March 2022 Rock/Pop Record Reviews
David Bowie: Brilliant Adventure (19922001) and The Accidentals: Vessel.
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LATEST ADDITIONS
Last report from CanJam NYC 2022: HiFiMan
HiFiMan presented a few noteworthy new products at CanJam NYC, including the EF400 DAC/headphone amplifier, the Edition XS planar-magnetic headphones, the HE-R9 closed-back dynamic headphones, and the HM800 mini-DAC.
Janszen Z-600, Z-900, & Z-960 loudspeakers
The Z-600 is the latest of the "console" (as opposed to "bookshelf") systems made by Neshaminy Corp., and using Janszen electrostatic tweeters (footnote 1) and a Neshaminy-designed 11" woofer. The nominal crossover frequency is 1500Hz, with a broad overlap between the woofer's top and the low end of the paralleled tweeters. Tweeter level is not adjustable (footnote 2).
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Singing to the Soul: The Magic of Art Song on Record
It felt as though everyone had stopped breathing, so intent was their focus. I was in an exhibit room at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018. I doubt that anyone present spoke German, but after soprano Sandrine Piau's recording, with pianist Susan Manoff, of Carl Loewe's "Ach Neige, Du Schmer-Zenreiche" (ah, incline, you who are laden with sorrows) began to fill the space, the silence was so deep that you could almost hear hearts beat. as Piau intoned words by Wolfgang von Goethe that spoke of a loss so painful that it pierced the heart and bore into one's bones, everyone present felt the emptiness and loss in Piau's voice and Lizst's setting.
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Analog Corner #271: Koetsu Rosewood Mono, Kuzma CAR-50 and CAR-60 phono cartridges
In 1964, Shure Brothers shook up the cartridge market by introducing the original V-15 moving-magnet cartridge, which then cost $67, equivalent to about $530 today. It came packaged in a deluxe, wooden, jewelry-style boxcommon practice for today's cartridges, but back then unheard of.
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CanJam NYC 2022: Chord Electronics and Meze Audio
Chord Electronics' new Mojo 2 portable DAC/headphone amplifier packs plenty of mojo into a small but substantial package. To my mind—and ears—it was one of this CanJam's highlights.
CanJam NYC 2022: Meze Audio and dCS
I'd heard Meze Audio discussed by headphone aficionados for a handful of years. So I was interested to hear some of the Romanian manufacturer’s headphones at CanJam, where Meze presented their new Elite open-back ($4000) and Liric closed-back ($2000) headphones. Both models employ an approach unusual in planar-magnetic drivers: a proprietary Isodynamic Hybrid Array that Rinaro, a Ukrainian company, created for Meze. Meze displayed a few clear-encased examples of these arrays in their demo area so that the curious (including me) could view the diaphragm’s fine, serpentine membrane conductors.
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CanJam NYC 2022: Ken's take on Woo Audio and Abyss
Woo Audio’s Jack Wu was in person to debut his new Woo Audio WA23 Luna amp ($9000), which he paired with Abyss's new semiopen-back Diana TC planar headphones ($4495).
Only minimal information was available on Wu’s new amp, but he revealed the following: The WA23 Luna is an single-ended triode design that can serve as a headphone amp or a preamplifier. Power ratings remain a secret, but Wu said the Luna is a high-gain, point-to-point design. It draws watts from a pair of Electro Harmonix 2A3 power tubes; also on board are two 6C45 driver tubes and a 5U4G rectifier tube. It can drive a variety of headphone designs, Wu said.
CanJam NYC 2022: Centrance, HEDD
As I walked by the Centrance booth, Centrance owner Michael Goodman waved. I waved back, walked over, and listened to his HiFi-M8 V2 Portable Reference DAC/Amp ($749) and Ampersand Balanced Portable Reference Headphone Power Amplifier ($749), connected to a pair of HEDDphone Air Motion Transformer headphones.
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CanJam NYC 2022: Woo Audio and Abyss
Woo Audio, makers of tube electronics, are known for designing great-sounding and great-looking amplifiers intended especially for driving headphones. At an AXPONA a few years back, I became fond of their smaller-scale products, such as their WA7 Firefly, a cube-shaped headphone amp/DAC/preamp now in its third generation.
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