5 fit my head and ears with what felt like a very good seal with a couple of notches left over. One final, well-conceived detail: The cable-connection sockets are positioned farther back on the ear cups than on many other headphones, which helps keep the cables out of the way—farther from your hands and out of your face. The cable’s “Goldilocks” length worked well for me: long enough to let me roll a comfy office chair around, but not so long that the cable dragged on the floor or found its way under the chair wheels in the studio at the radio station. Listening I plugged the LCD-5 into my PS Audio Sprout100 integrated amplifier’s 1/4" headphone jack for a few score hours of break-in time. Serious listening started with the Audeze sourced and driven by the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge DAC/streamer/preamplifier—the discontinued version, not the current one—playing tracks from my computer’s SSD via a USB connection. To listen balanced, I fed 4 See stereophile.com/content/audeze-lcd-4-headphones and stereophile.com/content/ technologically-impressive-lcd-4-planar-magnetic-headphone. 5 A graph provided by Audeze shows a significant reduction in low-bass output with clipon earpads—but also significant changes in the treble, especially the presence region. See audeze.com/blogs/technology-and-innovation/why-we-use-adhesive-to-attach-earpads-onour-upper-end-models. 131
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$8'(=(/&'৴ Brooklyn Bridge’s line output to the Mytek Liberty THX AAA HPA headphone amplifier, using the Liberty’s balanced XLR jack to connect the LCD-5. Later, I listened through a loaner LTA Z10e. Whatever source/amplifier setup I used, aspects of the LCD-5’s signature sound seemed consistent: air, spaciousness, and openness combined with copious fine detail. The LCD-5 was plenty revealing. The LTA amplifier supplied more body, while the Mytek amplifiers enhanced detail. My guess is that most audiophiles would prefer the LTA, a pairing Audeze specifically recommended to me, though for studio use, something like the Mytek might be a better fit. It depends what you’re listening for, I guess. The LCD-5 encouraged me to listen anew to corners of my music collection that had been gathering dust, including some old Y2K-era compilation CDs. I cued up a couple of tracks from DJ Pogo Presents Block Party Breaks – Classic Original Breaks and Rare Funk 45s (16/44.1 FLAC CD rip, Strut Records STRUTCD002), a collection of classic tracks whose grooves got (and still get) sampled on hip-hop tunes. Esther Williams’s “Last Night Changed It All (I Really Had a Ball),” the CD’s first track, kicked off the party with crisp percussion, disco-style strings, and a catchy chorus. The production’s individual elements were distinct, easy to hear—it’s clear why these ’phones are popular among sound engineers. Next up, the fun, funky wah-wah groove on Badder Than Evil’s “Hot Wheels (The Chase),” which poured into my ears heavy and thick, infectious and irresistible. Next, I listened to Babe Ruth’s rendition of “The Mexican,” by Babe Ruth songwriter and guitarist Alan Shatlock, which originally appeared on the album First Base. I encourage you to listen then guess where the band is from.6 The revealing nature of the LCD-5 kept me listening, rapt, tuned in to track-to-track production variations. On all these tracks, the music sounded full-blown, spread out, spacious. Instruments expanded beyond the headphones—beyond my ears—in various directions. M.I.A.’s mashup of global influences, styles, and rhythms came together on her debut Arular (CD, Interscope/XL Recordings B0004844-02), which sprung to life in 2005 full of flavor and color. I cued up “Sunshowers,” a single released ahead of this studio album, which was derived from “Sunshower” by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, cofounded by Kid Creole. A distant, high-pitched hand drum precedes the vocals. Driven by the LTA, the LCD-5 provided a tactile rendering of that drum’s skin, its sense of boingy bounce and its timbral variations. As the catchy, punchy tune bubbles over into the song’s quirky chorus, idiosyncratic pulses and pops punctuate the accents and syncopated rhythms. The low, dubby backbeat bass sounded generous, clean, and present, topped off by the buzzy fizz of M.I.A.’s Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine. Atypical time signatures and blends of styles from free jazz to twangy country turn up on Horse Lords’ “Mess Mend” from Comradely Objects (24/96 WAV download, RVNG Intl. RVNGNL95). There’s a lot to sort through on this track, but sorting through is the LCD-5’s forte; it rendered this mélange of instruments into clear individual images. For a sample of traditional audiophile fare, I cued up a headphone mix of David Chesky’s The Excommunication Mass (24/48 WAV download, The Audiophile Society). On “Gabriel 8 ‘Hallelujah’,” the LCD-5’s spatial presentation—its rendition of the positions of the choir’s various sections and soloists (left, right, blended), with the instruments farther away—made this an immersive experience. Hints of height were rendered along with a clear sense of the acoustics of the recording space. Live recordings sounded live; well-made studio recordings sounded alive, with sufficient energy and detail to seem real. Take Revelators (EP, 37d03d–030) from Revelators Sound System, a collaboration led by M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) and stereophile.com Q December 2023 Cameron Ralston (Glows in the Dark; the Spacebomb House Band). This EP showed how the LCD-5’s handle air and space around instruments on a soundstage occupied by a slew of them. Spacey, soulful free jazz, looping guitars, and rich textures and rhythms fill four instrumental tracks. On the meandering “Grieving,” J.C. Kuhl’s breath against the reed at the end of his saxophone intro was in-your-face intense. As the pace picked up, subtle dynamic variations built tension. Light taps on a cowbell (or possibly an agogo) were clean on the attack. Each layer of this track occupied its own space inside and around my head, making it effortless to slide into its mellow groove. The pianissimo intro on “Bury the Bell,” then the clear-as-a-bell swells from what sounded like a clarinet (possibly with added effects) ahead of the track’s 2:00 mark sounded smooth and hypnotic, powered by the LTA. The Brooklyn Bridge made it easier to identify the instrument as a clarinet. The piano sounded natural and neutral regardless of which amplifier was used. A highlight: At one point early in this track, I felt as though the sound I was hearing wasn’t from the ’phones at all but from the room beyond the headphones—my room. I moved one of the ear cups aside just to be sure. The sound was coming from the headphones of course, and not the room, but the illusion was convincing. The Heartless Bastards’ “Only for You,” from the album Arrow (CD, Partisan Records PTKF2101CD), delivered an audiophile cliché: hearing a longtime familiar track as if for the first time. On this track, Erika Wennerstrom explores her rich, earthy voice’s range in a gutsy, heartfelt performance. Via the LCD-5, the production came through as at once raw and refined, in equal measure, kicking off solidly with lone snare beats that sounded real in scale, timbre, and time. Heavy, bluesy guitar grooves spiraled into solos. Crisp drums wound down to a bookend conclusion. I played it again just for fun. Franz Ferdinand’s self-titled debut (CD, Domino Recording Co Ltd EK 92441) was a blast to revisit. Maybe I was inspired by having caught one of their live shows recently. All manner of PRaT stood out on this raucous romp of punk-infused, danceable art rock, recorded very loud. Not a problem though: This music is made for turning it up. On the introduction to “This Fire,” the ride cymbal sounded ridiculously clean and close-up. Most tracks took on added, fiery intensity. This stacked mix can feel packed in—compressed, spatially and otherwise—but the LCD-5 served it well, giving the music room to breathe. The album’s rapid-fire tight, driving energy came alive in and around my ears. “Auf Achse” revives a kind of mournful, New Romantic spirit, with organlike riffs backed by a dancey bassline. The weird, theremin-like sound (probably a Moog) came through more distinctly than it usually does. I took listening to the LCD-5 as an opportunity to compare an original and reissue LP release. I reached for Nina Simone’s Pastel Blues (LP, Philips PHS 600-187), my old copy first. Then I listened to the 2020 Analogue Productions reissue (Verve PHS 600-187 / B0032266-01), remastered from the original tapes, which my father gave me. The newer, heavier (180gm) vinyl was noticeably smoother, with, as expected, quieter backgrounds. The absence of distracting noise smoothed my mood and allowed me to soak in Simone’s unique timbre and appreciate the microdynamics the LCD-5 conveyed. I heard subtle vocal nuances, including her softly fraying vibrato, with great clarity. The edges seemed slightly smoother and cleaner than on the old LP, but the raw glory of Simone’s original performance and her close-up delivery was 6 Babe Ruth was an English band founded in 1971. “The Mexican” was an early hit at discos. It is “considered influential in the early development of b-boying and hip-hop culture,” according to Wikipedia. 133
$8'(=(/&'৴ retained. Her finger snaps, on her rendition of Billie Holiday’s “Tell Me More and More and Then Some,” were tactile, physical. When she approached the end of her breath at the end of certain lines, I found myself holding mine in anticipation. Finally, I transported the LCD-5 in its case to the local radio station for my weekly show. My voice on mike sounded crystal clear, far more immediate and detailed than I was accustomed to. My direction and distance from the mike registered more precisely. I seldom script my shows, aside from a few notes, and what I was hearing was so eye-opening—ear-opening—that it almost threw me off my game. Instead, I stayed focused, and the LCD-5 upped my game, attracting my attention to my breathing and leading me to enunciate better. The LCD-5 made me vigilant and probably improved my on-air performance. Conclusion A headphone that helps get the music out of your head may seem ironic, but it’s a good thing when it happens. The word immersive comes to mind: The Audeze LCD-5 delivered a different kind of immersive listening experience, without any special Dolby Atmos tricks. These are headphones, sure, but (assuming the recording allows for it) they’re capable of delivering an experience that’s less headphone-like, roughly approximating the experience of loudspeakers—all over the room, not limited to two. Their sound is detailed and insightful but never aggressive, nonfatiguing, and always enjoyable. As Audeze’s flagship headphone, the LCD-5 is pricey, but you can expect it to last for years, through several changes of its special ear cups. Its handling of microdynamics and detail makes it suitable for use not just at home but also in the studio. It fosters a keener awareness of and appreciation for differences in production, ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Amplification Original Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, Linear Tube Audio (LTA) Z10E. PS Audio Sprout100. Analog sources Clearaudio Performance DC Wood turntable with Tracer tonearm and Talismann v2 MC cartridge; MoFi Electronics UltraDeck turntable with tonearm and UltraTracker MM cartridge and weight. MoFi Electronics StudioPhono phono pre. Digital sources MBL N31 DAC/CD player, MacBook Air (M1, 2020) as Roon Server, Mytek HPA AAA Liberty DAC. Cables Analog interconnects: Ansuz Acoustics Signalz D2; Morrow Audio MA-3 and MA-6. Digital interconnect (Ethernet): AudioQuest Vodka. AC: Ansuz Acoustics Mainz D2, AudioQuest Monsoon and NRG-Z3. Accessories AudioQuest Niagara 1200 Low-Z Power NoiseDissipation System. Critical Mass Systems Maxxum equipment racks. Record Doctor VI record cleaning machine. AudioQuest Antistatic Record Brush. Onzow Zerodust stylus cleaner. —Julie Mullins across a broad array of styles and eras. It stoked my curiosity, urging me to dig deeper into my collection: What hidden elements might be unearthed? You don’t have to be an audio pro to appreciate what a headphone like the LCD-5 reveals. It allowed me to examine music forensically, to get into the guts of it, all its pieces and parts, pretty or not, but always intriguing. That I did so, always, with pleasure, shows that analytical listening and listening for pleasure need not be mutually exclusive. Q BECOME IMMERSED Trusted Dealer for: Audioquest Aurender Berkeley Audio Design CH Precision Constellation Audio Critical Mass Systems Döhmann Furutech Ideon Audio a ud io -ul tr a .c o m | 25 3 - 3 2 1- 3 20 4 | i nfo @au di o - u l tra . c o m Kuzma Magico Ortofon SOtM StromTank Von Schweikert WADAX Westminster
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FOLLOW-UP A SECOND IMPRESSION BY KEN MICALLEF THIS ISSUE : Ken Micallef listens to the Volti Audio Razz. VOLTI AUDIO RAZZ When I reviewed Volti Audio’s horn-loaded, 125lb Rival in 2017, I was captivated by its lifelike, send-me-over-the-moon dynamics, its lush sound, and its ability to work well with almost any amplifier. “The Rivals played music with supreme fidelity, openness, lifelike images, transparency, impact, touch, timing, dynamics, and flat-out musical fun,” I wrote. “They sang with tubed amplification and worked equally well with solid state. The Volti Audio Rivals are inspirational music-makers. Magnifico!” 1 Tom Gibbs expressed similarly favorable opinions when he reviewed Volti’s smaller, cheaper Razz in 2020.2 He wrote, “The ability of Volti Audio’s Razz to portray music of any genre with scale, realism, and thrilling dynamics is unmatched by any loudspeaker I’ve had in my system. The Razzes demonstrate a lovely midrange liquidity, but there’s no sacrifice of detail. The type of amplification—tubed or solid-state—made some difference in the Razz’s sonic presentation, but the result was never less than musical.” Today, the Razz in standard finish costs $7500/pair, a significant increase over the prepandemic price. It’s a three-way that features a 1” compression tweeter, a 2" compression midrange driver with a composite diaphragm that projects the sound into a large midrange horn, a 12" diecast woofer, and a small, rectangular port. Volti specifies its sensitivity as 97dB/2.83V/m. JA’s measurements clocked it at a lower but still-sensitive 93dB/2.83V/m. The cabinet is constructed of 1" Baltic Birch plywood covered in one of four realwood veneers: Walnut, Mahogany, Cherry, or Ash. (Other, “Premium” veneers are often available for additional cost.) It comes with a black cloth grille, which you can upgrade to a premium fabric for $500. The Razz stands 40" tall, 15" wide, and 12" deep and weighs a considerable 90lb. For the last couple of years, Volti has offered an LE version—LE stands for Limited Edition—which is different only cosmetically. On the LE version, the veneer is infused with intensely colored dye: Crimson Red, Deep Blue, Sage Green, Drift Gray Oak. It’s a unique look. The price for the LE version is the same $7500/pair. If you like it raw or want to do your own finishing, you can buy a pair of Razzes in unfinished Baltic Birch— they call it “Decorator stereophile.com Q December 2023 Razz”—for $5500/pair. The pair I reviewed were neither LE nor Decorator but the original Razz in Walnut veneer. Setup Why does Stereophile do follow-up reviews? Sometimes Editor Jim decides a second opinion—a new perspective—is warranted. Often, after reading the original report, a second reviewer expresses an interest in hearing the component under review. That second opinion can be useful for readers— a new experience in a different room with different ancillary components and a different set of ears. More information for the reader to consider when deciding whether the component is likely to work well. The Razzes are large speakers for my smallish space—although Volti considers them small, which they are compared to the Rival—so for me exacting placement was crucial. I ended up with the front baffles 84" from my listening seat, 49" apart measured from the inside corners, and 24" from the front wall. The grilles were off, as always. I evaluated the Razz with tubed electronics: Shindo Laboratory’s Allegro preamp and Haut-Brion power amp; the PrimaLuna EVO 400 integrated; the Triode Labs 45 EVO Reference Integrated Amplifier (3Wpc into 8 ohms, in for review). I also used transistors: the Sugden LA-4 preamplifier feeding a Pass Labs XA-25; the Ayre EX-8 2.0; the Parasound Hint 6 Halo. All evaluation tracks were played from vinyl, on a VPI Avenger Direct turntable with Fatboy tonearm and Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge. The small signal emerging from the Umami Blue was enlarged by the Manley Chinook phono stage. Cabling was by Analysis Plus and AudioQuest. Volti Audio allows the user to tweak the output of the tweeter and midrange driver by replacing crossover resistors, which may be accessed in a recess on the back panel. I tried juicing the midrange but then returned the Razz to its factory setup and left it there throughout this audition. Listening Powered by my Shindo Laboratory electronics, spinning the Quality Pressings’ reissue of alto saxophonist Art Pepper’s 1 See stereophile.com/content/voltiaudio-rival-loudspeaker. 2 Volti Audio, 6100 Nashville Hwy, Baxter, TN 38544. Tel: (207) 314-1937. Web: voltiaudio.com. See stereophile.com/content/volti-audio-razzloudspeaker. 137
FOLLOW-UP monumental Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (Craft CR00382), the Razz played with lifelike, massive scale. Images were large, immediate, and jazz-hot tactile. The Razz reproduced the darkish personality of my Shindo separates with meaty tonality, bear-like lows, and small details adding up to why we, or at least I, love recordings like this. It is a fabled recording. It was January 1957. This was Miles Davis’s rhythm section, in town to play a gig. Pepper, who had a serious heroin addiction, had not played his instrument for some time; in Straight Life, his autobiography, he claims six months; the liner notes say two weeks. Les Koenig, founder of Contemporary Records, and Diane, Pepper’s second wife, set up the session in an attempt to drag him out of his drug-addled state. His saxophone was broken. He claims in Straight Life that before he left home, he “fixed a huge amount.” The results are astonishing. Some have speculated that this lack of preparation is a reason for the session’s intense energy and the total originality of the playing. Or maybe it was the drugs. With this Shindo/Razz setup, Pepper’s alto was creamy and taut, Paul Chambers’s growling bass lines were deft and oceanplumbing, and Philly Joe Jones’s drums were as resonant and blood-pounding as I’ve heard them. The Razzes reproduced his wood snare drum and calf-skinned tom with intensity, every sophisticated ruff, careening roll, and willowy cymbal crash dead-on and palpable. (At first I wrote “with fidelity to the tape,” but how could I know that? I haven’t heard the tape. Still, that is how it felt.) The Shindo/Razz combo brought out the slightly ahead-of-the-beat pacing of Pepper’s inner clock as well as Jones’s and Chambers’s oh-so-relaxed yet driving pulse. The Shindo/Razz setup nailed me with its rich tonality, relaxed gait, and visceral sound. It was hard to turn the music off. Another recent reissue, of John Coltrane’s Coltrane’s Sound (Rhino/Atlantic RHF 1419/081227827854), cut from the original tapes by Kevin Gray, limited to 5000 copies, sounds better than my original 1964 “plum” label copy. It is as though Elvin Jones’s drums and Trane’s tenor had awakened from a long sleep. The stereo spread sounded more alive, cleaner, and information-dense than I’m used to. This is partly due to the new reissue and partly to the Razz/Shindo pairing. The Shindo/Volti system pulled off similar feats of scale and aliveness on two recent Candid reissues: the oddly dark and insular-sounding The Boy Next Door (Candid CLP 32021) by vocalist Stacey Kent, stereophile.com Q December 2023 and Snooze (Candid CLP 32071) by pianist Joanne Brackeen. These are very differentsounding records, but both benefited from the VPI/Shindo/Volti system’s textural and tonal largesse and mountainous scale. My Shindo gear with Greg Roberts’s speakers proved deeply satisfying, record after record. When I replaced the Shindo separates with the PrimaLuna integrated amplifier, the sounds coming through the Razz practically turned me over and paddled me. Scale increased, as did resolution and momentum. Pepper’s alto became throatier, with a wider apparent bandwidth, and Paul Chambers’s bass tightened up considerably. Juiced by more wattage, the Razz punched my gut and shook my soul. Reanimation of the highest order. The VPI/PrimaLuna/ Volti tag team jolted me with rib-cracking power, a clear sky, and a wide-open playing field. The sensuous atmosphere of the Shindo separates was now missing; that earth-toned musicality had vanished. But the Razz with this different tubed design produced gusto, exhilaration, and similar soul-sustenance. Sticking with the new Trane and Pepper reissues: The Ayre EX-8 2.0 brought creaminess and mannerly comportment to the proceedings. Seemingly drawing on a different set of audio principles, the Ayre framed the music quite differently. Trane’s horn no longer seemed confined to the left speaker; it now filled out more of center stage. Pepper’s tone now seemed more urgent. Steve Davis’s acoustic bass and Elvin Jones’s drums had less separation than before but were perhaps better controlled. The droning feel of the lead track, “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes,” gelled better. As it had with the Shindo and PrimaLuna amps, I felt that the Volti Razz mapped out the essence of the Ayre, revealing its strengths and personality. Next up, with Parasound’s Hint 6 Halo, the most powerful amp yet coupled with the Razz, I expected good things. It certainly proved more than capable, emanating forward drive and toe-tapping goodness with every LP. The Razz exposed the Hint 6 Halo’s marginally recessed character and its clear-as-the-night-sky-in-Montana soundstage. The Parasound/Razz duo left nothing to the imagination, but with this amplifier, the music felt less inspired. Not an ideal match. Finally, I connected the Voltis with the Sugden LA-4 preamp and Pass Labs XA-25 power amp. This combination extracted amazing detail. Again, the recordings’ DNA seemed rearranged, presenting a clearer view, top to bottom, of the music, with less murk than any of the tube amps and more clarity than any of the other solid states. I felt I’d entered the studio with the music makers, whether it was Roy DuNann’s warehouse for the Pepper or Atlantic’s midtown-Manhattan studio for the Trane. This was the most spatially impressive presentation yet. Though perhaps not as exhilarating as the PrimaLuna nor as earthy as the Shindo, the Volti/Sugden/ Pass Labs powerhouse made music that convincingly altered my space and my listening perceptions, as if it were some AI-based simulation but with real fleshand-blood sonic splendor. Is the $7500/pair Volti Razz as good as the $16,000/pair Volti Rival? I can’t remember. Maybe. When Greg Roberts plays both speakers at shows, the Razz’s demeanor seems very much the same as that of the Rival, just on a smaller scale, with the same balanced sound, even temperament, and genre-agnostic capabilities. I can say this much with confidence: The Razz will get you close to the Rival experience for considerably less money.—Ken Micallef 139
AURAL ROBERT THERE’S ONLY TWO KINDS OF MUSIC: THE BLUES AND ZIPPETY DOO-DAH.—TOWNES VAN ZANDT BY ROBERT BAIRD THIS ISSUE: A box-set collection and a tribute album illuminate the career of the great folk/country artist, gone too soon. Nanci Griffith A vital member of the second wave of Texas singer-songwriters that emerged in the 1970s and included Lucinda Williams, Butch Hancock, and Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith was a product of a time when, to paraphrase a once-ubiquitous bumper sticker, Austin was still weird. Gifted with a delicate, sweet voice and fierce determination, she started playing out at the age of 12 and getting paid at 14. While never having the ability to project Joan Baez–like volume, she could certainly fill a room. And while her voice could at times take on a flat, almost-nasal resonance, her tight vibrato was strong and evocatory the more you listened. It took Griffith the songwriter, who also became a powerful live performer, years to hit her stride as a recording artist. Her first albums, 1978’s There’s a Light Beyond These Woods, released by Austin’s B.F. Deal Records, and 1982’s Poet in My Window, released on Featherbed Records, were uncommonly strong as early efforts go, but neither elicited much interest nor sold enough to chart. They did, however, pique the interest of Philo Records, which released her second pair of albums in the mid-1980s. Griffith had to wait until the early 1990s, on Elektra Records, to find widespread success, when the all-covers album Other Voices, Other Rooms won a 1994 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her untimely death on August 13, 2021, spurred the recent release of Working in Corners, a reissue on Craft/Concord Records of her first four albums (1978–1986). Freshly remastered, with lacquers cut by Jeff Powell and pressed on 180gm vinyl at Memphis Record Pressing, the collection is housed in a cloth-covered box and supplemented with an excellent illustrated booklet. A new tribute album on Rounder/ Concord, More Than a Whisper: Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith, collects performances of her work by 14 different artists. Both releases are also available digitally and on CD. The early albums are a fascinating window into Griffith, always caught between genres, and her evolution from folk to country to one of Americana music’s founders. Strong but not overwhelming, her debut is best known for the title cut addressed to childhood friend Mary Margaret. B.F. Deal Records owner Mike Williams says in the booklet that there are “60 to 80 edits” on her first recording, which was recorded direct to two-track and mixed on the fly, but all are well-blended and inaustereophile.com Q December 2023 dible. Recorded at Loma Ranch Studios in Fredericksburg, Texas, Poet in My Window, which is dedicated to the memory of Carson McCullers, Marilyn Monroe, and Thomas Wolfe, among others—“lonely hunters all”—continued the learning process. Griffith’s career as a recording artist stepped up a notch with 1984’s Once in a Very Blue Moon. Named for the memorable title track written by Patrick Alger and Eugene Levine, it features cover art of Griffith parked alone at a diner’s corner table, a copy of Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding under her hand as she longs for her date whose beer, cigarettes, and motorcycle helmet sit across from her. The image refers to Griffith’s high-school boyfriend, who died in a motorcycle accident, an event that affected her deeply. Blue Moon was recorded with a band that included pedal-steel player Lloyd Green, bassist Roy Huskey Jr., a very young Bela Fleck on banjo, and background vocalist Lyle Lovett, who would become a lifelong friend and ally. While her lyrics are always dense and overly wordy—she was a master at rapidfire packing of words into lines—here more artistry emerges. Her vocal delivery begins to cultivate the beauty in both words and melody. The title track has both, and by choosing it as the album’s title, she signals how important these qualities had become to her and an awareness that catchy tunes sell albums. Much to her credit, Griffith was never too proud or insecure to cover a stirring song that spoke to her but was written by someone else. All her talents and experience came together on The Last of the True Believers, essential if only for three songs. The title track hinges on its emphatic chorus refrain: “Last of the True Believers/You pack your things and go back home/You could go home again, home again, home.” Her cover of Tom Russell’s irresistibly melodic “St. Olav’s Gate” rings true. And then there is the swaying, sentimental “Love at the Five and Dime,” the story of Eddie and Rita, two young lovers who met at the Woolworth counter, presumably like the one in the cover-art image featuring Lyle Lovett waltzing in one corner. Its lyrics, set to one of Griffith’s most poignant melodies, repeat themselves to great effect: “They’d sing/ Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now/Dance a little closer tonight/ Dance a little closer to me, ’cause it’s closing time/& love’s on sale tonight at this five and dime.” The strength of this album led to a deal with MCA Nashville and the follow-up Lone Star State of Mind, her strongest-ever collection of originals. Filled with interpretations by other artists, tribute albums inevitably have an up-and-down quality as some artists try harder and have more to say than others. If there’s a revelation to be gleaned from More Than a Whisper, it’s the strength of Griffith’s incisive and clever lyrics. Her carefully chosen words ring out in Steve Earle’s “It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go” and longtime Griffith friend and supporter Lyle Lovett’s rendition of what may be her best song of all, “Trouble in the Fields.” Nothing against any of the artists who contributed, but their versions make clear what a great singer of her own songs and interpreter Griffith truly was. Gone too soon, her music lives on, providing much-needed inspiration in an era when songwriting of this caliber is fast becoming a lost art. Q 141
REVINYLIZATION A MONTHLY SURVEY OF THE BEST NEW LP REISSUES BY TOM FINE THIS ISSUE: A new (or newly available) Verve- $QDORJXH3URGXFWLRQV/3RIWKHࢉUVWPHHWLQJ RI'XNH(OOLQJWRQDQG&ROHPDQ+DZNLQV When Duke met the Bean S aturday, August 18, 1962, was quite a day in music. In England, Ringo Starr made his first appearance as a full member of the Beatles, at a Horticultural Society dance at Port Sunlight, Merseyside. In Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, two jazz giants met in a recording studio for the first time. Duke Ellington showed up with a streamlined, potent ensemble: Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Ray Nance, Lawrence Brown, Aaron Bell, and Sam Woodyard. Then tenor sax legend Coleman Hawkins arrived. Ellington and Hawkins had never recorded together, so there was an atmosphere of energy and something grand and long overdue. Producer Bob Thiele and engineer Rudy Van Gelder stayed out of the way and let the music unfold while making sure not to miss anything. The result was a spectacular, loose, joyous, perfectly played album: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins (Impulse! Records, AS-26, A-26 in mono). The opening number, “Limbo Jazz,” which Stanley Dance, in his detailed liner notes, says was “conceived quite spontaneously halfway through the session,” sets the tone. With Woodyard calling out key changes, the band takes off on a Latin riff as Hawkins changes his reed. About twothirds of the way through, with no audible warm-up, Hawkins steps up to a mike on the left side of the soundstage and blows a great solo. The album is off to the races. Next up, a beautiful rendition of the Ellington classic “Mood Indigo.” After Ellington’s men, particularly Hodges, set the tune in motion, Hawkins appears on the right, seeming to step out of the speaker, a living and breathing man in my listening room. Other highlights include “Wanderlust,” the side-A closer, with its round-robin solos; “Self Portrait (of the Bean),” written by Ellington for Hawkins, referencing the latter’s nickname; and the album finale, “The Ricitic.” Notice, at around 4 minutes, how Hawkins’s sound goes from left toward the middle as Van Gelder opens the fader on Nance’s violin. Also notice the interplay between Ellington, Bell, and Woodyard at the end. The holographic illusion of Hawkins stepping forward of the right speaker on “Mood Indigo” was my first experience with higher-end hi-fi, on a friend’s system in the late 1990s. That generous friend later gave me his copy of the original LP. I have expected this cipher-saxman to step out of the right speaker every time I’ve played the album since. Alas, none of the CD issues satisfied. Most of the subsequent reissues—there have been quite a few—have been on Impulse!. Germany’s Speakers Corner Records reissued the LP in 2007, cut from a stereophile.com Q December 2023 high-quality copy tape at Emil Berliner Studios, which then was in Hanover. Analogue Productions released a 45rpm version three years later, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray. I haven’t heard that version. The Speakers Corner version sounds quite different from the original, partly due to a different tape source and partly to the very different mastering chains. Rudy recorded the session direct to an Ampex 300 tubed two-track recorder and cut the original LP on his Scully lathe fitted with a somewhat unique cutting system from Fairchild.1 In Germany, Berliner’s AAA cutting system was a Studer tape machine feeding a Neumann cutting system based on a VMS-70 lathe, all solid state. The most recent version of Duke Meets Hawk, released in 2022 but widely available only recently, is the Verve–Analogue Productions reissue cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound Nashville from what sounds like the same copy tape used by Speakers Corner. (The master tape reportedly burned up in the Universal Hollywood vault.) Playback was from an Ampex ATR100 with a custom preview-delay loop to interface with Sterling’s Neumann VMS-80 lathe and solid state cutting system. This newest version sounds most similar to the Speakers Corner LP, but it too has unique sonic qualities. Which one sounds best? Each LP version has something to recommend it, and each may sound better or best on your system, depending on your tastes. The original LP sounds of its time: somewhat thin and veiled by today’s standards but with strength in its crisp midrange, which is part of what propels the life force of Hawkins out of the right speaker when his “Mood Indigo” solo begins, and which brings out his slight grunting and breathing as he bears down on it. Whether you prefer that original sound or a more modern sound is a matter of taste, as demonstrated by the back-and-forth between me and my colleague Alex Halberstadt, which he wrote about in his Brilliant Corners column.2 The Speakers Corner version has a quiet, modern surface and an extended top and bottom end and retains the lifeforce elements, although they aren’t as pronounced because there’s more detailed sound around them. In short, it sounds more like a modern LP. RVG’s recording stands tall in the bigger spotlight. The new Verve-AP version takes the modern elements of the Speakers Corner platter even further. The surfaces are quieter, and the average level is a bit higher. It sounds very different from the original LP. The bottom end smokes the old disc, and the treble is more present and detailed. Those who love the old records may well argue that all that fidelity and extension diffuses the life force of the original. I understand this point of view, which is why I keep that original and the Speakers Corner LP. On my system, Hawkins still steps out of the right speaker, and there’s more detail around him. But because of that very detail—that higher fidelity—he doesn’t step as far into the room. Q 1 According to Van Gelder historian Rich Capeless (rvglegacy.org), Rudy used the Fairchild 641 cutter system, which included the 642 stereo cutter head and 644 tubed cutter amplifier. RVG moved to a more common Westrex stereo cutting system in the mid-1960s. 2 See bit.ly/48wKJ1e. 143
CLASSICAL ROCK / POP JAZZ RECORD REVIEWS I mpossibly ambitious? Too gain,” and “This Song Is Over,” the EDITOR’S PICK many demands on the audimidrange dynamics now seem richer ence? Tommy done better? A and the bass response a touch more final collapse before a gloriactive. Keith Moon’s more discious resurrection? 1971’s Who’s plined drumming (in theory because Next, which began life as a moreof Johns’s no-nonsense presence) advanced-than-Tommy sci-fi rock sounds more vital and alive. Also opera called Life House (also called on the sonics front, the two concerts Lifehouse), is all that and more. All on the Super Deluxe set are beautithe elements of this oft-reissued fully clear and detailed, a rarity for opus have been remastered and 50-year-old tape sources. reissued in several new configuraThe five CDs of extra tracks here tions, the most complete being the are far more valuable than the extra Who’s Next/Life House Super Deluxe material in most reissues in providEdition, which includes 10 CDs with ing an outline of how the grandiose 155 tracks sourced from the original Life House was winnowed down to tapes, 89 of them previously unreWho’s Next. A telling example is the leased. That edition also includes creative journey of “Baba O’Riley.” demos, singles, studio sessions, and The basic musical structure came two complete Who’s Next–era confrom a demo that has Townshend joycerts, from London and San Franously exploring the then-new VCS3 cisco. A 100-page hardback book and ARP synthesizers for more than provides the visuals. For immersive 13 minutes. A second demo, trimmed audio fans, there’s Blu-ray audio to 7:48, has Roger Daltry singing THE WHO with new Atmos and 5.1 surround words imported from another song mixes of the original album. A meant for Life House, “Teenage Who’s Next / Life House 172-page Life House graphic novel is Wasteland.” Yet another version, Super Deluxe Edition included for context. For superfans, labeled “First Editing Demo” (7:53), there’s a raft of tchotchkes including with different guitar tones and withPolydor/UME (10 CD, Blu-ray). 1971/2023. The Who, orig. prod.; a pair of gig posters, two concert out the final drum tracks, is much Glyn Johns, associate prod.; Bill Curbishley, Robert Rosenberg, exec. prods. reissue; Bob Pridden, Richard Whittaker, Andy McPherson, programs, four buttons, and a band closer to the released version. In the Jaime Haworth, Pete Townshend, engs.; Jon Astley, Layla Astley, photo with printed autographs. San Francisco show, “Baba O’Riley” remastering engs. After Tommy, Who guitarist has John Entwistle’s bass guitar PERFORMANCE and chief songwriter Pete Townunusually forward in the mix. SONICS shend began work on another, Album cover images are now coneven grander multimedia concept sidered a consequential artform, and album. Townshend told Billboard in 2003, few have been as impactful as the peed-on at which fans were expected to give their “In Tommy I used the device of a child opinions failed when the crowd just wanted concrete monolith from South Yorkshire being smitten deaf, dumb, and blind by that graces the Who’s Next cover. Accordto hear the band play. The project’s overwitnessing a violent trauma. In Life House ing to Andrew Neill and Matthew Kent in reach eventually had Townshend teetering I used a similar device again: an individual Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete on the verge of a nervous breakdown. plunged into a life of virtual reality fed by Chronicle of The Who 1958-1978, an alternaOnce the Life House concept was abansomething like the internet, suspended in tive suggestion was a shot of an extra-large doned, Glyn Johns encouraged the band a kind of parallel life in virtual animation, naked woman, her genitalia covered by The to release the best of the Life House songs experiencing totally phony lifestyles.” Who’s faces. as a single album. Songs from Life House According to the original concept, huThe plethora of extra material on the Suappeared on later Who albums including manity’s salvation lay in devising a single per Deluxe reissue of Who’s Next/Life House Odds & Sods and Hooligans. A complete musical note that would trigger unity in the version of the project, titled Lifehouse is a fascinating window into the creative face of society’s impending doom. Things process. In that 2003 Billboard interview, Chronicles, was released as 6-CD box set in began to unspool when the idea of making Townshend reflects on the experience of 2000 on Townshend’s Eel Pie label. a film and eliciting audience interaction beturning Life House into the concentrated What’s most impressive about the came part of the plan. Music for Life House Who’s Next: “I was really proud of it. Proud exhaustively completist Super Deluxe was recorded in New York at The Record of the way it sounded. … I knew that there reissue, as well as the separate, blue 180gm Plant and later re-recorded at Olympic Stuwas a bit of depth there if you wanted to vinyl-LP reissue of the original album, is dios in London with Glyn Johns in charge. look.” This new collection more than conthe improved sound. Most easily heard on Concerts at London’s Young Vic Theatre firms that.—Robert Baird Q the LP versions of “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Bar- stereophile.com RECORDING OF THE MONTH Q December 2023 145
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RECORD REVIEWS ROCK / P OP THE BEATLES Now & Then (single) Apple Records (watermarked stream previewed; no catalog number). 2023. Paul McCartney, Giles Martin, -Hࢆ/\QQHSURGV*LOHV0DUWLQHQJ PERFORMANCE TEENAGE FANCLUB DEVENDRA BANHART SONICS Nothing Lasts Forever Flying Wig Merge MRG842 (LP). 2023. Teenage Fanclub, prods.; David Henderson, Joe Jones, Raymond McGinley, engs. Mexican Summer MEX351 (LP). 2023. Cate Le Bon, prod.; Samur Khouja, eng. You’ve likely heard the story. Director Peter Jackson’s tech wizards extracted John Lennon’s voice from a song demo recorded in the late 1970s using the machine-learning–based “de-mixing” developed for the Beatles’ Get Back documentary. Sir Paul McCartney undoubtedly caused agita in Beatles World when, in June, he suggested that “artificial intelligence” was behind a forthcoming Beatles single.1 His illchosen words caused a speculation storm, with some wagging tongues decrying a synthetic, robotic Lennon, reanimated by technology, singing from beyond the grave. McCartney walked his words back. That’s not the reality of “Now & Then.” The song was one of four rough demos on a home-recorded cassette that Yoko Ono gave McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr in 1995, ahead of the Anthology project. Two songs, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” became mid-’90s singles. They worked on “Now & Then,” but mid-’90s technology could not separate Lennon’s voice from the loud piano accompaniment. His bandmates put the song aside. They rejected the fourth song. Twenty-eight years later, “de-mixing” technology was able to isolate Lennon’s voice, and “Now & Then” took on new life. Co-producers McCartney and Giles Martin added Paul’s multi-instrumental contributions, newly recorded drums from Ringo, George Harrison’s 1990s rhythm guitar tracks, and a guitar solo by McCartney. Martin added strings. “Now & Then” sounds similar to the Anthology singles but clearer and more modern. It doesn’t break any new musical ground. It sounds nostalgic and somewhat maudlin compared to the rest of the top-40 charts these days, but because it’s “The Last Beatles Song,” it’s likely to be a hit. It’s the Beatles after all, reunited over time and space, one final time. In the limited-edition vinyl 45rpm single format, there are two side As, just like they did it back in the day. “Love Me Do,” the first Beatles song, is on the other side.—Tom Fine 1 See bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65881813. stereophile.com Q December 2023 PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE SONICS SONICS What happens when a once-great guitar band that made its name on feedback, ringing chords, and well-built melodies no longer wants to rock? Scotland’s Fannies slowly sunk from Creation label stars into an aging band too comfortable making music that’s unchanging and inoffensive. On an album aptly titled Nothing Lasts Forever, they have, in a word, become a bore. The sound here is equally somnolent: manicured, pretty, and oh-so-tame. Oddly, remaining original members Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley are still writing engaging melodies, like “See the Light,” that could easily be enlivened by some measure of rhythmic backbone and assertive guitarwork. Yet they consistently choose a wimpy, mid-tempo approach that sounds like B-grade Byrds (lite). And while the Byrds were always in this band’s DNA, and the vocal harmonies so central to their sound remain intact, the same can be said about nearly every song here. The opener, “Foreign Land,” starts with a held guitar chord that echoes “The Concept,” which opened 1991’s Bandwagonesque, yet the song immediately lapses into undistinguished folk rock. “See the Light” and “It’s Alright” are exactly the kind of tune they would have once turned into bashers. Here, they trundle along, struggling to keep up a mid-tempo pace. Where the lyrics once brandished inviting if silly nonsense like “Hey, there’s a horseshoe on my door/Big deal/And say, there’s a black cat on the floor/Big Deal”—that’s from “Star Sign”— they now gently and repeatedly assert, “The past’s a foreign land/I did my best you understand.” (That one’s from “Foreign Land.”) Albums on which everything is played at the same tempo—ballads, rockers, or some singsong middle ground—fatigue the ear, the brain, the very soul. It’s not that every tune should rattle the rafters, but variety would help the Fannies out of their current rut.—Robert Baird For two decades, Devendra Banhart has been releasing sensitive and thoughtful songs with lyrics that are often emotionally driven and sometimes frankly bafflingly surreal. His music has attracted several genre labels, but “Freak Folk” is the one that sticks. Like all labels, that one is somewhat limiting, but it has the advantage of pointing out his psychedelic lyrics and the centrality of his guitar. Flying Wig, though, doesn’t quite fit the pattern. This is, solidly—if one can use such a term for such an ethereal set of songs—an electronica album. To produce the album, Banhart enlisted the skills of Cate Le Bon, who also contributed vocals and played various instruments. Le Bon is usually known for her guitar style, but here it’s her synth playing that shapes the music. Banhart has never exactly been known for creating albums to get the dancing going at a wedding reception, and Flying Wig is no exception. The movement is slow, but here, slow doesn’t mean boring. This is slowing down the hurly-burly of life, to escape and to dream. Banhart’s lyrics are as impenetrable as ever, but Le Bon’s lush, trippy production and the sweet poetry of Banhart’s vocal give it an exquisite beauty and a contemplative feel. To employ another musical shorthand—of comparisons—this is music Brian Eno might have produced. With the arrival of intermittent guitar, as on “Twin,” this music occasionally hints at a subdued Roxy Music ca 1980. On “Sirens,” Banhart’s voice suggests Bryan Ferry. But this is no pop album. It is introspective. Some might find it melancholy. But whilst the song “Charger” is reflective, Banhart and Le Bon’s shared vocals, and the repetition of “Everything’s burning down/ But everything’s gone green,” create something gently uplifting. That’s something that can be said of the whole album. —Phil Brett 147
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RECORD REVIEWS ROC K/ P OP JAZZ ARIEL POSEN JOHNATHAN BLAKE MARK TURNER QUARTET Reasons Why Passage Live at the Village Vanguard Manitoba Film & Music (auditioned as CD; no catalog number). 2023. Ariel Posen, Murray Pulver, prods.; Paul Yee, Pulver, Phil Pelletier, others, engs. Blake, drums; Immanuel Wilkins, alto saxophone; Joel Ross, vibraphone; David Virelles, piano, Fender Rhodes, Minimoog; Dezron Douglas, bass Turner, tenor saxophone; Jason Palmer, trumpet; Joe Martin, bass; Jonathan Pinson, drums PERFORMANCE SONICS Ariel Posen has spent the better part of his career as a highly valued sideman, serving the work of other musicians including, notably, the Bros. Landreth. Steady accolades from musicians including John Mayer, who calls Posen one of his “favorite guitarists,” have raised his profile. He has quickly established a presence in the guitar world for his original sound and for music that marries adult contemporary rock with classic blues. On Reasons Why, across 10 tracks, Posen sings and plays about relationships, forgiveness, and healing. The songs are never too clever, heavy handed, or obvious. Sonically, the drums are fat and firm. The bass provides a great foundation, and the keys are present without being showy. But it’s Posen’s slide guitar that lifts this from a solid rock record to one you’ll want to spin again and again. Posen is perhaps best known for his tone on slide guitar. His slide sound is vocal and full, largely due to the way he combines his Jazzmaster guitar (with Stratocaster parts sprinkled about), RockSlide, and his main pedal, the KingTone Duelist. Together they create a sound wrapped in the kind of haunting aura you might once have found in an Elmore James or Tampa Red tune. The solo parts have economy, and they never outstay their welcome. They add a kind of grandeur that is rare for any music that plays as accessible pop. Standout tracks include “Broken But I’m Fine” and “Man You Raised” (co-written with Cory Wong). On that tune, Posen demonstrates that rock’n’roll is far from over, that its future is very secure in hands like his. Just when it seemed that modernday radio had lost interest in and room for anything guitar-driven, Posen arrived with music that can make even the most stubborn station manager bend, put this on air, and keep it in rotation.—Ray Chelstowski stereophile.com Q December 2023 Blue Note B003706102 (CD). 2023. Blake, prod.; Tom Tedesco, eng. Giant Step Arts GSA 009 (2 CDs). 2023. Jimmy Katz, Turner, prods.; Katz, James Kogan, engs. PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE SONICS It is fitting that Johnathan Blake, an elite drummer, records on the best labels with major musicians. His last two albums, both critically acclaimed, were Trion, on Giant Step Arts, in 2019, and Homeward Bound, his debut on Blue Note, in 2021. Trion included Chris Potter and Linda May Han Oh. Homeward Bound had the same personnel featured here. Immanuel Wilkins and Joel Ross are the most important musicians to enter jazz in the new millennium on their respective instruments. On the title track here, Wilkins announces himself with the kind of devastating solo that earned him first place on alto saxophone in the 2023 DownBeat Critics Poll. His outpouring of startling ideas threatens to overwhelm the ensemble. But when Wilkins improvises, even when he flirts with chaos, he is spontaneously shaping a meaningful form. On “Muna and Johna’s Playtime,” Ross has the unenviable assignment of following Wilkins. He excels. The piece is based on a powerful vamp generated by Blake, keyboardist David Virelles, and bassist Dezron Douglas. Ross spills free of their throbbing momentum and floats in his own domain, out of time. His solo is a long, ascending exploration that climbs the sky before it softly falls away. Virelles is another rising star in Blake’s band. His concise, vivid contributions on Fender Rhodes and Minimoog enhance the color palette of this album. While the sidemen here are exceptional, there is never any doubt about who is in charge. Passage can be understood as a case study in what it means for a drummer to function as bandleader. Blake produces surging, shifting rhythmic forces. He infuses the whole musical space with vital energy and inspires his four collaborators to reach beyond themselves.—Thomas Conrad SONICS Giant Step Arts was founded in 2018 by renowned photographer and recording engineer Jimmy Katz. The output of this nonprofit label has been small (10 titles to date) but distinguished musically, sonically, and graphically. Katz believes in live recordings. This new Mark Turner double album, by one of the major small ensembles in current jazz (see above), was recorded live on hallowed ground: the Village Vanguard. It is fascinating to compare it to Turner’s previous release, Return from the Stars, on ECM, recorded at Sear Sound Studio in New York. The musicians are the same, and all eight Turner compositions on Return from the Stars are repeated at the Vanguard. On the earlier album, when Turner’s quartet played a convoluted, fast piece called “Nigeria II,” they nailed it, in a taut under-five-minute version. The Vanguard rendition goes for 10 relentless minutes. Turner’s solo speeds over the ground he covered in Sear Sound then keeps hurtling forward, discovering myriad melodies on the fly, all newly derived from “Nigeria II.” On all eight tunes, the Vanguard versions spike the intensity and sustain it longer. In Sear Sound, “It’s Not Alright with Me” was beautifully performed, for over 10 minutes. In the Vanguard it is turned loose and set on fire, for almost 19 minutes. Joe Martin takes a four-minute bass solo like a dark ritual. Turner, an extraordinary improviser, has time to bare his heart and tell his story, unabridged. Palmer, one of the most exciting trumpet players in jazz, intellectually and emotionally, has time to insert his own song within the song. Remarkably, Katz’s live recording is as high in resolution as the ECM studio recording. He puts you in the electric air of the Village Vanguard on a hot night. —Thomas Conrad 149
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RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ C LASSICA L DARCY JAMES ARGUE’S SECRET SOCIETY BRITISH PIANO CONCERTOS Dynamic Maximum Tension Works by Jacob, Addison, and Rubbra Argue, compositions, arrangements; 21 others Simon Callaghan (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Stephen Bell, George Vass Nonesuch 075597903508 (2 CDs). 2023. Argue, Alan Ferber, Brian Montgomery, prods.; Montgomery, eng. Lyrita SRCD 416 (CD). 2023. Adrian Farmer, prod.; Andrew Smillie, eng. PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE SONICS SONICS The strong reputation of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is based on only three albums, released 2009—2016. Now there is a fourth. It is a lavish production with a 32-panel fold-out poster, extraordinary sound, and 112 minutes of incandescent music composed by Argue and executed by 21 of the best musicians in New York. Argue’s concept of big band jazz is extroverted, intricate, historically grounded, and forward-looking. He loves to unleash explosive forces. His band roars. Yet the many moving parts of his charts—the themes, counter-themes, shifting riffs, provocative backgrounds, striking harmonies, and fluid meters—are assembled with precision. Dynamic Maximum Tension is both the album’s title and a description of its contents. Argue intends this music as an antidote to the “dystopian direction” of our times. Tunes are dedicated to people from “more optimistic” eras whose legacies “rekindle” his faith. Pieces like “Dymaxion” (for Buckminster Fuller) and “Wingèd Beasts” (for Bob Brookmeyer) are passionate celebrations of positive energy. “Tensile Curves” (for Duke Ellington), the album’s 35-minute centerpiece, is an in-depth reinterpretation of an Ellington masterpiece, “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” It is a sweeping arc, rich in ensemble details and riveting solos. (The band’s arsenal of killing soloists includes trumpeters Nadje Noordhuis and Ingrid Jensen, trombonist Jacob Garchik, and saxophonists Carl Maraghi and Dave Pietro.) An orchestra that begs comparison to the Secret Society is Snarky Puppy, which incorporates pop cultural elements into big band jazz and plays large arenas. The Secret Society has just done something even harder. It has made one of the essential large ensemble jazz recordings of the new millennium.—Thomas Conrad stereophile.com Q December 2023 Three midcentury British concerti, unequivocally tonal, each composer using the idiom to different purposes. Gordon Jacob’s concerto starts out bright and chipper, like one of the more congenial postwar symphonists, and maintains a playful mood even through some angular lines and thoughtful, rhapsodic episodes. The slow movement begins sparely, with woodwinds over sustained basses, eventually opening into a cautiously affirmative oboe solo and ambiguously spacious piano writing. A firm tread sets the finale’s assertive tone. At just 15 minutes, John Addison’s score begins and ends in brooding introspection; the variations take in gently dissonant duets; broad, plangent cello and violin lines; and, briefly, a Hollywoodish sort of waltz. From its brooding cor anglais opening, Edmund Rubbra’s concerto registers as more substantial. The first movement’s main Allegro goes with a hearty maritime swing, punctuated by aggressive outbursts. An unsettled minor section disrupts the spacious slow movement; the finale reverts to a proudly strutting Celtic jig. Simon Callaghan’s clean, lightweight piano sound, crisply articulate, is ideal for Jacob and Addison, who favor linear figurations over big, splashy chords. Callaghan is responsive to the varying moods, with many lovely moments. In the larger-scaled Rubbra, the quick, rippling scales are limpid, the quiet bits pensive. The conducting serves, although Vass lets a brief passage in Rubbra’s finale come unstuck, and the final chord is oddly unemphatic. Much of the time, the orchestra sounds pleasing but slightly recessed, even in the first of Rubbra’s climaxes. Conversely, expressive reed and cello solos, and the pungent low-clarinet and bassoon attacks, emerge with an almost tangible presence. —Stephen Francis Vasta
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RECORD REVIEWS C L A SSIC AL RICHARD RODGERS & OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN POSTCARDS FROM ITALY Oklahoma! Marco Albonetti, saxophone; Roma Sinfonietta, Paolo Silvestri, cond. CHSA 5322 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2023. Jonathan Allen, prod. & eng. PERFORMANCE SONICS A complete recording of the music of Oklahoma!, the groundbreaking Broadway musical that determined the future of this distinctly American art form, deserves a strong welcome. But from the Sinfonia of London rather than an orchestra based in New York? Before accusing it of inauthenticity, listen up. Not only is this the first recording of the complete score, including all the dialogue incorporated within vocal numbers; it also contains every delightful note in Robert Russell Bennett’s original orchestrations. With an exceptional cast of singers whose Oklahoma accent is as believable as the story itself, Oklahoma! sounds as fresh as it must have sounded when it opened for an unprecedented fiveyear-plus run on the Great White Way. Nathaniel Hackmann, previously the Broadway lead in Les Misérables, Jekyll and Hyde, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, plays the lead role, Curly. An alum of San Francisco Opera’s famed career-launching Merola Opera Program, he sounds totally at home in the Broadway idiom. Once he shifts from the forthright lyricism of “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” to seductive softness in the reprise of “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” you may find him superior to the original cast’s Alfred Drake. You’ll be similarly hooked by the orchestral introduction to “Beautiful Mornin’,” which sounds as though Richard Rodgers gained inspiration from the nature sounds of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony; by Curly’s a cappella introduction, which was omitted from the original Broadway cast recording along with the essential intersong dialogue; and the range of colors produced by an orchestra of the same size and composition as the one first heard on Broadway 80 years ago. You’ll even hear authentic instruments from the 1940s. Simply wonderful.—Jason Victor Serinus stereophile.com Q December 2023 Italian Music for Film Chandos 20291 (24/96 WAV). 2023. Marco Albonetti, prod.; Franco Patrignani, Davide Dell’amore, eng. PERFORMANCE SONICS With the many earworm hits from Oklahoma! playing on repeat in my head, how could I resist another earworm recording, this one featuring great movie themes from Morricone, Rota, and others? Many elements make this recording so winning. Foremost are the melding of Marco Albonetti’s warm, smoothly seductive soprano saxophone and the silken strings of the Roma Sinfonietta string orchestra. Also contributing are expert chamber orchestra arrangements and orchestrations by the Sinfonietta’s conductor, Paolo Silvestri. Then there’s authenticity. Silvestri leads the orchestra that recorded many of Morricone’s film scores the first time, and they also perform in the warm acoustic of Forum Studios, in Rome, where many of the great scores of Italian cinema were recorded. Piano interjections by Michelangelo Carbonara are another bonus in a recording that favors charm and warmth. Morricone’s themes from The Mission, The Legend of 1900, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in America, and Malèna are all warm, lovely, soothing, and tinged with nostalgia. Romantic to the core, they’re simpler than “Amapola,” a wonderful melody Morricone lifted from Joseph Lacalle for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. Rota’s music for Fellini’s Amarcord and La Dolce Vita, as well as for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, is less romantic, with “The Godfather Waltz” scoring points for its haunting darkness. Who can forget the circus elements and sadness of La Dolce Vita? I’m less convinced by Silvestri’s repetitive “Theme from Controvento,” and Gato Barbieri’s theme from Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris reminds me once again of Morricone’s special ability to soothe the soul and touch the heart.—Jason Victor Serinus
THE ULTIMATE CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY... ILLUMINATED! g Awardinbest the veryucts prod er for ov RS 40 YEA EISA AWARDS 2023-24 visit www.eisa.eu for the winners Now 40 years strong, EISA is the unique collaboration of 58 member magazines and websites from 29 countries, specialising in all aspects of consumer electronics from mobile devices, home theatre display and audio products, photography, hi-fi and in-car entertainment. This international association includes expert members in Australia, India, Canada, the Far East, USA and the wider European community, ensuring the EISA Awards and official logo are your guide to the best in global consumer technology! TESTED BY THE EXPERTS Q WWW.EISA.EU
RECORD REVIEWS C L A SSIC AL Statement of Ownership BRUCKNER TAN DUN Symphony 7 Buddha Passion London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle LSO Live LSO0887 (CD). Andrew Cornall, prod.; Neil Hutchinson, eng. Orchestre National de Lyon, Tan Dun, cond./ Internationale Chorakademie. Decca 4854221 (5), 2 CDs (reviewed as 24/96). 2023. Tan Dun, prod.; Pan Bo, UUUStudio, Xiaoxing Lu, eng. PERFORMANCE SONICS Back in the ’90s, this symphony was one of the best entries in the young Simon Rattle’s somewhat checkered recording series for EMI. Fully a quarter-century later, he’s improved upon it. His manner has become quicker and more flowing, shaving a full six minutes off his earlier timing, yet without sacrificing the required breadth or tonal weight. Rattle particularly excels at eliciting the mystery in the development sections. Quiet passages go with a wonderful hush—the Scherzo’s recap is tenderly played—although some, like the start of the final coda, almost get lost. Rattle keeps a firm hand on the structures throughout, with no aimless wandering. The warm, unified cellos at the start give way to clear, uplifting violins; the development is shaped with purpose—the alla breve stays within bounds—and the recap’s “exotic” motif has a proud stride. The Adagio, mournful and grave, rises aspirationally; the second theme is dignified, like a court dance, though a swifter recap loses some of that. The Scherzo rolls along with lightness and drive, a less relentless juggernaut than some; its relaxed, singing Trio doesn’t quite manage “rustic.” In the forthright Finale, the walking basses could tread more firmly, though the vaulting trombone statements are suitably ominous. The occasional iffy, frayed attack or smudged arrival still betrays Rattle’s basically catch-as-catch-can technique. We hear some tentative ritards—the structural intent is laudable, the execution unsure. The LSO is otherwise in fine form. The sonics are pleasing. The first tutti brings a hint of an edge, but the problem doesn’t recur; conversely, massed brasses sound full and present, though without the expected depth. Woodwind and horn soli register nicely in the lighter passages, and we hear a good, deep maestro sniff to start the Adagio.—Stephen Francis Vasta stereophile.com Q December 2023 PERFORMANCE SONICS Ever since I reviewed Tan Dun’s six-act Buddha Passion in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall in November 2022, I’ve eagerly anticipated this live recording. Its mammoth battery of Western and Eastern instruments and voices will test many systems. The sound world of Buddha Passion is an exotic amalgam of East and West with a generous dollop of three-strip Technicolor Hollywood film score in the mix. Inspired by the two years Tan Dun spent researching the 750 Mogao caves and 2000+ wellpreserved sculptures that miraculously survive in the Buddhist depository and UNESCO Heritage site in the Silk Road city of Dunhuang, Buddha Passion sprinkles a Chinese fable about selflessness and respect for all living things with a helping of echt-Christian shame and punishment. In addition to the large chorus, the work calls for a baritone (Shenyang), mezzo-soprano (Huiling Zhu), tenor (Chuanyue Wang), soprano (Sen Guo), indigenous female singer (Weiwei Tan), indigenous male singer/ Dunhuang xiqin player (Batubagen), Dunhuang fantan pipa player (Yining Chen), and percussion: Tibetan double cymbals, rubbed Chinese cymbals, and transparent paper cups in tubs of amplified water. The work begins with sublime serenity, evoking the stillness of silent meditation. The music of Act V: “Heart Sutra” is free of artifice and filled with extraordinary sounds. At act’s close, “The Sutra of Compassion” expresses a paradoxical message: “Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. … All things … are in essence emptiness.” But “emptiness” cannot describe when every instrument under the sun joins with the vocalists to produce a sensual battering ram of spectacular sound. Special kudos to Shenyang, whose handsome voice recalls the greatest Broadway baritones on record. You’ve got to hear this.—Jason Victor Serinus As required by Title 39, Section 3685 United States Code below is the Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation of Stereophile. 1. Publication Title: Stereophile 2. Publication Number: ISSN 0585-2544. 3. Filing Date: 10/01/23 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $20.00 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Contact Person: Matt Kexel/Phone 917-746-2369 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: AVTech Media Americas Inc, 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016 9. Publisher, Keith Pray/ 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016; Editor, Jim Austin / 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016; Managing Editor, none 10. Owner: AVTech Media Americas Inc, 260 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, x Mortgages or Other Securities: None Q 12. Tax Status: (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rate) (Check one) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes x Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months Q Q Has Changed During the Preceding 12 Months 13. Publication Title: Stereophile 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: September, 2022 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. Copies No. of Copies of Each Issue During Single Issue Published Preceding 12 Months Nearest to Filing Date a. Total number of copies....... 33,052 30,662 b. Paid Circulation (by mail and outside the mail) 1. Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 .................. 37,714 36,221 2. Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 ........................... 0 0 3. Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS .......................687 538 4. Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS.................... 0 0 c. Total Paid Distribution .........33,738 31,200 d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) 1. Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 ......................... 39 0 2. Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 ........................... 0 0 3. Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through The USPS................... 0 0 4. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail....................724 760 e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution ................... 762 760 f. Total Distribution .............34,500 31,960 g. Copies not Distributed ........1,748 1,262 h. Total ..................................36,248 33,222 i. Percent Paid ......................97.8% 97.6% 16. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. Copies No. of Copies of Each Issue During Single Issue Published Preceding 12 Months Nearest to Filing Date a. Paid Electronic Copies ......11,603 10,100 b. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15C) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16A) ..............45,341 41,300 c. Total Print Distribution (Line 15F) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16A) ............. 46,103 42,060 d. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies) (16b divided by 16c X 100) .....................98.3% 98.2% x I Certify that 50% of all my distributed Copies Q (Electronic & Print) are paid above a nominal Price 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership will be printed in the: December 2021 issue of this publication. 18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, ..... or Owner Keith Pray, Publisher 10-1-2022 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). 155
stereophile audio mart VITTORA 156 To advertise, contact Ed DiBenedetto 917.662.6936 edibenedetto@avtechmediausa.com Re IMAGINED IN 2023 VOLTIAUDIO.COM LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK Arcam, Audeze, Audience, Audio Desk, Audioquest, Berkeley Audio Design, Bryston, Cardas, Conrad-Johnson, Clarus, Esoteric, JBL Synthesis, Jeff Rowland, Hegel, Isotek, Koetsu, Lexicon, Lyra, Mark Levinson, Lumin, Martin-Logan, Meitner, My Sonic Lab, Oracle Audio, Ortofon, Purist Audio Design, Plinius, ProAc, Revel, Rogers Fidelity, SME, Sony ES/ XBR, Stax, Sutherland, Symposium Acoustics, Tannoy Prestige, Totem, Triangle, Tsakiridis, VPI, and many more. Large selection of fine pre-owned gear, quality trades welcome, analog guru on board New York Sound & Vision (631) 321-8969 or visit www.newyorksoundandvision.com Audiophile Essentials EDITOR CD PACKAGE shop.stereophile.com AUDIO ART Since 1976 VIRGINIA’S OLDEST HIGH END ESTABLISHMENT Acoustic Signature, AVM, Ayre, Canton, Cardas, Clearaudio, Eversolo, Fezz Audio, Fyne, Gold Note, Grado, Hana, Hegel, Jeff Rowland, Martin Logan, Music Hall, Ortofon, Proac, ProJect, Rega, Shunyata, SME, Vertere, Weiss. 804.358.5300 www.audioartusa.net audioartusa@aol.com Image courtesy Geek3
RE-TALES INSIDER DISPATCHES FROM HI-FI’S FRONT LINES BY JULIE MULLINS THIS ISSUE: Designer and audiophile Devon Turnbull opens the Ojas Listening Room showroom in New York City, aiming WRH[SRVHQHZJHQHUDWLRQVWRROGVFKRRODQG',<KLࢉ A new Ojas listening space in SoHo N PHOTO BY LAUREN COLEMAN ew York City continues to have a rich hi-fi culture, but many of its fabled hi-fi shops have shuttered—think of Lyric Hi-Fi, which played a major role in the development of audio’s high end before it closed in 2021.1 But recently NYC’s hifi scene has experienced a bit of a renewal, with undertakings aimed at a wider, younger audience. One example is a new, niche audio showroom in SoHo, which opened in September, by former deejay and fashion designer, artist, and current audio craftsman Devon Turnbull.2 The Ojas Listening Room could qualify as a concept store. Its reason for existing, Turnbull told me in a recent telephone conversation, is to create a kind of audio culture that hasn’t existed in New York for decades. Turnbull previously made a name for himself as one of four co-founders of Nom de Guerre, a noted “underground” men’s streetwear line that garnered a devoted following in the 2000s, housed in a Brooklyn boutique that was hard to find unless you knew where to look. The Ojas showroom is similar, co-housed with a USM Modular Furniture showroom, located on a busy SoHo shopping street but not so easy to find. Like the former Nom de Guerre store, Turnbull says, he wants the Ojas Listening Room to be a discreet destination, a place worth seeking out for those attracted to it. Some years back, Turnbull began building custom hi-fi gear, mostly on commission, for private clients and nightclubs. Those systems, naturally, reflected his taste for Bell Labs, Western Electric, low-wattage, single-ended triode (SET) amplifiers, and high-sensitivity loudspeakers with vintage (or vintage-style) drivers. Under the Ojas moniker—that’s his former deejay name—he operated his made-to-order business from his home studio in Brooklyn. Orders came in via Instagram and through other “social” means. DIY speaker kits were his most popular items, he said. Some years ago, Turnbull started to create “sound sculptures”—handmade, multicomponent, freestanding hi-fi systems presented as art objects in galleries, first at the New York branch of the London-based Lisson Gallery and then, this past summer, at the London branch.3 Those “sonic happenings” proved popular. Broad public interest in those events set the stage for opening the Ojas Listening Room. The move into the new Ojas space represents both an expansion and a separation— a way to move the business out of his home. “I can only have so many people in my house,” he said. The showroom sells Ojas bookshelf loudspeakers (both as Brooklynmade complete models and as DIY kits, both with JBL drivers), amplifiers (with some Sun Audio kits to come), tubes (including Western Electric 300Bs), turntables, “cult” tonearms (including Dynavector), cartridges (including Ortofon SPUs), and stereophile.com Q December 2023 Ojas cables. Turnbull says that a Denon collaboration is forthcoming. Turnbull is a rep for TAD drivers and plans to stock some Audio Note parts. He’ll also sell a selection of records and Japanese audio magazines— Stereo Sound and MJ—and curated books. Besides selling wares, Turnbull wants to encourage people to build their own hi-fi gear. “DIY doesn’t have the same stigma in Japan as it does here,” he said. “[There,] it can be the highest form.” Single-ended triode amplifiers, he noted, make especially good DIY projects. “SETs are cool from a project perspective,” he said. In such a simple circuit, every element matters. “There’s a high percentage chance it doesn’t work the way you expect the first time, even for experienced builders.” It also might not sound the way you expect it to. It’s all part of the hands-on, ears-on experience—of engaging with your audio system. Turnbull appreciates imperfections: “There’s no spec for beauty,” he says. Turnbull acknowledges that his old- school, purist design approaches won’t appeal to the masses, and that’s fine. “I’m not trying to compete with audio dealers here. I’m not trying to rep all the brands. If you’re someone who wants to hear 10 options, that’s not what we do.” His goal is to carry audio products that are bespoke and culturally significant, to cultivate a segment of the market not generally represented by mainstream dealers. “I’m just as happy to inspire someone to go home and go online and figure out how to make their own system their own way as I am to sell them something,” he said. Turnbull wants the Ojas Listening Room to foster community among like-minded people, especially people new to the hobby. He envisions people stopping by to have focused, spiritual listening experiences. On the other hand, people want to ask questions, and he wants them to, and “the two things are kind of at odds with each other,” Turnbull said. Indeed, chat and spiritual listening do not go hand in hand, as Alex Halberstadt discovered in his recent tour of New York City jazz kissa, documented in his November Brilliant Corners column. (It’s a predicament familiar to anyone who spends time at hi-fi shows.) So maybe Turnbull will implement a reservation system, or maybe the solution is to play music for a while without conversation, followed by questions. Both things matter: connection with the music and connection with likeminded people. “If you’re just getting into high-end gear and just building your system, it can be hard to find peers. It can be an isolationist kind of activity,” he said. “You can learn techniques on YouTube, but you have to go looking for peers if you’re into building and restoring amps, etc. At the very least, we can provide some kind of platform and operate as a community.” Q 1 See stereophile.com/content/goodbye-house-mike-kaybuilt and stereophile.com/content/lyrical-denouement. 2 See Herb Reichert’s account in Gramophone Dreams #59, at stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-59-ojassystem-ej-jordan-marlow-loudspeaker. Also see Ken Micallef ’s video coverage at bit.ly/3LGl0th. (The music is better in person. I promise.) 3 Turnbull was part of a group sculpture exhibition called “The odds are good, the goods are odd,” presented in the New York gallery summer 2022 and in London this past summer. See lissongallery.com/exhibitions/devon-turnbull-ojas-hifi-listening-room-dream-no-1. 157
MANUFACTURERS’ COMMENTS Totaldac d1-unity DAC and d1-streamer-sublime Thank you very much, Alex Halberstadt, for this excellent review and for sharing your views about the listening feeling and the traditional measurements. About your comparison to a turntable, I would just add that you can get a sound even closer to the concert or to an analog source using the Totaldac d1-switch (Ethernet switch) and the Totaldac d1-player (Roon core). I use them for the demos in Totaldac’s office and at Munich or Paris hi-fi shows. Vincent Brient, Founder Totaldac Korf Audio TA-SF9R We are grateful to Stereophile and Michael Trei for featuring the Korf TA-SF9R tonearm, especially for his open-minded approach to our innovative ideas. For example, we are the only tonearm manufacturer to offer a friction- and stiction-free horizontal flexure bearing. Michael Trei’s impressions of our tonearm’s sonic qualities and exemplary tracking closely match our experience and that of our customers. We could not ask for a better way to vali- ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART date our research. As a classic car enthusiast, I enjoyed and appreciated Michael’s automotive analogies. Fortunately, the installation of our tonearm is typically less daunting than changing a spark plug. The necessary tools and hardware are included with every Korf tonearm. We opted against detailed mounting instructions, as they tend to be highly specific to the particular turntable model. It is hardly helpful to tell the owner of a modern advanced turntable such as Michael’s SME Model 30 to “mark and drill the armboard” (to quote from another tonearm’s owner’s manual). Instead, we offer unlimited 3-month email and phone support to help buyers with their installation. Alex Korf, Founder Korf Audio Accuphase A-300 We are very honored that our A-300 has been covered so well in Stereophile’s great review. Accuphase regards audio as an important cultural link between music, art, and technology. We have been developing and manufacturing equipment that THIS ISSUE : Representatives of Totaldac, Korf Audio, Accuphase, and Estelon respond to our reviews of their products. the ability to drive all types of loudspeakers. Furthermore, in the unlikely event of an unexpected temperature rise or speaker terminal short, the A-300’s safety devices will reliably differentiate to inform the user of the abnormality. All these features are perfectly in line with our policy of ensuring the safe and long-lasting use of Accuphase products. We hope many music lovers and audiophiles will know Accuphase products and enjoy a better audio and music life. Takaya Inokuma, Director of Engineering Accuphase Estelon AURA We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to Kalman Rubinson for his meticulous review of our latest speaker model, AURA. His insightful article not only provides a comprehensive overview but also eloquently underscores the strengths of our new addition to the Estelon collection. Furthermore, we wish to express our profound gratitude to the entire Stereophile team for their continuous support of the Estelon brand. Their collaboration in facilitating this review is invaluable, and we look forward to continuing our journey together in pursuit of audio excellence. Estelon remains committed to pushing the boundaries of high-end audio, and we look forward to sharing our future innovations and endeavors with the Stereophile community. Alissa Vassilkova, Chief Executive Officer Estelon pursues the essence of audio for more than 50 years. The culmination of these efforts reduces harmful noise to the utmost limit so that the A-300 can faithfully reproduce the expression of the performer and the atmosphere of the stage or recording location. In addition, the A-300’s power supply and amplifier design allow linear output down to below 1 ohm impedance, giving it 158 December 2023 Q stereophile.com
Zu Audio’s New DWX STEREOPHILE ADVERTISER INDEX Accuphase Acoustic Signature Alta Audio Antal Audio Antipodes Audio Aqua Acoustic Quality Audio Advice Audio Element Audio Ultra AudioQuest Audiovector AV Luxury Group International Avantgarde Axiss Audio BEK Hifi Bel Canto Burmester Cabasse The Cable Company CH Precision Clarus Clearaudio Dali Speakers Dan D’Agostino David Lewis Audio dCS DS Audio stereophile.com Q 6 121 57 12, 13 134 35 70 92 135 61 27 126 96 6 161 116 150 98 24, 25 67 76 46 41 19 110 87 30 December 2023 Dynaudio EISA Electrocompaniet Elusive Disc Emotiva Estelon Audio Excel Audio Fezz Audio Fidelis Distribution Focal Naim America GoldenEar Graham Engineering Gryphon Hana Harbeth Harmonic Resolution Systems HCM Audio Infigo I-O Data Device JL Audio Joseph Audio KEF Kimber Kable Kirmuss Audio KLH Audio Kuzma Legacy Audio LINKWITZ LKV Research Lumin 146 154 12 144 106 72 128 38 51 152 21 53 132 58 51 10 127 76 114 8, 9 52 45 108 160 74 161 102 115 56 89 Luxman 90 Magico 2 MBL 151 Metaxas & Sins 80 MOFI Electronics Back Cover Monitor Audio 43 Morrow Audio 63 MSB 80 Music Direct 32, 33, 51, 148 NAD 29 Nexus Audio Technologies, LLC 57, 69, 76 Now Listen Here 60 Ortofon 64, 153 Pass Laboratories 136 PerListen 124 PrimaLuna 65, 138 Primare 57 PSB 29 Raidho Acoustics 126 Rogue Audio 63 Scott Walker Audio 142, 161 Sierra Sound 68 Siltech 163 SME Limited 22 SOtM 93 The Sound Organisation 54 Source Systems Ltd 89, 114 SourcePoint Back Cover Spin Clean 48, 49 Stenheim 69 Stromtank SVS Tannoy Technics Tekton Triangle Ultra Systems Upscale Audio Used Cable VAC Vandersteen Audio Vitus Audio VooDoo VPI Weiss Engineering Wilson Audio Wireworld Wynn Audio YG Acoustics Zu Audio 37 82 140 17 104 13 160 36 161 84 100 123 112, 160 94 78 4 130 14 118 159 The Ad Index is provided as a courtesy. The publisher is not liable for incorrect information or excluded listings. Advertisers should contact their sales representative to correct or update a listing. 159
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MY BACK PAGES GOOD AND BAD, I DEFINE THESE TERMS QUITE CLEAR...—BOB DYLAN BY MIKE METTLER THIS ISSUE: The great blues singer RQKHUHDUO\PXVLFDOLQࢊXHQFHV Joan Osborne’s Musical Talisman Some of my old gear is boxed up in an offsite storage space, but almost all of my old LPs are within reach. I can reconnect with them and how they make me feel in a flash, with the drop of a needle. I’m not alone. One kindred spirit is soulful singer/songwriter Joan Osborne. Her talisman LP is 1965’s The Sound of Music: An Original Soundtrack Recording (RCA Victor). The gear she played it on incessantly growing up was an of-the-era all-in-one console her parents had in their Kentucky home. “Yeah, we had one of those big console stereos,” Osborne recalled in an interview, “and ours was set against a wall. It was very close to my dad’s little wet bar he had set up in that fabulous 1960s way. The console stereo had a giant speaker that was closest to the wet bar. If I sat next to the speaker with my back against the wall, and I opened one of the lower cabinet doors of his wet bar, I could make a little box that I would sit inside. In there, I could listen to the Sound of Music record over and over and over again, and I’d sing along with it. I thought I was invisible in that little box I made for myself. I thought nobody could hear me, either.” Not content to only sing those well-loved Sound of Music leads, Osborne took on other vocal roles each time the record cued up. “I would pick a different character to be every time, and I would sing the part of that character’s harmony as I listened to it,” she said. “When the album was done—both sides—I would flip it over back to the A side, and I’d pick another character to be. Most of the time, I was Julie Andrews, but other times I would be other characters 162 too. Sometimes, I would be Kurt.”1 It’s fun to think about how lush-harmony songs like “Do-Re-Mi” and “Edelweiss” sounded in the voice of a very young Joan Osborne. That experience has long been incorpo- rated into Osborne’s musical DNA. That’s apparent in both her vocal delivery and her repertoire choices over the course of her 30-years-plus recording career. If you think in these terms, you may detect traces of Charmian Carr2 in Osborne’s Top 10 hit single “One of Us,” from Relish, her 1995 major-label debut (Blue Gorilla/Mercury P2-26699), or discover Julie Andrews’s storytelling channeled into several of the 13 covers on 2017’s Songs of Bob Dylan (Womanly Hips WHRV001). Viewed through that lens, Osborne’s acoustic-driven reads of “Masters of War” and “High Water (for Charley Patton)” display extra cross-decade gravitas. Osborne’s early, makeshift isolation booth served as a blueprint of sorts for the approach she took with her most recent album, Nobody Owns You (Womanly Hips, WYHP 2), her eleventh, released in September. This excellent, poignant voiceand-acoustic-guitar–driven album plays as a paean to lost time, lost life, and lost memory. Upon aging out of her Sound of Music–cabinet period, Osborne took the next big step. “When I used to babysit, the first big purchase I made with my babysitting money was a Radio Shack Realistic turntable,” she recalls.3 “But I didn’t have any records to play on it, so I bought the Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), and I bought a Cher record. It was the one with the cover where she had on an amazing outfit—a crazy bikini and a giant headdress with antlers coming out of it.4 My older brother had started borrowing some records from a friend of his, so I listened to Sly and the Family Stone, Elton John’s Greatest Hits, the Beatles’ White Album, and John Lennon’s Shaved Fish. You know, for a kid who was 13 years old in Kentucky, that music was pretty mind-blowing.” Years later, The Sound of Music enabled Osborne to bridge a generation gap. “When my daughter was little, we used to watch [the movie] together a lot,” she said. “Back in the spring, we both got COVID, and while we were sitting around on the couch, we were like, ‘Let’s watch The Sound of Music again!’—so we did.” Osborne would love to pay that mother/ daughter bonding experience forward in a Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of way. “What I’d like to do sometime is go to one of those singalong screenings where everybody knows all the music, and we all get to sing The Sound of Music together,” she says. “It would be a lot of fun.” That would be a surefire way to keep that sound we know so well in our heads—to ensure that our talisman music continues to come alive for us whenever we need it to. Q 1 Julie Andrews played Maria in the film and sang that character on the soundtrack album. Duane Chase played and sang as Kurt von Trapp. 2 Charmian Carr played and sang as Liesl von Trapp. 3 These days, Osborne does her vinyl listening with a vintage Sony turntable. 4 1979’s Take Me Home on Casablanca Records. December 2023 Q stereophile.com PHOTO BY LAURE CROSTA W e all have at least one cherished album that takes us back to the exact time and place we first heard it. Whenever we hear any of the music from that special album—regardless of whether it occurs months, years, or even decades later, of whether we hear it in the grocery store, on a car radio, or on a friend’s playlist—we instantly reconnect with the feelings the music originally evoked within us. We audiophiles may even get nostalgic about the format we first spun that album on and the equipment we played it through most often. And then we might wonder, “Do I still have that LP in my collection?,” followed by, “Isn’t that old Technics SL-1200 turntable somewhere in the attic?”
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