Indholdsfortegnelse for July - August 2020 i Australian HiFi

As with most soundbars, Dali’s new Katch One can be wall-mounted. Except that the Katch One comes with a pair of leather straps that are clearly visible, a design approach Dali says: “completes the unique look of the soundbar, leaving the room with a Nordic, uncluttered style.” If you’d prefer, the Katch one can also simply be placed on a flat surface in front of your TV, using the supplied feet. The Katch One has a total of 10 drivers hidden in its glass fibre-reinforced ABS cabinet, which are driven by four Class-D amplifiers each rated with a power output of 50-watts. The driver complement comprises four 90mm aluminium mid/bass drivers, four 115mm passive radiators and a pair of 21mm soft-dome tweeters. “Danish audio brand Dali has packed serious design…

Clarus Cables are now distributed in Australia by Global AV Sales Australia. “With more than 30 years of experience in the AV industry I know a good product when I hear one, and Clarus Cable is exceptional,” said Dave Williams, CEO of Global AV Sales Australia, “and with Clarus having just released new Mk2 versions of two of its ranges, the timing could not have been better.” Williams is no stranger to the brand, because although his company has not previously distributed Clarus in Australia, another of his companies has been representing Clarus Cables internationally for more than five years. Williams says that a defining feature of Clarus Cables is their multi-gauge design which uses three differently-shaped insulated PCOCC conductors, together with connectors made with high conductivity Tellurium copper and…

English Electric has released its first-ever product, an eight-port Gb Ethernet switch it calls the 8Switch. It’s not strictly this company’s first product, because the original English Electric company was created after WW1 and built a wide range of products including electric motors and transformers, railway locomotives and traction equipment, diesel motors and steam turbines before it diversified to build consumer electronics, nuclear reactors, guided missiles, military aircraft and mainframe computers. Two of its most famous aircraft were the Canberra and the Lightning. Eventually the English Electric name fell into disuse, but it has now been registered as a brand name by Chord Company. The English Electric 8Switch is designed to deliver high-quality sound from music streamed over a network, for which purpose its aluminium housing is home to eight…

Forty years ago Leak was one of the most famous names in hi-fi. It even had a full manufacturing facility here in Australia. Founded in 1934 by Harold Leak it was sold to the Rank Organisation in 1969, which subsequently ceased using the brand name. Leak is now back, as a brand of IAG (which also owns Quad, Wharfedale, Mission, Audiolab and Castle Acoustics), and its first ‘new’ product under IAG ownership is the Leak Stereo 130, which looks uncannily similar to the Leak Stereo 30 released in 1963, which claimed to be the world’s first commercially available all-transistor amplifier. Of course the similarities cease at the exterior… the internals are all cutting-edge 21st century technology, and those retro bass and treble tone controls can be bypassed at the press…

Famous Norwegian manufacturer Electrocompaniet has released two new fully-balanced integrated amplifiers, the ECI 6 MkII and the ECI 6 DX MkII. The two models are identical except that the DX version includes a streamer module that adds WiFi connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet, a USB-A connection for external storage plus USB-B, and permits control of all via iOS or Android devices. Both new models have four analogue inputs, one of which is balanced. The others are all line-level unbalanced inputs. “The new ECI 6 MkII is based on Electrocompaniet’s very successful ECI 5 MkII,” said Philippe Luder, of Audio Dynamics, which distributes Electrocompaniet in Australia. “It has an even-better power supply and the output stage runs with only moderate amounts of negative feedback, delivering a sound that’s carefully balanced between good bass…

Around a decade back, the headphone market exploded. Driven by the youth-orientation of then-Monster’s Dr Dreslash-Beats headphones and boosted by Bluetooth freedom, the size of the market mushroomed. Dozens of new brands were introduced to grab their share, and every hi-fi brand on the planet rushed to create its own headphones. In this category you might imagine that established loudspeaker brands would have an advantage—headphones are, after all, merely loudspeakers writ small and stuck on your noggin. Yet DALI never did so. Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries, which had been founded in 1983 by Peter Lyngdorf (originally as Danish American Loudspeaker Industries), watched from the sidelines, seemingly unwilling to jump on the bandwagon. So when DALI’s first-ever headphones had their premier public outing at IFA 2019 in Berlin, DALI’s booth in…

I am writing this introduction still in considerable ignorance about how to fully use the Aurender ACS10. I do know that it is a very capacious music server and that it also has some online music streaming abilities, but my full exploration of those capabilities is on hold because I am watching the Windows 10 copy dialogue on this very computer telling me that there’s three and a half hours to go before the copying is complete. What I am copying? Close to a terabyte of music. I’m copying that music—rather, those music files—from my NAS to the Aurender ACS10. So tomorrow I shall start listening… or maybe the day after that, because Windows is now telling me that the transfer will take ‘more than a day’. THE EQUIPMENT So,…

Newport Test Labs measured the power output of the McIntosh MA252 as being 130-watts (21.1dBW) per channel at 1kHz, both channels driven into 8Ω, which is clearly much better than McIntosh’s specification of 100-watts per channel. A good 1.1dB better, in fact. Measured power output into the same load, but with a low-frequency test signal (20Hz) dropped by 0.7dB to 121-watts/20.8dBW. Again, an excellent result that was better than specification. Measured into more demanding 4Ω loads, again with both channels driven, Newport Test Labs measured an output of 209-watts (23.2dBW) at 1kHz, with output again reducing very slightly at low frequencies, this time to 182-watts (22.6dBW) per channel at 20Hz. However, once again both these test results are higher than McIntosh’s own specification for a 4Ω load impedance, which is…

Given the unusual digital-to-analogue processing used in the APL Hi-Fi DSDAR, I was expecting some unusual results back from Newport Test Labs, and that’s certainly what I received. Graph 1 shows the APL Hi-Fi DSD-AR’s analogue output when it’s fed with a 1kHz sine wave at maximum level (0dB). Obviously there’s more distortion than I’d expect to see, but much of the distortion that’s there is not actually harmonically related to the 1kHz test signal. There’s a second harmonic at –95dB (0.0017%), and a third at –78dB (0.0125%), a fourth at –120dB (0.0001%) and a fifth at –102dB (0.0007%). All the other harmonically-related distortion components are more than 110dB down, each representing just 0.0003%. However, as you can see there are unrelated distortion products at 1.6kHz, 4.6kHz, 5.1kHz, 6.1kHz, 6.8kHz…

Auralic has updated its award-winning G2 and GX product ranges. The new models are the Aries G2.1 Streaming Transporter, Vega G2.1 Streaming DAC, Leo GX.1 Master Reference Clock and Sirius G2.1 Upsampling Processor. The biggest change involves the chassis. All new products have what Auralic calls a “Unity Chassis II” where there are two separate chassis, one inside the other, underneath which is a new heavy metal base. The external chassis is aluminium, the internal chassis is copper. “This design enhances EMI shielding, providing an audible improvement to performance,” says Gareth Weller of HiFi Collective, which distributes Auralic in Australia. “The substantial base adds overall mass to the product and further builds on the Auralic’s modest elegance and improves the sound of the product overall.” Another change is the addition…

Campfire Audio is a boutique earphone manufacturer established by Ken Ball of Audio Line Out and ALO Audio. As with ALO products, all Campfire Audio earphones are designed by Ball, and assembled by hand by a small team in Ball’s own workshop in Portland, Oregon. Ball’s newest pair of in-ears, called the ‘Ara’ is now available and is particularly unusual because although it uses seven balanced armature drivers—four for bass, one for the midrange, and two for the high frequencies, there is no crossover network. “We instead use an approach we first created with during our development of our custom-fit earphones,” says Ball, “where we shape each driver’s performance by articulating the acoustic properties of our solid-body internal chamber design.” The Ara’s two high-frequency drivers deliver their sound via a…

Lyngdorf Audio has added a new surround sound processor to its model line-up. The MP-40 has 12-channel decoding and 16 balanced outputs that fully support the immersive surround formats Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and Auro-3D. It also supports HDMI 2.0b with eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel) and Dynamic Lip-Sync. Video throughput of up to 18Gbps enables the MP-40 to support full 4K 60Hz video streams including Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. The MP-40 also supports pass-through of the new HDR format for broadcast, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma). “Featuring all the sonic qualities and performance of the flagship model, MP-60, the easy-to-install and user-friendly MP-40 processor is the perfect streamlined choice for the demanding home cinema enthusiast,” said Anker Haldan, Lyngdorf’s CCO. “It also ships complete with RoomPerfect so it can deliver…

Ichikawa Jewel Company, the Japanese manufacturer behind Jelco, which has been manufacturing phono cartridges, tonearms and turntable accessories for just on 100 years, has closed its doors. President and CEO of Ichikawa, Takako Ichikawa, attributed this to a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficulty of maintaining the company’s engineering tools. “The novel corona virus pandemic continues to have a significant impact on our production lines, and so I have decided to terminate our business effective immediately,” wrote Ichikawa. “For the past few years, the business has endured a decline in labour productivity due to health issues arising from our aging skilled engineers. Furthermore, due to our obsolete mechanical equipment, performing maintenance on them has become difficult. I would like to thank everyone for their warm support that was…

There’s a saying about electrostatic headphones. It’s that once you’ve owned a pair, you’ll never settle for anything less. And in the electrostatic world, Stax earspeakers surpass all other designs in both sound quality and build quality. There are reasons for this. Firstly, Stax refuses to compromise on quality. Indeed this refusal to compromise meant that at one time its products were simply so expensive that their sales could not support the cost of production, and rather than produce a lesser-quality product, the company ceased production (in 1995) until support came its way in the shape of an injection of capital from Chinese headphone manufacturer Edifier. Stax also refuses to compromise its identity. By this I mean that having been manufactured in Japan since 1928, the company continues to insist…

Does it pass the pub test? That’s such a uniquely Australian expression that only an Australian is likely to know what it means. So it’s really no surprise that it was this expression that guided the development and design of the Richter Merlin S6 because after 34 years in the loudspeaker business, Richter remains a uniquely Australian company. THE EQUIPMENT According to Richter’s managing director and owner, Brian Rodgers, he wanted the Merlin 6, which replaced not only the previous Merlin 5, but also assumes the place of the Merlin Mentor, to be more relevant to Australian consumers. “We needed to make sure that not only was it a great-sounding speaker, but that it was also a speaker that addressed the needs of Australians looking for a great-sounding speaker,” he…

Tom Waters: Do you have a first memory, a first unforgettable musical experience that left an impression? JF: Perhaps not a single unforgettable musical experience. My father took me to one of his friends’ home at an early age where, in particular, I was introduced to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 played on a high-end mono system. Wow! My father could design and build everything from Fisher World Wave radios, bass guitar amps and custom-built early TVs to ham radio transmitters and receivers. At one stage we had more than a dozen substantial radios throughout the house and workshops. We also had a huge collection of records, including classics such as Caravan, Flight of the Bumble Bee, and so on. It was all a huge influence on me. Sadly, my father died in…

The golden-eared souls who review hi-fi components are, as you’d imagine, rather protective of their hearing, so when I fired-up the newest arrival in my sound room, I wondered just who had it in for me. The APL Hi-Fi DSD-AR, you see, has a programmable volume control and, once it’s programmed, it defaults to that level until it’s changed manually. Someone had programmed my review sample to default to ‘maximum’, so that if I hadn’t been on my toes, I could potentially have blasted my loudspeakers to kingdom come. No doubt this was the work of the person who had reviewed the APL Hi-Fi DSD-AR prior to me receiving it, however I think the DSD-AR’s designer, Alex Peychev, should share at least some of the blame because I do think…

If you own an Arcam AVR10, AVR20, AVR30 or AV40 receiver, you can update it to Auro-3D surround sound via a firmware update that’s available right now. Auro-3D is an immersive—and fully backwards compatible—technology and format that creates a full, three-dimensional space around the listener primarily due to the addition of a ‘height’ layer. Although Auro-3D is increasingly becoming available on Blu-ray, it will work with ‘non-Auro’ content. “Whatever the resolution of the audio input, all these Arcam receivers will automatically up-mix the audio content to the AURO-3D format,” said Nigel Ng, of Advance Audio, which distributes Arcam in Australia. “So irrespective of the original signal—mono, stereo, or 5.7/7.1 surround—listeners will be able to enjoy the thrilling effect of sound in 3D.” Although users do require an Auro-3D configured speaker…

Queensland-based manufacturer/distributor Cogworks has announced that it will soon have available an innovative range of custom-designed home cinema seating. Initially there will be three models available, the Studio, Dorne and Cruise. One of the features the company thinks will make the Studio seat popular is its narrow footprint, which means you can have four Studio seats side by side with a total width of only three metres. “The home cinema seating market in Australia has been in need of something refreshing and new,” said Paul Clarke, of Cogworks. “Each of these three styles has been specifically designed to suit a different application, all are available in both straight and curved configurations and, unlike most home cinema seating that’s currently available in Australia, the finish is 100 per cent leather.” Clarke…

Italian manufacturer Gold Note has released an upgraded version of its long-running and well-reviewed Gold Note DS-10 Network Player/DAC/Headphone amplifier. The upgrade is certainly significant—a quieter and more powerful power supply—but the big news is that the PLUS has an analogue input. It’s only via a 3.5mm stereo jack on the rear panel rather than via RCA, but it’s an analogue input and means the DS-10 Plus can now truly be the front end in a high-end system with both digital and analogue sources. “This upgrade responds to specific feedback from the Gold Note community and gives the captivating Series 10 the perfect integration between the PH-10, DS-10 and PA-10,” said Boris Granovsky, of Absolute Hi End, which distributes Gold Note in Australia. “The DS-10 Plus can now sit proudly…

Line Magnetic Australia, which imports and distributes Line Magnetic valve power amplifiers in Australia, has announced that it is now also the sole Australian distributor for Elrog valves, which are made in Germany by Deutsche Elektronenrohren Manufaktur GmbH. “These bespoke, handcrafted vacuum tubes are regarded as among the best—if not the best—in the world of production valves today”, said Campbell Nunn, CEO of Line Magnetic Australia. “We think that the Elrog products will complement any suitable tube amplifier to provide an outstanding upgrade, including all the amplifiers in the Line Magnetic range.” Elrog valves were originally made by Elrog Elektronenrohren GmbH & Co KG, but when the company registered for insolvency in 2016, its intellectual and other assets, including production machinery, were acquired by Deutsche Elektronenrohren Manufaktur GmbH (DEM), a…

Every time I see an Audio Technica turntable, I am reminded of disgraced West Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond. Well, not totally disgraced: He did, after all, on behalf of all Australians, manage to wrest the America’s Cup away from the USA in 1983, after they’d held it for 32 years! More precisely, Audio Technica turntables remind me of Australian millionaire Kerry Packer’s quip about Alan Bond, which was “You only get one Allan Bond moment in your lifetime, and I’ve had mine.” This is because Packer was the beneficiary of a stunning business deal whereby, after selling the Channel 9 television network to Bond for $1.05 billion, Packer bought it back three years later for just $250 million. Why I am reminded of this quip is because it’s very likely…

The McIntosh MA252 integrated amplifier is the first hybrid integrated amplifier this world-famous American company has ever built. The import of that statement needs to be viewed in the context that McIntosh has been building amplifiers for more than sixty years. So the McIntosh MA252 has been sixty plus years coming… and boy was it worth the wait. But wait! What is a hybrid integrated amplifier? Basically it’s an audio amplifier where one of the two amplifying stages uses valves—or ‘tubes’ as our US friends like to call them—to amplify the audio signal, while the other amplifier stage uses transistors. Because any integrated amplifier has two amplifying stages—usually called ‘pre’ and ‘power’ stages—this means there are two ways to build a hybrid audio amplifier. One way is to use valves…

Newport Test Labs’s testing proved that the accuracy of the AT-LP120XUSB turntable’s platter rotation was exact. A 33.33 rpm test LP with a 3kHz test tone recorded on it was replayed at exactly 3kHz. The speed stability through a full revolution of the platter was equally perfect, as you can see from the histogram (Graph 2) accompanying this review. Rotational stability, as measured by Newport Test Labs, and as graphed in Graph 3, was also excellent. This test measures the speed for a full 30 seconds. The raw variations are shown by the khaki coloured trace. The mean speed over the period is indicated by the dashed blue line. The overall wow and flutter, measured according to the IEC 386 standard is shown for a dynamic measurement (purple trace) and…