Innehållsförteckning för Jun-13 från Stereophile

Are you listening more but enjoying it less? I have a hunch that the overwhelming majority of Stereophile readers have pretty decent hi-fis, but they probably listen to a lot more music in their cars, or through computer speakers, or on the go with headphones. I’m in that last group, and log more hours listening to Jerry Harvey’s astonishing JH13 Freqphase custom-molded in-ear ’phones than to my Magnepan MG3.7 speakers—but music moves me more through the 3.7s. I can fully savor the White Stripes only when I’m on the couch, letting Jack White’s blistering guitar and Meg White’s pounding drums rearrange my brain. I’m not just talking about fidelity—how and where we listen changes the way we experience music. When I first started playing CDs, in the early 1980s, I…

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. california Friday–Sunday, May 31–June 2: The Home Entertainment Show and the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will present T.H.E. Show Newport Beach at the Irvine Hilton (18800 MacArthur Boulevard) and the Atrium Hotel (18700 MacArthur Boulevard). For more info, visit www.theshownewport.com. GEORGIA Sunday, June 30, 2–5pm: The Audio Video Club of Atlanta (Virtual Properties, 6550 Sugarloaf Parkway, Suite 700, Duluth) will host a presentation by Paul Stubblebine, Grammy…

Idler days are coming Swiss Precision: The Story of the Thorens TD 124 and Other Classic Turntables (2007), by Joachim Bung1, also tells the story of Fritz and Marie Laeng, the couple who founded Lenco, Switzerland’s other turntable company. Thanks in equal parts to Fritz’s engineering talents and Marie’s business acumen—her idea to sell turntables through a popular book-and-record club is remembered as the company’s turnaround point—Lenco swiftly became one of the most successful and well-regarded makers of hi-fi turntables through the 1960s and early ’70s. Then, almost as swiftly, Lenco went from having three factories in two countries to vanishing from the scene with scarcely a trace . . . but that’s another story for another day. Lenco’s calling card was an idler-drive system with two distinctions: Rather than…

REGA’S VISIONARY ROY GANDY It’s not easy to get Roy Gandy to look back. “I’m not a past person, I don’t reminisce,” he says. “But right at this moment I’m feeling very happy. We’ve not quite completed the launch of a whole new range of turntables and a new range of electronics, and I’m feeling elated.” As Rega Research plans to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Gandy has good reason to feel that way. Things have never looked better for the company he founded in June 1973 and still owns. Rega is a major beneficiary of what we still must call the vinyl revival, though that’s only part of the story. Rega began with the now-collectable Planet turntable, then got established with its earliest glass-platter decks, the Planar 2 (1975) and…

I used Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4) to measure the TAD C600. The maximum gain for balanced input and balanced output, with the volume control set to “90,” was, at 12.25dB, slightly higher than the specified 12dB. For singleended input/output, the maximum gain was 11.7 rather than 12dB. The volume control operated in accurate 1dB steps in normal mode; set to Fine, its steps were 0.5dB. The unity-gain setting was “78.” Both balanced and unbalanced inputs preserved absolute polarity, the XLR jacks being wired with pin 2 hot. The balanced input impedance was extremely high, at >200k ohms across the audioband. (My voltage-drop method of assessing input impedance, by changing the generator source impedance…

Description Solid-state monoblock power amplifier. Inputs: 1 unbalanced (RCA), 1 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pairs binding posts. Rated power output: 800W into 8 ohms (29dBW), 1600W into 4 ohms (29dBW). Voltage gain: 31dB. Maximum output voltage: 80V. Maximum output current: 100A peak, 42A continuous. Frequency response: 10Hz–200kHz, +0/–3dB. Signal/noise: >106dB at full power. THD: >0.015%, 20Hz–20kHz at 1W. Input impedance: 47.5k ohms. Input sensitivity: 2.25V for full output. Output impedance: 0.004 ohm. Damping factor: 2000. Slew rate: 70V/ìs. Power consumption at idle: 48W. Dimensions 18.75" (475mm) W by 7.5" (190mm) H by 16.5" (420mm) D. Shipping weight: 92 lbs (42kg). Serial numbers of units reviewed L6311636, L6311639. Price $42,000/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 95. Warranty: 1 year, parts & labor, transferable. Manufacturer Simaudio, 1345 Newton Road, Boucherville, Quebec, J4B 5H2,…

As I’ve lately had the pleasure of reviewing some impressive tubed components, I asked myself why I hadn’t ever reviewed anything from VTL Amplifiers. My history with VTL goes back to the 1986 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago (wouldn’t it be great if CES returned to that city?), where Vacuum Tube Logic cofounder Luke Manley and his father, the late David Manley, made a big splash with David’s preamps and amplifiers. To publicize the fact that amps were designed and made in Britain, the Manleys wore the cheesiest Union Jack T-shirts I’d ever seen—the kind they sell in those cheap tourist traps in Piccadilly Circus. When I recently ribbed Luke about those shirts, he admitted that “They fell apart as soon as we returned home.” I told him that I…

Analog Sources Rega Research Planar 3, VPI TNT IV turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, Koetsu Urushi cartridges. Digital Sources Creek Destiny, Lector CDP-7T CD players. Preamplification Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage; Audio Research Reference 5SE, Audio Valve Eclipse, Audio Nagra Jazz line stages. Power Amplifiers Audio Research Reference 75 & Reference 110. Loudspeakers Epos M16i, Monitor Audio Silver RS6, Nola Viper Reference III. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-330SG Terminator, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator. Speaker: Accent Speaker Technology Blue Thunder. AC: manufacturer’s own. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.…

I examined the Musical Fidelity M6DAC’s electrical performance with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (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 TosLink input locked to datastreams with sample rates up to 96kHz; the coaxial, AES/EBU, and USB inputs all worked with data sampled at rates up to 192kHz, including 88.2 and 176.4kHz. The Macintosh USB Prober utility revealed that the M6DAC’s USB 2.0 input does operate in the specified asynchronous mode with 24-bit data. The maximum output level at 1kHz was 4.05V from the balanced XLR jacks, 2.01V from the single-ended RCAs. Both pairs of outputs preserved absolute polarity (ie, were non-inverting). The XLRs are wired…

Description Single-box, bus-powered digital/analog converter. Digital input jack: USB type B. Analog output jacks: RCA (single-ended), XLR (balanced). Sampling rates accepted: up to 192kHz. Word lengths accepted: 16, 24 bits. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0/–0.2dB. Maximum output level: 2.25V (single-ended), 4.5V (balanced). Output impedance: 50 ohms (single-ended), 50 ohms per phase (balanced). Signal/noise ratio (A-weighted): 119dB (singleended), 122dB (balanced). Power requirement (via USB): 480mA. Dimensions 3.8" (97mm) W by 3" (77mm) H by 6" (154mm) D. Weight: >1 lb (>0.5kg). Serial number of unit reviewed 800046. Price $449.95. Approximate number of dealers: 50. Manufacturer High Resolution Technologies, LLC, 1027 N. Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90038. Tel: (323) 967-7447. Fax: (714) 985-0155. www.hirestech.com.…

Shindo Laboratory Masseto preamplifier I hesitate to say “Let’s recap” to an audience whose members have been, on occasion, a bit overeager to stuff their audio electronics, contemporary and vintage alike, with the condensateurs du jour. Suffice it to say, the time has come for another look at Shindo Laboratory’s Masseto preamplifier ($13,500),1 taking into account a few things that may affect all Shindo shoppers, past and prospective alike. Of course, the notion of a Follow-Up carries with it a message of uncertainty—that things change, whether one wants them to or not. The point here is somewhat different: My satisfaction with the fully featured, line-plus-phono Shindo Masseto hasn’t wavered throughout the six years I’ve owned it. During that time I’ve heard at least three other preamplifiers that impressed me to…

WAGNER Die Walküre Nina Stemme, Brünnhilde; René Pape, Wotan; Jonas Kaufmann, Siegmund; Anja Kampe, Sieglinde; Ekaterina Gubanova, Fricka; Mikhail Petrenko, Hunding; others; Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev Mariinsky MAR0527 (4 SACD/CDs). 2013. James Mallinson, prod.; Vladimir Ryabenko, eng., ed. DDD. TT: 3:56:26 PERFORMANCE 1.5/5.0 SONICS 5.0/5.0 In this first installment of his recording of Wagner’s Ring, all concert performances recorded live, Valery Gergiev seems unaware of what the work’s many leitmotifs represent, or even of what Die Walküre is about. Conducting with bewildering diffidence some of the most dramatic and gorgeous music ever written, he often slows just when music and score demand accelerando or an unflagging pace; the energy is thus constantly sapped, collapsing any sort of rhythmic pulse or drive. Passages marked staccato are played broadly legato (Hunding’s motif,…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR Loves Love This Giant Editor: A belated thank-you for your choice of David Byrne and St. Vincent’s Love This Giant as Stereophile’s “Recording of the Month” in December 2012 (www.stereophile.com/content/recording-de cember-2012-ilove-gianti). It’s a brilliant collaboration, and immensely enjoyable. More popular-music reviews, please! —Ken Motamed Lynnwood, WA Thanks, JA Editor: I just wanted to drop you a note of thanks for John Atkinson’s Follow-Up in the April 2013 issue (p.180) explaining the inclusion of a new measurement protocol for assessing D/A reconstruction filters. The all-on-one-graph presentation is very useful. Thanks for accepting Mr. Reis’s suggestion. I also wanted to thank JA for getting permission from the Audio Engineering Society to post his 2011 Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture, “Where Did the Negative Frequencies Go?” on the Stereophile…

By the Light of a PrimaLuna Moon Author Scott Turow, novelist and president of the Authors Guild, “sees immediate peril in the prospect of a secondhand digital thrift shop.” I got this information secondhand myself, from an article in the March 7, 2013, edition of the New York Times: “Imagining a Swap Meet for E-Books and Music,” by David Streitfeld. I downloaded it for free.1 “The paperback of ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ is exactly like the digital version except for this: If you hate the paperback, you can give it away or resell it,” Streitfeld reminded readers. “If you hate the e-book, you’re stuck with it. “The retailer’s button might say ‘buy now,’ but you are in effect only renting an e-book—or an iTunes song—and your rights are severely limited.”…

While the Girls Are Away A small subset of audiophiles (always men—the especially old and joyless ones, I suspect) are sick of reading about my adventures in domesticity: They’ve been there, done that, and managed to do it far better than I. Good for them. Really, I’m glad they’re so wise, mature, and experienced that they would spend their free time pounding out frenzied letters to the editor, caps firmly locked, disparaging my taste in music, my relationships with women, my choice of loudspeaker. But I do wonder whether their energies could be better spent in sharing their experiences and wisdom, in humbly passing along to younger generations—their children, their grandchildren, possibly even me—their enthusiasm for music, sound, and quality, so that we might actually learn from our missteps and…

Description Solid-state line preamplifier. Inputs: 3 unbalanced (RCA), 3 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 unbalanced (RCA), 2 balanced (XLR), 2 buffered Tape Out (1 single-ended RCA, 1 balanced XLR). Frequency response: 10Hz–100kHz, –1dB. THD: 0.0015%. IHF signal/noise: 120dB. Crosstalk: not specified. Maximum output: 16V RMS balanced, 8V RMS single-ended. Input and output impedances: single-ended, not specified; balanced, not specified. Dimensions 17.5" (450mm) W by 5.9" (150mm) H by 17.2" (440mm) D. Weight: 63.8 lbs (29kg). Power supply: 8.6" (220mm) W by 7.2" (185mm) H by 16.8" (430mm) D. Weight: 33 lbs (15kg). Serial number of unit reviewed “Test Sample.” Price $42,000. Approximate number of dealers: 11. Manufacturer Technical Audio Devices Laboratories, Inc., 4-15-3 Nishi-Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan. US office: 1925 E. Dominguez Street, Long Beach, CA 90810. Tel: (213) 268-2748. tad-labs.com.…

Analog Sources Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas, Ortofon MC Anna, Miyajima Labs Zero (mono) cartridges. Digital Sources Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D DAC/CD transport, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Meridian Digital Media System, Pure Music software. Preamplifiers darTZeel NHB-18ns, Ypsilon VST-100, Ypsilon VPS-100 phono. Power Amplifiers darTZeel NHB 458 monoblocks. Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandria XLF. Cables Interconnects: TARA Labs Zero Gold, Stealth Sakra & Indra, Kubala-Sosna, Teresonic Clarison Gold. Speaker: TARA Labs Omega Gold. AC: Shunyata Research Zi-Tron Anaconda. Accessories Shunyata Research Triton & Typhon power conditioners; Oyaide wall box & receptacles; ASC Tube Traps; RPG BAD, Skyline & Abffusor panels; HRS Signature SXR, Finite Elemente Pagode equipment stands; Symposium Rollerblocks & Ultra platform; Audiodharma Cable Cooker; Furutech, Stein Audio demagnetizers;…

Before performing any measurements, I ran one of the Simaudio Moon Evolution 880M amplifiers (serial no. L6311636) for an hour at one-third its specified maximum power of 800W into 8 ohms, thermally the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B output stage. By the end of the hour, the side-mounted heatsinks were way too hot to touch, at 148.5°F (64.8°C). The chassis was cooler, with the top plate measuring 126.4°F (52.4°C), though the aluminum vertical corner pieces were 164.3°F (73.5°C). Though the distortion with the amplifier completely cold was a low 0.00825%, this was predominantly crossover distortion, which will be subjectively disturbing because of its high proportion of high-order harmonics. At the end of the preconditioning period, the distortion had almost halved, to 0.0045%, and the crossover spuriae had…

Description Tubed line preamplifier with optional phono stage. Tube complement: two 12AU7/ECC82, four 12AT7/ECC81. Inputs: 2 pairs, balanced (XLR) or RCA (single-ended); 6 pairs, single-ended (RCA). Outputs: 1 pair balanced, 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair single-ended buffered Record (RCA). Frequency response: 1Hz–200kHz, +0/–1dB. Normal voltage gain: 11dB single-ended, 17dB balanced. Low voltage gain: 6dB single-ended, 11dB balanced. Output impedance: 150 ohms (maximum 400 ohms at 10Hz). Input impedance: 35k ohms. Maximum output voltage: 30V, 10Hz–200kHz, at >1% THD; 1.75V into 600 ohms at 1% THD. Channel separation: >100dB at 1kHz (>80dB at 20kHz). Dimensions 17.5" (445mm) W by 17" (432mm) D by 4.6" (117mm) H. Weight: 30 lbs (13.6kg). Serial number of unit reviewed 12489199. Price $7000; optional phono stage, $2500. Approximate number of dealers: 37. Manufacturer VTL Amplifiers,…

For the past few years, one of Stereophile’s go-to recommendations for affordable high-performance D/A processors has been the M1DAC from British company Musical Fidelity. The M1DAC was enthusiastically reviewed by Sam Tellig in March 2011, and I wrote about the most recent version in January 2013 (see www.stereophile.com/content/musical-fidelity-m1-dac-johnatkinson-january-2013). “Purity of tone was exceptional,” decided Mr. T., which I found to be accompanied by superb measured performance, all at a very reasonable price: $749. So when I learned, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, of Musical Fidelity’s new M6DAC, intended to offer “reference quality” performance at a relatively affordable price ($2999), I asked for a review sample. The M6DAC Housed in a black-painted steel enclosure, with ribbed aluminum side panels and a black or silver aluminum front panel, the M6DAC matches…

Analog Source Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B phono cartridge. Digital Sources Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini laptop running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86; Arcam FMJ D33, Musical Fidelity M1DAC, M2Tech Young & Palmer, Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A converters; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter. Preamplification Liberty B2B-1 phono preamplifier, Pass Labs XP-30 line preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference, MBL 9007 (all monoblocks). Loudspeakers Joseph Audio Perspective, Rogers LS3/5a, Vandersteen Treo, YG Sonja 1.3. Cables Digital: DH Labs Silver Sonic. AES/EBU: AudioQuest Coffee, Belkin Gold USB. FireWire: AudioQuest FireWire 400 (prototype). Interconnect: AudioQuest Wild, Kubala-Sosna Elation! (balanced); AudioQuest Cheetah (unbalanced). Speaker: Cardas Clear, Kubala-Sosna Elation!. AC: Kubala-Sosna Elation!, XLO Reference 3, manufacturers’ own.…

My testing of the HRT Music Streamer HD was primarily performed with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4), with some tests performed on my vintage Audio precision System One. The sources for the tests were WAV and AIFF files played from my MacBook Pro running BIAS Peak Pro and connected to the HRT with the Music Streamer set to USB2.0. I checked that the sample rate and bit depth were correctly set with the Audio-MIDI setup utility. Bit depth was set to “24-bit Integer” for all tests and I didn’t see any way to change it. The USB Prober utility identified the HRT as “Music Streamer HD 2.0,” with a manufacturer ID string of “www.hirestech.com…

When I reviewed this extraordinary French amplifier last January (www.stereophile.com/content/devialetd-premier-da-integrated-amplifier),2 I ran out of space and time before I could audition and measure its performance via its phono inputs. That is the subject of this Follow-Up. My sample of the D-Premier was serial no. 00965, hardware v.4.1.1, running firmware v.5.6.0. Like almost all of the D-Premier’s input and output jacks, the two RCAs used for the first line-level input can be reassigned in software to handle phono signals. You visit the Configurator page on the Devialet website and, using the interactive illustration of the D-Premier’s rear panel (fig.1), customize the input to suit your LP player. The options are: moving-coil or movingmagnet, each with ranges of gains and capacitive and resistive loadings; stereo or mono; L/R balance; 1953 or 1976…

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium Editor: On behalf of the team at PrimaLuna, I would like to thank Sam Tellig and Stereophile for a thoughtful and exciting review of our new flagship integrated amplifier, the DiaLogue Premium. I was most happy to have Sam (one of my favorite writers) find the DiaLogue Premium everything we have worked and hoped for. When he said that the amplifier was “extremely quiet,” “almost startling,” “much bigger than its power rating might suggest,” and had the “ability to bring everything together to the point where trying to pick apart the performance seems ludicrous,” that really said it all—and, indeed, describes what people ultimately are chasing down when they seek the best from tube amplification. Two minor points: I had told Sam not to go crazy trying…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS AUDIOPHILE ESSENTIALS PACKAGES NOW AVAILABLE Stephen Mejias Stereophile celebrated 50 years of continuous publication in November 2012 and released its milestone 400th issue in May. The magazine remains committed to providing all audiophiles—young, old, enthusiastic newbies, and grumpy veterans alike—the tools necessary to get the very best from their systems and music libraries. To that end, we’ve bundled our hot-selling Recommended Components Collector’s Edition and our invaluable test discs into two neat and affordable Audiophile Essentials packages. The Audiophile Essentials Editor’s Choice Package ($15) includes Stereophile’s Recommended Components Collector’s Edition and our most popular test disc, Editor’s Choice. The Recommended Components Collector’s Edition compiles the last 10 years of our most influential, controversial, and prized feature, “Recommended Components.” Inside, you’ll find ratings and review summaries for…

A Current Event But first, this message: I recently attended a music, food, and wine event at Mario Batale’s Del Posto, in New York City—the first Italian restaurant in 40 years to receive four stars from the New York Times. The restaurant’s private lower level is ideal for such occasions; I’d previously visited to discuss with management the possibility of a food, wine, and high-performance audio event that might attract some of the restaurant’s regulars, but it never got past the talking stage. Sponsored by the Austrian Trade Council and graciously hosted by restaurateur and TV chef Lidia Bastianich, the evening included Austrian wine, a tasting menu split between Austrian and Northern Italian cuisine, and performances by a string quartet comprising members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which the previous…

The CD: Not Dead Yet! Talk about a fascinating personal history. Rising-star jazz pianist Aaron Diehl’s father ran a funeral home in Columbus, Ohio, with a largely African-American clientele. Diehl started at the piano with Bach, and not long after was playing in both the funeral home and a nearby Catholic church. I think the significance of those early experiences is not so much that a young teenager was already playing for audiences, but rather that he was playing in the context of rituals and, in the case of the funeral home, emotionally fraught major life transitions. I suspect that Diehl’s unusual backstory is a large contributing factor in his musical maturity and poised artistic approach. By age 13, Diehl had joined a jazz youth orchestra; by 16, he was…

In the early 1970s, Stereophile’s founder, J. Gordon Holt—a man I used to describe, with all due respect, as having been clothed by the haberdasher to the homeless—said that Audio Research’s SP-3 tubed preamplifier was “the closest thing available, in fact, to the ideal straight wire with gain,” ie, it would amplify the signal without editorializing in any way. Back then, the SP-3 cost $595. Today it would cost around $3500. But TAD’s C600 dual-mono, solid-state, balanced preamplifier costs more than 10 times that: $42,000. Much of what’s under the hood of the high-tech C600 would probably be unrecognizable to most ’70s-era audio designers. Its robust build quality and the elegance of its operating system would be the envy of all them, and of many now. Technical Audio Devices Laboratories,…

In the September 2005 issue (Vol.28 No.9, www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/905sim/index.html), I reviewed Simaudio’s first reference-quality power amplifier: the 1000W, 220-lb Moon Rock monoblock ($37,000/pair). At the time, the Rock was a dramatic departure for Simaudio, then primarily known as a maker of midpriced gear that was good for the money. I found a lot to like about the Rock, concluding that while it wasn’t quite up to the standard of the best superamps of the time, it was very good—and, for Simaudio, an admirable first shot at the state of the art. Since that time, Simaudio has launched and filled out its Moon Evolution line, in the process moving steadily upmarket. That Simaudio has taken that move seriously has been proven by such Moon Evolution models as the Andromeda CD player, the…

Digital Sources Audio Research CD-8, Primare CD 31 CD players. Analog Sources Spiral Groove SG-2 turntable, Centroid tonearm, Lyra Titan i cartridge; VPI TNT HR-X turntable & tonearm, Grado Statement Reference cartridge. Preamplification Sutherland Engineering Phono Blocks phono stage; Sutherland Engineering Line Blocks, Placette Active, Simaudio Moon Evolution 850P line stages. Power Amplifiers VTL Ichiban, Mark Levinson No.20.6 (both monoblocks). Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia II. Cables Interconnects and Speaker Cables: Stereovox, Audience Au24e, Nordost Valhalla. AC: Audience Au24, PowerChord-e. Accessories Audience aR-12TS & aR-2TS power conditioners; FIM 880 AC outlets; Finite Elemente Ceraball, Nordost footers; Finite Elemente Reference, Audio Tools equipment stands; Immedia SPT stylus-cleaning fluid; Zerostat; VPI HW-16.5 record-cleaning machine; VPI, Disc Doctor record-cleaning fluids; Nordost ECO3, Audience Aural Illuminator CD cleaners/treatments; Wally Tools turntable-setup tools.…

I measured the TL-5.5 Series II Signature’s electrical performance with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). No phono stage was fitted. I made sure that the VTL’s inputs were correctly set for balanced (blue LED illuminated) or unbalanced (green LED illuminated) operation. As used by Bob Reina, the two toggle switches inside the TL-5.5 II, one for each channel, were set to Low Gain. The maximum gain for balanced input, balanced output with the volume control set to its maximum of “117” was 9.4dB, which is slightly less than the 11dB specified for the VTL’s Low Gain mode. The maximum single-ended input/output gain was 6dB lower, as expected, at 3.4dB. With the switches set to…

Description Remote-controlled D/A processor with two user-selectable digital filters. DAC: dualdifferential, 8x-oversampling, 24-bit delta-sigma with asynchronous upsampling on all inputs to 192kHz. Digital inputs: AES/EBU on XLR, 1 S/PDIF on coax, 1 S/PDIF on TosLink, 1 asynchronous USB 2.0 on USB type B connector, 1 Bluetooth antenna (aptX decoding). Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced on XLRs, 1 pair unbalanced on RCAs. Frequency response: <2Hz–90kHz, +0dB/–3dB with data sampled at 192kHz. Channel separation: >105dB. Signal/noise: >120dB (A-weighted). THD+noise: <0.0012% (10Hz–20kHz). Jitter: <12ps p–p. Maximum output level: 2V singleended, 4V balanced. Output impedance: not specified. Power consumption: not specified. Dimensions 17.33" (440mm) W by 4" (102mm) H by 15" (380mm) D. Weight: 23.3 lbs (10.6kg) net, 32.6 lbs (14.8kg) shipping. Serial number of unit reviewed ZZ373. Firmware version: v.1.02. Price $2999. Approximate…

No history of the computer-audio marketplace could be complete without some mention of High Resolution Technologies, the California company whose Music Streamer was, in 2009, the first perfectionist-quality USB digital-to-analog converter to sell for as little as $99. One could argue that HRT’s entire business model has contributed to shaping our attitudes toward the hobby: Because digital-audio technology continues to evolve at such a rapid pace, HRT has introduced a succession of newer and ever more effective Music Streamers, occasionally to the obsolescence of their predecessors; yet because those products have all been so affordable—remarkably and laudably so, given their thoroughly American provenance—we tend not to mind. On the contrary, the arrival of each new Music Streamer is cause for celebration by those of us who want to know: How…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Artemis Lab TA-1 tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Miyabi 47 cartridge. Digital Sources AudioQuest DragonFly, Wavelength Proton, Halide DAC HD USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Hommage T2, Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Ayre Acoustics AX5, Shindo Masseto preamplifiers. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Cortese, and Haut-Brion, Fi 421A monoblocks. Loudspeakers Altec Valencia 846A, Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, DeVore O/96, Quad ESL. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect: Nordost Tyr, balanced; Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver, single-ended. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: manufacturers’ own. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack under source, amplification components; Keith Monks record-cleaning…

Though classically trained in flute and exceedingly capable on a wide range of other instruments, including drums, trombone, piano, and various electronics, Aidan Baker is best known for his work on acoustic and electric guitar. And while he is most commonly associated with the experimental scenes of Toronto, where he was born, and Berlin, where he currently resides, he’s equally comfortable composing for and performing with contemporary classical ensembles as diverse as the Penderecki String Quartet, Sinfonietta Riga, and the Monday Morning Singers. He shows no signs of letting up: Already Drowning, his third release of this still-young year, is more coherent, thrilling, and purely beautiful than anything else he’s accomplished so far. The album was inspired by various fairytales about female water spirits, and comprises seven songs, each over…

We Real Cool It’s watered down. It’s too big. It’s lost its soul. Corporations have poisoned its essence. Too many name bands. Some acts get more than one showcase, while others can’t get in. I’m getting too old for this. I’m still too young for this. South by Southwest 2013 was great. Oh wait, it was a disgusting sham. “Here, the music comes last. 5 minute set-up, no sound check, 15 minute set. The ‘music’ element is all a front, it’s the first thing to be compromised. Corporate money everywhere but in the hands of the artists, at what is really just a glorified corporate networking party. Drunk corporate goons and other industry vampires and cocaine. Everyone is drunk, being cool. ‘Official’ bureaucracy and all their mindless rules. Branding, branding,…