Innehållsförteckning för Aug-13 från Stereophile

THIS ISSUE: A lifetime of sharing great music—from radio station to record shop to listening room. For over three decades, I have felt compelled to turn people on to music. Throughout my career as a DJ, all of my endeavors have been linked by the desire to spread the joy of listening to records, in the hope that people would feel something like the emotional resonance I feel. My Classic Album Sundays adventure—see www.classicalbumsundays.com/about and www.stereophile.com/content/classic-album-sundays-bellwether—was born from this lifelong dedication to musical curating, and propelled by a eureka hi-fi moment. My musical history began in the 1980s at a 10W radio station attached to the library of my high school in Holliston, Massachusetts. From my freshman through my senior year, I had a radio show on WHHB where 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 Sunday, July 21, 1–4pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting in the Penthouse Ballroom of the Buena Park Holiday Inn (7000 Beach Boulevard). Dan Meinwald, US distributor for Marten and E.A.R., will present Marten Django XL and L loudspeakers powered by E.A.R. electronics. The system will also include a Townshend Audio Rock 7 turntable and Jorma Design cables. Eastwind Import will be…

THIS ISSUE: SM adapts to the Internet world and listens to Skullcandy’s Navigator on-ear headphones with AudioQuest’s DragonFly. Even before I’d really listened to PSB’s Alpha PS1 powered desktop speakers (see last month’s column), I suspected that I’d like them: They’re affordable, attractive, small enough to actually fit on my desktop, and designed and manufactured by a true high-end audio company. Besides all that, the PS1s had been highly recommended by a friend, AudioStream.com’s Michael Lavorgna.1 I only needed the speakers to sound good in my home. And they did—clean, clear, detailed, and dynamic, with a surprisingly big and bold overall sound. What I didn’t expect, and what consequently convinced me to buy the PS1s, was that Ms. Little would also enjoy using them. That she does remains a bit…

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER The only thing better than a review that writes itself is a product with a compelling story. Although the latter asks a little more of us here, it’s usually the more enduring pleasure. So it goes with the new AX-5 amplifier ($9950) from Ayre Acoustics, in which designer Charles Hansen has both revived an overlooked technology from a half-century ago and brought to market a more affordable embodiment of one of his own most well-received products. All this comes in a package that requires no more room than the average electric typewriter, and that takes the place of everything you might normally put between your digital source components and your loudspeakers. It breaks a few rules—and almost breaks the dreaded five-figure price barrier—but the AX-5 is, in fact,…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Ikeda IT-407 tonearms; EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup head; Miyabi 47, Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges. Digital Sources Ayre Acoustics QB-9, Wavelength Proton USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Hommage T2 step-up transformers; Sutherland Engineering Insight phono preamplifier; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Cortese, Fi 421A. Loudspeakers Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96, Quad ESL. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect (balanced): Ayre Acoustics Signature, Nordost Tyr. Interconnect (single-ended): Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23, Tel Wire. AC: manufacturers’ own. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source & amplification components), Keith Monks…

I measured the Creek Evolution 50A 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 on an amplifier, I run it for an hour with both channels driven at 1/3 its rated power into 8 ohms; this is the level at which the maximum amount of power is dissipated in the output devices with a class-A/B topology. However, when I tried this with the Creek Evolution 50A, the amplifier turned itself off after 20 minutes, its front-panel display showing the message "OVERHEATED." An infrared thermometer indicated that the internal heatsinks, visible through slots in the top panel, were at 140.9°F (61.3°C). Thermally, 1/3 power is very much the worst case for a class-A/B amplifier,…

Description Battery-powered portable media player & D/A processor with 2.4" touchscreen (320x240 pixels), 32GB internal memory, and two Micro-SD card slots. Digital inputs: 1 S/PDIF TosLink on 3.5mm jack. Digital output: S/PDIF TosLink on 3.5mm jack. Analog output: 1 pair unbalanced on 3.5mm stereo jack. Resolutions and sample rates supported: 16-bit, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz (internal); 16/24-bit, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz (TosLink). File formats supported: WAV, FLAC, Ogg, APE, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, MP3. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.02dB. Channel separation: 120dB. Signal/noise: 110dB. THD+noise: 0.0009%. Jitter: 90ps. Maximum output level: 1.5V. Output impedance: 22 ohms. Battery: 2000mAH, Li-Polymer. Battery life: up to 16 hours. Recharging time: about 5 hours. Supplied accessories: USB cable. Dimensions 3.1" (79mm) L by 2.33" (59.2mm) W by 0.57" (14.4mm) D. Weight: 4.3 oz (122gm).…

Description Solid-state D/A processor. Inputs: coaxial S/PDIF, optical S/PDIF, USB (optional, included with review samples). Input capability: up to 24-bit/192kHz, all inputs. Input receiver, S/PDIF: Crystal Semiconductor CS8416. Input receiver, USB: C-Media CM6631A. D/A conversion IC: AKM4399. Output: RCA (single-ended). Output impedance: 75 ohms. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB; 2Hz–100kHz,–1dB. Maximum output: 2.0V RMS. Upgradability: separate, modular USB input card and DAC/analog card (both snap-in, replaceable). Power consumption: 12W. Without Uber Upgrade THD: <0.005%, 20Hz–20kHz at max output. IMD: <0.007%, CCIR. Signal/noise: >106dB, ref. 2V RMS. With Uber Upgrade THD: <0.002%, 20Hz–20kHz at max output. IMD: <0.002%, CCIR. Signal/noise: >110dB, ref. 2V RMS. Dimensions 9” (230mm) W by 2.25” (55mm) H by 6.75” (170mm) D. Weight: 5 lbs (2.3kg). Serial numbers of units reviewed A042654 (with Uber Analog upgrade), A041462 (without…

Boston Acoustics made its name in the early 1980s with the A40, an inexpensive two-way bookshelf design that became one of that decade’s best-selling speakers. Stephen Mejias was impressed by the A40’s spiritual descendant, the Boston Acoustics A25 bookshelf speaker ($299.98/pair), when he reviewed it in November 2011 (www.stereophile.com/content/bostonacoustics-25-loudspeaker), and I was similarly impressed when I had the speaker on the test bench for measurement. So when, in the fall of 2012, Boston’s soon-to-be-departing PR representative Sara Trujillo let me know that the company was introducing a range of more expensive speakers, I asked to review the top-of-the-line, floorstanding M350. More expensive, maybe, but still not expensive in absolute terms: the M350 costs $2498/pair. It features a 1" Extended Wide Bandwidth (EWB) soft-dome tweeter. This has a small dimple in…

Analog Sources 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 running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86; MSB Diamond DAC IV D/A processor with Diamond Power Base, Schiit Bifrost, Arcam FMJ D33 D/A converters; Astell&Kern AK100 media player; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter. Preamplification Linn Linnto phono preamplifier; Pass Labs XP-30 line preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference, MBL 9007 (all monoblocks). Loudspeakers Vandersteen Treo, BBC LS3/5a. Cables Digital: Kubala-Sosna Elation!, AES/EBU; AudioQuest Coffee, Belkin Gold USB. FireWire: AudioQuest FireWire 400 (prototype). Interconnect (balanced): Kubala-Sosna Elation!. Speaker: Kubala-Sosna Elation!. AC: Kubala-Sosna Elation!, manufacturers’ own. Accessories Target TT-5 equipment racks; Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks; ASC Tube Traps, RPG…

THIS ISSUE: “Hey, I grew up watching The Muppet Show! I was that five-year-old experiencing music and television for the first time through Jim Henson, and Mac is Dr. Teeth.”—Shannon McNally. In the music business, there are as many definitions of success as there have been people who’ve reached for it. In 1972, Louisiana singer-songwriter Bobby Charles clashed with Albert Grossman, the fearsome manager he shared with Bob Dylan among others, over what rock stardom really meant. After his debut album was released on Grossman’s record label, Bearsville, Charles refused to tour, and so Bobby Charles, one of the quiet gems of Americana, promptly disappeared. More than three decades later, Shannon McNally was being prepped and packaged by Capitol Records to be the next Sheryl Crow or Alanis Morissette. She…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Godwin’s Law in action Editor: In his June “Entry Level” (p.45), Stephen Mejias goes tooth and claw after “old and joyless” men who are sick of reading about his adventures in domesticity. Personally, I find it quite entertaining and strangely relevant when he relates various of his setups to the difficulties of life in an apartment, and his other issues are charming. But perhaps Stephen can let them—the “old and joyless,” as he imagines—have their say and quietly let such letters fall off…

THIS ISSUE: Can a $16,500 turntable and tonearm be an “incredible” value? There are incredible values in audio, and then there are incredible values. The ones that deserve italics are those like Pioneer’s SP-FS52 floorstanding speaker, designed by TAD’s Andrew Jones and recently reviewed on analogplanet.com. I covered them there because I’ve received so many e-mails from freshly minted (sorry) young vinyl enthusiasts looking to trade up from their computer speakers. Vinyl has that effect on the soul. Only $360—and often much less—will buy you a pair of SP-FS52s, which deliver more than a whiff of what high-end sound is all about. The online blowback I received for having dared to review a budget product has been exceeded only by the blowback I regularly get for reviewing superexpensive stuff. AMG…

THIS ISSUE: Unison Research’s class-A tube amp and Opera Loudspeakers’ sui generis Callas. First, two noteworthy CDs. San Francisco’s Cypress String Quartet, whose set of Beethoven’s late quartets and high-resolution downloads I praised in the April issue, is back with a new CD (Avie AV2275) that explores their musical roots. The quartet takes its name from Antonín Dvořák’s early cycle of 18 love songs, Cypresses, which he composed in 1865, between his first and second symphonies. (The title is meant to evoke barren solitude.) Later in his career (1887), Dvořák transcribed 12 of the Cypresses songs for string quartet alone. One word that often crops up in discussions of Dvořák’s music is charming. While these transcriptions are indeed charming, they don’t lack depth of feeling—it’s just that youthful romantic passion…

Description Solid-state integrated amplifier. Linelevel inputs: 4 balanced (XLR), 2 single-ended (RCA). Input impedance: 2 megohms balanced, 1 megohm singleended. Maximum input level: 16V RMS balanced, 8V RMS single-ended. Maximum gain: 32dB. Frequency response: DC–250kHz. Output power: 125Wpc into 8 ohms (21dBW), 250Wpc into 4 ohms (21dBW). Dimensions 17.25" (440mm) W by 4.875" (125mm) H by 18.75" (480mm) D. Weight: 46 lbs (20.9kg). Serial number of unit reviewed 22AO124C. Price $9950. Approximate number of dealers: 40. Manufacturer Ayre Acoustics, Inc., 2300-B Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: (303) 442-7300. Fax: (303) 442-7301. Web: www.ayre.com.…

Description Solid-state integrated amplifier. Power output: >55Wpc into 8 ohms, >85Wpc into 4 ohms. THD: <0.005%, 20Hz–20kHz. Frequency response: 10Hz–100kHz,–2dB (unbalanced); 10Hz–50kHz,–2dB (balanced). Slew rate: >30V/µs. Gain: 33.3dB (x46), unbalanced; 27.0dB (x22.5), balanced. Input sensitivity: 410mV. Max input voltage: 5.4V and 10.8V RMS. Separation:–80dB. Signal/noise: >102dB. Output impedance: <0.1 ohm at 1kHz. Dimensions 16.8" (430mm) W by 2.3" (60mm) H by 10.9" (280mm) D. Weight: 16.5 lbs (7.5kg). Serial number of unit reviewed S 1304 0125. Price $1195; optional phono stage, $150–$225. Approximate number of dealers: 40. Manufacturer Creek Audio Ltd., 12 Avebury Court, Mark Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 7TA, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1442-260146. Fax: (44) (0)870-6220846. www.creekaudio.com. US distributor: Music Hall, 108 Station Road, Great Neck, NY 11023. Tel: (516) 487-3663. www.musichallaudio.com.…

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 SCP2D phono preamplifier. Integrated Amplifiers Creek 5350SE & Destiny. Loudspeakers Epos M16i. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-330SG Terminator, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.…

I examined the Astell&Kern AK100’s electrical performance with Stereo-phile’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. I made sure the AK100’s battery was fully charged before performing the tests. For source signals, I both used WAV files stored in the player’s flash memory and fed it S/PDIF datastreams via its TosLink input. The TosLink input successfully locked to data with sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96kHz, but not 176.4 or 192kHz. The maximum output level at 1kHz was very slightly higher than the specified 1.5V at 1.55V, and the player preserved absolute polarity for both internal and TosLink-sourced data. The output…

I examined the Schiit Bifrost’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). To test the USB input, I played files with Bias Peak Pro running on my MacBook Pro, using the AudioMIDI utility to make sure that the data output from the USB port had the correct sample rate and bit depth. I performed a complete set of measurements on both samples and have noted in the text where these differed. The coaxial input of both samples locked to datastreams with sample rates of up to 192kHz (including 88.2 and 176.4kHz)—as did, to my surprise, the TosLink input of the first sample (serial no. A041462). (A TosLink connection is not formally specified to…

Description Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) EWB-dome tweeter, 4.5" (114mm) mass-loaded polypropylenecone midrange, four 5.25" (133mm) polypropylenecone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 3kHz. Frequency response: 40Hz–30kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3.2 ohms minimum. Recommended amplifier power: 50–500W. Dimensions 42.375" (1076mm) H by 9.625" (245mm) W by 12.2" (310mm) D. Weight: 55.9 lbs (25.4kg) each. Finish High-gloss black and black leatherette. Serial numbers of units reviewed BGC000116 (both) Price $2498/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 50. Manufacturer Boston Acoustics, 7 Constitution Way, Woburn, MA 01801. Tel: (201) 762-6429, (508) 538-5000. www.bostonacoustics.com/US/Pages/Home.aspx.…

For all those who hold dear the notion that jazz has seen its best days—that, like classical music, it now lacks star power (no more Birds, Mileses, or Coltranes on the marquees), has already said much of what it had to say, and what’s left is merely esoteric noodling or soulless bop-by-rote mopping up—there is Terence Blanchard. Once the archetypal sideman, this New Orleanian contemporary of Donald Harrison and Wynton Marsalis has become a successful leader. His poise, generous spirit, and workaholic lifestyle—not to mention his instantly recognizable trumpet tone—have quietly made him one of the leading figures in today’s jazz mainstream. His latest release, Magnetic, is a poison pill for those convinced that jazz only repeats itself. Gleaming and sleek, yet not without heart and emotion, Blanchard’s mainstream jazz…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to stephen.mejias@sorc.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the October 2013 issue is July 26, 2013. GERMANY: MUNICH Paul Messenger As the High End Society’s statistics confirm, the 2013 edition of the organization’s annual High End Show, in Munich, was bigger and busier than ever. Indeed, while the numbers of exhibitors and journalists were much the same as last year’s, both consumer and trade visitor numbers were well up, the latter by an impressive 18%. It was impossible to comprehensively cover so large a show in the two days I had available, especially in view of the many unfamiliar German and other European brands…

THIS ISSUE: Art Dudley installs the Ikeda IT-407 tonearm on his Thorens turntable. Writing is easy. See? I just did it. Three whole sentences, written between breakfast and lunch. (I had to pause and think about one of them.) Payday, here I come. What isn’t easy is performing some of the tasks that make writing worth reading. My least favorite of those is receiving equipment samples that are too large or too heavy for UPS and FedEx: Few things strike greater fear in my heart than having a tractor-trailer driver call me from his cell phone, saying he’s blocking traffic at the bottom of my driveway and wants to know how to reach my house—and, by the way, his liftgate is broken and he’s not responsible for getting this 300-lb…

Down deepest, beneath everything else he does, underlying all the facets of his ever-expanding career in music, Terence Blanchard is still a New Orleans guy. Question that and you can hear his dander rise. "Even people from New Orleans don’t associate me with die music community down here, because they don’t see me out and about doing that," Blanchard says via cell phone one afternoon from New Orleans. "But men there will be moments. I did a gig one night at Preservation Hall with those guys, and everybody was shocked. People were coming up to me and saying, I didn’t know you could do that!’ I’m like, dude, come on now. I grew up listening to this stuff all day, every day. You can’t grow up in New Orleans and…

I measured the Ayre AX-5 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 on an amplifier, I run it for an hour with both channels driven at one-third its rated power into 8 ohms; with an amplifier having a class-A/B output stage, this maximally thermally stresses the output devices. At the start of the 60 minutes, the AX-5’s THD+noise measured 0.045%; at the end, it had dropped to 0.031% and the internal heatsinks were hot, at 122.9°F (50.5°C). But the amplifier had reached thermal equilibrium, confirming that the AX-5’s heatsinks are sufficiently well specified. At first, whenever I adjusted the level, I found the clanking of the AX-5’s volume-control relays a little alarming,…

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER It seems I’m always reviewing an integrated amplifier from Creek Audio. It started in the late 1980s, when I fell in love with the capabilities of inexpensive, well-designed audio equipment, sparked by the spectacular sound of a pair of Celestion 5 bookshelf speakers at a Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. I was reading an issue of Hi Fi Heretic (now defunct), for which my friend Art Dudley wrote, and it included a survey of various inexpensive British integrated amplifiers, some of them made by Creek. I was already familiar with the company, but hadn’t listened to affordable British electronics since I’d lived in London, in the early ’80s. I got a Creek 4140s2 integrated and was amazed at its neutrality, its lack of etched sound, its natural reproduction…

Apple’s iPod came of age in the fall of 2003, when, with the release of iTunes 4.5, the player was no longer restricted to lossy compressed MP3 or AAC files (see www.stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd/index.html). Instead, it could play uncompressed or losslessly compressed files with true “CD quality”; users no longer had to compromise sound quality to benefit from the iPod’s convenience. Ten years later, while the current top-model iPod features a 160GB hard drive, it still can play only files with sample rates of 48kHz and below and a maximum bit depth of 16. Those of us with a growing library of high-resolution files are therefore restricted to playing them in our big rigs at home. Enter Astell&Kern. At the beginning of 2013, this brand of iRiver, a Korean portable media company,…

Late last year came a dramatic audiophile moment: I slapped a final length of tape on the box of the awesome-sounding MSB Diamond DAC IV (Stereophile, October 2012), in final preparation for its trek to John Atkinson’s testing lab, in Brooklyn. Next up was the Bifrost DAC from Schiit Audio. I popped it into my system, where, moments before, the MSB had held court. From $43,325 to $449. Yow—the MSB costs almost 100 times as much as the Schiit! Was this even fair? The Bifrost wasn’t warmed up, and it certainly hadn’t settled in—but who could resist a little listening? I switched on the Bifrost, selected the S/PDIF input, and tapped the screen of my Sooloos music server to bring up a bunch of Turtles tunes we’d been listening to…

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 Studios Amarra Computer Music Player 2.5, Songbird 1.9.3, XLD; Western Digital NAS Device 2TB; Oppo BDP-103 universal Blu-ray player; Meridian (formerly Sooloos) Digital Media System (Control 15, TwinStore x3); Apple iPad 2, 3 (or “New iPad” or latest or HD or Retina or whatever); Apple iPod Touch 1G, Apple iPhone 4S. D/A Converters Benchmark DAC1 USB, M2Tech Young with Palmer power supply, AudioQuest DragonFly, Wadia 121. Preamplifier Marantz AV7005 in Pure Direct Mode. Power Amplifier Classé CAM 350 monoblocks. Loudspeakers MartinLogan Prodigy & two Descent subwoofers. Cables USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect (S/PDIF): Cardas Neutral Reference, XLO. Interconnect (line-level): various Kimber Kable, XLO HT Pro. Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal XL.…

I performed the farfield measurements on the Boston Acoustics M350 using DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. For the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses, I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone. My estimate of the M350’s voltage sensitivity on its tweeter axis matched the specified 89dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is a little higher than the norm. Specified as a 4 ohm load, the M350’s impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) remained between 4 and 6 ohms for much of the audioband, dropping to a minimum value of 2.85 ohms at 138Hz. While there is a taxing combination of 5.5 ohms magnitude and–47° electrical phase angle at 36Hz, music rarely has significant energy at this frequency; the M350 won’t present any drive problems to 4 ohm–rated amplifiers and receivers. The…

THIS ISSUE:YG, Mytek, Sutherland, AMG, Teresonic, Ikeda, Opera, Ayre, Creek, and Schiit respond to our reviews of their products. ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART YG Acoustics Sonja 1.3 Editor: The world of high-end audio houses a substantial college of journalists, audio reviewers, and editors. It’s an honor when John Atkinson, the dean of the college, administers the exam. The level of technical understanding, historical experience, and aural talent possessed by this dean of high-end reviewing produces a review that doesn’t leave any stone unturned. We’re grateful for Mr. Atkinson’s conclusion that the Sonja 1.3s are “Class A, all the way” (July 2013). His mentions of their superb imaging, the way the speakers blossomed with voices in the midrange, the excellent tonal body with definition,…