Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Stereophile

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Focal Aria K2 936’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. (The Earthworks microphone’s capsule has a diameter of just 1/4", so it doesn’t present a significant obstacle to each radiator’s output.) The loudspeaker’s manual recommends that the listener’s ears should be the same height as the tweeter, so I used the tweeter axis for the farfield measurements. Focal specifies the Aria 936’s sensitivity as a high 92dB/2.83V/m. My estimate was slightly lower, at 90dB(B)/2.83V/m, but this is still usefully higher than average. The Aria 936’s impedance is specified as 8 ohms, with a minimum magnitude of 2.8 ohms. Using MLSSA and checking with Dayton Audio’s DATS V2,…

Although the ELAC Alchemy DPA-2 is a stereo amplifier, Jason Victor Serinus auditioned it as a pair of monoblocks. (In mono mode, the signal is fed to either input and the output taken from the left channel’s red binding post and the right channel’s black binding post.) I therefore performed a complete set of measurements with a DPA-2 in mono mode then repeated some of the tests in stereo mode. As the DPA-2 has an output stage operating in class-D, I inserted an Audio Precision auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter between the test load and my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 This filter eliminates RF noise that could drive the SYS2722’s input circuitry into slew-rate limiting. I used it for all the tests other than frequency response. Though the Alchemy DPA-2…

The NAD C 298 can be operated as a conventional stereo amplifier or as a bridged-mono amplifier. (In mono mode, the signal is fed to the left input and the output taken from the left channel’s positive binding post and the right channel’s negative binding post.) As Kal Rubinson auditioned the NAD both in stereo mode and as a pair of monoblocks, I performed a complete set of measurements in both modes. The C 298 has an output stage operating in class-D, so I inserted an Audio Precision auxiliary AUX-0025 passive low-pass filter between the test load and my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It 1”). This filter eliminates RF noise that could drive the SYS2722’s input circuitry into slew-rate limiting, and I used…

Before the ink had dried on my review of the Schiit Audio Sol turntable,4 Stereophile la Jefa Jim Austin asked me to write a follow-up review on that feature-packed, $799 analog machine. This wasn’t going to be the typical, try-it-with-similar-components assessment; I did that last time, evaluating the Sol with the included cartridges, the Schiit Ragnarok 2 integrated, and the Klipsch RP-600M loudspeakers. But with all its adjustability, it’s clear that the Sol isn’t your average entry-level’table. In his manufacturer’s comment, Schiit cofounder Mike Moffat wrote that the tonearm “is absolutely suitable for the finest of cartridges”—a remarkable claim considering that you can buy a spare for about $200. Taking note of the Sol’s apparent ambitiousness, I wanted to see how well the Sol would perform when mated with better…

MARIO ROM’S INTERZONE Eternal Fiction Mario Rom, trumpet; Lukas Kranzelbinder, bass; Herbert Pirker, drums Traumton 4694 (CD; available as download, LP). 2020. Mario Rom, prod.; Werner Angerer, eng. Most European countries have one standout trumpet badass. Finland has Verneri Pohjola. Portugal has Susana Santos Silva. Until his death in 2018, Poland had Tomasz Stanko. Austria has Mario Rom. Like most European jazz musicians who don’t record for ECM, he is under the radar in the US. His fresh, bold voice is loud and clear on the European scene. Eternal Fiction is the fourth album in 10 years by the trio Rom calls Interzone. In trumpet and saxophone trios, the minimal instrumentation allocates more responsibility, and usually more solo space, to the rhythm section. But in Interzone, bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder and…

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER During my 100 years on earth, I’ve owned mostly separate amps and preamps, but only because that is where I started—or I should say, that is where my audio-savvy friends directed me when I began asking for guidance. Nevertheless, the audio system I’ve used the longest (unchanged for almost 10 years) consisted of 1984 Rogers LS3/5a loudspeakers (15 ohms, with factory wall mounts) powered by a proletarian-looking Creek 4330 integrated amp sourced by an Oppo CD player. If I weren’t an audio reviewer, I’d revert to my regular self and use the newest (Gold Badge) Falcon LS3/5a with the best integrated amp I could afford. Why? Because I find the Zen-hut simplicity of integrated amplifiers appealing, and I like how integrated amps just sit there, all self-contained and…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Marten Parker Trio Diamond Edition’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses. I measured the speaker’s impedance with Dayton Audio’s DATS V2 system. Usually, I measure loudspeakers in our backyard, weather permitting, or in our living room with the furniture pushed to the sides. This eliminates or moves back in time the reflections of the speaker’s output. However, as this loudspeaker was too heavy for me to move outside or upstairs to the living room, I performed the quasi-anechoic measurements in my basement listening room. I managed to maneuver one of the speakers, standing on its IsoPuck bases, onto a small, wheeled dolly and rolled it…

TURNTABLE My friend Courtney Grant Winston has led a storied life. A photographer by trade, Courtney has a gift for revealing his subjects’ spirited personalities. He has photographed actor Morgan Freeman, Le Bernardin co-owner Maguy Le Coze, and celebrity chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Alain Ducasse, and Anthony Bourdain. Courtney took the iconic cover photo for his 2000 breakout biography, Kitchen Confidential. Courtney’s father was a Tuskegee Airman during World War II and a childhood friend of Billie Holiday. The voice of Courtney’s mother, Dorothy, can be heard in Billie, the recent documentary, speaking about the celebrated jazz singer’s final days. “Lady Day,” as tenor saxophonist Lester Young dubbed her, was a frequent guest at Courtney’s family home on Harman Street in Berkeley, California; Billie was godmother to Courtney and his siblings.…

NOT EVEN A PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN could keep Rhiannon Giddens from seeking new projects. Between making a new album with her partner, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, and engaging in strategic planning in her new role as artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble, the musician and activist seems as busy as ever even if she rarely leaves her house. Giddens, 44, grew up in North Carolina’s Piedmont, where her love of Roy Clark’s playing inspired her to try the banjo. She quickly became curious about the role of Black musicians in Appalachian traditions. In 2005, she co-founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops to explore that issue. She is also a trained classical musician with a degree in opera from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Her recordings have won many awards, including a Grammy,…

In its sixth year, International Anthem seriously stepped up production. 2020 saw the Chicago label releasing a fast succession of rewarding albums, including a standout disc by Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and adventurous jazz by Rob Mazurek and the collective Irreversible Entanglements. Within that flurry of activity, the small operation drew a fine line through a new era of jazz spiritual. Not a narrow line, but a fine one, a bold and exceptional line. Harp/bass duo Dezron Douglas and Brandee Younger’s Force Majeure included arrangements of tunes by Alice and John Coltrane and the Stylistics; drummer Makaya Mc- Craven continued his beat-heavy Universal Beings groove with an album that included contributions from Parker and Younger; and clarinetist/singer/songwriter Angel Bat Dawid followed her stunning 2019 debut with a live album and…

JOYCE DIDONATO AND YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Schubert’s Winterreise Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, piano Erato 528414 (24/96 WAV). 2021. Leszek Maria Wojcik, prod.; Noriko Okabe, eng. It took until age 50 for mezzo Joyce DiDonato to bring what she calls “this singular, crowning achievement in song”—Schubert’s 24-song cycle Winterreise—to Carnegie Hall. She and her accompanist, Metropolitan Opera conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, found their way in by approaching the cycle from the vantage point of the woman who is abandoned by the male protagonist of Wilhelm Müller’s poems. With a table and chair as props, DiDonato sings the last journal entries of this despairing and broken man shortly before he commits suicide. Having the previously invisible woman express the suffering in these songs makes for a very different interpretation than those in a…

Fun with Moose and Squirrel ’Cause it’s hard to say what’s real / When you know the way you feel —Flaming Lips, “One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21,” from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots In a recent Zoom meeting, some friends got into a dust-up about how “real”- sounding high-performance audio systems can be. The consensus was that there was no chance at all of real, live sound. A label owner waved it off as impossible: “Fuhgeddaboudit,” he said. He’s from New York, like me. I began to feel the burn, but I contained my outrage. For a while. Eventually—you know me—I had my say. “What the hell are you all talking about?” I erupted. A confused silence followed, and I dove right in. “Someday, you may be able to attend a…

I tested the AVM Ovation A 6.2 ME with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It”1). I preconditioned the amplifier by following the CEA’s recommendation of operating it at oneeighth the specified power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes.2 The manual states that the A 6.2 ME can get warm. At the end of the preconditioning, its heatsinks were very hot, at 132.3°F (55.8°C), and the top panel’s temperature was 110.4°F (43.6°C). Operating the amplifier at the older IHF recommendation for preconditioning—both channels driven at one-third power for 60 minutes—the temperatures increased slightly, with the heatsink measuring 140°F (60.5°C) and the top panel measuring 113.9°F (45.5°C). Be sure to give this amplifier plenty of ventilation. I looked first at the AVM’s behavior via its…

POWER AMPLIFIER Once upon a time, in the early days of class-D amplification, the very notion that the ELAC (ELectroA Coustic) Alchemy DPA-2 Stereo/Mono Power Amplifier ($1495 each) uses a class-D output stage would cause some readers to turn the page.1 But as class-D amplifiers established their pedigree as bona fide hi-fi components, audiophiles have begun to embrace the notion of a lightweight, cool-running amplifier that will not dramatically increase the electric bill and that, when properly executed, can be quite musical. Others, though, may still balk at the suggestion that this skinny, 14lb, class-D device from the Americas division of ELAC Germany—auditioned here in bridged monoblock configuration—can get listeners close to the heart of the music. Perhaps learning that the DPA-2 was designed by Peter Madnick, who also oversaw…

POWER AMPLIFIER Power amplifiers should be boring. They have a single, well-defined function: Make the input signal large enough to run a loudspeaker so that it makes sound at levels suitable for listening to music. Generally, controls and features are few or none. Peter Walker of Quad famously defined the ideal amplifier as a “straight wire with gain.” That’s just one feature: gain. That ideal is not easy to achieve, for many reasons. Even a straight wire of any practical length and structure has properties (resistance, capacitance, inductance) that can affect how the signal is transferred to it on one end and how the signal is transferred from it on the other. These effects can be within the audible range depending on what device is at each end. Insert a…

DCS BARTÓK DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER I finally get what those unboxing videos are all about. As I deciphered my way through the dCS Bartók’s triple boxes,1 my sense of audiophile entitlement rose as I opened each successive box. Inside the last box, the Bartók was wrapped in a black velvet drawstring pouch. That made me smile until I realized that the Bartók was so big that I had nowhere to put it. It requires a shelf at least 19" deep that can support 36.8 pounds. My desktop system shelf is only 16" from its front edge to the wall; previously, the biggest DAC/headphone amp I’ve installed there was the Mytek Manhattan II, which only needed 14" front-to-rear (including space for cables) and only weighed 16lb. On my desk, the dCS Bartók…

Déjà Vu all over again The central question behind Déjà Vu was “How do you top a classic?” The eponymous debut album by Crosby, Stills & Nash was a case of magic musical synergy meeting the perfect moment. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200, won the Grammy for Best New Artist, and opened the door for the trio’s legendary performance at Woodstock. As the group hurried toward a second album, they made the risky decision to alter their chemistry by recruiting a fourth member and a rock’n’roll rhythm section. Stephen Stills talked to John Sebastian and Steve Winwood, both enjoying success at the time. He was turned down twice. Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun recommended Neil Young, Stills’s erstwhile Buffalo Springfield bandmate. Remembering Young’s three exits from (and…

JOHN LENNON/PLASTIC ONO BAND The Ultimate Collection Capitol/UM 0735429 (6 CD). 1970/2021. John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector, prods.; Phil McDonald, Richard Lush, Paul Hicks, Sam Gannon, Rob Stevens, engs. John Lennon’s first solo album was recorded in about a month, September–October 1970, less than six months after the Beatles imploded. Fresh off a summer of primal scream therapy, Lennon laid bare his soul’s torments: the loss of his mother, the pressures of fame, feelings of betrayal and regret over the end of the Beatles’ magic. The style is direct, minimal, and unadorned. Most tracks are just voice and guitar and/or piano, Ringo’s drums, and Klaus Voormann’s bass. The album declared: Accept me as I am, or not. Inward-looking and self-absorbed, it’s also by turns brilliant. It’s yet more New…

Haniwa HCTR-CO MkII We’d like to thank Michael Fremer and Stereophile for giving the improved Haniwa cartridge a listen. We agree with Michael that there is something magical about this 0.2 ohm cartridge that keeps you listening well into the next morning. The Current Loop System with our HCVC01 Current to Voltage Converter is something we believe audiophiles need to experience for themselves, either with their existing sub-ohm cartridge or with one of Haniwa’s Current Output Cartridges. The COVID-19 lockdown has made listening to new audio equipment at shows difficult or impossible. We feel the best way to audition the Haniwa equipment is to try it in your own system. At haniwaaudio.com, you can sign up to try this new experience with your own system; we welcome all inquiries and…