Innehållsförteckning för October 2023 från Stereophile

It’s an error commonly made in evaluating hi-fi–system performance: the failure to listen differentially. Differential as in compared to something else. “Something else” could be a different recording on the same system or (especially this) the same recording on a different system. The question is, what are you comparing it to? The point is: Do you really know what that recording sounds like? When it comes to evaluating equipment, audio engineers—especially those who specialize in naturalistic recordings—have an advantage. Someone like John Atkinson—I wrote “someone like,” though really he’s a category of one—knows better than anyone what his own recordings sound like. John was there at the beginning, in the same room, or monitoring nearby via well-known components. He decided what’s on the recording. Even so, even for him, all…

I have found that turntable designers typically fall into one of two camps. First are what I call the obsessive machinists. These are the people with impressive manufacturing chops and a sharp eye for fine detail and precision. For them, making a better turntable usually involves taking what we already know and simply doing it better. Whether it’s a thicker chassis, more powerful motor, more precise bearing, more effective isolation system, or something else, the emphasis is always on stepping things up a notch or two, rather than reinventing the wheel. This obsession can result in some impressive ’tables—some of the most impressive in the world, with awesome attention to detail. But are they the best sounding? The other camp is what I call the deep thinkers. They approach the…

I measured the Ayre Acoustics VX-8 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 Before performing the measurements, I preconditioned the VX-8 following the CEA’s recommendation, operating it at one-eighth the specified power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the top panel was hot, with a temperature of 113.4°F (45.3°C). Unusually, the bottom panel was even hotter, at 144.5°F (63.1°C). To reduce the possibility of overheating, I continued the testing with the amplifier raised off the test bench with inverted ceramic cones. The Ayre VX-8 preserved absolute polarity and offered a voltage gain at 1kHz of 26.3dB with both its balanced and single-ended inputs. The specified input impedance is an extremely high 2M ohms, balanced, and 1M ohms, single-ended. The voltage-drop method I use to estimate…

I measured the performance of the Audio-GD Vacuum HE1 XLR with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system,1 checking some of the results with the magazine’s APx500 analyzer. Although this preamplifier has both balanced and single-ended inputs and outputs, HR told me he exclusively used the single-ended input and output so he could use the same unbalanced interconnects with the HE1 XLR that he used with his other preamplifiers. I focused primarily on the preamp’s single-ended performance, therefore. The HE1 XLR preserved absolute polarity (ie, was noninverting) with all combinations of inputs and outputs. (The XLR jacks are wired with pin 2 positive.) The maximum gain was 11.05dB for the single-ended and balanced inputs and single-ended outputs, 5.05dB for the balanced inputs at both output types. The volume control operated with approximate…

Resurrecting musical treasures is a tough business. The explosion of vinyl-reissue labels, ranging from superlative to second-rate, has made it increasingly difficult for newcomers to stand out—to make the kind of splash that serious LP buyers will notice. Even more elusive is endurance and turning a profit. The affable, musically savvy James Batsford, owner of a pair of vinyl-only UK labels, New Land Records and Omerta Records, can’t help but laugh over our New York–to-London Zoom connection when I ask why an obviously intelligent person with taste, like himself, would jump into the vinyl-reissue tarpit? “I love records. I want to contribute something to the history. I wasn’t around in the era of all the records that I love, but I’d like to be part of the story, not for…

Last weekend, I visited an old friend who lives near Walden Pond of Henry Thoreau fame. I hadn’t visited him since before the pandemic. He had just finished adding a wing to his house that included a dedicated hi-fi listening room the size and shape of a small church. Below a cathedral ceiling, the sweet spot featured seating for no fewer than 30 guests. Besides serving as his main listening room—he has another one that’s smaller—it serves as a large residential parlor with a baby grand piano for use in chamber music performances, which feature prominently in his and his wife’s social calendar. It was a high-SPL thrill to experience his towering, field-coiled RCA theater horns (see photo) powered by RCA 845 amplifiers. We listened to highlights from his collection…

Because JVS auditioned the Electro-companiet AW 800 M as a pair of monoblocks, I performed a complete set of measurements of the amplifier in that mode with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system.1 I confirmed the results with the higher-performance APx500, then repeated some tests with the amplifier operating in two-channel mode. I preconditioned the AW 800 M by following the CEA’s recommendation, running it at one-eighth the specified power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the top panel above the internal heatsinks was hot, at 117°F (47.3°C). The Electrocompaniet needs to be ventilated well. The AW 800 M’s input impedance was a very high 280k ohms at 20Hz and 1kHz, dropping to 44k ohms at 20kHz. The balanced input is wired with pin 2…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the behavior of one of the JBL 4329Ps in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. Before I started the testing, I connected the 4329P to my network router with an Ethernet cable and opened its local webpage. The review sample was running firmware version 0100.1685.0x1010f. I performed a factory reset and checked to see if a firmware update was available. It wasn’t. The Roon app’s audio settings window indicated that the network-connected speaker had not yet been certified by Roon. However, it did allow the 4329P to be used as an Airplay device, which limits playback to 44.1kHz and a 16-bit word length. Apple’s AudioMIDI utility indicated that the loudspeaker’s USB…

In 2022, PJ Harvey published an epic poem called Orlam. Harvey’s 10th studio album, I Inside the Old Year Dying, isn’t exactly a musical setting of Orlam’s English and Dorset-dialect poetry; rather, it’s an interpretation of the poem with added improvisation. The result is as bizarre and fascinating as one could hope. The story, if that’s the right word, feels ancient. On a farm in Dorset, a girl named Ira-Abel is watched over by the magical eyeball of Orlam, a lamb. Ira-Abel’s world is confined to the farm and the woods next to it, making her imagination and the supernatural the only way to extend her experiences and show her a path out of innocence. To this surreal environment is added the ghost of a soldier, Wyman-Elvis, who channels Elvis…

Writing a regular column can be a funny thing; the repetition it requires brings up questions that grow increasingly urgent. Chief among them: What are we doing here, and what is this for? For all the handwringing about story-telling and prose style, what we’re up to in the equipment-review section of this magazine is writing about metal boxes filled with wire, capacitors, circuit boards, and other bits of hardware. Life is difficult and goes by in a flash, love and satisfaction are fleeting at best—so why should we care? Well, because some of these boxes manage to connect us to beauty and meaning in a way that can enhance and gradually change our lives. (And yes, both have to be in the mix: Beauty without meaning is anodyne and lacks…

Can an audio brand maintain a “house sound” if the original creator of that sound is no longer among the living? If the brand in question is Ayre Acoustics, the answer is a resounding Yes. When Ayre founder Charley Hansen passed in late 2017, Ariel Brown, who is now Ayre’s vice president and chief technology officer, was ready, waiting in the wings. Brown has worked for Ayre since he was a sophomore in college. As John Atkinson wrote in his 2019 review of Ayre’s EX-8 Integrated Hub, “Brown says that for better or worse, he was indoctrinated in Hansen’s way of thinking and design. ‘I only know the Charley way! Charley never wanted to introduce a product unless we had something new to offer with that product. ‘New–Better–Different’ was his…

In red letters on the first page of Chinese audio manufacturer Audio-GD’s website are these words: Wisdom in mind, enthusiasm at heart. I like this good-will greeting because it sets a mindful tone. I presume that sentiment was issued by one Mr. He Qinghua, because farther down the page, it states, “All Audio-GD’s products are designed and developed under the leadership of Mr. He Qinghua.” When I began my auditions, I took this salutation as an advisement, making it my plan to study Audio-GD’s Vacuum HE1 XLR line-level preamp with as much wisdom as I could muster and the enthusiasm of high expectations. Some readers who read my praise for Audio-GD’s R7HE MK2 digital-to-analog converter, in Gramophone Dreams #66, may have dismissed that DAC as a cheap, made-in-China product without…

HIFI ROSE RS250A AUDIO & VIDEO STREAMING D/A PREAMPLIFIER Although I reviewed the original version of this elegant South Korean streamer not too long ago, in the December 2021 issue,1 it has already been updated. The RS250A2 ($2695) replaces the RS250’s ESS ES9038Q2M two-channel DAC chip with the higher-performance ESS Sabre ES9028PRO chip and now supports PCM data formats up to 32/768 and DSD formats up to DSD512. MoFi Distribution sent me a sample of the new RS250A. I installed the Rose HIFI app on my iPad mini and connected the RS250A to my NetGear router. My sample had serial number EBK211AB000173 and, according to the Rose app’s Device Management page, was running operating system version 4.5.05, which updated to v4.6.06 as I was writing these words. The Rose app…

In 1984, Metal Blade Records of Van Nuys, California, released the fifth edition of its Metal Massacre series, which had already unleashed such bands as RATT, Metallica, Slayer, and Lizzy Borden onto an unwitting music-buying public. On the second track, among future stalwarts Overkill, Fates Warning, and Metal Church as well as no-hit wonders Lethyl Synn and Jesters of Destiny, was an oddly named band from Jonquière, Quebec: Voïvod, spelled Voi Vod on the album cover. Voïvod’s four members were Blacky, Away, Piggy, and Snake. The band was new, had played its first concert just the year before and released a cassette of that performance. Anachronism was mostly covers with a couple of originals. The sound is atrocious, the band positioned, apparently, at the bottom of a well, a cheap…

Shaknspin2 I would like the opportunity to thank Michael Trei for the Shaknspin2 review. He perfectly nailed the usefulness and operation of our little gadget. He wasn’t very appreciative of our naming strategy, but when we can, we do try to inject some humor into what can be a dry-ish subject. An additional note: Exporting to Excel/CSV files is not just useful for better visualization but also to provide a means to preserve the measured data from your turntables. Paul Rebordao, Shaknspin As Michael observed, the Shaknspin2’s accuracy is now improved, with the addition of a fast-reacting IR sensor and a specially designed marker to calibrate the device at the start of each measuring session. This procedure takes only a few seconds and ensures that 33.3rpm is really 33.3rpm. The…