LATEST ADDITIONS

My review of Helado Negro’s Canta Lechuza will appear in our June issue, and the album hits stores on May 10th, but you can listen to the hazy, languorous tunes right now on NPR’s First Listen. Helado Negro (Roberto Carlos Lange, son of Ecuadorian immigrants) is interested in sound, texture, color, rhythm, and you can hear all of that stuff swirling around and bubbling about in Canta Lechuza.

This month I am writing about the Loudness Wars! But first a DVD, They Came to Play. The quest, or the hero's journey, has been a major theme of literature for as long as there has been literature. From the epic of Gilgamesh to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Moby-Dick to The Lord of the Rings, the quest's plot trajectory has remained pretty much consistent: be confronted by a challenge; leave home; bond with a new friend; survive climactic showdown; discover true self.

That last one is the payoff. Great literature allows us to benefit vicariously from the hero's hard-won self-knowledge. But without question, the thrills and chills and the cliff-hanging moments are what have put the fannies in the theater seats, from ancient Athens to your local megaplex.

The VTL MB-450 series began life in the late 1980s as the Deluxe 300, a pair of which I once owned. Over the years the basic design has been improved and modified, in the forms of the MB-450 (1996) and the MB-450 Series II (which I reviewed in January 2008). The tube complement remains the same: eight 6550s in the push-pull output stage, a 12AT7 input tube, and a 12BH7 driver. Into a 5 ohm load, the MB-450 III is claimed to produce 425W in tetrode mode or 225W in triode, from 20Hz to 20kHz.

A computer is not optimized for the uninterrupted streaming of audio data. It has rapidly become established wisdom, therefore, that the optimal means of extracting audio data from a computer's USB port is to operate that port in what is called "asynchronous isochronous" mode. This lets the receiving device, such as a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), control the flow of data from the PC. In theory, asynchronous USB operation (not to be confused with the asynchronous sample-rate conversion used in some DACs) reduces jitter to unmeasurable levels, depending on the accuracy of the receiver's fixed-frequency oscillator, which is used to clock the data to the DAC. By contrast, in the alternative and almost ubiquitous USB operating mode, called "adaptive isochronous," while the sample rate of the output data, averaged over a longish period, will indeed be the specified 44.1 or 48kHz, there will be short-term fluctuations, or jitter, due to the oscillator having to change its frequency every millisecond to match the uncertain rate of data flow from the PC.

Audio journalism is an unwitting form of pornography, albeit one that debases the soul with materialism instead of carnalism. It encourages—inadvertently, of course—the objectification of its subject matter, and can lead to Chronic Disappointment Syndrome, as well as a lifelong difficulty in forging healthy relationships with technology.

Those used to be just fun things to say. But now I worry they might be true, if only because thinking, reading, and writing about domestic audio have, of late, brought with them the chalky aftertaste of guilt.

Recent open house events at Innovative Audio Video Showrooms have been outstanding: well-attended by curious and passionate audiophiles; featuring beautiful, high-quality gear; showcasing excellent music played back on vinyl, disc, and via computer; and with several industry leaders on hand to provide demonstrations and feed interesting discussion.

(The last time I visited Innovative for one of these events, I stayed far too long and walked out into a man-eating ice storm that nearly shattered my soul, but, even then, it was still worth attending the event.)

So, I’m definitely looking forward to next Wednesday’s event, in honor of Dan D’Agostino and his new Momentum monoblock power amplifiers. Guests will have the opportunity to learn more about D’Agostino and his latest product, while enjoying music in a special environment. Members of Innovative’s staff are friendly, intelligent, knowledgeable, and eager to share their eclectic tastes in music and gear.

Refreshments will be provided, the weather should be decent, it should be a good time. Space is limited, so be sure to reserve your place: (212) 634-4444 or info@iavny.com.

Innovative Audio Video is located at 150 East 58th Street, New York, NY. I hope to see you there.

On Saturday night, after a long day of listening, writing, and chatting, I couldn’t force myself to enjoy another dinner or even have a beer. Things come to a dull end where all systems sound the same, I forget what it is I’m supposed to be listening for, I can’t give the exhibitors and attendees the attention they deserve. So, instead of pushing myself further, I decided to head back to my room and post a few blog entries before packing my bags and going to bed. Earlier in the day, I had already begun to regret my decision to leave the show on Sunday morning: There were rooms I hadn’t visited, people I hadn’t met, songs and stories I hadn’t heard, and now I had run out of time. Nevertheless, as I succumbed to sleep, I could hear myself singing...