Jana's Personal Escape
In this 1 Minute Audiophile Escape we visit my personal system.
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LATEST ADDITIONS
Suzuki's Sacred and Sunny Mozart on SACD
Ah, Carolyn Sampson. Ah, Mozart. Put both of you, along with the Great Mass in c and the marvelously tuneful early motet, Exsultate, jubilate, in the hands of Masaaki Suzuki and the period-instrument Bach Collegium Japan. Then, record it all in 24/96 for a BIS SACD, which you can download in its original format from multiple sites, and the results are pure pleasure.
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Lightnin' Hopkins on an Analogue Productions LP
Is there such a thing as a bad Lightnin' Sam Hopkins record? No, but there are a lot of badly recorded Hopkins records. Happily, Goin' Away originally released in 1963 on the Bluesville label (an imprint of Prestige Records) isn't one of them. And the already good sonics have even been improved in yet another superb 180gram Analogue Productions LP reissue.
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Meze 99 Neo Around-Ear Sealed Headphones
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
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A first look at this new headphone from Meze...what a difference a pad makes.
Classé Sigma 2200i integrated amplifier
The last few years have seen a flood of new integrated amplifiers in an audiophile market traditionally wedded to separate preamps and power amps. That might reflect the fact that integrated amps make a lot of sense, and not only because they usually cost less than equivalent separates. The latter gained a foothold in audio's Paleolithic era, when tubes were the only game in town. Tubes generate lots of heatan enemy of electronicsand separating the preamp stages from the output devices kept this under control. Yes, there were integrated amplifiers back then, but they were generally of very low power25Wpc was once considered monumental.
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DCM Time Frame TF1000 loudspeaker
It is almost ten years since I last heard a pair of DCM loudspeakers, the Time Windows made famous by writer Peter Aczel in the first incarnation of his magazine The Audio Critic. The "Time" nomenclature traditionally used by DCM in their models refers to the fact that for any hi-fi component, its performance in the frequency domain is related to, and implicit in, that in the time domain, the two being connected by the mathematics of the Fourier Transform. To put it in simplistic language, a speaker's impulse response can be translated directly into its frequency response: all the information needed to show how its response varies with frequency is contained in the shape of the impulse it produces.
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Chesky To Release MQA CDs in May
New York-based Chesky Records has just announced its first two MQA-encoded CDs. On May 19, both Camille Thurman's new Inside the Moment and Rebecca Pidgeon's classic The Raven will hit the streets, as it were, with a list price of $18.98. Music lovers with MQA-enabled DACs will be able to experience the full benefits of MQA-encoding/unfolding, while others will enjoy Red Book quality sound.
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Magico Premier in Florida Saturday
Saturday April 8, 14pm, Californian loudspeaker manufacturer Magico will be holding an event at Suncoast Audio (7353 International Place, Unit 309, Sarasota FL 34240) to launch the new S3 Mk.2. Peter MacKay from Magico will discuss the technology in the S3 Mk.2 and there will be extensive listening.
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Sony MDR-1000X Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
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Wow, these headphones are bee-you-tee-full! Not at all in a flashy way at allthey're understated; elegant; shapely. It's as if someone drew the perfect idealized headphone, and then Sony brought it to life.
DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 loudspeaker
John DeVore names his speakers after primatesapes, to be specific. Something to do with a family member being a zoologist.
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John once worked at a hi-fi retailer in lower Manhattan. Now, as president and chief designer of DeVore Fidelity, he manufactures loudspeakers across the bridge, in the former Brooklyn Navy Yard. I talked with John the other day about his new speaker, the Orangutan O/93.
John makes two Orangutans, both floorstanders: the O/96, with a sensitivity specified as 96dB, over which Art Dudley went ape, in the December 2012 issue. Artie has made the O/96 his reference loudspeaker. It goes for $12,000/pair, stands included.
Now there's the new, smaller Orangutan O/93, specified at 93dB. It retails for $8400/pair with a front baffle in fiddleback mahogany veneer (other veneers are available).