Ariel Bitran
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Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Aug 09, 2007 4 comments

As I venture further into the hi-fi universe, I can start to understand what I like and what to listen for in my equipment: natural musical delivery, groove, and clarity. I'm excited.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Apr 25, 2013 0 comments
The HiFiMAN RE-400s come with four sets of eartips, flanged and unflanged, and a rubber dongle for wrapping your headphones up safely.

The HiFiMAN RE-400s Waterline cost $99. By definition, waterline is the point where a boat meets the water. According to HiFiMAN representative Peter Hoagland, “waterline” implies these headphones are “reference for its class”. Is HiFiMAN trying to say these headphones float above the rest? Maybe.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Feb 07, 2013 13 comments
Stereophile's Assistant Editor Stephen Mejias models the fresh produce

Are you curious to hear J. Gordon Holt's lecture on "Why Hi-Fi Experts Disagree"? Maybe you are yearning for Sam Tellig, the "Audio Anarchist" as identified in the liner notes, to whisper sweet nothings into your ear with his radio-friendly baritone while checking a 1kHz reference tone at –20dB. Or how would you like a dog named Ralph to howl at you while configuring your left and right speakers? All this and more can be found on Stereophile's Test CD 1, now available in the Stereophile eCommerce Store.

Ariel Bitran Apr 17, 2013 0 comments
Mat Weisfield was ultra-stoked to tell me about VPI's new 3D-printed tonearm. I'll let Art do the explaining, but when I heard the VPI room, images were rock solid and full-bodied through the 3D printed tonearm and nascent VPI Classic Direct. A turntable created out of happenstance, when the chassis for the planned direct-drive Vanquish was not ready for the show, they stuck the Vanquish parts into a Classic chassis and the VPI Classic Direct (approximately $20-25k) was born. Resourceful, those VPI fellas.
Ariel Bitran, News
Ariel Bitran Jan 31, 2013 1 comments
Vladmir Lamm flips the record. The LP1 is on the top of the shelf to his left.

On Wednesday January 29th, 2013, Innovative Audio Video Showrooms hosted the NYC premier of the Lamm LP1 Signature phono preamplifier ($32,790).

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran May 07, 2013 0 comments
Simon Hewitt, Cambridge Audio’s Director of Marketing, visited Stereophile HQ to demonstrate the Cambridge Audio Minx Air one-box Bluetooth system. Hewitt says Cambridge Audio’s business is exploding thanks to the Minx Air. It makes up 15% of Cambridge’s current profits. Meanwhile, Cambridge is busy building more speaker lines as their fathering company, Audio Partnership, fades out mass distribution of Mourdant-Short.

Minx Air is currently available in two sizes, the Minx Air 100 ($449) and the larger Minx Air 200 ($599). It features Airplay, on-board Internet radio, and bass EQ that can be controlled via app. I played three synced Spotify playlist selections transmitted via Bluetooth from my iPhone. At the end, Hewitt asked, “What was that first track you demoed?”

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Apr 01, 2013 4 comments

In a recent Stereophile.com news item, John Marks informed readers about free online music production classes now offered from the esteemed Berklee College of Music. Seems like JM himself is taking up this opportunity. In this video assigment, JM shares his explanation of the ORTF microphone placement technique for stereo recording.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Sep 12, 2012 3 comments
I’ll be honest, when Klipsch invited me to see the B-52s on Thursday, August 9th, all I really wanted was for Peter Griffin to stroll across the Irving Plaza stage oblivious to the swirling lights and drifting artificial fog, whip out an acoustic guitar, and play that jangly lead from “Rock Lobster”. A bearded lobster donning a turban would then prance to the front of the stage and everyone would scream “Death to America / And butter sauce!” This never happened. However, I did successfully ignore the opening band Love Funk, had my mind blown by the B-52s, but most importantly, I discovered a bunch of new products from the Klipsch family.

“Iraq Lobstah!”

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Mar 13, 2012 3 comments

From February 28 until March 04, 2012, the Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet got cozy in the dark and welcoming Village Vanguard for six evenings and 12 evocative sets of guitar-work and authoritative musicianship. Rosenwinkel partnered with friends Eric Revis (bass), Aaron Parks (piano), and the band young’n Justin Faulkner (drums).

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Jun 27, 2008 6 comments

The Sony Radio Cassette-Corder CFM-10 is an unassuming little piece of electronics. I remember back in 1995, while the devastating Hurricane Opal tore across the state of Alabama, my family crouched on the laundry room floor with a cheap green lantern giving us light. My little sister and I were wrapped up in oversized, itchy wool blankets, laughing and joking, while Opal wreaked havoc and destroyed lives. We listened to the wind howling against the house, huge tree branches cracking and crashing to the ground, as we awaited word from weather-god James Spann who spoke from a little black cassette-corder like the one I had just found.

Ariel Bitran Apr 15, 2013 1 comments
Innovative Audio Video Showrooms, a New York City hi-fi gallery hosted two rooms this year: one room with an ultimate-truth to recording digital playback system and the ultra-smooth analog room.

Scott Haggart, a passionate Innovative employee and expert hi-fi demo deliverer was in the midst of a presentation upon my arrival. Haggart treats his work with serious care, and as anyone who has experienced one of his demos can attest to, he guides the listeners patiently through the exact gear that they are listening to and details about the music, a skill not many exhibitors at this hi-fi show demonstrated.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Jun 10, 2008 6 comments

Similarly, hi-end audio is a selfless act. We are workers for the world of music and its performers. The thousands of dollars that audiophiles spend on monstrous loudspeakers and thick, slick cables are not shameless self-indulgences, but expressions of grand devotion to the recreation of an expression, an emotion, a feeling! To truly take someone's words to heart. To find yourself in someone else's soundstage. To give yourself away and believe in somebody else's dreams instead of your own.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Feb 11, 2013 1 comments
I'm running sound at a new DIY venue in Brooklyn called The LAB, and I snag some weird stuff. Here's a sample…

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Trevor Peterson arrived with a guitar and a bevy of pedals and samplers. With the help of adaptable computer music softwares like Ableton and Logic and popular hardware like the Roland SP-404SX or the Akai APC40, the combinations of technologies passing through the Lab morphs constantly.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran Jan 05, 2013 3 comments
I'm running sound at a new DIY venue in Brooklyn called The LAB, and occasionally I snag some good tunes. Here's a sample…

*******

Kashka is a Canadian synth-pop duo formed by vocalist/lyricist Kat Burns and synth programmer and multi-instrumentalist James Bunton. The pair arrived by way of Toronto with stacks of keyboards, drum machines, and a laptop. After a show of reverb-drenched harmonies and airy synth patches, Kat handed me a purple colored tape of their most recent album Vichada. A tape? I didn't quite understand.

Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran May 09, 2013 2 comments
I wear polo shirts daily. Polo shirts keep things simple. Seven-time French Grand Slam tennis champion René Lacoste invented the “tennis shirt” in 1929 as an alternative to the traditional player’s outfit of white button-down and tie. The easy-to-wear “tennis shirt” rapidly expanded as official garb for polo players, golfers, and Homer Simpsons of America. Like the polo, the Logitech|UE 4000 on-ear headphone ($99.99) is accommodating to all in both fit and acoustic profile.
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