Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Stereophile

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Choosing the microphone is the first step away from the absolute sound. A recording engineer’s choices of microphones to record singers, guitars, horns, bass, drums—or an entire orchestra—are absolutely crucial. Those very subjective choices are, in large part, what separate the best recordings from the also-rans. When I contacted some of the best engineers in the business to talk about mikes, I got an earful. I was told that mikes have a more profound impact on reproduced sound than does any other link in the recording chain. Yes, the acoustic of the recording venue also plays a huge role, and post-session mixing and mastering can of course improve or ruin the sound—but the choice of mikes is absolutely crucial.…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ❚ Sunday, August 21, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at The Audio Salon, in Santa Monica (2525 Michigan Avenue, Gallery F1). Maier Shadi will demonstrate top-of-the-line equipment in a space custom-designed to maximize your musical (and visual) enjoyment. Peter McGrath ofWilson Audio Specialties will discuss the full range ofWilson speakers, from the Sabrina to the all-new Alexx. Nagra’s recently…

A ROUNDED MAN CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO FIT INTO A SQUARE HOLE THIS ISSUE: JL Audio’s E-Sub e110 powered subwoofer Below the Schroeder frequency, the room’s influence is dominated by discrete modes. In January, I reviewed JL Audio’s Fathom f113v2 subwoofer,1 which features, among other improvements over the original Fathom f113, a better multiband equalizer. The significance of this relates to the great influence exerted by room dimensions and acoustics on a loudspeaker’s performance. The matter of room acoustics itself relates to the Schroeder frequency: a transition point, usually between 200 and 300Hz, above which a room will exhibit a high density of reflections that are analyzed statistically, and below which that room will display a limited number of discrete modal reflections. (Thus, it should not to be confused with…

Stereophile and Music Hall Audio share a long mutual history. Like most relationships, it’s had its ups and downs; unlike most relationships, this one is well documented—in retired writer Sam Tellig’s muchloved “Audio Cheapskate” and “Sam’s Space” columns, and Music Hall Audio proprietor Roy Hall’s responses in “Manufacturers’ Comments.” I always found Sam and Roy’s gentlemanly brawling to be good, clean, if occasionally uncomfortable fun—like the touchy rapport between a gregarious dog and a rascally cat forced to live under the same roof: A truce may have been called, but don’t expect them to make nice. One of Sam’s classic comments, from a review of a Music Hall turntable: “Roy Hall has his famous Music Hall MMF (Make Money Fast) turntables made for him in the Czech Republic.”1 More Sam,…

Thiel Audio’s CS3.7 loudspeaker was launched, to much fanfare, in 2006. Like most of Jim Thiel’s designs, the CS3.7 received universal praise, but it was Jim’s swan song. No one could predict that he would pass away in 2009, undoubtedly leaving on his desk many future designs. But more was in the cards for—and from—Thiel Audio. The company was sold in 2012 to a private equity company based in Nashville; soon thereafter Thiel Audio moved to that city from Lexington, Kentucky, where Jim had co-founded it in 1977. Thiel’s longtime president, Kathy Gornik, left, and for a while the company’s directors came and went as if through a revolving door.1 It appears that things have at last begun to settle down in Nashville. True, all of Jim Thiel’s designs have…

EDITOR’S PICK RECORDING OF THE MONTH VAN MORRISON . . It’s Too Late to Stop Now . . . Volumes II, III, IV & DVD Exile/Columbia/Legacy 88875134742 (2 LPs, 3 CDs, 1 DVD). 2016. Van Morrison, Ted Templeton, orig. prods.; Donn Landee, orig. eng.; Myles Wiener, Biff Dawes, Jack Crymes, Gabby Garcia, asst. engs.; Guy Massey, new remix; Andrew Sandoval, compilation prod.; Vic Anesini, remastering. ADA/ADD? TT: 3:33:58 In the otherwise silly 2002 film The Banger Sisters, one line has always stood out. When the children of a groupie turned suburban Phoenix housewife (Susan Sarandon) question Suzette (Goldie Hawn), who’s still living the groupie lifestyle, about their mom’s hidden past and how she knows about the Doors, there’s this exchange: Daughter: “How would she know about Van Morrison . .…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Richard Gerberg Editor: As a former ProAc dealer for over 20 years, I was disappointed to see no mention in your magazine of the passing of Richard Gerberg, on March 1, 2016. Richard was the US importer for ProAc loudspeakers for 30 years. In the 1990s, before I retired from Audio Excellence, in Liverpool, New York, I spent a lot of time at the Consumer Electronics Show helping Richard set up his demo room. Richard and I talked many times over the years,…

BRAHMS: SERENADE 1, VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY HAYDN Jan Willem de Vriend, Hague Philharmonic Orchestra Challenge Classics CC72692 (SACD/CD, DSD64 download from www.nativedsd.com). 2016. Brahms’s Serenades for orchestra are, to me, analogous to Tchaikovsky’s Suites for orchestra: both were freer expressions of the talents that their composers applied to their symphonies, and in some ways are more revealing of their personal characters. Brahms’s first Serenade is as important to me as are his more frequently performed Haydn Variations, and it’s wonderful to have both so ably performed and so spectacularly recorded as here. I was completely taken by Jan Willem de Vriend’s ardent reading of the Serenade’s opening phrases, which continue in an engaging sweep through the entire work; the result ranks with Stokowski’s classic treatment. While de Vriend’s…

Analog Sources Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi tonearm; Goldring Elite MC, Denon DL-103, Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridges. Digital Sources Apple MacBook computer, Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DAC, Western Digital T2 Mirror Drive (2). Preamplification Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier. Power Amplifier Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion. Integrated Amplifier Unison Research Unico Primo. Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Elac B6, Snell Type J/II. Cables Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Audio-Quest Castle Rock, Auditorium 23. Accessories Music Hall Aztec Blue & Mooo record mats; Spec AD-UP1 Analog Disc Sheet; Mapleshade Clearview Double Helix Mk.II power strip; Salamander five-tier rack; IKEA Aptitlig bamboo chopping boards (under turntable, preamp, power amp), Mapleshade DIY Maple Platform, 1⁄2" H by 2" W by 2" D mahogany blocks, 3" studio-treatment foam damping…

Logistical issues meant that I measured a different sample of the Audio Alchemy DPA-1M (serial no. 10016050098) from those auditioned by Robert Deutsch. I performed a full set of measurements, using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-mapsprecision). As the DPA-1M has a class-D output stage, for almost all measurements I used, ahead of the analyzer, an Audio Precision AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter, which eliminates noise above 200kHz that would otherwise contaminate the measurements; for the 1kHz output power tests, I also used a 20kHz brickwall low-pass filter. The DPA-1M’s voltage gain into 8 ohms measured 24.55dB from both its balanced and unbalanced inputs when set to Low gain, and 30.3dB when set to High gain. Both inputs preserved absolute polarity (ie, were…

Imeasured the AudioQuest DragonFly Red and Black with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). I performed a full set of tests on both converters with WAV and AIFF testtone files sourced from an iPad 2 with a 30-pin-to-USB “camera connection kit” adapter. I then repeated some of the testing, playing the same files with Pure Music 3.0 on my MacBook Pro running on battery power, and on my iPhone 6 using a Lightning-to-USB adapter. AudioQuest’s Stephen Mejias warned me that the DragonFlys’ rejection of jitter would be optimized after they’d been powered up for 24 hours, so before I did any testing, I left both plugged into USB ports on one of the PCs in my lab for 36 hours. Apple’s USB…

I measured the Simaudio Moon Neo 230HAD with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). As well as the Audio Precision’s analog and digital outputs, I used WAV and AIFF test-tone files sourced via USB from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0. Apple’s USB Prober utility identified the Neo 230HAD as “MOON USB DSD HD Audio” from “Simaudio Ltd.,” and its serial number as “413-001.” The Neo 230HAD’s USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode, and Apple’s AudioMIDI utility revealed that it accepted 32-bit integer data via USB sampled at all rates from 32 to 384kHz. Looking first at the behavior of the Neo 230HAD’s analog inputs and outputs, the maximum gain at 1kHz was 11.9dB…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Thiel TT1’s frequency response in the farfield; and, for the nearfield frequency responses, an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a 1⁄4” capsule and thus doesn’t present a significant obstacle to the sound. My estimate of the Thiel’s voltage sensitivity was 88dB(B)/2.83V/m, confirming the specified figure. The speaker’s electrical impedance magnitude and phase are shown in fig.1. Like earlier Thiel models, the TT1 is a fairly demanding load for the partnering amplifier to drive, with minimum impedance magnitudes of 3.2 ohms at 140Hz and 3.1 ohms at 1.4kHz (solid trace). These values are a little lower than the specified minimum of 3.7 ohms, though the electrical phase angle (dashed trace) remains low over much of the audioband.…

FIELD Complete Nocturnes Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano Decca 4789672 (CD). 2016. Dominick Fyfe, prod.; Philip Siney, eng. DDD. TT: 86:08 This CD barely needs a review. What Franz Liszt said of the 18 Nocturnes of John Field (1782–1837) will do: “No one has revived . . . these half-sighs of the breezes, plaintive wailings, ecstatic moanings.” But I have an addendum: These Nocturnes adhere to no specific form, but are, rather, short, exquisitely melodic meditations on, mostly, sadness. They’re not lugubrious—Field was too interested in beauty for that— but neither are they as florid, filled with angst, or harmonically complex as Chopin’s. This is not a criticism—as you’ll realize when you hear this disc, which I recommend that you do. If Field’s Nocturnes have a format, one might say that…

GUILLERMO KLEIN Los Guachos V Guillermo Klein, piano; Chris Cheek, Bill McHenry, Miguel Zenón, saxophones; Taylor Haskins, Diego Urcola, trumpet; Richard Nant, trumpet, percussion; Sandro Tomasi, trombone; Ben Monder, guitar; Fernando Huergo, electric bass; Jeff Ballard, drums Sunnyside SSC 1414 (CD). 2016. Guillermo Klein, prod.; Katsuhiko Naito, eng. DDD. TT: 54:31 While singing—much of it his own—has played a significant role in Argentine composer Guillermo Klein’s recent output, Los Guachos V is exclusively instrumental. The focus falls entirely on the gathered skill and power of Klein’s influential 11-piece ensemble, packed with longtime colleagues from New York and Boston who are uniquely versed in his complex rhythmic and harmonic ways. The three-part “Suite Indiana” leads off: the first two, short sections, “Back Home Again” and “Donna Lee,” reveal the suite’s inspiration…

THERE’S ONLY TWO KINDS OF MUSIC: THE BLUES AND ZIPPETY DOO-DAH. —TOWNES VAN ZANDT “When there are fewer generations of peeling off stampers, ticks, pops, and anomalies are lessened. On a quality-control level, I wish we could do everything like this. They’re just sweeter records. I don’t know how else to put it.” —JOHN WOOD Many years ago, when LP presses were humming away and the Compact Disc—not to mention Pro Tools, Kanye West, and streaming—were but glints in the future’s eye, a novel theory arose: What if the lacquer, which is the first step in pressing an LP (see below), were itself silverized and used as a stamper? This would cut out several intermediate steps between the final LPs and the source material, and thus, in theory, improve the…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the October 2016 issue is August 20, 2016. US: HOLLYWOOD Michael Fremer At the Digital Entertainment Group’s Hi-Res Symposium, presented June 1 in Capitol Records’ legendary Studio A, in Hollywood, the future of highresolution digital audio was discussed by representatives of Universal Music Group (which owns Capitol), Sony Electronics, Capitol Studios, and the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing. The DEG’s senior director, Marc Finer, opened the proceedings with a short welcome and an outline of the morning’s agenda. The president of Blue Note Records, Don Was, then gave a short, heartfelt speech, “The Importance of…

While preparing this review, I felt that the sound of the Music Hall-Goldring combination, while meticulous and superbly illuminated, could be improved, especially in the all-important (for me) area of weight. My Kuzma player is as powerful as George Patton, a mighty warrior of solid-rocket– ready, testosterone-fueled muscle. Surely there was a way to amp up the Music Hall to more closely resemble “Old Blood and Guts” rather than Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers), from Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. . . ? I removed the IKEA Aptitlig bamboo board from beneath the Making Merry Fast-7.3, and replaced it with a Maple Platform: a 2”-thick board of solid, “ready-to-befinished” maple ($75) from those purveyors of tips and tweaks, Mapleshade Records.1 Again, the difference was instantaneous. The Maple Platform removed the…

Analog Source Acoustic Signature WOW XXL turntable & TA-1000 tonearm, Soundsmith MIMC cartridge. Digital Source PS Audio PerfectWave Memory CD player & DirectStream DAC. Preamplifier Convergent Audio Technology SL-1 Renaissance Black Path Edition. Power Amplifiers Theta Digital Prometheus monoblocks. Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Sabrina. Cables Interconnect, Speaker, AC: Nordost Valhalla 2 Reference. Accessories PS Audio PerfectWave PowerPlant 5 power conditioner, Synergistic Research PHT Phono Transducer, Nordost QB8 power distributor & Sort Kone TC footers, Furutech RD-2 CD demagnetizer, Arcici Suspense Rack, Audiodesksysteme Gläss Vinyl Cleaner.…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Abis SA1.2, EMT 997 tonearms; EMT OFD 15 & TSD 15, Shindo Laboratory SPU cartridges. Digital Sources Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus 1.5.12; Apple iPhone 6 Plus smartphone; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player. Preamplification Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Laboratory Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Laboratory Corton-Charlemagne (monoblocks) & Haut-Brion (stereo). Loudspeakers Altec Valencia, Auditorium 23 Hommage Cinema, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96. Headphones AudioQuest Nighthawk, Master & Dynamic ME05. Cables USB: Wireworld Revelation 2.0. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Luna Red, Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Luna Orange on Shindo Masseto and Haut-Brion, JPS Labs The Digital AC on Sony SCD-777ES, manufacturers’ stock cords on all else. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source…

Analog Sources Technics SL-1200GAE and Roksan Radius 7 turntables, Hana EL MC and Roksan Corus Silver MM cartridges. Digital Sources Apple Mac mini computer (Intel Core i5) running OS X El Capitan; Halide DAC HD, Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DACs; Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-A player. Preamplification Lounge Audio Copla MC step-up amplifier; Lounge Audio LCR Mk.III, Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono preamplifiers; PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, Rogue Audio RP1, Simaudio Moon Neo 350P preamplifiers. Power Amplifier First Watt J2. Integrated Amplifiers Line Magnetic LM-518 IA, Schiit Audio Ragnarok. Headphones AKG K812, Audeze LCD-X, AudioQuest NightHawk, Audio-Technica ATH M50x, Focal Utopia Reference, Grado HP1 & SR120, JH Audio Roxanne. Headphone Amplifiers Audeze Deckard, Linear Tube Audio microZOTL, Pass Labs HPA-1, Schiit Audio Asgard, Woo Audio WA5. Loudspeakers DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a,…

Although I took all of these in-room measurements after I’d written the rest of this review, they shouldn’t be compared to the in-room responses measured by John Atkinson that accompany almost all reviews published in Stereophile. This is not only because they were taken in a room very different from his, but also because John uses a superior microphone and bases his averaged results on more data points. My measurements were made with OmniMic v2 from Parts Express, and while that system employs a calibrated mike, I suspect that, on the basis of price alone, it’s less accurate than JA’s. This time, I took five readings in and around the main listening position, then averaged them. Above 200Hz, the response of the pair of Thiel TT1s is respectably smooth (fig.9).…

Digital Sources Mac mini (i7, 8GB RAM) running OSX El Capitan, Pure Music 3.06, Audirvana 1.5. Headphone Amplifiers Ayre Acoustics Codex, Simaudio Moon Neo 230HAD. Preamplifier None. Power Amplifiers Pass Labs XA60.5 monoblocks. Headphones Audeze LCD-X, Audio-Quest NightHawk. Loudspeakers PSB Imagine T3, Crystal Cable Arabesque Minissimo Diamond Edition. Cables USB: AudioQuest Coffee. Interconnect: AudioQuest Fire (unbalanced) & Wild Blue (balanced). Headphone: Cardas Clear (balanced), manufacturers’ own (unbalanced). Speaker: AudioQuest K2. AC: Kubala-Sosna Elation!, manufacturers’ own. Accessories Target TT-5 equipment racks; Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks; ASC Tube Traps, RPG Abffusor panels; Shunyata Research Dark Field cable elevators; Audio Power Industries 116 Mk.II & PE-1 AC line conditioners (hard drive, computers). AC power comes from two dedicated 20A circuits, each just 6' from breaker box.…

THE PEDRITO MARTINEZ GROUP Habana Dreams Motéma MTA-CD-195 (CD). 2016. Pedrito Martinez, prod.; Willy Torres, prod., eng.; Roberto Hernandez Infante, Alejandro Pulido Vilaseca, Juan Wust, engs. DDD? TT: 46:50 Thanks to the Obama administration’s rapprochement with the Castro regime, Cuban musicians who have defected to the US may now return for recording sessions. Pedrito Martinez, a superb percussionist and singer who left the island in 1998, has done just that, cutting his latest album mostly at Havana’s legendary Egrem studios. Bristling with percussive energy, it takes a sort of kitchen-sink approach, combining post-Fidel timba rhythms with Afro-Cuban traditions and jazzfusion touches. Martinez’s last album included cameos by several American musicians, of whom only Wynton Marsalis reappears on Habana Dreams, along with Cuban and other guest artists. Marsalis’s trumpet sparkles in…