I was in a shop the other day browsing for a new amp. There was a guy auditioning some JM Lab speakers in one of the rooms - it sounded pretty darn good. When I turned around I was surprised to see that they were being driven by a NAD 325BEE integrated amp and CD player. I had my sights set on much more expensive offerings from Arcam, Rotel, Naim, Rega, etc. I don't know if it's the so-so look or the "too good to be true price tag" but I had completely overlooked the humble NAD. Before I pull the trigger on a new amp I will definitely give the 325BEE a second listen.

I have a CD player with adjustable balanced outputs and wanted to set them at the proper level. For the rest of my equipment I feed a 0.775V (0dB) tone from an audio oscillator into the board and adjust, if necessary.

I can't use that approach with a turntable or a CD player which is why I bought the test CD 3 to be able to generate a test tone from within the player.

Test tones on the CD have levels given, for example -20dBFS. I don't know what the FS means but i assumed that the recording level was at -20dB, but that seems to be wrong.

I just fired up a clean 20 amp circuit with 10 GA wiring, an audiophile grade recepticle (PS audio Power Port, a PS Audio 10 Ga power cable to my Plinius 9100 integrated. The improvement in sound for my system is absolutely great. My Totem Hawks have far more weight, clarity and impact. However, when not spinning a record, there seems to be a low level "hash" that is accentuated when I turn up the volume on the amp.

hey guys, quick ? about bit rates. Before I knew any better, I ripped my entire CD collection onto my hard drive at 128 kbps. I recently bought a pair of shure e5c earphones and the difference in sound quality between higher and lower bitrate recordings is huge. I bought an audio converter for my computer, and there is the option to convert to up to 320 kbps. My question is, by converterting it to 320, can I actually enhance an existing 128 kbps recording? If so, how?

it apears to be a no-no at least in this NEC article. Hmmmm, how many "experts" in audio land like I have read in some other forums touting the benefits of such a system. Sure in a commercial controlled, enviorment..not at home http://www.equitech.com/support/647.html

November's review of the Zanden Model 5000/2000 D/A converter and transport four-box system makes my head hurt.

I'm seeing what amounts to a positive subjective review by
Mikey Fremer for thie 45,000 dollar DOG of a system, with
him glossing over flaws that would have had him or other
reviewers ranting and raving about how BAD they would be if
it were many other products.

JA's technical review listed so many flaws and examples of
simply BAD design and engineering that I literally got bored
when I set out to count up the many flaws mentioned.

Gramophone Magazine

Check the link off the Gramophone site. Very nice present for clsssical music students.