Indholdsfortegnelse for Jul-12 i Stereophile

A few years ago, while on vacation in Puerto Rico, I found myself sitting at a nearly empty beach bar, discussing music with Cassie Ramone, singer and guitarist for one of my favorite bands, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls. When the conversation turned to the topic of so-called “lo-fi” bands, Cassie’s tone became critical, almost bitter: “No one wants to make ‘lo-fi’ records,” she said. Cassie was exaggerating—there are bands that, for artistic, philosophical, or other reasons, enthusiastically embrace the raw, hazy “lo-fi” sound—but her point was nevertheless interesting and, to me, exciting: Vivian Girls was just one of many young, independent bands that wanted to make hi-fidelity recordings but lacked the means to do so. What if these talented musicians were somehow given the opportunity to realize their dreams? My mind…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. 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. ARIZONA Wednesday, June 27, 7pm: The Arizona Audio Video Club will hold a meeting at the Phoenix Airport Marriott (1101 N. 44th Street). Larry Owens of DEQX will demonstrate the DEQX HDP-4 processor. A raffle is planned and refreshments will be served. Guests, visitors, and new members are invited. Nonmembers should RSVP to wootsmusic@live.com. For more info, visit www.azavclub.org. CALIFORNIA May–June: Lavish Hi-Fi (402 Moore Lane, Healdsburg) will hold a…

In the early 1980s, not long after I moved to New York City, I went shopping for a new pair of speakers. I already had a Rega Planar 3 turntable, an NAD 1020 preamp, and an Amber Series 70 amplifier (the second-most-powerful amp I’ve ever owned); what I now had in mind was to replace my aging EPI 100s with something bigger. Like them though I did, the EPIs were too tight-and-light for my new apartment, and I was certain I could find something with more bass and better scale—and still stay within my less-than-lavish budget. I was right. One Saturday morning I walked from my apartment, near the Flatiron building, to Sound by Singer, then located on Lexington Avenue near 33rd Street, and rode home in a taxi with…

A FINE ART IT IS PERHAPS THE MOST CHERISHED TALE FROM HI-FI’S PRIMORDIAL PAST: IN 1951—WHEN MUSIC WAS FIRST BEING RECORDED ON MAGNETIC TAPE, WHEN THE USE OF MUCH-IMPROVED MICROPHONES BECAME A MIX OF SCIENCE AND ART, and when Stereophile’s founder, J. Gordon Holt, was still a little nipper, years away from his first martini (though I wouldn’t swear to that)—the team of Robert (Bob) and Wilma Cozart Fine began to build a legendary catalog of recordings of classical music. It eventually included the work of conductors Rafael Kubelik, Antal Doráti, and Frederick Fennell; the Chicago and Minneapolis symphony orchestras; the pianists Byron Janis and Gina Bachauer; and the cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and János Starker—all released with often wildly colorful covers under the still-evocative title of Mercury Living Presence. By…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Lansche 5.1’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. The Lansche is specified as having a voltage sensitivity of 91dB/2.83V/m; my estimate on the tweeter axis was 90.5dB(B), which is both within experimental error of the specification and usefully higher than average. Fig.1 shows the Lansche 5.1’s electrical impedance phase angle, following the modification to the crossover. The impedance is considerably higher in the region covered by the ionic tweeter. This will not be a problem with a typical solid-state amplifier, with its low source impedance, but it will bring up the level of the treble with tube amplifiers. At lower frequencies, however, the speaker…

Description Two-way, rear-ported, bookshelf loudspeaker. Drive-units: 25mm fabric-dome tweeter, 5.25" woofer with wood-fiber cone. Crossover frequency: 2.9kHz. Frequency response: 53Hz–26.5kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Sensitivity: 86.5dB. Recommended amplification: 25–100W. Dimensions 10.7" (274mm) H by 6.3" (162mm) W by 8.6" (220mm) D. Weight: 9.2 lbs (4.2kg). Finishes Black, White, Light Walnut (all vinyl). Serial number of units reviewed 3020369 L/R. Price $475/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 95. Manufacturer DALI A/S, Dali Allé 1, DK-9610 Nørager, Denmark. Tel: (45) 96-72-11-55. Fax: (45) 98-55-19-40. www.dali-speakers.com. US distributor: The Sound Organisation 159 Leslie Street Dallas, TX 75207. Tel: (972) 234-0182. Fax: (972) 234-0249. www.soundorg.com…

It’s always good to have a reference. No matter the endeavor, references help guide us and set standards for all we do. For many hours of every day, I’m lucky to enjoy the reference of live, unamplified music. Right now, I average over 20 hours a week of rehearsals and performances of various ensembles, and four to five hours of listening to recorded music on my hi-fi. Clearly, for me, my musical reference is not the sound of my audio system, but the sound of live music created in various venues and acoustics. And the more time I spend making real music, the less I’m impressed with home audio reproduction. No audio system I’ve heard has been able to create the sound of 120 voices singing Beethoven’s Symphony 9, or…

Analog Sources Clearaudio Concept turntable, tonearm, and moving-magnet cartridge; Clearaudio Ovation turntable, Clearaudio Talisman V2 cartridge. Digital Sources Benchmark DAC1 HDR, Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB Mk.II D/A converters; Bel Canto CD 2 CD player; Bel Canto VB-1 power supply; Sony Vaio laptop computer. Preamplification Clearaudio Nano & Basic+ phono stages. Power Amplifiers Rogue Audio M-180, Simaudio Moon Evolution 880M (both monoblocks). Loudspeakers Revel Performa F30, Mårten Django. Cables Digital: Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure, balanced & single-ended. Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal X. AC: Sain Line Systems Reference. Accessories Shunyata Research Hydra 8 Power conditioner, Ready Acoustics room treatments, ASC Tube Traps, butcher block audio table.…

I used Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the NAD M51 (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. Both the M51’s S/PDIF and USB inputs successfully locked to data with sample rates of up to 192kHz, including 88.2 and 176.4kHz. Although the TosLink format is specified to work only up to 96kHz, the M51’s TosLink input did lock to 192kHz data. The Mac’s USB Prober utility revealed the M51’s product ID to be “NAD USB Audio 2.0” and that the USB receiver was operating in isochronous asynchronous mode (which means that the DAC, not the computer, controls the D/A conversion timing). The volume control operated in…

Description Single-box, top-loading, tubed CD player. Tube complement: two 6H23N. Digital output: coax (RCA). (AES/EBU on XLR optional.) Analog output impedance: <2k ohms. Maximum output voltage: ca 3.0V RMS. Channel balance: <0.25dB. Power consumption: 48W. Dimensions 17.4" (446mm) W by 5.5" (142mm) H by 16.7" (428mm) D. Weight: 24.2 lbs (11kg). Finishes Silver (brushed aluminum), black (acrylic). Serial number of unit reviewed CD4-059. Price $12,000. Approximate number of dealers: 12. Manufacturer Audio Note UK, Ltd., 25 Montefiore Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 1RD, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1273-220-511. Fax: (44) (0)1273-731-498. www.audionote.co.uk. US distributor: as above.…

Meridian Digital Media System It’s been more than five years since the original Sooloos Music Server hit the market, and four since I reviewed it, in the September 2008 issue. The system became a favorite of mine, and was named Stereophile’s Product of the Year for 2008. A lot has changed since then: the hardware, the software, the price, the company’s ownership—even the product’s name. One question remains: Is it still the best overall music server on the market? What’s in a name? After only a few years in business, New York–based Sooloos was acquired, in late 2008, by UK audio company Meridian.1 Sooloos’s core executive and tech team remained in place, and the product’s name eventually morphed to Meridian Sooloos. Then, early this year, Meridian sent out a press…

Who really needs record labels in 2012 anyway? When musicians can make their own records on computers, market them through social media, and make most of their money through touring, why involve a label? How valuable today to working or aspiring musicians are functions like radio promotion, in-house publicists, and label owners, who have traditionally engaged in such nefarious practices as expropriating a portion of an artist’s publishing, or applying every dollar made from record sales against that old trapdoor known as recoupable expenses? Perhaps even more crucial, who in their right mind would want to own label at a time when they’re looking more and more like dinosaurs, as piracy has made a precarious business even more uncertain? Every year in Austin, Texas, on the first day of the…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR One woman’s view Editor: In response to the letter questioning a woman’s ability to listen to an album (April, pp.11–13), I would like to offer a female music devotee’s point of view. I understand the audiophile world is populated by a much larger number of men than women, and can only hope the gender balance will begin to shift in the way I have seen the music world transform over the last 30 years in which I have been involved. As the founder of Classic Album Sundays, I would like to enlighten Mr. Shelton with the fact that, on average, half of our CAS attendees are females and are able to sit down and listen to a whole album all the way through without speaking. They…

On the fifth floor of Rose Records, on Wabash Avenue, the greatest vinyl dump Chicago ever saw was under way. Thousands of cutout (discontinued) LPs at near-giveaway prices, as all the major record labels and some minor ones emptied their warehouses. This was June, 1984. One block away, at the Congress Hotel, on South Michigan Avenue, the summer Consumer Electronics Show was going on. The Compact Disc had been launched in the US the previous year. Sales of 331/3rpm vinyl had already tanked, thanks to the Compact Cassette. Convenience always trumps sound quality, as it did beginning in 1948, when 331/3 vinyl replaced the 78rpm shellac. Now it was the LP’s turn to take a shellacking. Sadly, Rose Records itself became a broken record. Manufacturers fell over themselves to exit…

It was unusually warm for early spring, without a cloud in the big, blue sky to tame the sun’s dazzling light—far too beautiful a day to be indoors, but Uncle Omar and I had already planned a little listening session, and I was determined to show him that high-end cables would make a difference in his system. I wasn’t necessarily feeling bullish about the task, though. It had taken me a couple of years to convince Omar that he should replace his old boom-box speakers with something better, and it was only dumb luck that finally made it happen: I was with him when he found a gently used pair of B&W DM602 speakers at a junk shop in Jersey City. When they were new, the DM602s sold for around…

LOUDSPEAKER The phenomenon of the “singing flame” has been known since the 19th century. Place electrodes either side of a flame and, if you apply a high enough audio-modulated voltage to those electrodes, the ionized particles in the flame will cause it to emit sound. (Search YouTube for “singing flame” and you’ll find many examples.) This principle was developed into a practical loudspeaker in 1946 by a French inventor, Siegfried Klein, who confined an RF-modulated arc to a small quartz tube, coupled it to a horn, and called the resulting speaker the Ionophone (see www.roger-russell.com/ionovac/ionovac.htm). An intense radio-frequency electrical field ionizes the air between inner and outer electrodes to produce a distinctive, violet-tinged yellow flame in the quartz combustion chamber. When the RF field is modulated by the audio signal,…

Digital Sources Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.83; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Logitech Transporter, Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A converters; Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converter; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter for vinyl rips. Preamplifiers Classé CP-800, Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP. Power Amplifiers Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference, MBL Reference 9007 (all monoblocks); Audio Research Reference 150. Loudspeakers BBC LS3/5a, Quad ESL-2805. Cables Digital: DH Labs Silver Sonic. AES/EBU: AudioQuest Coffee, Belkin Gold USB. FireWire: AudioQuest FireWire 400 (prototype). Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest Wild. Speaker: AudioQuest Wild. AC: XLO Reference 3, manufacturers’ own. Accessories Target TT-5 equipment racks; Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks, VPI bricks; ASC…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the DALI Zensor 1’s frequency response in the farfield; and an Earthworks QTC-40, with its small, 1/4" capsule, for the nearfield responses. (The small capsule doesn’t interfere with the airflow.) My estimate of the Zensor 1’s voltage sensitivity was 88dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both surprisingly high for such a small speaker and 1.5dB higher than specified. The plot of the DALI’s impedance magnitude and electrical phase (fig.1) suggests that the speaker is relatively easy to drive. The minimum impedance is 5 ohms, and though the phase angle is quite large around 100Hz, the impedance magnitude is also high, mitigating the adverse effect of the phase angle. There are small wrinkles in the impedance traces at just under…

Description Tubed stereo power amplifier. Tube complement: eight KT120 (matched pairs, output), four 6H30 (driver). Input: Balanced, pin 2+ (IEC-268). Output taps: 16, 8, 4 ohms. Power output: 150Wpc (21.75dBW) continuous, 20Hz–20kHz into matched load. Approximate actual power available at clipping: 160W. Power bandwidth: 5Hz–80kHz, –3dB. Frequency response: 0.5Hz–120kHz, –3dB at 1W. THD at 1kHz: typically 0.6% at 150W, <0.03% at 1W. Input sensitivity: 2.0V RMS for rated output, Voltage gain: 24dB into 8 ohms. Input impedance: 300k ohms, balanced. Output polarity: non-inverting. Output regulation: approx. 0.6dB 16 ohm load to open circuit (damping factor: approx. 14). Overall negative feedback: 14dB. Slew rate: 13V/ìs. Risetime: 2.0xs. Hum and noise: <0.1mV RMS, 114dB below rated output (IHF weighted, input shorted). Power-supply energy storage: approx. 1040 joules. Power requirements: 105.125VAC, 60Hz (210.250VAC,…

Who wants only a digital-to-analog converter when you can have a DAC with benefits? How about if those benefits also come with some high-resolution attitude? That’s what I pondered while setting up the NAD M51 ($2000). Sure, it’s a basic DAC, but it also has extras—like HDMI inputs, remote-controlled volume, a polarity switch, and one of my favorite features on any DAC: a display that tells you which sampling rate the thing is locked to. The honey badger of DACs? Then there’s that attitude: The NAD resamples everything you throw in its direction and converts it to a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) signal, the native format for DSD, at a sampling rate of 844kHz, all controlled by a clock running at 108MHz. It doesn’t care if you want this done or not—it…

Digital Sources Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD) running OS 10.6.7, iTunes 10.6, Sonic Studio Amarra 2.3, Songbird 1.9.3, XLD; Western Digital NAS Device (2TB); Oppo BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player; Meridian Digital Media System (Sooloos Control 15 & TwinStore x3); Apple iPad 2 and 3, Apple iPod Touch 1G; Benchmark DAC1 USB, Ayre Acoustics QB-9, T+A Music Player D/A converters. Preamplifier Marantz AV7005 (Pure Direct Mode). Power Amplifier Classé CAM 350 monoblocks (2). Loudspeakers MartinLogan Prodigy & Descent subwoofers (2). Cables USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect: Cardas Neutral Reference S/PDIF. Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal XL. Interconnects: Kimber Kable, XLO HT Pro. Digital: XLO S/PDIF. Accessories Dedicated power lines: power amplifiers (20A), digital & analog components (15A).…

SI used Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Audio Note CD-4.1x (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. The Audio Note player’s error correction was excellent, there being no audible glitches in its output with the Pierre Verany test CD until the gaps in the data spiral reached 2mm in length. The player muted its output when the gap reached 2.4mm. The CD-4.1x’s maximum output level at 1kHz was 2.45V, an audible 1.8dB higher than the CD standard’s 2V RMS. The output inverted polarity and was sourced from a moderate output impedance of 650 ohms at 1kHz and 622 ohms at 20kHz. The output impedance…

Rega Apollo-R Editor: Thanks to Sam Tellig for the review of the Apollo-R. The last true specialist to enter the CD market may indeed be the last one to leave. The Apollo-R really builds on what has gone before, and then some. We should caution you that, at the moment, demand has outstripped supply at Rega, so please be patient; your music will thank you. Steve Daniels The Sound Organisation, US distributor Graham Slee Reflex M Editor: Graham Slee and I thank Michael Fremer for taking the time to review the Reflex M moving-magnet phono preamplifier with honesty and skillful simplicity (June 2012). We also thank Stereophile for highlighting our products, and for the opportunity to comment. One of the hardest things to do is to follow up on a…

CYBERSPACE Stereophile Staff On May 15, we launched the third website to complement Stereophile magazine and www.stereophile.com: AnalogPlanet.com joins InnerFidelity.com (devoted to headphone and personal listening) and AudioStream.com (devoted to computer audio). Edited by Stereophile’s longtime analog maven, Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet will be the premier source for information and reviews of new analog products, including turntables, cartridges, and phono preamps, as well as accessories and setup tips. Michael’s more than 200 “Analog Corner” columns for Stereophile will eventually be posted to AnalogPlanet, as will select analog product reviews originally published in Stereophile; “Analog Corner” will continue to appear in Stereophile. Reviews and columns by Michael originally published in Stereophile may be enhanced with further material when they appear on AnalogPlanet. Visitors to Fremer’s popular MusicAngle.com website will be redirected to…

Will yet another $150,000 turntable fly in 2012? I’m speaking metaphorically, of course, but if any designer could make a turntable literally fly, it would be the Onedof’s designer, Aleks Bakman. Bakman’s credits include structural analyses of airplane wing assemblies and engine attachments, and parts of the airframe and landing gear for helicopters. He’s also worked for NASA, and participated in the design of the next generation of the Space Shuttle. (You can read more about his background on Onedof’s website, www.onedof.com/onedof-turntable-designer-aleksbakman. You’re guaranteed a laugh at the bottom of the page.) Bakman earned a master’s of science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Mechanical Engineering, where he studied fluid dynamics, robotics, turbodynamics, tribology, rheology, applied mathematics, finite-element analysis, electronics, advanced dynamics, material science, and vibration theory.…

In my review of Bryston Ltd.’s SP-3 preamplifier-processor ($9500) in my May 2012 column, I found that it sounded outstandingly open and dynamic when used as an analog stereo or multichannel preamp. This was evident regardless of the rest of the system, which began with a McIntosh Labs MC303 three-channel power amplifier driving B&W 800 Diamond speakers, but eventually included Bel Canto REF1000M and Anthem Statement M-1 amps, as well as Adam Audio’s Classic Column Mk.3 speakers. Didn’t matter. The Bryston’s transparency allowed each component to perform as well as I’d ever heard it. After that, I disconnected the SP-3 from my Manhattan system, tossed it (figuratively!) in the car, and took it out for a weekend in the country. Hooking up the SP-3 to my Connecticut system was easy,…

Description Three-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded dynamic loudspeaker. Drive-units: horn-loaded 0.3" (8mm) Corona plasma tweeter; 4" (155mm) polypropylene-cone midrange unit; two 8.7" coated, glass-fiber/fabric cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 200Hz, 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 32Hz–150kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3.2 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Maximum level: 112dB/m. Operating supply voltages: 110–120 or 220–240V AC. Dimensions 40.9" (1019mm) H by 10.1" (128mm) W by 19.3" (490mm) D. Weight: 167.5 lbs (76.1kg) net. Finishes Satin Veneers: Mappa Burl, Olive Tree, Indian Apple, American Black Walnut, Santos Rosewood. High Gloss, add $5000/pair. Piano Black, add $3000/pair. Macassar Ebony, price on enquiry. Serial Numbers of Units Reviewed None found. Price $41,000/pair–$46,000/pair, depending on finish. Approximate number of dealers: 6. Manufacturer Lansche Audio, Walhausestrasse 12, D-78465 Konstanz, Germany. www.lansche-audio.com. US distributor: Aaudio Imports, 4871 Raintree Drive, Parker, CO…

LOUDSPEAKER I thought I’d review the procedure I typically use to seek out affordable speakers for review as, in the case of the Denmark-designed Dali Zensor, made in the company’s facility in China, there was a twist at the end. In preparing to review affordable loudspeakers, I typically put together a list of potential candidates I’ve discovered at audio shows, or that have been recommended to me by other Stereophile writers. I add to that list products I’ve learned about from press promotions, usually from companies whose products have impressed me in the past. I boil this down to a short list, then run it by Stephen Mejias to make sure I’m not tripping over The Kid’s own quest for budget sonic nirvana. The result is then discussed with John…

Analog Sources VPI TNT IV, Rega Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges. Digital Sources Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players. Preamplification Vendetta Research SCP-2D, Creek Destiny phono stages; Audio Valve Eclipse line stage. Power Amplifier Audio Research Reference 110. Integrated Amplifier Creek Destiny. Loudspeakers Epos ELS3 & M5i, Wharfedale Diamond 10.1. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.…

I measured the Audio Research Reference 150 using Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It” and www.ap.com). Before performing any measurements, I installed a new set of tubes, both the 6H30 small-signal tubes and the four matched pairs of KT120 output tubes. The instructions in the manual for setting the bias current for each pair were clear: With zero input signal, each main tube was set to a voltage drop of 65mV DC, measured at its test points, with the slave tube running between 57 and 73mV at its test points. The only tricky part of this operation was that the test points were close to the tubes’ hot glass envelopes, which resulted in occasional mild curses as I…

Description Remote-controlled digital-to-analog converter. Digital inputs: AES/EBU (XLR), S/PDIF coaxial & optical, 2 HDMI (stereo only), USB 2.0; all support up to 24-bit/192kHz. Digital output: HDMI. Analog outputs: left & right RCA (unbalanced), left & right XLR (balanced). Output impedance: 47 ohms (unbalanced), 110 ohms (balanced). Output level: 2V RMS. Frequency response: ±0.5dB (ref. 20Hz–96kHz at 192kHz sample rate. Signal/noise: >125dB (ref. 0dBFS 2V out). Channel separation: >115dB (ref. 0dBFS volume –1dB). AC supply: 100–240V, 50–60Hz. Power requirement: 16W. Dimensions 17" (435mm) W by 3" (78mm) H by 11.5" (296mm) D. Weight: 12.8 lbs (5.8kg). Serial number of unit reviewed H1XM5101162. Price $2000. Approximate number of dealers: 230. Manufacturer NAD Electronics International, 633 Granite Court, Pickering, Ontario L1W 3K1, Canada. Tel: (800) 263-4641, (905) 831-0799. www.nadelectronics.com…

For a manufacturer to squeeze money from the stone that is my CD-player budget, his products would have to be both exceptional and affordable. And as long as I’m reporting from Fantasyland, I’ll ask that they also be obsolescence-proof. That last goal, especially, is one most designers try to reach by adopting ever-new technologies: new digital-to-analog converters, new filters, new numbers. But there remain a handful of manufacturers who would win the numbers game by not playing it at all, Audio Note UK among them. Not that the British firm is against progress per se—but as far as their digital playback gear is concerned, theirs is a decidedly different approach. Their digital credo might best be summed up as: The key to making products that sound more analog is not…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary & OFD 25 pickup heads. Digital Sources Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player; Wavelength Proton USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.10.2.2, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Fi421A. Loudspeakers Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE. Cables USB: Nordost Blue Heaven, AudioQuest Diamond. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver, AudioQuest Columbia. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Ocellia Reference. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack under source & amplification components, Keith Monks record-cleaning machine.…

Complain if you will, analog lovers, about the evils of digital technology, but in one area there isn’t a whiff of argument: the esoteric pursuit of rescuing live recordings with marginal sound. Without question, manipulating ones and zeros has cleaned up a lot of nearly unlistenable bootlegs. This bit of buried treasure, while never unlistenable, has been rendered in sound that is, at times, very good. The two-star sonics rating, which may seem shocking for a “Recording of the Month,” is an average—while the sound quality rates a single star in the opening, it’s nearly up to four stars by Disc Two. The long-ago sounds of these two live sets of the Bill Evans trio playing mostly standards, recorded in a long-gone Greenwich Village club, Top of the Gate (it…