A special treat was a sneak listen to DXD files of Ulrike's recording of soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's Picturing the Invisible: Focus 1. The contrasts with Allison Miller's drum and percussion, Mark Helias' double bass, and Miya Masaoka's koto are an audiophile's dream. The recording, whose releases include stereo, 5.1, and 3D, was recorded during the pandemic in two different locales on the Upper West Side (of New York, of course) and Brooklyn, with the musicians communing and improvising over the net. Everything was recorded in one take using Griffin's Essential Sound Products (ESP) power cables and a Merging Technology clock that's specified as being accurate to 10 parts per billion.
This system had a field day with Miller's high-pitched gongs. Those sounds were glorious, and far better controlled than the bottom end in what was, bass-wise, an impossible room. Heard: Magico S5 Mk II M-Cast loudspeakers ($45,400/pair), iFi Audio Pro iDSD ($3249), VPI Classic Signature turntable ($6399) with van den Hul Crimson cartridge ($5495), Audio Aero CD player (discontinued), various interconnects and speaker cables, and ESP power cables. CAT's essential contributions included the JL5 LE (Limited Edition) stereo power amplifier ($27,995), JL7 SE (Special Edition) mono amplifiers ($59,990/pair—played after I entered the room), and SL1 Legend Extreme preamplifier ($59,990).
